Patch 3.2 brings some Hunter love
by Eddie Carrington 
Jun 18th 2009 at 6:00PM
I discussed last week about how Hunter trapping and crowd control had gone the way of the dodo. And now as reported earlier today, we have much to celebrate with the release of the official Patch 3.2 PTR Notes. Ghostcrawler and the development team are really showing us Hunters some much needed luvin.
- Aspect of the Cheetah: Can now be learned at level 16.
- Deterrence now has a new visual spell effect.
- The time that traps will exist in the world after being put down has been reduced to 30 seconds, down from 1 minute.
- Traps now have separate 30 second cooldown categories: Fire (Immolation Trap, Explosive Trap and Black Arrow), Frost (Freezing Trap, Frost Trap) and Nature (Snake Trap). A hunter can have one trap of each category placed at one time.
Talents
Beast Mastery
- Catlike Reflexes now also reduces the cooldown of your Kill Command ability by 10/20/30 seconds.
Survival
- Entrapment: This talent no longer works with Immolation Trap or Explosive Trap.
- Lock and Load: Now has a 22 second cooldown. The Lock and Load effect cannot be obtained on targets immune to snare effects when Frost Trap is used.
But did you catch that Lock and Load cooldown? I noticed a couple of things. First we're seeing it on a 22 second cooldown. Looks like this might give our Survival Hunter friends some extra procs. Too bad we can't just go off hootin' and hollerin' though, seems that if your enemy is immune to the snare effects of Frost Traps you won't be getting any Lock and Load procs. All that really means is we just need to be smarter than the average Rogue.
Pets
- Roar of Sacrifice: Redesigned. This ability can now be used on any friendly target to make that target immune to critical strikes, but the Hunter pet takes 20% of all damage taken by that friendly target. Cool down increased to 2 minutes.
Now for the down side, we might have to rethink some pet talents to give our pets some extra Health since they'll be taking a 20% hit on ALL damage taken by our friend.
The cooldown change will impact PvP Hunters since the cooldown will be 2 minutes versus the 30 seconds it is now. Also, we PvE Hunters will be limited to only once per battle now. That being the case, we'll need to make sure and keep an eye on that cooldown.
Macros
- Macros and scripts will no longer be able to target totems by name.
Well, that wraps up what we have heard so far. These are some serious changes and I can't wait to take a deeper look into how they are going to impact how we play our favorite class. So stay tuned, I'll be on the case and keep you updated as the Patch 3.2 PTR progresses.
Patch 3.2 will bring about a new 5, 10, and 25 man instance to WoW, and usher in a new 40-man battleground called the Isle of Conquest. WoW.com will have you covered every step of the way, from extensive PTR coverage through the official live release. Check out WoW.com's Guide to Patch 3.2 for all the latest!Filed under: Hunter, Patches, Blizzard, News items
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 4)
yokumgang Jun 18th 2009 6:06PM
" * Deterrence now has a new visual spell effect.
New graphics are always cool. "
You'll get sick of it after about the third time they do this. See: Mage Armor.
Rob Jun 18th 2009 6:09PM
Have got to be kidding me? Have you checked out the us forums and seen all the hunter qq over these changes??? I have to agree, hunters definitely need more than this, if anything these changes are more a nerf than a buff.
Rob Jun 18th 2009 6:21PM
To explain, the ability to have three traps active at once is not that great... Please explain how this will help hunters in such a way that it is beneficial to a hunters playstyle? Having one trap at a time was fine, what was needed were things such as no arming time, less animation, etc. Now, we can have three traps at once but what exactly will that accomplish other than adding more GCDs to manage? Hooray for sv hunters that get to use ba in pvp but thats about the extent of this buff.
Roar of Sacrifice was a nerf, a big fat nasty nerf.
Deterrence got new graphics... Because that is what hunters have been qqing for? We all really wanted deterrence to have different graphics... The very narrow frontal cone, the fact that many spells get through it, that you have very limited actions while in use, and that it requires the hunter to back pedal (which is the irony of it all) is not at all the problems hunters wanted fixed with it.
Aspect of cheetah now at level 16... Who cares?
And yea, a nerf to ES.
Pets get 40% resil? haha
100% hit is the biggest buff we get to pets... Though, it will not help in the slightest. Things like haste/armp/crit need to scale first.
Redpostit Jun 18th 2009 8:01PM
"Having one trap at a time was fine, what was needed were things such as no arming time, less animation, etc. Now, we can have three traps at once but what exactly will that accomplish other than adding more GCDs to manage? Hooray for sv hunters that get to use ba in pvp but thats about the extent of this buff."
God, that is one of the most senseless whines i have ever read, congratulations!
Having an immolation trap and a snake trap out in addition to a frost trap, accomplishes the amazing feat of setting of an immolation trap and shitloads of snakes on your target in addition to the frost trap effect. But oh noes, i can't put everything out in one click? Surely that makes it worthless... Well buddy, if you have the choice between setting out a trap and firing a shot when you're running, then you have the choice between setting out a trap and firing a shot when you're running. There is no gold standard that says "i should be able to use all my abilities at the same time in any situation", because that is what you say you want, and it is (if i can allow myself to say so) pretty darn fucking stupid... Hell, traps are called "traps" for a reason, they aren't meant to be a button that instantly applies their effect to somebody, they are meant to be placed strategically, and at strategic moments, the very reason armament time was added in the first place (yes, traps used to apply their effect instantly, something that was changed in patch 1.Something). OMG, SHORTER TRAP DURATION AND THE ABILITY TO PUT OUT MULTIPLE TRAPS FORCES ME TO MAKE MORE DECISIONS IN PVP AND MAKES MY CLASS HARDER TO PLAY AMG AMG... Well, gee, maybe that's the friggin point! Adding the ability to have multiple traps out cannot be considered as anything else but a buff, but for players that don't know how to use them, aka people that don't know how to play, it only makes the game more complicated and makes the difference between a good player and a sucky player larger, which is a good thing, a very good thing.
