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All of the latest Mists of Pandaria newsPatch 3.2.2 sees stealthed Hunter nerfs
by Eddie Carrington 
Sep 25th 2009 at 2:00PM
I guess it was all just a dream after all. Here I thought that maybe, just maybe we could see the beginning of Cataclysm and somehow see Blizzard sneak worgen hunters into Patch 3.2.2 and give them the ability to tame dwarves. (Just in case my attempt at sarcasm fell flat, you need to know I fully understand we won't see worgen hunters until Cataclysm.)
Although worgen didn't manage to sneak in, we did see some other changes that somehow slipped under the radar. Their is only one downside to these undocumented changes. There's some good news and bad news. Since it's always better to end on a happy note, we'll start off with the bad news.
It seems that what we all noticed on the PTR and hoped beyond all hope actually managed to make it into the recent patch unscathed.
Our PvP and Arena brethren received a harsh blow. Kill Shot has been changed (fixed according to some). Prior to Patch 3.2.2 Kill Shot wasn't susceptible to the 5 yard "No fire zone" that all our other range attacks. That has been fixed. We haven't seen any response from Blizzard on this one, but I'm guessing that we've just seen that massive bug list discussed last week reduced by one.
That's the bad news, and now for the good news. By now hunters should be noticing a change to Volley. Ghostcrawler stated, "The AP coefficient of Volley has been increased from 0.0586 to 0.0837. Base points did not change. This probably did not make the patch notes."
Well it didn't. But that doesn't mean it hasn't gone unnoticed. Euripides over at OutDPS! noticed that this is about the same coefficient as before the great hunter nerf of 2008. If that's true we might actually be seeing a 20-30% increase in DPS by Volley. Of course, before the nerf last year we had another issue with our ranged weapons deteriorating extremely fast. I just hope that isn't the case now. Either way, any increase in the DPS gained by Volley will be a welcomed change.
So what's your take on these changes? Should Blizzard have left Kill Shot alone? Or do you agree with the fix? Even more importantly, what about that change to Volley? What has been your experience so far? Are you seeing a dramatic increase in your DPS? Can we finally contribute to the AoE blast fest? Or are we still stuck behind mages? No matter what, it's bound to be better, right?
Filed under: Hunter, Patches, Analysis / Opinion
Reader Comments (Page 4 of 4)
Sanguinefrozenboy Sep 25th 2009 4:21PM
Kill shot, to me, sounds like a point blank shot. What better way to finish an opponent then at point blank range?
It's w/e. If It's a bug, I'm sure it'll get fixed.
If not, no big loss. People will just have to learn to play with it like that.
Rob Wynne Sep 25th 2009 4:29PM
You know it's funny. I never actually noticed you could fire Kill Shot at
Rob Wynne Sep 25th 2009 4:30PM
You know it's funny. I never actually noticed you could fire Kill Shot at less than 5 yrds. So this affects me....let me check....not at all.
Nice to get a bit of a buff on Volley. Makes for nice numbers on the screen during trash pulls. :)
inzano Sep 25th 2009 4:37PM
Between the loss of 8 seconds on BW, and the loss of killshot at melee range, hunters are once again the easy kill in pvp. And although i havent checked the numbers myself, i've read repeatedly that the change to bw/tbw is resulting in a whopping 1-2% damage increase in pve for Bm hunters. Still incredibly subpar compared to MM/SV. They just took the utility pvp spec and turned it into.... nothing.
Alex Sep 25th 2009 5:59PM
I love the fact they fixed this bug but totally forgot about the prowl and growl that have been bugged since Wrath came out. Way to go!!
Clarick Sep 25th 2009 6:25PM
I did notice the Kill shot bug before. I am not a PVP hunter so I think...meh...whatever. As for volley I did notice it. Volley is extremely useful on the 2nd phase of onyxia on those damn whelps
blindlinus Sep 25th 2009 7:04PM
i'm rather disappointed with the change to Kill Shot. sometimes that's the only thing that's saved me at the last second against a rogue running circles around me when my disengage is on CD. i agree with Munky, it just seemed like it was meant to be that way, like a point blank shot. it's not like you can spam Kill Shot. if you get someone that low and they're right on top of you, seems only right to be able to shoot them in the face.
Clbull Sep 25th 2009 9:13PM
Horray, in 3.2.2. Hunters get yet another large nerf to their PvP utility, by now making it impossible to kill a melee player who can merely just snare the Hunter into melee range and nuke him with overpowered instant strikes. I have noticed it, as I came very close to finishing off a Rogue in Arena, but now I can't use my Kill Shot in melee, so the result was Dismantled (I think this ability is OP), and owned in 4 seconds.
I think we need an overhaul PvP wise. Our damage is quite low in PvP, especially if we have to constantly kite other players around all the time. I have seen many other classes do significantly more burst damage than us.
Worse, our survivability is just as bad if not worse than an Enhancement/Elemental Shaman. Worse because we cannot do anything in melee range, and often get spammed with snares that completely obliterate our damage and defense in PvP.
blindlinus Sep 25th 2009 10:55PM
it's not that i have such a hard time doing damage in arena, it's that i simply can't wait for them to overhaul our resource system to energy instead of mana (though i think it should be a 500 instead of 100). it can be difficult in longer matches to finish someone at a crucial point because either a)you don't have mana or b)you are in viper aspect.
and, more to the point, i haven't even done arena yet this week and i can see the impact of the Kill Shot changes. simply go run a heroic with a bad tank that loses aggro despite consistent MD's and the use of Vigilence and realize you that would have to blow your disengage CD to use your Kill Shot to finish off a melee that's right on top of you. then imagine what happens when that's 75% of what you run up against in an arena match and they *really* like you...
zweitblom Sep 26th 2009 4:30AM
Now that the mages are happy for a change, the hunters start to whine *sighs*
Aaron Sep 26th 2009 6:05AM
There definitely is an issue with ranged weapons deteriorating extremely fast in this patch of hunter changes, gear would be at around 60-50% while the ranged slot would start to approach 20-10%, had this happen a few times now.