Hunter Class Preview blog is up

[Vephriel]

Welcome to our World of Warcraft: Legion class preview series. In this entry, we’re exploring the Hunter—to find out what’s in store for a different class, check out the overview.

We begin our early look at class and specialization design with the Hunter. In these blogs, we’ll be exploring class identity, discussing Legion’s new designs, and presenting core combat abilities for each specialization—laying out a foundation upon which talents and Artifacts will build further. With that in mind, let’s delve into what it means to be a Hunter in World of Warcraft.

http://us.battle.net/wow/en/blog/199112 ... -11-8-2015

I'm really liking the sound of Dire Beast for BM as a core ability. I also think traps becoming exclusive to SV makes a lot of sense, even though I'll miss my freezing trap (though maybe we'll get something just as useful for difficult taming situations). I'm probably going to try MM on one of my other hunters as well, there's not a lot of change there besides pet removal, but I do like the direction it's going in. The hunter specs all feel uniquely different now!

[Lupen202]

I really don't like the idea of loosing freezing trap if we don't get anything in return. Without it we have no cc ability .. Whether you're a raider or just into pvp, that will really suck.

And now that cobra shot costs focus and doesn't generate it, dire beast is the only way to generate focus? Kind of odd that we won't have any cast to generate focus on the spot, unless I'm missing something. And I suppose we won't have arcane shot anymore as it seems like cobra shot will be doing the same thing, and now arcane is MMs thing.

I like the idea of being able to summon multiple beasts but I still wish we could just have two pets out at once, even if the damage of each pet was cut in half. It'd just look and feel awesome, lol.

[Wain]

I like where they're going with making it more about summoning beasts. My thought is that instead of just leaving that to Dire Beast, there should be several, with different effects. Something like...

Dire Beast for single or narrow target, as normal

... but then a "Savage Pack" for aoe. Different beasts pick out different mobs. Something like Army of the Dead in effect.

... "Overwhelming Pack" for slowing a mob's movement speed while doing a little damage, or cc maybe.

... or some sort of "Swoop" for cc. Flying beast grabs the target and lifts it off the ground for a bit.

Something like that, anyway. As for the details, I'm sure there's better ideas out there, but all about the beasts

[cowmuflage]

Some of the MM stuff looks good but I'm still bummed about the no pet thing. Kinda the main point I play one and MM is the only spec I've ever liked XD

[Vephriel]

I really don't like the idea of loosing freezing trap if we don't get anything in return. Without it we have no cc ability .. Whether you're a raider or just into pvp, that will really suck.

It sounds like we will get something to take its place though, so I'm sure we'll get something comparable:

they’re also now the only Hunters that make use of traps—other specs will receive forms of crowd control and AoE damage suited to their distinct characteristics

I'm digging your ideas Wain, more beast related abilities would be really fun!

[Equeon]

I really don't like the idea of loosing freezing trap if we don't get anything in return. Without it we have no cc ability .. Whether you're a raider or just into pvp, that will really suck.

other specs will receive forms of crowd control and AoE damage suited to their distinct characteristics.

I really like Wain's idea of an eagle flying in to lift up an enemy for 1 minute, for example!

Plus, Blizzard said they're quadrupling the amount of talents you can choose, and instead of choosing between rows, like it is now:


1 form of CC - 1 form of CC - 1 form of CC
1 form of Focus gen - 1 form of Focus gen - 1 form of Focus gen

You'll be able to choose in columns, so you can be the "Master of CC" or "Master of DoTs" depending on how you like. Each column will be a certain "theme", like all far-left Warrior columns have to do with Rage.
So it will be like

1 form of CC - 1 form of Focus gen - 1 DoT

[Lupen202]

Oh, I didn't even see that part oops.

Will still miss traps as it's been part of the class for so long, but if we can get some neat ability that fits BM better I can't really complain. Still curious about how we'll generate focus aside from dire beast, but hopefully we'll know more when beta starts.

