First, a run down of what we know about the change to our resource.:

• Hunters will no longer use mana. Instead they will use Focus.
• Focus will be capped at 100.
• Shots will cost anywhere between 30 and 60 Focus.
• Focus will regen over time over time at a rate of 6 per second, 12 per second while casting Steady Shot.
• Haste will cause Focus to regen at a faster rate.

Ok, for those of you following along at home you, Focus will seem very familiar. That’s right, it sounds a lot like the Energy mechanic used by Rogues. Also note that our pets use Focus, though it works slightly different. I’m picturing Hunter’s Focus being a cross between the two.

So what does this mean?

• Aspect of the Viper in its current form is gone. They might re-tool it to function similar to how it did in BC by making it increase our Focus regen rate. I doubt it though, so expect it to be gone completely.
• Viper Sting will probably still exist, though its use with Chimera Shot will be severely altered. My guess is that they will change it to restore a set amount of Focus, maybe half of what Chimera Shot cost to fire.
• Hunters will no longer have any use for Intellect, Blizzard has already stated the they are even going so far as to remove it from our gear. A side effect of this is that Enhancement Shamans will also no longer use Intellect and will be changed to work similar to Ret Pallies, using a talent to gain Spell Power and Mana from Agility.
• All three talent trees are going to be significantly re-worked. To what degree I have no idea, but expect talents like Careful Aim to be completely gone and other talents such as Efficiency to be completely changed.

I know I’ve only scratched the surface of how far reaching this change is going to be, but I’m going to stop there. With Cataclysm so far out everything is subject to change making it hard to speculate on any of the specifics.

Now what do I think of the whole thing?

I don’t like it. I am genuinely scared of what Blizz is going to do to my class. I like playing a Hunter right now. All three trees are perfectly raid viable. The class is fun to play with constant action and the ability to top the charts while providing a degree of raid utility. But this is such a drastic change that I don’t know if I will be able to continue raiding with my Hunter come the next expansion. They are essentially turning us into a ranged Rogue with no stealth and a pet. If I wanted to play a Rogue I would have rolled one.

Also consider how many changes Death Knights have received in the few months they have been around. They are a fairly new class and require a large amount of adjustments to try and balance them, which they still aren’t. Putting Hunters on a new resource system is going to put us in the same boat as DKs. Blizz will be several patches trying to adjust the class to bring it back in line with everyone else (a place where I really feel we are right now). That means that while you are trying to re-learn how to play, you also get to deal with frequent balancing changes.

So what am I going to do?

I will be keeping a close eye out for news on Blizz’s plan for the class, and offering my input where ever I can. I will also be putting in for a beta key as soon as they are available so that I can help test out the changes and hopefully do my part to keep the class playable.

But most of all I’m going to continue to play the class I love before it gets gutted. There is still a lot of content in Wrath I have yet to see, so I am going to enjoy it while it last.

The 22 second internal cooldown put in in 3.2 is definitely there, but I am wondering if the 6% chance listed on the tooltip is wrong. I would have to do further testing to verify, so right now I’m just saying that it feels like more than 6%.

Classes: General

• All pets now receive 40% of their master’s resilience and 100% of their master’s spell penetration. In addition, if a player is at their appropriate spell hit chance or hit chance maximum, their pet will be at the maximum for spell hit chance, hit chance, and expertise. If they are below the maximum, their pet will be proportionately below those maximums.

This is huge! How long have Hunters been asking for this? Now our PvP oriented brethren will be able to hold their own better.

• Replenishment: This buff now grants 1% of the target’s maximum mana over 5 seconds instead of 0.25% per second. This applies to all 5 sources of Replenishment (Vampiric Touch, Judgements of the Wise, Hunting Party, Enduring Winter Frostbolts and Soul Leech).

The way I read this, replenishment is taking a 20% hit in mana returned. While this only directly affects those of us that roll Survival, it indirectly affects everyone. I’m hoping that mana doesn’t start to become even more of an issue in 10-mans.

• Silence, Strangulate, Silencing Shot, and Arcane Torrent: These abilities will also apply a 3-second interrupt effect against non-player controlled targets, making them more versatile against creatures immune to silencing effects.

So the Marksman among us get a spell interrupt for boss fights. I can only see this as a good thing.

Hunters

• Aspect of the Cheetah: Can now be learned at level 16.

Part of an across the board change for all travel forms. Will be great for new players and those leveling alts.

• Deterrence now has a new visual spell effect.

Meh, I really could care less.

• The time that traps will exist in the world after being put down has been reduced to 30 seconds, down from 1 minute.

