WoW Reports goes Live

WoW Reports, my brand new blog, has posted the 2nd week of Arena class statitistics.

I'll give you a hint on which classes are dominating: both wear plate.


Not too much to report on the Hunter side of things.  I am specced into Survival, so I am currently trying to raise my skill level in PvP and PvE as a Survival Hunter. 

One thing I have been immensly enjoying is my 1 minute Wyvern Sting.  In BG's using Wyvern Sting reminds me of the past, pre BC, where I would Wyvern players on their mounts in World PvP...  great times.

Can't believe it is almost 2009.  Happy new years everyone.  Hope 3.0.8 comes with the new year, on the 6th.
 

3.0.8 Survival Hunter Specs

For updated Specs, Shot Rotation, etc., visit my Survival Page.

I have been a BM Hunter ever since WoW 2.0 (The Beast Within). I have occasionally tried out Survival or Marksmanship here or there, but have always come home to Beast Mastery. After 3.0.8 is released, I might not be a BM Hunter anymore.

Explosive Shot is back in power. Which means, my primary damage will no longer be physical. My primary damage will be mainly fire damage, especially in PvP where Auto Shots are limited and Steady Shots go unused.

I plan to respec to Survival this Tuesday, even if 3.0.8 is not released, just so I can start practicing as a Survival Hunter (the practice is mainly for PvP).

I have studied which talents are decent as a Survival Hunter and have come up with three different builds:

Survival PvE

Survival PvP

Survival PvP/PvE Hybrid

Notes:

• 2/3 in Expose Weakness because it should have 98% up time with just 2 talent points.

• Counterattack is in the Hybrid and PvP build because the 50% disarm talents are very nice vs. Rogues, and attaining Counterattack for only one talent point seems like an okay deal (after testing I might revisit it)

The basic rotation for Survival Hunters in PvE should be this:
Explosive Shot - Steady Shot x3 Repeat
While keeping Serpent Sting on the target.

If you have enough haste to bring Steady Shot down to 1.5 sec, than it is possible to fit 4 Steady Shots in between Explosive Shot, but that is with 0ms. And with the nerf to Steady Shot and the huge buff to Explosive Shot, I would not, even minutely, delay Explosive Shot from firing, as its just too much damage.

I plan to have a Survival Talent Guide up in the coming weeks after some experience with the tree.

1st Week Top 100 Arena 2v2 Results

Note: I know that 2v2 is the toughest for Blizzard to balance, but it is the most played bracket.

The end of the first week of Season 5 Arena has come and we begin to see trends of the best classes in 2v2 at the moment.  One team was incomplete (only had one high ranked player), so there were only 199 players out of the usual 200.

Top 100 in Arena 2v2

62 Paladins (31%)
54 Death Knights (27%)
23 Rogues (11.5%)
17 Mages (8.5%)
13 Priests (6.5%)
9 Hunters (4.5%)
8 Shamans (4%)
8 Druids (4%)
5 Warriors (2.5%)
0 Warlocks (0%)

Trends:

• Paladins and Death Knights trending higher than early in the 1st week (didn't think that was possible).

• Mages and Rogues trending lower than early in the 1st week (being replaced by DK's and Paladins).

• Priests trending higher, Hunters trending lower.  Other classes without significant shifts of representation.
  

Hunter in the #1 Arena 2's Team in the World

Doss, a BM Hunter, and Walka, a Holy Paladin, are currently the top Arena 2's team in the World.  They are currently rated 2152.  This is quite an accomplishment for Hunter's even though we are still underrepresented overall in the top 100 in 2's at the moment.

BM Hunters are going to be getting a big nerf come patch (Readiness no longer affecting Bestial Wrath), and that Viper sting will no longer own Retribution Paladins (percentage based mana drains).  These 2 big nerfs will definitely have an effect on the PvP prowess of Hunters.  It will be interesting to see what other specs Hunters will come up with to compete in PvP (especially considering the new Explosive Shot).



Interesting PTR developments:

Beast Mastery

* Master's Call now remove all root and movement impairing effects from itself and its target, and causes your pet and its target to be immune to all such effects for 4 sec. (Old - Didn't affect pet)


Marksmanship

* Arcane Shot mana cost has been reduced from 7% of base mana to 5% of base mana for higher ranks. From 10% of base mana to 7% of base mana for lower ranks.


Survival

* Explosive Shot have been greatly increased but the ability doesn't deal AE damage anymore. (Rank 4: You fire an explosive charge into the enemy target, dealing [ 18% of RAP + 476 ] Fire damage. The charge will blast the target every second for an additional 2 sec.)


Pet

* Spore Cloud (Rank 6) range has been increased from 5 yards to 6 yards.


Others (link):

Glyph of Mend Pet: Now gives +20 Happiness per tick in addition to the 20 on initial application.


Aspects are back on the regular GCD.
Bestial Wrath is now off the GCD.

Scorpid Poison is now using the same spell AP ratio that others are using (~4.28%) rather than the 5% we modeled previously (the spreadsheet uses 5%). I think that is what they meant in the patch notes about making it the same as other abilities.

So it looks like Rake and Scorpid Poison come out of this pretty well intact.
 
 

1st Week of Arena Season 5 Data

If burst is the new king, Paladin's are the queen.  Their anti-burst bubble's make them the best class to counter burst (especially melee).

Note: It is way too early in the season to truly see where the classes are going to end up.  I'm just bringing the facts as they are written.  Just take the facts with a grain of salt; it is too early to make great judgments concerning classes.

In the top 100 in 2's, there are 57 paladins (28.5% representation, half the teams had at least one paladin)!
Source: http://www.sk-gaming.com/arena/team/2/all/all/all/all/all/

There are in fact a few Hunter's in the top 100 (12 at the moment, 6% representation).  Almost all of them are 50/21, which is getting a severe nerf come next patch.

The rest of the classes in the top 100:

37 Death Knights (18.5%)
36 Mages (18%)
34 Rogues (17%)
8 Druids (4%)
6 Priests (3%)
5 Shamans (2.5%)
4 Warriors (2%)
1 Warlock (0.5%)

From the data, right now, in the first week, it looks like Paladins, Death Knights, Mages & Rogues are doing very well in some combo's in 2's.  Every other class has much less representation at the moment.

Now I also know that on my server Death Knights and Paladins are the most played class at 80, representing 26% of the player base at 80.  If this is true for most servers, than Paladins and Death Knights should do above average just because of their higher player representation (opposite goes for lower played classes).

My 2's experience this week (Hunter/Rogue):

We can blow up half the teams real fast and I can kite around pillars (except in the terrible Ring of Valor arena).  We have extreme trouble with Paladin and Death Knight teams.  This is unfortunate because we play these 2 classes in half of our games.


My 3's experience this week (Hunter/Rogue/Death Knight):

I die so fast, it hurts so bad.  Please oh god, the pain...  Cannot wait for new Deterrence... anything to stop the murdering of my poor, poor Hunter...  It did not help that almost every game was in the Ring of Valor, which was suppose to help Hunters, but in my experience, it is my worst arena by far since Hunters have terrible defensive abilities.
 

Nuramoc Tamed

 
@6:26 (Server Time), December 16th, on Blackrock, Nuramoc was tamed.


Details and information after pic.

Siphter, my loyal Rogue friend, spotted her for me.  Luckily I was logged out right by the bridge.  I logged in and flew about 50 yards to the left of this image and tamed Nuramoc.

It had been an interesting day since earlier in the day I had seen my first Nuramoc in the wild (it was on the PTR).  She flies in a figure 8 wherever she spawns.  She does not despawn in one hour if no one touches her like some people have suggested (I was afk with her for over an hour and a half).  She does fly fast, about normal mount speed.

She doesn't fly as high as some people have suggested, about only 10 yards up most the time.  Here are some pics:

 

  

  

Wow.  It has been a lot of camping and flying to try to find this rare beast.  I tried to tame her after the 3.0.2 patch came out and there was just too much competition, and I finally gave up.  But this time around, I stuck with it as there was hardly any competition so I knew I could eventually snag me a Nuramoc.  She is beautiful.

