Oct. 14, 2005
I swallowed a bug
The latest patch (1.8) went live Tuesday, and there were a few things I missed in the previous patch notes that were on the Test server that apply to hunters:
- Guardians and pets in aggressive mode no longer attack civilians.
- Pets no longer break off attacks when their target is affected by Warlock Fear.
- Hunter traps no longer affect opposing players when the hunter is not flagged for PvP.
- The Silithus area map has been modified and its scale has changed.
- Fixed bug where your pet would be both in and out of combat simultaneously when you were dismounted by pursuing creatures.
- The effect of the Admiral’s Hat has been changed. You can now click the Admiral’s Hat to provide yourself with an aura that gives you and your nearby party members a stamina increase. Taking the hat off will remove the effect. The Headmaster’s Charge item has also been changed in a similar manner.
Another change, not noted in the patch notes is that Beast Lore now will indicate if a beast that you are taming has a specific skill, rather than just if the beast is tameable and what its diet is. The format is: Tamed Abilities: Ability (Rank). If Beast Lore shows nothing… that means your beast will have no special abilities once tamed (although it can still learn them down the line!)
Beast Training, The Sequel: Skills has been updated to show the new locations for the Wind Serpent ability, Lightning Breath (remember, click the + sign to expand the lists, and – to retract!). As yet, no source for Lightning Breath 1 or Lightning Breath 6 have been found, although Rank 6 showed up on the Sons of Hakkar from Zul’Gurub with Beast Lore… except they’re not tameable.
Silithus has also been revamped, including a change to the Stonelash Pincer model. Nelson the Nice’s path for the Hunter Epic quest is also a bit more… busy, and I’m not just talking about swarms of new players questing there. The Solenor fight just got a bit more interesting.
Silithus – (Habitat) updated
Beast Training, The Sequel: Skills – (Skills) updated
The Hunt for Rhok’delar – (Guides) updated
Sept. 29, 2005
The status quo has changed, son
Normally, I post patch notes the day they’re released. But, I felt 1.7 already had generated enough conversation, and everyone knew just about everything there was to know about what was going to happen to hunters, so I skipped it. Just as well, because 1.8 is around the corner with some tantalizing additions to hunters. But first, this message from Blizzard:
Items which provide +hit chance will now be allowed to counteract the increased miss chance penalty of dual wielding. This is great news for dual wielders, as you can now go above the 5% chance to hit cap.
Now, 1.8 is on Test, and here’s the latest:
- Counterattack – Now properly sets its cooldown.
- Throw – Use of this ability will no longer cause a global cooldown with all other abilities.
- Auto-shot is now canceled when you die.
- Added Lightning Breath pet ability for Wind Serpents. This ability instantly hits a single target for Nature damage at medium range.
- The ability to transform Rhok’delar and Lok’delar has been removed, but you can talk to Vartrus the Ancient to receive the item you currently don’t possess. The ability to transform Rhok’delar and Lok’delar has been removed, but you can talk to Vartrus the Ancient to receive the item you currently don’t possess.
Someone asked for a clarification about if you get either Rhok’delar or Lok’delar and Caydiem replied:
I believe you get both, though I’m not positive.
Word from the Test server is that you CAN equip both at the same time (both the bow and the staff – there was speculation you’d be able to equip one or the other but not both).
It’s good to see Wind Serpents getting some love – I have a feeling their popularity is going to jump (although this will depend on what “medium” range is considered). I’ll keep you posted.
Also, I’m looking for people fluent in… well, every language but English to provide text translations for the epic walkthrough. If you’re willing and able, please contact me at fritti@tkasomething.com.
Desktop Wallpaper – (Guides) updated
Pets in the Molten Core – (Guides) added
FAQ: Attack Power, Weapon Speed, Damage – (Guides) added
Sept. 12, 2005
When life gives you lemons... make apple juice
Things have been quiet (too quiet…) on the Hunter boards, although Blizzard has released their new World of Warcraft Battleplan II which touches on the upcoming plans for WoW, including an expansion (which I’m guessing will hit shelves during the holiday season), new events, dungeons and a character transfer service.
However, things are never quiet at TKA, or at least I never feel like I haven’t got some project or other to work on. To that end, I’ve added two new dungeons this week (Razorfen Kraul and Uldaman). Airex of Mal’Ganis has made some excellent movies which now accompany The Hunt for Rhok’delar guide so you can see the epic strategies in action. I’ve been holding off on updating the Pet Skills list with the new skills for pets in 1.7, but… it’ll be updated tomorrow. Just remember that the list/costs are subject to change because all the data is from the Test server (in other words, don’t blame me if it changes once it hits Live!)