Ok, a lot of people are up in arms over this one. Here’s some advice: Get Over It. This does not make chain trapping impossible, it simply makes it slightly more difficult. Less breathing room, but still easy enough to do with practice.

• 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.

This is even HUGER!!!! I can finally CC again without gimping my DPS by not using Black Arrow. I can honestly see myself using traps a lot more once this goes into effect. And I can see the masochistic arena Hunters drooling over this one.

• Beast Mastery
  • Catlike Reflexes now also reduces the cooldown of your Kill Command ability by 10/20/30 seconds.

Does anyone even take this talent? I mean maybe a PvP player, but I don’t know any Hunter that PvPs as a BM. Well, maybe those crazy guys that are out tanking with their pets take it, so yeah, they get a buff.

• Survival
  • Entrapment: This talent no longer works with Immolation Trap or Explosive Trap.

A slight nerf to a PvP talent if anything at all. Nothing worth crying over.

• • 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.

We all knew that chain L&L procs were too good to last. At least it isn’t a full 30 second cooldown like last time, and maybe now they will up the proc rate slightly.

• 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. Cooldown increased to 2 minutes.

Um, pretty much useless. No one uses a tenacity pet when they are in an instance. (Well, they shouldn’t be at the very least.) I don’t know, this might be another PvP thing, but I don’t see myself ever using it.

• Bug Fixes
  • All ranks of Sonic Blast now properly have an 80 Focus cost.
  • Black Arrow Ranks 5 and 6 training costs have been lowered significantly.
  • Lock and Load: The tooltip for this talent has been updated to indicate that it also works with Explosive Trap.
  • The tooltip for Improved Tracking has been slightly re-written to indicate that it only works on the hunter, and works on melee damage as well.
  • T.N.T. (Rank 3): Now indicates that the talent works with Black Arrow.

Yay for bug fixes! Nothing too exciting though. Mostly just wording changes.

Most of the changes aren’t anything special. I am excited about the changes to pet resilience and the splitting up of trap cooldowns, and I’m not too happy about them adding a cooldown to L&L again. Of course everything is still on the PTR and subject to change, so I’m not going to get too worked up yet. But what about you. Anything in the notes that has you excited or upset?

• Beast Mastery (0 points)
  • None
• Marksmanship (15 points)
  • 5/5 Lethal Shots
  • 3/3 Careful Aim
  • 5/5 Mortal Shots
  • 1/2 Go for the Throat
  • 1/1 Aimed Shot
• Survival (56 points)
  • 5/5 Improved Tracking
  • 3/3 Trap Mastery
  • 2/2 Survival Instincts
  • 5/5 Survivalist
  • 3/3 T.N.T.
  • 3/3 Lock and Load
  • 3/3 Hunter vs. Wild
  • 3/3 Killer Instinct
  • 5/5 Lightning Reflexes
  • 3/3 Resourcefulness
  • 2/3 Expose Weakness
  • 1/1 Wyvern Sting
  • 3/3 Thrill of the Hunt
  • 5/5 Master Tactician
  • 3/3 Noxious Stings
  • 1/1 Black Arrow
  • 3/3 Sniper Training
  • 2/3 Hunting Party
  • 1/1 Explosive Shot

Glyphs:

• Major
  • Explosive Shot
  • Serpent Sting
  • Steady Shot
• Minor
  • Feign Death
  • Revive Pet
  • Mend Pet

As with Marksmanship, you have two basic options to spec your pet. You can either go for Shark Attack or Wild Hunt. Also the same, you can only take one point in either. Pike suggested that Shark Attack is the better DPS alternative in the comments on my Marks spec post, but as I’ve still yet to test which is the best in terms of DPS I’m not going to stand behind it 100%.

The spec above is actually quite flexible. You can skip Hunting Part if your raid has other sources of Replenishment. You could also take a point out of T.N.T. (but only 1). Don’t like maintaining a sting? You can drop Wyvern Sting and Noxious Stings. (From a DPS standpoint, I don’t recommend dropping Noxious Stings. You will be hard pressed making up the DPS from it with the lower level talents in the other trees. I’m just saying it’s an option.) Aimed Shot could also be dropped if you don’t use it in your rotation. As for Glyphs, Explosive Shot is obvious. Steady Shot is still fired a lot, so why not glyph for it. And Serpent Sting is important for Noxious Stings and Steady Shot, so again, go ahead and glyph for it.

Again, the spec above is merely my recommendation. Play with it, tweak it, do whatever tickles your fancy. I do ask you to post your spec and glyph choices in the comments though. I’m always interested in seeing what other people have went with.

