Analysis of the Hunter 3.3 Changes

  
Patch 3.3 comes out tomorrow.


Hunter 3.3 Changes:

• Call Stabled Pet: Cooldown reduced from 30 minutes to 5 minutes. Cannot be used in Arenas.
  
• Deterrence: Now also increases the chance for ranged attacks to miss the hunter by 100% while under its effect.
  
• Misdirection: Redesigned. Instead of having finite charges, it now begins a 4-second timer when the hunter using Misdirection performs a threat-generating attack, during which all threat generated by the hunter goes to the friendly target. In addition, multiple hunters can now misdirect threat to the same friendly target simultaneously.
  
• Talents
  
  
  
  • Beast Mastery
    
    
    • Intimidation: If the hunter’s pet is in melee range of its target, the stun from Intimidation will now be applied immediately instead of on the pet’s next swing or attack.
      
    
    
    
    

MLG Anaheim: Go CheckSix!

  
MLG Anaheim takes place this Friday, Saturday and Sunday.  Starting times are 6:30 PM PST on Friday, 9:30 AM PST on Saturday and 9:30 AM PST on Sunday.  Watch it live at http://www.mmo-champion.com/.

The only Hunter in attendance is Twixz with CheckSix Gaming (formerly known as eMg).  Checksix will be running the BeastCleave comp, BM Hunter, Enhancement Shaman and a Paladin.

I am hoping for some good matches and a 2nd MLG 1st place finish for CheckSix.  It is very pleasing to have a Hunter in tournaments for a change (and actually doing well).  Here is Twixz's MLG armory page for the tournament.


There has been a big lack of content to talk about this summer as the game has had no major changes in awhile.  I am starting to get extremely frustrated that the talked about 3.3 changes involving pet scaling have not shown up yet in 3.3 notes (this makes me think they are postponing it until Cataclysm).  When Cataclysm begins to draw near hopefully there will be some interesting changes to take note of.
  

Patch 3.3 Hunter Changes

Oct. 16th Changes


Hunter

• Pet Leveling: Hunter pets now need only 5% of the experience a player needs to level, down from 10%.

The most annoying part about being a Hunter might just be fixed with this.  I like the idea of still having to level a pet (up to five levels), but the time it took was way too much.  This should help out a ton.


 

Oct. 13th Changes
  
Pets

• Culling the Herd: When your pet's Claw, Bite, or Smack ability deals a critical strike, you and your pet deal 1/2% increased damage for 10 sec.

WoW Racial Poll

  
The question was: Which race will your hunter be after Cataclysm is released and race changes are made available?  

Poll Results:
965 Votes

Worgen  -  254 Votes (26%)
Night elf  - 113 Votes (11%)

Updated Gold Guide

  
Updated my very old gold guide.

Currently have 74k in gold.

Hope I can help other people not have to farm or do dailies.

Short post, off to softball.

   

Patch 3.2.2 Hunter Changes

Some big changes to the Beast Mastery tree are coming up quickly, as the 3.2.2 patch is nearing its release.  Here are the changes:
 

Hunter

• Talents
  
  
  • Beast Mastery
    
    
    • The Beast Within: The duration of this talent has been reduced to 10 seconds. In addition, hunters with this talent will do 10% additional damage at all times.
    • Bestial Wrath: The duration of this talent has been reduced to 10 seconds.
    • The Beast Within - Now reduces the mana cost of spells by 50% for 10 sec. (Was 20%)
    
    

WoW Account Hacked

My WoW account was hacked over the weekend.  Below is the process of events.

I received an email while at work that my account had been compromised and frozen.  They gave me 3 basic steps before I could unfreeze the account: secure my email address, secure my computer and secure my wow account.  After securing everything I messaged them in the afternoon/evening on Friday.

On Saturday my account was unfrozen but my characters were missing gear, gold and they were on different servers.  I had to talk to a GM about the situation to continue the process (took about three hours of waiting to finally talk to the GM).  The GM then got a Character Specialist in on the situation and that specialist went to work on resetting my account before the compromise.

eMg Wins MLG Dallas with Beast Cleave

   
Finally, Twixz the Hunter Hero has won a tournament.  I've been rooting for a Hunter team to take a 3v3 tournament for the last 2 years, and today my wish has been fulfilled.  For a complete match by match write up of MLG Dallas I highly suggest you visit World of Ming.

Twixz became known when his team Get Money Get Payce qualified for Blizzcon Regionals.  That team featured the lineup of Death Knight / Hunter / Paladin.  With 3.2 their lineup shifted from Death Knight to Enhancement Shaman.

Beast Cleave is the new term for the comp BM Hunter / Enhancement Shaman / Holy Paladin.  I expect to see a lot of Beast Cleave comps at the start of Arena Season 7 on Tuesday.

Twixz was using a Corehound for most of the tournament, but on the last day switched to a Worm.  The Worm proved to be most effective against the Plate Cleave and PHD team (x6stence).

3v3 BM Hunter Build: 44/16/11

I played some 3v3 games to prepare for the next season, and tried out a few different builds. 

At first I tried a regular Full BM with Aimed Shot build.  I had good burst but our team didn't have the CC to pressure the other teams.  The next build I tried was a Marksman PvP build and was frustrated with how much CC came my way (which made it difficult to damage & CC others at effective times). 

The final build I tried was BM with Aimed and Scatter Shot.  In the beginning of matches I was able to CC perfectly under the affects of Bestial Wrath (Scatter / Trap).  Not only could I CC effectively but I could also burst when their healer was in that CC.  This is what the build looks like:

BM / Aimed / Scatter (44/16/11)

 

 

  

Most likely this is the build I will use in 3v3 next season.  With it I end up using a Wasp to help in killing off Rogue teams.  With 3/5 Frenzy and no Cobra Strikes a Cunning pet is really out of the question, Ferocity is needed for the extra crit chance.

   

Hunter PvE DPS 3.2

With the sample builds taken from Shandara's Spreadsheet, with current best gear, in patch 3.2, it is clear that in theory, Marks is the best PvE DPS followed by Survival which is followed by Beast Mastery.

Marks    (7/57/7)   -   9289 DPS
Survival  (0/15/56)   -   8884 DPS
BM    (54/12/5)    -    8604 DPS

That is about a 7% difference between the lowly BM Hunter and the mighty Marksman Hunter.  I would prefer if BM was within 5% of the top spec, be it Survival or Marks.  BM may have the easiest rotation, but on pet unfriendly fights, it has the most to lose by far.
 
  
Talent DPS has changed most significantly (in patch 3.2) with Animal Handler.  It used to provide 27 DPS per point (54 total).  Now it provides 130 DPS per point (260 total).  Just in that talent change BM Hunters gained 206 DPS (in my gear, spec, etc. on my BM page).

The Wild Hunt pet talent change increased a BM Hunters DPS by 137, but it also increases Marks and Survival pet DPS.

The expertise change for pets (Ranged Hit now gives Expertise for Hunter pets), is another area where our pets gained a bit of damage.
  
 
All in all, this is how my PvE pages total DPS has changed since 3.2 (again, with my gear, spec, etc.).

BM went from 6211 DPS before 3.2, to 6783 after 3.2.  +572 DPS
Marks went from 6613 DPS before 3.2, to 6789 after 3.2.  +176 DPS
Survival went from 6769 DPS before 3.2., to 6677 after 3.2.  -92 DPS

Notice: My talent trees are not perfected for theoretical top DPS, as I usually forgo a couple of DPS talent points for Hawk Eye, as I tend to find that it adds unmeasurable DPS and longevity to my life in raids.

I'm not sure why my Survival build with my gear lost DPS from 3.2, but BM definitely gained the most since 3.2.  In better gear, especially a better ranged weapon, Marksmanship would pull further ahead, like it does on the samples, as it scales better than BM (as does Survival).

My recommendation is to try out BM again if you have Naxx 25 / Ulduar 10 gear or less (it should be about equal to Marks DPS).  But you might want to have a secondary spec as Survival or Marks in case you come across a pet unfriendly fight.  If you have an Ulduar 25 or better weapon, your probably better off with Marks in PvE.
   

First thoughts on patch 3.2

 
Here are some of my initial findings and thoughts on Patch 3.2 as a Hunter.

