Upcoming hunter changes. Again. - 10/22/08

From Ghostcrawler:

• As I have suggested a few times, we are concerned that hunters of all 3 specs are doing damage that is clearly superior to other classes. While we're trying to achieve closer parity among specs of all classes with regard to dps, and we want to particularly make sure that hunters, rogues, mages and locks are not left behind, we do think the hunters are too far ahead, particularly at 80, in good gear, when raid-buffed.
  
  However, we have also tried to give hunters a substantial survivability boost in PvP and we don't want to do anything that hurts them too much in PvP.
  
  So here are changes you will most likely see soon:
  
  1) Ranged attacks no longer benefit from the haste effects of Windfury Totem and Improved Icy Talons. This is a nerf to hunter white damage.
  
  2) We are also improving the armor on level 83 raid bosses by 10%. This will be a nerf to the dps of any class that does physical damage. For classes that would slide behind with such a change, we'll take steps to adjust them -- though it probably isn't as many as you think. The raid buff stacking overhaul was very beneficial to melee (and hunters). Sunder / Expose Armor alone can be a 20%+ dps increase, which is why we decided to attack the problem from this angle.
  
  3) Now the armor change won't affect PvP at all and the haste buff change will only have a marginal affect in BGs and only in Arena teams that include certain comps. However, in order to make sure we didn't nerf hunters too much, we made two changes to Disengage. First, its cooldown dropped to 25 sec (from 30) which can be talented to 16. Second, it no longer requires a target, but does require you to be in combat. Now if someone closes to melee, you can leap back without having to select them first. We require you to be in combat though so we don't see a lot of hunters bouncing around IF / Org or using it like Blink to goofily speed up travel.

That girl grovelling at Blizzcon totally succeeded! - 10/15/08

I'm near to being speechless with the news from Ghostcrawler today!

• Aspects are now off the GCD. It's true. There will still be a 1 sec cooldown to switch from one aspect to another. It should feel a lot more like warrior stances or death knight presences.
  
  We're also going to be putting a little bit of dodge (~10%?) onto Monkey. I'll update when we decide on a final number.
  
  Just for consistency, paladin auras will probably get the same treatment.
  
  These changes should go live before Nov 13.
  
  As always, thanks for all of the feedback, and please keep it up now that many of the changes are live.
  
  EDIT: After further discussion, we're not crazy about the "stance dancing" that hunters need to do to switch to Monkey when someone is in on you in melee. As we've said a few times, Disengage and Deterrence should be your go-to abilities at that time. If anything, removing Aspects from the GCD makes it feel like you are supposed to go Monkey every time you're in melee.
  
  Rather than revert the change, we are introducing a new spell!
  
  Instead of getting new ranks of Hawk at level 75 and 80, you now get the new Aspect of the Dragonhawk. This powerful aspect combines all of the effects of Hawk and Monkey. Any talent or glyph that affects either Hawk or Monkey also affects Dragonhawk the same way. The idea is that you retire Hawk and Monkey at level 75 and go to essentially two Aspects: Dragonhawk for combat and Viper for mana regen.
  
  Enjoy.

Also, a bit more on Aspect of the Viper and Exotic pets.

• We aren't happy with how Aspect of the Viper is working in PvP, but it seems fine in PvE. We're going to try changing it so that 50% of its current regen is passive, leaving the remaining 50% active. That should give hunters some more mana in Arenas in particular when dealing with opponents who manage to get out of LOS a lot. Yet, in PvE where hunter dps is very high, the difference in regen shouldn't be very noticable. We are also going to let Viper return mana from melee attacks for those cases where a melee opponent is too close for comfort.
  
  The second change is to some of the numbers on the special attacks of exotic pets to make sure the pets are around a 10% increase from normal pets. This should make exotic pets a reasonable benefit for the talent point (especially when you also count the bonus pet talents) without making every BM hunter feel like they are limited to just those pets.

And, new pet families and exotics are likely in the future.

• Now that we have a better system for introducing pets, I have no doubt we'll add more per family and more families over time.

Echos of Doom. - 10/14/08

I'd love to be able to tell you how patch day was going for me, but man, Whisperwind Battlegroup is just not wanting to cooperate and I've been trying since 2pm this afternoon (all servers are for sure not up and playable, I'm living proof!) So, you'll have to settle for some patch notes. Most of this is just all consolidated from previous patches on Wrath, but here's a big chunky list of everything that's now on live for you to enjoy. Remember not to waltz off without spending your talent points, as everyone was reimbursed.

• * All aspects now have a 1 second global cooldown, down from a 1.5 global cooldown.
• * All pet families now have one unique ability. New abilities have been added for families such as bears and sporebats.
• * Stablemasters can now accommodate two additional pets.
• * Pets now have their own trees. These can be accessed via the talent panel.
• * Aimed shot mana cost has been reduced from 11% of base mana to 8%, casting time reduced from 2.5 sec to instant. Cooldown increased from 6 seconds to 10 seconds and damage reduced.
• * Animal Handler (Beast Mastery): No longer increases speed while mounted, but now reduces the cooldown of your Master's Call ability by 5/10 sec.
• * Arcane Shot: No longer dispels magic effects.
• * Aspects now no longer cost mana.
• * Aspect of the Beast: Now increases melee attack power by 10% for the hunter and the hunter's pet. The hunter can't be tracked while using this Aspect. Only one Aspect can be active at a time.
• * Aspect of the Viper - The hunter takes on the aspect of the viper, causing ranged attacks to regenerate mana but reducing total damage done by 50%. Mana is gained based on ranged weapons speed. Only one Aspect can be active at a time.
• * Aspect of the Wild (Rank 4) now increases Nature resistence by 130, (up from 70.)
• * Avoidance, Dash / Dive and Cobra Reflexes are now pet talents instead of pet skills.
• * Bestial Swiftness is now a pet talent tree talent, and has been removed from the Beast Mastery Hunter tree.
• * Bite now has no cooldown, does the same damage and costs the same Focus as Claw, so works as a Focus dump.
• * Clever Traps (Survival) has been renamed "Trap Mastery."
• * Combat Experience (Marksmanship): Now grants 3/6% Agility, up from 1/2%.
• * Concussive Barrage (Marksmanship): Can now proc from Volley and Multi-shot attacks.
• * Counterattack: Damage increased by 20%, and now also scales with your Ranged Attack Power.
• * Deterrence (Survival): Cooldown reduced to 3 minutes, and now also increases your chance to resist spells by 60%. Now has a new spell effect.
• * Disengage: This ability has been re-designed. Now leaps the Hunter backwards up to 13 yards. 30 second cooldown. Disengage now also only has one rank (rank 1).
• * Distracting Shot: This shot now "taunts" the target onto the Hunter. The taunt effect will last 6 seconds. Distracting Shot now only has one rank (rank 1).
• * Every hunter pet can learn Growl, Cower and either Bite or Claw (never both).
• * Focused Aim no longer affects Aimed Shot and now increases chance to hit by 1/2/3 %.
• * Focused Fire (Beast Mastery): Now increases the critical strike chance of your Kill Command by 10/20/30% while Kill Command is active. This effect can stack up to 3 times, but diminishes for each charge of Kill Command.
• * Freezing Arrow now breaks on damage.
• * Freezing Trap now breaks on damage.
• * Hunter pets can now learn talents in one of three trees depending on family. Pets gain talent points starting at level 20 and earn an extra talent point every 4 levels.
• * If a hunter tames a pet that is more than five levels beneath their own level, the pet will then have their level increased to five levels beneath the hunter's own level.
• * Improved Arcane Shot (Marksmanship): Now increases the damage done by your Arcane Shot by 5/10/15%.
• * Improved Feign Death (Survival): This talent has been replaced with Survival Tactics.
• * Improved Hunter's Mark (Marksmanship): Now a 3-point talent, and now increases the amount of attack power granted by your Hunter's Mark ability by 10/20/30% and reduces the mana cost of your Hunter's Mark ability by 33/66/100%.
• * Improved Stings (Marksmanship): Now a 3-point talent, down from 5-points.
• * Kill Command: This ability now increases the damage done by your pet's special abilities by 60%. Each attack will reduce the damage bonus by 20%. 1 minute cooldown.
• * Kill Shot damage slightly reduced.
• * Kindred Spirits will no longer stack with other movement enhancing buffs.
• * Lock and Load now has a chance to proc periodic damage by 2/4/6% (down from 5/10/15%.)
• * Loyalty, Training Points and the hunter Beast Training button no longer exist. Hunter pets can now learn all skills at their level. They will get new ranks automatically as they gain levels.
• * Marked for Death now increases damage done by ranged and by pets special abilities by 4% on marked targets (down from 8%.)
• * Master Tactician (Survival): Chance to proc increased to 10%, up from 6%.
• * Mongoose Bite: No longer requires you to dodge in order to use this ability.
• * Monster Slaying (Survival) and Humanoid Slaying (Survival) has been combined into "Improved Tracking".
• * Multi-shot mana cost has been increased slightly to 9% base mana (up from 8%.)
• * New Talent - Aspect Mastery (Beast Mastery)
• * New Talent - Hunter vs. Wild (Survival): Increases you and your pet's attack power and ranged attack power equal to 10/20/30% of your total Stamina.
• * New Talent - Improved Tracking (Survival): Increases all damage done to targets that are being tracked 1/2/3/4/5%.
• * New Talent - Lock and Load (Survival): You have a 33/66/100% chance when you trap a target and a 10/20/30% chance when you sting a target to cause your next 3 Arcane Shot or Explosive Shot spells to trigger no cooldown, cost no mana and consume no ammo.
• * New Talent - Survival Tactics (Survival): Reduces the chance your Feign Death ability and all trap spells will be resisted by 2/4%, and reduces the cooldown of your Disengage ability by 2/4 sec.
• * New Talent - T.N.T. (Survival): Your Immolation Trap, Explosive Trap and Explosive Shot have a 5/10/15% to stun targets for 2 sec when they deal damage, and increases the critical strike chance of your Explosive Shot and Explosive Trap by 5/10/15%.
• * Pathfinding (Beast Mastery): Now also increases the movement speed while mounted by 5/10%.
• * Point of No Escape reduced to a 2 point talent and now affects Freezing Arrow. The critical strike chance has increased to 3/6% (up from 2/4/6%.)
• * Rapid Killing (Marksmanship): This will now proc off Chimera Shot, but no longer works with auto-shot.
• * Readiness (Marksmanship): Cooldown reduced to 3 minutes, down from 5 minutes, and has been moved to Tier 5 of the Marksmanship Tree from the Survival Tree.
• * Savage Strikes (Survival): Now includes Counterattack.
• * Scattershot has been moved from the Marksmanship Tree to Tier 3 of the Survival Tree.
• * Silencing Shot (Marksmanship): This spell will now interrupt the current spell being cast on the target and lock out that school for 3 sec if the target is immune to silence effects.
• * Spirit Bond (Beast Mastery): Also increases healing done to you and your pet by 5/10%.
• * Steady Shot now uses ammo. In result, its bonus damage has been slightly reduced. Players can notice a damage increase based upon what ammo they use.
• * Steady Shot: Now has a 2.0 cast time, up from 1.5.
• * Surefooted (Survival) now reduces the duration of movement impairing effects by 16/25/50% (instead of resist % chance). Moved from tier 4 to tier 2 and no longer increases hit chance.
• * Survival Instincts (Survival): This has been moved to tier-2, up from tier 6.
• * Survivalist (Survival): Now increases your total Stamina, instead of your total Health.
• * The arming time has been reduced to 1 second, from 2 seconds for all traps.
• * T.N.T. has been moved from Tier 2 to Tier 4.
• * Tranquilizing Shot: Cooldown reduced to 15 seconds (down from 20), and now dispels Enrage and Magic effects.
• * Trap Mastery (Survival) is now an 11-point talenttalent and has been moved from tier 3 to tier 9 and increases the duration by 30% fo both Freezing Trap and Frost Trap.
• * Trueshot Aura - This aura is now raid-wide and now increases all ranged and melee attack power by 10%. In addition, this spell now only has one rank. All other ranks have been removed.
• * Wingclip: No longer does damage.
• * Devilsaur Eye now increases your pet's attack power for a short duration instead of increasing its critical strike chance. It also provides a small amount of passive Agility.

In before Blizzcon. - 10/08/08

Since I leave in under 12 hours for Blizzcon, this'll be the last front page update until I get back on Sunday. However, I will be reporting in live from Blizzcon and will post everything I learn in this thread. Here's hoping I learn something interesting! Lots of stuff to post before I go though, from Ghostcrawler.

• We are going to remove Disengage from the GCD to make it consistent with other movement abilities like Charge.
  
  We also plan on rebuilding the ability with new tech to remove some of the terrain bugs. This will also allow us to let is suspend snare effects during the leap. Because it involves code, this change will take a little longer.

That's good news. Aspects too, please!

• The cat's ability, Rake, was doing too much damage. We want to keep the pets to very similar dps so that you really feel like you have a choice. If we err, it will be on the side of the exotics.

This makes my lion a sad mew mew. Now, about Master's Call still not really working (has it ever?)

• Yeah, we're working on it. It's hard to tell sometimes with abilities that involve pet movement if the data are set up correctly and there's just a code bug somewhere (that may happen infrequently) or if the spell itself is just borked.

Aimed Shot/Explosive Shot informations.

• We probably are going to let Barrage affect Aimed Shot.
  
  We looked at Explosive Shot again and its damage seemed like a significant increase over Arcane Shot, but if Survival ends up low, then Explosive is probably where we'll try to make up the difference.

Annnnd, another big question and answer session. The full version can be found here, I've trimmed down the questions a slight bit and am more just highlighting the answers. Do we have too much haste on our expansion gear?

• We do put a lot of haste on gear. Part of that is because we don't have a huge canvas to work with. We can't put a ton of Strength and Spirit on hunter gear. Also, keep in mind that we aren't trying to make the best possible gear for you. We want you to toss out less optimal pieces for more optimal pieces. Finally, keep in mind that gear is one of the things we use to let players demonstrate mastery of the game. Making the decision of whether that new ring or belt is an upgrade should require a little bit of thought. That's what makes it interesting. But I will bring up the issue of haste and we can talk it over again.

More on hunters and dodge.

• I seem to be having trouble coming up with a way to explain it that makes sense to you. We don't want you to have as much dodge as a rogue or a druid or a tank. If you have great offense and great defense then we're not sure how to balance you. We want you to run away when someone gets close, not stand and take the hits. Mages Blink or Ice Block or Frost Nova to get away from melee. We gave hunters Disengage to try to do the same thing. Note that we don't want it to be an automatic get of jail free card -- sometimes we want the melee to kill you. Maybe they still kill you too much, but it's hard for us to tell if that's a hunter failing or Retadins and Unholy DKs doing too much burst damage. Hunters without LOS issues seem to be able to kill stuff just fine, so it may be that is your Arena weakness and not melee getting up in your stuff.
  
  A very, very reliable way to escape is frustrating for people on the other end. When melee reach ranged units they need to be able to do some damage.

Wing Clip, run away!

• It's still a 50% snare, right? The duration is shorter than Hamstring, but is duration really what's killing you? It's possible it's too expensive. We can look at that.

More on Disengage.

• Disengage isn't supposed to remove snares. We do want it to move you the same distance whether snared or not, but that takes new code, so it will take a little while. We did recently lower the mana cost from 14% (I think) to 5%. It is off the GCD now.