Oh, and by the way, the Arena season has begun...  I will have to jump in this week and see how I fair...  We will see if there is any type of PvP balance at 80...
 

Patch 3.0.8 Hunter Changes

Hunter

• All Hunter pet abilities with a cooldown of 30 seconds or more are no longer on the global cooldown.
• The coefficient of Rake (Cat) and Scorpid Venom (Scorpid) has been lowered.

Skills
Marksmanship

• Volley damage has been reduced by 30%. (From 505 to 353 damage for Rank 6)   
• Viper Sting now Stings the target, draining 16% of mana over 8 sec (up to a maximum of 32% of the caster's maximum mana).
• Steady Shot now only gains 10% of attack power as damage (down from 20%).
• Kill Shot cooldown lowered from 35 to 15 seconds.

Survival

• Deterrence changed to - When activated, increases parry chance by 100% and grants a 100% chance to deflect spells cast by targets in front of you. While Deterrence is active, you cannot attack.  Lasts 5 sec. 1 min cooldown.
• Aspect of the Wild now affects raid members.

Pet

• Prowl (Rank 2) level requirement lowered from 40 to 30.

Talents
Beast Mastery

• Unleashed Fury now increases the damage done by your pets by 3/6/9/12/15%. (Down from 4/8/12/16/20%)
• Serpent's Swiftness now increases pet's melee attack speed by 2/4/6/8/10%. (Down from 4/8/12/16/20%)
• Kindred Spirits now increases pet's damage by 3/6/9/12/15%. (Down from 4/8/12/16/20%)

Survival

• Improved Tracking changed to While tracking Beasts, Demons, Dragonkin, Elementals, Giants, Humanoids and Undead, all ranged damage done to those types is increased by 1/2/3/4/5%.
• Trap Mastery now only increases periodic damage done by Immolation and Explosive Trap. (Old - All damage)

Marksmanship

• Readiness doesn't affect Bestial Wrath anymore.
• Marked for Death now also affects Arcane Shot.

Pet

• Call of the Wild now benefits only the hunter and his or her pet.

I have been following the Hunter changes since they first appeared on the Damage Dealing forums. Let's break down the main 3 nerfs and the main 2 buffs...

Three Main Nerfs

• Readiness doesn't affect Bestial Wrath anymore.

This is the largest nerf to BM Hunters, as the 50/21 spec was unbelievably amazing in PvE and PvP.  Readiness in conjuction with Bestial Wrath was just too powerful.  I totally agree that this needed to happen.

• BM Talent Nerfs (Unleashed Fury, Serpent's Swiftness & Kindred Spirits)

These three talents were crucial talents and pretty much had to be picked up because of their damage increase.  I am okay with this nerf, as these talents are still very good after the nerf.

• Steady Shot now only gains 10% of attack power as damage (down from 20%).

This is a big nerf to Steady Shot for all Hunters.  This actually ends up hurting Survival the most as it is the most important part of Survival's damage (BM Hunters have their pets which do more damage than Steady Shot).  All Hunters will see their damage decrease with this nerf.

I love this change.  I can only hope they go a few steps further with the idea of Steady Shot being a filler shot and not our most important shot.  As a BM Hunter I must say PvE is ridiculously easy and extremely boring as I have to spam Steady Shot to do maximum damage.

I believe Blizz will have to buff Arcane Shot for it to be weaved into a BM Hunters rotation, even with the nerfs to Steady Shot (as Steady Shot still scales with weapon damage and ammo, while Arcane Shot does not).  Introducing more scaling with Arcane Shot would be a good boost to Hunters in PvP and allowing us to use more complex rotations for damage in PvE.


Two Main Buffs

• Kill Shot cooldown lowered from 35 to 15 seconds.

This is a solid buff to a very nice ability.  Being able to use it 2-4 times instead of 1-2 times on bosses is a dps boost, and having to wait on the cooldown in PvP will be a lot less painful.

• Deterrence changed to - When activated, increases parry chance by 100% grants a 100% chance to deflect spells cast by targets in front of you. While Deterrence is active, you cannot attack. Lasts 5 sec. 1 min cooldown.

This is a huge change.  Deterrence is now totally different than before.

If facing the target is taken out of the requirements, than Deterrence becomes a solid ability.  If facing the target remains, than when you might need Deterrence most (during a stun), Deterrence probably will not help you (as the attacker will now be behind you).

I do not like that I cannot attack the target during Deterrence, but I understand why they would have that limitation with the ability.  I wonder if Deterrence stops the damage from ticking dots when you enter Deterrence...  Basically, time will tell if Deterrence is a good ability or not, but any change to the mechanics of Deterrence is good in my book.
 

Best PvE Hunter Pet

For an updated post about 3.1 Hunter Pet DPS, view my new BM PvE page.


I have done some testing on level 80 test dummies with a Cat, Devilsaur, Wasp, Wind Serpent and Gorilla.

Pet families (tenacity, ferocity, cunning) have a large part to do with a pets damage; however, pet special abilities also factor in to pet damage.

Ferocity is the best tree for PvE (dps) and PvP.  That's just the way it works at the moment, and it is unfortunate that a whole pet family is inferior because the Cunning tree is lackluster.

Wind Serpent: Worst dps of the bunch (wait, isn't their a gorilla in the mix?...  yes there is...).  Go for the Throat makes Owl's Focus pretty worthless.  Cornered and Feeding Frenzy are trivial compared to a Ferocity's 9% crit and Rabid.  Wolverine Bite is actually okay in PvE (bad on target dummies), but does not make up the damage loss of the other abilities.  Anyways...  basically you just can't go with a Cunning pet in PvE or PvP (for min/maxing purposes)...  ; (

Gorilla: 2nd worst dps of the bunch.  Yes, Thunderstomp is just that overpowered, even for single target dps.  I'm not sure why it hits much harder that other pet special abilities, since it also hits every enemy nearby.  But there ya go, a tenacity pet that can carry its own weight in a dps fight.  I thought about taming and leveling a Scorpid but just didn't see great application for one (as they are only decent vs single target long boss fights, and I only participate in few 10 mans, and no 25 man raids), not to mention, that I just do not like the tenacity pet for PvE dps situations, the Ferocity in my opinion offers much better survival options (lick your wounds & heart of the phoenix).

Wasp: Right in the middle of the 5 test pets sits the Wasp.  This is my PvP pet.  The Sting is just too good against mages and rogues (and the debuff is good against all for the 1200 armor ignore at level 80).  However, in PvE, the Wasp seems to lose a bit of its dominance as other classes can bring their own abilities that lower enemies armor which override my Wasps sting.  Basically the Wasp is good but not great PvE dps.  For min/maxing, the Wasp does not cut it.

Devilsaur/Cat: Easily top dps.  They are both very close in terms of dps.  On a target dummy the cat wins by a small margin, but buffs help a Devilsaurs Monstrous Bite, which makes them about equal in actuality.  However, there is one major flaw that a Devilsaur has... and that is Monstrous Bite, which makes the Devilsaur grow... growing its hit box with it.  This makes your Devilsaur sometimes aggro other mobs or bug out (not to mention the pounding steps).  Basically it is just a little too much of a hassle to bring a Devilsaur and since a Cat is about equal dps, I prefer the small and silent Cat instead of a Devilsaur.

Going with a Cat also allows you more options with speccing since you do not have to go a full 51 points into the BM tree.

Basically I'm just trying to stay interested in the game now that I have almost every piece of gear that I want and almost full honor points.  Can't wait for the Arena Season 5 to begin...  17th...  I feel like I'm waiting for Wrath of the Lich King all over again.
 

Hunter BM PvE at 80

Since we are still 2 weeks away from true PvP, I have been gearing up through all of the heroic 5 man dungeons that Wrath of the Lich King has to offer me.

