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All of the latest Mists of Pandaria newsDisengage 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 4 of 4)
emptyrepublic Aug 16th 2008 3:14AM
No. No no no. No... and again No.
I'm so tired of abilities with a clear purpose in PvE getting adjusted to suit PvP. As someone already said earlier, I'm going to be in a dungeon (Underbog comes to mind) that has ledges and cliffs and I'm going throw myself off when attempting to disengage.
Fundamentally the mechanics of the Hunter will never work in PvP, so changes like this won't "fix" the hunter "problem"; unless, of course, Hunters are allow to shoot at melee range (which is a fat chance in hell). Additionally the cool down is extended so it makes it even more difficult to reduce threat... wonderful.
In short, reverse this change now. It'll be an annoyance at best and make Hunters look even sillier when we have enough a reputation problem already due to the large number of imbeciles that choose to play the class.
So Blizz, STOP screwing those of us who play PvE (which is a vast majority of the content in WoW) to placate those who have chosen the worst class in the game to play PvP with. I love a lot of the changes you guys are making, but scrap this change to Disengage right now please.
MrBaggins Aug 16th 2008 4:05AM
If you're stupid enough to throw yourself off a cliff, then you're stupid enough to show that in other ways too. You can't call for a change because some people are going to 'Make the class look retarded'.
As for warriors whining about it... whats the cooldown on intercept again? Oh shi...!
Falcio Aug 16th 2008 4:13AM
Actually, through proper utility, the Disengage ability could work wonders with PVE, as well. Not much in raiding, maybe, but instance-wise.
Kiting mobs is a perfect example. If we throw ourselves back 10-15 yards, we can essentially get a perfect place for a Concussive Shot and a few shots in. They come up and boom, a Freezing Trap gets them stuck. We move away and wait for the trap to break, then start shooting again. They come up and we use Disengage. Concussive Shot, a few shots, then Freezing Trap. Repeat until they're dead or the tank picks it up for you after they were busy with the other mobs.
That's just one idea off the top of my head. I'm sure there can be other ways to use it.
Really, Disengage as it is now is pretty weak, as any self-respecting Hunter wanting to lose threat would just Feign Death and eliminate it altogether. It was collecting dust in the spellbook. A change to it in any way is welcome.
Faar Aug 16th 2008 5:24AM
Disengage has always been terrible in PvE, particulary in raids and heroics. If you try to use it in those two settings chances are excellent you're going to get 1-shotted immediately by whatever's attacking you, or if you DON'T die by the first hit you'll find out that disengage rarely dumps enough aggro for the mob to break off of you, and you'll die from the SECOND hit instead. You won't even have time to move your finger to the feign death button.
In PvE, feign immediately. Don't wait for the mob to run up to you and give you a fat pounding upside the head. Moving disengage to be a more pure PvP skill is an excellent decision. Besides, there's plenty of dungeons that do not consist of narrow ledges and platforms where a jump backwards could be useful.
emptyrepublic Aug 16th 2008 3:03PM
Not surprised I get down ranked on my comment.
Anyway, I know Feint Death is better than Disengage in order to drop threat. What if I don't want to drop all my threat though? Disengage (to my understanding) is a threat management tool to *reduce* threat over time (e.g. being the 2nd or 3rd on the threat table so you get the hate if the tank loses aggro and not the healer).
The problem is you are facing forward (in theory) shooting at whatever your problem is that if you disengage you are being thrown back in a direction you can't see. It may not lead to people throwing themselves off cliffs, but more body pulls or other unintended consequences.
What to make the ability more useful? How about removing the melee requirement all together so the Hunter can just click it on the target to reduce threat in general between their shot rotations so we don't have to use feint and expend its long cool down.
Falcio Aug 16th 2008 4:31PM
Actually, a ranged threat-reducing move WOULD have better utility than this version. A neat idea.
Heck, even make it so MDing will allow all threat changes instead of just threat increases. That way, one Hunter could be charged with MDing the main tank to let them gain threat, while another Hunter MDs the healer and lowers their threat.
...eh, but that sounds complicated...plus, it would be better to focus all MDs on the tanks anyway.
Still, a shot that reduces threat would have better utility, both in groups and in soloing, even though the pets are going to be able to tank better for us now.
bigjonno Aug 16th 2008 8:17AM
I'm liking the look of the changes so far. I'm pretty much a pure PvE guy, but it's nice to see my PvPing fellow hunters getting some love.
As for disengage, I never use it. Ever. It's just not worth it, so I'm happy seeing PvPers getting some use from it, plus it should make keeping some distance in PvE a little easier.
shamess Aug 16th 2008 8:24AM
Will we be getting free respecs when Wrath comes out? Respeccing is getting expensive now... (It's my first character, so I do it a lot.)
Whoopssa Aug 16th 2008 8:47AM
...
WTB Rogue's Feint also Vanishes and we can have no reduced movement speed while stealthed, and CoS and Vanish are folded together into one 2 minute cooldown!
....why not? makes just as much sense.
Riodhr Aug 16th 2008 11:51AM
Are you honestly a rogue bitching about this?
A ROGUE? SERIOUSLY?
Whoopssa Aug 16th 2008 1:54PM
Quite honestly, not all Rogues have both Warglaives and at least the 4/8 T6 required to do a 4/8 T6 4/5 S4 that tops 2v2 arenas. When more Stars Furies are dropping from KJ farms, then we'll see just who is so "overpowered"
Zep Aug 16th 2008 1:32PM
Wow wowinsider needs to do an information article on why hunters suck, apparently people think that hunter-hunter teams are DOMINATING arenas right now.
Falcio Aug 16th 2008 4:35PM
Are there a lot of 2v2 groups consisting of the same class with the same spec that dominate in that bracket?
I'm not being smart here, [I know Hunters suck in Arena] I'm just wondering.
Roboticus Aug 18th 2008 10:32AM
Rogue rogue is successful deep into gladiator range. Mage mage could get you 1800 no problem. Other than that, not a lot of dual comps. There I suppose there is a handful of 1700-able comps with complimentary specs, such as restokin-feral druids, enh-resto shammys, and a few others.
Sinthar Aug 19th 2008 7:35AM
As a non hunter - id only like to say , glad to see the hunters get some love from blizz. Just wished it was spead evenly about over ALL characters, not just selected ones. Glad you you guys. Hope they get arround to all the others before WotLK launch day. Oh just one 'on topic' comment, (and sorry if this bursts peoples bubble about a great new talent) but does disengage suffer from the mages 'blink' problem - namely that a blade of grass seems to block the movement? Can we get a beta tester to check it - because if it suffers the same problem, then the ability wont function as it should about 90% of the time, which will mean a LOT of unhappy hunters when they find it out, usually with something (or someone) trying to eat their face off. If it DOESNT suffer the same problems - then GZ it is a great ability- and the mage community will be complaining VERY vocally. (and rightly too tbh - seeing that ability has NEVER been fixed for them- since the launch of the game)
Juliah Aug 18th 2008 1:17PM
Hmm, I don't think I like this Disengage change. As others have said, it increases the risk of pulling aggro and putting the hunter in harm's way in a tight area. It also won't really work very well in cramped quarters like instances.