[Shinryu Masaki]

I really don't like the idea of loosing freezing trap if we don't get anything in return. Without it we have no cc ability .. Whether you're a raider or just into pvp, that will really suck.

Wyvern Sting? That's the only solution I can think of.

[pop]

I wanted Dire Beast to be a BM core ability since forever

http://forums.wow-petopia.com/viewtopic ... 53&t=22298

[pop]

I really don't like the idea of loosing freezing trap if we don't get anything in return. Without it we have no cc ability .. Whether you're a raider or just into pvp, that will really suck.

Wyvern Sting? That's the only solution I can think of.

And hopefully a better version of intimidation

[Shade]

Mastery: Master of Beasts
Increases the damage done by your pets by 45% (with Mastery from typical gear).

Way of the Cobra
Passive
For every pet or guardian you have active, Cobra Shot deals an additional 5% damage.

Am I reading too much into the "damage done by your pets" and "For every pet" or does that possibly mean we may be getting multiple pets out at once? Because Dire Beast summons have never been referred to as 'pets' in game as far as I can recall. They have always been a 'wild beast'.

[Lupen202]

The mastery description is already live; you can log in right now and see that it says "by your pets" But concerning the "way of the cobra" passive, I think they're just referring to stampede and dire beasts, sadly.

But like I said earlier, I really wish that they'd add a talent or glyph that'd allow us to have have two permanent pets out at all times, each pet would just do 50%-75% of their normal damage.

[pop]

Mastery: Master of Beasts
Increases the damage done by your pets by 45% (with Mastery from typical gear).

Way of the Cobra
Passive
For every pet or guardian you have active, Cobra Shot deals an additional 5% damage.

Am I reading too much into the "damage done by your pets" and "For every pet" or does that possibly mean we may be getting multiple pets out at once? Because Dire Beast summons have never been referred to as 'pets' in game as far as I can recall. They have always been a 'wild beast'.

Probably from stampede and dire beast

[pop]

Is it just me, or the new survival is really awesome! It out pretty centric as well; flanking strike is like kill command and its mastery is your pet can increase the chance of Mongoose Bite!

[Rawr]

Are they going to have the dmg of Thunderstomp scale?

[Lupen202]

Survival does seem cool for a melee spec. But kind of bugs me how it seems like they're more of a beast master than beast masters at the moment, aside from the fact that BM has the dire beast command. All of survival's artifact looks are beast inspired - a wolf, an eagle, a serpent, a bear?? And I believe the artifact quest chain takes place in Highmountain with the tauren? That fits BM so much better. Why couldn't our guns at least be beast inspired? Or why not a crossbow?

Of course things are subject to change ... but I'm just pissy about the gun lol.

[Wennett]

I really like what I'm hearing. Never tried MM before, but I'm willing to try.

[Wain]

Remember to go post your feedback over on the blog, too! And for European posters there's an EU version of the blog to post on:
http://eu.battle.net/wow/en/blog/199112 ... -11-8-2015

[Karathyriel]

So, basically it says:

• Marksman: no pet at all and ranged combat
• Survival: one pet and close combat
• Beast Master: multiple pets and ranged combat

Hm, not really a fan of the idea...

Edit: I just remembered, way back in time when Burning Crusade was released, I rolled my first hunter and, guess what, had the stupid idea that I shouldn't fight cowardly from the distance but join my pet in close combat. Not that WoW ever supported this, I just thought it was cool. And, even better, I didn't use swords or other weapons, I decided to go with claws!



And now, 8 years later, Blizzard is doing the same... Shame on Blizzard for stealing my idea!

[Zalani]

And I thought I had my main set for Survival. Now I'm not sure again since they all look good lol.
Although I might still go Survival...
There is also a reddit thread with some Dev answers:
https://www.reddit.com/r/wow/comments/3 ... or_legion/

The flanking strikes is not up to date with the current version and there are more abilities of course. Also Survival hunters get to keep Disengage.

And about Eyes of the Beast:
"I can look into it, from an engineering standpoint it was a total mess and really broken. If we can re-engineer it safely then maybe, but no promises."-AndrewChambers