I am enjoying my best PvE damage with this spec (I believe this to be a very popular spec):
  
 

Volley is still the bread and butter of PvE and Serpent's Swiftness and Mortal Shots help make it very strong.  And on boss fights BM is great.  So there is really no downside except for the constant spam of Steady Shot making it the most bland raiding spec (luckily Volley is still fun for me).

I believe pretty much everyone will be sporting heavy PvE gear throughout half of the 5th season of arena.  Burst damage will be key, and Paladins will be strong in Arena's because of their negation of burst (Divine Shield and Hand of Protection).

I'm going to be playing mainly in 2's with a Rogue and in 3's with a Rogue and a Death Knight.  Hopefully we will have some success somewhere.  I really hope Hunter's get a few more survival buffs and a few more on the run damage buffs before too long into arena season 5.
 

Wasp

Sting: 64 to 86 Nature damage, decreases target's armor by 1260 for 20 seconds (level 80).  While affected, the target cannot stealth or turn invisible.

The damage from Sting is actually a little bit less than the focus dump Smack, but it also costs only 20 focus, where Smack costs 25.  This leads me to believe that a Wasp is not even losing a tiny bit of damage with this special on auto-cast, but the Wasp probably does not gain any damage either.

The affect of Sting besides the damage is the real reason to get a Wasp.  Lowering your targets armor by 1260 is amazing vs. anyone with low armor.  Also the affect of not allowing stealth or invisibility is a big counter to a Rogues and Mages (great counter to instant invis from Arcane Mages).

Being a Ferocity pet, Wasps end up with the best tree for a BM hunter.  They can easily crit in PvP and can be instantly rezzed with Heart of the Phoenix.

Overall I love my Wasp for PvP and PvE.  The only thing I would change about it is the annoying sound of its wings buzzing... and now you can get rid of that noise by doing the following:

You basically just need to make a blank file (I just made an empty text file and renamed it accordingly) called "SilithidWingLoop2.wav" and put it here in your Wow game folder:

*wow program path* \Data\Sound\Creature\SilithidWasp\SilithidWingLoop2.wav"

That will override the default buzzing sound with nothing at all, which is blessed compared to what they do now. All their other sounds will play normally.

It seems all wasps at the moment use this same sound resource.
 

BM PvP Build Level 80: Hunter vs. Wild

Updated:  January 23rd 2009

41/7/23

This build encompasses The Beast Within, 2/3 Careful Aim and Hunter vs. Wild.  This is a heavy attack power and huge health build for a BM Hunter.  Survivalist + Hunter vs. Wild makes Stamina a very strong stat. 

Note: Without Aimed Shot you do lose some burst (although with Lock and Load helps add back some burst).  The 50% healing debuff is the largest loss in this build.  If you PvP with someone who provides a healing debuff than this build really shines (like I 2v2 with a Rogue, so I can get away without having Aimed Shot).

 

This is my spreadsheet that I have come up with to show the effects of Hunter vs. Wild:

I receive 438 attack power from Hunter vs. Wild with my 1,459 current Stamina.  My pet receives 534 attack power from Hunter vs. Wild (since my pet also scales from the 425 attack power that I receive from Hunter vs. Wild).

This was an extremely fun build to pursue.  I love that Stamina is a new stat that I can stack, it is very different from my usual stat collection.  I thoroughly enjoy having extremely high health, great attack power and a pet that is out for blood.  I also enjoy having The Beast Within available for those "oh shit" moments in PvP.
 

Level 80 Pet Leveling Build

After an enjoyable leveling experience to 80, I have reached the finish line... sort of.

Unfortunately, now I have to level some of my pets to 80.  This is going to be a time consuming process, taking many hours for each pet.  The options I now have at 80 allow me to build my character for the sole purpose of leveling pets.

The fastest way to level pets is aoe'ing mobs with Volley.  Unfortunately only Gorilla's can keep mobs off of you while you Volley.  So this build expects you to not have a Gorilla.  It offers top Volley damage while excellent protection from the many mobs attacking you during Volley.  Also, it has no mana downtime; infinite mana in Dragonhawk.  There is some health downtime though as your tanking these mobs, so you will probably need plenty of food or bandages.

Note: Some of the non essential talents I have are personal preference and may differ from popular opinion (ex. picking up Savage Strikes in Tier 1 of Surival because I hate having to switch my tracking to exactly what I'm killing) 

The essential points of this Pet Leveling Build are these:

• Aspect Mastery
• Reduces incoming damage by 5% when in Dragonhawk and also gives you 90 more attack power in Dragonhawk

• Careful Aim, Lethal Shots & Mortal Shots
  
• Careful Aim gives me 400 more attack power, the extra crit and damage on crit is very nice for Volley

• Trueshot Aura
• Self explanatory; gives me just over 300 attack power
  

• Barrage & Improved Barrage
• Increases damage of Volley by 12% and allows you to keep channeling Volley while being hit (essential, as only Gorilla's can keep mobs off you during Volley)

• Rapid Recuperation & Rapid Killing
• Zero downtime, always at 80% mana or more; essential for speed aoe'ing (never have to switch to Viper)

• Survival Instincts
• Reduces incoming damage by 4% (stacks with Aspect Mastery)
  

• Hunter vs. Wild & Survivalist
• The extra health from Survivalist is very nice and the extra attack power from Hunter vs. Wild is nothing to sneeze at.  I recieve 374 extra attack power from Hunter vs. Wild with my current gear.
  

   
I believe this build to be one of the fastest, if not the fastest, way to level pets up to 80.

Well, I guess its back to leveling...  *grumble grumble*... the only class to have to level past the cap...

 

Wrath of the Lich King BM Hunter Leveling Spec

My Leveling Spec at 70:

I went with Invigoration only because a Gorilla's Thunderstomp multiple crits will proc Invigoration multiple times (this is the only way that this talent is decent at all).

I didn't pick up GftT because I plan to mostly be using Volley, which does not proc GftT.

Frenzy isn't required as my pet is an aoe king, not a solo king; and this allows me to pick up better talents throughout the tree (better talents in respect to aoe leveling).

I plan to finish Serpent's Swiftness at 71.  And then put points into Kindred Spirits & Beast Mastery.  I'll probably finish up leveling by putting points into Hawk Eye for my personal satisfaction.

My Gorilla's Leveling Spec at 70:

 

   

Picked up the best tanking talent points available and plan to pick up Pet Barding as I level.

  

I'm not sure how long it will take to level from 70 to 80, but I bet it is going to be much more fun than 60 to 70, because of our much better ability to aoe.  

 

Oh, and head's up...  Glyph of Volley (Decreases the mana cost of Volley by 20%) will probably be available on the AH shortly after Wrath is released.  I advise picking that puppy up for aoe leveling.

 

Two Level 80 BM Hunter Builds for Arena Season 5

Arena Season 5 begins on December 16th.  That gives everyone a little over a month to get their 70 character to 80.  That should be enough time for most people to get to 80 if they only play one character to 80.  For Death Knights it will be a little bit tougher...

There are 2 difference specs I would like to try at 80.  One involves BM / Marks and the other is BM / Survival.

This is probably going to be very similar to most PvP BM Hunters come 80 (although I prefer Hawk Eye in all my builds).  Here is the BM / Marks build:

The BM / Survival build is my personal gem that I really want to try out come 80.  The premise is attaining Hunter vs Wild which gives you and your pet a lot of attack power, which BM lacks (in both the Hunter and pet).  It also makes Stamina the best stat to stack by far.  I chose Savage Strikes instead of 2 points instead of Improved Tracking because I find it really annoying to switch from Tracking Stealth since tracking is on the GCD.  Here is the build: 

 

Wolf - Furious Howl: My pet for PvP

Furious Howl is an ability that can always be up on your wolf (10 second duration on a 10 second cooldown).

It gives you and your party 138 attack power (which is very nice for 2v2 or 3v3 with my Rogue friend).  But it also buffs your pets attack power by 168!  Since by boosting your attack power, your giving more attack power (30) to your pet along with the 138 attack power of Furious Howl.

