Patch 4.0.6 Hunter Changes

The 1st patch of Cataclysm comes out and it looks like Hunters are going to be getting some decent buffs to help them out in PvP.  This is very much needed as the latest statistics have the Top Arena Representation of Hunters at about 1% (the average is 10%).


Hunter

• Aimed Shot! weapon damage has been increased to 200%.
• Aspect of the Wild, Aspect of the Hawk, and Aspect of the Fox can now be cast while mounted.
• Deterrence now provides 100% chance for melee attacks to miss instead of 100% parry chance. This means that attacks that cannot be parried, notably some rogue abilities, can now be prevented by Deterrence, and the hunter will gain the benefit of Deterrence even if disarmed.
• Dust Cloud's cooldown and duration have been modified to make it closer aligned with Tailspin (same effect, different pet).
• Kill Command's damage has been increased by 20%.
• Kill Shot's attack power scaling has been increased by 50%.
• Master's Call now has a 35-second cooldown, down from 1 minute. In addition, the visual effect is more obvious.

Talent Specializations
Marksmanship

• Chimera Shot's attack power scaling has been increased by 20%.

Survival

• Into the Wilderness (passive) has been reduced to a 10% Agility increase, down from 15%.

Pets

• Pets now have 70% of the master's armor, rather than a different value based on which type of pet they are.
• Shale Spiders now correctly have a special ability (Web Wrap).
• Bad Manner (monkey) now properly breaks from damage.

 
My Analysis:
The Deterrence and Master's Call changes are the most important. 

Deterrence will go from having many holes to only a few. Being able to cast it while disarmed is a much needed change and makes having 1 handers not required for serious PvP.

Master's Call cooldown almost being halved is huge from a mobility standpoint.  It seems like Blizzard is really sticking to Hunters having a minimum range and will just buff the mobility of Hunters as needed to compensate (which will either leave us underpowered or overpowered but unlikely ever perfect).  With the warrior nerfs to Charge / Intercept (Juggernaut) I believe Hunters will be able to kite melee very effectively after this patch.

My Wish List:

• Deterrence clears debuffs and is on a 1 minute or at most 90 second cooldown
• Steady Shot buffed vs. high armored targets
• Kill Command should have a minor range of 10 or 20 yards to account for pet not always being able to get to target easily