Cataclysm Class Changes: Hunter
by Adam Holisky 
Apr 9th 2010 at 11:55AM
Some of the major highlights:
- Cobra Shot (level 81): A new shot that deals Nature damage instead of Physical damage. This ability will share a cooldown with Steady Shot. This will give hunters an alternative to Steady Shot on heavily-armored targets, and we will have talent incentives in the Beast Mastery tree to make this a signature shot.
- Trap Launcher (level 83): When used, the next trap can be shot to a location within 40 yards. This provides the current Freezing Arrow treatment to all traps and, as a result, we will be removing the current ability Freezing Arrow.
- Camouflage (level 85): The hunter enters an obscured state that prevents him or her from taking ranged damage.
- Hunters will no longer use mana; instead the class will use Focus. A solid look at focus is after the break.
- Ammo removed.
- Pet storage changed, 3 pets you can carry around and use (only one out) -- many more able to be stored.
Hunter PreviewWith the upcoming World of Warcraft: Cataclysm many game elements will be changing, and each class will be receiving a number of tweaks. Here, we will explore the changes that are being made to the gun-wielding, pet-training hunter. The information you're about to read is certainly not complete, and is only meant to act as a preview of some of the exciting new things to come. Without further ado, let's take a look at the new hunter abilities!
New Hunter Abilities
Cobra Shot (level 81): A new shot that deals Nature damage instead of Physical damage. This ability will share a cooldown with Steady Shot. This will give hunters an alternative to Steady Shot on heavily-armored targets, and we will have talent incentives in the Beast Mastery tree to make this a signature shot.
Trap Launcher (level 83): When used, the next trap can be shot to a location within 40 yards. This provides the current Freezing Arrow treatment to all traps and, as a result, we will be removing the current ability Freezing Arrow. 1-minute cooldown. No global cooldown.
Camouflage (level 85): The hunter enters an obscured state that prevents him or her from taking ranged damage. The character would still be subject to melee or area-of-effect attacks, and dealing or taking damage will break the Camouflage effect. The hunter can move and set traps when under Camouflage, and will receive a damage bonus when attacking while under Camouflage (which will then break the effect).
Resource Mechanic Change
Here we come to the meat of the upcoming hunter changes.
Changes to Abilities and Mechanics
In addition to the resource change and new abilities listed above, we intend to make adjustments to some of the other abilities and mechanics you already know well. This list and the summary of talent changes below it are by no means comprehensive, but they should give you a good sense of what we're going for with each spec.
New Talents and Talent Changes
Mastery Passive Talent Tree Bonuses
Beast Mastery
Ranged Damage
Haste
Pet Damage
Marksmanship
Ranged Damage
Armor Penetration
Double Shot
Survival
Ranged Damage
Ranged Critical Damage
Elemental Damage
Pet Damage: Many of the passive benefits to pet damage will no longer be available in the Beast Mastery talent tree. However, these will be provided through the new Mastery mechanic.
Double Shot: The hunter will have a chance to launch a free attack off of the global cooldown for 50% damage.
Elemental Damage: Hunter abilities such as traps, Black Arrow, and Explosive Shot will do elemental damage of the following types: Arcane, Fire, Frost, Nature, and Shadow.
We hope you enjoyed this preview, and ask that you provide your initial thoughts and feedback on what was presented here. Please keep in mind that what you've just reviewed is a work in progress and as we move closer to the Cataclysm beta, you'll see these planned changes as well as others continue to develop in response to feedback and testing.
New Hunter Abilities
Cobra Shot (level 81): A new shot that deals Nature damage instead of Physical damage. This ability will share a cooldown with Steady Shot. This will give hunters an alternative to Steady Shot on heavily-armored targets, and we will have talent incentives in the Beast Mastery tree to make this a signature shot.
Trap Launcher (level 83): When used, the next trap can be shot to a location within 40 yards. This provides the current Freezing Arrow treatment to all traps and, as a result, we will be removing the current ability Freezing Arrow. 1-minute cooldown. No global cooldown.