This is a nice ability since its a self buff and cannot be resisted, blocked, dodged or parried.  The wolf is also a Ferocity pet so it can reliably crit in PvP (Ferocious Inspiration & Frenzy do not go to waste) and has great survivability talents (Lick Your Wounds & Heart of the Phoenix).  Also Call of the Wild is freaking ridiculous, 20 second Trueshot Aura, thank you.

This pet seems to be a true winner for a double dps Rogue Hunter team, and even for a 3's team with a Rogue, Hunter and Healer.  I cannot wait until 80 to get more pet talent points and talent points for myself.  A little under 2 weeks...
 

Hyena: Not Impressive

Since switching to a build without the 51 point Beast Mastery talent I decided I should try the slowing capabilities of the Hyena, since I loved my Chimaera so much.  To get straight to the point, the Hyena slow does not compare to the Chimaera slow at all.

With Longevity it is on a 14 second cooldown (6 second slow).  So theoretically it should be up 43% of the time.  However, it is a physical ability and therefore can be dodged, blocked or parried.  This means against Rogues, Warriors and Feral Druids (melee classes), this slow will not be up reliably.  Against casters this slow will fare better.

Compared to other pet specials this is not a top ten ability.  The only real good thing going for the Hyena is that it is a Ferocity pet, which allows it to crit (with talents) reliably in PvP.  However, there are other Ferocity pets out there that are better than the Hyena.
 

1658 Hunter Rogue Arena

It may not sound like an accomplishment, but my Rogue friend and I just got above 1650!  Disregarding the OP Ret Paladins, I feel as though Hunter's are better off in the Arena than what they were before the 3.0.2 patch.  We still have a way's to go, but we are getting better.

It took us two big run ups to get past 1650.  This time however, we did vs some Ret Pally teams, and actually won half of the time (some of those Paladins were absolutely terrible, most of the good ones are probbly above 2k by now).

We versed a Warrior Warrior team and got 24 points (were very good against melee teams).  And then we versed a couple different Warrior Druid teams and got some good points to get us past 1650.  To defeat the Warrior Druid teams we blew up the Warrior and my Rogue would blind Druid at a crucial point and then stun him up and I was left alone to finish the Warrior.  With our burst we were able to down the Warrior decently easy, in about 15-20 seconds, and our gear isn't that great yet (burst is very high since patch).

When 3.0.3 goes live, I expect Hunter's to be in a better position (given the buffs to Hunter's and nerfs to Paladins).  I would expect to be able to get into the 1700's after the patch.  We will still be rather weak vs casters, which is unfortunate but with a Rogue, it is definitely not impossible to beat a good caster team.

Well, back to the honor grind for my new Guardian's Band of Triumph.
 

Hunter & Rogue 2v2 Arena - 3.0.2

I 2v2 with my rogue friend.  We were a win away from attaining 1650 yesterday, but unfortunately we started queuing the Ret Pally teams, and we could not close the deal.

As a Hunter, I have zero defense vs. casters and therefore cannot engage them out in the open and hope to live to tell the tale.  There is only one reliable defense against casters: LOS!

Every game I find a pillar and stick on it, laying a frost trap by it and kiting around it.  My Chimeara helps kiting with Frostorm Breath.  The Beast Within can also help with kiting or damage depending on the need.

Most players trying to kill me will give up way too late, after my partner has already killed the healer or their other dps.  With nameplates in sight no matter where you are in the Arena, LOS'ing has never been easier.

This LOS worked incredibly well at defending me against mages, warlocks, priests, warriors, rogues and shamans.  It did not help in defending me against Paladins, because of Freedom, and it only helped a little bit verse Hunters, because of Pets.

There definitely is some sweet redemption to LOS'ing the same classes who use to LOS me in the past.

With the upcoming buffs to Disengage and Aspect of the Monkey, Hunter's will be in an even better position against Melee, while still lacking magic defense.  Unfortunately Arcane Mages will still be crazy bursty, as will Moonkins, but at least Ret Pallies might not continue their crusade of destruction.

I still think Hunter's are in the basement of the Arena class pool, especially if the better classes are casting classes (as we have no defense against them).
 

Chimaera: Froststorm Breath + Wolverine Bite = Win

For the last week I have been absolute in love with one pet, a Chimaera (exotic pet).  There is nothing quite like seeing my pet Froststorm Breath someone from range in the face and slowing them down so I can stand there and unload.

Froststorm Breath is the special Chimaera's have.  The ability inflicts 30-40 Frost & Nature damage (scales & doubled in 3.0.3) and slows the target for 5 sec.  Froststorm Breath is on a 10 sec CD, but 3/3 Longevity make it a 7 sec CD (that's an uptime of 71.4%).

Even if Froststorm Breath were the only thing going for a Chimaera, they would still be excellent for PvP.  But there is an ability in the Cunning tree called Wolverine Bite.  This ability causes 355 damage, modified by pet lvl, that your pet can use after its target dodges, and cannot be dodged, blocked or parried.  It is on a 10 sec CD, but that's 7 sec CD with 3/3 Longevity.

My screenshot of the Wolverine Bite critting the Rogue in Warsong Gulch for 3.2k is evidence enough that this ability kicks some serious ass.

Here is some data that I have compiled after a long World PvP session in front of the Scarlet Monastery.  It is not entirely accurate as sometimes I would kill a few low lvl mobs in the way, but for the most part it gives us an idea about the Chimaera's abilities in PvP.

Chimaera Data

Melee:

As you can see, the Chimaera being a Cunning pet, does not tend to crit often in PvP (Resilience blows).  The htis and crits are not anything special.

Bite:

Bite crits a little more often due to Cobra Strikes.  It's damage is right around a melee hit.

Froststorm Breath:

Again, FB crits more often than Melee because of Cobra Strikes.  FB's damage is not very good.  However, when the damage is doubled it will do a little more damage, on average, than Bite or Melee.  That is pretty huge considering it also slows for 5 sec.

Wolverine Bite:

And last but not least we have Wolverine Bite.  It seemed to crit considerably higher than other special abilities and I'm not sure why that is.  As you can see the damage is amazing, average hits were 597, and average crits were 1147.  To get the much higher hits and crits with Wolverine Bite, Kill Command needs to be used (1492 hit, 2835 crit).


I have been completely surprised on how deeply I've fallen for my Chimaera.  In World PvP & BG's there is no other like my Chimaera.  In Arena's its a little more dependant on group makeup.
 

Anti-Melee Hunter & Hunter Glyph Guide for PvP

Over the last few days trying I've tried out a few BM talent builds.  I believe I have found one of the best Anti-Melee Hunter builds available at 70.

I have been able to easily beat all types of Rogues, Warriors and yes, even some Ret Paladins.

The talent build is 53/7/0 (the specific build can be found on the BM PvP page).

The key pet in this build is the Chamaera pet.  Its special, Froststorm Breath, decreases movement speed by 50% for 5 seconds every 7 seconds (with Longevity).

Combine Froststorm Breath with concussive shot (4 second daze) and your target can always be slowed from range.

It is also a Cunning pet, which has Wolverine Bite available.  Wolverine Bite comes into play after the target dodges, which will usually happen against a melee target, and it hits hard, crazy hard!

This was on a Rogue in Warsong Gulch, my buffs that created this monstrous Wolverine Bite crit are just Aspect of the Monkey, 200 AP Trinket, Bestial Wrath & Kill Command.

Another key point of this build is having the Glyph of Frost Trap (increases radius by 2 yards) and the Glyph of Aspect of the Monkey (after dodging while in Aspect of the Monkey your movement speed is increased by 30% for 6 secs).  This allows me to kite melee classes around my larger frost trap while most of the time running at 30% faster speed.

Bestial Wrath / Beast Within & Intimidation are some other essential tools available with this build (but I'm guessing your very familiar with them).

