Patch 5.3 interview with Ghostcrawler
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All of the latest Mists of Pandaria newsPTR Notes: Aimed Shot changed again
by John Himes 
Nov 7th 2007 at 7:00PM
A few hours ago, Eyonix posted on the WoW forums regarding another change to the Hunter skill Aimed Shot in patch 2.3. The ability, which has already gained a healing debuff akin to Mortal Strike, will now also have a reduced cast time. The shot will now take a flat 3 seconds to perform, which is a half a second drop from its previous time of 3.5 seconds. In addition, Eyonix also mentioned that the developers are monitoring the ability's effectiveness and may further reduce the cast time after 2.3 goes live.
As is often the case on the WoW forums, there is a rather large outcry over this change, the latest in a series of buffs to hunters. In discussing and defending the change, Eyonix suggests that the developers are trying to make this skill more appealing to the class in addition to helping them be more viable in PvP overall. What are your thoughts on the subject?
Reader Comments (Page 3 of 3)
Kris Nov 8th 2007 10:16AM
Honestly, though I like the new hunter changes (played one for 3 years) the only change we needed was to the dead zone. Too many were exploiting it preventing us break 1600.
Even though I like icing on my cake, too much can still be too much.
Wolfkin Nov 8th 2007 2:24PM
Here's all you need to know about hunter viability in arenas.
Total percentage of hunters among all players across servers - 15% (the highest of any class)
Percentage of hunter players in the top 20 5v5 teams from all battle groups - 5%
Percentage of hunter players in the top 20 3v3 teams from all battle groups - 1%
Percentage of hunter players in the top 20 2v2 teams - 0% (1 hunter TOTAL)
Case closed. And if you think that an MS shot and a .5 sec cast time reduction are going to change that, roll a hunter, get him to 70, and start banging your head against some arena teams and let me know how that works out for you.
Sources:
http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.html?topicId=116362590&sid=1&pageNo=1
www.warcraftrealms.com/census.php
vildmule Nov 8th 2007 1:21PM
If you're getting hit by multiple aimed shots in arenas, heck, if you're getting hit by aimed shot in the arenas you're doing something wrong.
Thorhax Nov 8th 2007 12:51PM
God the hunter population is stupid, I've never played a hunter and never will I dont understand even where blizzard pulled this stupid class out of their ass. Hunters cry about los and range issues, don't you have a pet that can solo most anyone? in most cases your not even needed to do anything but live your pet will do the rest. So now lets see u got a warrior in your face, have you ever heard of wing clip? how bout frost traps? concussion shot? OH NO BLESSSING OF FREEDOM wait a min arcane shot gets rid of that now! wing clip again and run = lol warrior, did I meantion your pet just killed his healer while you were doing this? hell u dont even need a partner for 2v2 a hunter can solo most any team. oh no a druid is hoting and travel forming away, wait a min, concussion shot, AIMED SHOT BITCH haha your heals do nothing now!
I'm sorry if u come up against 2 fire mages and get 2xPOM pyro's in your face and take over 10k damage and die, this happens to everyone not just hunters!
huntards are overpowered if your dieing is cus you suck and I'd say lrn2play!
original2k Nov 8th 2007 1:05PM
@41 wow, i didn't know monkey's could complete full sentences. warrior in hunter's face = lawl? ever heard of hamstring? yes, it is pretty obvious that you have never played a hunter. grow a brain and then make comments
aim shot is still useless til the casting time is brought down to 2 seconds or less
Karl Nov 8th 2007 1:15PM
@6. Hunters passed Warlocks a long time ago. MS Warriors passed Warlocks after getting any decent gear. Ret. Pallies have always passed Warlocks. Shadow Priests...don't get me started...Mages are passing EVERYONE as we speak.
I'm going to log on and roll a non-combat pet. I think those will even pass Warlocks soon.
Spenda Nov 8th 2007 2:06PM
All of the buffs to hunters in this patch are for PvP except for the new Violet Eye arrows, so all of the comments about being OP in PvE are irrelevant.
That said, what is all this talk about hunters being out DPSed by mages, locks and rouges? BM hunters can top the charts even when slightly undergeared. Hunters are a pure DPS class, and just because most of them are terrible at playing their class does not mean the class is not any good.
Bad players does not equal bad class. If you find a good hunter in PvE, you will get massive DPS with the most effective CC (traps work on more mob types than any other CC).
farris Nov 8th 2007 2:09PM
I say finally. It's time to get a good arena PvP buff. Now we have actual utility instead of straight up damage.
thush Nov 8th 2007 2:34PM
before people get too upset, you're not gonna get aimed shotted a whole lot in PvP. 3sec is a long time to stand still, and the hunter sure as heck isn't gonna use this if he's trying to kite you. If anything it's an opener and probably an opener used in conjunction with rapid fire (5min cd). Trust me, hunters in PvP aren't going to just stand still and spam a 3 sec shot, it's bad tactics. Good hunters are going to keep doing what they've been doing: mana draining, trapping/snaring, bigredkitty if they've got it, and other just generally annoying things - not spamming 3 sec shots.
MaNiAk Nov 8th 2007 3:49PM
I am very happy about this. I have alot of revenge to conjure up on all the mage and paladin that froze me in place, stood within the "bugzone" and slaughtered my pet infront of me...and laughed. Yes I'm talking in Arena, I'm alliance and alliance members did it. I'm gonna go on a slaughtering spree.
Amok2006 Nov 10th 2007 3:02PM
Just have arena servers where you can copy your toon over to it. When on the server all this PVP/Arena crap counts and doesn't interfere with the real purpose of the game: PVE.
Raiding and questing with the odd PVP (on PVP servers) is the basis of WoW. If I wanted WoW to become centered on close quarter combat, I'd go back to America's Army, Call of Duty and other FPS games. The arena system is stupid for this genre of game, especially in its current format.
As for those QQing about buffs to hunters, let us review the nerfs we've seen to pets and other skills over time. Or long lasting dead zone that wasn't supposed to be there but too many mages and other softies QQ'd to keep. Give me a break. Remember, the game doesn't revolve around whatever main you play.