Camouflage (level 85): The hunter enters an obscured state that prevents him or her from taking ranged damage. The character would still be subject to melee or area-of-effect attacks, and dealing or taking damage will break the Camouflage effect. The hunter can move and set traps when under Camouflage, and will receive a damage bonus when attacking while under Camouflage (which will then break the effect).
Resource Mechanic Change
Here we come to the meat of the upcoming hunter changes.
- Hunters will no longer use mana; instead the class will use Focus. Focus generates much like Energy, by building up. It will not be affected by Intellect at all. Haste will improve its generation. Hunters will generate roughly 6 Focus per second, slightly less than rogues' Energy generation rate of around 10 Energy per second. Below, we have listed some examples of how we intend Focus costs to operate:
- Steady Shot/Cobra Shot: No cost. Generates 9 Focus per shot (or 12 per second instead of 6).
- Arcane Shot/Chimera Shot /Explosive Shot: 45 Focus.
- Aimed Shot/Multi-Shot: 60 Focus.
- Concussive Shot/Tranquilizing Shot: 35 Focus.
- Rapid Fire/Master's Call/Disengage: 30 Focus.
Changes to Abilities and Mechanics
In addition to the resource change and new abilities listed above, we intend to make adjustments to some of the other abilities and mechanics you already know well. This list and the summary of talent changes below it are by no means comprehensive, but they should give you a good sense of what we're going for with each spec.
- A major change coming for the hunter is the removal of ammunition. Guns, bows, and crossbows will now do damage without consuming ammunition at all. There will be no more ammo slot on the hunter's character display. Any ammunition that a hunter has at the time of the change will become gray sellable items. Existing quivers will be converted into large bags -- though each hunter can only have one and non-hunters will not benefit from this change -- and we will not be making any additional quivers.
- Pet management will also change. Hunters will now have two types of attainable pets: active pets and stored pets. Hunters will be able to have up to three active pets (perhaps five for Beast Mastery specialized players) and will have the ability to switch among these pets any time they are out of combat, without going to town. They will also be able to have a large number of pets in storage at the stables. In order to swap a pet from active to passive, a hunter will still need to visit their local Stable Master. However, this should afford ample storage for the many Spirit Beasts wandering the lands of Azeroth.
- Additionally
, hunters will now start with a race-appropriate pet at level 1 and will be able to tame a different pet at level 10. We are also changing many pet family abilities to provide important buffs and debuffs. The intention is to allow the hunter to be able to swap pets and fill a position if a certain role is missing from the group. The goal is to have all pets provide a damage increase that is very similar and no greater than any other pet. Some examples of the changes we are making to the pet families are listed below: - Wind Serpents: Will provide a debuff that increases the amount of spell damage taken by an enemy (similar to a weaker version of the warlock ability Curse of Elements).
- Ravagers: Will provide a debuff that will increase an enemy's Physical damage vulnerability (similar to a weaker version of the warrior ability Rampage).
- Hyenas: Will provide bleed damage (similar to a weaker version of the druid ability Mangle).
- Stings and other periodic effects will now benefit from haste and critical strike ratings. Hasted damage-over-time abilities do not lose duration, but instead add additional damage ticks.
- Viper Sting will now restore 9 Focus every 3 seconds.
- We are reinforcing hunters as a ranged class. To this end, the class will now start with ranged abilities at level 1, and we will be removing some melee abilities, such as Mongoose Bite.
New Talents and Talent Changes
- Beast Mastery hunters will have a new talent called Careful Aim, which increases the damage of the next Steady Shot or Cobra Shot, but also increases the cast time of these abilities. The intention is to make the combination of spells into a decent damage opener, especially in conjunction with the new ability Camouflage.
- Beast Mastery hunters will also have talents that make Cobra Shot superior to Steady Shot, such as Longevity reducing the cast time of Cobra Shot to 1.5 seconds.
- Rapid Recuperation will cause Rapid Fire to give 20/40/60 Focus immediately and will cause Rapid Killing to generate 3 Focus per second.
- Efficiency will reduce the Focus cost of Chimera Shot, Aimed Shot, and Arcane Shot.
- Thrill of the Hunt grants Focus when you land a critical strike.
