Hunter Growl and Scare Beast changes not so sweet after all
by Daniel Whitcomb 
May 13th 2008 at 7:00PM
One of the biggest surprises Hunters found when they logged on after this morning's patch was that all was not as it was supposed to be. Although the tool tip for Scare Beast reads as instant cast, the old 1.5 second cast time is still intact. Netheara confirmed that the reversion of the cast time was, in fact, intentional. It was considered too strong and reverted, although the 30 yard range buff is still intact. The instant cast designation in the tool tip is an error that will be fixed.
It's certainly is not what many Hunters were hoping for, but many Druids are breathing a sigh of relief. Scare Beast should still be slightly more of a threat, as it should allow for a bit more of a preemptive strike against approaching Druids because of the range, and should give them more time to get it off against a fleeing Druid or Shaman. However, the intact 1.5 cast time also means it can be interrupted, or that the druid can quickly shift out of form just before it finishes to avoid being feared. Whether the 30 yard change alone is enough to make it a more useful tool in the Hunter's PvP arsenal remains to be seen.
In others news, despite Hortus' repeated insistence that Growl was working as intended, Many Hunters are still reporting that it seems firmly tied to Pet AP instead of Hunter AP. We've reported on this problem before, but now that it's on live servers, the conclusion is the same. Mania reports that she's used proven testing methods on the live servers and concluded that the Pet AP scaling is still intact, with the only real change being the nerf to the Boar Charge and Growl combo.
She's reported this on the bug forums. Hortus' latest reply is that there is a bug that allows Growl to scale with certain pet buffs, and that it will be fixed in a future patch. It's difficult to say whether Mania and other Hunters are using faulty assumptions or testing methods, or if Hortus himself is missing something. I tend to side with Mania and the others, but for now, it looks like Hunters will have to believe what they want to believe, and little will change. Maybe more testing in a future PTR patch where these "bug fixes" are implemented will shine a light on what's going on.
Filed under: Druid, Hunter, Patches, Analysis / Opinion, Blizzard, News items
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
Fluffylongbottom May 13th 2008 7:19PM
I'm sorry I may be missing something here but I'm really confused with this growl malarky. What was wrong with it that it needed adjusting on blizzard's part?
Mania May 13th 2008 7:24PM
I believe that Hortus and I are on the same page about what's going on, odd as that sounds. He says that there is a bug that allows Growl to still scale with certain pet buffs, and I agree -- so long as you define 'certain' to mean 'everything except Charge'. *grin* Oh, and Improved Hunter's Mark, but so far as I know Growl has never scaled with IHM.
I wouldn't normally define an unimplemented change as a bug this way, but Hortus gets to choose the terminology. *shrug*
Shady May 13th 2008 7:24PM
/bear dance
Kyudo May 13th 2008 7:24PM
A buff is a buff. I'll take what I can get.
Hopefully I won't get stuck in 2v2 matches chasing the Druid for 16 minutes again...
Perderedeus May 13th 2008 7:55PM
I hear Void Shatter did not have its cooldown removed, either.
And BE male rogues had their stealth animation jacked.
Annnnnd... apparently Scare Beast was ninja-nerfed. Er, reverted.
Lycanthro May 13th 2008 7:45PM
Yes! No massive druid nerf this patch! I can still play in BG's! Seriously, beast-coil would have made WSG impossible for druids and made everything else just that more difficult. World pvp would have also been a real pain as I was expecting to be drive-by feared into 3+ more mobs every 5 minutes on Quel'Danas.
Kly May 18th 2008 6:55PM
Yeah because warlock deathcoil wasn't doing the same thing ...
Malinche May 13th 2008 7:56PM
Way to go blizz! Would a designer or somebody that actually cares about hunters please be in charge of their development. This way we-hunters would have some balance against other classes in pvp. Is it any surprise that the representation of a hunter in arena teams is non-existence?
Oh well, I guess I can wait for WoLK and a buff in spirit or strength to a hunters base stat >.
Havitech May 13th 2008 8:23PM
I think your attitude is incredibly unreasonable. Just recently, you got your deadzone removed and arcane shot buffed, and now Scare Beast buffed.
I'm not going to say Hunters are OP, but whenever I have fought one who knows what he is doing (speaking as someone who plays a feral druid and a mage) it was not an easy battle. Sure, some hunters I can tear apart, but those are the same hunters who ice trap me while their pet is auto-attacking me.
