Dec. 9, 2005

Oh, Vermont should be beautiful

The Test server has been up (and down) over the last few weeks. And yes, the normalization
of pet run speeds are here to stay. This is the latest list of Hunter issues:

  • Entrapment is not proccing as it did in previous patches.
  • Screech’s AE effect breaks CC effects.
  • Screech’s AE effect is not breaking CC effects in our tests.

Pet speeds are normalized. There still is an issue under research concerning a pet’s ability to pursue its target. Default pet speeds for all types of creatures are all intended to be the same.

  • Bestial Wrath is not increasing pet damage.
  • Aspect of the Wild does not display the radius of the effect.
  • Flare leaves a flame graphic in the location it was cast.
  • Frost Trap’s animation does not work correctly if you have talent points in Clever Traps.
  • Bestial Swiftness will not affect pets that were summoned indoors.
  • Pet AI has difficulty attacking moving targets.

Since it’s the holiday season – I’m inclined to be charitable. I think I can live with the pet speed normalization. It’s been improved since it was first introduced (when it first appeared on Test, it was bad. REALLY bad). Some people might take this as a crippling class change. I don’t happen to agree. So yes, I’m willing to compromise on this issue.

Speaking of charity, everyone has their “pet” causes that they donate to, usually over the
holidays. I’m no different. I support the Humane Society of the United States. All my pets have been shelter adopted. If you’re an animal lover (animal companions were part of the reason I chose a hunter to begin with) and have a few extra dollars to spare, consider a donation to your local Humane Society.

Boars – (Beasts) updated
Lazy Hunter Macros – (Guides) updated
Contact – updated

Nov. 22, 2005

What did you expect, a turkey card?

So I got my hot little hands on the latest version of the Test server. Remember (obligatory disclaimer), things on the Test server aren’t set in stone. So these notes, while accurate, may not all make it to the live servers. Before I’m inundated with specific questions about 'What does this do?’ Or, 'Where can I find it?’ – the Test server isn’t up, but I imagine it will be in the next few days. As soon as I know, it’ll be up on TKA Something.

  • Arcane Shot – This spell can no longer trigger twice in one shot off of the Paladin’s Judgement of Wisdom.
  • Aspect of the Pack and Aspect of the Cheetah – Periodic damage will no longer trigger the Dazed effect.
  • Aspect of the Wild – Radius increased. Tooltip updated to display radius.
  • Improved Concussive Shot – The stun effect’s duration no longer diminishes or is diminished by controlled stun abilities and spells (e.g. Cheap Shot, Hammer of Justice, Charge etc.).
  • Tame Beast – The hunter will now turn to face the target during the taming process.
  • Bestial Wrath – Damage bonus reduced, duration increased.
  • Unleashed Fury – Damage bonus increased.
  • Turtles can now eat raw and cooked fish.
  • Turtles can now learn Shell Shield, allowing them to reduces all damage taken by 50% for 10 sec.
  • Hunters can now tame Sons of Hakkar. Sons of Hakkar are in the Wind Serpent family and will know Lightning Breath (Rank 6).
  • Boars can now learn Charge, an ability that allows them to charge to an enemy, immobilize that enemy for 1 second, and add a large amount of Attack Power to the boar’s next attack.
  • Gorillas can now learn Thunderstomp, an ability that causes high threat area Nature damage.

Also, this made me smile:

  • Engineers with skill 250 or greater, who have completed Umi Rumplesnicker’s 'Are We There Yeti?’ quest line, should seek her out again in Everlook.

After spending some time on the Test server, there are a few additional things to note:

  • Concussive Shot now has a graphic when it hits
  • Flare now has a graphic on the ground (I am unsure if this can be seen by opposing faction)
  • Lupos no longer does Shadow Damage
  • Pet pursuit speeds have been changed (all pets now intercept at a much slower speed, and

beasts that were previously very quick… aren’t any longer)

To those who celebrate it, Happy Thanksgiving!