- Hunter vs. Wild increases the hunter's Focus generation when his or her pet is snared, stunned, or rooted.
Mastery Passive Talent Tree Bonuses
Beast Mastery
Ranged Damage
Haste
Pet Damage
Marksmanship
Ranged Damage
Armor Penetration
Double Shot
Survival
Ranged Damage
Ranged Critical Damage
Elemental Damage
Pet Damage: Many of the passive benefits to pet damage will no longer be available in the Beast Mastery talent tree. However, these will be provided through the new Mastery mechanic.
Double Shot: The hunter will have a chance to launch a free attack off of the global cooldown for 50% damage.
Elemental Damage: Hunter abilities such as traps, Black Arrow, and Explosive Shot will do elemental damage of the following types: Arcane, Fire, Frost, Nature, and Shadow.
We hope you enjoyed this preview, and ask that you provide your initial thoughts and feedback on what was presented here. Please keep in mind that what you've just reviewed is a work in progress and as we move closer to the Cataclysm beta, you'll see these planned changes as well as others continue to develop in response to feedback and testing.
In addition to commenting, don't forget that we're also looking for guest posts on the above changes.
World of Warcraft: Cataclysm will destroy Azeroth as we know it. Nothing will be the same. In WoW.com's Guide to Cataclysm you can find out everything you need to know about WoW's third expansion. From Goblins and Worgens to Mastery and Guild changes, it's all there for your cataclysmic enjoyment.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 14)
Anthology Apr 9th 2010 12:04PM
Camouflage? Oh hell yes!
Netherscourge Apr 9th 2010 12:35PM
CAMO HUNTERS!!!!
WOOT!
BTW - when they say 3 active pets, do they mean Hunters can have 3 pets out at the same time? Or they just have ACCESS to 3 pets using the Call Pet skill?
Finally, I really hope they make Beast Masters viable for raiding with the new Cobra Shot and related rotations. I love my Spirit Beasts and I would love to use my pet for more then just a pretty-looking meat shield I can run aroudn Dalaran with to show off.
Beast Masters should be more then just a "leveling up" spec IMO.
BIacked Out Apr 9th 2010 12:42PM
Yeah, makes sense that Hunters have this type of ability,
This is making me get giddy, why do Mages have to be 2nd to last :(
Robbydog Apr 9th 2010 12:43PM
"when they say 3 active pets, do they mean Hunters can have 3 pets out at the same time?"
Learn to read maybe???
"Pet storage changed, 3 pets you can carry around and use (only one out)"
slythwolf Apr 9th 2010 12:52PM
Do I say "it's about time", or does that go without saying? :D
Zalvi24 Apr 9th 2010 1:05PM
well if you read it again u can have 3 pets with you, but only one "out" at a time, and Camouflage (level 85) is not the same as the one hunters were supposed to have at the beginning or wrath, this one, u cant be hit by range attacks, the one for wrath was more like a stealth
jaenicoll Apr 9th 2010 2:00PM
Totally agree about Camouflage being a very interesting change to how the class works but the line that got me most excited was:
"We are reinforcing hunters as a ranged class. To this end, the class will now start with ranged abilities at level 1, and we will be removing some melee abilities, such as Mongoose Bite."
Does this mean that Blizzard will finally do away with the ridiculous switch to melee weapons when a mob or player gets too close?
I have by far the most keybinds on my hunter than on any of my other characters. In addition to the shots, traps, stings, aspects and utility spells, hunters have to find important keybinding space for all the defensive cooldowns designed to get us to range and get around the universally known fact that hunters are shite at melee.
It will be great to no longer get rsi from having to deform my left hand to hit the extra keys needed for Deterrence, Disengage, Roar of Sacrifice, Intervene, Wing Clip etc. whilst simultaneously having all the most frequent (and therefore the most conveniently placed) keybinds (the hunter shots) be made redundant.
After 2 expansions of trying to fix this with ever more ludicrous abilities to get us to range, I am hopeful this legacy sacred cow will finally die.
