June 21, 2006

Because in Opposite World, that means thank you

Patch 1.11 is live and with the patch came a few bug fixes as well. All these issues should now function properly (ignore the wording, just mentally add “fixed” after each one):

• The hunter Entrapment talent cannot proc when the hunter is casting.
• The proc rate on Entrapment increases as the number of affected targets of the trap increases.
• The Frost Trap aura is centered around the hunter rather than the area of the trap, after the traps initial tick.
• Rank 9 Serpent Sting doesn’t cause Artorius the Doombringer to gain Stinging Trauma.
• If you are Mind Controlled while using Eyes of the Beast, your pet will not leash back to you.
• Cat pets have dog vocal chords.
• Charge rank 6 is currently unable to be learned.
• Claw and Bite are not initiating auto attack.
• Scorpid Poison can only be used once in combat.

Unknown if intentional, however, is the fact that Solenor the Slayer (Silithus) for the epic quest can no longer be “chilled” via Frost Trap. That means if you’re planning on fighting him, come VERY prepared, he hits like a truck. I’m monitoring the Blizzard Bug Report forum but no official word as yet. Oh, and Feign Death seems to be back to dropping combat immediately (if successful of course). But don’t count on it working in Neutral Cities (Booty Bay, for example). The bouncers are wise to you, my friend.

And, if you’ve been so busy enjoying the latest Festival to have missed this in 'Under Development,’ then you’re in for a treat. Confirmed for 1.12:

For the first time in the history of World of Warcraft, you will be able to face off against players from other realms in the Battlegrounds. Coming in patch 1.12 are cross-realm PvP Battlegrounds, linking Alterac Valley, Warsong Gulch, and Arathi Basin so that players from several realms will be combined into one huge matchmaking pool. Replenish your mana, sharpen your blades, and get ready for some brand-new challengers!

Excellent.

Spiders – (Beasts) updated
Bats – (Beasts) updated
Boars – (Beasts) updated

May 20, 2006

Don't clutter up a clever scheme with morality

Test Realm is up and the 1.11 Patch Notes posted:

• Counterattack (Survival Talent) – All ranks of this talent will now share the same cooldown.
• Scorpid Poison: Duration slightly lengthened.
• Changed the way hunter pet family armor bonuses and penalties are applied to allow the exact value from the Natural Armor talent to be applied correctly. This may result in a very slight loss of armor to some pets (less than a third of a percent).
• Improved Scorpid Sting: The aura from this Sting will now be removed (as intended) when a different Sting aura is placed on the victim.

No mention of Charge being fixed (yuk), no additional stable slots (I didn’t really expect it, but I can hope), no new pet skills (that makes this the second patch with no new abilities). Also of interest to hunters, but not specifically listed under class changes:

• The cost to unlearn talents will now decay over time. This cost will be reduced by a rate of 5 gold per month to a minimum of 10 gold.
• Chain targeted spells and abilities (e.g. Multi-Shot, Cleave, Chain Lightning) will no longer hit stealthed or invisible units unless visible to the caster.
• Key rings have been added to the game.
• The armor rewards for Honor ranks 12 and 13 have been increased in level and stat point allocation.

For those wondering about the PvP set, say goodbye to attack power, parry, arcane shot and dodge bonuses. Say hello to more crit%, agility, int, +hit and ooh la la, a 4% increase to Multi-Shot damage. The new set bonuses can be seen here and as an owner of the old set, the improvements are to die for – and I did, to the Horde, over and over (although I might have liked the addition of a bonus like the Beastmaster set with the chance of restoring X amount of mana, but increasing my mana pool will help a lot). I’m still trying to download the files for the Test server (13, ugh!) and haven’t managed to copy a pre-made character over yet (double ugh!), so if you’re online and have anything else to add that’s undocumented, let me know. As a side note, the pre-made characters come decked out in T2 (Dragonstalker) gear.

May 16, 2006

Tell him I want to live in peace, understand?

Confirmed by Lead Designer Scott Mercer, Draenei will indeed have the Hunter class available to them (along with Warrior, Paladin, Priest and Mage). Once again, to remind you Blizzard, send a Burning Crusade Beta invitation to me, please.

Also, this just in – the Tier 3 Armor Set! I have to say, I love how Cryptstalker looks (aside from the 4 eyes, that’s just downright scary). The bonuses are also very nice, although the pet implosion for the 8th piece… I love Pride! I don’t want him to DIE (not to mention our pets ARE more beneficial alive than dead, and it seems like a pretty unpredictable set of circumstances where it could even be useful). How about something more along the lines of “(8) Set: A killing blow from your pet causes you to swell with confidence granting you and your pet 25% haste for 15 sec. The teamwork exhibited causes you to feel proud and all should fear you both. Requires a level 60 pet. 2 minute cooldown.” But hurray for more mana regeneration.