Disengage & Deterrence are some other major tools available that can be of excellent help in defeating melee opponents.

With all these tools in this build Hunter's can defeat and even dominate melee classes... now caster classes, that's a different story...


I also have posted a Hunter Glyph Guide for PvP.
 

Hunter Glyph Guide

Updated: April 15th 2009 (updated for 3.1)

  
Major Glyphs

• Glyph of Chimera Shot (PvE/PvP)

A great glyph for Marks Hunters in PvE and PvP. 

Best glyph for Marks PvE

• Glyph of Explosive Shot (PvE/PvP)

A great glyph for Survival Hunters in PvE and PvP.  Increasing the crit chance of Explosive Shot is never a bad thing no matter how much crit I have.

Best glyph for Survival PvE

• Glyph of Explosive Trap (PvE)

Allowing ticks to crit is an interesting effect for trash mobs.  Still not sold on it, as volley spam is probably better.

• Glyph of Kill Shot (PvE/PvP)

Six seconds off of the cooldown on Kill Shot is a good DPS increase in PvE and could be situationally beneficial in PvP.

2nd best glyph for Survival PvE
3rd best glyph for Marks PvE
5th best glyph for BM PvE

• Glyph of Raptor Strike (PvP)

A 20% damage reduction is always nice.  But the duration is only 3 seconds and only after a Raptor Strike.  This seems like a lot of work for only a 20% damage reduction.
    
However, Raptor Strike is on a 6 second cooldown, so theoretically I could have 20% damage reduction up half the time.

Realistically it is tough to use Raptor Strike when trying to get to range as it is a next melee attack move and not an instant like Mongoose Bite.

• Glyph of Scatter Shot (PvP)
  

Increasing the range from 15 yards to 18 yards is merely okay.  I can that it is beneficial, but only by a small margin.

• Glyph of Mending (PvE/PvP)

Used to be Glyph of the Monkey.  Now it increases healing done by Mend Pet by 40%.  Should be semi-useful for leveling and maybe okay for PvP, although Mend Pet is so weak in PvP that it might not matter.

 

• Glyph of Steady Shot (PvE)

A very decent glyph for PvE, for all specs.

2nd best glyph for BM PvE
3rd best glyph for Survival PvE
4th best glyph for Marks PvE

   

• Glyph of Serpent Sting (PvE/PvP)

This is a very nice Glyph for PvE purposes.  It grants me additional time to use other high damaging moves if I am a Beast Mastery or Survival Hunter.  If I am a Marksmanship Hunter it does buff the damage of my Chimera Shot Serpent Sting portion by a solid amount, which is great for PvE and PvP.

2nd best glyph for Marks PvE
4th best glyph for BM PvE
5th best glyph for Survival PvE

• Glyph of Bestial Wrath (PvE/PvP)

With Longevity and Glyph of Bestial Wrath my Bestial Wrath cooldown becomes approximately 1 min 10 secs (70 secs).  This can be very useful in PvP situations and being able to use it again in a fight could make all the difference.

Best glyph for BM PvE

• Glyph of Trueshot Aura (PvE/PvP)

This is a lackluster Major Glyph for Marksmanship Hunters in PvE.  For PvP it is merely okay. 

6th best glyph for Marks PvE
  

• Glyph of Improved Aspect of the Hawk (PvE)
  

Some Marksmanship and especially Survival builds are incorporating this Glyph with only 1 point into Improved Aspect of the Hawk.  So in effect this Glyph makes 1 talent point in IAotH equal to 3 talent points in IAotH.  This allows a Marksmanship or Survival Hunter to spend more time in the other two trees.

3rd best glyph for BM PvE
4th best glyph for Marks PvE
4th best glyph for Survival PvE

• Glyph of Frost Trap (PvP)

This may not seem like much, but when kiting melee classes that can hit you from 10 yards with their colossal weapons, every yard counts.

• Glyph of Disengage (PvP)

Reducing the cooldown of Disengage from 30 seconds to 25 seconds (17% reduction).  A great glyph for any Hunter spec in PvP.

• Glyph of Freezing Trap (PvP)
  

Have not tried this one out, but it seems merely okay, as 30% is not a big reduction in speed compared to most slows.

• Glyph of Wyvern Sting (PvP)
  

Only a 6 second reduction now, terrible glyph.

• Glyph of Hunter's Mark (PvE)
  

This makes my level 80 Hunter's Mark apply 60 more attack power.

6th best glyph for BM PvE
7th best glyph for Marks PvE
7th best glyph for Survival PvE

• Glyph of Volley (PvE)

This Major Glyph is only decent if I find myself leveling a pet by aoe'ing (volley).  It might also be useful if you are leveling a Hunter by aoe'ing.



Minor Glyphs

• Glyph of Feign Death (PvE/PvP)
  

Reduces the cooldown of your Feign Death spell by 5 seconds.  This reduces the cooldown by approx 17%, which is very good in PvE and PvP.

This Minor Glyph is one of the best.

• Glyph of Mend Pet (PvE)
  

Your Mend Pet spell increases your pet's happiness slightly.

Before 3.0.8 it applied 20 happiness only at the beginning of Mend Pet.  After 3.0.8 it now applies 20 happiness for every tick of Mend Pet, making this Minor Glyph very useful for quickly raising your pets happiness in combat.

• Glyph of Revive Pet (PvE/PvP)
  

Reduces the pushback suffered from damaging attacks while casting Revive Pet by 100%.

This might be semi-useful if you already have the Improved Revive Pet talent.

• Glyph of Scare Beast (PvP)
  

Reduces the pushback suffered from damaging attacks while casting Scare Beast by 75%.

This might be semi-useful at more easily fearing Druids while being attacked.
    

Beta Build 9095 Hunter Changes

Skills 

Beast Mastery

• Aspect of the Viper changed to - The hunter takes on the aspect of the viper, causing ranged and melee attacks to regenerate mana but reducing your total damage done by 50%.  In addition, you gain 4% of maximum mana every 3 sec. Mana gained is based on the speed of your ranged weapon. Only one Aspect can be active at a time.

Survival

• Disengage mana cost has been lowered from 14% of base mana to 5% of base mana.

Talent

Beast Mastery

• Ferocious Inspiration now affects your raid.
• Animal Handler now increase your pet's expertise by 5/10. (Old - Increased the chance to hit by 2/4%)

Marksmanship

• Improved Barrage now affects Aimed Shot.
• Barrage now affects Aimed Shot.

Pet Skills

• Swipe (Bear) focus cost reduced from 25 to to 20. Damage increased (60-84 to 90-126 for Rank 6)
• Snatch (Bird of Prey) focus cost reduced from 40 to 20.
• Gore (Boar) focus cost reduced from 25 to 20. Damage increased. (122-164 for Rank 6)
• Rake (Cat) focus cost reduced from 25 to 20. Damage lowered. (From 59-83 + 21-27 over 9 sec to 24-34 + 22-28 over 9 sec)
• Fire Breath (Dragonhawk) now has a 20 yards range.
• Froststorm Breath (Chimaera) focus cost reduced from 25 to 20. Damage increased. (64-86 to 128-172 for Rank 6)
• Lava Breath (Core Hound) focus cost reduced from 25 to 20. Damage increased. (64-86 to 128-172 for Rank 6)
• Monstrous Bite (Devilsaur) focus cost reduced from 25 to 20.
• Stamped (Rhino) damage increased (from 91-123 to 182-246 for Rank 6). Knockback reduced from 15 yards to 10 yards.
• Spirit Strike (Spirit Beast) damage increased. (from 43-47 + 43-47 over 10 sec to 85-115 + 85-115 over 10 sec)
• Acid Spit (Worm) damage increased. (62-88 to 124-176 for Rank 6)
• Thunderstomp (Gorilla) focus cost reduced from 25 to 20.
• Tendon Rip (Hyena) focus cost reduced from 25 to 20.
• Savage Rend (Raptor) focus cost reduced from 25 to 20.
• Ravage (Ravager) damage increased. (89-125 to 106-150 for Rank 6)
• Scorpid Poison (Scorpid) focus cost reduced from 25 to 20. Damage lowered. (From 85 to 45 for Rank 6)
• Poison Spit (Serpent) focus cost reduced from 25 to 20.
• Spore Cloud (Sporebat) focus cost reduced from 25 to 20.
• Lightning Breath (Wind Serpent) focus cost reduced from 25 to 20.
• Sting (Wasp) focus cost reduced from 25 to 20.