Let the madness stop
Daco Apr 9th 2010 2:50PM
I would assume that the statement you reference is at least in part indicating that newly-rolled hunters will actually learn to be a primarily ranged class even from level 1. This would go along with the plan to start hunters with a pet at level 1, rather than waiting until level 10. Currently, a new hunter is taught to be a hybrid melee/ranged class prior to level 10 as he doesn't have his pet/tank before then. This change would result in players learning to play the class from the start the same way they should play it for the final 70 (soon to be 75) levels.
I don't really find much trouble with staying at range in PvE combat, so I would assume that you're mainly talking about PvP. And I can't speak to that, doing very little of that. The removal of Mongoose Bite would seem to indicate that Blizzard doesn't want hunters to engage in melee combat, but it would be a big change to have hunters using their ranged attacks at point-blank range (and not really realistic, to whatever point you can use the word "realistic" in a fantasy world like this). I wonder if there are other changes in store on this front.
jaenicoll Apr 9th 2010 3:43PM
For PvE, hunters rarely get to use most of the survival abilities and thus the preferred keys are pre-set for pew pew.
For PvP a whole new issue arises of those pew pew keys no longer functioni when an opponent gets up in our face. This has lead to the hunter RSI, as we need to use an entirely different set of keys to get us back to being able to use the original pew pew set of keys. Ridiculous.
One solution would have been to make hunters have a melee stance so that when we can re-utilise our pew pew keys but I imagine Blizzard have already realised that this is clunky.
The other soultion would be to simply remove the mechanic and admit that the schizophrenic ranged / melee class experiment just didn't work out despite Blizzard's best creative efforts over 2 expansions.
As for the reality of a ranged weapon being used at melee range, the argument has always existed that if up and close it would be difficult to bring it to bear on an opponent. Maybe so for a sniper rifle but less so for a shotgun.
If reality was what Blizzard was trying to defend then Hunters wouldn't be able to use a weapon at all, yet we all know we can still shoot some other opponent that is at range even if we have a melee up in our face. We just can't shoot the opponent if they are in melee range. Crazy logic.
Besides, wielding a weapon in combat and waving your hands around to cast a spell should be subject to the same laws of reality then. Surely it isn't easy to cast spells when you a have to dodge melee weapons too.
You can tell its broke when every class knows one of the best tactics against a hunter is to run towards them. Since when was it realistic to run towards someone with a firearm? I know in rl I'd be running the other way to get to safety.
The ranged / melee hybrid experiment never worked out despite 5 years of attempts to get the thing to feel right. Lets hope Blizzard finally got this out of their system.
Randomize Apr 9th 2010 5:17PM
As a mage, I would totally allow hunters to use ranged weapons at any distance. However, in order for that not to be insanely OP, make hunters who are beyond a certain distance, like 20 yards, have to start having more hit rating, up to 20% for max distance shots. That way, it is more "realistic."
Tirrimas Apr 9th 2010 5:32PM
@jaenicoll:
If worst came to worst, you could always hit the enemy over the head with your ranged weapon (due to lag, I've seen my hunter do just that. Kinda funny, but inside I'm wincing as I imagine the damage to the weapon itself). Have a second damage stat on our ranged weapons so they can be used as clubs in a pinch, but with a higher damage-to-the-weapon coefficient.
I dunno, makes sense to me.
And if we're gonna throw reality all up in it, how do bows work underwater? O_o
Desmentia Apr 9th 2010 11:51PM
To the people complaining about needing multiple sets of keys to stay at a range when levelling, or when pvping, you can use macros to fit many spells into a single button. While it's not going to just switch for you when you get within melee range, I still think you can cram all of your commonly used spells onto just 10 keys. My (level 50) Hunter gets by with only 8 keys, which cover Disengage, Mongoose Bite, Raptor Strike, two different traps, my pet spider's Web, Arcane Torrent, Hunter's Mark, and all the usual shots.
Sunsinger Apr 10th 2010 9:05AM
Let's all cheer for this to manifest in a longest overdue hunter talent that AD&D Archers had for ages:
POINT BLANK SHOT!
POINT BLANK SHOT!
WE DON'T EVEN MIND IF IT'S ON DEFENSIVE CD!
POINT BLANK SHOT!
POINT BLANK SHOT!