Being able to lay 3 traps at one time is actually pretty nice whenever I have time to setup before a fight.  However, I found it was very difficult finding a great keybind system that worked well when in the middle of a fight.  With a suggestion from a friend I decided to use a castsequence macro for my traps and I have found it much easier to lay 3 traps, especially in combat.
  
/castsequence Frost Trap, Snake Trap, Explosive Trap
/script UIErrorsFrame:Clear()

This is the macro that I now use which I can spam and get my traps down easily with one button, while still prioritizing Frost Trap then Snake Trap and finally Explosive Trap.

 
360 Deterrence is a godsend, I never have to worry about facing the target while using Deterrence and can run around psychotically while laying traps to my hearts content.
 
I haven't been able to test the Roar of Sacrifice change much but I'm hearing some abilities / spells seem to be able to crit through it, which seems stupid.

Pets now receive 40% of the Hunter's resilience, but I haven't noticed my pets lasting extra long under fire, they are still super fragile when focused.

The pets I currently use in PvP are my trusty Ferocity Wasp and my lovely Cunning Chimaera.  I highly recommend owning both pets if you love PvP'ing with your Hunter.
  
Also, if you have are leveling a lowbie Hunter like me because you can't get enough of Hunters, then make sure you pick up the new Heirloom chests available.
    

Patch 3.2 Arrives

Hunters

• Aspect of the Cheetah: Can now be learned at level 16.
• Deterrence: This ability now allows the hunter to parry spells and attacks from behind as well as in front. Now has a new visual spell effect.
• The time that traps will exist in the world after being put down has been reduced to 30 seconds, down from 1 minute.
• Frost Trap: Will no longer "fizzle" on targets immune to snare effects, however Lock and Load will not succeed when using Frost Trap if the target is immune to snare effects.
• Snake Trap: The Mind-numbing Poison effect has been reduced to a 30% increase in casting time, down from 50% to match similar effects.
• Traps now have separate 30-second cooldown categories: Fire (Immolation Trap, Explosive Trap and Black Arrow), Frost (Freezing Trap, Frost Trap) and Nature (Snake Trap). A hunter can have one trap of each category placed at one time.
  

• Talents
• Beast Mastery
• Catlike Reflexes now also reduces the cooldown of your Kill Command ability by 10/20/30 seconds.
• Survival
• Entrapment: This talent no longer works with Immolation Trap or Explosive Trap.
• Lock and Load: Now has a 22-second cooldown. The Lock and Load effect cannot be obtained on targets immune to snare effects when Frost Trap is used.
• Pets
• Roar of Sacrifice: Redesigned. This ability can now be used on any friendly target to make that target immune to critical strikes, but the hunter pet takes 20% of all damage taken by that friendly target. Cooldown is now 1 minute, up from 30 seconds.

  
  

One major change in 3.2 for Hunters is being able to lay 3 different types of traps (3 separate 30 second cooldowns).  I have not tried it in PvP on the test realms so I will have to play with it a bit on live to see if being able to lay more traps helps in PvP.

The 2 other major changes for Hunters in 3.2 is 360 deterrence, which is a godsend for PvP, and the new Roar of Sacrifice which I'm still undecided about.

There hasn't been much of a change as far as DPS goes for any tree, so I'm not sure if I am going to update the guides to Survival, Marks and BM.
    
Now that 3.2 has hit I should be playing my alt Hunter a bit more and PvP'ing a bit more with my main Hunter.  It's been a nice break off and it is nice to be back, I just hope there will be enough interesting things to post about in the future...

No new posts until 3.2

I'm currently taking a nice break from WoW and will probably not post until 3.2 patch comes around.

I would like to update the BM, Marks and Survival pages if the DPS of talents changes significantly come 3.2.  And I might be playing a bit more of WoW come 3.2 which would lead me to post a bit more.

But for the next month or two, don't expect new posts (I might make a few posts about the upcoming 3.2 changes as they are announced).

I've been playing Diablo 2 and Warcraft 3 mods (Tower D and DOTA) during this break from WoW.  It's funny that Blizzard seems to make all the games that have immense replay value.
  

Patch 3.2 Initial Changes

Hunter

• Aspect of the Cheetah: Can now be learned at level 16.
• Deterrence now has a new visual spell effect.
• The time that traps will exist in the world after being put down has been reduced to 30 seconds, down from 1 minute.
• Traps now have separate 30 second cooldown categories: Fire (Immolation Trap, Explosive Trap and Black Arrow), Frost (Freezing Trap, Frost Trap) and Nature (Snake Trap). A hunter can have one trap of each category placed at one time.
• Talents
• Beast Mastery
• Catlike Reflexes now also reduces the cooldown of your Kill Command ability by 10/20/30 seconds.
• Survival
• Entrapment: This talent no longer works with Immolation Trap or Explosive Trap.
• Lock and Load: Now has a 22 second cooldown. The Lock and Load effect cannot be obtained on targets immune to snare effects when Frost Trap is used.
• Pets
• Roar of Sacrifice: Redesigned. This ability can now be used on any friendly target to make that target immune to critical strikes, but the Hunter pet takes 20% of all damage taken by that friendly target. Cooldown increased to 2 minutes.
      

Alright, the first major change is the trap change.  Hunters can now lay 3 different types of traps, fire, frost or nature, and can have them out all at the same time, one from each type.
   
It is difficult to imagine what this will do for Hunters in PvP, as Snake Trap and Explosive or Immolation Trap are just not that good.  So using a precious GCD on a fire or nature trap would be unwise unless stuck in melee.  For leveling, this change is awesome!  My Hunter is going to be an aoe king.
  
The Catlike Reflexes buff is interesting.  I have a feeling it will be a worthless change as a Hunter in PvE or PvP would have to take out points in a worthwhile talent to put them into the now okay talent of Catlike Reflexes.  Basically, the Hunter would have to give up a damaging talent to pick up Catlike Reflexes, and it would be a wash (most likely Catlike Reflexes will still be crappier than most any other damaging talent).
 
The Roar of Sacrifice change is another big one.  Allowing the Hunter to use it on anyone again is great, and changing it to immunity from crits is very interesting.  The major problem is lengthening the cooldown from 30 seconds to 2 mins.  That really only allows us to use it about once per a fight in PvP.
 
Overall, I'm very disappointed with 3.2 changes (especially the one where 2v2 can no longer be used to pick up current season gear).  Resilience is getting a major buff which will make double DPS teams even more non-existent.  I have a feeling the Resilience change is here to stay, but maybe not the 2v2 change, since that would be destroying 80-90% of their Arena base.
     

BM PvP Build 53 / 0 / 18

Last week I tried a 53/0/18 BM PvP build with my Rogue partner in 2's.

53 / 0 / 18

  
  
I have a mixed reaction to this build.
   
Notes:
I would only try this build if your partner has a 50% healing debuff.  Since my partner is a Rogue I can get away with not having Aimed Shot and using Multi-Shot in its place.

Positives:
Much better control with Scatter Shot.  I can always trap a target after a Scatter Shot, which allows 3 huge forms of CC on one target (Sap, Scatter / Trap, Blind).
 
I have a little bit more survivability with a few survival talents that I pick up along the way to Scatter Shot.
   
I also go down to Lock and Load since I'm that far into the Survival Tree.  This allows me to make up some burst that I have lost by not going into the Marks Tree.
 
Negatives:
No ranged 50% healing debuff that is pretty easy to keep up.  My rogue cannot always stay on a target.
  
Missing a lot of amazing talents in the beginning of the Marks Tree that reduces overall damage and burst potential.
 
   
If your team needs a little bit more control and you like playing as a BM Hunter this might be the build for you. 
  
We went 50/50 with me as this build at around 2150 rating.  We lost to a few teams we would have normally beat as I didn't quite have the burst to score a quick kill, and we won against a couple of teams that we would usually lose to because we could chain CC.
      

BM Hunter Team Wins 2nd Place at MLG Columbus

  
After venting my frustration to my Rogue friend Siphter about how there are so many rogues and never any hunters at a WoW tournament, EmG shows up at MLG Columbus.

EmG's lineup was Payce on Holy Paladin, Flexx on Unholy / Frost Death Knight and Twixz on BM Hunter.

