Hunter deadzone will soon be DoA
by Dan O'Halloran 
Oct 13th 2007 at 8:54AM
That's right. You heard me. No more hunter deadzone soon. Don't believe me? Here's the quote from none other than Kalgan 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).
Players are understandably elated. For those who don't play Hunters, the deadzone is an area that other players could stand in that was too far for the Hunter to melee and too close for the Hunter to use a ranged attack. This vulnerability in the Hunter's ability to deal damage is often used against them in PvP.
It's surprising that after all this time Blizzard is finally addressing this long overdue class flaw. But coming on the heels of all the other massive class changes in Patch 2.3, perhaps it's not so surprising at all.
The only thing missing from this announcement is what Patch it will happen in. I'm sure the Hunters' cries of elation will soon turn to demands for swift implementation. But don't hold your breath. Patch 2.3 currently on the PTR is very large and will take at least a month or two to go live. If that happens right before the holidays, don't expect a new patch until well into January and for that one to go live in February or March depending on its size.
Thanks to Jeff from Serious Guild for the tip!
Filed under: Hunter, News items
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 4)
kabes Oct 13th 2007 9:09AM
Patch 2.3 won't take a month or two to go live.
Blue posters have said multiple times that testing will be much shorter than 2.2 was. 2.2 took a long time because of the new audio engine and voice chat. For 2.3 they've stated that the PTR is primarily there to test Zul'Aman which won't take too long.
As much as we want to think that our feedback on class changes actually means anything, it doesn't really. Blizzard has a clear vision and doesn't typically revert major changes like that after going on a PTR.
ErsatzPotato Oct 13th 2007 9:43AM
Class flaw? Are you nuts?
This is how they're going to make hunters more viable in Arena, by fundamentally changing their behavior in every part of the game? That's insane.
Wish they'd just split the game into 100% PVP and 100% PVE and be done with it. It'll never happen--they're headed the other way--but a guy can dream.
4STR4STALeatherBelt Oct 13th 2007 9:40AM
Long overdue, and yet I didn't honestly expect it to ever be corrected due to Blizzard's obvious ignorance to Hunter issues.
Hallelujah brothers!
4STR4STALeatherBelt Oct 13th 2007 9:42AM
Long time overdue, and yet I honestly didn't think it would ever be corrected due to Blizzard's obvious ignorance of the Hunter class.
Hallelujah brothers!
4STR4STALeatherBelt Oct 13th 2007 9:42AM
FFS, buggy double post for the fail. >:|
4STR4STALeatherBelt Oct 13th 2007 9:47AM
@ 5
And this drasticly breaks PVE how, exactly?
/rolleyes
alienatheart Oct 13th 2007 9:52AM
wooo hooo!! finally. this rocks
Svenn Oct 13th 2007 10:07AM
Great, just great. Now casters will only be able to spam instants against hunters? Sigh.
Juneau Oct 13th 2007 10:09AM
Great, now hunters will rape my mage even more than they already do in pvp.
DEADZONE TALENT Oct 13th 2007 10:23AM
omg.
JUST Make NO_DEADZONE a high-tree-*Talent* in MARKSMAN-tree
Marksmens are the only ones who want/need that
THey'll destroy a great style of gameplay if they destroy the deadzone for ALL Hunts
DEADZONE TALENT Oct 13th 2007 10:31AM
And give all Hunters SCATTER SHOT
Matthew Rossi Oct 13th 2007 10:42AM
Yeah, even my usually curmudgeonly, give the other classes a hard time self can't see an issue here. Then again, it's not like my warrior could stand in the deadzone anyway.
As to this ruining PvE... I have to mirror the guy who asks you how, exactly, this is going to do that.
Calaana Oct 13th 2007 10:55AM
Who cares about pvp? It's just a spam skills button now, there's no thinking needed. Sure you can argue about how you have to have the right build and gear and yada yada but honestly? You hit them, they hit you. You don't have to come up with a plan, just kill them. In pve, you have class weaknesses to take into account. Shorten the deadzone by all means, but removing it would be like giving a mage plate and healing. While thier at it, lets make shadow priest viable raid healers with only +ap gear on, and warriors should be the ones making the food! I like my fights to take a bit of skill, I like my raid buddies to have to think and I like having to work against the game to advance. "ez mode ftl lawl" as one of my guildies said it, poetry of the finest order.
This game would be much better off if they said screw the pvp, they can make deal with it using the pve based mechanics like was originally intended. If you want to pvp and only pvp go play guildwars or something, you're the reason the classes suck. I hear war's coming out soon too, you might like to look into that; I hear they have free tissues for you to cry about warlocks into.
zeem Oct 13th 2007 11:00AM
R.I.P Balanced PvP
Fireflash38 Oct 13th 2007 11:04AM
Combined with the change to arcane shot, mages will have little to no chance now against hunters.
Already, fights against hunters are largely about gear and skill, but with this upcoming change, it will reduce the hunter's skill required to almost zero.
If this change goes through they should remove scatter shot.
Fireflash38 Oct 13th 2007 11:08AM
And calaana, please don't say that pvp is a "skill spamming." pvp against people with about equal gear is all about skill.
It is about strategies, you can't "just kill them." If anything, PVE is more about spamming one skill over and over, moving, then doing it all over.
Tyler Oct 13th 2007 11:08AM
Horrible. Now a hunter will be able to stop my casting regardless of where I stand. My only chance were those few seconds I could frost nova and burn him down. That is, before I get ice trapped/scattershot/silence shot/cast pushback by all his crap (and pet) hitting me. Is this for real?
dpoyesac Oct 13th 2007 11:09AM
I have mixed feelings about this. One the one hand it will make life easier -- I won't have to run as far to get out of melee range and into my element. Now, in PvP, it's Wing Clip and RUN! RUN! RUN! and hope I get far enough away to Concussive Shot and survive. But when the 'RUN! RUN! RUN!' will be replaced with a leisurely 'Jog!' Warriors and Pallies will have to work to kill me, rather than getting a free HK if they get close.
BUT -- the deadzone is what make playing a hunter a challenge. This will make hunters more of an 'easy-mode' class than they were before. When people say 'Huntards are auto-shoot for loot' I could say 'No! There's some challenge to hunter play!' But now a main part of that challenge is disappearing.
tdf Oct 13th 2007 11:09AM
This is the only change Blizzard could have made to make hunters viable in arenas, and I never thought I'd see it happen.
novelty22 Oct 13th 2007 11:18AM
Hunters will soon become the new "warlocks" when this happens...everyone screaming everywhere "nerf hunters"...not like they aren't kinda OP'd as it is if you aren't in that deadzone....
I've played both sides ...the hunter...and the person trying to kill the hunter...and like I did with my warlock, i'll be too ashamed of knowing less skill will be involved and eventually get bored of him...
THIS SUCKS