Mpstark’s Pet Extend – (Beasts) added
Crocolisks – (Beasts) updated
Gorillas – (Beasts) updated
Zalla’s Guide to Non-Com/Small Pets – (Beasts) updated
Lazy Hunter Macros – (Guides) updated
A Statistics Discussion – Agility & Chance to Hit – (Guides) updated

May 10, 2006

You will never get what you want!

Announcements, announcements, announcements! E3 brings us the long awaited disclosure of the mystery Alliance race for the Burning Crusade – and the winner is: Draenei. Lore arguments aside (I know a lot of people didn’t see them coming in this form, including myself), more important to the Hunter community is this screenshot which shows a male Draenei in, do my eyes deceive me, Dragonstalker! There’s been no official post that I’ve seen regarding class distribution for the new race, but it would make sense, giving both the Horde and Alliance three different choices for Hunters. Someone hook me up with the Burning Crusade beta NOW please!

May 5, 2006

On the other side of the screen, it looks so easy

Let’s start with a couple of notables from Blizzard, post 1.10 (yes, yes, I realize that it’s been out a while now, but I’ve got a good reason for the lapse in updates). Eyonix had this to say about pet aggro issues:

I’ve gathered all of your feedback concerning reports pertaining to pet aggro since 1.10 released, and have forwarded it to our Quality Assurance Department for comprehensive investigation. As soon as they provide me with the details of their findings, I will offer you guys an update.

That could mean anything, because we’ve not heard back yet one way or the other. It’s quite possible that it is lost in the shuffle now, what with the mage talent preview having been released and the flurry of response that has generated. As to my own personal experience with aggro, well… hard to say. I was leveling a gorilla when 1.10 hit and just recently finished with him, so of course I would have had issues (since he was lower level than I was, with only Growl 6). There was also something in the mini-patch regarding Feign Death and Freeze Trap – I haven’t had issues but some people have. Best recommendation I’ve seen is to make sure your target is cleared, that seems to help. Also, there has been some acknowledgments about Hunter bugs that are slated to be fixed (1.11, most likely):

• The hunter Entrapment talent cannot proc when the hunter is casting. – Future Patch
• The proc rate on Entrapment increases as the number of affected targets of the trap increases. – Future Patch
• The Frost Trap aura is centered around the hunter rather than the area of the trap, after the traps initial tick. – Future Patch
• Rank 9 Serpent Sting doesn’t cause Artorius the Doombringer to gain Stinging Trauma. – Future Patch
• If you are Mind Controlled while using Eyes of the Beast, your pet will not leash back to you. – Future Patch
• The tooltips of pet abilities refer to the player rather than to the pet. – Future Patch
• Cat pets have dog vocal chords. – Future Patch
• Charge rank 6 is currently unable to be learned. – Future Patch

The big one there is the Charge 6 issue and R9 Serpent Sting. The cats barking was annoying but really no worse than mentally tuning out General chat in The Barrens. Also noted but not included here is the recognition of lack of ranged combat animations because there is no ETA on a fix.

So why, you’re asking yourself, was there such a long gap between updates? Here’s why.

In what was quite possibly the longest time spent at Field Marshal in the history of my server (3 Grand Marshals came and went [all rogues] before I managed to claw [or pewpewpew] my way to Rank 14), I finally attained Grand Marshal (it took about three months). Afterward, I slept for approximately one week. Take it from me, anything you’ve heard about the climb to Rank 14 doesn’t even come close to actually experiencing it for yourself. For those curious, I did it with a 23/25/3 build (and no, not all my talents were spent wisely, but I do really like the double stun combo of Intimidation + Scatter Shot). I now use the polearm, fist weapons and alternate between the bow & crossbow (the bow just looks too damn good not to use). I did it with all PvP gear with the exception of my Beaststalker Bracer, Warpwood Binding and the Bone Slicing Hatchets/Ice Barbed Spear. I’m sporting the Arathor Battle Tabard and you might think I’d be sick of PvP after all that. Not true. I’ve slipped some (I couldn’t continue to maintain Field Marshal, so am a Marshal now) but I’m not yet exalted with Silverwing Sentinels and I hear that tabard matches the Dragonstalker set (assuming I decide to ever join a guild of some sort). Plus, Pride and I (he’s my lion) just like killing Horde, although they tend to kill me more often than not.

So, I’m just now getting back into the swing of things and catching up with a lot of overdue updates. I wish I could say I remembered what was changed on the site, I recall working on it, but everything sort of blurs together. So trust me, if you dig around, there have been changes, probably more than I’m noting here, but this is just what I remember off the top of my head. Somehow, I managed to change Scorpids twice before looking at finishing up the Crocolisk re-write. There will be some addition to the majority of species over the next few weeks, with a more detailed look at each pet in terms of pros/cons, plus some other things that have been sitting on the backburner for a while.

Solo Hunter’s Guide to Zul’Gurub – (Beasts) updated
Scorpids – (Beasts) updated
Zorlen’s Hunter Functions – (Guides) updated
Lazy Hunter Macros – (Guides) updated
Quests – (Forums) added