EmG only lost 3 rounds in the whole tournament and they were all to SK Gaming's RMP (who took 1st place).

I was extremely excited to see a BM Hunter in tournament play.  And the great thing about it was that Twixz was a longtime Hunter so he knew when to switch pets against certain teams.  I loved watching him pull out the Chimaera against the Rogue double healer setup.
  

Hunter DPS 3.1.3

 
Hunters are recieving two more buffs since the Ranged Weapon hotfix.  Hunter's Mark is going from 300 to 500 and the talent Master Marksman is now also affecting Aimed and Chimera Shot (mana wise).

These changes will cause each tree to gain a somewhat different amount of DPS:

Marksmanship:  +196 DPS
Survival:  +148 DPS
Beast Mastery:  +79 DPS
  
These changes have minimal affect on PvP since Hunter's Mark is usually instantly dispelled and costs mana and a GCD; however, the mana changes should help Marksmanship slightly in PvP.
  
It is unfortunate that the Beast Mastery tree continues to fall further behind since Hunter's Mark does not help out a pets damage at all.  Unless blizzard decides to buff the Beast Mastery tree in some way, I see even less BM Hunters in the future (not that I see many in the present).
  
Here is the update in DPS for each Hunter Tree come 3.1.3 (25 man raid, with my gear and talents as mentioned in each Tree page on this site):

Survival:  +6769
Marksmanship:  +6613
Beast Mastery:  +6211
  
Marksmanship and Survival are neck and neck, while BM is left behind, especially since if a BM Hunter loses their pet, their DPS plummets.
  

Hunter Buffs Incoming

  
Hunters dps is too low according to the developers.  Today they are implementing a +30 dps increase to all bows, crossbows and guns that are of an item level of 226 or higher.  This should translate to a hunter damage increase of a few percent.
 
This is not the only buff that Hunters are going to get.  Another buff is planned in a few weeks time.

Source: http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.html?topicId=17223144541&sid=1


  
WoW Reports updated for Week 4, and Hunters are still struggling.  Hope they plan to buff Hunters in PvP as that seems to be more out of balance than PvE DPS problems.

I am very interested to hear what the next buff will be in a few weeks time...
   

Hunter / Rogue 2152

Siphter and I climbed almost 200 points this week, as last week we were below 2k.

Siphter specced back to a Shadowstep / Hemo build and we did a lot better at finishing our targets.  The mobility that Siphter has with Shadowstep allows him to instantly move into the fight from a safe distance so that he is not pulled out of stealth with aoe effects.

I have switched from using a Wasp to now using my Chimaera.  Roar of Sacrifice helps me live quite a bit longer.  The Froststorm Breath is a great slow and helps keep our target slowed all the time.  I do miss 9% extra pet crit and Heart of the Phoenix that Ferocity pets have (mostly that crit that my pet doesn't have).

Above 2k, we won 6 games in a row, 4 away from getting flawless victor; would have been pretty cool if we could have gotten that.

We faced a double rogue team that instantly killed Siphter.  But I was able to kill both the Rogues even though they were able to get away with a vanish (love BM w/ a Chimaera).

Our queues were a bit better this week, as we faced off vs Rogue teams half the games (and won about 90% of them).

We still have trouble with most Ret Paladin and Holy Paladin teams. 

I am confident we can get to 2200, but with Tier 2 weapons at 2350, that is our new long term goal.  Getting to 2350 is going to be amazingly difficult as Hunter / Rogue, but if we get some lucky queues, it is in the realm of possibility.
  
My favorite BM PvP macro:

/petattack
/cast Rapid Fire
/cast Kill Command
/cast Blood Fury(Racial)
/cast Call of the Wild
/cast Bestial Wrath
/cast [target=player] Roar of Sacrifice
/cast Intimidation
/script UIErrorsFrame:Clear()
  

Slow Going

Things have been slow on the WoW front these past two weeks.

In PvE news, my guild has not been able to get a 25 man Ulduar raid going since the patch, and the future doesn't look good.  10 man Ulduar is okay, but the enjoyment wears off quickly when there aren't many gear upgrades.

In PvP news, the Tier 2 Weapons have been moved to 2350 rating requirement from 2200.  As Hunter / Rogue we had a shot at getting to 2200 (we were at 2150 earlier this week), but 2350 is out of our league.

I really hope blizzard decides to do a minor overhaul on the Hunter class in PvP.  Being okay in 5v5, bad in 3v3 and terrible in 2v2 is not fun when 90% of people only play 2v2 (yes, I'm part of that demographic).
 
Blizzard should give Beast Mastery Hunters another shot or ability in their arsenal as they are downright boring to play in PvE and need some major utility in PvP.

It would be easiest to replace the BM 51 point with this new shot/ability (the functionality of the increased pet talents could go to Animal Handler, and the ability to train Exotic pets could also go there or stay as part of the new 51 point talent).

My vision for the new 51 point BM talent (Arcane Spit):
Hunter commands pet to Arcane Spit for 1500 Arcane damage on target (25 yard range) and also gives the hunter a buff that allows their next Arcane Shot to silence for 2 seconds (buff lasts 30 seconds).

The cooldown on Arcane Spit would be around 10 seconds.  The ability would cost mana, but would have no energy cost for the pet.  The ability would be on the Global Cooldown.

This would give PvE BM Hunters a bit more DPS, around 186 or so more DPS.  This would also give PvP BM Hunters more utility with a short silence that could be used on every other Arcane Shot (about every 12 seconds).
   

Hunters Weakest Class in Season 6 (week 1)

WoW Reports has just posted the Week 1 Arena Stats for the Top 100.

Hunters are now the weakest class in Arena, according to representation.  We are back to being the underdog, just how I like it (hate being overpowered, but would rather be balanced more than anything).
  
If Hunter representation continues to be abysmal (0.5% representation in 2's and 2% representation in 3's) over the next few weeks I hope Blizzard creates a quick hotfix or patch that helps Hunters out a bit in Arena (as well as other classes that are not performing well).

I would like to see Marksmanship and BM get some PvP buffs to help Hunters in Arena, as Survival is still the only tree that seems viable for serious play.

Without being able to mana drain teams anymore (thank God), Hunters need to be able to apply plenty of pressure.  Since we are almost always moving in Arena, we usually do not do much damage from Auto Shot or Steady Shot.

Here are my ideas that might help boost our representation to more of a balanced state:

• Increase Arcane Shot damage by 10-15%

This would help BM and Marksmanship while not buffing Survival.
  
 

• Allow Auto Shot to be used while moving; however, make Auto Shot do 50% less damage while moving

This would help increase the damage of Hunters on the move, while not increasing it too much.  We would still need to stand still to do 100% Auto Shot damage and Steady Shot.
  
   

• Allow Deterrence to work from all angles and reduce damage taken by 100%

No more frantically trying to maintain a frontal cone on enemies.  This would also give Hunters a little bit of defense against other Hunters, and a little bit of help vs Dots (although it would not remove Dots).
  
   

• Allow Feign Death to remove one debuff from self

Hunters have no way to clear debuffs and that is one of the reasons why they are not very good on Double DPS teams.  This would give them a little help in that regard.
  
   

• Allow pets to scale very well with all attributes and make them immune to buffs

This would be a very big change that I think Blizzard is currently thinking about for the long term future.  Basically, Hunter pets do not scale very well from gear, but amazingly well from buffs.  So in 2v2 and 3v3 a pet does not have very many buffs and therefor is lacking in potential no matter what gear level the Hunter has (basically BM is not very good in a small PvP setting because of this).
  
   
I will be gone the next few days as I move back to Michigan, hope everyone has a great week, see ya.
  

2050 Hunter / Rogue 1st Week of Season 6

Updated: April 25th 2009 (Spec & Rating)

Siphter and I started out discouraged this season as we got off to a not so hot start.  Our hidden rating started out around 1950.

I tried out the new Marks PvP style that I've been playing so much in BG's.  It was a disappointment.  I had some burst, but it was a little slow and inconsistent.  In truth, Marks just didn't mesh well with our Double DPS burst mentality.  As Marks our hidden rating dropped to about 1800.

I switched back to a BM burst spec, 52/16/3, see below.

