Wednesday, August 5, 2009

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.
    

6 comments:

D.D. said...

I agree that being able to lay more than one trap at a time is a decent improvement. However, the only time I try it is when under Deterrence, or as you said when preparing to be attacked. The RoS change isn't as big of an impact as I thought for BM. The change to nature damage makes me want to macro it with Aspect of the Wild, but that would severely gimp my dodge and force me to give up my 5% dmg mitigation from Aspect Mastery.

The pet improvements are negligible. My pets saw a little over 200 increase in AP from the new Animal Handler, and Wild Hunt combined. The shared % of resilience is sadly also not making much of a difference.

Anonymous said...

I noticed that there were several changes to pets as well, one was a cat one on rake...the second was animal handler, it increases pet ap now by a percentage, and then wild hunt got a buff too

David said...

Yes, the changes to the BM tree and deep pet talent Wild Hunt have helped increase a BM Hunter's damage slightly.

But I would guess a Marks Hunter would see just as much dps gains with a better weapon (some of the new weapons that just got released with new content), as Chimera Shot scales with weapons very nicely.

Gordie said...

What are your suggested specs for PvP?

David said...

I still prefer BM over any other spec for PvP. Marks can be fun for BG's... but in arenas... BM has been the best for me.

I'll update my BM PvP page today to show what I tend to run as far as BM specs go.

Anonymous said...

SV Hunter on Saurfang. Being able to lay 3 traps is awesome. If there is a group battling and no enemy are focused on me I just run straight through them laying traps it always stuffs them. 1v1 in a bg I scatter shot then immediately run up and lay a Freezing Trap & Snake Trap - Run bak and 3 explosive shot = dead!