Basically, what i'm seeing you do is complaining because you lack some forms of activity in your prefrontal cortex. And it provoked me, and now I'm ranting back... Just can't seem to rise above it can i...
Faar Jun 19th 2009 12:01AM
Rob, your entire post can be summed up in one word: "useless". I'm not even going to try and be constructive about it, when a person (in this case you) is so determined to be negative there's no point in trying to convince you otherwise.
I'll just add this by saying there's several things I like with these changes, multiple traps being one of them and buff to catlike reflexes another. You however will probably never be happy, so why don't you do yourself a favor and quit the game, since you don't seem to enjoy it very much anyway.
Mister EDgAr Jul 7th 2009 3:20PM
"the fact that many spells get through it,"
You mean there are things that don't get through deterence?!?
:D
Sicadastra Jun 18th 2009 6:10PM
I am so excited about (most of) these changes! Multiple traps will be awesome!!! but the 30 lifespan is a bit irritating for pvp defense (i.e. WSG drop a frost at the flag room door, set back and wait, refresh, etc). Not the end of the world since it matches the cooldown, but requires more refreshing the trap with no gaps to be most effective.
Prinnygod Jun 18th 2009 6:11PM
Concerning the change to Catlike Reflexes, it's not all that great for dps BM hunters. Most (if not all) BM dpsers will not have that talent because it increases dodge chance and we should not be getting hit in the first place while raiding. It's mostly for solo BM tanks in old instances like Zul'Gurub.
vazhkatsi Jun 18th 2009 6:12PM
wow wish i had that roar when we were doing sarth 3
vazhkatsi Jun 18th 2009 6:12PM
oh wait i think i misunderstood the talent.
Jamison Banks Jun 18th 2009 6:17PM
[yawns at hunter changes 3.2]
So when was the ammo redesign coming again?
Eric Jun 18th 2009 11:11PM
I agree, them changes aren't what I'd call love so much as a mild attempt at distracting us from our long lost ammo change. Pretty hit or miss. Not good, not bad just meh.
Donny Jun 18th 2009 6:19PM
1) Woot for ammo changes
Reduction in Ammo Used = NO
Ammo Cost Change (1/2 the ammo in a box for 1/2 the mats? wtf?) = NO
Overall Change:
Ammo/crates take up more bag space
2) Deterrence now has a new visual spell effect
Overall Change:
Players can see it coming now? /clap
3) The time that traps will exist in the world after being put down has been reduced to 30 seconds, down from 1 minute.
Overall Change:
This has gotta be a buff right? Now a rouge only has 30 seconds to get to it and disarm it now too!
4) Traps now have separate 30 second cooldown categories: Fire (Immolation Trap, Explosive Trap and Black Arrow), Frost (Freezing Trap, Frost Trap) and Nature (Snake Trap). A hunter can have one trap of each category placed at one time.
Overall Change:
Since I already needed too few keybinds as a hunter, blizz has graciously given me an actual reason to use more.
5) Entrapment: This talent no longer works with Immolation Trap or Explosive Trap.
Overall Change:
This is a good thing, i mean keeping peeps off me in PVP is the one thing we do too well, and we should have to work harder @ it..
6) Beast Mastery - Catlike Reflexes now also reduces the cooldown of your Kill Command ability by 10/20/30 seconds.
Overall Change:
w/e - Guess this fixes BM ?
7) Lock and Load: Now has a 22 second cooldown. The Lock and Load effect cannot be obtained on targets immune to snare effects when Frost Trap is used.
Overall Change:
So, snares pointless on bosses, Pally Bubbles, etc. Got It
And LnL procs will be even less frequent, Got It
8) Roar of Sacrifice: Redesigned. This ability can now be used on any friendly target to make that target immune to critical strikes, but the Hunter pet takes 20% of all damage taken by that friendly target. Cooldown increased to 2 minutes.
Overall Change:
Since we already have so few keybinds and apparently just faceroll, we have ample time to tab target around and utilize this. Maybe in those arena's (Ring of Valor) where our pets bug out completely and don't do anything the entire match, this will give them something to do since they are to bored to fight already.
Final Assessment:
Given (Aspect of the Cheetah: Can now be learned at level 16.) the coolest thing for hunters is that @ level 16, you can run away from people in an arena much faster at an earlier level.
Sidius Jun 18th 2009 6:29PM
The moment you used rouge instead of the proper spelling of rogue, you lost all credibility.
Learn to spell then you can QQ.
alex.onsager Jun 18th 2009 6:31PM
this
Janaa Jun 18th 2009 6:32PM
@sidius - The moment you disregarded an entire post because of a mis-spelling, you lost all credibility.
Dreyja Jun 18th 2009 7:30PM
@ Sidius... REALLY. This was a nice tongue-in-cheek post with good points and you got lost on a spelling mistake? YOU'RE the one with the problem evidently. Dude lighten up and enjoy your life a little more. You will live longer. :-)
Raz Jun 18th 2009 8:59PM
@ Dreyja: Nothing wrong, except with your last statement.
If life has taught me anything, it's that the good die young, but assholes live forever :p
Dreyja Jun 19th 2009 8:49AM
Raz... I may
Dreyja Jun 19th 2009 8:51AM
LOL what should have read there was: Raz I may "HEART" you. LOL.