   

After switching back to BM, Siphter and did much better, as we were able to totally dominate every Warlock, and almost every Rogue.  Our burst in the first 10 seconds of a fight is incredible, and if the team we verse does not have a Paladin (DS and HoP are so so devastating) we have a solid chance every match.  And so our hidden rating climbed as we kept winning vs teams that have no Paladin.
  
Our hidden rating is currently residing around 2050, and our team rating is currently 2050, which places us, currently, as the top Hunter / Rogue in the world (only five days into Season 6 mind you)!

I play with a Wasp pet, as Ferocity is still the dominate damage tree.  And the Wasps Sting is still an amazing ability vs Rogues.  Below is the spec of my pet.
  

   
I'm kind of excited to see that Paladins and especially Death Knights are not dominating in 2's so far this season.  This might spell good news for us the rest of the season... who knows.
 

Busy Week Ahead

I plan to move back to Michigan come Tuesday / Wednesday of next week.  So I do not plan on any major posts for a week or two.

I have updated the BM PvP page and the Pet page for 3.1.  I will continue to update the Marks, Survival and BM PvE pages as well when new information or spreadsheets become available.

I have been raiding Ulduar this past week and am starting to arena this week as BM and Marks.  I might post about Season 6 Arena PvP when we get more games under our belt.
     

Hunter PvE 3.1

My Survival PvE post has been updated for 3.1.

I have finished the major work for the 3.1 PvE guides for each Hunter talent tree.

Theoretical DPS for Shaedon with each spec (86e spreadsheet):

6597 DPS - Survival
6118 DPS - Marksmanship
6089 DPS - Beast Mastery


The spec that has gained the most DPS, come 3.1, is Marksmanship by far.

In the current 3.0.9, when I spec Marksmanship, I do 5312 theoretical DPS.  So Marksmanship is getting about an 800 DPS boost, which puts it much closer to Survival.
 
Surprisingly Beast Mastery is, theoretically, right on the heels of Marksmanship.  It will be interesting to see if many Ulduar fights are pet friendly.
  
My next project is to update the BM PvP page for 3.1, as I still have the most experience in Arena as a BM Hunter (got up to 2108 this season).
  

Beast Mastery Hunter PvE

Updated: April 23rd 2009 
(Updated DPS on Go for the Throat & Bestial Discipline)


Talent, Glyph, Attribute and Pet DPS are calculated given the following:
My base spec, shot rotation, 25 man raid buffs (all class buffs) and gear.

The closer you are to my spec, shot rotation and gear, the more accurate the following DPS #'s will be for you.

All of these #'s come from Shandara's Spreadsheet.

Base Spec: Beast Mastery PvE 54/15/2 (post 3.1)

  

 

Normal Shot Rotation:
Rapid Fire / Blood Fury / Trinkets / Bestial Wrath / Kill Command > Kill Shot > Serpent Sting > Arcane Shot > Aimed Shot > Steady Shot

Beast Mastery Attribute DPS (post 3.1)

  

 

Attack Power is the backbone stat of the Beast Mastery tree.  Two Attack Power is about 15% better than one Agility.
 

 

Beast Mastery Talent DPS (post 3.1)
   

    
Amazing Talents:
Bestial Discipline - About 115 DPS per point!
Frenzy - 1st point is over 300 DPS!
Serpent's Swiftness - Each of the 5 points is worth over 100 DPS!
Beast Mastery - Finally!  The 51 point talent is now worth extra DPS, 253 DPS to be exact!
Go for the Throat - 500 DPS for the 1st talent point!
 
Overrated Talents:
Frenzy - 4th talent point gives 5 DPS and the 5th talent point gives 1 DPS.
Ferocious Inspiration - Most likely your group will have either a Ret Paladin or an Enhancement Shaman which means FI only increases Arcane Shot damage... but it is necessary to pick up the 1st point in Invigoration.
  
 
 
 

Beast Mastery Glyph DPS (post 3.1)

    

 
Bestial Wrath is really the only must have glyph.  Wish there was a glyph that gave BM a little more flavor in PvE.
 
 
 
 

Beast Mastery Pet DPS

   

 
The Devilsaur, Wolf and Raptor lead the pack of Ferocity pets by a good 100+ DPS.
    
After my experience with a Devilsaur in PvE, I do not recommend them as they tend to aggro extra mobs and get hit by more things since they grow so large.

Some of the pets do not use their special as it would be an actual decrease in DPS (from just spamming Bite, Claw or Smack).

 
   

PvE Pet Talent Trees

  

   

This build is for maximum DPS.  If Heart of the Phoenix is a required talent for you, than you would have to take a point out of Boar's Speed and Shark Attack.

   

    

    

Owl's Focus does not increase DPS when you are using a shot rotation with 1 point in Go for the Throat (along with 2 points in Bestial Discipline).

    

Marksmanship Hunter PvE

Updated: April 23rd 2009
(Updated DPS on Go for the Throat)


Talent, Glyph and Attribute DPS are calculated given the following:
My base spec, shot rotation, 25 man raid buffs (all class buffs) and gear.

The closer you are to my spec, shot rotation, buffs and gear, the more accurate the following DPS #'s will be for you.

All of these #'s come from Shandara's Spreadsheet.


 

Base Spec: Marksmanship PvE 11/52/8 (post 3.1)

  

  

      

Normal Shot Rotation:

Rapid Fire / Blood Fury / Trinkets > Silencing Shot > Kill Shot > Serpent Sting > Chimera Shot > Arcane Shot > Aimed Shot > Steady Shot

 

Silencing Shot is off the GCD and can be macro'd to shots like Kill Shot was prior to 3.1.

  

  

Marksmanship Attribute DPS (post 3.1)  

   

Agility is still the best stat for a Marksmanship Hunter (given you are Hit capped).  Agility is king because of the 4% bonus Agility from Combat Experience, the 30% crit damage on Aimed, Steady and Chimera (Piercing Shots), and raid buffs (Blessing of Kings).  Not to mention the other crit bonuses from Mortal Shots and Marked for Death...

So stat priority is Hit (if not at 8%) > Agility > Attack Power > Crit > Armor Pen > Intellect > Haste

With Steady Shot being such a small portion of our damage, Haste is not much of a DPS boost, wish they would make Haste (and Armor Pen) affect our pet.

   

 

   

Marksmanship Talent DPS (post 3.1) 

  

 

Amazing Talents:

Careful Aim - Each talent point gives over 100 DPS!

Go for the Throat - First talent point gives over 300 DPS, and the 2nd even gives over 100 DPS!

  

Overrated Talents:

Improved Steady Shot - 21 DPS per talent point, merely okay.

   

   

     

Marksmanship Glyph DPS (post 3.1)   

  

The Glyph of Chimera Shot is increasingly better as my ms increases.  At 300ms the Glyph is worth 168 DPS, at 200ms, according to the spreadsheet, the Glyph is worth 0 DPS.  I'm guessing in actual play it will always be useful and increase DPS by a solid amount.

                          

Upcoming 3.1 Marksmanship PvE Guide

For the past month I've been Marksmanship for raiding.  I've enjoyed it much more than I did Survival, even though it is currently a bit lackluster DPS wise. 

Come 3.1 the Marksmanship tree is getting some love PvE and PvP wise.  I believe most Hunters will switch over to Marksmanship for both PvE and PvP to at least try out the spec.

Sometime during the next week I'll post my guide on Marksmanship PvE.  The guide will give a rundown on the Glyph DPS, Talent DPS and the rotation a Marksmanship Hunter should use.

I also hope to play Marksmanship in Arena with Double DPS (I currently use Marksmanship for my BG spec, but not Arena spec) come 3.1.

If your bored on your Hunter I suggest speccing into Marksmanship and trying it out for PvE and PvP, I was pleasantly surprised with both.  Come 3.1 it will only get better.
  

Hunter PvP in 3.1

The 3.1 patch will dramatically change the situation for Hunters in PvP.

The Survival tree has gotten nerfed pretty heavily.  Marksmanship tree has gotten buffed pretty nicely.  The Beast Mastery tree has been largely ignored with only one talent buff.


Hunter 3.1 Overview:

• Disengage now has a 30 second cooldown (used to be 25 second)

• Glyph of the Monkey removed (used to be best glyph for a Hunter in PvP)

• Frost Trap no longer procs on immune targets (HoF or CoS will disable the Frost Trap)

These major nerfs to every Hunter are going to have the most significant impact in PvP.  The Frost Trap nerf especially seems completely devestating against some teams.
  

