Scattered Shots: A deeper look into the Patch 3.2 Hunter changes
by Eddie Carrington 
Jun 25th 2009 at 6:00PM
Welcome to Scattered Shots. I am Eddie "Brigwyn" Carrington from The Hunting Lodge and I'll be your tour guide each Thursday as we explore what makes our Hunters tick and how we can make them better.Man, this has been a busy week for us Hunters or what? With each passing day it is becoming more and more evident that Patch 3.2 is on its way. Of course we have to remember that "on its way" to Blizzard could mean anything tomorrow to a few months. With that in mind, it is probably a good idea to take another deeper look at the proposed Patch 3.2 Hunter changes and see how they might impact both the PvE and PvP game.
General changesResilience has changed from reducing the amount of damage done from DOTs to a more standardized reduction of the damage done by all players. This doesn't really do much for the PvE game, but it is intended to help the survivability of players like Hunters in the PvP games.
Replenishment was changed and will directly affect how Hunters will use Hunting Party. Before 3.2 Hunting Party would grant 0.25% of the Party or Raids Maximum Mana for 15 seconds (3.75% total mana returned). Now compare that to the proposed change where Hunting Party will grant 1% for over 5 seconds (3% total mana returned) . This seems like it will allow us to return about 1.5% .75% less Mana more than before.
(edit: seemed I misread the notes, thanks to everyone for catching this)
The last general change was adding a 3 second interrupt effect on NPC mobs to Silencing Shot. Personally, this is always one of my favorite shots in the game since it helps pull caster mobs and allows you to either trap them or bring them within range of the tank. Now for PvP players, this change won't really help you much.
Hunter specific changes
Now we get to the more controversial changes. I'll be honest and say looking at these I feel for the Baker's Chocolate dilemma. On first glance I was distracted by how shiny they were and how tasty they really seemed. Then I decided to take a bite and put my teeth into them. Boy, are they bitter! But as bitter as they seem, I still think they have some great potential.
The Aspect of the Cheetah change is a nice response to the lower level requirements for mounts. And personally, I will be looking forward to being able to make those long quest runs around Darkshore a little bit quicker.
Adding a new shiny like spell effects are always a nice little touch. So the new spell effect to Deterrence will be appreciated even if it really doesn't add much to the game.
We heard from Ghostcrawler a couple of weeks ago that they wanted to make traps "scary" again. I'm not sure if these changes accomplish that for the mob or for the Hunter.
For example, the first change to traps reduces the time traps remained armed to 30 seconds. I saw some comments and blog posts from people that seem to think this might be the final nail in the coffin for chain trapping. I'm taking the minority position on this one as I still think it will still be possible to chain trap.
Not only will traps have a 30 second arming timer, they now have separate 30 second cooldowns. For the solo player this will be awesome. We can pull a caster mob with Silencing Shot into a Freezing Trap. Run over to our pet tanking a mob of 3-4 NPCs and lay down a Snake and Explosive trap, then sit back and pew pew away. In the mean time, lay down another Freeze Trap keeping that pesky caster under control. Take this similar strategy to the PvP game and I'm sure it can be used for all kinds of wicked fun.
Talent changes
Here is where many Hunters start to really scratch their heads and wonder what Blizzard is thinking. For example, take the change to Catlike Reflexes and how it reduces the cooldown on Kill Command from 60 seconds to possibly 30 seconds. Now many people think that this is a wasted talent for PvE. And if I was looking at Beast Mastery as a primary DPS raiding spec, I would agree. But what if you use Beast Mastery as your leveling or farming spec? Now it has some greater possibilities.
See, while leveling and farming your pet is your tank. Giving your pet an additional 9% chance to Dodge will allow you to use Mend Pet less and spend that time on downing mobs. From my perspective, add to that the ability to cast Kill Command more often, means faster farming and leveling.
Pet talents got a change as well. Roar of Sacrifice is being redesigned. I could give you my opinion on what I think Blizzard is trying to do, but luckily for us Ghostcrawler decided to speak out saying, "The 3.2 change is intended to restore RoS to the PvP functionality it had before, which is something a lot of hunters said they liked since they could use it on team-members and not just themselves. The cooldown is something we could iterate on, though we needed to start fairly conservatively with it to avoid having to nerf it right away."
This opens up the whole Blizzard is only making this change to help out the PvP players and doesn't really care about the PvE Players. I disagree with this argument. Yes, Blizzard does make changes to help balance out the PvP game. Yes, it is unfortunate that PvP changes impact the PvE game or vice versa. We even hear from Ghostcrawler how Blizzard is aware of this, but because WoW has to support both PvE and PvP play, there really isn't much they can do to fix it.