Also new is a section of themed wallpapers, dedicated to our favorite counterpart – our pets. This week unveils new desktops featuring the Black Carrion Bird and the Cougar. Right now, you can find them under the Guides section, but eventually (a new menu is in the works, after I finish the Pet Name generator) they’ll have their own section. I mean, if Blizzard can have a Battleplan II, I certainly should be able to overhaul the site some as the TKA one year (!) anniversary approaches.
Oh, and I’ve finally updated the Small Pet guide to include the Cluck! quest (as well as a few others). So, no more e-mails about the Prairie Chicken, I beg you. Maybe our next tameable family SHOULD be chickens, since the volume of mail I received about Cluck! shows that chickens are on the mind of many Warcraft subscribers.
Desktop Wallpaper – (Guides) added
Razorfen Kraul – (Habitat) added
Uldaman – (Habitat) added
Zalla’s Guide to Non-Com/Small Pets – (Guides) updated
The Hunt for Rhok’delar – (Guides) updated
Aug. 31, 2005
Is your blade as sharp as your tongue?
I have been busy, busy BUSY on the Test server! So, when the new patch is released, never fear – everything will be updated accordingly (at least in regards to pet skills). Don’t forget, you click on the little plus sign beside the skill to expand the list! Too, Hortus of Blizzard confirms the following:
Learning a higher rank of a pet ability refunds the previous ranks talent points.
And, although the new 'autocast toggle from spellbook’ for pet skills is also being implemented in the upcoming patch, it’s been confirmed that only allowing pets to learn four skills is NOT a bug – it’s by design because of the new customization. So, I guess I’m not sure what the ability to toggle from the spellbook was for, since it can all be managed via the pet bar, now…
Speaking very briefly about pet skills – I’m glad to know that people are using TKA as a resource (that’s what it’s for, after all), but if you’re going to use my skill list on your own site, it’d be courteous if you’d at least give credit rather than just lifting the list in its entirety and passing it off as your own. I’m aware the information is readily available but I also know a cut and paste job when I see one. Consider this my verbal 'slap on the wrist’.
Next Blizzard stop – Mortal Shots! Kalgan had this to say:
Hopefully, I can shed some light as to why this change was necessary.
First, some numbers…
Due to the number of talent improvements in this patch, our testing showed that a typical marksmanship Hunter’s DPS was going to go up by over 11% as a result of the combined changes. Although some of you are likely to disagree, we felt that this was too much of an increase and would have led to Hunters being “overpowered”. Bringing Mortal Shots down to a 30% bonus is an 8% decrease in the damage done on a crit since the 2.5 crit dmg multiplier is goes down to 2.3. According to our tests, this change, combined with the dps gains from other talent changes, have resulted in a net INCREASE in a marksmanship hunter’s DPS by a little more than 4%.
In addition, due to the additional rank in the Barrage talent and the fact that some of the new hunter talents increase a hunter’s base damage (which increases crit damage, since the 2.3 multiplier is being applied to a larger base number), we have found that a marksmanship hunter’s burst dps is still approximately what it was before.
Second, some design philosophy…
In considering different potential builds, we felt as though Mortal Shots was too much of a “required” talent, and we’d prefer it if every hunter didn’t feel as though they had to have Mortal Shots, since it drastically decreases the number of viable builds. Simply moving it farther down the tree (as some experts have suggested) would have been very dangerous, as many players would still feel “forced” to go even farther down the Marksmanship tree, which would even further reduce the number of perceived “viable” builds.
Also, while some players have suggested that the new Mortal Shots talent isn’t worth the points, it’s worth noting that the rogue’s Lethality talent is a 30% bonus (and even more limited in application), yet is still used extensively by rogues.
OK, WAIT. STOP. Do my eyes deceive me? Are we actually being compared to rogues? Every time we’re compared to rogues, someone, somewhere, throttles a kitten, pulls the wings off a fly or prevents an angel from getting their wings (maybe all 3 at once!). It’s exceptionally cruel to try to balance us against a class that requires half the amount of agility to net the same results. You do realize that we require 52-ish agility and rogues need about half that. Right? I mean, this hasn’t been some error all along, RIGHT?
In summary, I think it’s important to come to terms with the fact that patch 7 brings more interesting talent choices, more pet customization, and an increase to the DPS of most hunters (unless you re-spec to a build that avoids as many DPS talents as you can, which I don’t foresee many players doing).
Interesting might not be the exact word I’d use to describe it…
Hunter DPS – Math, Myth and Mystery (Guides) added
Wailing Caverns – (Habitat) added
Aug. 16, 2005
Leo the tiger couldn’t do anything right
So much hunter news, as the 1.7 patch looms on the horizon. Here is the latest, jammed into another giant update:
Due to player feedback, it appears that Counterattack will indeed be in 1.7, replacing Readiness on the current new Survival tree. The viability of Counterattack was reviewed after the overwhelming response regarding its removal, and it was determined by the designers that the talent should not be removed from the tree after all. Unfortunately, this means that something else from that new tree had to be replaced.