My advice: accept the fact that every class has one or two counter-classes that, when evenly matched in skill and gear, will always beat you. If you just can't seem to win against *any* class, get better gear and/or learn to use what you already have to counter different classes.
Frank May 13th 2008 9:06PM
Havitech, you're a moron. You can leave your pet on auto attack on targets you're trapping because they'll stop attacking once the target is trapped.
Of course, you can just go ahead talking about what makes a good hunter when you know nothing about the class.
Nub.
Havitech May 13th 2008 9:31PM
@Frank
How about instead of nit-picking one part of my post which I made an error on, you actually address the point I tried to make? (That was that hunters have plenty of tools to be competitive. Any more buffs - as in this case - are unwarranted.)
ghostbear May 14th 2008 1:07AM
I hear ya brother. It's not like other classes don't have instant fears. This one would just work on beasts. I don't see a problem with it. It's such a narrow application.
Massadonious May 13th 2008 10:04PM
@Havitech
Yes, the original deadzone was removed, but one still exists, albiet a small one. Any PvP'er (people who play Mages, especially) with half a brain would still know how to exploit it.
I have a Hunter, and I honestly could care less about Scare Beast, in either form, but as someone who also has a Druid, I didn't see why so many of my fellow furries were up in arms. We can already break any snares, are virtually immune to polymorph, and anyone who PvP's enough to care about the PvP implifications of something like this, I would hope uses the regular PvP trinket, if not the updated one with 20 resilience. (which ironically had it's price cut in half) Even with all that, we were QQ'ing about ONE class who were going to have their one snare that's particulary affective against ONE class in PvP, buffed.
I'm sorry, but I just don't get it. But, grats on whining and getting it reversed anyway.
native May 14th 2008 8:14AM
a hunter whining.
now i've seen it all.
dart May 14th 2008 9:23AM
Don't compare Beastcoil to Deathcoil, DC is a 2 Minute CD, 3s effect. BC is a 30s CD, 20s effect.
Oh, and you stressed "ONE". Beastcoil affected Druids, Shamans and other Hunters.
That makes sense, give Shaman a buff to Ghost Wolf, but make them totally susceptible to hunters.
Verit May 14th 2008 2:18PM
Hunters are op in arena though - against ranged classes at least. Pretty much the only spells you can get off on them are instant cast (between scatter, silence and a pet mauling you to death). My greatest fear in arenas right now (and a I play a warlock) are pally's (because they can heal forever - and their various bubbles), rogues, warriors and hunters.
Den May 14th 2008 7:23PM
The scare beast change would mostly hurt feral druids. And you know what, that is what hunters need! A buff that will help them against the most OP class in the game, oh wait there are less feral druids then hunters that are successful in arena.
I play a druid, generally moonkin/resto but I've been over 2k as full resto as well (but I hate that spec) and I will say right now this change was laughable to me, you could put it in and make it 80 yards for all I care. But for a feral druid this would pretty much wreck them in any situation where they are fighting a hunter.
jefeweiss May 20th 2008 9:50AM
I'll respond to your comment, Havitech.
Blizzard doesn't balance pvp based on 1v1 results. They said they were going to balance it based on 5v5, but they don't do that either or they wouldn't be nerfing druids. It seems like they are weighting the 3v3 bracket pretty strongly in how they are balancing pvp, with the 5v5 bracket and the 2v2 bracket being perhaps equally weighted. I think this would probably be leading to some serious unrest if they weren't moving so slowly with changes.
Hunters are close to the worst represented class in arenas in every bracket. This is because the layout of the arena is such that it's inevitable that a hunter will be in melee range of someone. Combined with any kind of focus fire by a smart team this quickly leads to the demise of the hunter. Maintaining range is almost impossible in a restricted area with LoS issues. So, according to what Blizzard has told us about how they are going to balance pvp, hunters should get buffs. The most questionable part of the buff here is that the only class that it had an effect on was druids. Although this would have made hunters a more effective countercomp class against druids in 2v2 and 3v3, it would have had the side effect of virtually eliminating druids from 5v5 where they are already an endangered species.
Taylor B. May 13th 2008 8:23PM
Yeah, in AV some Bear druid charged me and while i was stunned I started spamming [Scare Beast]. I was thinking, "Alright, see how you like this instant cast fear, dr00d!" When I finally managed to pop it, I had to wait another 3 sec with him hitting me to see him flee. Needless to say I was bummed.
PeeWee May 13th 2008 8:45PM
Wouldn't it be a bummer if Blizz ninja-changed the Threat output of Mend Pet just to tip over these extensive Threat-tests being performed?