NO MORE 98% BUTTON LOCKOUT IN MELEE RANGE!
POINT BLANK SHOT!
POINT BLANK SHOT!
Just to clarify, PBS in AD&D games (NWN at least) was a talent that removed severe hit penalty when using ranged weapons in melee range. In WoW this could be a talent/ability that removed minimum range requirement for ranged attacks. Shammies do get a new ability to allow them to cast while moving and maybe even attacking, so it'd make sense for hunters to be able to shoot stuff in melee. I'm somehow sure that the sheer awesomeness of sticking an explosive shot right into someone's face at melee range would outweigh any possible nerfs to balance this change.
No other class is this dependent on positioning and no other class is enslaved to kiting this much. Melees have to get in melee range, but the reality is that it's easier to get in melee range and stay there than it is to kite (Because otherwise a melee attacker would never be able to catch up with his prey and all ranged teams would dominate arenas by kiting any occasional melee attacker to death. Being susceptible to full time kiting, like enh shammies used to be, was a severe disability).
For all other ranged (and sometimes even melee) classes, kiting is a situational tool to employ for survivability, but for hunters it's the only way to maintain decent damage output on a pursuing target (not to mention that you can't even auto-shoot on the move). Sure, this doesn't apply to pve as much as it applies to pvp and leveling, but nearly full impotence in melee is bad enough if you're a non-BM leveling hunter, which means even a tenacity pet would lose aggro after a couple of shots and you'll have to swing the mob down from half of his healthbar with your 2h sword (good case) or a staff/couple of daggers (bad case).
I'm, of course, assuming that you're too conservative/lazy to use wing clip/traps/disengage/pvp pet/whatever else for killing just another mob of your own level. This all gets grizzly when you're suddenly reminded that you play on a pvp server dominated by the opposite faction. Reminder usually pops behind you or charges from afar, flashing his pair of heirloom daggers/arcanite reapers and a whole set of other boa stuff (with a cumulative cost in emblems more than your average height in centimeters).
When that happens, you're supposed to deploy 3 kinds of traps, activate your deterrence/master's call/racial healing/herbalist healing/disengage macro, drink a pot, target the enemy (since you still have that half-killed mob targeted), order a pet to attack it and finally start mashing your shot buttons in a desperate hope to deal a couple of big crits, and of course try to see where the f#&% you're running (don't forget you're moving sideway/backwards), because there's always a couple of extra aggro mobs or a very high cliff around to make sure you don't feel lucky. Sure, most of those steps are similar for every other class, but none of them has the mandatory running backwards/snaring/shooting part. Casters would shield and start nuking the bastard. Melees would just change targets and go on with their rotation. Ok, maybe not that easy, but nobody really HAS TO kite anything. Hunters do. Ok, resume cheering now.
POINT BLANK SHOT!
POINT BLANK SHOT!
POINT BLANK SHOT!
joseph May 16th 2010 10:10PM
This stinks. we are basically becoming ranged warriors/rogues. wtf is focus. and the cost is too high. well need 9 sec b4 we can fire 1 arcane shot. thats bull.
joshualaw2009 Jun 8th 2010 3:36PM
I todally agree with u dude this is goin to be the most awsome expansion pack yet
Triforceelf Apr 9th 2010 12:05PM
Wow, thats a lot. Sounds like hunters are becoming more of the ranger or archer and less of the mystical bowmen they are now.
slythwolf Apr 9th 2010 1:00PM
"Archer" and "bowman" are the same thing, dude.
Vaeku Apr 9th 2010 2:01PM
I don't know why slythwolf was downrated. Archer and bowman ARE the same thing. They both primarily use bows, whereas rangers use both bows and melee weapons (like a hunter and a rogue combined).
And Blizz said that they're removing some melee abilities so that hunters still have the bowman/archer feel.
Grovinofdarkhour Apr 9th 2010 2:19PM
A mighty elf-centric interpretation. Don't forget, this all applies to our tipsy little friends with the loud bang-bangs, too.
Randy* Apr 9th 2010 2:30PM
And perhaps "bowmen" was used as a synonym for "archer" so as not to be redundant.