Glyphs

• Glyph of Trueshot Aura - While your Trueshot Aura is active, you have 10% increased critical strike chance on your Aimed Shot. (Old - Increases the attack power bonus of Trueshot Aura by an additional 2%.)

Undocumented Changes

• Scorpid Poision was nerfed by 50%

BM Talent Guide

Updated:  December 22nd 2008


Level 80 Assessment of BM Talents:


Tier 1

Improved Aspect of the Hawk

PvE: Okay

• BM Hunter's are very close to the Steady Shot 1.5 second GCD with Serpent's Swiftness, so this talent only increases auto shot speed when it procs.
  

 PvP: Bad

• Auto Shot cannot be done while moving, which PvP is all about.  Endurance Training is usually preferred.

Endurance Training

PvE: Okay

• Increased survivability is nice but not essential in PvE.
  

PvP: Good

• Increased survivability is always helpful in PvP.
  

Tier 2

Focused Fire

PvE: Good

• 1-2% damage increase along with a buff to Kill Command is quite nice.

PvP: Good

• Kill Command buff increases burst dps which is essential in PvP.
  

Improved Aspect of the Monkey

PvE: Bad

PvP: Good

• Good vs Melee classes when they are attacking you from the front.

• If you use the Glyph of Aspect of the Monkey, than this talent can help in proccing the 30% increased movement speed for 6 sec.

Thick Hide 

PvE: Okay

• Only good if your pet is tanking or off tanking.

PvP: Okay

• A little more armor helps mitigate physical damage, but still, not a strong talent.
  

Improved Revive Pet

PvE: Good

• Without this talent resurrecting your pet is only possible outside of combat.

PvP: Good (same as above)


Tier 3

Pathfinding

PvE: Terrible

• God awful, unless you find yourself wiping constantly in dungeons and need your party to feel better about itself with a quicker Aspect of the Pack.

PvP: Terrible

• Aspect of the Cheetah is worthless in PvP because of the threat of being dazed for 4 seconds.  The mount speed buff is okay in classic world pvp where you need to catch up to someone on their mount, but chances are they will be an Unholy Death Knight or a Paladin and you will feel like a nub for wasting talent points.

Aspect Mastery

PvE: Amazing 

• While in DragonHawk you gain an additional 90 attack power (at level 80) and 5% reduction of incoming damage.  In Viper your damage decrease is only 40% instead of 50%.

PvP: Amazing (same as above)


Unleashed Fury

PvE: Amazing

• 15% more damage from your pet is Big Time News as a BM Hunter (has great synergy with Kindred Spirits).

PvP: Amazing

• When your hiding behind a pillar in Arena's because you get four shotted by every other class, you better believe your pet is fighting your battles for you on the other side, give him all the bonus damage you can because you have to LOS or you're dead.

Tier 4

Improved Mend Pet

PvE: Okay

• Essential if you find yourself solo'ing Elite mobs or questing, but once you get to 80 and start doing dungeons it is merely okay.

PvP: Okay

• It can be handy to remove dots or impairing effects on your pet, but it does not do it quick enough to be reliable.

Ferocity

PvE: Amazing

• There are three ways to increase your pets critical chance, two are reliable, this is one of the reliable ways.

PvP: Amazing

• Resilience makes it real tough for a BM Hunter pet to crit at all (with this talent); however, when this talent is combined with a Ferocity pet's 9% crit talent you can have a pet that can reliably crit in PvP, which is utterly essential for a BM Hunter (pet crits proc Ferocious Inspiration and Frenzy; 7 talent points of a BM Hunter).

Tier 5

Spirit Bond

PvE: Good

• Health regen in combat is convenient and the 10% increased healing on you and your pet can be very helpful.
  

PvP: Good (same as above)


Intimidation

PvE: Okay

• Most bosses are immune to stuns and stunning trash is usually a waste of time, but for solo play it can be useful (it is required for Bestial Wrath).
  

PvP: Good

• Stunning someone for 3 seconds is always useful in PvP, unfortunately its not instant so it is hard to time perfectly.

Bestial Discipline

PvE: Good

• Allows your pet to be less focus starved increasing its damage from specials significantly.

PvP: Good (same as above)


Tier 6

Animal Handler

PvE: Good

• Reduces targets chance to dodge and parry your pets attack by 2.5% each, which is a nice dps boost for your pet.

PvP: Good (same as above)


Frenzy

PvE: Good

• Only need 3-4 talent points invested into this baby, depending if you have Cobra Strikes, and it will increase your pets attack speed, therefor decreasing time in between crits and maximizing up time of Ferocious Inspiration and Frenzy.

PvP: Good (same as above)


Tier 7

Ferocious Inspiration

PvE: Amazing

• 3% increased damage of all party and raid members.  FI is almost always up if your pet is attacking a target.

PvP: Amazing (same as above)


Bestial Wrath

PvE: Amazing

• 50% additional damage for your pet for 18 seconds is great, the enraged effect is pure bonus.

PvP: Amazing (same as above)


Catlike Reflexes

PvE: Bad

• 3% dodge and 9% pet dodge is bad for 3 talent points.  It is only decent if your pet is tanking instances, elites or is aoe'ing (gorilla).

PvP: Terrible

• The only way this talent could be of any use is if your fighting completely melee teams and your going for max dodge on yourself.

Tier 8

Invigoration

PvE: Okay

• 1% mana on every pet crit is merely okay.  Everytime I find that I've specced into it I have been completely dissapointed with how little mana I get back.  I would only put points into it if you have extra points that your just going to waste otherwise.
  

PvP: Okay (same as above)


Serpent's Swiftness

PvE: Amazing

• 20% ranged attack speed and 10% pet attack speed is absolutely essential in every BM build.

PvP: Amazing (same as above)


Tier 9

Longevity

PvE: Amazing

• 30% reduction of the cooldown on Bestial Wrath and Intimidation is enough to make this talent good, the 30% reduction of Pet Special Abilities is just a little extra icing on the cake.

PvP: Amazing

• Glyph of Bestial Wrath with Longevity make Bestial Wrath only on a 1 minute and 10 second cooldown.  BW is the bread and butter of BM Hunters.

The Beast Within

PvE: Good

• 10% additional damage and 20% less mana on all spells while under Bestial Wrath is very good for only one talent point, and the enrage effect on yourself can be very useful on certain boss fights.
  

PvP: Crucial

• The enrage affect is what keeps others from controlling the fight and owning you in an instant.  In arena's you can use BW to kite around pillars and keep yourself alive, or you can use it offensively to burst someone.  It is what makes a BM Hunter a BM Hunter in PvP.

Cobra Strikes

PvE: Good

• Steady Shot is the bread and butter shot of BM Hunters in PvE.  This means that Cobra Strikes is up quite a bit in PvE causing your pet to crit quite a bit more on its specials.  Cobra Strikes ensures Ferocious Inspiration and Frenzy are always up.

PvP: Okay

• Arcane Shot will be used quite a bit in PvP, and Kill Shot occasionally, which might increase your burst from time to time; however, it does procs far less in PvP.  This is due to resilience and because your not spamming steady shot.  I would not really recommended Cobra Strikes unless you seem to have extra talent points.
  

Tier 10

Kindred Spirits

PvE: Amazing

• 15% more pet damage synergizes great with Unleashed Fury making your pet a complete monster that takes no prisoners.

PvP: Amazing

• Along with increased damage for your pet you get a 10% movement speed increase (which is actually pretty decent even though it is only 2% faster than a boot enchant) that can really help Hunters kite.