Speaking of having to support both the PvE and PvP game, some are wondering if the Patch 3.2 changes to Survival might fall into this same category.
Take the change to Entrapment and how it now doesn't work with Immolation or Explosive traps. To many this seems directly targeting those PvP Hunters that love to burn up the completion. But to me, this is just one of those changes that seem to be tied to similar "rooting" related changes (e.g. the Death Knight Chains of Ice change).
Probably the most controversial change is to Lock and Load. Right now Lock and Load doesn't have a set cooldown. This gives the Survival Hunter a feast or famine approach to how many Lock and Loads one can get in a fight. But at least if you were able to trap a mob in a Freeze trap you had a 100% proc rate on top of the 6% rate using Black Arrow or Immolation trap.
I'm sure to be in the minority again on this one. So if you hated me for my opinions on the trap changes, just add this one to your list of reasons for me being the worst thing to Hunters ever. I like the possibilities of this change. I see this as Blizzard's way of trying to stabilize and make Lock and Load more consistent. If nothing else, this seems to be an attempt to remove Survival Hunters from being such a slave to the Random Number Generator.
See, by putting in things like hard cooldowns and stable proc percentages, Blizzard can easily modify this during testing. If the cooldown is too long, then they can lower it to a 10 second or 5 second cooldown. If the cooldown seems to be okay, but it's the proc rate, then Blizzard can increase the proc percentage. See, the elegance in the change now? No it's not perfect, but short of a complete redesign, this gives the developers a way to make incremental changes without breaking the whole spell.
User Interface
Hunters really only have a single User Interface change heading our way. It seems the developers don't like how we use targeting macros to zap down totems by name. So come Patch 3.2 we'll have to find another way to target and down these bad boys. I really don't see this as being that bad of a thing. I'm sure some macro guru out there will have a fix in a few days now that the PTR is available.
There are a host of profession related changes and some bug fixes also that I didn't cover. However, I think I've gone over most of the major ones that will have the biggest impact on us Hunters. Any ways, maybe all these changes really aren't a Bakers' Chocolate dilemma. I won't go as far and say that these changes are as satisfying as Banana Pancakes. But we can't help but admit, Blizzard knows how to keep us on our toes by giving us a new challenge with each major patch.
Now tell me, what do you think? Has Blizzard missed an opportunity? Are they just toying with us Hunters? Or do you think that they're working towards something bigger and better down the road? Let's hear it. I'd love to hear what you have to say.
So you want to be a Hunter, eh? Well then you came to the right place. Scattered Shots is the one column dedicated to helping you learn everything it takes to be a Hunter. Each week Scattered Shots will cover topics to help you Fix Your DPS, Choosing the Right Spec, Gear Selection, Macros and Pet Selection and Management.Filed under: Hunter, Patches, Analysis / Opinion, Blizzard, Classes, Wrath of the Lich King, (Hunter) Scattered Shots
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
lukesteven12 Jun 25th 2009 6:09PM
I'm a bit scared about scary traps :P
Janaa Jun 25th 2009 6:31PM
The traps are going to be bad. Eddie says "oh it'll still be possible if this happens and that happens and blah blah". No, it's not going to be.
Here's what used to happen:
- Hunter lays down freezing trap well before fight starts.
- After 30 secs, cooldown is up, and trap is still in play for another 30 seconds.
- Tank pulls group, hunter pulls his/her mob over to freezing trap.
- Freezing trap breaks, as it often does.
- Before group leader can say anything, hunter has re-trapped.
- Hunter saves the day and is hoisted up onto the shoulders of party and thrown into the air in jubilation!
Here's whats going to happen:
- Hunter lays down freezing trap.
- Tank pulls group, hunter pulls his/her mob over to freezing trap.
- Freezing trap breaks, as it often does.
- Group leader screams at hunter to re-trap.
- Hunter says he can't, for at least another 8 seconds.
- Group leader says hunter is fail and can't play.
- Hunter is removed from group.
Trap nerf is trap nerf. No other way to look at it. Entrapment has been removed from fire traps, so its not even as if once our frost traps break, we can try and trap on a fire trap.
Riian Jun 25th 2009 9:47PM
I just don't agree with all the hate against the trap changes. I'd rather they lasted 1 minute, but it's not that big a deal. If your traps are breaking due to being hit, a player, you or a raid member, has fouled up. You most likely need to trap your target off to the side out of the way of the raids focus... placement, as would be expected, is part of the strategy of a trap. If you've got a lack of space, then your raid needs to be more careful, simple as that; it's part of the raiding game.