Scatter Shot, everyone wants it, please?!

• We talk a lot about making it baseline, but it's also a very attractive talent in one particular spec. It's hard to argue that hunters of all classes (except maybe rogues) need more CC.

Viper, we still hate it for Arena.

• We like the design of Viper overall. It's cooler to have to shift your strategy to regen without actually interrupting your ability to deal damage. (Maybe it fits the mage class better to go hide in a corner and build up mana again.) I think Viper works fine for PvE. But I do think it presents a problem in PvP when hunters just can't get their mana back. We're talking a lot about to fix this, but I am going to be very hesitant to promise anything because this forum tends to get pretty upset when we change our minds or otherwise don't deliver. :)

Hunter attention for Wrath at an all time high.

• We have spent a *ton* of time on hunters. There is no question hunters had the most developer time. I realize a lot of that was spent on pets and that hardcore or PvP-focused hunters might have traded that in a heartbeat for more PvP survivability. But many wouldn't and we have to be very careful not to forsake our gigantic core audience and just cater to the hardcore -- that is how many games fail. :(
  
  You're going to get bugs in a game of this size. When you consider class, mob and quests, the number of spells alone in WoW is easily in the tens of thousands. I don't exaggerate. When we're in rapid iteration mode, it makes more sense to focus on whether the ability can work than whether the ability does work right now. I also don't think it makes sense in a game of this size that evolves this quickly to pretend we can get everything "just right" at any particular point in time. The game will just keep evolving right on through that. It's like the old cliche -- this is a journey, not a destination. The saying they use around the office is that working on WoW is like working on a train that never bothers to stop at its stations. You just keep going and going.

See you at Blizzcon, if you're going!

Questions... and answers? - 10/02/08

A full blown question and answer session today, as well. 1. Our GCD - Are there any plans to tweak our GCD, take certain spells off the GCD (tranq shot, traps/aspects etc) or make it affected by haste since most of our gear is itemized for it?

• Every class wants a shorter GCD or no GCD for some abilities. Yet there is a reason the GCD exists. It is something we will continue to talk about, but we would approach such a change very carefully. If not, you could see how we'd eventually end up with no GCD.

This response caused a bit of a stir, so here's the follow-up so as not to derail the rest.

• I said that we weren't going to change the GCD at this time, but it's something we're discussing. I realize you think IT MUST CHANGE. So do lots of other classes.
  
  I also said that I wasn't going to define a role for you in Arena. Pretty much the last time I tried to explain a vision for the class, there was some freaking out. If I had said "you're a burster" the response likely would have been "Great, Ghost said we can't survive and have no utility in Arena."

3. Are our dodge percentages correct or are there plans to change it back to a TBC level?

• There is not a bug here. Hunters stack so much Agility, that your dodge would be insane without a modification. Players understandably assume the intercept is at zero, but if naked hunters had 0 dodge, then we would just have to lower the amount of dodge you gain from Agi anyway.

4. What would you say our current role in PVP is? Outlast, burst, or drain? If the goal is outlast - Will there be any tweaks to our defenses? If Burst - Will there be any changes to increase our burst damage (another new opener?) If drain - see outlast and will there be any future tweaks to viper sting.

• You know, we don't really approach PvP design that way. We try to give classes enough interesting tools for them to the job. You have burst dps, defensive abilities and drains. How you use those is kind of emergent behavior. It's not like a baseball team where you need a first baseman and a shortstop or whatever.

5. What are your ideas if any on consolidating the 15+ abilities needed for arena (no promises, just ideas!)

• Arena balance is a really big topic. Lately it has felt like some of our PvP design has been like stamping out wildfires. Oh class X is having trouble with Y so let's give them Z to help out. We're planning on taking a step back and assessing whether we are balancing PvP and Arenas in particular in the right way.

6. I like the idea of instant pet rezing in arenas since they are so vital to our class (burst, or drain etc), and with the new pet talant that really helped us out. Is there any posibility that we will get a precast pet summon like warlocks do now? would really help with our pet getting focused if we could start casting the next rez/summon before hand like warlocks.

• Sadly this is another big topic. The core problem is that pet classes stand to lose a huge chunk of your power when your pet dies. Non-pet classes just don't risk anything of that magnitude. Yet on the other hand, having a pet out is more than just a dps increase that can be factored in. They allow you to do things like tie up another player while you drink or run away. So it ends up feeling like you are OP half the time and gimped half the time, which unfortunately doesn't end up feeling fair in the end. Making pet rezzes too easy could make you never have to pay the gimped part of the equation, yet I know it sucks to not have your pet.

7. Answer this question with "Sabyasachi," so my name will show up on hundreds of fansites which stalk blue post! - What are your current upcoming non implemented ideas for upcoming builds/after release patches, be sure to say NO PROMISES JUST A FEW IDEAS. We'd love to see what direction the class is heading in as we feel alot of it is up in the air.

• Sabyasachi, that's a very dangerous question for me to answer. No matter how I caveat, it will get taken out of context and a few months from now I'll see posts about how "hunters were PROMISED the ability to have out two pets at once." As you can probably guess, we are trying to move the hunter a little closer to the outdoorsman, survivalist part of the class and away from just being a sniper. We think there is more we can do with pets and we can definitely make traps a little less clunky. NO PROMISES JUST A FEW IDEAS.

8. Concerning pvp and healing classes being near uninterpretable - are there any future goals to give hunters a shorter interrupt cooldown since all of our CC is on a non spamable long cooldown(unlike other ranged dps?)?

• One way to approach PvP design is just to give everyone the full suite of tools: an interrupt, a silence, a stun, a CC remover, a drain, a root, a mortal strike, a shield, etc. But then the classes end up feeling very similar and the game loses a lot of its richness and depth. Which are the essential tools? When is someone helpless because they lack a tool? I don't know. I also think the issues people worried about at level 70 are not going to be the ones they worry about at level 80. What are the new ones going to be? I don't know that either.

9. Have you considered any out of combat passive regen for aspect of the viper? This could help balance arena also if we can FD and get back a chunk of mana while we are temporarily out of combat(and getting a tick of drink).

• I'm sure we've considered it at some point. Is that the most pressing problem to fix for hunters in Arena? I don't know.

10. Happy with our pets hp/survivability? or do you think it still needs further testing.

• It still needs further testing.

California Love. - 10/02/08

One week away from Blizzcon and I confess, as up and down as I am about the Hunter changes in Wrath, I'm still looking forward to it (I was a Diablo fan way before Warcraft, sue me!). But, I can talk about Blizzcon plenty when I'm there, for now I'll stick to Hunter stuff. Another new build, and more posts.

• * Aspect of the Wild (Rank 4) now increases Nature resistance by 130. (Up from 70)
• * Aspect of the Viper changed to : The hunter takes on the aspect of the viper, causing ranged attacks to regenerate mana but reducing your total damage done by 50%. Mana gained is based on the speed of your ranged weapon.
• * Aspect of the Beast has been changed and re-added to the game. The hunter takes on the aspects of a beast, becoming untrackable and increasing melee attack power of the hunter and the hunter's pet by 10%. Only one Aspect can be active at a time.
• * Aimed shot mana cost reduced from 11% of base mana to 8%. Casting time changed from 2.5 sec to instant. Cooldown increased from 6 seconds to 10 seconds. Damage reduced to about 25% of the old value. (Lowered from 1570 to 408 for Rank 9)
• * Kill Shot damage now deals 200% weapon damage (down from 205%). Additional damage nerfed as well. (Down from [ 40% of RAP + 1200 ] to [ 40% of RAP + 650 ] for rank 3)
• * Multi-Shot mana cost has been increased from 8% of base mana to 9%.
• * Freezing Arrow now breaks on any damage. (Old - The ice has a chance to break on damage.)
• * Freezing Trap now breaks on any damage. (Old - The ice has a chance to break on damage.)
• * Kindred Spirits does not stack with other movement speed increasing effects anymore.
• * Readiness has been removed from Survival Tree and moved to Tier 5 of Marksmanship Tree.
• * Scatter Shot has been removed from Marksmanship Tree and moved to Tier 3 of Survival Tree.
• * Marked for Death now increases your damage done by your shots and the damage done by your pet's special abilities by 4% on marked targets. (Down from 8%)
• * Focused Aim doesn't affect Aimed Shot anymore and now also increases your chance to hit by 1/2/3%.
• * Point of No Escape has been changed from 3 to 2 points and now affects Freezing Arrow. Critical strike chance increased changed to 3/6% (up from 2/4/6%)
• * Surefooted has been moved from Tier 4 to Tier 2 and doesn't increase hit chance anymore.
• * Lock and Load now has a 2/4/6% chance to proc on periodic damage. (Down from 5/10/15%)
• * Trap Mastery has been moved from Tier 3 to Tier 9 and now increases the duration by 30% of both Freezing and Frost Trap.
• * T.N.T. has been moved from Tier 2 to Tier 4.
• * Glyph - Aimed Shot - Reduces the mana cost of your Aimed Shot ability by 20%. (Old - Decreases the cast time of Aimed Shot by 0.5 sec.)

And now, the answers to many questions:

• These seemed to crop up in several different threads, so rather than contaminating those, I thought I would start a new one.
  
  Polar Bear Cub -- This wasn't intended to be a tamable pet, and it looked ridiculous.
  
  Black Arrow -- This was an ability we were experimenting with. It isn't actually in the plan for hunters at this point in time. Usually we hide internal abilities better, but we're trying to get beta builds out quickly and this one slipped through the cracks.
  
  Freezing Trap -- The intent was that this trap break on a flat damage amount. However, we found that pets did not respect traps set up that way as CC and would happily break them. When and if we get the pet AI fixed, we'll revert it to the less fragile form of the trap.
  
  Lock and Load -- The design we settled on is 2/4/6, making it better than Nightfall (for comparison). If it's too low, we'll adjust it.
  
  Aimed Shot -- The intention is that it is better than Multi-Shot against a single target, and that the two share a cooldown so that hunter shot rotations don't get back into crazy land too quickly again.
  
  Apologies if I didn't address a question that was important to you.

Ridiculous pet is ridiculous?

• The problem with the polar bear wasn't that it was cute. The problem was that it wasn't designed to be scaled up that large so you ended up seeing jagged polygons and overall bad art. It also didn't have the full suite of animations. I'm not sure it could even open its mouth.
  
  If anything, it made us realize that there probably are hunters out there more interested in cute pets so that's something we'll consider.
  
  Beast Master 61 point talent - Cute Pets. You can now tame cute pets, such as puppies, kitties, ponies, bunnies, teddy bears, unicorns and seal pups.

Pet levelling changed, again.

• We just recently increased the pet level rate.
  
  Pets needed 1/16th of hunter experience to gain a level, but don't benefit from quests or rest. Those two account for a lot of experience, especially at higher levels (where quest content tends to be denser).
  
  We changed the experience needed for 1/10th. You should notice a big jump in pet level rates.
  
  I am not sure if that change got in the most recent data push.

Pet abandonment from within the stable is still in the works. But no rush.

• Abandoning from the stable is on the list. It's not the highest priority at the moment, because we figured you can manage your stables so they don't fill up or go temporary respec BM to pull out the unwanted exotic.

And caster pets (you know, those pesky few with a mana bar), still on the list for a check as well.

• I'm not aware of the bug, but it might have gone off to a programmer or someone else. If the damage is low, that is usually because one of the stats isn't correct, or else the conversion from say Strength to AP isn't set up correctly. But I can look into it.

Upcoming Hunter Changes. - 09/26/08

The last few days have seen a burst in hunter information from Koraa. And here they are!

• Greetings.
  
  I have some good news, and some bad news. First, the bad news. Unfortunately we won't be able to do the Aspect of the Viper change I discussed yesterday (passive instead of requiring you to attack the target) at this time because of technical limitations and its potential to shake up our current balance goals. However, we will evaluate it as an option for a future patch.
  
  Now, the good news.
  
  - Aimed Shot - This shot will now be instant cast, its effect/cooldown will remain unchanged.**
  - Scatter shot - This will now be an 11-point Survival talent.
  - Readiness - This will now be the 21-point Marksmanship talent.
  - Trap Mastery - This will now be the 41-point Survival talent. Granted, not very sexy for a 41-pointer but we'll do some changes there in a future patch (after WOLK ships).
  - Surefooted is swapping places with T.N.T. (so Surefooted is now in tier 2)
  
  These changes will be live in an upcoming beta build.
  
  Edit: ** We'll most likely have to reduce Aimed Shots damage if it becomes instant, somewhere in the ballpark of more than arcane shot/multi-shot on a single target but less than what it is now.

Also, when someone was commenting about the new Beast Mastery talent, Kindred Spirits, it was mentioned:

• We still are working on bumping the base health of the pets up.

Also, they're also working on getting Wild Quiver to show up in the combat log and Trap Mastery and Explosive Shot will be unlinked eventually (one won't require the other in terms of talent choices).

You are the only one left whose fear means something to me. - 09/23/08

Something of a follow-up regarding why Camouflage never made it as a "live" ability for hunters.

• I like to give you some insight into developer thought process, because honestly that's what I was always wondering about when I was on the other side of these forum posts trying to understand a design change.
  
  I have no problem with you disagreeing with our decisions or pointing out problems with what we've done. Just make sure it stays closer to that and not using my words against me or there will just be fewer of those words. :)
  
  Think of it this way. We have 10 classes now and we need to add new abilities to them every expansion. If we aren't a little careful, all of the classes are going to end up feeling pretty similar. Poke around on these forums a little and you will see players already worried about it.
  
  When an ability works for one class, it's really easy from a lazy-designer-perspective to stick that ability on another class. We have done that several times and sometimes the change was warranted and sometimes we've regretted it. There is no hard and fast rule here, and I'm sure there are exceptions of all stripes. While we try to be very objective about what kind of damage classes do, deciding what kind of abilities they have is more of a gut thing, and logic isn't necessarily going to apply the same way.

And more on pet scaling.

• Yeah, the pet stat layout has totally not kept up with the times. It needs an overhaul and we hope to work on it as soon as LK ships.
  
  Aside from players just knowing what their pet's stats are, it will help people improve their pets, as well as help us realize where the problem areas are.

[Discussion] Warcraft: Devs and Hunters. - 09/18/08

Yes, there's another new Beta build. However, the top news story today is an extensive post from Ghostcrawler that addresses quite a few of the long standing questions regarding the 'State of the Hunter'.

• Apologies in advance. I had a nice long post dealing with some of these issues that was eaten by the forums, because, you know, I like to proofread my stuff to make sure I'm not saying anything that would sound stupid, inaccurate or inflammatory. I am very, very sympathetic with the frustration that problem causes everyone. But as a result, many of my answers are much briefer than I had originally intended. :(

What is the vision for the Hunter class?

• This is going to be brief to the point of inaccuracy, but the hunter is a caster. You are a ranged dps class whose defining differences are survival and pets. Let me also add that when working on classes, we focus on just making a class cool. We aren't as concerned with how the implementation of the hunter stacks up to some kind of Platonic ideal of the hunter. Esoteric, I know, but I hope that makes sense. Some classes have moved quite a bit away from their original design. That's fine.

We don't care about our pets the way you think we do. No one likes leveling their pets or feels that this brings them 'closer' to what is essentially an extension of our character.