• Beast Mastery (7 points)
  • 5/5 Improved Aspect of the Hawk
  • 2/2 Focused Fire
• Marksmanship (57 points)
  • 5/5 Lethal Shots
  • 3/3 Careful Aim
  • 5/5 Mortal Shots
  • 1/2 Go for the Throat
  • 3/3 Improved Arcane Shot
  • 1/1 Aimed Shot
  • 2/2 Rapid Killing
  • 3/3 Improved Stings
  • 1/1 Readiness
  • 3/3 Barrage
  • 2/2 Combat Experience
  • 3/3 Ranged Weapon Specialization
  • 3/3 Piercing Shots
  • 1/1 Trueshot Aura
  • 2/3 Improved Barrage
  • 5/5 Master Marksman
  • 2/2 Rapid Recuperation
  • 3/3 Wild Quiver
  • 3/3 Improved Steady Shot
  • 5/5 Marked for Death
  • 1/1 Chimera Shot
• Survival (7 points)
  • 5/5 Improved Tracking
  • 2/2 Survival Instincts

Glyphs:

• Major
  • Chimera Shot
  • Serpent Sting
  • Arcane Shot
• Minor
  • Feign Death
  • Revive Pet
  • Mend Pet

For a pet spec, you have two basic options. You can either spec for Shark Attack or Wild Hunt. Regretfully, you can only take one point in either. I’ve yet to test which option is the best in terms of DPS, but once I have I will be sure to let you know.

There is very little flexibility in the spec. You could take the two points out of Improved Barrage and one point out of Barrage if you need to take Focused Aim or want to take Silencing Shot. If you need more points than that you would want to take them out of the Survival tree. The Chimera Shot and Serpent Sting glyphs no-brainers. Your third major glyph slot is open to debate. I chose Arcane Shot, though there are several other viable options. It really boils down to personal preference.

As always, the spec above is merely my recommendation. Feel free to play with it, adjust it, or completely redesign it. Leave a link in the comments to the spec you decided on for everyone to look at.

• Beast Mastery (53 points)
  • 5/5 Improved Aspect of the Hawk
  • 1/5 Endurance Training
  • 2/2 Focused Fire
  • 2/2 Improved Revive Pet
  • 1/1 Aspect Mastery
  • 5/5 Unleashed Fury
  • 2/2 Improved Mend Pet
  • 5/5 Ferocity
  • 1/1 Intimidation
  • 2/2 Bestial Discipline
  • 2/2 Animal Handler
  • 3/5 Frenzy
  • 3/3 Ferocious Inspiration
  • 1/1 Bestial Wrath
  • 5/5 Serpent’s Swiftness
  • 3/3 Longevity
  • 1/1 The Beast Within
  • 3/3 Cobra Strikes
  • 5/5 Kindred Spirits
  • 1/1 Beast Mastery
• Marksmanship (11 points)
  • 5/5 Lethal Shots
  • 3/3 Careful Aim
  • 2/5 Mortal Shots
  • 1/2 Go for the Throat
• Survival (7 points)
  • 5/5 Improved Tracking
  • 2/2 Survival Instincts

Glyphs:

• Major
  • Bestial Wrath
  • Serpent Sting
  • Steady Shot
• Minor
  • Feign Death
  • Revive Pet
  • Mend Pet

For your pet, you will want to spec it something like this (Ferocity pet assumed). The build focuses on pure DPS talents, taking both of the new 6th tier talents. Note that to do this it requires you to take the 51st talent, Beast Mastery.

There is some flexibility build into the spec. You could take Spirit Bond over Improved Mend Pet if you wished. If you are short on hit rating, you could drop some points from the Survival tree and take any needed points in Focused Aim. As for glyphs, other than Bestial Wrath your major glyphs are pretty flexible. There are some other solid choices you could use depending on your play style.

Remember, as I always say this spec is not a end all. It is merely a starting point for you to design a spec to suit you. Feel free to leave a link to the build you are using in the comments. I am always interested to see what other people are using.

I don’t think there is a Hunter out there who can argue the fact that speccing BM is the easiest and most efficient spec for solo questing and grinding. On the same note, Hunters can agree that not everyone wants to raid as a BM, or even have the same BM spec for raiding. Or maybe you are a PvP buff. You know damn good and well your PvP spec has no place in a raid. This is where Dual Specs will come in. Now I know there are many options for combination of specs, but what I will cover is what I am going to use.

I do two things in game: Raid and play solo. As I said, for Solo work BM is king. So my first spec will be BM with emphasis on pet survivability. As long as my pet is alive, I’m alive. Now my second spec is where it gets a little iffy.