Survival hunters get their wish, but at the cost of Readiness, which would have been a reset to trap and feign death timers.
Hawk Eye has switched places with Barrage in the Marksmanship talent tree, and another rank has been added to Barrage. This change will be in 1.7.
Spirit Bond has been changed from its original form to a consistent 1% health regeneration. This change, I am less than thrilled about.
Here’s what I was told from the class designers’ viewpoint:
Spirit Bond was not considered a compelling 31 point talent in comparison with others, so Bestial Wrath was made the “ultimate” in Beast Mastery. When they moved it, they chose to make it passive so that the regeneration (both Hunter and pet) would be working as long as the pet was active. Previously, (as I’m sure you know) the pet had to be successfully hitting and it would only give the Hunter health.
The old Spirit Bond was more situational. If the pet wasn’t hitting (if it was crowd controlled or being kited, etc) or if the Hunter was at full health, it gave no benefit. The new version is more universal, giving both Hunter and pet health whenever they’re wounded regardless of what the pet is doing at the time.
That was the general philosophy. EDIT: To my knowledge, this is not getting changed back.
Now, here’s the big news that I sort of worked up to (to soften the blow).
The designers have deemed Mortal Shots a touch too powerful in its current form when combined with the rest of the talent changes. As such, the maximum will no longer be 50%, but rather 30% to ranged weapon critical damage. This makes the talent similar to its Rogue equivalent, Lethality, which holds the same percentage. (Mind you, this is NOT a comparison between the two classes, as they are not precisely the same and have a wealth of different abilities and strengths.)
Even with this change, Hunter DPS should increase in 1.7 on the whole. After reviewing the affect Mortal Shots would have when used with the other possible combination of talents, it was determined that a 50% increase in critical damage would be going too far; the new value should still be beneficial, and DPS should still increase for you on average.
Now, I rarely voice an opinion about Blizzard changes. I try to stay mostly neutral about things. But this change I do not like, at all. In the big spectrum of things, I feel that the Hunter class is really struggling to carve out a niche for itself. It seems that the path we’re supposed to be taking is one of sustained damage at low cost – to which I’ll agree, for the most part, we do deliver that. However, the majority of fights we engage in, except for the current “end game” instances, are not fought in terms of large chunks of time (this is especially true in PvP). The fights are short, under a minute or two for most, and this is where this change will hurt us. Supposedly this is still under discussion with developers so I guess we have to wait and see what the final result will be.
All right, folks, here’s something that should lift your spirits. The following are the pet customization changes in the 1.7 patch.
You can now train your pet in passive abilities such as increased Armor, Stamina, Fire Resistance, Nature Resistance, Shadow Resistance, Frost Resistance, and Arcane Resistance using their training points.
In addition, there are specialized abilities for certain types of pets:
- Bats, Owls, and Carrion Birds can now learn the Screech ability, a fast, single-target attack that also lowers the attack power of all enemies within melee range of the pet.
- Cats can now learn the Stealth ability. In addition to being unseen, they receive a damage bonus for their first attack coming out of Stealth.
- Scorpids can now learn Scorpid Poison. This poison deals Nature damage over time and stacks up to five times on a single enemy.
- Wolves can now learn Furious Howl. The howl adds a flat amount of damage to all nearby party members’ next attack (within 15 yards).
The training point costs for all pet abilities have been rebalanced, and Growl is now free for all pets. You can un-train your pet’s training points from any Pet Trainer in the major cities for a fee. Similar to talent respecs, un-training a specific pet scales up as you do it more times: 10s, 50s, 1g, 2g, 3g, etc… capping at 10g.
Hunter pets will now gain experience based on the level difference between them and their target, rather than the difference between the Hunters and their target. This will make it much easier to level up a low level pet. You will still need to kill creatures from which the Hunter can gain experience, however.
And lastly — as a comment to an annoying issue for many — you can adjust the autocast status of skills with that option in the spellbook.
The designers are looking into further customization, but this is what is coming for 1.7.
No, I’m not off my soapbox yet. The pet customization is really a mixed bag. I like that low level pets won’t take as long to work with. I like that the abilities will be 'fixed’ via the spellbook now, instead of clunky workarounds. But I feel that the pets truly deserving of 'love’ aren’t getting it in the near future. I’m talking about the Wind Serpents and Gorillas of the world. Also not mentioned is how we’re obtaining the new special skills – and what happens to our old skills with the new training.
Since none of these changes are even on Test yet, Hunters remain in a holding pattern.
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