Transmog yourself into an Avenger!
6 blue posts to read before Diablo 3's launch
Cross-realm zones coming soon
All of the latest Mists of Pandaria newsFreezing Arrow and you
by Mike Schramm 
Dec 18th 2008 at 6:00PM
Aspect of the Hare has a great post up about "Freezing Arrow for non-Hunters" -- of all of the new Wrath abilities, Freezing Arrow seems right up there with Death Grip as a game changer during instance pulls. But as great as it is (a Hunter can now trap a mob at a distance, which means trapping casters is much, much easier), there are drawbacks that you other group members need to know about, hence AotH's post.First and foremost, chain trapping is out. On a normal trap, a Hunter can lay down a trap early, and get past the extra 10 second cooldown on getting the trap up again, which means they can have another trap pick up the same mob when the first one finishes its duration. But pulling with Freezing Arrow means you can't lay down the trap early, which means that the 10 second cooldown will always be in effect: there will be ten seconds after the trap comes up before the Hunter can Freezing Arrow again.
There are loopholes, as AotH says: Resourcefulness can help Survival Hunters with the cooldown a bit, and Readiness means a Hunter can throw out two Arrows in a row (but no more than that). And of course positioning helps a lot -- if a Hunter can lay down a Freezing Arrow early and then kite a mob into it, chain trapping is theoretically possible (though with casters, it's going to be really tough, just because you have to move so much to get them to move after you). But non-Hunters beware: Freezing Arrow is good for trapping a mob for about 20 seconds. After that, you're on your own.
Filed under: Hunter, Analysis / Opinion, How-tos, Fan stuff, Blizzard, Instances, Wrath of the Lich King
Reader Comments (Page 2 of 2)
Blackspider Dec 18th 2008 8:35PM
I agree that FA is not game changing. I think its to late now. Back in the day it would have been a major asset to have because downsizing a mob was important. Now, Pally tanks are on the rise and AOE threat is the new fad. Disabling one single dpsing guy in a mob is not a big deal anymore.
The only thing I think this could help at this point in the game is for soloing. It would probably be somewhat useful for those "once in awhile" situations where there are multiple targets in a group and you don't want them all on you at the same time.
( But how often does that really happen? )
All in all... if you need to trap things in an instance... get a better tank/healer.
Good job Blizzard, but I think the thought power put into this new feature could have been directed into something a little more productive that can apply to a more relative use in today's game play.
Aleonorie Dec 19th 2008 12:57AM
I love this new trap! As a warrior tank, I tell the Hunter to place the trap right in front of the mob closest to the party, especially if its a melee mob. I then Heroic Throw if its a caster or shoot/throw if its not, and pull the mob right into the trap. I immediately switch targets to the first DPS target and we burn it down, picking up any secondary DPS targets. Since I pulled the trap target into the trap I already have threat on it, so when it breaks trap it comes right for me, and I'm ready with a Shield Slam, Revenge or Devastate to ramp up the aggro. My healer loves it because its 20 seconds something isn't beating on me.
Dogmeat Dec 19th 2008 7:28AM
Finally someone understands why this new trap is cool.
Rather than setting your trap, trying to pull the mob into your trap while everyone else DPSes away, switch targets at the last possible moment and hope like hell that your auto-shot bug doesn't proc and shoot your previous target rather than your new one, now we can lay the trap down right in line to where the mob will pull to the tank, wait 10 seconds, MD the first DPS target to the tank.
The trapped mob hits the trap while going after the tank while we're happily plinking away on skull, and freezes. When the CD is up, we shoot one in line between the guy and the healer or, if we're almost done with the others, right on him to keep him frozen for another 20.
With Glyph of Frost Trap you also get 4 seconds of reduced movement speed when he breaks, so if he's mad at you just kite him until your CD is up, and hit a standard trap.
It's not game changing, but it is darn handy.
Arrowsmith Dec 19th 2008 2:01AM
I tried Freezing Arrow once. I felt like I was cheating on my Freezing Trap and so I bought Freezing Trap chocolates and roses. It loves me again. :D
Raze Dec 19th 2008 2:13AM
I hope this post was sarcastic, but I don't think you're the guy who normally writes the Hunter column, so I'll forgive you.
Freezing Arrow is about as game changing as Misdirection, our other golfclap worthy max level ability.
Raze Dec 19th 2008 2:15AM
Actually, I take that back. It's about as underwhelming as Misdirection /was/, back when it had a two minute cooldown and had no use beyond pulling specific mobs in Raids.
Maulgrym Dec 19th 2008 2:44AM
Is Freezing Arrow anything more than a noob check?
Why would you ever use it? You can as noted lay a Freezing Trap down early bypassing the cooldown timer, and you know... actually have aggro on the mob so it runs to your second trap (which you layed down before your other broke since you are ahead on your timers) instead of running straight for a healer since you have no aggro on it.
So basically, use the new ability if you're no good at the class, use the old one if you know what you're doing.
Luckily most good groups rarely need or use cc anyway these days. ;)
PalominoMule Dec 19th 2008 8:59AM
"...instead of running straight for a healer since you have no aggro on it."
As a healer, this is one of the first things I noticed about freezing trap...and I can't say I like it, nope. With normal freezing traps, the hunter and me, we're a *team*. I shield 'em while the trap's still going to give us a buffer when it breaks early, maybe the hunter and me juggle aggro for a second until they can trap it again, and it was good! I enjoy that.
As you said, it's not like anybody uses CC anymore so I guess it's not usually an issue, but that's something else I can't say I enjoy. :P
Taqeeto Dec 19th 2008 3:29AM
I agree; in almost, if not all wotlk instances, the tank/healer cannot hold one more mob you need to get a new one. The thing that bothers me about freezing trap is that a hair fling stops it from working. Tanks tend to do many aoes to gather aggro but then that takes off my trap and I get pissed off because what was the point of me setting that trap other than to drain my mana? It would be nice if they made it a 20 sec cooldown so you can shoot another trap after its done, because if it amazingly lasts the full twenty seconds and your still fighting mobs you have cooldown going on and well, there it goes. What would be nice is if they put a health meter on the ice that surrounds the person, like 2, 3, or 4k.
Thyago Dec 19th 2008 6:18AM
Omg... this ability screwed DotA long time, let's hope it won't screw WoW :P
Leighlu Dec 19th 2008 8:06AM
F&*^ng clown shoes.
Vlatch Dec 19th 2008 9:37AM
This skill would be extremely useful...if the cooldown were reduced. I love the fact that nearly every class is getting a a longer CC (rogues especially), but I think the cooldown should be reduced so that any hunter can use the ability with about a 4 second downtime (trap break to spell ready), completely removable if talented correctly.
This isn't game-changing at the moment, and in fact, I was much more excited about misdirection when it was first implemented.
10101102 Dec 20th 2008 12:43PM
This is why you're all Huntards. It maintains the exact functionality of a normal Freezing Trap with the added bonus of being ranged when needed. It completely replaces Freezing Trap in PvE. No one said you have to use its ranged functionality every pull, nor is there a minimum range.