Feb. 24, 2009

Build a Lumber Mill and possibly a Workshop

There’s been some confusion regarding Trap Launcher (since it appears NYI on the Test Server) and what seems to be its replacement, the previously mysterious Black Arrow. Luckily, Ghostcrawler clarified.

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.

So yes, it looks like they don’t really want trap dancing done (in a PVE environment), especially considering the change to Frost Trap that was done in conjunction.

You won’t be trapping raid bosses to get LnL procs, even if they are immune to the effects. You probably won’t be trap dancing much at all in PvE. You should really use Black Arrow for that purpose.

If the proc rate ends up being too low, that is certainly something we are willing to adjust.

Feb. 23, 2009

It doesn't feel natural. There's that noise again

PTR is available for download. These aren’t exactly the notes I was expecting but here you go. There’s a few general things snuck at the bottom, after the Hunter specific notes.

• Hysteria, Tricks of the Trade, Enrage, Wrecking Crew, Death Wish, Arcane Power, Owlkin Frenzy, Beast Within, Avenging Wrath and Hysteria damage bonuses no longer stack together.
• Frost Trap: If the target who triggers Frost Trap is immune to its effect, the Frost Trap area effect will no longer be triggered.
• Kill Shot no longer has a minimum range. It can now be used in melee range.
• Improved Aspect of the Hawk now has a new spell effect.
• Improved Wing Clip: This talent has been removed.
• 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.
• Ranged Weapon Specialization: Points reduced from 5 to 3, 1/3/5%.
• Wild Quiver: Chance increased to 4/8/12%, up from 4/7/10%. Damage increased from 50% of an auto shot, to 80%.
• Hunting Party: This talent has been reduced to 3-points, and now increases your total Agility by an additional 1/2/3%.
• Lock and Load re-designed: You now have a 33/66/100% chance when you trap a target with Freezing Trap, Freezing Arrow or Frost Trap and a 2/4/6% chance when you deal periodic damage with your Immolation Trap or Black Arrow to cause your next 2 Arcane Shot or Explosive Shot spells to trigger no cooldown, cost no mana and consume no ammo. This now has a new spell effect and sound.
• New Talent: Trap Launcher: When activated, your next Trap will be launched instantly at the enemy target. 1 minute cooldown.
• T.N.T. re-designed: Increases the damage done by your Explosive Shot, Explosive Trap and Immolation Trap by 2/4/6%, and gives your Explosive Shot a 33/66/100% chance to refresh the duration of your Immolation Trap effect on the target.
• Trap Mastery: This talent has been moved up to tier-2, up from tier-9.
• Wyvern Sting duration increased from 12 sec to 30 sec. PvP duration reduced from 10 sec to 6 sec.
• Disengage cooldown increased to 30 secs.
• Roar of Sacrifice can be used on the hunter only.
• Stampede (Rhino) only affects 1 target, but adds a 25% bleed damage debuff (that does not stack with Mangle etc.) in addition to its knockback.
• Players with pets who attempt to use the Obedience Crystals in Naxxramas will have their pets dismissed automatically so they may possess an Understudy.
• Many items with 110 attack power now correctly grant 110 ranged attack power.
• All Ground Mounts may now swim without dismounting the rider. Flying Mounts still may NOT, and will dismount the rider upon entering water.
• Players at maximum level will now be able to visit their trainer to pay a one-time fee and access the dual talent spec feature.
• A new Gear Manager feature has been added. Players will now be able to save gear sets for easy gear switching.
• Players will now be able to queue for battlegrounds from any location.

As always, the caveat that all this is subject to change. MMO-Champion has updated their talent calculator. As you can see, Black Arrow is now a Survival ability (fires a Black Arrow at the target, increasing all damage done by you to the target by 6% and dealing [10% of RAP + 2765] Shadow damage over 15 seconds). It replaces Trap Mastery which has been moved down to where Improved Wing Clip used to be. And no, these aren’t all the changes, at least, so we’re told:

The class changes are not nearly complete. We want to get the test realms out to begin testing the new content, but that means launching without all planned class changes ready. We’re making numerous new class changes each day and will continue to add them in future PTR builds.

Feb. 17, 2009

Mr. Pinchy does not know!

How are hunters doing in PVP? Ghostcrawler doesn’t think we’re out of control in Arena (as other classes might maintain):

Aside from the random stun of TNT and a couple of the bugs mentioned, we don’t think hunters are grossly imbalanced in PvP at the moment. Explosive Shot might be a bit too high, but we aren’t nerfing it for the moment. We’ll see how things feel once some of the changes to other classes are in place.

Feb. 12, 2009

Duality

Big question and answer session regarding dual talent specializations. Ideally slated for 3.1, here are some nitty gritty facts that we hadn’t had until now.

What is dual speccing?

Dual speccing is the ability to save two separate talent specs, glyphs, and action bars.

Why are we allowing players to dual spec after all this time?

