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All of the latest Mists of Pandaria newsHigh-level ranged weapons getting buffed
by Eliah Hecht 
May 19th 2009 at 1:00PM
Well-geared hunters, rejoice: you're getting buffed. According to Ghostcrawler, hunter DPS is too low at the moment, so the damage of all ranged weapons with ilvl 226 or higher is being increased by about 30 DPS. This includes drops from Kel'Thuzad-25 and Ulduar-25, as well as Furious Gladiator gear and Ulduar-10 hard modes. This is estimated to result in an overall DPS increase for the hunter of "a few percent."
The reason this change ended up needing to be made has to do with what they wanted to do with ammo in patch 3.1. They had grand plans for an ammo revamp (which I don't think they've ever quite revealed), and as a result they stopped designing new tiers of ammo, so raiding hunters now are stuck with the same bullets they were using at the start of Wrath. This change rolls the DPS from non-existent higher tiers of ammo into the weapons.
Ghostcrawler also mentions that they think hunter DPS will need more improvement, and that there is another buff that they're trying to roll out "sometime in the next couple of weeks." We will, as ever, keep you posted if we hear anything.
Reader Comments (Page 4 of 4)
justin May 19th 2009 2:11PM
People who think hunters are easy to play and do top dps while showering or standing still should wake up. We ARE below a few % behind other classes. Check the stats.. (thats if you raid). See what my pet does against Kologarn. etc.
We were nerfed, we had it coming, true. But blue posts admit Blizz failed at the nerf. Im glad they are trying to FIX our dps.
Maybe they shouldnt buff (fix!) hunters, but nerf all other dps classes so we are all alike and you have room for crying after you finished the shower. go clean up, it stinks in here.
Nathan Dickson May 19th 2009 2:16PM
Honestly, soloing a huntard to 80 is so fun and easy. However, the bite comes in when you have to multitask like a son-of-a-bitch in a raid. Having to manage a pet who contributes a significant portion of DPS is beyond annoying. Playing my mage in Kara was easy mode. Huntard is extremely complex to play well in many raid encounters.
styopa May 19th 2009 2:31PM
Oh, I get it.
So people in Uld25 (lvl 80) need the buff, but "mere" lvl 80s stuck with say the Nesingwary 4k or other ilvl200 weapons DON'T?
Nice.
Someone explain to me how this was easier than just introducing just one more of the umpteen bullet/arrow types with higher dps?
Lyraat May 19th 2009 3:04PM
1. Equally geared for Naxx, hunters should top or at least be in the top 5 on nearly every fight. Equally geared for Ulduar, hunters are in the top 5 only on a few fights.
2. Blizzard has said they are going to change the way ammo works, or do something else with ammo (like a guildie of mine has proposed: change it to specialized ammo ala rogue poisons, perhaps?). Adding another ammo tier is kinda worthless if the system is going to change in the next patch.
3. Engineers need their gold >:(
icedog May 19th 2009 3:58PM
well glad I'm still on break from this game. every class keeps going through too many changes. roller coaster of nerfs and buffs never will end it seems.
Arashikou May 19th 2009 4:39PM
So what happens when Blizz completes their ambitious ammo plans? Does this magic DPS buff evaporate from the weapons again? (It seems like it would have to, else these weapons would beocme overpowered.)
Thalen May 19th 2009 5:30PM
Their 'ambitious ammo plans' are to effectively remove ammo. No buffs, no real changes to speak of, except that you won't have to keep running back to the store to buy more ammo.
It was stated above, I believe that the intended change is to treat ammo like a piece of equipment that gets equipped like a relic. It adds the ammo DPS just like ammo, with better pieces adding more DPS.
The drawbacks to this (aside from the obvious technical issues that prevented it from being implemented already) are that the cost for the piece, assuming you simply buy one at the store, will be fairly high. And, worse, they could make the best ones random drops off bosses >.
Arashikou May 19th 2009 5:42PM
Yes - I should have been more specific.
I am aware of the nature of the future ammo plans, though I appreciate the refresher. However, those plans still call for ammo that buffs DPS. The article and original source implied that the reason there haven't been any new ammo types at higher levels of progression is that Blizz intended to have the non-consumable ammo implemented by now, and thus they have not designed any new consumable ammo types for high-end content. This DPS boost is to cover up the fact that raiders are seeing their DPS not scale well enough due to a lack of ammo upgrades. That would suggest that once non-consumable ammo goes into the game, there WILL be appropriate ammo for these higher tiers of progression. My question was on whether we could expect Blizz to pull the DPS of these weapons back down to the standard for their iLevel once that happens.
The options appear to be:
1) Don't remove the extra DPS and cause these weapons to be overpowered.
2) Remove the extra DPS and force us to endure the QQing of hundreds of people about them nerfing hunter DPS without understanding that they only removed extra DPS that was added as a band-aid for a larger issue.
So I suppose you could really read my question as "How bad is the QQ going to be when they take this DPS back away after they put high-end ammo into the game at last?" if you prefer. :)
Valilor May 19th 2009 8:45PM
First of @Blacksabre
If a hunter can just walk off and come 3rd in your raid for DPS, then 1) it must have been a fight where no-one is moving and 2) Everyone else must suck!
Lets say you're in Naxx25 as a MM hunter (Highest % damage from Autoshot) and it's Patchwerk. Lets also say you can do around 4k+ DPS with all your buffs and CDs. Autoshot & pets account for (and i'm being generous) around 25% of your DPS when you're not using anything, so lets say that leaves you with 1k DPS.
1k DPS is third in your raid?
I don't think it's possible for it to be that bad unless you were taking Lv50s! As that can't happen (Need to be 80+ to get in) I say Liar!
BUT anyway...
I don't have the numbers Blizzard has on Hunters DPS but they obviously knew this would only effect 25 man gear so in 10 man it should be fine. 1 of the weapons is from 10 man though and that is from the hard mode of the deconstructor.
What does puzzle me a little more is that this change will extend the gap between MM/SV and BM more as BM benefit less from the hunters DPS.