Tier 12

Beast Mastery

PvE: Okay

• Exotic pets are pretty interesting, but not that much better than normal pets (cats and scorpids can be better in PvE than any Exotic pet).  The 4 extra pet skill points are very nice for every pet tree, but again, not really essential.

PvP: Okay

• Exotic pets have better pet specials than normal pets.  The best pet special in PvP is Froststorm Breath, which is from the Chimaera.  Unfortunately it is a Cunning pet, which makes the Chimaera weak in PvP.  The four extra pet talent points are merely okay in PvP.
  

My Idea Page: My wish list Talent Tree and base line ability changes
 

Dragonhawk: 18% Dodge & Hawk AP

Q u o t e:
This has got me a little worried on the basis if it is truly an upgrade or a disaster in disguise. Since AotM and AotH are being combined please tell me that their stats are not being reduced in anyway, shape, or form.

---

They are not being reduced in any way, shape or form. The idea is that you no longer ever need to go into Monkey or Hawk at high level. Now, of course that could change if hunters end up being too good for some reason. But we have no upcoming plans to nerf it.

---

Q u o t e:
While this is a great change, the fact that you don't even mention Aspect of the Beast in your "rotation" might be indicative that this aspect really has little to no purpose.

---

We do need to find a better role for Beast but we thought this was enough of a change for now.

---

Q u o t e:
I am in a bit of disbelief that you think this change is useless. It gives you two Aspects for the Price of one, and buffs one of them. Plus all glyphs interact with Dragonhawk as if it were either Aspect individually.

---

If you were an expert at switching aspects and were never going to be in Hawk in melee or Monkey at range, then I suppose it won't have a huge effect on you. In that case it's more of a "quality of life" change. You do get some minor benefits from being in both modes at the same time -- say you need to get one last shot off while someone is in melee with you perhaps.

---

Q u o t e:
Ug, doesn't this just totally destroy the entire argument about melee needing to be able to hit hunters in melee when they close in with them?

---

No, because hunters always had Monkey. They were likely going to switch into it anyway when you close to melee with them. In fact, this is why we prefer this solution to just letting hunters gets lots of dodge from Agility. This way we know exactly what their dodge chance will be rather than having hunters do much better damage AND be much more evasive in melee as their Agi gets higher and higher.

---

Q u o t e:
This makes it sound like your adding an additional 10% dodge to monkey but that's hardly a little.. Just to clarify, do you mean that you'll be raising the current monkey up to about 10%?

---

Monkey and Dragonhawk offer 18% dodge now.

Link:  http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.html?topicId=11228504361&sid=2000&pageNo=7#129


Wow, this is a very nice buff to Hunter's vs. Melee.  If we can manage to pull out a buff in our magic defense department (as we have zero magic defense right now, I do not count pet specific specials) than we might have a fighting chance in the Arena.
 

New Aspect at 75: Dragonhawk

Aspects are now off the GCD. It's true. There will still be a 1 sec cooldown to switch from one aspect to another. It should feel a lot more like warrior stances or death knight presences.

We're also going to be putting a little bit of dodge (~10%?) onto Monkey. I'll update when we decide on a final number.

Just for consistency, paladin auras will probably get the same treatment.

These changes should go live before Nov 13.

As always, thanks for all of the feedback, and please keep it up now that many of the changes are live.

EDIT: After further discussion, we're not crazy about the "stance dancing" that hunters need to do to switch to Monkey when someone is in on you in melee. As we've said a few times, Disengage and Deterrence should be your go-to abilities at that time. If anything, removing Aspects from the GCD makes it feel like you are supposed to go Monkey every time you're in melee.

Rather than revert the change, we are introducing a new spell!

Instead of getting new ranks of Hawk at level 75 and 80, you now get the new Aspect of the Dragonhawk. This powerful aspect combines all of the effects of Hawk and Monkey. Any talent or glyph that affects either Hawk or Monkey also affects Dragonhawk the same way. The idea is that you retire Hawk and Monkey at level 75 and go to essentially two Aspects: Dragonhawk for combat and Viper for mana regen.

Enjoy.

[ Post edited by Ghostcrawler ]
Link: http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.html?topicId=11228504361&sid=2000

 

Interesting... so all the posts and reasoning the devs gave us for dodge being nerfed is worthless.  I wonder what they plan to do with Aspect of the Beast...  I still don't think they have any clue what to do about Hunter's in Arena...  I guess I'll just cross my fingers and pray to the gods that Hunter's will be okay in Arena come Wrath of the Lich King... until then, I will have fun with the new pet system.

On a more fun note, my rogue friend and I were able to kill Vhel'kur with Tank (my new gorilla) as our tank.  Vhel'kur is the 70 elite ghost dragon that circles the island in the southeast of Shadowmoon Valley.  I tried it solo and was unable to do enough damage before my pet eventually died.  

Here's a screenshot of our kill:

   

Viper Change & Exotic Buff

Ghostcrawler:

Two changes coming up:

We aren't happy with how Aspect of the Viper is working in PvP, but it seems fine in PvE. We're going to try changing it so that 50% of its current regen is passive, leaving the remaining 50% active. That should give hunters some more mana in Arenas in particular when dealing with opponents who manage to get out of LOS a lot. Yet, in PvE where hunter dps is very high, the difference in regen shouldn't be very noticable. We are also going to let Viper return mana from melee attacks for those cases where a melee opponent is too close for comfort.

The second change is to some of the numbers on the special attacks of exotic pets to make sure the pets are around a 10% increase from normal pets. This should make exotic pets a reasonable benefit for the talent point (especially when you also count the bonus pet talents) without making every BM hunter feel like they are limited to just those pets.


 Q u o t e:

1) Take the mp5 you gain currently from using viper actively
2) Half that value for the active gain
3) Make the other half of the mp5 a passive gain.

---

Yes, something like this. We'll try per 3 sec first because that's better for performance, but we can go to 1 sec if need be. 



I don't think you do your fellow players a service when you respond to blue posts on one topic with a lot of discussion about other topics. But that's just my opinion.

Here is the actual Viper change we're going to implement: The per attack mana regeneration has been reduced by 50% but it now generates 4% of maximum mana every 3 sec. In addition, the per attack regeneration now also works on melee attacks. 


Link: http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.html?topicId=11228402925&sid=2000&pageNo=1


This is good news for Hunters.  Viper needed a passive change to be worthwhile in PvP and makes it better for grinding/leveling.  The boost to Exotic pets is just pure bonus!  Still not thrilled about the 51 point BM talent, since it still has to compete with Aimed Shot & Scatter Shot at 70, and Readiness at 80, but at least they are buffing it.
 

Tame a Gorilla!

Run don't walk to STV to get yourself a pet gorilla.  The few hours I spent playing with my new gorilla I thoroughly enjoyed.  Their aoe special is spectacular, and along with our new much improved Volley we can aoe mobs down with ease.

After you find the gorilla of your choice (Petopia gorilla page), embark into the wild and aoe like mad (here is an aoe guide to help find locations).  Remember, pet leveling has been buffed, so it is much easier to level a pet, and with aoe'ing you can level your pet even quicker.

So go out and enjoy your new aoe Hunter!

Update:  It took me only 4 hours to level up my gorilla from 65 to 70!  That's speedy fast compared to what it used to take...  although part of the reason it was so quick was because of the aoe extravaganza!
 