Carrion Birds – (Beasts) updated
Beast Training, The Sequel: Skills – (Skills) updated

Nov. 15, 2005

That isn't very subtle

Good news, trolls! And no, I don’t mean the message board kind. Although this isn’t exactly hunter specific, as it applies to everyone in a general sense, I felt I needed to pass along what Blizzard has said about the upcoming racial trait changes.

Active racial ability improvements, including those specific to the Priest are currently slated for patch version 1.10. We realize that some of these abilities are not on par with others and part of our review will be to determine which changes must be made in order for players to feel each is beneficial. You’re free to post your feedback, but please understand that I’ve already given extensive feedback and suggestions to the class designers on this subject especially relating to the Troll.

Passive abilities may receive attention at a later date, but currently we’re focused on each race’s active abilities. We are fully aware of your concerns pertaining to several of the passive abilities, however, reviewing them is simply not a current priority as the class team is dedicated to completing each of the nine classes talent reviews in addition to making improvements to the active racials as stated above.

The other news, that does relate to hunters, is that the new graphics for the Tier 2 armor sets (for Hunters, that would be Dragonstalker) have been released.

(pulls up her tree stump)

Overall, I’m a fan of the World of Warcraft graphics. After years of trying to model characters to look very humanoid (realistic), I find the lighter feeling of Warcraft a refreshing change – and it’s one of the main reasons I really feel passionate about the game.

BUT WHAT IS WITH THE BRIGHT PURPLE ARMOR?

When the Beaststalker graphics were changed (color-wise), I was all for it. I feel much more like a hunter dressed in earth tones. And design-wise, I’ve got nothing against how Dragonstalker looks (although I just am really not a fan of large shoulder pads, it’s so 80’s). But why is it purple? What would be wrong with forest green? Or even a more muted magenta (these colors are found in abundance in Darkshore)? Instead of listening to the vocal outcries against the coloration, we received the following response:

I will also tell you that these models are final. These are the pieces going in 1.9. I am sorry if they’re not to your liking, but unfortunately art is very, very subjective. What is one man’s mess is another man’s masterpiece.

I can’t stand analogies like this. Art is art, and art is indeed subjective. The problem is, when you go shopping for a piece of artwork, you look for something that appeals to you. You don’t go into a gallery (or hell, even into Prints Plus in your local mall) and have them hand you a piece of art and tell you that’s what you’re getting for your investment, whether or not you like it. The funny thing is, unlike some other classes, Hunters are NOT asking for a re-work of the entire design. Take a lesson from Andy Warhol, Marilyn style, and give us the color change.

TKA updates include a new guide from Hodap of Pernolde for killing Onyxia (no, not solo). Also, this marks the beginning of a re-vamp of the species pages. Due to popular demand, species pages will now start to include all the “named” of that species. One of my previous updates said that there were 15 “named” spiders in the game. Turns out my count was off… by one.

Spiders – (Beasts) updated
It’s time to slay the Dragon! – (Guides) added
Lower Blackrock Spire – (Habitat) added
The Hunt for Rhok’delar – (Guides) updated
Lazy Hunter Macros – (Guides) updated
Zorlen’s Hunter Functions – (Guides) updated

Nov. 8, 2005

One lion alone does not make a pride

For a change of pace, in this update, I’ll answer some reader e-mail. I do my best to answer each one I get, but even I get busy sometimes!

From Burning Legion:

Hey, a friend of mine showed me your site and I just want to say wow! Nice job. The fact then you went around and took screeenshots of all the animals you can tame. I hope you had some help.

Actually, with the exception of a very few beasts, all the screenshots on the site (excluding the guides which I didn’t write) were taken by me, starting back during Closed Beta, when the Hunter class was made available. It’s an ongoing project because I’m constantly reviewing the pages and making sure things are up to date.

From Cenarius:

What is the UI being used in the Hunter Epic Quest videos?