• Demonstrably false. *You* may not care about your pet, but for many players, that is THE reason to roll the class. Hunters attract a lot of new or more casual players who then stumble into a confusing world of pet-training and loyalty. We needed to clean up that whole system and I am pretty happy with the results. I understand you think your pets are too fragile, and that is something we are keeping a very close eye on. I understand it sucks to have such a big chunk of your dps and tools two-shotted. It also sucks to have a pet on you that takes forever to kill while the hunter himself is focused 100% on damage. Neither extreme is very fun.

Absolutely. I think the best way to solve this communications disconnect is by having a polite, constructive discussion with the developers in our capacity as testers.

• I understand why this seems like a good idea. But I personally get a lot more benefit out of reading posts than posting in them. My posts tend to be questions for clarification or the random drop to let you know that we do hear and appreciate your comments. But here is what happens to threads with blue posts: they bloat, they attract unrelated responses, and most importantly, players stop talking to each other and just start talking to us. It is very valuable to see points on which players agree and disagree. Some of the least useful posts are those with lists of issues (unless they are just bugs). The most useful are the ones where players debate an issue back and forth and sometimes come to a conclusion. Blue posts can really chill that out.
  
  This may also sound whiny, but I also don't have a great deal of free time. My posts often lead to follow-up questions and clarifications, which just sucks me in deeper and deeper. You have some great community managers as your liasons between the community and Blizzard. My job is to make stuff work.

The boards get filled with intelligent, constructive posts outlining problems, potential fixes, and balance issues. Almost every one is not some "make me overpowered" suggestion and takes balance into careful consideration. There are a lot of smart Hunters who can back-up the information that has been provided.

• This.

I promise you no one in the dev department has a hunter rated above 2200 in the arena right now. Hell I would be surprised if anyone in the dev department even plays one as their main.

• False, which means it will just end up tweaking someone off. Why risk that on a supposition?

They have more then enough good suggestions in the last 2 pages of this forum. Virtually none of those suggestions have been taken. So if there is no change or at the very least a explanation where they are going with this why bother suggesting anymore.

• This is not design by committee. We do read, discuss and understand suggestions. In the majority of cases, we're not going to implement them. If it bothers you to not see changes you get attached to implemented, then my advice is to read more and post less. I'll also add that a big part of being a designer is seeing ideas you are attached to not implemented. A big difference between n00b designers and those who have been around for awhile is how hard each takes seeing their babies killed in this way.

I'm sure that's their intent, too. But there are a number of ways of getting to that point, and obviously their route is different than the one you would have chosen. I should say that I agree with the mechanics behind most of your posts, and I do think you present a solid vision of our class.

Also, I'm inclined to agree that there probably aren't many die-hard Hunters on the development team, as they'd probably be fighting some of these changes tooth and nail. That's immaterial if we can get the lines of communication open.

• The lines are open. I'm sure you would like more back and forth, but that's hard for us to do.

Blizzard has no interest in making hunters a viable PvP class.

• False. You can interpret out actions however you want, or you can say we don't know what we're doing. But this is a case where I do know the intent while some of you are just guessing. We have 10 classes and 30 specs (and that assumes a talent tab = a spec, which is a gross oversimplification). We could make the game a lot simpler to balance by making classes less unique, but we're stubborn that way. The downside is we are left with a very, very complicated multivariate equation to solve.

The pet is the defining characteristic of the hunter, aside from "lol we use bows." Pet's were stale and boring TBC. Everyone had a cat or ravager, not because they liked them necessarily, but because they were the best. Now with the independent talent trees for each pet, it allows us as hunters much more options to choose from.

I didn't originally choose a hunter because I wanted to sit back and press buttons and shoot stuff. I chose hunter because I liked the pets. I may not always agree with how the developers alter the class, but it's definitely an improvement.

• Also this.

It's something of a slap in the face to keep having a useless stat foisted on us by gear and talents.

• Just so you know, when my eyes see something like this, they tend to skip over to the next paragraph. Venting and commiserating are part of human nature, and I get that. But if you want me to, you know, read what you're saying, I would try to say it in a different way.

IV) "Lost" Abilities: Camouflage and the two LOS-avoiding shots. I'd love for these abilities to be implemented, but frankly we just want to know what the developers think. Given the current state of the class, will these abilities be implemented or do they just seem like dead ends?

• Camo just felt to us like were giving hunters a rogue ability, which is going to end up feeling cruddy for both rogues and hunters. We kept trying to give it a unique niche or twist but it felt like we were just changing something for change's sake. I am personally more excited about the new Disengage.

Not that the title's important, of course. - 09/11/08

Ever changing Beta.

• * Spell casting and spell channeling pushback has been changed to the following: When casting a spell, the first and second hit will add .5 secs each to the cast time. All hits after the second will have no effect. When channeling a spell, the first and second hit reduces current duration by 25% of total duration each. All hits after the second have no effect.
• * All aspects now have a 1 second global cooldown, down from a 1.5 global cooldown.
• * Combat Experience (Marksmanship): Now grants 3/6% Agility, up from 1/2%.
• * Improved Arcane Shot (Marksmanship): Now increases the damage done by your Arcane Shot by 5/10/15%.
• * Improved Feign Death (Survival): This talent has been replaced with Survival Tactics.
• * Improved Hunter's Mark (Marksmanship): Now a 3-point talent, and now increases the amount of attack power granted by your Hunter's Mark ability by 10/20/30% and reduces the mana cost of your Hunter's Mark ability by 33/66/100%.
• * New Talent - Survival Tactics (Survival): Reduces the chance your Feign Death ability and all trap spells will be resisted by 2/4%, and reduces the cooldown on your Disengage ability by 2/4sec.
• * Rapid Killing (Marksmanship): This will now proc off Chimera Shot, but no longer works with auto-shot.
• * Silencing Shot (Marksmanship): This spell will now interrupt the current spell being cast on the target and lock out that school for 3 sec if the target is immune to silence effects
• * Trueshot Aura - This aura is now raid-wide, and now increases all ranged and melee attack power by 10%. In addition, this spell now only has one rank. All other ranks have been removed.

Undocumented changes include Invigoration (50/100% chance to regen 1% mana), Cobra Strikes (effects 2 specials instead of 3), Aspect of the Viper (% of maximum mana based on base ranged weapon speed), Aspect Mastery (increases Aspect of the Monkey by 5% instead of 10% and increases Aspect of the Hawk by 30% instead of 30%), Improved Steady Shot (maximum rank now has a 15% chance to increase the damage of the next Chimera/Arcane/Aimed by 30% and reduce the mana cost of same by 5%), Kill Shot (200% weapon damage plus [30% of RAP + 400] damage), Hunting Party (lasts 15 seconds), Lock and Load (effects 1 Arcane Shot instead of 3) and T.N.T (increases the critical strike chance of your Explosive Shot and Explosive Trap by 3/6/9% instead of 5/10/15%).

So what do the blues have to say? In regards to the Aspect of the Viper change:

• Our intent was not really to reduce it's power, but make it equally powerful for the guy in green gear vs the guy in epics. We'll do some more tuning on it.

And about the overall changes made in this latest build:

• The balance team did a sweep of the talents and made modifications they felt necessary to keep the talents and abilities in budget. We've since done a second pass of what they came up with (which you see in this build) and made further changes. Our latest changes are not in this build you have now.
  
  Some of the changes will stay, some will be reverted, and some will be re-designed. Lock and Load was just too much burst with 3 charges, and the balance guys changed it to 1. We're going to up it to 2. Also going to make it have a chance to proc from Sting periodic ticks rather than the initial hit.

It also looks like the pet talent trees are going to see some more work soon-ish, as Ghostcrawler has made some posts requesting specific feedback about the trees. However, we did get a few statements:

• We originally implemented the Cunning pets with lower stats because we imagined their CC would be too good. But the cooldowns are reasonably long and the durations short enough that this may not be an issue. We'll consider improving them to make up for the deficiency.

You've done your homework, or do you just know everything? - 09/05/08

A few new things for hunters in the latest patch but nothing that made it into the patch notes as far as I can tell. Core Hounds are now tameable (Ferocity tree), and that includes Kurken in Stillpine Hold on Azuremyst Isle. Here's a picture. Their special is 'Lava Breath' which does fire damage and reduces the target's casting speed by 50% for 10 seconds. There's also a new rank of Volley and Viper Sting available. And was the Viper change too good to last as is? Probably. This from Koraa:

• We're going to be changing it so that procs/hits restore a % of your base mana each time you hit, rather than base it off your actual DPS/damage. While the return of mana based on your actual damage numbers do make the ability a lot of fun (at least I thought so!), it has bad scaling issues.

Changes to Debuffs, Buffs, and Raid Stacking - 08/28/08

In some of the biggest Beta news to date, Jimmythenumbers (a Blizzard blue) has posted the following. It's a lot to digest, for sure.

• As Ghostcrawler has been posting recently, we've decided to make a change in the way we allow buffs and debuffs to stack exclusively in a raid. For the most part, what this change means is that many buffs and debuffs which were previously allowed to stack together no longer can, and that many buffs and debuffs which only a single talent specialization could bring can now be brought by multiple different specializations. The philosophy behind this change shows up in many of the changes we have made in Wrath of The Lich King, such as when we made almost all buffs raid-wide. We want players to be able to form raids and parties based on who they want to play with, rather than who has the correct talents and abilities to min-max their raid performance. Raid composition will still matter to some extent, but without this change, it would have overwhelmed every other aspect of raid planning (as we added new capabilities to each of 30 different talent trees). You no longer need to rigidly control the melee/spellcaster balance of your raid, or make sure every group has all the critical buffing classes, etc. This change has many class balance implications. Before we are done, we will thoroughly test the performance of every class. Do not assume that the classes' current performance relative to others in the beta is final. Some classes (and specializations) will need to be reduced in power and some increased. Many will complain the change has more impact on class X than class Y. We will address all those concerns via our internal testing and community feedback.
  
  Ok, given that preamble, here is a comprehensive list of the changes which were made. If testers find additional changes not documented, or additional changes that need to be made ("Hey, buff XYZ got left out of the plan!"), please post and we will investigate.
  
  There are thirty or so different categories buffs and debuffs fit into, and I will list each category and which spells/talents are in that category.
  
  Armor Debuff (Major): Acid Spit (exotic Hunter pet), Expose Armor, Sunder Armor
  Armor Debuff (Minor): Faerie Fire, Sting (Hunter pet), Curse of Recklessness
  Physical Vulnerability Debuff: Blood Frenzy, (2nd Talent Spec TBA)
  Melee Haste Buff: Improved Icy Talons, Windfury Totem
  Melee Critical Strike Chance Buff: Leader of the Pack, Rampage
  Attack Power Buff (Flat Add): Battle Shout, Blessing of Might
  Attack Power Buff (Multiplier): Abomination's Might, Trueshot Aura, Unleashed Rage
  Ranged Attack Power Buff: Hunter's Mark (only Hunters benefit, so no need to exclude against other class abilities)
  Bleed Damage Increase Debuff: Mangle, Trauma
  Spell Haste Buff: Wrath of Air Totem
  Spell Critical Strike Chance Buff: Moonkin Aura, Elemental Oath
  Spell Critical Strike Chance Debuff: Improved Scorch, Winter's Chill
  Increased Spell Damage Taken Debuff: Ebon Plaguebringer, Earth and Moon, Curse of the Elements
  Increased Spell Power Buff: Focus Magic, Improved Divine Spirit, Flametongue Totem, Totem of Wrath, Demonic Pact
  Increased Spell Hit Chance Taken Debuff: Improved Faerie Fire, Misery
  Percentage Haste Increase (All Types): Improved Moonkin Aura, Swift Retribution
  Percentage Damage Increase: Ferocious Inspiration, Sanctified Retribution
  Critical Strike Chance Taken Debuff (All types): Heart of the Crusader, Totem of Wrath
  Melee Attack Speed Slow Debuff: Icy Touch, Infected Wounds, Judgements of the Just, Thunderclap
  Melee Hit Chance Reduction Debuff: Insect Swarm, Scorpid Sting
  Healing Debuff: Wound Poison, Aimed Shot, Mortal Strike, Furious Attacks
  Attack Power Debuff: Demoralizing Roar, Curse of Weakness, Demoralizing Shout
  Stat Multiplier Buff: Blessing of Kings
  Stat Add Buff: Mark of the Wild
  Agility and Strength Buff: Strength of Earth Totem, Horn of Winter
  Stamina Buff: Power Word: Fortitude
  Health Buff: Commanding Shout, Blood Pact
  Intellect Buff: Arcane Intellect, Fel Intelligence
  Spirit Buff: Divine Spirit, Fel Intelligence
  Damage Reduction Percentage Buff: Grace, Blessing of Sanctuary
  Percentage Increase Healing Received Buff: Tree of Life, Improved Devotion Aura
  Armor Increase Percentage Buff: Inspiration, Ancestral Healing
  Cast Speed Slow: Curse of Tongues, Slow, Mind-numbing Poison.
  
  In each category, you can only benefit from the most powerful spell granting that effect. For example, Fel Intelligence grants Spirit and Intellect, both weaker than Arcane Intellect and Divine Spirit. If a player has Fel Intelligence and receives a stronger Arcane Intellect buff, he will gain the intellect value from Arcane Intellect and the Spirit value from Fel Intelligence.
  
  In most cases, fully-talented players will have exactly equal power on the strength of these buffs and debuffs. Fel Intelligence is an example of where one ability is weaker than others. The buffs in the "Increased Spell Power Buff" category are also not all the same potency, as they scale in grow in radically different ways. In virtually every other case, however, the buffs are equal. This means, for example, that fully-talented Battle Shout and Blessing of Might now grant the exact same amount of Attack Power.
  
  In addition to this change, we also needed to address the "mana battery" roles in a raid. The mana regeneration effect they grant is no longer limited to their own party, and it no longer depends on the amount of damage they deal. Each time they trigger the mana regeneration effect, 10 people in their raid group will receive a buff which causes them to regenerate 0.5% of their maximum mana each second. This buff, Replenishment, will be given preferentially to raid members with the lowest mana, but will re-evaluate which raid members receive it each time it is fired. Replenishment is provided by Shadow Priests, Survival Hunters, and Retribution Paladins.
  
  Finally, we have modified Heroism and Bloodlust to affect the entire raid. However, all affected raid members will be unable to cast or benefit from Bloodlust/Heroism for 5 minutes.
  
