Melee, Ranged, and Wands come Mists of Pandara

[TygerDarkstorm]

feral druids have always required a weapon for base damage, they dont get it purely from their talents and armor and the +secondary boosts like crit and attack power, hunters literally only used melee weapons in terms of gameplay for the stats and because there was a minimum range

I am aware of this, my comment was made in response to Sasrei saying that druids don't ever use their "stat sticks" when, in fact, they do.

[Chimera]

i was helping confirm your post ^-^

[TygerDarkstorm]

Ack, sorry. >_<

[Chimera]

XD its ok, ive had that affect all day it seems on the forums lol

[Lisaara]

I'm actually happy. Hunters dont need a melee weapon unless BM is becoming a melee class

[Moderator]

Good job getting the thread back to civil discussion, everyone. Let's keep it that way.

[Monica Gems]

I wonder what they will do to make up for the stat loose of not having a melee weapon. My guess is make our ranged weapon have bigger stats they do now.

When they removed raw AP from armour, Agi was beefed up. As I said, rogues/warriors are losing ranged, druids/DKs/shammies/pallies are losing relics, mages/locks/priests are losing wands WITH a weapon. So everyone is losing their stat stick, and thus, the stats that go with it. Hunters aren't unique in losing a stat source, so I imagine across-the-board weapon stats (including hunter ranged weapons) getting beefed.

[HikariVandar]

I'm mixed. Very mixed. I'm hoping at least we can hold weapons out of combat, just for the use on the Arcanite Ripper, the Horseman's Blade, the Frostscythe, and other such things. I farmed a ton of weapons. Even before transmogrification I have worked a collection of them. I have a glorious Transmogrification collection, there. Losing them is a bitter pill...


...But deep down, I'm happy. This gives them room to make ranged weapons the insanely awesome sort of upgrade other classes enjoy, rather than having ranged weapons with tiny stat budgets, and melee weapons with.. the rest of the stats. It's, quite simply, better. We have one weapon with a big stat pool, rather than a glowstick with a huge statpool and a weapon with a tiny stat pool.


Quite bittersweet, but it looks like between this and the Cataclysm changes, they finally have a vision in mind for hunters. I think, all in all, Mists will be a good time to be a hunter. I honestly can't wait. Among the hunter problems has been that our ranged weapons are a secondary slot, when it's our class's primary weapon.

Also, it means none of those dirty rogues or warriors can take legendary bows. Revenge for our inability to wield the Warglaives, finally.

[Zuilu]

;_; but..but my..my weapons..all the weapons I worked so hard to get..

I understand where they're going for this PVE wise/PVP wise, I don't care about using melee weapons there..

But seriously, we need the option to be able to do it for RP :\ Even if it gave us a massive debuff to wield it, why can't we just use it for RP?

Better yet, how about they make a 'dummy' slot for it? Something that grants no dps, no agi, no nothing, just puts an appearance on your toon, like a shirt slot.

[HikariVandar]

;_; but..but my..my weapons..all the weapons I worked so hard to get..

I understand where they're going for this PVE wise/PVP wise, I don't care about using melee weapons there..

But seriously, we need the option to be able to do it for RP :\ Even if it gave us a massive debuff to wield it, why can't we just use it for RP?

Better yet, how about they make a 'dummy' slot for it? Something that grants no dps, no agi, no nothing, just puts an appearance on your toon, like a shirt slot.

Honestly, this, I think, would make everyone happy. Either that or make it so we can equip weapons we can't use, but they fall into inventory during combat. Given there's more than just one class that will likely lose the ability to make any use at all of prestige items, this would probably be a good idea.

[Bodhran]

Though this does give me hope that our ranged weapons will show up on our backs, perhaps along with quivers. That would be very neat.

^ This was my thought after I got done being mad.

As far as quitting over losing stat sticks >.>....

[Andine]

I suppose it's an early decision which might be changed due to impracticality of it. I expect that in the end, you will be able to equip any melee weapons you used to be able to, but they will replace the ranged weapon, so most of your abilities go gray (requires ranged weapon). In other words, I expect ranged weapons will become "Two Hand" - which opens a possibility of "One Hand" pistols?

[Acherontia]

I am very much tempted to come back and try some of the new features--a combination of Crouching Tiger + the Disengage heal could be very strong, the minipet game looks right up my alley (but also looks like a massive joke, to be fair) and removal of minimum range can only result in my shouting "SCORE!"

But the removal of the ability to wield melee weapons after all this time puts a serious damper on it. I know, I know, "you won't play because you can't put on a sword...?" seems silly, but hear me out. I spent years playing WoW, and in those years I collected a lot of weapons that have meaning to me.

