Cataclysm Class Preview: Hunter

[Dragonpuff]

I think the 'special' looking Exotics should be left to the BMs. As of now, it's the only thing 'unique' to the tree. The other two have their signature shots, and right now, BM has pretty skins. As of this preview, BM kinda gets a signature shot, but not really. Everyone else can and will use it. I will be. I'll alternate between Steady and Cobra, just for something different now and then.
I'm gonna hit ya with some phyical damage! POW! Oooooh wait, here come the nature damage! BAM! Didn't see that coming, did ya?!
Being BM will make it faster to use, okay, so it's a half-assed signature. But thats it. Whoopie.
Until BMs get a true signature, those pretty Exotics are all they have. Let it be, for the time being.

[Mania]

It would be interesting to leave Spirit Beasts as exotics (and perhaps expand them into their own families, so Arcturis will stop Prowling) but un-exotic the rest.

I'm not advocating, just musing ...

[Kalliope]

I don't really expect exotics to be taken away from BM. I just think that the stat normalization will most likely apply to them as well.

Exotics really SHOULD be BM only, no matter how much it kills me to have my big green cuddlelizard stabled. >_<

Oh, and devilsaurs are DEFINITELY exotics. Yep. Too much awesome for a non-exotic.

Don't look at me that way, Theseus...

[Karathyriel]

In my opinion, if all pets are leveled out damage wise, then everyone should get a free pic on what his pet should look like.

I never really understood the "exotic pet" mechanics.
Wasn't that something just to make BM more attractive? Just like the 4 extra skill points for the pet?

Isn't it enough that you have to camp for hours or days to get some of them? Do you have to be BM too?

But that is just me, going into enrage when trying to get something that you just can't have, like a proto drake mount.

[punctuation]

In my opinion, if all pets are leveled out damage wise, then everyone should get a free pic on what his pet should look like.

I never really understood the "exotic pet" mechanics.
Wasn't that something just to make BM more attractive? Just like the 4 extra skill points for the pet?

Isn't it enough that you have to camp for hours or days to get some of them? Do you have to be BM too?

But that is just me, going into enrage when trying to get something that you just can't have, like a proto drake mount.

Imagine trying to get something for months, finally getting it, and then not being able to use it!

That's how I feel about my spirit beast, which I can't use because she's exotic and I need to maximize my dps in raids.

And that's how I feel about my Silver Covenant Hippogryph, which took days of grinding dailies, and my Blue Proto-Drake, which was sheer luck, because now I have a 310% mount.

And yes, I realize I could just raid as BM, or I could just settle for a slower mount... but that's not the point. Certain things that take a lot of work should be available to us for all time, no matter what.

[Golden]

If they're making an exclusive pet family people have to work for, at least make sure it's on par with normal pets! I don't expect exotics to be superior in any way, but rather just as good as any other pet, so it doesn't matter if we bring a wolf, spirit beast or devilsaur.

[Kalliope]

Well, the mount thing may be solved in Cata - Blizz was looking at making all our mounts work at our max possible speed.

If I could be marks and have my devilsaur, I would be one happy hunter. But devilsaurs shouldn't be run of the mill pets; they're badass enough to warrant the exotic label, regardless of how much effort went into the tame.

Just my opinion, though.

[Nimizar]

I would have expected camo to just drop target, like mirror images.

Nope, GC explained a bit more about the way Camo and Smoke Bomb will work in one of the preview threads: ranged attackers attempting to hit a target with a ranged ability when that target is under the effects of Camo or Smoke Cloud will get a "Target Obscured" error and will have to close to melee or enter the smoke cloud in order to attack. It's a new mechanic they're adding for Cataclysm. There are plenty of details we don't know yet, but that's the general idea.

@Palla: shooting breaks Camo, so bringing a caster into melee range requires using Distracting shot before popping Camo (I'm assuming we'll be able to use Camo in combat, because it would probably be lame otherwise).

[Karathyriel]

ranged attackers attempting to hit a target with a ranged ability when that target is under the effects of Camo or Smoke Cloud will get a "Target Obscured" error and will have to close to melee or enter the smoke cloud in order to attack.

Or just use an AoE effect and bingo, damage makes Camo (and smoke bomb too, I guess) go away! You don't have to go to melee range.

[Golden]

ranged attackers attempting to hit a target with a ranged ability when that target is under the effects of Camo or Smoke Cloud will get a "Target Obscured" error and will have to close to melee or enter the smoke cloud in order to attack.