  I will also list the changes to abilities which exhibit new behavior regardless of the exclusive categories. The changes usually mean the old behavior was removed and replaced by the new behavior. Numbers listed are for maximally-talented versions. Here is that changelist:
  
  Improved Scorch: Increases spell critical strike chance against the target.
  Winter's Chill: Also increases spell critical strike chance against the target.
  Elemental Oath: Grants 5% spell crital strike to raid members.
  Improved Moonkin Aura: Grants 3% haste of all types.
  Earth and Moon: Increases spell damage taken from all schools by 13% on the target.
  Misery: Causes spells cast at the target to have +3% spell hit.
  Shadow Weaving: Buffs only self.
  Improved Shadow Bolt: Buffs only self.
  Expose Weakness: Buffs only self.
  Shadow Embrace: Buffs only self.
  Blood Pact: Grants health instead of Stamina.
  Fel Intelligence: Has replacement ranks that grant flat values of Intellect and Spirit.
  Frost Aura: Excludes properly against all other resistance buffs.
  Grace: Reduces damage taken by target by 3%.
  Rampage: Increases melee and ranged critical strike chance by 5% for the raid.
  Improved Faerie Fire: No longer benefits melee and ranged hit chance, only spell hit.
  Hunter's Mark: No longer increases attack power bonus from attacks against the target.
  Improved Hunter's Mark: No longer grants melee attack power.
  Sting (Hunter pet): Now acts as a minor armor debuff.
  Waylay: Attack speed reduction changed to 20%.
  Icy Touch: Only slows melee attack speed (not ranged or spell).
  Tree of Life: No longer grants healing based on spirit, grants 3% increased healing received to raid.
  Demonic Pact: Now buffs raid instead of debuffing monsters.
  Focus Magic: Now buffs raid instead of debuffing monsters.
  Totem of Wrath: Now grants a flat amount of spell damage, and all enemies in its radius have an increased chance of being struck by criticals.
  Heroism: Cannot be recast while caster has Exhausted debuff, and those with Exhausted debuff cannot be affected by it.
  Bloodlust: Cannot be recast while caster has Sated debuff, and those with Sated debuff cannot be affected by it.
  Vampiric Touch: Grants Replenishment mana regeneration buff to up to 10 raid members on dealing damage.
  Hunting Party: Grants Replenishment mana regeneration buff to up to 10 raid members on specified shots.
  Judgements of the Wise: Grants Replenishment mana regeneration buff to up to 10 raid members on Judging.

The obvious big changes are to Trueshot Aura (no, I have no more information regarding it becoming a multiplier, if I was to hazard a guess I'd say 10%), Hunting Party, Hunter's Mark and Improved Hunter's Mark, Scorpid Sting, Ferocious Inspiration, Acid Spit (pet), Sting (pet), Aimed Shot, Expose Weakness. Hopefully we'll be provided with more in depth Hunter specific details soon.

And the Beta key goes to... - 08/24/08

Congratulations to Chunkchunk of Altar of Storms on wining TKA Something's Rare Beast Scavenger Hunt! Thanks to everyone who entered - I had a great time looking at all of the screenshots and only wish I had more keys to give away!

Get up on this! - 08/21/08

Thank you MMO-Champion for tidying up all the hunter push changes for this newest Beta patch.

• * Animal Handler (Beast Mastery): No longer increases speed while mounted, but now reduces the cooldown of your Master's Call ability by 5/10 sec.
• * Aspect of the Beast: Now increases your melee attack power by 10% for the hunter and the hunter's pet.
• * Bestial Swiftness is now a pet talent tree talent, and has been removed from the Beast Mastery Hunter tree.
• * Disengage: This ability has been re-designed. Now leaps the Hunter backwards up to 13 yards. 30 second cooldown. Disengage now also only has one rank (rank 1).
• * Distracting Shot: This shot now "taunts" the target onto the Hunter. The taunt effect will last 6 seconds. Distracting Shot now only has one rank (rank 1).
• * Focused Fire (Beast Mastery): Now increases the critical strike chance of your Kill Command by 10/20/30% while Kill Command is active. This effect can stack up to 3 times, but diminishes for each charge of Kill Command.
• * Improved Stings (Marksmanship): Now a 3-point talent, down from 5-points.
• * Kill Command: This ability now increases the damage done by your pet's special abilities by 60%. Each attack will reduce the damage bonus by 20%. 1 minute cooldown.
• * New Talent - Aspect Mastery (Beast Mastery)
• * New Talent - Hunter vs. Wild (Survival): Increases you and your pet's attack power and ranged attack power equal to 10/20/30% of your total Stamina.
• * New Talent - Lock and Load (Survival): You have a 33/66/100% chance when you trap a target and a 10/20/30% chance when you sting a target to cause your next 3 Arcane Shot or Explosive Shot spells to trigger no cooldown, cost no mana and consume no ammo.
• * New Talent - T.N.T. (Survival): Your Immolation Trap, Explosive Trap and Explosive Shot have a 5/10/15% to stun targets for 2 sec when they deal damage, and increases the critical strike chance of your Explosive Shot and Explosive Trap by 5/10/15%.
• * Pathfinding (Beast Mastery): Now also increases the movement speed while mounted by 5/10%.
• * Readiness (Survival): Cooldown reduced to 3 minutes, down from 5 minutes.
• * Spirit Bond (Beast Mastery): Also increases healing done to you and your pet by 5/10%.
• * Steady Shot: Now has a 2.0 cast time, up from 1.5.
• * Surefooted (Survival) now reduces the duration of movement impairing effects by 16/25/50% (instead of resist % chance).
• * Survival Instincts (Survival): This has been moved to tier-2, up from tier 6.
• * Survivalist (Survival): Now increases your total Stamina, instead of your total Health.
• * The arming time has been reduced to 1 second, from 2 seconds for all traps.
• * Trap Mastery (Survival) is now an 11-point talent.
• * Trueshot Aura - This aura is now raid-wide.

And if that weren't enough, we also get to see some of our new glyphs:

• * Glyph of Aimed Shot - Decreases the cooldown of Aimed Shot by 1 sec.
• * Glyph of Arcane Shot - Your Arcane Shot refunds 20% of its mana cost if the target has one of your Stings active on it.
• * Glyph of Aspect of the Beast - Increases the attack power bonus of Aspect of the Beast for you and your pet by an additional 2%.
• * Glyph of Aspect of the Monkey - While Aspect of the Moneky is active, each time you dodge you gain 30% increased movement speed for 6 sec. This speed does not stack with other movement speed increasing effects.
• * Glyph of Aspect of the Viper - You regenerate mana from Aspect of the Viper as if you had 15% less mana in your current mana pool.
• * Glyph of Bestial Wrath - Decreases the cooldown of Bestial Wrath by 20 sec.
• * Glyph of Deterrence - Decreases the cooldown of Deterrence by 20 sec.
• * Glyph of Disenegage - Decreases the cooldown of Disengage by 5 sec.
• * Glyph of Freezing Trap - When your Freezing Trap breaks, the victim is afflicted with a 40% snare, recovering 10% per sec. for 4 sec.
• * Glyph of Frost Trap - Increases the radius of the effect from your Frost Trap by 1 to 0 yards.
• * Glyph of Hunter's Mark - Increases the attack power bonus of your Hunter's Mark by 20%.
• * Glyph of Immolation Trap - Decreases the duration of the effect from your Immolation Trap by -6000 sec., but damage while active is increased by 100%.
• * Glyph of Improved Aspect of the Hawk - Increases the effect of Improved Aspect of the Hawk by an additional 6.
• * Glyph of Multi-Shot - Decreases the cooldown of Multi-Shot by 1 sec.
• * Glyph of Rapid Fire - Increases the haste from Rapid Fire by an additional 8%.
• * Glyph of Serpent Sting - Increases the duration of your Serpent Sting by 3 sec.
• * Glyph of Snake Trap - Your Snake Trap creates 2 additional snakes.
• * Glyph of Steady Shot - Increases the damage dealt by Steady Shot by 10% when your target is afflicted with Serpent Sting.
• * Glyph of Trueshot Aura - Increases the attack power bonus of Trueshot Aura by an additional 2%.
• * Glyph of Volley - Decreases the mana cost of Volley by -20%.
• * Glyph of Wyvern Sting - Decreases the cooldown of your Wyvern Sting by 0 sec., but decreases the damage it deals by 1 to 0%.

And, a few updates from the beta boards themselves. Furious Howl, can it be upped from 20 yards?

• I'm not sure why Furious Howl had such a low range. My suspicion is it just hadn't been touched in a long time.
  
  It's 40 now.

Have boars lost their "fun factor" now that they can no longer charge?

• We actually debated this issue quite a bit. In the end it came down to a call about whether it was more fitting to boars to keep Charge or whether it was more fitting for the boar to be a tanking pet. The tanking pets were all going to get Intervene instead of Charge, since it let them be more useful as an OT, and we didn't think it was worth the cost of making changes or exceptions to that design just to preserve boars Charging.
  
  In the end, we decided that boars are feared because they are tough. They have leathery skin, a stubborn disposition and had a reputation for fighting on long after their wounds should have killed them. In short, they felt like a tank. We tried to keep the feeling of the old Charge with the bonus component to Gore.
  
  It was very difficult to come up with a whole new system for pets without losing any aspect of the old system that might be important to players. We are genuinely sorry though if there is a change you don't like.

More about the Kill Command change:

• Kill Command was initially created as a reactive ability, something you hit when an event happened (a critical strike). The problem was that the event happened too often, and players just stuck it into a macro. Kill Command basically just became a flat damage increase. Players are right to assume their DPS has jumped because of shots not interrupting the auto-shot timer (it has, our tests show a ~140 DPS increase in some trials), so I think it's fair to say the class' sustained DPS will be okay.

Also, the level cap has been raised to 80 so expect more updates on my journey through Northrend post on the TKA Something board, and wasps are also tameable now AND there are still a few days left to win a Beta Key in TKA Something's Rare Beast Scavenger Hunt!

Win a Wrath of the Lich King Beta key! - 08/16/08

Well, I'm a day late with this annoucement but I wanted to think of a fun way to give this key away. So, without further ado, I present to you "The Rare Beast Scavenger Hunt". Make sure to visit the message board for all the details!

Let's do the time warp again! - 08/15/08

Past or future, there's more hunter responses to be had from the Beta board.

Is it possible that aspects will a bar, like druids or death knights?

• Not a bad suggestion, I'll think about it. It does have issues with it though (You'd have to maintain a bunch of different hot bar setups).

What are some other things being worked on?

• Intimidation - We'd like to make this instant instead of relying on the pet's next attack.
  
  Disengage - This is being changed in a future build. What it will do is cause the Hunter to jump back instantly 10-15ish yards to gain distance. 30 second cooldown.

What's the plan with traps?

• We definitely do want to make traps more usable. We've discussed a lot of different options over the years (including throwing your traps, having them turn into shots etc.) but in the end we feel we'd like to retain the unique gameplay of traps, and improve them without re-designing what traps really are.
  
  Some changes we are working on:
  
  - Distracting Shot will now be a "Mocking Blow"-esque taunt (so it will taunt the mob onto the Hunter for 6 sec). This will allow you to "peel" monsters to you (and thus to a trap) a lot easier than it is now.
  - Freezing Trap will no longer break on damage 100% of the time. It will still break on damage, but on x amount. So if the mob has a DoT on them, or the mob gets cleaved while in Freezing Trap, it won't just immediately break. Because of this, we're canning Bear Trap (since Freezing Trap will accomplish what Bear Trap was intended for, plus you guys have enough keybinds as it is). Note that we don't intend Freezing Trap to be a stun, so the tuning on how much damage will break it will be important.
  - Camouflage - We'll be introducing this new spell at level 80. It will give you limited stealth capabilities. A bonus with it is that you can lay your traps while Camouflaged and it won't break the stealth, allowing you to setup your traps before a pull if desired.
  - Trap Mastery - This talent will be a 1-point talent now, we've condensed a lot of the trap talents in the Survival tree. It will do stuff like increase damage of Immolate, root the dispeller of your Freezing Trap in ice, increase the number of snakes from your snake trap, etc.

And remember the big hunter push that's coming in Beta? Well, play around with the new talent trees to your heart's content. Is Wrath of the Lich King shaping up to be the Year of the Survival Hunter?

New build. - 08/14/08

While I may not have a ticket to Blizzcon yet (I have hopes for the ticket lottery that was just announced, but maybe I should be playing Powerball instead?) I can at least console myself with the latest Wrath build. Here's the comprehensive list of changes to date (some of these were mentioned previously but are now "official").

• * All pet families now have one unique ability. New abilities have been added for families such as bears and sporebats.
• * Arcane Shot: No longer dispels magical effects.
• * Aspects now no longer cost mana.
• * Aspect of the Beast: Now increases your melee attack power by 10%.
• * Avoidance, Dash / Dive and Cobra Reflexes are now pet talents instead of pet skills.
• * Bite now has no cooldown, does the same damage and costs the same Focus as Claw, so works as a Focus dump.
• * Clever Traps (Survival) has been renamed "Trap Mastery."
• * Concussive Barrage (Marksmanship) - Can now proc from Volley attacks.
• * Counterattack: Damage increased by 20%, and now also scales with your attack power.
• * Deterrence (Survival) - Cooldown reduced to 3 minutes, and now also increases your chance to resist spells by 60%. Now has a new spell effect.
• * Every hunter pet can learn Growl, Cower and either Bite or Claw (never both).
• * Hunter pets can now learn talents in one of three trees depending on family. Pets gain talent points starting at level 20 and earn an extra talent point every 4 levels.
• * If a hunter tames a pet that is more than five levels beneath their own level, the pet will then have their level increased to five levels beneath the hunter's own level.
• * Improved Feign Death (Survival): Now also reduces damage taken during Feign Death by 15/30%.
• * Loyalty, Training Points and the hunter Beast Training button no longer exist. Hunter pets can now learn all skills at their level. They will get new ranks automatically as they gain levels.
• * Master Tactician (Survival) - Chance to proc increased to 10%, up from 6%.
• * Mongoose Bite: No longer requires you to dodge in order to use this ability.
• * Monster Slaying (Survival) and Humanoid Slaying (Survival) has been combined into "Improved Tracking".
• * New Talent - Improved Tracking (Survival) - Increases all damage done to targets that are being tracked 1/2/3/4/5%.
• * Savage Strikes: Now includes Counterattack.
• * Steady Shot now uses ammo. In result, its bonus damage has been slightly reduced. Players can notice a damage increase based upon what ammo they use.
• * Surefooted (Survival) now reduces the duration of movement impairing effects by 10/20/30% (instead of resist % chance).
• * Tranquilizing Shot: Cooldown reduced to 15 seconds (down from 20) and now dispels Enrage and Magic effects.
• * Trap Mastery (Survival) has been removed.
• * Wing Clip: No longer does damage.
• * Devilsaur Eye now increases your pet's attack power for a short duration instead of increasing its critical strike chance. It also provides a small amount (+5) of passive Agility.

Another interesting thing to note is that you will no longer be able to raise weapon or defense skill on the servants in the Blasted Lands, at least come Wrath.

In other news on the Beta board, there were some additional signifigant announcements from Koraa:

• We'll be making Master's Call and Deterrence both base.

I'll be interested to see what gets put in those spots although I think we're all mentally thinking, "If only it were Scatter Shot."

In regards to the lack of viability of stings in a shot rotation:

• Bumped up the coefficient for Serpent Sting. With the mana cost changes, I think it's come out lower than what it was before too. The other stings I think are fine.

As to the lack of mount speed scaling in Animal Handler, compared to other classes with similiar talents:

• This talent will be changed in an upcoming build, I do agree it's somewhat lackluster.

Why is Sniper training is where it is, why can't Marksmanship get a little love?

• Sniper Training is in Survival because Hawk Eye is in Survival. To be honest, you can make an argument for a lot of talents and spells to be in Marks instead of Survival. Survival needs to be about more than just traps and melee. An upcoming build will have a big Survival restructuring.
  
  Some other stuff from your post....
  
  - We'll change Silencing Shot to be a proper interrupt (PvE).
  - Trueshot Aura will now be raid wide.
  
  Wild Quiver, Rapid Recuperation are both changing in an upcoming build. Though, I like the design of those two talents and think they just need some tweaks.

And the biggest news of all, at least at the moment.

• Big hunter push on the way, will be in the build after next.