Yes, it will be harder, but a survivalist shouldn't be tried that much, and if you aren't specced survival... welp, sorry about that; survival has always been better with traps. Also, Janaa, if the fire traps (which will Black Arrow will keep on cooldown, anyways) can't be used to entrap a mistrapped target, why not use a snake trap? You've forgotten that bit.
Now, allowing three traps at once? Anyone complaining about that is confused and unskilled in the art of complaining. This is not something to complain about, even if this specific change isn't what you specifically wanted. Stop asking for instant traps; they aren't coming back, nor should they. It is clear that the devs intend traps to be what traps, indeed, are, requiring foresight and anticipation. Again, I'd prefer a 1 minute existence for PvP defense purposes, but at least now it'll be clear (without the help of a mod) that my trap is running out. As for their more customary PvP usage- in the heat of battle- I currently have no problem trapping people when I play it correctly. If the animation is a problem for you, jump (I agree they could remove it if it easily defeated, but I like having the animation, I guess). In fact, make a kneel macro to exploit the other player's keen observation skills. If a player is already on top of you, you missed an opportunity to trap him, sorry. He had to make use of the same skill set to anticipate your actions and close the gap, so it's all fair. Otherwise, drop the trap when you're being chased, then keep the trap between you and the opponent. Don't stop and stare at it, waiting for him to hit it; play like you never dropped one (you jumped, right?). And hey, if you miss, now you'll have up to two more chances, right?
SunwellVialist Jun 25th 2009 11:34PM
@Janaa
As someone who enjoys to work with traps, usually, and who thinks he is relatively good with it, I fully agree with what you said. This makes it really hard for a hunter to use CC effectively, especially since our traps have the chance of simply breaking (which other classes CC's do not have). Indeed, I used to quite -like- dropping traps, and while I applaud each kind of trap being on a seperate countdown, I hope the devs of Blizzard reconsider the 30 secs duration of traps now.
sylectris Jun 26th 2009 2:47AM
i was just talking to my guildies about this subject and we didnt even consider the patch changes. but as much as i dont like the CD change, i love the 4 different categories, snake trap plus black arrow? tasty.
as far as chain trapping here are my thoughts. gone are the days of CC, i cant remember the last time that we need a hunter to freeze something or a mage to polymorph something and except for pvp, i have yet to see a shaman use hex. hell, i dont even think our guild has a mage yet and we are cruising through naxx and ulduar with relative ease! gone are the days of the moroes fight in kara, heroic MGT and the like where you NEEDED CC.
frankly, the e-z mode of most instances and raids in wrath saddens me. i was glad that as a hunter i had some use besides dps-ing and feigning death (even though i had the jumper cables at the time people STILL get pissed that i dont die, which is STILL bs)
i would like to see more creativity in the way fights go in wrath instances, many are simply tank and spank and oh, remember when he hits 78% you have to kill the -insert zombies or robots resectively here- that heal him. anyone can do that. every fight i have been in has been the same: tanks tank, healers heal and everyone else does the exact same thing, there is no distinction in their roles, nothing that makes any dps class different from another. dps is vanilla, i really liked it when we were forming a 5 man group and had to find a shaman specifically because the chain heals for this specific fight made things go a lot smoother. i want to be the utility class i once was again and i want the other classes to have their own unique worth again!
Heilig Jun 25th 2009 6:09PM
"Before 3.2 Hunting Party would grant 0.25% of the Party or Raids Maximum Mana for 15 seconds. Now compare that to the proposed change where Hunting Party will grant 1% for 5 seconds. This seems like it will allow us to return about 1.5% Mana more than before."
It's not 1% FOR 5 seconds. It's 1% PER 5 seconds. This is a 20% nerf to Replenishment.
Janaa Jun 25th 2009 6:43PM
TBH, i'm disappointed with this blog post. I called out several errors in the last blog post, and went as far as to say I think Eddie plays a rogue and doesn't even have a hunter. I was made fun of then, but in this one more errors!
- Mis-read the replenishment nerf, and called it a buff. Its a nerf.
- Mis-read the L&L nerf and called it a buff. Its a nerf.
- Mis-understood the trap nerf to be "perhaps a buff". It's a nerf.
I'm well aware that you can avoid the "worst" of these nerfs by going to the survival tree. Even as Eddie suggests, "oh, but BM will still be great for solo'ing".