Hunter Changes in Patch 3.0.2

Hunters

• All aspects now have a 1 second global cooldown, down from a 1.5 global cooldown.
• All pet families now have one unique ability. New abilities have been added for families such as bears and sporebats.
• Stablemasters can now accommodate two additional pets.
• Pets now have their own trees. These can be accessed via the talent panel.
• Aimed shot mana cost has been reduced from 11% of base mana to 8%, casting time reduced from 2.5 sec to instant. Cooldown increased from 6 seconds to 10 seconds and damage reduced.
• Animal Handler (Beast Mastery): No longer increases speed while mounted, but now reduces the cooldown of your Master's Call ability by 5/10 sec.
• Arcane Shot: No longer dispels magic effects.
• Aspects now no longer cost mana.
• Aspect of the Beast: Now increases melee attack power by 10% for the hunter and the hunter's pet.The hunter can't be tracked while using this Aspect. Only one Aspect can be active at a time.
• Aspect of the Viper - The hunter takes on the aspect of the viper, causing ranged attacks to regenerate mana but reducing total damage done by 50%. Mana is gained based on ranged weapons speed. Only one Aspect can be active at a time.
• Aspect of the Wild (Rank 4) now increases Nature resistence by 130, (up from 70.)
• Avoidance, Dash / Dive and Cobra Reflexes are now pet talents instead of pet skills.
• Bestial Swiftness is now a pet talent tree talent, and has been removed from the Beast Mastery Hunter tree.
• Bite now has no cooldown, does the same damage and costs the same Focus as Claw, so works as a Focus dump.
• Clever Traps (Survival) has been renamed "Trap Mastery."
• Combat Experience (Marksmanship): Now grants 3/6% Agility, up from 1/2%.
• Concussive Barrage (Marksmanship): Can now proc from Volley and Multi-shot attacks.
• Counterattack: Damage increased by 20%, and now also scales with your Ranged Attack Power.
• Deterrence (Survival): Cooldown reduced to 3 minutes, and now also increases your chance to resist spells by 60%. Now has a new spell effect.
• Disengage: This ability has been re-designed. Now leaps the Hunter backwards up to 13 yards. 30 second cooldown. Disengage now also only has one rank (rank 1).
• Distracting Shot: This shot now "taunts" the target onto the Hunter. The taunt effect will last 6 seconds. Distracting Shot now only has one rank (rank 1).
• Every hunter pet can learn Growl, Cower and either Bite or Claw (never both).
• Focused Aim no longer affects Aimed Shot and now increases chance to hit by 1/2/3 %.
• Focused Fire (Beast Mastery): Now increases the critical strike chance of your Kill Command by 10/20/30% while Kill Command is active. This effect can stack up to 3 times, but diminishes for each charge of Kill Command.
• Freezing Arrow now breaks on damage.
• Freezing Trap now breaks on damage.
• Hunter pets can now learn talents in one of three trees depending on family. Pets gain talent points starting at level 20 and earn an extra talent point every 4 levels.
• If a hunter tames a pet that is more than five levels beneath their own level, the pet will then have their level increased to five levels beneath the hunter's own level.
• Improved Arcane Shot (Marksmanship): Now increases the damage done by your Arcane Shot by 5/10/15%.
• Improved Feign Death (Survival): This talent has been replaced with Survival Tactics.
• Improved Hunter's Mark (Marksmanship): Now a 3-point talent, and now increases the amount of attack power granted by your Hunter's Mark ability by 10/20/30% and reduces the mana cost of your Hunter's Mark ability by 33/66/100%.
• Improved Stings (Marksmanship): Now a 3-point talent, down from 5-points.
• Kill Command: This ability now increases the damage done by your pet's special abilities by 60%. Each attack will reduce the damage bonus by 20%. 1 minute cooldown.
• Kill Shot damage slightly reduced.
• Kindred Spirits will no longer stack with other movement enhancing buffs.
• Lock and Load now has a chance to proc periodic damage by 2/4/6% (down from 5/10/15%.)
• Loyalty, Training Points and the hunter Beast Training button no longer exist. Hunter pets can now learn all skills at their level. They will get new ranks automatically as they gain levels.
• Marked for Death now increases damage done by ranged and by pets special abilities by 4% on marked targets (down from 8%.)
• Master Tactician (Survival): Chance to proc increased to 10%, up from 6%.
• Mongoose Bite: No longer requires you to dodge in order to use this ability.
• Monster Slaying (Survival) and Humanoid Slaying (Survival) has been combined into "Improved Tracking".
• Multi-shot mana cost has been increased slightly to 9% base mana (up from 8%.)
• New Talent - Aspect Mastery (Beast Mastery)
• New Talent - Hunter vs. Wild (Survival): Increases you and your pet's attack power and ranged attack power equal to 10/20/30% of your total Stamina.
• New Talent - Improved Tracking (Survival): Increases all damage done to targets that are being tracked 1/2/3/4/5%.
• New Talent - Lock and Load (Survival): You have a 33/66/100% chance when you trap a target and a 10/20/30% chance when you sting a target to cause your next 3 Arcane Shot or Explosive Shot spells to trigger no cooldown, cost no mana and consume no ammo.
• New Talent - Survival Tactics (Survival): Reduces the chance your Feign Death ability and all trap spells will be resisted by 2/4%, and reduces the cooldown of your Disengage ability by 2/4 sec.
• New Talent - T.N.T. (Survival): Your Immolation Trap, Explosive Trap and Explosive Shot have a 5/10/15% to stun targets for 2 sec when they deal damage, and increases the critical strike chance of your Explosive Shot and Explosive Trap by 5/10/15%.
• Pathfinding (Beast Mastery): Now also increases the movement speed while mounted by 5/10%.
• Point of No Escape reduced to a 2 point talent and now affects Freezing Arrow. The critical strike chance has increased to 3/6% (up from 2/4/6%.)
• Rapid Killing (Marksmanship): This will now proc off Chimera Shot, but no longer works with auto-shot.
• Readiness (Marksmanship): Cooldown reduced to 3 minutes, down from 5 minutes, and has been moved to Tier 5 of the Marksmanship Tree from the Survival Tree.
• Savage Strikes (Survival): Now includes Counterattack.
• Scattershot has been moved from the Marksmanship Tree to Tier 3 of the Survival Tree.
• Silencing Shot (Marksmanship): This spell will now interrupt the current spell being cast on the target and lock out that school for 3 sec if the target is immune to silence effects.
• Spirit Bond (Beast Mastery): Also increases healing done to you and your pet by 5/10%.
• Steady Shot now uses ammo. In result, its bonus damage has been slightly reduced. Players can notice a damage increase based upon what ammo they use.
• Steady Shot: Now has a 2.0 cast time, up from 1.5.
• Surefooted (Survival) now reduces the duration of movement impairing effects by 16/25/50% (instead of resist % chance). Moved from tier 4 to tier 2 and no longer increases hit chance.
• Survival Instincts (Survival): This has been moved to tier-2, up from tier 6.
• Survivalist (Survival): Now increases your total Stamina, instead of your total Health.
• The arming time has been reduced to 1 second, from 2 seconds for all traps.
• T.N.T. has been moved from Tier 2 to Tier 4.
• Tranquilizing Shot: Cooldown reduced to 15 seconds (down from 20), and now dispels Enrage and Magic effects.
• Trap Mastery (Survival) is now an 11-point talenttalent and has been moved from tier 3 to tier 9 and increases the duration by 30% fo both Freezing Trap and Frost Trap.
• Trueshot Aura - This aura is now raid-wide and now increases all ranged and melee attack power by 10%. In addition, this spell now only has one rank. All other ranks have been removed.
• Wingclip: No longer does damage.

PvP

• Many new items are available for purchase from the honor vendors.
• Arenas
• Two new Arenas have been added; the Ogrimmar Arena and the Dalaran Arena can now be accessed.
• Buffs that have 30 seconds or less remaining will be removed once the game starts. However, the mage spell “Invisibility” is not affected by this change.

Professions

• New Profession: Inscription is available to train up to 375.
• Enchantment
• The Surefooted enchantment now provides additional critical strike rating instead of root and snare resistance.

Items

• Druids and Shaman can now use items while shapeshifted.
• The Abyss Shard has been changed to grant a passive 15 stamina bonus, but no longer removes the soul shard requirement from casting a voidwalker.
• Devilsaur Eye now increases your pet’s attack power for a short duration instead of increasing its critical strike chance. It also provides a small amount of passive Agility.