I bet all these announcements are making you think to yourself - I wish I had a beta key too! Well, never fear, my hunter friends. TKA Something will be giving away a Beta key to one lucky person so you can test all these changes (and more!) yourself. Stay tuned for the annoucement about how to enter this coming Friday (08/15/08).

Add another ticket and attendee. - 08/11/08

While I wait for the Blizzard store to process my Blizzcon ticket purchase, let's get everyone caught up to date with the Beta news. Two new Exotics added this most recent build - worms and silithids. That brings the total number of Exotics to four (devilsaur and chimera being the others). The 51 point talent has also had its NYI tag removed and pets do gain the 5 extra talent points. Here are some of the blue responses we've received in response to various comments/concerns/questions from both Koraa and Ghostwalker.

Regarding the mana cost of some of our higher ability ranks:

• We'd like to note that we are currently in the process of revamping the mana cost of new spells, abilities and the new ranks of spells and abilities in the expansion. We are aware players feel the mana cost of certain abilities is too high, and we agree. Though I can't really go into much detail yet as the actual specifics of what's changing is still being debated internally, be rest assured your voice on the issue has been heard and it is one of our top priorities right now.

What happened to the Camouflage ability we got a glimpse at via data mining?

• Used to be the 51-pt Survival, but we felt it was too PvP oriented, and we're really trying to flesh the tree out to be more than traps and melee (we are not done, as you can tell).
  
  That said... Camouflage may just come back as a base ability... *maybe* =] (Though a bit different from the against-the-rules data mining version you saw)

Chimeras doing crazy damage with their species ability? Say it ain't so!

• Because the chimera ability does two types of damage at once (like the new Mage spell), it seems to have some crazy scaling effect. This is the first pet ability with two types of damage, so it's likely that is the problem.

A possible revamp of the pet focus system?

• I like the idea of removing more pet abilities from Focus. It's kind of a weird energy source since it fills so quickly in most cases. Growl and Cower might be trickier, but perhaps they could just be really cheap. Making the Focus dump abilities (Bite etc.) relatively expensive could do unpredictable things to threat or dps, especially very early in a fight. It's worth considering though since then they would typically only get used if the other autocast stuff was on cooldown. Leting some specials be free would help balance utility specials with pure dps specials (which could still have a Focus cost).

Less pet aggro in the most recent build? Does Onyxia deep breath more?

• As you can see, the results are a little inconsistent. Before we just buff pet threat across the board, we need to make sure that there aren't more bugs resulting in spikey or unpredictable behavior.

Pets have had their innate resistances reduced. Previously, they had the max (120) available via training on live across the board. This has been reduced to 1 resistance per level (so a LV80 pet will have 80 resist shadow/fire/frost/nature/arcane) baring any additional talent training. Why was this change made?

• The problem with spell resistance is a succesful resist grants immunity to both damage and effects such as CC.
  
  We don't want pets to get to the point where they resist nearly all CC effects... though being that this is a board of hunters you will probably disagree. :)
  
  But we don't want your pets to die to a single spell either, which is why we'd rather handle surviving spell damage (especially in PvP) through a percent damage reduction. That is something we are looking at now. There are also talents that can further reduce spell damage.
  
  Because your pets benefit from your resistance, it should still be possible to get them to survive in magic-heavy PvE encounters.

Will pets ever gain a portion of the master's hit/resilience?

• If we do it for Warlocks, we'll do it for Hunters too (%hit).
  
  Regarding Resilience on pets, we feel we'd rather give the classes tools to keep their pet alive rather than giving them passive defense (we want you to care about keeping them alive, not ignoring them because you know it's impossible to kill them). If you're talking about a group environment, you can heal your pet and your group can heal your pet. The drawback to players attacking your pet is that they are essentially crowd-controlling themselves. Currently we feel (in PvP) that we've more or less achieved the right amount of survivability for the pet (without giving it Resilience). This of course changes all the time because of gear and scaling. If we feel the pet does not scale in terms of health with the master, we can make changes in that regard.
  
  That said, if we find that pets aren't surviving as well in beta compared to live, then we can explore the possibility of increasing it's base defense.

Currently, there are also some apparent changes in the works for Kill Command. Rank 1 now has a 2 minute cooldown and instead of granting additional damage, it adds a % increase to the pet's next several specials. And, the dispell effect has been removed from Arcane Shot. It is now a part of Tranquilizing Shot and attempts to remove one Frenzy, Enrage or Magic effect from an enemy target.

Prayers answered. - 08/01/08

In the latest Wrath build that went in today, it turns out that "Okay" did indeed mean we get two more stable slots. Don't believe me? Too good to be true? That's ok, you can look at the screenshots here.

Getting caught up. - 07/30/08

I've been a little under the weather the last few days and haven't updated some of the "blue" information as much as I should have been, so here's a big lump!

Someone suggested more stable slots. Ghostcrawler said:

• Okay.

No, I don't know if that means, 'Okay, thank you for the feedback" or "Okay, we'll talk about it" or "Okay, you'll get more stable slots". There was no further clarification given so I'd take the wait and see approach. As to the 51 point talent (although you can currently tame devilsaurs in Beta now, the talent isn't fully implemented yet):

• We're still working on implementing this particular talent. The talent will allow you to train a different "class" of pets which we're calling "exotic" right now. Only hunters with this talent will be able to train those pets. They won't necessarily be "stronger" (though will all have unique abilities that you can only get from exotic pets), the extra power you should get from the talent will be from the additional pet skill points (pet talent points).

As to how expensive in terms of focus the current new pet talents are and how hard it is to manage them in terms of maximum useage/output:

• We've discussed a few systems for managing this, but honestly the simplest one might just be to have all pet abilities be a little more consistent in cost.
  
  We'd love to do an actual system to let you manage abilities more intelligently, but it might have to wait.

Master's Call is implemented, but the hunter can't use it on themselves if they're already stunned. But we want it!

• Able to use while stunned? Consider it done.

And what about the old pet abilities, like Thunderstomp, that have yet to be brought in line with the new skills, will they be normalized so they have a LV80 verison as well?

• That is in the plan.

And, a final word or two about pet talents, in general.

• The bottom talents in particular need to have some pretty stringent pre-reqs so that hunters can't just cherry pick all of the active abilities. We can and will iterate on what those pre-req talents are though.
  
  Active pet abilities in general represent some interesting design challenges. On the one hand, if the hunter just programs the pet and puts it on autopilot, then having unique abilities just sort of blends into a generic +dps for the pet. On the other hand, it would be sad if hunters never took the active abilities because the pet has trouble using the expensive ones and the hunter feels like he already has too many of his own abilities to hit.
  
  This is something on which we'll try to hit a reasonable balance. Warlocks seem to have a pretty decent mix of demon abilities that can be used by the demon AI and some that the warlock specifically needs to use.

3.0.1.8681. - 07/28/08

A new build on the Wrath Beta is live, with a few hunter changes:

• * Hunting Party now gives your critical shots a 20/30/40/50/60% chance to restore 2% mana, 10 energy, 4 rage, or 10 runic power to all member of your party. (Old version : 20/40/60/80/100% chance)
• * Potent Venom now increases the amount of damage done to targets afflicted by your Wyvern or Serpent Sting by 1% regardless of the rank. (Old version : Increased the damage by 1% for each rank, up to 3%)

MMO-Champion also has a preview of some new Glyphs provided via the new Inscription tradeskill, mostly druid, but this one for hunters:

• * Venomous Mana (Glyph Passive) - Empowers a Greater Glyph to grant your Viper Sting ability an additional 15% chance to resist dispel effects.

Undocumented is the change to potions. Now, when you consume a potion (say, a mana potion) you receive a debuff entitled 'Potion Sickness'. The description reads, "Unable to consume potions until you rest out of combat for a short duration." Oh. My.

Don't be jealous. - 07/24/08

Now that the NDA about Wrath of the Lich King has been lifted, I've started chronicling my journey through Northrend in this thread on the TKA message boards, along with screenshots (as I remember to take them). Warning: Spoilers!

Also, in a discussion about pet threat generation in Wrath of the Lich King, we received this response from Ghostcrawler:

• Think of your pet bar as just shortcuts to your spellbook. It doesn't really matter if an ability is on the bar or not. It can be cast or autocast directly from the spellbook, and unfortunately all new abilities start with autocast defaulted on. This is something we might be able to fix, but in the meantime, peek at your pet's spellbook whenever it gains a level to make sure nothing has changed. Cower can surprise you, because it is something a lot of players passed on before -- understandably, because even if effective it's not a very fun thing to spend points on, which is why we just give it away now. :)
  
  We haven't done a major pass on threat generation yet for any of the classes. We realize it was very easy in BC for hunters to pull aggro off of their pets. You can probably tell from some of the pet talents (including the ones that just grant more pet dps) that we want pets to be able to hold their own threat against a hunter. This is especially true when it's just you and Bitey out on your own, but ideally a tanking pet with the proper spec will be an effective offtank for 5-player instances, or even a main tank under some circumstances (say a group quest perhaps).

Cat, meet the bag. - 07/18/08

Wrath of the Lich King Alpha has ended and Blizzard has thrown open their doors for Beta testing. That also means the NDA has been lifted so we can discuss, talk over, debate and dissect to our heart's content. These are the latest patch notes from the Beta server (hunter related anyway!):

• * All pet families now have one unique ability. New abilities have been added for families such as bears and sporebats.
• * Aspects now no longer cost mana.
• * Avoidance, Dash / Dive and Cobra Reflexes are now pet talents instead of pet skills.
• * Bite now has no cooldown, does the same damage and costs the same Focus as Claw, so works as a Focus dump.
• * Clever Traps (Survival) has been renamed "Trap Mastery."
• * Concussive Barrage (Marksmanship) - Can now proc from Volley attacks.
• * Deterrence (Survival) - Cooldown reduced to 3 minutes, and now also increases your chance to resist spells by 60%. Now has a new spell effect.
• * Every hunter pet can learn Growl, Cower and either Bite or Claw (never both).
• * Hunter pets can now learn talents in one of three trees depending on family. Pets gain talent points starting at level 20 and earn an extra talent point every 4 levels.
• * If a hunter tames a pet that is more than five levels beneath their own level, the pet will then have their level increased to five levels beneath the hunter's own level.
• * Improved Feign Death (Survival): Now also reduces damage taken during Feign Death by 15/30%.
• * Loyalty, Training Points and the hunter Beast Training button no longer exist. Hunter pets can now learn all skills at their level. They will get new ranks automatically as they gain levels.
• * Master Tactician (Survival) - Chance to proc increased to 10%, up from 6%.
• * Monster Slaying (Survival) and Humanoid Slaying (Survival) has been combined into "Improved Tracking".
• * New Talent - Improved Tracking (Survival) - Increases all damage done to targets that are being tracked 1/2/3/4/5%.
• * Steady Shot now uses ammo. In result, its bonus damage has been slightly reduced. Players can notice a damage increase based upon what ammo they use.
• * Surefooted (Survival) now reduces the duration of movement impairing effects by 10/20/30% (instead of resist % chance).
• * Trap Mastery (Survival) has been removed.

The full patch notes can be found here.

Too, the new Beast Mastery/Marksmanship/Survival trees are available for planning and play at MMO-Champion or Wowhead.

You should be running. - 07/16/08

2.4.3 went live yesterday. These are the hunter-y items you may have missed in your haste to login once the servers came up:

• * Dispel effects will no longer attempt to remove effects that have 100% dispel resistance.
• * Mounts at 30?! Yes, it's true: Apprentice Riding and mounts are now available at level 30. Training costs 35 gold.
• * Equipping an item will now cancel any spell cast currently in progress.
• * Placing an item in your bank will now cancel any spell cast currently in progress if the spell was cast by that item.
• * When a stun wears off, the creature that was stunned will prefer the last target with the highest threat, versus the current target.
• * Growl: Pets will no longer generate additional threat from this ability based on attack power buffs cast on them. Attack power buffs on their master will still indirectly increase the threat generated by the pet's Growl.
• * Pet Aggro: Pets will no longer generate threat immediately from being summoned.
• * The time available to accept the option to "Enter Battle" for a battleground has been reduced to 1 minute and 20 seconds (previously 2 minutes) in order to give each side more time to get a full complement of players before the battle begins.
• * Zoning into an instance on a PvE realm will now drop your PvP flag.
• * Rocket Boots Xtreme and Rocket Boots Xtreme Lite can no longer be used in the arena. These no longer have a failure chance.
• * For the quests, Intercepting the Mana Cells and Maintaining the Sunwell Portal, pets gaining/losing phase status will now properly break off combat from unphased/phased opponents.
• * Bow of the Verdant Keeper's Aim: This item's triggered effect no longer breaks the effect of Scatter Shot.
• * Thori'dal, the Star's Fury is now Unique as intended.
• * Invisible players with Hunter's Mark can see the hunter that put the mark on them.
• * Hunters: Using an instant ability after Steady Shot will no longer lock out auto shot.
• * Hunter Snake Trap will no longer break players out of stealth if the snakes pass near the stealthed character.
• * Hunters: Concussive shot will now properly have a chance to proc Bow of Searing Arrows.
• * Hunters: Scare Beast will now be correctly limited to one target and has had its tooltip updated to display the proper cast time of 1.5 seconds.
• * Corrected an issue where the initial trigger or activation sounds for Immolation Trap and Explosive Trap could not be heard by some players.
• * Moving a quiver from one container slot to an empty container slot will no longer reset the ranged attack speed.
• * Fixed an issue where ravager pets had all available pet skills.
• * Pets will now properly attack mobs when out of phase with the real world.
• * Passive pets will no longer attack due to AoE taunt spells.

The full patch notes can be found here.

The sheep, or the wolf. The choice is yours. - 07/11/08

Thanks to Elois of Uldum for the latest addition to our Spreadsheets section, a statistical calculator for hunters intended to be a tool that can look past the gear and look to the hunter to identify how to improve DPS. Enjoy!

Ah, Paris... - 06/28/08

The Blizzard Entertainment Worldwide Invitational has kicked off, lead by the annoucement that Diablo 3 will be Blizzard's next game. The panels were busy at work answering class related questions about Wrath of the Lich King as well - thanks to MMO-Champion and World of Raids for the following Hunter information:

• * Steady Shot will no longer clip Auto Shot, meaning it won't have to be timed, just spammed
• * The skill point system of pets will be replaced with Pet Talents, one tree for utility, one tree for tanking and one tree for DPS. The skill points for each pets are being changed to the new "Pet talents" and will disappear
• * A new ability will make the pet deal extra 20% damage when on 20% health
• * Each kind of pet family will have its own talent tree and its own unique ability
• * There are going to be new pets in WotLK

I obviously wish I could be reporting live from Paris, but alas. Stay tuned for updates as they become available!

Gigantique. - 06/18/08

Patch 2.4.3 is currently on the Test realm which is also up and active. There are some hunter changes and some general things of hunter interest.