Survival Tree 3.1 Overview:

• T.N.T. no longer stuns

• Black Arrow replaces Trap Mastery for 41 point Survival talent, but is on the Trap cooldown (probably will not be used in PvP)

• Entrapment changed from RNG to instant proc on application (making it much less annoying for other teams and more skill based)

• Wyvern Sting remains a 1 minute cooldown, but only lasts 6 seconds in PvP (very similar to Repentance, but worse since Wyvern is a poison and a sleep; Undead)

• Explosive Shot does less damage than on live (actually it might not... very confusing)
  

I still see Survival Hunters having a place in PvP.  I think they will be merely okay, but it will take much more effort to do well as a Survival Hunter.

 
 Marksmanship Tree 3.1 Overview:

• A lot of talent buffs: Piercing Shots, Ranged Weapon Specialization, Wild Quiver, Efficiency, Rapid Recuperation
  

• Chimera Shot mana cost has been reduced so that Marksmanship isn't the I bleed mana tree anymore

• Concussive Barrage is now 2 ranks and gives your Chimera Shot 100% chance to Daze target for 4 seconds (this changed the talent from worthless to amazing)

• Silencing Shot no longer on the GCD
  

Marksmanship Hunters will be able to PvP decently after 3.1.  They still take a lot of prep time to do their damage; Sting before Chimera Shot.  I see the main body of Hunters moving over to try out Marksmanship in PvP.
  
     
 Beast Mastery Tree 3.1 Overview:

• Pets get more talents so that the 51 point BM talent is not as worthless

• Animal Handler now increases the duration of Master's Call by 6 seconds instead of reducing the cooldown on it by 10 seconds (this is a major buff and makes a BM Hunters Master's Call last for 10 seconds)

Beast Mastery Hunters will probably be unchanged come 3.1 as the talent buffs pretty much nullify the overall Hunter nerfs.  I really wish they would spice up the Beast Mastery tree as it was the least changed in 3.0 and now will be the least changed in 3.1.
   

Tweaked BM Build for Double DPS

I went back to the drawing board for my build and decided to go back to 50/21, BM with Readiness.  Even though Readiness no longer resets Bestial Wrath, it does reset many other essential cooldowns, including: Traps, Deterrence, Master's Call, Flare, Intimidation and Shots.

Since I use a Wasp, having four more talent points (BM 51 point talent) does not help me in PvP.  Come 3.1 it might, as pet trees will get more talent points.

The Glyphs I end up using with this build are:

Glyph of Frost Trap
Glyph of Disengage
Glyph of Aspect of the Monkey (removed in 3.1)

The reason I don't pick up Longevity is because we run Double DPS, so are matches tend to last under one minute.  I never get to use Bestial Wrath more than once unless it comes down to a 1v1 with a healer.  That also means that the Glyph of Bestial Wrath is worthless to me.

Here is my build:

     50 / 21  BM / Readiness

 

Over the next week I will be very busy with family entertaining, and will probably not post much. 

I would like to hear more about other Hunter (preferably you or the Hunter you play with) successes or failures in trying Hunter Double DPS comps.  If you have exprerience with it please leave a comment.
 

2108 Hunter / Rogue

I'm sure everyone is a bit tired of the updates I throw out every so often on our progress in 2's, but I don't care.
 

 
  
We ended our run winning against a 2261 rated Mage / Rogue team, and decided to call it good after that.

I wanted to make our team a little bit better this week by helping Siphter level his Engineering.  With Engineering he has Nitro Boosts for a 2 second super sprint, an Explosive Rocket on gloves, a Gnomish Lightning Generator trinket and the Engineering Helm for better stealth detection.  This gives us even more burst and more options for him to get on his target.

I also have switched up my spec to be more bursty, with less crowd control.  I tried out a Chimaera for a few games and then switched back to my Wasp.  The Cunning tree is just not viable at the moment, although come 3.1, it is getting some buffs.
 

53 / 18 / 0

 
  
This build definitely makes landing a Freezing Arrow a bit tougher (since I do not have Scatter Shot).  But dropping a Freezing Arrow on where the off target will probably move next has actually worked out most the time.


Looking on to 3.1 changes for PvP...

Survival is getting some heavy PvP nerfs:

• Explosive Shot damage lowered

• Wyvern Sting only lasts 6 seconds in PvP and now has a longer cooldown (and the glyph only reduces cooldown by 6 seconds, instead of 15)

• Explosive Shot no longer has a chance to stun the target from T.N.T.

Marksmanship is getting some buffs:

• Talents are getting much better throughout the Marksmanship tree (damage wise)
  

• Chimera Shot mana cost is reduced by about 20%

Beast Mastery is getting one decent buff for PvP:

• Animal Handler now increases duration of Master's Call instead of reducing the cooldown (which makes it a much better talent, and keeps BM THE mobility tree for Hunters)

I think I will stick with BM come 3.1 for 2v2 Arena given the current 3.1 changes.  I'm not sure what pet I will use come 3.1, either a Wasp or a Chimaera (with the Cunning buffs).
  

2053 Rated BG9: Hunter / Rogue Setup

 

    My Hunter Spec

   

  

Rogue Spec

 

 

 

 

My Hunter Gear

  

Head: Valorous Cryptstalker Headpiece

• Enchant / Meta / Blue Socket: Arcanum of Torment / Swift Skyflare Diamond / Enchanted Tear
  

Neck: Deadly Gladiator's Pendant of Triumph

  

Shoulder: Hateful Gladiator's Chain Spaulders

•  Enchant / Yellow Socket: Inscription of Triumph / Kharmaa's Grace

Cloak: Deadly Gladiator's Cloak of Triumph

• Enchant: Major Agility
  

Chest: Tunic of the Lost Pack

• Enchant: Powerful Stats
  

Wrist: Deadly Gladiator's Wristguards of Triumph

• Enchant: Fur Lining - Stamina
  

Gloves: Hateful Gladiator's Chain Gauntlets

• Enchant / Blue Socket: Hand-Mounted Pyro Rocket / Solid Sky Sapphire
  

Belt: Deadly Gladiator's Waistguard of Triumph

• Prismatic Socket (Eternal Belt Buckle) / Blue Socket: Glinting Monarch Topaz / Solid Sky Sapphire
  

Legs: Valorous Cryptstalker Legguards

• Enchant / Red Socket / Blue Socket: Icescale Leg Armor / Delicate Scarlet Ruby / Perfect Shifting Shadow Crystal

Feet: Deadly Gladiator's Sabatons of Triumph

• Enchant / Yellow Socket: Nitro Boosts / Glinting Monarch Topaz
  

Ring: Surge Needle Ring

 

Ring: Deadly Gladiator's Band of Victory

 

Trinket: Medallion of the Horde

 

Trinket: Gnomish Lightning Generator

 

Main Melee Weapon: Deadly Gladiator's Waraxe

• Enchant: Accuracy
  

Off-hand Melee Weapon: Hatestrike

• Enchant: Titanium Weapon Chain
  

Ranged Weapon: Envoy of Mortality

• Enchant: Heartseeker Scope
  

Ammo: Mammoth Cutters

   

   

Rogue Gear

  

Siphter mainly used PvE gear since I was usually their main target.  His burst damage is what made us get many of our kills.

   

   

My Hunter Major Glyphs

  

Glyph of Aspect of the Monkey

Glyph of Disengage

Glyph of Frost Trap

  

 

Rogue Major Glyphs

 

Glyph of Eviscerate

Glyph of Vigor

Glyph of Hemorrhage

 

 

My Hunter Macros

 

Lazer Beams (4k magical burst in 1 second; can use while moving):

/use Hateful Gladiator's Chain Gauntlets
/use Gnomish Lightning Generator

  

Cancel Deterrence:

#showtooltip Deterrence
/cancelaura Deterrence

  

Nitro Boosts & Master's Call:

/cast Master's Call
/use Deadly Gladiator's Sabatons of Triumph

 

Bestial Wrath + Dmg + Stun:

/cast Rapid Fire
/cast Kill Command
/cast Blood Fury(Racial)
/cast Call of the Wild
/cast Bestial Wrath
/cast Intimidation

  

Hunter / Rogue: 2053 Rating

After a stressful two hours, climbing up to 2040 many times before falling again and again to 2000, we managed to put together a string of wins and claim 2053 rating as BM Hunter / Shadowstep Rogue.  That was our goal since a few weeks ago when we started to believe it was actually possible.