Or just use an AoE effect and bingo, damage makes Camo (and smoke bomb too, I guess) go away! You don't have to go to melee range.

Wonder what the devs were thinking... This doesn't solve anything. :P It's a ranged-only deterrence that breaks from AoE. Next they'll make it so that moving breaks camo. :P

[Sphax]

Well changes are really sucky till now ... we alla expected something way cooler.

Focus is fine but thats the only thing we get.

Im mostly interested in going to the oldschool marks/survival for the 15% agility ^^ since 1 agility = 2x ap again



About exotic Pets: I would say that those pets (Devilsaur / spirit beasts .... ) should get another talent tree with more dmg/defence/utility than the other non-exotic pets this way exotic pets will make a diference with BM hunter and the new stable thingie with 3 active pets. Etc a rhino could be a better tank than a non-exotic tank pet like turtle .

Conclusion BM gets more utility than the other 2 trees (better tank) better for pvp with more utility and average dps to compare to the others.



Well i care about Marksmanship changes the most anyways ^^ that was and still is my favourite tree since Vanilla

[Lotokoth]

i already read the notes, weres the form D:<

[Teigan]

.

[Palladiamorsdeus]

In my opinion, if all pets are leveled out damage wise, then everyone should get a free pic on what his pet should look like.

I never really understood the "exotic pet" mechanics.
Wasn't that something just to make BM more attractive? Just like the 4 extra skill points for the pet?

Isn't it enough that you have to camp for hours or days to get some of them? Do you have to be BM too?

But that is just me, going into enrage when trying to get something that you just can't have, like a proto drake mount.

Imagine trying to get something for months, finally getting it, and then not being able to use it!

That's how I feel about my spirit beast, which I can't use because she's exotic and I need to maximize my dps in raids.

And that's how I feel about my Silver Covenant Hippogryph, which took days of grinding dailies, and my Blue Proto-Drake, which was sheer luck, because now I have a 310% mount.

And yes, I realize I could just raid as BM, or I could just settle for a slower mount... but that's not the point. Certain things that take a lot of work should be available to us for all time, no matter what.

I've said this before: You give me Chimera shot, I'll give you my devilsaur. Right now the ONLY thing that makes BM unique are our exotics. We do not have our own shot, our own trap, nothing, and don't try to give me some tripe about how the four additional talent points make up for it. So now, I don't think the other tree's should be able to use exotics right now. Actually, it just sounds like you want to have your cake and eat it too. To a point, I understand what you are saying, but I just can't agree. IF those changes are 'all she wrote' for hunters, then that still leaves BM with nothing to call their own except for those exotics. In the spirit of fairness, those exotics, even if they are just ((And I cringe to say this)) our 'Pokemon', are all that seperates the BM tree from SV and MM. With the ability to dual spec, it isn't like you can't just make your secondary spec BM and use it when you want. It's the same for us: If we want to use a unique or different shot, we have to spec SV or MM. Why should it be any different for you?

[Kalliope]

I would have expected camo to just drop target, like mirror images.

Nope, GC explained a bit more about the way Camo and Smoke Bomb will work in one of the preview threads: ranged attackers attempting to hit a target with a ranged ability when that target is under the effects of Camo or Smoke Cloud will get a "Target Obscured" error and will have to close to melee or enter the smoke cloud in order to attack. It's a new mechanic they're adding for Cataclysm. There are plenty of details we don't know yet, but that's the general idea.

Ooh, I must have missed that one. That's pretty nifty; I hope they can pull it off in such a way that a boss like Festergut, who's constantly AoEing, won't be able to break it easily.

[Floplag]

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.

This makes engineering a bad joke - besides the flying mount theres nothing usefull or fun left.

i gotta beleive they are aware of this and will give something to the profession to make it interesting or they might as well just remove it entirely.

[Kalliope]

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.

This makes engineering a bad joke - besides the flying mount theres nothing usefull or fun left.

i gotta beleive they are aware of this and will give something to the profession to make it interesting or they might as well just remove it entirely.

Really? Read some of the other posts after the one you replied to.