However, if everyone has to go survival in order to be competitive, and two out of three trees are only viable for solo'ing, thats just a polite way of saying "Blizzard completely broke two out of three trees."
Janaa Jun 25th 2009 6:49PM
@Eddie - I am sorry for sounding so harsh in my comments. I do appreciate your column and I know all the hard work that goes into planning a post, organising your thoughts so they flow in a continous manner, and the effort that goes into the research; reading other blogs, etc.
I know you're trying to stay positive in the face of these changes, and give hunters something to hope for and look forward to. I just can't share your optimism. I can't see the overall changes in this patch being anything but "TO THE GROUND" for hunters. :(
brigthedwarf Jun 25th 2009 7:32PM
Thanks Heilig.
I appreciate the heads up on that. It's now corrected.
csjenova Jun 25th 2009 6:09PM
"Replenishment was changed and will directly affect how Hunters will use Hunting Party. Before 3.2 Hunting Party would grant 0.25% of the Party or Raids Maximum Mana for 15 seconds. Now compare that to the proposed change where Hunting Party will grant 1% for 5 seconds. This seems like it will allow us to return about 1.5% Mana more than before."
It went from .25% mana every second to 1% over 5 seconds. It was a .25% mana/5 nerf.
brigthedwarf Jun 25th 2009 7:22PM
Thanks!
Yep, I completely misread that tooltip yet again. It's fixed now. Much appreciated.
TxAg Jun 25th 2009 6:10PM
I think you misread the bit about replinishment. It is 1% OVER 5 seconds (i.e. 0.20% every second). This is a flat 20% nerf.
Rob Jun 25th 2009 6:30PM
Also, there was a note from GC stating that the frontal cone on Detterrence will be removed and it will work for 360 degrees. Now, does this mean that it also works on spells that come from the top? I don't know.
You also missed the buffs to the hunters pet, though its mainly a pve buff.
The changes to me seem very bad, ill thought, and not what we will need.
Three traps at once? Thats a joke! We dont need three traps at once.. What we NEED are traps with no arming timer, with less resist, and cant be seen by enemy players.
Though, i do often lay a trap in the middle of an open area and I still get enemy players who will walk right into it. Its even better when they walk up to it, stop and pause while they wonder what it is... Then proceed to walk into it... /facepalm
Luckedout Jun 25th 2009 6:35PM
Do you have a link to that comment from GC about Deterrence, bc I haven't heard or seen that anywhere.
Rob Jun 25th 2009 6:49PM
Here
http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.html?topicId=17900023373&sid=1&pageNo=6#116
Luckedout Jun 25th 2009 6:59PM
Thanks! That would be a great change if they actually put it in, but in GC's own words that's "probably likely" but that's about as much of a confirmation as you'll ever get out of him.
Heilig Jun 25th 2009 8:59PM
"Three traps at once? Thats a joke! We dont need three traps at once."
How are you guys all totally missing the point? This change was made so you don't have to choose between Black Arrow and CC. Your DPS traps were placed on the same CD as Black Arrow, while your CC traps were given their own CD. Snake trap is the utility/PvP trap and can be used at teh same time. How can you see this as anything but a buff? So what if you lose 30 seconds and can't chain trap the way you used to? Maybe you haven't noticed, but nobody CC's anymore anyway, it just slows things down.
alex.onsager Jun 25th 2009 6:29PM
Your analysis of Lock & Load implies that it will proc every X seconds. My understanding is that it now procs *no more than* once every X seconds, effective changing it from a "feast or famine" model to a "barely enough or famine" model.
Angus Jun 25th 2009 6:42PM
It's called the Windfury Effect.
If something is feast or famine and can sometimes lead to incredibly nice burst, it gets an internal cooldown and a % based proc that isn't even coded right.
brigthedwarf Jun 25th 2009 8:26PM
I'll just have to agree to disagree with you. Here's why.
Blizzard can now control the chance to proc with the proc percentage (6% with Black Arrow currently) and with the addition of a cooldown, number of attempts or "bursts" you can achieve this proc. This allows for better tuning of the attack to help fit both PvE and PvP needs. If the proc rate is too low, they can increase the proc rate but control the number of times it can be used. Vice versa, if the proc rate is okay, but it needs to be used more often to achieve the desired outcome. They can lower the cooldown.
As it stands today, all they can really do is increase the proc rate then have everyone scream that it's too OP. (And we Hunters would have to admit that it would be.) This way they can tune it to find the right balance.
I appreciate the feedback and hopefully we'll see this turn into a positive change as the PTR continues.