I get this question a lot. Airex of Mal’Ganis uses Nymbia’s Perl Unitframes for her UI and Enrage Announce, part of CTRaidAssist.

From Medivh:

I have something I would like to report on the Ancient Leaf quest. I dunno if you mentioned this or not recently. Currently Fear Ward is pwning Solenor. It is bugged and lasting the entire fight, instead of, as we all know, lasting one blast of fear. I have talked to several GMs about it and they say it’s glitched and not to use it.

Enclosed was the e-mail received when this player submitted their ticket which said:

Hello,

Thank you for contacting the World of Warcraft Game Master Department.

Issue Reported: “Fear ward and the hunter epic quest. I did the hunter epic quest. have my bow and all. and the other hunters have seen people using fear ward. I talked to a GM earlier about this issue and was told it’s an exploit and not to do it. As that fear ward doesn’t go away after one hit of fear. but stays the whole fight.”

Now they are saying a GM told them it was okay to do it. I don’t want anybody in our guild to exploit anything I want to know if it is okay.”

We are aware of the situation you reported, and we are currently working on a solution. Please refrain from using these tactics for this Hunter fight. Please check the World of Warcraft website (http://www.worldofwarcraft.com) for future updates and corrections. We appreciate your patience.

I believe this has been fixed, so back to using Shadow Protection potions.

From Zelf of Silvermoon:

I’d like to show you my hunter ranged dps calculator, based on your formulas. I just would like you to have a look at it and, if you want, write me any consideration about. I consider it beta, I’m still testing it with my guild mates. Have a nice day, and many greeting from Italy.

Well, it didn’t need much testing! Thanks Zelf for your great contribution to the site!

Attack Speeds – (Beasts) added
Zelf’s “Math Made Easy” Damage Calculator – (Guides) added

Oct. 28, 2005

Should I even bother to remind you of the odds?

So, do I start with the bad or the good? I think this time, I’ll start with some sugar to help the bitter pill that follows.

After closer research, it has been discovered that some Turtles may in fact eat fish. We are still performing research on the Turtles, but it does look promising. We will be sure to let you know as more discoveries are made!

There will be happy turtles and even happier pet owners, although I think all hunters are happier with the addition of the new Smoked Desert Dumplings recipe available from Cenarion Hold in Silithus. Yet another reason why cooking is a hunter staple.

The other big news this week is regarding Lupos. Unless you’re completely cut off from the Hunter community, you’ve probably heard by now that this beast is special (and unique) because he currently deals shadow damage instead of straight physical, making him a powerhouse against classes like warriors. But, according to Caydiem:

To my knowledge, he is NOT working as intended and will be fixed.

This has sparked off quite a few furious debates on the Blizzard Hunter forums, regarding the current lack of diversity in pets. There currently seem to be two schools of thought – one, that pets should be left alone and any with special attributes (attack speed, special damage type) shouldn’t be changed and two, those supporting a general standardization of pets with customizable options (like lowering attack speed, or special damage types).

What I don’t like about these arguments is the fact that people who have pets like Lupos feel that they are entitled to something special. I can understand why changes to your pet would make a player upset. Believe me, as a former Snarler owner, I understand that frustration. But don’t stand there and tell people they are lazy just because their choice is different from your own, because they didn’t spend time waiting for that specific NPC. Do you realize that in the spider family alone, there are 15 different 'named’? What makes waiting for Lupos so much more of an effort than waiting for Naraxis? Rather than saying: Don’t change my pet, because I spent X amount of time on it, say: We want more special pets LIKE Lupos. We want lots of pets with different attack speeds, and maybe different types of attacks. Don’t turn on each other and put people down because they’re not just like you – different choices is what defines diversity! Sometimes hunters remind me of a bad battleground PUG. Everyone going in different directions and each person yelling for help.

Lazy Hunter Macros – (Guides) updated

[Previous] 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 [Next]