Now that we have beaten the PvP and PvE part of WoW it's time to do some relaxing... or continue to level my 74 Ret Paladin.

Having completed my PvP objective I will probably end up talking a lot about 3.1 and what the future holds for Hunters.
 

My UI

My User Interface consists of mods I have used for years and mods I have just begun to use.  I have plenty of room for my plethra of mods with my 24 inch widescreen monitor.

  

 
Player Frames:
X-Perl UnitFrames

X-Perl has been my go to player frames mod for the last couple of years.  I first started using Perl Classic and eventually switched over to X-Perl.



Questing / Map:
Carbonite Quest
Questguru

My favorite mod happens to be Carbonite Quest.  It has, by far, the best map interface which is a true joy to use.

ActionBar:
Bartender4

I used to use TrinityBars for my action bar mod.  When 3.0 hit I switched over to Bartender4 and haven't had any problems.  Love the simple functionality.


Arena:
Gladius
Afflicted2

Gladius is by far the most important mod to have while playing in Arena.  The most important option is the display of when enemies use their PvP Trinkets.


Informational:
DoTimer

Power Auras Classic

NeedtoKnow

Kharthus's Hunter Timers
RangeDisplay
Recount

These informational mods are crucial for PvE and very helpful for PvP.

DoTimer is a great cooldown mod.

Power Auras Classic is the best graphical notifier of when procs happen (i.e. Lock and Load).

NeedtoKnow is my favorite mod for tracking debuffs on a target (i.e. Hunter's Mark, Serpent Sting, etc.).

RangeDisplay is probably the best range display out there.

 

Talents:
Talented

A much improved talent display that makes the in game like Wowhead.

Misc:
Titan Panel
Advanced Trade Skill Window
SimpleMinimap
Diablo 3 dynamic Orbs
SpamMeNot

Advanced Trade Skill Window is a time saver when it comes to professions, and it makes the display of the details of my profession much easier to read.

Diablo 3 dynamic Orbs is the best UI art that I have in my arsenal.  It is also very functional.  It looks awesome and helps me realize my health and mana easier.

SpamMeNot is my spam fighter.  I haven't recieved a single gold spam since I started using it about a year or so ago.

PvE:
Deadly Boss Mods
FailBot

Deadly Boss Mods is a godsend in helping notify me of important events in boss fights.  I've used DMB for a very long time and swear by it.

Failbot is a more recent addition to my library of mods.  Failbot makes it easy to tell who in my raid keeps failing at different things (void zones, negative/positive charge, Heigan dance, frogger, etc.) by displaying " fails at ____" in raid chat.


Auction House:
AHsearch
Baud Auction
Postal

These three mods are essential to anyone who uses the auction house daily.

AHsearch allows me to save any auction house search that I want and categorize it.  This makes it so I do not have to type in my many different auction house searches.

Baud Auction makes it so I can sort the results how I want to (Buyout per Unit), and displays the results all in one page that is scrollable.

  

 

Hunter / Rogue 2000 Arena Rating 2v2

Shaedon Armory.  The Armory page should show my gear / spec that I used to get to 2000 until friday when I have to respec for 25 man Naxx.

Wow, I never really imagined that a Hunter / Rogue combo could get this high.  It has been a very tough challenge that has been extremely rewarding.

I might post more information about the combo if there is interest in it.  For now, I will relax and enjoy being 2000 rated as a Hunter / Rogue combo.
 

3.1 Changes

The initial 3.1 changes are out and the PTR is up. 
My 3.1 page has been updated with the latest information.

Survival is getting the largest revamp and is the most confusing at the moment.  Looks like the PvE rotation for Survival could get very complicated with the new Black Arrow.

Marksmanship is getting a minor boost through talents and glyphs.

Beast Mastery is getting a minor boost through the pet talent tree (Wild Hunt talent) which seems to be bugged on the PTR at the moment (giving pets way too much attack power).

The most convenient change is the new skill called Stabled Pet, allowing us to use our stables every 30 minutes no matter where we are.

Disengage, the bread and butter PvP skill, is getting nerfed from 25 second cd to 30 second cd.

I think I will continue to think about all these changes and write up a larger summary of each tree in 3.1 in the future.
  

Beast Mastery is back in Double DPS

Today I was a bit bored of always being a Survival Hunter and decided to once again try my beloved Beast Mastery tree to see if it could still work.  It does.

We started the day with a 1799 rating and ended at a 1939 rating tonight as a Beast Mastery Hunter with a Shadowstep Rogue in 2's.

Half the games we faced Rogue / Mage or Rogue / Healer teams.  We lost only one of those games.  Every other game we absolutely dominated them.  As a BM Hunter I can focus on the Rogue and with Beast Within there is nothing that can stop me from making his life miserable.

Rogue opens on me and I instantly blow my macro that casts my Attack Power Trinket, Orc Racial, Rapid Fire, Kill Command, Bestial Wrath and Intimidation.  This allows me to stun the Rogue and get away with BW, while my pet is doing massive damage.  Rogue will be slow on the vanish since I am using a Wasp pet.  After the Rogue tries to run away and Cloak + Vanish I am waiting with the Flare.

While all this is happening my Rogue is either destroying their Mage or if it is a Rogue / Healer team is on their Rogue with me.

Against Paladin teams we have difficulty since we have to focus on CC'ing the non Paladin which does not work with DK / Paladin teams as the DK has too many pets and takes me out too quickly.  So we now try taking out the DK first in DK / Paladin teams and that works some of the time if we get some lucky crits and a good Blind.

BM Hunter PvP Spec

  

    

Survival PvP

Common Best Comps for Hunters:

2's
1. Hunter / Shaman
2. Hunter / Paladin
3. Hunter / Priest
4. Hunter / Druid 

3's
1. Hunter / Paladin (Holy or Retribution) / Shaman
2. Hunter / Paladin / Death Knight


As you can see in 2's, Hunters need healers to be good.  Unfortunately my only serious 2's partner is a Rogue, so we just have to make due with an 1800-1900 rating.  We got up to an 1880's rating before falling back to an 1818 rating.  If we manage our CC flawlessly and play perfectly we have a chance to beat most teams.  Unfortunately we do make mistakes and one mistake will cost you the game when your playing a bad comp.


Spell Penetration

Most top Hunters use 75 Spell Penetration to combat enemy fire resistance.
35 Spell Penetration Enchant on Cloak and two 20 Spell Penetration Blue Gems.


Specs

There is no exact cookie cutter spec that is dominating the charts for Hunters.  Every top Hunter is a Survival spec, but each one specs a bit differently.  Perhaps specs vary because there are so many mediocre talents in the Survival tree.

Hunter / Healer Spec

This spec is very similar to the specs of most top Hunters.  I tend to favor Improved Concussive Shot, and could not see myself without it.

Double DPS Spec

This spec is a lot different than most top Hunter specs.  This is partly because there is no top Hunter that is running Double DPS (to my knowledge).

Mana is not an issue since fights are short.  Talents that benefit Frost Trap are not important because I will mainly use Scatter Shot / Freezing Arrow.  Extra Hit chance is important to combat Rogues (4% miss chance from talents, 2% miss chance if Night Elves).


Rogue / Hunter Strategy

Our strategy revolves around our ability to perfectly CC one of their players.  Ideally this is our CC rotation on easiest to CC target:

Sap (10 seconds)
Scatter Shot / Freezing Arrow (14 seconds)
Blind (10 seconds)
Vanish / Sap (10 seconds)
Scatter Shot / Freezing Arrow (14 seconds)
Wyvern Sting (10 seconds)
Cheap Shot / Kidney Shot (10 seconds)

That is 78 seconds of CC, however, this is not how things usually happen.

Real World CC rotation:

Other team manages to get in combat or has ground aoe to thwart off Sap.

