Cataclysm Class Preview: Hunter

[Rhyela]

There are a lot of us, and this is a MASSIVE change. Everyone is curious and has questions about it.

Hadn't thought of that though, Mania. *Scratches his chin* Hopefully that means that every pet family will get some form of attack that applies said debuff, then. I can see two possibilities for pet families all dealing roughly the same damage. Either A: Pet families will now have selectable talent trees or B: Every talent tree will include the same damage increasing abilities, with just some 'themed' talents tossed in, like Bloodthirsty or Owls focus or what have you.

It's either that or all pet's will have ONE tree, but with more options. Hrm.

As for focus! These people really need to chill out. What they don't seem to be thinking about is that right now everything is cooldown based. Beyond the first volley, where nothing is on cooldown, this system will be massively more effective. Steady shot/Cobra shot is FREE for one, and actually effects focus regen, and we will never have to HALVE OUR DAMAGE TO REGEN AGAIN. The ONLY time that our old system will be more effective is during short, bursty fights, and even then I wouldn't hold my breath on the old system winning out.

Boo for ammo just being removed though, I was hoping for some cool little additional effect as an equip. Oh well, so long as weapon damage is tooled under the consideration of equal level ammo, it's fine.

And here I thought I was the only one that wasn't angry about the focus change! I'm looking forward to it. Even chugging a mana pot right now is less attractive than casting one more steady shot, or having to go into AotV *shudder*. I can see how it maybe could be detrimental in PvP but I'm honestly willing to bet hunters will either see a positive change, or at the very worst, no change at all. I really do not believe we're getting nerfed, not in the slightest.

[Arwyn]

More spirit beasts, more stable room, and starting off with a pet at level 1..Oh Yeah..very SWEET.
But it may take a little while for me to understand how to properly use Focus without wasting it and then wailing "Why do I keep running outta Focus!?"

[Rottingham]

I am so happy that Hunters will be able to get a pet at level 1 and begin with ranged attacks! Leveling a worgen from 1-10 will be that much easier now!

[Mania]

I'm going back to bed. Someone update this thread if there's more news, okay?

[Saturo]

Camo, though... Other than giving us the opener, I don't see the use of it. A ranged class gets something to close the distance?

Weird if you ask me.

[Congafury]

/faints at stables changes

oh my God!

/faints again

[Aleu]

Focus is still kind of making me a bit nervous. I've played feral druid before and I didn't like the idea of being so limited to have to wait until I regained my energy to use an attack again. Then again, maybe I'm just used to unloading everything. XP

Also pet stable change = <33333333333333333333333333333

[Sharilar]

I rolled a druid a while back specifically to get used to the way energy regen works in preparation for this... though with a damaging shot being the heavy regen it's obviously not gonna be quite the same. I do like the fact BM is getting raccoon^Wcobra shot, so we'll finally have something all our own essentially. The big <3 for me though was the stables change... now I can get that Jade Falcon, get my old Kurken back, get The Beast(though I might try and tame him before 4.0 drops in case he's made untamable), Loque and a few others. The pets all getting a debuff(like the way the Wasp works currently) is nice too, because it means we'll have a reason to swap pets around.. a real beastmaster.

[FuzzyDolly]

"Pet Damage: Many of the passive benefits to pet damage will no longer be available in the Beast Mastery talent tree. However, these will be provided through the new Mastery mechanic."

This is what has me worried.

[cowmuflage]

I now just wonder whats going to be the "uber raid" spec and whats going to be the new BM if you no what i mean :/

[Rhyela]

Focus is still kind of making me a bit nervous. I've played feral druid before and I didn't like the idea of being so limited to have to wait until I regained my energy to use an attack again. Then again, maybe I'm just used to unloading everything. XP

Also pet stable change = <33333333333333333333333333333

Don't forget this is a preview, they've already hinted at other talents and changes that will give you more focus in addition to what you already get with steady shot, such as focus regen on crit (which if I'm not mistaken they did mention briefly in that preview), etc. I highly, highly doubt it's going to be a mirror of the rogue class. People seem so eager to pin the two together, but it's not that way, they're separate and distinct. I very much doubt we're going to be resource-starved all the time, even if you use big opening shots. And even then, even if somehow we're struggling in Beta, there's plenty of time for adjustments.