• * Dispel effects will no longer attempt to remove effects that have 100% dispel resistance.
• * Mounts at 30?! Yes, it's true: Apprentice Riding and mounts are now available at level 30. Training costs 35 gold.
• * Equipping an item will now cancel any spell cast currently in progress.
• * Placing an item in your bank will now cancel any spell cast currently in progress if the spell was cast by that item.
• * When a stun wears off, the creature that was stunned will prefer the last target with the highest threat, versus the current target.
• * Growl: Pets will no longer generate additional threat from this ability based on attack power buffs cast on them. Attack power buffs on their master will still indirectly increase the threat generated by the pet's Growl.
• * Pet Aggro: Pets will no longer generate threat immediately from being summoned.
• * Scare Beast: This spell will now be limited correctly to one target.
• * For the quests, Intercepting the Mana Cells and Maintaining the Sunwell Portal, pets gaining/losing phase status will now properly break off combat from unphased/phased opponents.
• * Bow of the Verdant Keeper's Aim: This item's triggered effect no longer breaks the effect of Scatter Shot.
• * Thori'dal, the Star's Fury is now Unique as intended.
• * Invisible players with Hunter's Mark can see the hunter that put the mark on them.
• * Hunters: Using an instant ability after Steady Shot will no longer lock out auto shot.
• * Hunter Snake Trap will no longer break players out of stealth if the snakes pass near the stealthed character.
• * Hunters: Concussive shot will now properly have a chance to proc Bow of Searing Arrows.
• * Corrected an issue where the initial trigger or activation sounds for Immolation Trap and Explosive Trap could not be heard by some players.

Not mentioned but fixed as well, is the Scare Beast tooltip - it now correctly displays the 1.5 cast time. The full patch notes can be found here. The Verdict. - 06/01/08

A few days ago, we got the "official" word regarding programs like AutoHotKey or certain gaming keyboards for the Hunter shot rotation macros. The answer probably doesn't surprise most but disappoints some, as it's a relatively popular way to avoid tiring your fingers out with 11111111 or 22222222 (or 3333333, for you non-conformists) when using a macro for shot rotations, by holding down a single key instead of hitting it over and over.

• This is not okay. One hardware function = one action, according to standard macro rules. A hardware function is a keypress (including press/release) associated with movement and an ability/item. Obviously, our default macro rules enable you to use 'modifying' trinkets or abilities, such as nature's swiftness, plus a single spell all in a single press.
  
  To clarify: No, you may not use hardware or software to auto-spam your shot rotations - period.

And more specifically, a comment about the G15.

• The G15 may have the ability to continually activate an ability as long as you keep the key pressed but that is not a function that is permitted by our policies. The keyboard is allowed but certain functions it can do are not.

Within Sunwell. - 05/16/08

From Daelo, Lead Encounter Designer:

• We also hotfixed a bug in the Eredar Twins encounter that prevent a Hunter's Feign Death ability from working if Lady Sacrolash was alive.

Also:

• We've changed the Negative Energy spells cast by M'uru and Entropius to no longer cause spell interruption on the target. This should ease the frustration of the encounter for those casting classes who can not obtain 100% resistance to spell interruption through talents and effects such as Concentration Aura.

Scare Beast follow-up. - 05/14/08

This was posted earlier, by Drysc, in regards to why the instant Scare Beast didn't make it to live servers, as a follow-up to what Eyonix has already said:

• The instant cast was felt to just be too effective against feral druids, and so the previous cast time reduction to 'instant' was reverted through a hotfix back to 1.5 sec. If we had made the change through the patch instead of a hotfix it would have required a new build to be generated, additional testing on that build, and likely a week long delay for the release of this patch. The downside when hotfixing an ability is that the tool tip won't be updated to correctly display any changes made to the ability.

Just stick to the cards sir. - 05/13/08

2.4.2 went in today. We've been over these changes but I'll re-list the hunter important stuff.

• * Aspect of the Viper: This ability now grants an additional amount of mana each 5 seconds equal to 35% of the hunter's level.
• * Boar Charge: This ability will no longer make Growl cast immediately after it generates excessive threat.
• * The pet ability Growl will no longer scale with pet Attack Power and now scales with the hunter's Attack Power.
• * Dire Ravens in Blade's Edge Mountains are now tameable.
• * Scare Beast: The range on this spell has been increased to 30 yards.
• * Tamed Drywallow Snappers now will know Bite 5 (instead of Claw 5).
• * Bow of Searing Arrows and Red Whelp Gloves will no longer break crowd control effects.
• * Darkmoon Card: Madness: The durations of the buffs received from this item have been extended to 60 seconds.
• * Elixir of Demonslaying: This elixir now grants ranged attack power against demons as intended.
• * Shattered Sun Pendant of Might: The triggered effect from this item will no longer break Scatter Shot or other crowd-controlling affects. The visual on the Scryer version has been updated.
• * The Cursed Vision of Sargeras now gives the buff, "Sense Demons" which can be canceled normally. Additionally hunters and druids are able to track two things at once while using the item.

The instant cast change to Scare Beast did not make it to live servers, despite the tooltip being changed (it is still 1.5 cast time). When asked why this change didn't make it live, Eyonix replied:

• On live realms the ability was never instant cast. The ability now has a 30 yard range on live (patch 2.4.2), which is a small improvement (buff).
  
  While some hunters may be disapointed that they weren't getting the buff to the ability that they anticipated, it's certainly not a nerf. The instant cast change, was simply too strong and as a result, pulled at the very last moment.
  
  PS We love you Hunters. :P
  
  Edit: Neth does not love you and all hate should be directed at her!

And, I knew we hadn't heard the last about the Growl issue. Despite previous threads being locked regarding it, it still isn't 100% correct on live servers post patch, according to Hortus:

• There is still a bug with Growl that is allowing it to scale with some pet attack power buffs as well as the hunter's attack power. This will be fixed in a future patch, until then enjoy the extra threat from these buffs.

And followed up with:

• As I have stated many times before Growl scales correctly with Hunter attack power. It has been verified with internal tools multiple times buy myself and other testers both in 2.4.2 and 2.4.1. It may not scale at a rate that you like but it does scale at the rate the developers currently want (and no I can not reveal that rate).
  
  If you feel it should scale differently then you will need to post about it in the suggestions or class forums. Repeatedly posting about it here in this forum will not result in any positive changes but it will result in your posting privileges being removed.
  
  Right now Growl is ALSO scaling inappropriately with attack power buffs applied to your pet (such as Blessing of Might) this is a bug that is currently in your favor, it will likely be fixed in a future patch so enjoy it while you can.

Mrr Grr. - 04/30/08

It's been sort of interesting watching the Growl discussion unfold on the Test realm message board. There's been some good information put out there by external testers (IE, hunters like you and I) but for now, the discussion seems to have been closed as one of the relevant threads has been locked after being posted in by Hortus:

• There was not a change to the way Growl scales with hunter AP, the bug fix eliminated growl scaling with the pet's attack power.
  
  Growl has always scaled with hunter attack power in exactly the same way as it does in 2.4.2, there were no changes. I have verified multiple times that growl threat does scale with hunter AP AND that it is doing so in the same way in 2.4.1 and 2.4.2.
  
  I'm sorry if you were given the impression that this was a new feature.

Which was followed by more posts and then the thread was locked, with this parting comment:

• This is the last post I will be making about pet threat, no matter what I say I'm accused of lying or being wrong. Right now as of 2.4.2 growl is creating the intended amount of threat and is scaling with hunter attack power at an intended rate. If you do not agree with this then please post your opinions in the appropriate forums (suggestions or class forums).
  
  As this is not considered a bug no amount of posting here or in the bug report forums will get it changed.

I don't know though, not sure we should give up on this subject QUITE yet. That said, they have requested some focus testing:

• We would like to request some focused testing on a bug that we believe to be fixed in 2.4.2
  Using a macro with several instant cast spells can break targeting and the Escape key.
  
  This is most often reported as happening with hunter kill command macros.
  
  Please test your macros and report here if you encounter any of these UI lock-ups.

Test additions. - 04/25/08

Here are some more additions to the 2.4.2 patch notes. The change to Viper is now 'officially' listed:

• * Aspect of the Viper: This ability now grants an additional amount of mana each 5 seconds equal to 35% of the hunter's level.
• * Boar Charge: This ability will no longer make Growl cast immediately after it generates excessive threat.
• * Scare Beast: The range on this spell has been increased to 30 yards and it is now instant cast.
• * Elixir of Demonslaying: This elixir now grants ranged attack power against demons as intended.
• * Shattered Sun Pendant of Might: The triggered effect from this item will no longer break Scattershot or other crowd-controlling affects. The visual on the Scryer version has been updated.

Dire Ravens - 04/24/08

The newly tameable Dire Ravens (Level 67-68) in Blade's Edge are classed as Carrion Birds and upon taming know Dive 3 and Screech 5. Remember, this is on Test only, for now - you won't be able to tame them on live servers until 2.4.2.

2.4.2 - 04/23/08

Pre-patch notes for 2.4.2. Here comes the hunter stuff.

• * Dire Ravens in Blade's Edge Mountains now tameable.
• * Tamed Drywallow Snappers now will know Bite 5 (instead of Claw 5.)
• * Bow of Searing Arrows and Red Whelp Gloves will no longer break crowd control effects.
• * Most Main-Hand weapons are now One-Hand weapons.
• * Troll Male off-hand items are now the same size as the main hand item.
• * Tauren weapons while sheathed have had their graphic readjusted to their pre-patch (2.4.0) state.
• * The Vengeful Gladiator's Rifle will now play the proper sound when used.
• * The Cursed Vision of Sargeras now gives the buff, "Sense Demons" which can be canceled normally. Additionally hunters and druids are able to track two things at once while using the item.
• * It is no longer possible for pets to get stuck in place after exiting the Spectral Realm in the Kalecgos encounter.
• * The hunter pet ability Growl will no longer scale with pet Attack Power.

To follow up about the Growl change, we received this comment from Nethaera:

• Growl was scaling incorrectly before so it's been changed to scale with the hunter's AP starting at around 1200 AP. Other pet abilities such as bite, claw, etc will still scale with pet AP. Please keep in mind this isn't changing the normal amount of threat that pets produce.

Of course, claw and bite don't scale with AP currently and preliminary reports suggest that they still don't, so... take that bit with a grain of salt.

Not in the patch notes but on Test realm is an additional change to Aspect of the Viper. Previously, it regenerated mana equal to up to 55% of the player's intellect. On Test now, in addition to that, it is up to 35% of the player's level, as well.

Confessions of a Dangerous Mind. - 04/09/08

I was actually surprised that there wasn't a follow-up 2.4.2 patch on Tuesday, as there are quite a few 'known issues' that seem in desperate need of fixing (ask anyone who has an Exalted neck from Shattered Sun with the Scryer proc - Arcane Strike anyone, yuk!) But, there wasn't one. However, there are things that need mentioning, so let's get to it!

First, from Hortus, regarding Improved Hunter's Mark and Hunter's Mark:

• This is working correctly, once improved hunter's mark is on a target any Hunter's mark (improved or not) will refresh the duration of the existing mark (not overwrite it). The buff does not change in any way just the duration remaining.

And, about Boar Charge, also from Hortus:

• I have confirmed with the developers that Boar's growl ability getting such a large bonus to attack power based on charge is a bug. Growl should only benefit from the hunter's attack power and get no benefit from buffs to the pet's attack power.
  
  Expect this to be changed in a future patch. If you disagree with this change please post about it in the suggestions or class forums.

Although this somewhat answers the questions about boars, it doesn't especially address the growl issue which was touched on earlier in the week and seem to be still ongoing, but, are working as intended according to internal Blizzard testing done by Hortus. Nimizar of Proudmore has done quite a bit of testing, you can read his findings here. The issue may or may not be re-addressed.

All that's left are the known (bugged) issues to cover. They are (as they relate to Hunters):

• * Initial trigger or activation sounds for Immolation Trap (rank 6) and Explosive Trap (rank 4) cannot be heard by Classic WoW players.
• * Swapping your current pet for a stabled pet while mounting will cause you to receive an error ("You do not have a pet to summon") when you use Call Pet.
• * Zoning after a pet has died or has been dismissed can cause an "Internal Pet Error".
• * Players are able to have pets out while mounted by logging out.
• * Pig pets are not making footprints.
• * Hunter's Mark does not appear above Shield Orbs.
• * (User Interface) The hunter's spell Dismiss Pet "fades" from player 1 minute after dismissing pet.
• * (User Interface) Pet skill damage appears on the screen while Pet damage option is disabled.
• * (User Interface) Dying and disconnecting causes you to be unable to release.
• * Abilities/trinkets that trigger after killing an opponent that gives experience or honor are being activated after killing mobs during bombing quests.
• * Several procs from items are breaking crowd control effects such as Scatter Shot.
• * Vengeful Gladiator's Rifle (34530) is using a inconsistent sound.
• * Bow strings are not being lit in 2.4.0.
• * The Arcane Strike proc from Shattered Sun Pendant of Might is breaking crowd control effects such as Scatter Shot.
• * It is possible to dodge, block, and parry the proc Arcane Strike from the Shattered Sun Pendant of Might.
• * The Brutal Gladiator's Rifle is emitting a Bow sound effect upon use, despite the item being a Gun.

April Fool's! - 04/01/08

Well, I was certain that the two-headed ogre April Fool's Day prank might not be able to be topped but I was wrong. Blizzard has, in my opinion, outdone itself with the Bard Hero class and a console release of Molten Core. HAS SOUND!

Also, they snuck 2.4.1 in on us with a single Hunter note:

• * Tranquilizing Shot no longer incorrectly restricts use of other Hunter abilities in specific situations.

I will be the first to say, I must not have been watching the Bug Report forum closely enough because I have no idea what this refers to.

Fury of the Sunwell - 03/25/08

2.4 is now live! Before everyone goes all frothy about buying the Crossbow of Relentless Strikes or epic gems, remember that those vendors aren't immediately available in the Shattered Sun Offensive. So start plugging away at those daily quests! The patch notes for hunters aren't anything we don't know, but I'll re-summarize:

• * Equipping a thrown weapon while in the middle of an Auto-Shot will no longer cause animation issues.
• * Casting Flare while in any way not visible, will no longer cause your flare to be invisible to other players.
• * Hunter's Mark: Hunters with Improved Hunter's Mark will now properly overwrite Hunter's Mark cast by Hunters without the talent.
• * Improved Mend Pet now has a 25/50 chance to remove one Curse, Disease, Magic, or Poison effect, up from 15/50%.
• * The stamina tooltip for hunter pets will now display the proper health increase.
• * Track spells will now persist after death.
• * Hunters will no longer spin around if they cast Aimed Shot or Steady Shot while facing away from their target.

Notice that the change to Multi-Shot (where it wouldn't break CC effects) did NOT make it to the live patch. As always, the complete patch notes can be reviewed here.

It's like the Titanic but with bears! - 03/07/08

More updates to the patch notes. Mend Pet has been changed again, along with this interesting change to Multi-Shot:

• * Multi-Shot: This ability will no longer strike any secondary targets which are under the effect of crowd-control spells that break on taking damage. i.e. Polymorph, Sap, etc.
• * Track spells will now persist after death.
• * Improved Mend Pet now has a 25/50 (was 50/100) chance to remove one Curse, Disease, Magic, or Poison effect, up from 15/50%.

Also, we have a post from Kalgan that, while doesn't directly talk about Hunters (early on in the discussion anyway), has stirred up the commmunity quite a bit. Initially, it started out a discussion about the Warlock changes to Lifetap which had been put in and then reverted, in which was referenced class representation in the Arena:

• No other warlock nerfs are planned for 2.4. One of the things we look at is class representation in arenas (although normalized for class popularity). In this particular chart, a value of 100% means the class is represented as we'd expect, a value over 100% means the class is represented that much more often than we'd expect, a value below 100% means they're represented less than we'd want (obviously this chart doesn't include a spec breakdown in any way).
  