When I finished the Sceptre of the Shifting Sands line, I took the golden dragon sword.
I have the Barov Family Sword, multiple axes, other swords, polearms, and staves from quest chains and raids. If I can't use ANY of them, I'll be upset, and I don't know if it's worth reactivating if I'll be pissed off every time I see someone with a melee weapon that looks cool. I don't care about WEILDING them, although an orc with melee looks awesome; I would just be very disappointed in being unable to wear them and look at them--it's a double kick in the ass what with Transmog coming in : /

[Bodhran]

I suppose it's an early decision which might be changed due to impracticality of it. I expect that in the end, you will be able to equip any melee weapons you used to be able to, but they will replace the ranged weapon, so most of your abilities go gray (requires ranged weapon). In other words, I expect ranged weapons will become "Two Hand" - which opens a possibility of "One Hand" pistols?

-Ettin’s Grip (new talent) allows the hunter to equip two ranged weapons simultaneously.


^^I believe I snagged that form a joke on MMO Champion several months back.

[Pokerfase]

I don't really know how to reply to this. On one hand, it's pretty handy for gameplay that we can use our bows/guns all the time. On the other hand... please don't make me sell my Halberd of Smiting. It's not even in the game anymore!

[Sasrei]

Oh.. well what I was kinda implying is that they dont whack a person with said weapon Not like melee do, so thats kinda the direction my mind was going so.. late at night. And yes other classes are losing something but its not something really a prominent look of their char. Relics arent really something that much in the game drop wise, and rogues/warriors well it makes sense for them to just throw it. I am glad I dont have to waste points on something like that but really I will miss the way my char looks with it. I got the staff just for that purpose of transmog and now I have 4 staves I can't even really use I just like the overall look of it.. I dont know. I understand why but for look wise.. it sucks.

Its kinda why I like the idea of doing that dungeon challenge and getting just a staff or polearm from that, it has no stats whatsoever but heck maybe they can make it where you can transmog that even if it has no stats?

Playwise min range gone is a HUGE thing for our class though. Which is why I am so happy for that!

[Rikaku]

Yeah I do agree it's sad to lose some of those weapons. I kept a LOT of classic weapons (old Grand Marshall's weapons anyone?) and neat looking BC weapons just because... well dangit, they looked awesome didn't they? I mean Wrath and Cataclysm had some neat weapons, but I think TBC probably had the coolest looking weapons imo.

I'm really really sad I won't be able to use my old Arena 2h Axe again (or at least, not for very long).

But I am very hopeful of some new Hunter visual changes then. I know they said Monks will have different idle animations for the dif specs of Monks, I secretly hope such changes make it to the other classes too (such as a BM Hunter would idly look at their pet or pet it, a MM Hunter would look at their ranged weapon?)

But I would LOVE to say ranged weapons sit on the back. And maybe quivers too (for those of us who still kept quivers as our visual bags). I mean there's a whole range of visual options we can get to replace the lost melee weapons.

[Sigrah]

Wow, so many replies. I posted this originally with a transmogging view point for people like myself who are out there planning ahead and gathering gear for appearances, but it seems to have spurred a much broader discussion

Anyways, I don't care in the slightest that they are taking away the melee weapons / "stat sticks" from the various classes out there. With regards to my Hunter, I'll be fine with it as long as they buff the hell out of the stats on ranged weapons to compensate for not having one, and also provide enchants (or scopes if they continue to go with the Engineering route for ranged weapon enhancements) that are comparable to the 2 Handed Enchants we have used in the past and will lose access to.

As far as my cloth casters go, I'm actually excited about Wands becoming 1 Handers. Again, I hope they buff the stats to be comparable to other 1 Handers and allow them to be enchanted / enhanced, but I mainly like the idea that wands will actually be displayable full time instead of those rare times casters actually use the "shoot" ability. And, since I have at least one of every profession maxed out at this point, I'm hoping that Wands becoming 1 Handers means Enchanting will finally get new craftable Wands, especially at the top end of things.

[Neith]

I'm really not sure what to think of this change they want to bring to us. It makes me wonder, will we get to finally go back to seeing either a quiver on our backs and/or our ranged weapon on our backs? Because both would be lovely. At the same time, we have spent YEARS living with wearing melee weapons of all kinds, and using them when we have to. I am used to having my weapon as a backup when something gets too close, wingclip+disengage isn't that rare. But it makes me happy the thought that we don't have to deal with leaving the happy-healing-magic-zone in a raid fight just so we can get enough distance to attack the boss. So I am wondering where they are going to go with this, it will certainly change game-play for us, hopefully for the better. I can't help but wonder if this means they are going to follow through with the suggestion many bring up of giving us dual-wielding pistols/mini crossbows.

But my big concern is definitely over what weapons we have collected already. I mean, I love my Lok'delar and it would break my heart to log in one day and find it gone, or no longer equipable. And what about the casters who have picked up the legendary caster staff already? Will that just sit in their bank in 5.0, never to be seen again even as "Ironforge Gear"? This game is ABOUT visual stuff, and suddenly we are being told all the visual stuff we've invested in, is going to be worthless.

[Gimlion]

I'd love dual pistols or crossbows. Just throwing that in here.