So worry not, fellow hunters!!! *disgustingly optimistic*

[cowmuflage]

they havent said anything about new types of pets like basalisks or anything?

[Luupin]

Looking forward to these changes, especially for my worgen

A couple items, I'm wondering about:

• Provided pets still have talent trees, will the "stabled" pets have to be retalented each time they are made an active pet, or will they retain their previous settings (hope it's the latter)
• The comments mention the quiver being converted to a large bag. Need more details. Will it be automatic or will you have to own a quiver at the time of the upgrade? I also wonder what size (they probably have yet to decide -- sure hope it is 24+)

[Adam-Savage]

You gotta remember to that they said when you crit you generate more focus. This can be good or bad. The higher your crit the more focus your generating but the the less your crit chance is can also reduce your regen. I could see hunters stacking on crit to max the focus regen.

[Kalliope]

I like our new abilities, especially for PvP.

I AM SO GLAD GC'S ARM-WAVING WENT SOMEWHERE!!!!!! I cannot WAIT to get my babies back in my stable.

The trap launcher sounds so badass, lol.

*squee*

[Sphax]

Rotation as marks = Serpentsting >> Chimera shot >> chimera shot >> steady/venom >> steadyu venom >> steady venom (full on energy or enough for 2x chimera) >> chimera >> chimera and so on



with no cooldown on chimera its gonna be insane !!! XD same for survival hunters although they will need to refresh black arrow and serpent sting by themselves as for chimera its a 1 macro job ^^

welcome back tbc

[Troubleshot]

Hunters will no longer use mana; instead the class will use Focus. Focus generates much like Energy, by building up. It will not be affected by Intellect at all. Haste will improve its generation. Hunters will generate roughly 6 Focus per second, slightly less than rogues' Energy generation rate of around 10 Energy per second. Below, we have listed some examples of how we intend Focus costs to operate:

Steady Shot/Cobra Shot: No cost. Generates 9 Focus per shot (or 12 per second instead of 6).
Arcane Shot/Chimera Shot /Explosive Shot: 45 Focus.
Aimed Shot/Multi-Shot: 60 Focus.
Concussive Shot/Tranquilizing Shot: 35 Focus.
Rapid Fire/Master’s Call/Disengage: 30 Focus.

From a PvE standpoint, I like most of this... from a PvP angle, it's pretty much horrid (and demonstrates without a doubt that this stuff Was not tested in any meaningful way in Alpha).

In PvP, flat-footed shooting (standing in place) is rare... against good opponents, flat-footed shooting in almost non-existent. This means that Hunters in PvP will normally be unable to use the focus regenerating shots, making it an eternity between instant shots.

Aimed Shot, for instance, will take 10 seconds to regen... which is longer than the current cooldown AND you will have no other shots to use during that time due to being focus starved (it will literally be all you can do other that hope for an auto attack or two in the intervening time).

30 Focus for Disengage or Master's Call is even worse... you tend to Disengage when people are on top of you in PvP. By default, you will not be regaining focus through shots in melee... so in effect, you will be waiting up to 5 seconds to use a defensive ability. Unless health pools are growing beyond belief, I don't see this working out at all.



And another overlooked topic, are the focus regenerating shots subject to pushback? If so, a bad pvp mechanic becomes horrible and even PvE will be affected there.

[Tunderbrew]

At least optimistic if not pleased w/ most of these changes(WOOT new stabling systems) Camo should be amusing, adds to that feeling I'm hunting things . Although, I have to admit I'm puzzled/disappointed w/ the ammo change. Did having to manage ammo really bother people that much? I felt it was a nice bit of flavor for the class and could have been expanded on, rather than scrapped.

[Saturo]

Well, we are the only class to pay for our DPS. I found it a bit unfair. Also, if there aren't any ammo on the AH, our DPS suffers. No other class is that dependant on market economics.

[Zangor]

also take note that it mentions spirit beasts in the stable portion

most likely this means we will be seeing more with cataclysm and if it acts like wrath then the next should be extremely cool and rare like loq

also this might mean we are getting enough new pet families to require even more stable space