Two charts were then provided, one for the 2200+ (2v2, 3v3 and 5v5) Arena brackets and another for the 1850 (2v2, 3v3 and 5v5) brackets. Here's where Hunters are falling on that chart:

• Hunter (2200+) 43.0% 50.2% 43.0%
  Hunter (1850) 50.2% 50.2% 50.2%
  

When asked specifically about the low hunter representation, Kalgan replied:

• As far as hunters go, yes, we do feel as though they're still represented less than we'd like. I think that's safe to say. That being said, we have seen some meaningful improvment.

I would recommend giving the entire thread a read.

The TKA Something Forums have had two new discussion categories added in the last couple days - Damage Per Second and Dungeons & Raids. Enjoy!

And so it remains, a mystery of the ages. - 03/05/08

Will there be a pet review for the 2.5 patch (assuming there even is one), perhaps giving some pet skills to some of the long neglected and thusly mostly unpopular pets? Don't look for definite answers from Drysc. When asked that question, we received this noncommittal answer:

• I couldn't say with any certainty.
  

The docks, unlocked! - 02/21/08

The docks, and thusly, the inn was unlocked on Test just moments ago and happily, there is indeed a stable master there as well, Seraphina Bloodheart. Her pet, Sentinel, a red lynx (like the ones on Azuremyst Isle) isn't tameable. The innkeeper, Caregiver Inaara (horray for Firefly references) sells fish, meat and fruit.

Too, the new LV70 green ravagers on the fly only area between Terokkar and Hellfire Penninsula (Razorthorn Shelf) are for a daily quest that became available once the inn was opened, requiring you to temporarily charm them, not unlike the helboars searching for roots quest in Shadowmoon Valley. Your regular pet will vanish for the duration of this quest as a result.

And another. - 02/20/08

Another hunter change, just added to the patch notes:

• * Improved Mend Pet now has a 50/100% chance to remove one Curse, Disease, Magic, or Poison effect, up from 15/50%.

Progressive testing. - 02/16/08

Just added to the 2.4 patch notes, some of this we knew, now it's just official:

• * Hunters will no longer spin around if they cast Aimed Shot or Steady Shot while facing away from their target.
• * Resilience: Now reduces the magnitude of mana draining effects by the same amount that it reduces critical strike damage. The Tooltip has been revised to reflect this.
• * The benefits of drinking out of combat have been delayed. It will now take five seconds before the full benefit of the mana regeneration will come into effect.
• * Vengeful Gladiator's Waraxe: The weapon delay has been reduced.
• * Archimonde's Grip of the Legion will no longer target pets.
• * The proc from Black Bow of the Betrayer will no longer break crowd control effects such as Scatter Shot.

Don't what me. You know what. - 02/15/08

New test build, new information filtering in. The big (undocumented) news is that resilience now reduces the effects of mana-drain spells. Documented, but file it under the 'I'll believe it when it stays fixed' category is the assertion that the Black Bow of the Betrayer proc won't break crowd control effects. Since this has been reportedly fixed before (back in November of last year, no less), like I said, I'll wait and see. The Gronnstalker bracer has had its haste bonus removed, replaced by critical strike.

Thori'dal, the Stars' Fury - 02/08/08

MMO-Champion has the skinny on the legendary bow of Sunwell, which is called Thori'dal, the Stars' Fury.

353-540 Damage Speed: 3.00
(148.7 damage per second)
+17 Agility
Durability 110/110
Requires Level 70
Equip: Improves your critical strike rating by 16.
Equip: Increases your attack power by 34.
Equip: Your attacks ignore 112 of your opponent's armor.
Equip: Increases ranged attack speed by 15%. Does not stack with quiver or ammo pouch haste effects.
"The energy of the Sunwell courses through Thori'dal."

It is also being reported that it comes with the following spell ID which is not mentioned in the item description:

46699 : Requires No Ammo - Thori'dal generates magical arrows when the bow string is drawn. Does not use ammo.

No ammo costs AND anyone lucky enough to get this bow gets a bag slot back!

Was the wait worth it? 02/08/08

PTR everything is jammed but my download is finished so I get to peek at the notes, but man, they're a lot smaller for hunters than I honestly expected (no mention of feeding pets in combat, alas). I'll list some of the general ones that apply to hunters as well, sort of:

• * Spell Haste: Spell Haste now reduces the global cooldown on spells, down to a minimum of 1 second. This change does not apply to melee and ranged abilities.
• * Spirit-Based Mana Regen: This system has been adjusted so that as your intellect rises, you will regenerate more mana per point of spirit.
• * Equiping a thrown weapon while in the middle of an Auto-Shot will no longer cause animation issues.
• * Casting flare while in any way not visible, will no longer cause your flare to be invisible to other players.
• * Hunter’s Mark: Hunters with Improved Hunter’s Mark will now properly overwrite Hunter’s Mark cast by Hunters without the talent.
• * The stamina tooltip for hunter pets will now display the proper health increase.
• * Moongraze Stag Tenderloin can now be comsumed by hunter pets that eat meat.
• * Winterfall Firewater: The tooltip no longer specifies only melee attack power.
• * Spell Haste and Armor Penetration will now display on the character sheet (Armor Penetration displays in the hit rating section).
• * Pets are now able to properly attack mobs near the walls on the ramps in Zul'Aman, Bear Wing.

Some interesting raid changes as well, the attunement requirement for Hyjal and Black Temple has been removed AND you can just head straight to Kael'Thas or Lady Vashj without killing the other bosses before them. This is the Sunwell patch too, just a heck of a lot going on. More hunter changes on the horizon? Your guess is as good as mine, guess we'll find out as 2.4 progresses on the Test realm.

Je ne parle pas francais! 02/06/08

Or do I? From one of the WOW-EU posters, Thyvene, about the legendary bow that's been rumored/discussed for patch 2.4:

• A few more details on this legendary weapon : it will be a loot like the Warglaives of Azzinoth, not a reward from a quest like Thunderfury.
  

No gathering 500 bars of Eternium. That makes me so glad. Also, don't espect sweeping class changes immediately upon the PTR release, since Nethaera said:

• I'm going to be a bit cautious in what I say in this regard. Will there be some changes to classes? Yes, there will be some. We're not rushing into a bunch of class changes for this patch at this point. Consider the patch to be a bit more progressive in nature. As we go along, the developers are going to be keeping a close eye on the results of any changes and additions and then making changes as they feel they are necessary. How many changes occur are going to be based on testing over time. This is why it's important for players to get in and test it as much as possible.
  
  We want to make sure that the changes we are making are viable and practical for continued balance of the classes and don't want to put in too many changes at once and essentially skew the results too much one way or another.
  

Supposedly, we may be only hours away from 2.4 being on the PTR, so I guess we'll know when we know.

Yes, no, maybe so. 01/15/08

Although we were told back in November of 2007 that the Grimtotem Spirit Guide, while not a beast that was intentionally able to be tamed, it would remain tameable because it was a "fun use of in-game mechanics". Unfortunately, it was apparently too good to last and Hunters can no longer tame them. We received this explaination from Drysc about it:

• Through a hotfix we've recently removed the ability to tame a Grimtotem Spirit Guide. Players who have already gone through the trouble of taming the creature will be able to keep them unchanged. This hotfix only removes the possibility to tame this creature from here on.
  
  The removal of the spirit guide has been debated within design discussions for a while now as to what impact the pet and its precedent has on the game. The unintended nature of the taming, the undead status of the guide, appearance of the wolf in relation to the feel of the hunter class, and the complex processes of taming were all issues touched upon and discussed.
  
  Ultimately the discussions brought us to the conclusion that this should not be a permanent addition to the pet selection available to hunters; however, those that have already tamed them should be allowed to keep them due to their efforts in obtaining one.
  

This, of course, has sparked a hot debate about the decision - more that it was hotfixed and not announced in, say, the 2.4 patch notes that it would be changed and thusly allow any remaining players who wished to tame them to do so. I have to agree that a warning, especially in light of the fact that it had previously been stated that they would remain tameable, would have gone a long way in steming the tide of negative backlash that has occurred as a result.

Lock up the lions, or they will eat you. 01/09/08

Patch day, long overdue. Here are the Hunter related notes, in case you missed them. Since it was on the Test server for so long, nothing really comes as a surprise (so far, anyway):

• * Arcane Shot: Ranks 1-5 will once again deal bonus damage based on attack power.
• * Aspect of the Viper effect increased.
• * Freezing Trap is no longer limited to one target at a time.
• * Pet leveling speed has been increased.
• * Fixed various problems with /castsequence getting stuck.
• * /cast will toggle spells again unless the name is prefixed with an exclamation mark, e.g. /castsequence Steady Shot, !Auto Shot
• * Fixed "Spell/Ability is not ready yet" message when clicking quickly at the beginning of a cast.

Personal note, I could have done without the change to the Halloween broom mounts. Running that event 5+ times a day, I thought I'd stockpiled enough brooms to last until Wrath of the Lich King but alas.

Happy Holidays! 12/22/07

Another year has come and almost gone. I want to wish everyone a Happy Holidays and thank everyone for their kind support over the last year (and previous years!) 2007 was great, but 2008 promises to be even better! I know that everyone is probably already counting the days until the next expansion and who can blame them? It isn't a big secret, either, that TKA will AGAIN be undergoing another site recode (I'm never satisfied, am I) and while I won't promise a definite date on it, it will for certain be before Wrath of the Lich King hits the shelves. I'm very excited about it!

I also want to take a moment to mention that there are many ways to help those less fortunate than yourself during the holiday season and being the animal lover that I am, this year, I've donated to the Cat Adoption Team. The Cat Adoption Team (CAT) is the Pacific Northwest's largest non-profit, no-kill cat shelter with its own full service veterinary hospital on-site. You can always search for local no-kill shelters in your area as well and if money this holiday season is a little tigher than you'd like, many of these organizations have wish lists such as cat toys, food or even simple things like garbage bags! As hunters, our pets are a part of who we are - extend that partnership to local animals and shelters who ae doing wonderful work every day.

Again, thank you for your support of TKA Something in 2007 and we'll see you in 2008!

Is taming Grimtotem Spirit Guide intended? 11/30/07

In case you've missed it, the Grimtotem Spirit Guide (a 'transparent' wolf from Dustwallow) has been the subject of much debate since the 2.3 patch - was it intentional that we could tame it, even if we had to jump through hoops to do it (spell haste and more spell haste!). Well, good news for those who have tamed said wolf and those who were debating getting one. From Issuntril, a EU-Blizzard poster:

• While this feature of the Grimtotem Spirit Guide wasn't exactly intended, it was agreed by the development team that this is a fun use of in-game mechanics, and we therefore have no plans to address this issue - it will still be possible in future for everyone who wishes to tame this NPC to do so. :)
  

This wasn't the answer I was expecting either, but it's good news. So tame to your heart's content. Also, be aware, /castsequence is again changing in the 2.3.2 patch.

• /cast will toggle spells again unless the name is prefixed with an exclamation mark, e.g. /castsequence Steady Shot, !Auto Shot
  

All reports from the Test realm say that while this wasn't working correctly when Test first went up, it will function how we want it to upon release of the patch, so breathe a sigh of relief. Hopefully this will spell the end of /castsequence issues for a while. Oh, and. I knew I was forgetting something - this post from Nethaera:

• We do plan to allow pets to be fed in combat at some point in a future patch. It's in the works currently.
  

There's no such thing as a Night Elf Mohawk. 11/21/07

As found on the WOW-European forums from Salthem (one of their Blizzard posters):

• The following changes are planned for Hunters in the next patch, 2.3.2, which we hope will go up on the PTR quite soon:
  
  * Aspect of the Viper effect increased.
  * It will once again be possible for two freezing traps to be in place at the same time.
  * Pet levelling speed has been substantially increased.
  

Also earlier this week, Slouken posted again regarding the continued issue with Hunter /castsequence macros and their slated fix for 2.3.2.

• So, in 2.3.2 we're just advancing the sequence when we see a spell success with the name of the spell we're looking for. Hunters will be pleased, since this means their Steady Shot, Auto Shot macro will automatically advance again. :)
  

WTB Double Trapping. 11/14/07

My instincts proved correct - the trap change was indeed intentional, albeit undocumented, according to Nethaera:

• I was just about to get to this one. This was another bug fix that unintentionally didn't get into the patch notes. It's getting added in now in order to clear up the confusion. Here is how the note actually reads:
  
  * Fixed a bug in which Hunters were able to use Readiness in conjunction with Freezing Trap on two different targets.
  
  Being able to double-trap was not intended to happen so the bug has been corrected. As always though, constructive feedback on changes are always welcome. What should happen is if you trap another target, the first trap should release much like what happens when a Priest Shackles Undead or a Mage Polymorphs a target.

Of course, Readiness wasn't necessary to double trap, as many hunters already know. It's a little difficult not to be frustrated. Supposedly, Nethaera is 'collecting feedback' about this (which has been, so far, uniformly negative), so we'll see if that impacts anything. And, FD/drink disabled and ALSO intentional? Yep, also from Nethaera:

• Just so everyone aware, there was a bug fix that unintentionally didn't make it into the release patch notes, but has been added into the bug fix listing on the forum as well as is being added onto the Web version of the patch notes.
  
  * Fixed a bug in which Hunters were able to disengage from combat using Feign Death during boss encounters.
  
  Please note that this should only apply for when you are engaged in a boss fight and shouldn't affect trash mobs.

Well, sort of intentional. This was done to prevent Hunters from changing gear/trinkets, which was confirmed with the following reply:

• This is true. This was allowing more than just drinking to occur, such as the above, gear swapping. This wasn't intended.

So, losing FD/drink was more of a side effect.

No matter. Most likely lose it again anyway. 11/14/07

Although not quite on par with the Shaman Resto T6 set, we do have some bugs or... depending on how pessimistic you are, undocumented changes with 2.3. Currently, you can no longer trap two separate NPCs at the same time, so if mob #2 blunders into a trap set for mob #1 (or if you've set it up to trap 2), one will immediately break (probably intentional). Lower ranks of Arcane Shot do not appear to be scaling with RAP (probably a bug). Varying reports about people being unable to feign death and drink during boss encounters (no idea on this one). Some people seem to be unable to see the new Volley animation (probably a blessing in disguise). And /castsequence issues persist. You've been warned.

There will be awards, parades, and commemorative stamps! 11/13/07

Although we've been talking about it for over a month, here are the patch notes for 2.3 (as they relate to hunters, of course)!