Scatter Shot / Freezing Arrow (1-6 seconds as enemy will usually use their trinket)
Blind (10 seconds)
Wyvern Sting (10 seconds)

If my Rogue is quick on the blind that is a little over 20 seconds of CC.  This should give us enough time to burst the other person down.  If not, than my Rogue will go back to stunning up the CC target.  But if we haven't killed someone 30 seconds into the fight, most likely one of us is about dead.

Ideally we could just CC their DPS and go all out on their healer.  But we come across many Double DPS teams at our rating and a lot of Rogue / Healer teams (Rogues are very tough to CC).

Against any Holy Paladin team we have to go for the Paladin (as we cannot CC him through a Bubble) and CC his partner.


Pets

Tenacity pets are used when playing with a Healer.  Roar of Sacrifice and Intervene are just too good in longer fights.  Crabs and Turtles are the most common choices.

Ferocity pets are good for Double DPS.  They bring more damage, instant rez and Call of the Wild.  Wasps are the trademark pet for Double DPS as they bring Faerie Fire to the table, which screws up Rogues and Mages and thier ability to vanish / invis.
  

Hunters Achieve Balance in Arena!

I would just like to celebrate this momentous achievement by the Hunter class.  I did not believe that Hunters would ever find true balance in Arena.

Today, Hunters are perfectly balanced in the Top 100!

WoW Reports, my other site, has a new post about the end of week 8.  Hunters have 10% overall representation (10.3% in 2's, 9.6% in 3's and 10.2% in 5's).  In any bracket, currently, Hunters can compete. 

This blog was founded on the thought that Hunters might never see their day in Arenas.  I must say, during the Beta of WotLK I was convinced that Hunters would still be the worst class in Arenas.

Disengage is the move that completely changed Hunters in PvP.  Chimera Shot and Explosive Shot certainly helped us against high armor classes, but without Disengage, every melee class would destroy us.

I am joyful that I stuck with the Hunter class even when things looked grim.  Thank you Blizzard for giving Hunters a solid chance in Arenas.  I am looking forward to watching some tournaments with teams that actually have a Hunter on them.

I know there might be some nerfs in the future for us (T.N.T.), but I believe WotLK is never going to treat Hunters like Burning Crusade did.  Hunter for life, pew pew.
 

Marksmanship PvP & Site Updates

After weeks of playing with Survival in PvP/PvE I decided to try my luck with a PvP Marksmanship build.
  
  

0/53/18 PvP Marksmanship

 

Readiness and Silencing Shot have come in very handy numerous times.
  
Marksmanship can come pretty close to the burst of Survival with 3 main instant shots (Arcane, Aimed & Chimera).  The play style is very similar to Survival, so it was easy to pick up and be successful. 

Only major problems is the mana consumption of Chimera Shot.  I expect Blizzard to lower the mana cost in the future.


Just updated the Survival page, it is now only about PvE and has updated 25 man #'s.

I plan to create a Survival PvP page sometime relatively soon.  My Survival Talent Guide will just have to wait until after 3.1 (too many upcoming changes).
  

3.1 Hunter Changes

Updated: April 2nd 2009

This post will be all about 3.1 Hunter changes.
This might be the complete list of changes as Hunters have not received any changes in the last few PTR Builds.


March 27th Information

Hunter

Survival

• Entrapment redesigned: When your Frost Trap, Immolation Trap, Explosive Trap and Snake Trap are triggered, you entrap all afflicted targets, preventing them from moving for 2/3/4 seconds. (Down from 2/4/6)

 
Bug Fixes

• Cower: This pet ability will now display its cooldown correctly.
• Disengage: This ability can no longer be used while riding any type of vehicle.
• Froststorm Breath: This pet ability will now display its cooldown correctly.
• Heart of the Phoenix: Can no longer be set to autocast (which did not work).
• Rake: This pet ability will now always refresh when used by the pet.
• Savage Rend (raptor special ability): Fixed a tooltip error to correctly note this ability boosts damage rather than attack power.
• Spirit Strike: This pet ability now has its damage increased by Prowl as intended.
• Spore Cloud: This pet ability will now autocast properly at all ranks.
• Steady Shot: Now does correct damage with heirloom weapons.

March 24th Information (PTR Build 9722):

Marksmanship

• Hunter's Mark now lasts 5 min. (Up from 2 min)

 
Survival

• Black Arrow shares a cooldown with Trap spells.
• Entrapment now prevent target from moving 2/3/4sec. (Down from 2/4/6sec)
• Trap Mastery now increases the number of snakes summoned by Snake Trap by 3/6/9. (Down from 30/60/90, typo)

 
  

March 19th Information (PTR Build 9704):

• Hunter T8 2P Bonus -- Increases the damage done by your Serpent Sting by 10%.
• Hunter T8 4P Bonus -- Your Steady Shot has a chance to grant you 600 attack power for 15 sec. 

• Glyph of Raptor Strike -- Reduces damage taken by 20% for 3 sec after using Raptor Strike.

 Beast Mastery

• Aspect of the Viper now requires a ranged weapon.

Survival

• Trap Mastery now increases the duration of Frost Trap and Freezing Trap by 10% (Down from 20%), the periodic damage done by Immolatrion Trap, Explosive Trap, and Black Arrow by 10/20/30%, and increases the number of snakes summoned by Snake Trap by 30/60/90.

Pet

• Stamped (Rhino) no longer knockbacks the target but causes it to take  25% additional damage from bleed effects for 1 min instead.
• Spore Cloud range was increased from 5 to 6 yards.

March 12th Information (PTR Build 9684):

Survival

• Wyvern Sting cooldown has been lowered from 1.5min to 1min.
• Frost Trap now slows down the enemy by 50%. (Down from 60%)
• Resourcefulness now also effects Black Arrow.
• Entrapment changed to - When your Frost Trap, Immolation Trap, Explosive Trap and Snake Trap are triggered you entrap all afflicted targets, preventing them from moving for 2/4/6 sec.

Beast Mastery

• Animal handler now increases the duration of your Master's Call effect by 6sec. (Down from 10sec)

Marksmanship

• Wild Quiver now deals 80% weapon nature damage. (Old - 80% Nature damage, wording change?)
• Concussive Barrage changed from 3 to 2 ranks, now gives your successful Chimera Shot and Multi-Shot attacks a 50/100% chance to Daze the target for 4 sec. (Old - 2/4/6% chance on Auto Shot, Multi-Shot, and Volley)
• Efficiency now reduces the Mana cost of your Shots and Stings by 3/6/9/12/15%. (Up from 2/4/6/8/10%)

Glyphs

• Glyph of the Monkey has been removed.
• Glyph of Mend Pet has been added - Increases the healing done by your Mend Pet ability by 40%.
• Glyph of Raptor Strike - For 3 sec (down from 5 sec) after using Raptor Strike, you take 20% less damage.

 
 
March 6th Information:asses: General

• Armor Penetration Rating: All classes now receive 25% more benefit from Armor Penetration Rating.
• Haste Rating: Shamans, Paladins, Druids, and Death Knights now receive 30% more melee haste from Haste Rating.

  
 Hunter

• Aspect of the Pack is now raid wide, and radius increased from 30 yards to 40 yards.
  
  
  
  • Beast Mastery
    
    
    
    • Animal Handler: No longer reduces the cooldown of Master's Call, instead increases the duration of the Master's Call effect by 3/6 sec.
  • Marksmanship
    
    
    
    • Chimera Shot: Mana cost reduced from 16% to 12%.
    • Piercing Shots re-designed: Your critical Aimed, Steady and Chimera Shots cause the target to bleed for 10/20/30% of the damage dealt over 8 sec. The damage done by this talent no longer receives modifications from effects that increase or decrease damage done by a percentage.
    • Rapid Recuperation re-designed: You gain 2/4% of your mana every 3 sec while under the effect of Rapid Fire, and you gain 1/2% of your mana every 2 sec for 6 sec when you gain Rapid Killing.
  • Survival
    
    
    
    • Explosive Shot: Base damage lowered by 10%. Attack power scaling reduced by 12.5%. The periodic damage from this ability no longer triggers Judgement of Wisdom and Judgement of Light.
    • Trap Mastery, Resourcefulness and T.N.T. now all affect Black Arrow.
  • Pets
    
    
    
    • Great Resistance increased to 5/10/15% magic damage reduction, up from 3/6/9%.
    • Turtles and Crabs now dwell in waters of and off Eversong and the Ghostlands, giving Blood Elf hunters access to local Tenacity pets.
    • New Talent: Wild Hunt: This new two-rank talent is available to all 3 pet trees. Increases the contribution your pets get from your Stamina by 20/40% and attack power by 10/20%.
     
