hunters

Blizzard is releasing class changes for the Hunter, Druid and Mage today. I will begin with the Hunters, or Huntards as I prefer to call them. Hunters will receive a major overhaul when Cataclysm hits. Don’t worry, you will still be able to recognize them, as they’ll still be rolling on every weapon. The full detailed list can be found on the forums.
Hunter Changes for Cataclysm:
First, let’s begin with the biggest change. Whoa, where did all the Mana go? Hunters will be using Focus instead. Focus will be very similar to how energy works for both Rogues and Druids in catform. Intellect will have no effect on it, although haste will improve its generation. It will generate at about 6 Focus per second. Personally, I never played a Rogue because of the Energy resource…I don’t think I’m going to be a fan of Hunters anymore. One good part is that both Steady Shot and Cobra Shot will be costless abilities and will generate 9 Focus per shot. Blizzard further listed an approximate ability and cost list:
Arcane Shot/Chimera Shot /Explosive Shot: 45 Focus.
Aimed Shot/Multi-Shot: 60 Focus.
Concussive Shot/Tranquilizing Shot: 35 Focus.
Rapid Fire/Master’s Call/Disengage: 30 Focus.
Now back to the new abilities that Hunter’s will be gaining in Cataclysm. Some of them are actually pretty sweet.
Cobra Shot, available at level 81, is an all new ability that will deal Nature damage instead of physical. It will share a cooldown with Steady Shot and is intended to be used on heavily armored targets.
Freezing Shot, available at level 83, will allow for a hunter to shoot a trap to any location within 40 yards. Since this will work with all traps, Freezing Arrow will be removed. It will have a 1-minute cooldown and it won’t have a global cooldown.
Camouflage, available at level 85, looks to be a Hunterized version of the Rogue’s Smoke Bomb. Hunters cannot be targeted by ranged single target attacks. Both AoE and melee attacks will break them out of Camouflage, as well as if the Hunter deals damage. The Hunter will be able to set up traps while under the effects and will receive a damage bonus when he breaks it with an attack.
In Cataclysm, Hunters as well as other ranged class will no longer need to buy or craft ammunition. Left over ammunition will become grey sellable items, and 1 quiver per hunter will get changed into a large bag. All new Hunters at level 1 will start off with a race specific pet and then be able to tame a second or new pet starting at level 10.
The capacity of pets will also increase. The hunter may have 2 active pets, up to 5 as Beast Mastery, and a large amount in storage. Hunters can switch between the active pets at any time outside of combat. This will coincide with the change that pets will all be able to put up important buffs or debuffs. Wind Serpents have a weaker version of Curse of the Elements, Ravagers will provide a weaker version of the Blood Frenzy debuff from Warriors, and Hyenas provide a weaker version of a Druid’s Mangle.
All periodic damage abilities will scale with haste, just like the DoTs from Warlocks and Priests. To reinforce Hunters as a ranged class, Blizzard will be removing some melee abilities and giving level 1 Hunters more ranged attacks. Viper Sting, working with the new Focus, will regenerate 9 Focus every 3 seconds.
For once, Blizzard is actually listing a whole bunch of new talents and reworking of talents for the Hunter class. Beast Mastery will gain a new talented ability called Careful Aim, which will increase the damage and cost of the next Steady Shot or Cobra Shot. It is intended to be used as an opener. Beast Mastery will also gain Longevity, which will reduce the casting time of Cobra Shot to 1.5 seconds. Rapid Recuperation will cause Rapid Fire to give 20/40/60 Focus immediately and cause Rapid Killing to generate 3 Focus every second. Efficiency is being changed to reduce the Focus cost of Chimera Shot, Aimed Shot, and Arcane Shot. Thrill of the Hunt will grant Hunters Focus whenever a critical strike is scored. More and more classes are gaining Paladin abilities. I don’t like this. Last but not least, Hunter Vs. Wild will increase the Hunter’s Focus generation when their pet becomes snared, stunned, or rooted.
Across all three specs Hunters will gain increased damage as a passive talent. Beast Mastery will gain additional haste as well as Pet Damage, which as its name says, will increase your pets damage done. Marksmanship will gain additional armor penetration and Double Shot which gives the Hunter a small chance to shoot a second time off of a global cooldown. Survival gains an increase to ranged critical strike and Elemental Damage, which make all appropriate traps, Black Arrow, and Explosive Shot do elemental damage. I’m sure Blizzard will explain this more thoroughly soon.
That wraps up the Hunter class changes.
Next up for review is the Druid class. I’m sure Druids will be getting many more changes that aren’t listed here because of the diversity across all three and a half specs. The detailed list from Blizzard can be found on the forums.