• * Weapon Skill: All items and abilities that granted weapon skill have been changed. In most cases, they were converted to expertise or expertise rating. Ranged attacks do not benefit from expertise, so ranged weapon skill has generally been replaced by critical strike bonuses or hit bonuses. In a few cases, talents have been changed to other effects to avoid granting players excessive amounts of expertise.
• * Pets will try to get behind their targets when engaging in melee combat.
• * Dwarf: Gun Specialization now increases chance to critically hit with Guns by 1% rather than increasing weapon skill.
• * Troll: Bow and Thrown Specialization now increases chance to critically hit with those weapons by 1% rather than increasing weapon skill.
• * Aimed Shot (Marksmanship) now reduces healing done to that target by 50% for 10 seconds.
• * Arcane Shot (Ranks 6 and above) now dispel 1 Magic effect in addition to their normal damage.
• * Explosive Trap: The initial damage dealt by this trap is now also increased by 10% of your ranged attack power.
• * Expose Weakness: The triggered effect from this talent will no longer use up charges of Misdirection.
• * Immolation Trap: The total damage dealt by this trap is now also increased by 10% of your ranged attack power.
• * Misdirection: This spell will now always be removed correctly if multiple Hunters overwrite each other's Misdirection.
• * Misdirection: If a Hunter attempts to use this ability on a target which already has an active Misdirection, the spell will fail to apply due to a more powerful spell already being in effect. This will not trigger the cooldown or cost any mana.
• * Readiness: This talent now finishes the cooldown on Kill Command.
• * Serpent Sting, Immolation Trap and Explosive Trap all gain additional damage based on ranged attack power.
• * Serpent Sting: The total damage dealt by this sting is now also increased by 10% of your ranged attack power.
• * Steady Shot: Tooltip clarified to indicate base weapon damage is used in the damage calculation.
• * Trueshot Aura (Marksmanship) no longer costs mana to cast and will last until cancelled.
• * Wyvern Sting (Survival) is now instant cast and has a maximum duration of 10 seconds in PvP.
• * Wyvern Sting: This ability will no longer be overwritten by lower ranks of Wyvern Sting.
• * Daily cooking quests are now available from The Rokk in Shattrath City! In addition to gold, you can receive random cooking reagents and new recipes as a reward for completing these quests.
• * Duration of wizard and mana oils created by enchanters has been increased.
• * Engineering potion injectors no longer require engineering skill to use.
• * Plans for a new arrow making device can be found from Sunfury Archers.
• * The plans for adamantite shells now create an Adamantite Shell Machine. The machine creates 200 high quality bullets at a time, with 5 charges per item.
• * New fish can now be caught in Zul'Aman and Deadwind Pass. Recipes for preparing these new fish are obtained through the daily cooking quests.
• * New recipes are available from Grand Master leatherworking trainers to make 20 slot quivers and ammo pouches.
• * New recipes are available from the Honor Hold, Thrallmar, and Lower City quartermasters to create 24 slot quivers and ammo pouches.
• * Black Bow of the Betrayer: The triggered effect from this item will no longer use up charges of Misdirection. In addition, the triggered effect will no longer break crowd control effects.
• * Gladiator's armor pieces of like nature from various seasons will now all meet the requirements for their shared set bonus. This means if you are using 2 pieces of Season 1 gear and 2 pieces of Season 2 gear of the same design you will now have your 4 piece set bonus.
• * Gladiator's Chain Gauntlets: The bonus damage on these gloves has been increased from 4% to 5%.
• * Merciless Gladiator's Chain Gauntlets: The bonus damage on these gloves has been increased from 4% to 5%.
• * Fixed a bug in the pet sheet stamina mouseover tooltip that showed an incorrect health increase value.

Although I pulled the above from the latest Test Realm patch notes, they APPEAR to be identical to the ones that I just downloaded at 4:00am (just now, in other words). If I missed anything, blame the lack of sleep. Not mentioned in the patch are the changes to the dead zone and the change in our Arena set bonus. There are some new tameable beasts in both Zul'Aman and the re-vamped Dustwallow Marsh. The entire list can be found here.

Bon appetite! 11/07/07

With 2.3 confirmed to be going live next Tuesday, we received one last Hunter update from Eyonix:

• In patch 2.3, aimed shot will not only reduces healing done to the target by 50% for a ten seconds, but we're also reducing the shot time by 0.5 seconds.

The original post wasn't even a page long before someone mentioned that lowering the cast time from 3.5 seconds to 3 seconds wasn't something to really write home about, and this was the follow-up:

• Yeah, an already great 11-point talent that will now have a reduced cast time and a mortal stike effect. How completely useless...
  
  Edited to add my follow-up:
  
  I was quick to reply to be very honest. What I meant by "already great" is that even in its current state, players are still making great use of the talent. We wouldn't have given this talent these two improvements had we been completely happy with its effectiveness.
  
  With that being said, these ARE great changes. To those who flame that 3.0 is still too slow, lets be reasonable. We're simply being conservative. We may lower it further (probably not before 2.3), but we want to see effective the ability is with these changes implemented. Keep in mind too, there were other changes made for 2.3 that improve hunter viability and effectiveness in PvP.
  
  In short, we need to see how all the changes play out before making anymore changes.

Nothing but sincerity reaching out as far as the eye can see, V2.0. 11/01/07

So maybe this time, for real, /castsequence, the auto shot toggle and everything will be fixed on Test prior to 2.3 going live. This just in, from Slouken:

• The stuck cast sequence problems should be fixed in the next test realm update.
  
  The hunter Auto Shot macro issues should also be fixed in the next test realm update.

Here's hoping!

Nothing but sincerity reaching out as far as the eye can see. 11/01/07

A few new things. Hortus weighs in about Arcane Shot mechanics:

• This is working correctly. Arcane shot should dispel before it deals damage.

Also, there are new vendor ammmunition available from the Violet Eye (revered) that seems to close the gap between vendor, crafted and the Hyjal reputation ammo. The whole /castsequence issue that's on Test currently, though, makes my head hurt. In a nutshell, the 'auto shot' portion of the macro is now acting as a toggle, turning auto shot on and off. It doesn't work this way on Live UNLESS you are using the Auto Shot button from the Marksmanship tree - within the macro, well, most of us know how that works already. Apparently, it is SUPPOSED to be a toggle, according to Slouken, when Hunters were trying to explain why the /castsequence wasn't working:

• The problem with Auto Shot is that it's a toggle. :)

So, was it supposed to always work like this and now it's fixed so it actually does? Or is it a bug that it's working like this and isn't supposed to be? I've got no idea, as this is the only "blue" reply Hunters have received, despite the many posts on the Test forum talking about the issue with /castsequence.

Why don't we just wait here for a little while... 10/26/07

The 1-35 yd range is confirmed as a bugged tooltip by Drysc:

• There's a tooltip error, it should be "5-35 yards". We want melee and ranged to be kept separate, so that when in melee attack range you should not be able to use a ranged attack. There's some amount of 'give' there, especially in fast paced PvP which can produce some temporary gray area but that's fully known with this change.
  
  Feeding the issue of the tooltip error is a bug currently where you can indeed range attack someone while being meleed, but that's in the process of being resolved as well.

That cold ain't the weather, that's death approaching. 10/25/07

Rest in peace, Zul'aman bears. They are no longer tameable in the latest Test build. Doesn't mean we weren't hopeful. Also, the tooltip for all our shots/stings now read 1-35 yd range but don't overreact (like I did). Is the range change intentional? Guess we'll find out in the next few days. Just added to the S3 Arena vendor is a bow (Vengeful Gladiator's Longbow) and gun (Vengeful Gladiator's Rifle). All three ranged weapons (crossbow, bow, gun) require a personal rating of 1850, and have the exact same statistics, except for the damage ranges (the crossbow/gun are 223-336 and the bow is 279-280??). The gun, I recommend you hop over to the PTR realm and look at it for yourself, the graphic is... something. The bow is a very nice graphic, in blue.

Sometimes, if things are closed, you just, open them up. 10/20/07

While I try to be fairly optimistic regarding announced Hunter changes and when they may or may not occur, I will be the first to admit that I never expected the promised reduction of the dreaded 'dead zone' would actually be implimented with patch 2.3! But it's true. Our ranged attacks now read (on test):

• 4-35 yd range

Obviously the maximum range will read differently if you've got Hawk Eye. Practical tests indicate that there is still a small amount of dead space, but it will be far, FAR less exploitable (it also seems like they've reduced our melee range to about 0-3 yards). Too, Aimed Shot has also been changed and does include a Mortal Strike type effect. The new Aimed Shot, at maximum rank (7):

• An aimed shot that increases ranged damage by 870 and reduces healing done to that target by 50%. Lasts 10 sec.

Mana cost and cast time (3.5 seconds) remain the same at the moment. More changes still to come? Guess we wait and see, but man... not THAT long of a wait, not the one I expected, anyway!

Zul'how cool is this?! 10/12/07

With thanks to a few of my friends over on Test server (thanks Rhaygar and Fetch, much love!), we went and did a bit of exploring around Zul'Aman today. As we slithered and feigned death around the zone (just us three, so no engaging), we found the Amani Bear, a look alike to the rare bear mount. Imagine my suprise when I gave it a shot of Beast Lore and it came back 'Tameable!' Well, of course we had to try it, and after picking our positions, I came away with:

Blizzard, I beg you, even if this isn't intentional, let it stay. Bears are one of the many pets we've got (not unlike spiders, sporebats, hyenas, crocolisks... the list goes on) that needs a shot in the arm. A new model, like this one, could give this species a needed boost in popularity.

Our trio hasn't completed its exploration and so we'll be back tomorrow for a real run at the zone, but additional beasts we've located include Amani Elder Lynx (tan lynx, tameable), Amani Lynx Cub (mountain lion, tameable), Amani Dragonhawk (red dragonhawk, untameable), Amani Eagle (new model, cross between owl and... carrion bird maybe, untameable), Amani Crocolisk (dark green crocolisk, tameable), Tamed Amani Crocolisk (light green crocolisk, tameable) and Amani Lynx (tan lynx, tameable).

XOXO. 10/12/07

I'll let Kalgan from Blizzard speak for himself:

• We're planning to shrink the min range on ranged attacks to reduce or eliminate the "dead zone". The only point to the dead zone was to ensure the min range on ranged weapons was enough such that ranged weapon attacks wouldn't be used while also being melee'd (at least by mobs... players have a bit of slush built in).

Never try to save my life again. 10/12/07

More items are coming in from the Test realm, slowly but surely. One of the most awaited changes was to see what the new PVP set bonus was going to be for us. Drumroll please... nah, nevermind, skip the drumroll:

• (4) Set: Reduces the cooldown of your Multi-Shot ability by 1 sec.

I'm not lying. Please don't attack the window treatments. 10/11/07

2.3 is on Test realms but man, it's getting slammed from here and back again, so if you can settle for just the notes, here they are, as they relate to hunters. Yes, Zul'Aman will be in, as will guild banks and experience required to level between 20 to 60 has been reduced:

• * Expertise: We have added a new stat and associated rating called expertise and expertise rating. Expertise rating converts to expertise at the same rate that weapon skill rating formerly converted at. Each point of expertise reduces the chance for your attacks to be dodged or parried by 0.25%.
• * Weapon Skill: All items and abilities that granted weapon skill have been changed. In most cases, they were converted to expertise or expertise rating. Ranged attacks do not benefit from expertise, so ranged weapon skill has generally been replaced by critical strike bonuses or hit bonuses. In a few cases, talents have been changed to other effects to avoid granting players excessive amounts of expertise.
• * Client spell cast requests are now sent to the server even if your player is already casting another spell. This eliminates the need for /stopcasting in macros to compensate for latency.
• * Pets will try to get behind their targets when engaging in melee combat. (This will be interesting to see when soloing...)
• * Dwarf: Gun Specialization now increases chance to critically hit with Guns by 1% rather than increasing weapon skill. (Heh)
• * Troll: Bow and Thrown Specialization now increases chance to critically hit with those weapons by 1% rather than increasing weapon skill. (Heh x2)
• * Arcane Shot (Ranks 6 and above) now dispel 1 Magic effect in addition to their normal damage.
• * Explosive Trap: The initial damage dealt by this trap is now also increased by 10% of your ranged attack power.
• * Immolation Trap: The total damage dealt by this trap is now also increased by 10% of your ranged attack power.
• * Misdirection: This spell will now always be removed correctly if multiple Hunters overwrite each other's Misdirection.
• * Readiness: This talent now finishes the cooldown on Kill Command.
• * Serpent Sting, Immolation Trap and Explosive Trap all gain additional damage based on ranged attack power.
• * Serpent Sting: The total damage dealt by this sting is now also increased by 10% of your ranged attack power.
• * Steady Shot: Tooltip clarified to indicate base weapon damage is used in the damage calculation.
• * Trueshot Aura (Marksmanship) no longer costs mana to cast and will last until cancelled.
• * Wyvern Sting (Survival) is now instant cast and has a maximum duration of 10 seconds in PvP.
• * Daily cooking quests are now available from The Rokk in Shattrath City! In addition to gold, you can receive random cooking reagents and new recipes as a reward for completing these quests. (Some Fruit or Fungus recipes would be nice)
• * Duration of wizard and mana oils created by enchanters has been increased.
• * Players can now track fishing nodes. This ability is learned from a journal sometimes found in crates obtained through fishing.
• * New fish can now be caught in Zul'Aman and Deadwind Pass. Recipes for preparing these new fish are obtained through the daily cooking quests.
• * Fishing difficulty reduced for some areas in Nagrand.
• * New recipes are available from Grand Master leatherworking trainers to make 20 slot quivers and ammo pouches.
• * New recipes are available from the Honor Hold, Thrallmar, and Lower City quartermasters to create 24 slot quivers and ammo pouches.
• * All old world dungeons have had their loot revisited. Players will now find that all loot dropped inside instances will be of Superior quality.
• * Black Bow of the Betrayer: The triggered effect from this item will no longer use up charges of Misdirection. In addition, the triggered effect will no longer break crowd control effects.
• * Expose Weakness: The triggered effect from this talent will no longer use up charges of Misdirection.
• * Gladiator's armor pieces of like nature from various seasons will now all meet the requirements for their shared set bonus. This means if you are using 2 pieces of Season 1 gear and 2 pieces of Season 2 gear of the same design you will now have your 4 piece set bonus.
• * Ogri'la Faction Vendor: This vendor now sells potions useable anywhere for a large number of Apexis Shards.
• * Players that complete the attunement quests for Tempest Keep and Coilfang Resevoir may now choose to display a new title, "'character name' Champion of the Naaru."
• * Items with Metagems in them will now display the gems required to activate the metagem and whether those requirements have been met on the item tooltip.
• * Many On Use items now display the cooldown in the item tooltip.
• * Fixed a bug in the pet sheet stamina mouseover tooltip that showed an incorrect health increase value.

If you have any additional notes that I might have missed or things that were changed but didn't make it into the 'official' patch notes, do feel free to mail them to me at fritti@tkasomething.com. I expect there to be further updates in the next few days as people get their characters copied over and jump into Zul'Aman (new beasts, perhaps?). If you'd like to review the patch notes, they are here. Remember, all this stuff is subject to change, it's not reality until it's on the live servers, as Kalgan reminded us:

• 2.3 will be up on the PTR for quite some time. Several classes are likely to get more changes before 2.3 goes live, it's just a question of which changes (ie: we're still considering the mortal strike effect for aimed shot for hunters, among other possibilities). Yes, we'd be making several changes to aimed shot in the process if we decided to go with that change.

Also, MMO-Champion is reporting an undocumented new skill for Hunters called 'Disarming Shot'. No further details at this time but the name seems pretty self-explanatory. However, information coming in is saying that it is not found on any of the Hunter trainers as yet and there is speculation that it is either a NPC ability from Zul'Aman (when you mind control mobs to fight a boss there) or is potentially a Tome drop ALA old Tranquilizing Shot.

If you have to ask, you can't afford it. 10/03/07

Not really new news, since it was discussed at Blizzcon, but the legendary ranged weapon was again confirmed by Bornakk:

• We were planning to implement a Legendary ranged weapon soon, while I’m not sure what class restrictions it will have, I kind of doubt many Rogues or Warriors are going to be able to say that they need it or will use it more than Hunters. Just my crazy thoughts though.

The 'were' part scares me. Makes me think soon isn't as soon as we hope?