Disengage and trap changes coming to Wrath Beta
by Daniel Whitcomb 
Aug 15th 2008 at 8:00PM
With all the Hunter changes we've been promised in relation to PvP, one that has recently been announced may be the biggest yet. Disengage will be getting a new trick.
In a future Beta build, Disengage will cause the Hunter to jump back from their target 10-15 yards. As a result of this buff, however, the cooldown will be extended to 30 seconds.
This really is the change Hunters need, more that the recent Aspect of the Beast and Mongoose Bite changes by far. What we really needed is a way to get back to range, and between this and Master's Call, we should now have a relatively dependable non-talented way of doing just that. 10-15 yards may seem a bit low, but it should be more than enough to get off a quick concussive shot, set a trap, or use a talented crowd control ability such as Intimidation, which will become instant cast rather than on next attack.
Another set of baseline ability changes has to do with traps, and should be very helpful in both PvE and PvP. Freezing Trap will no longer break on any damage, but will instead break on a set amount of damage -- meaning a stray cleave or a miscast DoT won't completely ruin you. With this new functionality, Bear Trap will be removed and replaced at level 80 with Camouflage, which is returning after being discarded. Since setting a trap won't break Camouflage, it will become incredibly useful for setting PvP ambushes as well.
There's plenty of other exciting changes on the way for Hunters, including a talent tree revamp that's currently up on Blizzard's official Beta site. Look for analysis of that in the coming days on WoW Insider. It's looking more and more like Wrath's going to be a great time to be a Hunter, and we're looking forward to seeing how the class plays with all their new toys at level 80, in both PvP and PvE.
Filed under: Hunter, Analysis / Opinion, News items, PvP, Expansions, Talents, Wrath of the Lich King, Battlegrounds, Arena
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 4)
Breck Aug 15th 2008 8:09PM
Yay! Yet another way for all of the huntards to pull adds!
(I keed! Mostly... )
Dominace Aug 15th 2008 8:14PM
All this seems to be is lowering the skill gap for hunters, given them some extra utility is fine I guess.
Spencer Aug 15th 2008 8:27PM
On Topic: Hunters get yet another unneeded trick to pummel us from afar, yay.
Off topic: Seriously, do you guys even proofread your posts? Almost every article I've bothered to skim in the last day or so has had a mistake or two. This poster says that disengage jumps you back 10-15 feet, then later he says 10-15 yards, which is it? (is anything measured in feet in wow anyway?)
Riodhr Aug 15th 2008 8:55PM
"On Topic: Hunters get yet another unneeded trick to pummel us from afar, yay."
Gotta love when people who get killed by hunters once a while in AV make comments that make them look like ignorant jackasses. Let me guess... mage or priest, right?
P.S. If you say any other class then you are an absolutely terrible, terrible rogue/warrior/warlock/druid/paladin.
Grudgebearer - Dragonblight EU Aug 16th 2008 2:58AM
" On Topic: Hunters get yet another unneeded trick to pummel us from afar, yay. "
errrrmmmm , we're hunters, thats what we do, " pummel " you from afar. If I wanted to hit you from up close I would of rolled warrior / rogue.
Saelorn Aug 15th 2008 8:27PM
I know they put this in for PvP, but wow this is going to make PvE so much easier.
Now I'm thinking about everywhere I could potentially stand where jumping back 10-15 yards will make the enemy pathfind the long way around difficult terrain; ideally, it would take them so long to get back to me that Disengage would be off cooldown by the time they got there.
I'm sure there must be at least one boss that will now be solo-able at a much lower level.
ScorchHellfire Aug 18th 2008 12:13AM
oh yeah... this is just what the already op huntard class needs... because pve wasnt already easy enough for them... believe me i know... my huntard alt can kill stuff way easier than any other of my characters around his level... great job blizz... buff classes that didnt need buffs and ignore classes that have been broken pretty much since wow came out...
Vlatch Aug 18th 2008 11:21AM
Scorchhellfire - I think I can tell by your name that your a caster of some sort. Perhaps a mage or lock? I'm going with mage by the complaining and whining contained in your post.
This change is what hunters need in PvP. The PvE benefits will be minimal at best other than to give us a more reliable CC. I love how people complain about something that makes another class more useful in PvE, and that it doesn't affect another class in any way.
You would think you'd be excited to have a party member with better CC and the opportunity to get to range and do more damage. Been killed in PvP by some hunters lately?
Ikarus Aug 18th 2008 12:52PM
Vlatch said
"This change is what hunters need in PvP. The PvE benefits will be minimal at best other than to give us a more reliable CC. I love how people complain about something that makes another class more useful in PvE, and that it doesn't affect another class in any way."
Did he just contradict himself? he says its mainly for PvP, with a minor PvE effect. Then says we should be happy it will help hunters in group and that it wont effect other players. If its mainly for PvP how does it not effect other players?
BitterCupOJoe Aug 15th 2008 8:49PM
I cannot wait to see the first hunter Disengage off of a cliff.
wrez Aug 15th 2008 9:41PM
Even as a Hunter myself, I find that to be absolutely hilarious. And I just KNOW I'll do it to myself at least once.
Xeren Aug 15th 2008 10:34PM
throw in an engineering slow fall cape and you've got a new escape strategy in AB :)
Ikarus Aug 18th 2008 12:58PM
Bittercupojoe....Best comment EVER!
Zuldim Aug 15th 2008 8:53PM
Hunters get Camoflage! Yaaaaaay!
In my opinion this is really great, did we really need another trap?
Really?
And any idea on what the set damage is?
vlad Aug 15th 2008 8:56PM
the masters of kiting now have yet another method of keeping mele away from them. if this make release i'd be surprised
Longbow Aug 17th 2008 6:58PM
the master of kiting? with crippling or hamstring on?
15 sec intercept or 30 sec ShS still > disengage.
Faar Aug 15th 2008 9:01PM
"Bear Trap will be removed and replaced at level 80 with Camouflage, which is returning after being discarded."
WHAAAAATTTT??? Are you frakkin' kidding me, that's...AWESOME! I'm totally forgiving blizz for destroying kill command, there's been so many other positive changes for hunters lately that totally makes up for it. *head splodes*
*slowly gathers little pieces of head and pile them on neck-stump*
Now, if only they could remove some global cooldowns, fold aspect of beast into aspect of monkey and make a quickbar for aspects a la druid's various forms, that'd be great. :P
Talauris Aug 15th 2008 9:05PM
Will Camouflage work like a rogues stealth, or what? Can we move? What exactly is camouflage?
Mullinator Aug 15th 2008 9:29PM
They havn't actually said much about it yet other than the fact we can lay traps without breaking the stealth.
I think the idea behind it is something like this:
Only useable out of combat.
You use camouflage and lay a trap somewhere.
Then you wait for the enemy to run into the trap and open up with your range shots.
At least that's the idea I have with it given how little we know of it.
Heilig Aug 15th 2008 9:52PM
Drom the description you can move and perform actions as long as they don't cause damage, i.e set a trap, flare, wind up an aimed shot. The stealth will only break once the damage from your first shot has been dealt. I foresee lots of Disengage > Camouflage > Kill shot > Conc Shot > Arcane Shot > Kite in my future.