[Rhyela]

I've said this before: You give me Chimera shot, I'll give you my devilsaur. Right now the ONLY thing that makes BM unique are our exotics. We do not have our own shot, our own trap, nothing, and don't try to give me some tripe about how the four additional talent points make up for it. So now, I don't think the other tree's should be able to use exotics right now. Actually, it just sounds like you want to have your cake and eat it too. To a point, I understand what you are saying, but I just can't agree. IF those changes are 'all she wrote' for hunters, then that still leaves BM with nothing to call their own except for those exotics. In the spirit of fairness, those exotics, even if they are just ((And I cringe to say this)) our 'Pokemon', are all that seperates the BM tree from SV and MM. With the ability to dual spec, it isn't like you can't just make your secondary spec BM and use it when you want. It's the same for us: If we want to use a unique or different shot, we have to spec SV or MM. Why should it be any different for you?

This is what I've been trying to get at. As it stands the only "unique" shot they're giving us is Cobra Shot, which everyone else has access to as well. Besides that, there's nothing about BM that makes us unique. Exotics is all we have, so unless I hear otherwise, I'm going to throw a nasty fit if they take our exotics away. And to me, taming exotics goes in with that whole "Beast Mastery" thing anyway.

[punctuation]

Certain things that take a lot of work should be available to us for all time, no matter what.

Ok, I have to preface this with "I'm not making fun of you." I agree that the hard to find things should be worth the effort. However, I do have to share the thought that your post gave me, since you were talking about hard to get mounts and how they should basically be the best and most used once you get them...so...310% flying Winterspring Frostsaber anyone?

Well, you're comparing apples to oranges. Your Winterspring Frostsaber is a ground mount, and it goes as fast as ground mounts can go... so when you're obligated to use a ground mount, you can use your WF 'til your heart's content. If Cataclysm comes along and suddenly makes underwater travel the staple, I'm not going to complain that my blue proto-drake can't hold its breath long enough.

Imagine trying to get something for months, finally getting it, and then not being able to use it!

That's how I feel about my spirit beast, which I can't use because she's exotic and I need to maximize my dps in raids.

And that's how I feel about my Silver Covenant Hippogryph, which took days of grinding dailies, and my Blue Proto-Drake, which was sheer luck, because now I have a 310% mount.

And yes, I realize I could just raid as BM, or I could just settle for a slower mount... but that's not the point. Certain things that take a lot of work should be available to us for all time, no matter what.

I've said this before: You give me Chimera shot, I'll give you my devilsaur. Right now the ONLY thing that makes BM unique are our exotics. We do not have our own shot, our own trap, nothing, and don't try to give me some tripe about how the four additional talent points make up for it. So now, I don't think the other tree's should be able to use exotics right now. Actually, it just sounds like you want to have your cake and eat it too. To a point, I understand what you are saying, but I just can't agree. IF those changes are 'all she wrote' for hunters, then that still leaves BM with nothing to call their own except for those exotics. In the spirit of fairness, those exotics, even if they are just ((And I cringe to say this)) our 'Pokemon', are all that seperates the BM tree from SV and MM. With the ability to dual spec, it isn't like you can't just make your secondary spec BM and use it when you want. It's the same for us: If we want to use a unique or different shot, we have to spec SV or MM. Why should it be any different for you?

The difference here is that things like chimera shot and explosive shot are just shots. They have virtually no visible effect, and they are parts of a rotation. Granted, they're a large part, but they aren't used that often -- only in combat, and only once every few seconds. Your exotic pets, however, are massive, omnipresent, visual representations.

In a sense, I agree with you. I do think BM needs something truly unique, but I don't think it should be exotic pets. (And I don't think it should be an extra four talent points for your pet, which is nice, but not very exciting once they've been assigned.) I was rather a fan, actually, of BM getting a shot like the new demolock spell that increased damage done by pets, but apparently Blizzard is not.

I also find it rather amusing that, for all of you people out there who are demanding something unique for BM, the exotic pet suffices. As you've already admitted, exotic pets are literally no different than non-exotics, as far as gameplay goes. That is, your rotation is the same, your dps is the same (sometimes lower!), you get no special shots or skills from them. So even with exotics, BM still has no mechanic that is truly unique. So for those of you complaining that the freeing up of exotic pets to all specs will somehow decimate the BM identity, perhaps you should redirect your argumentative efforts to obtaining some sort of BM-only shot or spell that will *actually* differentiate the BM playstyle from SV or MM.

[Kalliope]

So for those of you complaining that the freeing up of exotic pets to all specs will somehow decimate the BM identity, perhaps you should redirect your argumentative efforts to obtaining some sort of BM-only shot or spell that will *actually* differentiate the BM playstyle from SV or MM.

Oh, it's very different from surv or marks.

What BM needs is something to make it seem different than a specless hunter.