We really felt like this was a great way to increase the flexibility available to players and encourage them to take part in more aspects of the game. To use just one example, some players like to participate in both raids and Arenas, which is awesome behavior that we want to promote. But, there are some talents which are more useful in one part of the game than another. Currently, players have to pay respec costs and go through the process of setting up the desired talent spec and action bars whenever they switch.

The new system makes this a much more logical process, saving on time and cost and allowing players to easily move from one aspect of the game to another.

Who will be able to use it?

Players who have reached the maximum level will be able to set up dual specs.

Why do players need to be max level in order to do this?

We didn’t want to burden lower-level players with extra complexity as they’re working to level up and learn their class. But if the feature proves popular we might consider expanding it.

How will you be able to set up a dual spec?

Players will be able to visit their trainer and pay a one-time fee to be able to use it.

How do you switch between specs?

Players will be able to switch between their talent specs by visiting any Lexicon of Power provided they’ve paid for the ability to have a secondary spec. Lexicons of Power will be available in major cities, and inscribers will also be able to create a new item that summons one. Anyone can purchase this item, but it requires a ritual of several players to summon it for use by the party. It’s similar to a repair bot in that it will exist in the world for a short duration. It’s important to keep in mind that you will not be able to switch specs while in combat or Arenas. While you won’t be able to switch your spec without the Lexicon, you will still be able to look at your secondary spec whenever you want to.

Will solo players have the ability to switch their specs outside of the cities or will they still need to visit a Lexicon of Power?

Solo players will still need to go into the city to visit the Lexicon of Power to switch their talent spec or will need to get together with other players to summon one in.

Is the item that allows you to summon a Lexicon of Power reusable, or is it used up?

We haven’t made a final decision on that yet, and will be evaluating how it works on the PTR.

Can I respec only one of my talent sets, or will I need to respec them both if I reset one?

When you reset your talents, it will look at the spec you currently have in use as the talent set you want to change.

*Will you be able to switch gear easily to match your spec?*

At the same time we implement dual specs, we will also be setting up a gear system. The feature is called “Gear Manager.” It can also be used to just swap weapons or trinkets or put on that tuxedo to strut around town. It will not automatically switch your gear when you change your talent spec, but it will allow for an easy gear change between them. The feature may not be fully functional immediately in the PTR, but we’ll have more information to share about it before too much longer.

*What about hunters? Often their pet talents are set up to match the talents of the hunter. Will they be able to switch their pet specs as well?*

We will wipe the pet talents. However we are going to remove the respec cost for pet talents so that players won’t feel like they need to jump through an additional hoop to respec their pet. In addition, we are going to provide hunters a new core ability to let them remotely access their stable on a long cooldown. This way if their exotic pet heads off to the stable, they will be able to get a different pet. We hope to be able to discuss this new spell in more detail when we get a little further along.

*Will you be able to change your Glyphs as well?*

Glyphs will be tied to each talent spec so that if you switch between them, so too will the Glyphs. You’ll notice the UI will have changed a little bit so that the Glyph panes show up alongside the Talent panes now that they are associated.

What about hotbars? Will players be able to save them for the talent spec they’re running?

Yes, you will be able to save hotbars and use them with your talent specs. It just saves your bars at the same time as it saves the glyphs and talents. If you want to switch to your other action bar, you will need to change specs.

*Is there a way for players to choose their talents without them being saved? Currently, once you spend your talent point, it’s spent unless you pay the respec cost again.*

With the dual spec feature, we are going to allow players who respec to configure all their talents before they get saved. They will be able to allocate the points, then choose if they want to use that as their spec, rather than needing to carefully diagram out their talents ahead of time. This will allow players a little more freedom when deciding on the talents they want to pick and avoid costly mistakes.

Will players be confined to only setting up two specs?

We will be launching the feature with just two specs, but depending on how we feel it works out, we might consider additional specs in the future.

When can players expect to try out dual specs?

Players will be able to try out the dual spec system on the Public Test Realms when they are made available. This has been a pretty big project with a lot of people working toward making it a reality in the game. We’ll definitely be watching the feedback and looking for ways of making sure the system works the way we all envisioned it to.

I’ve highlighted the items that are of particular interest to hunters. The new remote stable ability, and how good it is, will probably depend on how long a “long cooldown” is.

Feb. 10, 2009

Hunter Ammo Changes

This just posted from Eyonix:

In our 3.1.0 class updates post, we had announced plans to remove consumable ammunition from the game upon the release of the next major content patch. Our original plans were to change ammunition so that hunters would no longer need to utilize bag space, while adding some new functionality that would continue to make ammunition a compelling element of gameplay. Unfortunately, this intended change will not be completely ready in time for patch 3.1.0.

We still fully intend to move forward with this change when the additional functionality becomes available, and for 3.1.0 we still intend to remove the need for pouches/quivers by greatly increasing the stack sizes on arrows and bullets, and the haste bonus from the bags will be preserved in another fashion. We’ll be sure to inform our players with further updates once they become available.

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