  • Glyph of Aspect of the Monkey: No longer works while under the effect of Aspect of the Dragonhawk.

February 27th Information:

Ammunition: All types of gun and bow ammunition now stack to 1000. All quivers and ammo pouches no longer provide haste. 15% ranged haste is now built in to Hunter Autoshot.

Cunning, Ferocity and Tenacity pets now all have +5% damage, +5% armor and +5% health bonuses. This should make more pet families feel viable, while additional talents have been added to distinguish a pet’s abilities based on its specializations.

Viper Sting re-designed: Stings the target, draining 4% of mana over 8 sec (up to a maximum of 8% of the caster's maximum mana), and energizing the Hunter equal to 300% of the amount drained. Only one Sting per Hunter can be active on any one target.

Survival

• Explosive Shot: Base damage lowered by 10%. Attack power scaling reduced by 12.5%.

Pets

• Bullheaded now adds 20% damage reduction for 12 sec along with its current CC-removal effect.
• Cornered: The crit reduction when this ability is active has been increased.
• Feeding Frenzy increased to 8/16% damage up from 6/12%.
• Furious Howl (wolf special ability) now stacks with Battle Shout and Blessing of Might, however, it only affects the wolf and hunter. Its effect and cooldown have been doubled so that it provides the same benefit but isn’t up 100% of the time.
• Gorillas now have a new family ability, Pummel, which works like the warrior ability and has a single rank.
• Grace of the Mantis and Roar of Sacrifice are now also available to Cunning pets.
• New Talent: Shark Attack: This new two-rank talent is available to Ferocity pets. It increases pet damage.
• New Talent: Silverback: This new two-rank talent is available to Tenacity pets. It heals the pet when Growl is used.
• New Talent: Wild Hunt: This new two-rank talent is available to all 3 pet trees. It increases the stamina and attack power inherited from the hunter.
• Roar of Recovery cooldown decreased to 3 min, down from 6 min.
• Thunderstomp is no longer a gorilla-specific family ability and is now available to all Tenacity pets. It has been reduced to one rank.

February 23rd Information:

GC in the forums:

I know this is a little confusing, so I will try and clear it up.

1) Trap Launcher is a very cool idea and something we would love to do. However, it requires a lot of tech and may end up beyond the scope of what we can do for patch 3.1. We don't want to give hunters a buggy, half-baked ability. If you are going on the PTR to test Ulduar or just mess around with numbers, I wouldn't worry about this ability, at least for now.

2) Black Arrow is on the trap cooldown timer, and we assume largely for PvE. Black Arrow is your ability to proc things normally caused by traps (like LnL) in PvE situations when using a trap is a pain or the target is immune.

3) Think of Lock and Load triggering from traps (esp. Frost Trap) as a PvP mechanic. Think of Lock and Load triggering from periodic ticks (esp. Black Arrow) as a PvE mechanic. In PvE, you may want to use traps on trash or group pulls however. In PvP, nothing is stopping you from using Black Arrow if it works for you. 

Hunter
Beast Mastery
Skills

• *New Skill* Call Stabled Pet - A pet of your choice busts out of its stable and joins you no matter where you are, replacing your current pet. Cannot be used in combat. Instant. 30 min cooldown. Requires Level 80.

Marksmanship
Skills

• Kill Shot no longer has a minimum range. It can now be used in melee range.

  
Talents

• Wild Quiver (Tier 9) now increases your chance to shoot an additional shot when doing damage with your auto shot, dealing 80% Nature damage, by 4/8/12%. (Previously it dealt 50% nature damage and had a 4/7/10% chance.)

• Piercing Shots (Tier 7) Your critical Aimed, Steady and Chimera Shots cause the target to bleed for 10/20/30% of the damage dealt over 8 sec. (Previously triggered 2/4/6% armor ignore).

• Ranged Weapon Specialization (Tier 6) is now a 3 point talent, increasing damage with ranged weapons by 1/3/5%. (Previously a 5 point talent increasing damage by 1/2/3/4/5%)

Survival
Skills

• Disengage cooldown increased to 30 secs. (Previously was 25 secs)

  
Talents

• Hunting Party (Tier 10) is now a 3 point talent, increasing agility by 1/2/3% and your Arcane Shot, Explosive Shot and Steady Shot critical strikes have a 33/66/100% chance to grant up to 10 party or raid members mana regeneration equal to 0.25% of the maximum mana per second. Lasts for 15 sec.

• Trap Mastery moved from Tier 9 to Tier 2 and is now a 3 point talent. Increases the duration of Frost and Freezing trap by 10/20/30%, Periodic damage of Immolation and Explosive trap by 10/20/30%, and number of snakes summoned by Snake Trap by 30%. (Previously was just 1 point)

• *New Talent* Black Arrow (Tier 9) - Fires a Black Arrow at the target, increasing all damage done by you to the target by 6% and dealing [ 10% of RAP + 785 ] Shadow damage over 15 sec. Costs 6% base mana. 5-35 yard range. Instant Cast. 30 sec cooldown.

• Sniper Training (Tier 9) has been changed to increase the critical strike chance of your Kill Shot ability by 5/10/15%, and while standing still for 6 sec., you gain Sniper Training increasing the damage done by your Steady Shot, Aimed Shot, Black Arrow and Explosive Shot by 2/4/6% Lasts 15 sec. (Previously increased damage and critical strike chance based on your range to the target)

• Wyvern Sting (Tier 7) now lasts 30 sec on the target. (Previously lasted 12 sec)

• T.N.T. (Tier 4) now increases the damage done by your Explosive Shot,  Explosive Trap and Immolation Trap by 2%. (Previously increased critical strike chance of explosive shot and and gave it a chance to stun the target)

• Lock and Load (Tier 4) now has a 33/66/100% chance to proc off Freezing Shot, Freezing Trap, and Frost Trap, and a 3/7/10% chance to proc off the periodic damage of Immolation Trap and Black Arrow. (Previously worked on all traps and included serpent sting)

• Improved Wing Clip has been removed from the game.

Glyph Changes

• Glyph - Aimed Shot  -- Reduces the cooldown of your Aimed Shot ability by 2 sec. (Old: Reduces the mana cost of your aimed shot ability by 20%)

• Glyph of the Monkey  -- While Aspect of the Monkey or Aspect of the Dragonhawk are active, each time you dodge you gain 30% increased movement speed for 6 sec.  Can only occur every 20 sec.  This speed does not stack with other movement speed increasing effects. (Old: Glyph of Aspect of the Monkey  -- While Aspect of the Monkey or Aspect of the Dragonhawk are active, each time you dodge you gain 30% increased movement speed for 6 sec.  This speed does not stack with other movement speed increasing effects.)

• Glyph of Wyvern Sting  -- Decreases the cooldown of your Wyvern Sting by 6 sec. (Old: Decreases the cooldown of your Wyvern Sting by 15 sec., but decreases the damage it deals by 20%.)

• Glyph of Snake Trap  -- Snakes generated by your Snake Trap take 90% reduced damge from area of effect spells. (Old: Your Snake Trap creates 2 additional snakes)

• Glyph of the Hawk  -- Increases the haste bonus of the Improved Aspect of the Hawk effect by an additional 6%. (Old: Renamed from Glyph of Improved Aspect of the Hawk)

• Glyph of Chimera Shot *new*  -- Reduces the cooldown of Chimera Shot by 1 sec. 

• Glyph of Explosive Shot *new*  -- Increases the critical strike chance of Explosive Shot by 4%. 

• Glyph of Kill Shot *new*  -- Reduces the cooldown of Kill Shot by 6 sec. 

• Glyph of Explosive Trap *new*  -- The periodic damage from your Explosive Trap can now be critical strikes. 

• Glyph of Scatter Shot *new*  -- Increases the range of Scatter Shot by 3 yards. 

• Glyph of Raptor Strike *new*  -- For 5 sec. after using Raptor Strike, you take 20% less damage.