Currently I raid with a Survival spec. I like the spec. It’s fun to play and I put out enough damage to stay in the top 3 on the meters almost every fight. With 3.1 they are introducing a lot of changes to all 3 specs and the class in general. So I don’t really know what I will spec as yet. Based on what I have read so far I will likely stay Survival for raiding, but we all know that nothing on the PTR is set in stone yet.

Now you don’t have to do the same as me. You could have two specs for raiding, swapping between them depending on the situation or group composition. You may have one for PvP. Really, the possibilities are endless.

What are your plans for dual specs?

Consumable ammunition has been removed from the game. Arrows and bullets no longer stack, but are not consumed. Ranged attack speed bonus gained from quivers and ammo bags will be preserved in a different capacity.

Sure, this sounds great, but lets think of the consequences. Right now Engineers main source of income profession wise is ammo (I don’t count the motorcycles since they are too expensive to even think about mass-producing). Take that away and it becomes for the most part a vanity profession. And an even bigger problem with this change is the loss of realism. Ranged weapons need ammo. We’re not shooting wands here. Sure, I want another bag slot as much as the rest of us, but come on. If you really want to give us another bag slot, make the quiver/ammo pouch into something similar to the keyring.

A new tier of hunter pet talents have been added. In particular, this allows Beastmaster hunters to improve their damage per second (DPS) with their 51 point talent.

Ok, I like this one. BM damage needs buffed back up, and this is a good way to go about it.

Hunting Party – this talent has been reduced to 3 ranks and also grants a passive bonus to the hunter.

Another good one. Not much else to say here.

Piercing Shots – this talent has been changed. Your Aimed, Steady and Chimera Shots cause the target to bleed for 10/20/30% of damage dealt for 8 sec.

Well, Blizz had to do something if they wanted people to ever use the talent. This will be good, as long as the bleed effect stacks.

Sniper Training – this talent has been changed. After standing still for 6 sec, you gain a 2/4/6% damage bonus to Steady, Aimed and Explosive Shot.

This would be good, if you could actually stand still for more than 6 seconds. I don’t know about you, but there are very few fights in the game right now that don’t require considerable movement just to stay alive. If this change goes through, Sniper training will effectively become a useless talent and force Survival Hunters to trap dance.

We are also looking to add additional trap functionality to Survival.

Better trap functionality is always good. It is nice to see that Blizz is trying to take Surv back to its roots somewhat while still keeping it competitive damage wise.

One thing to keep in mind though is that none of these changes are set in stone yet. There is still a ton of testing to be done meaning these could change at any time. Or be thrown out completely. As always, thoughts and comments appreciated.

After spending some time working the target dummies over and running a few instances I have to say that I like what I am seeing. I am putting out enough damage that I don’t feel like I’m being carried through instances and the play style is close enough to Beast Master that there isn’t much of a learning curve.

My basic strategy as been to get at max range, mark and send in the pet, open with Serpent Sting, fire Explosive Shot, and then fire Steady Shots until Explosive is up again. After that it simply maintaining my sting and alternating Explosive and Steady. Basically the same thing I did with Beast Master, except I used Arcane there.

The one exception to this rotation is when Lock and Load procs. Once Explosive is off cooldown I fire it, then one Steady, Explosive, one Steady, Explosive, and then it is back to my normal rotation. I haven’t trap danced really, but if i find myself close enough to use a trap, I will throw one down to guarantee a Lock and Load proc. FYI, adds on boss fights are a great way to proc Lock and Load with a trap while still staying at max range.

Another thing I have noticed is that it doesn’t feel like I am spending near as much time in Viper as I was as a BM or Marks spec. Most likely because Replenishment is active 90% of the time and Explosive Shot grants 3 ticks of mana regen.

I think I am going to stick with this spec a little longer than I did Marks. It may turn out to be what I use to hold me over until Blizz buffs BM back up to competitive damage levels. If I do stick with it though, there are a few things that I need to work on to get the most out of it:

1. Experiment with using Multi-Shot in my rotation. Old habits die hard. I have always tried to avoid this one because I am worried about breaking CC. But since no-one uses CC any more, it is something to consider.
2. Re-gem and re-enchant to stack Agility instead of Attack Power. Mostly to get my crit up.
3. Find a new pet.

Well, that’s all I got for now. Any thoughts, comments, or suggestions would be appreciated.

Tonight I was thinking of changing to Surv to give it a try. I might like it more, might like it less. One thing I do know is that I don’t plan on trap dancing. The whole idea of constantly running to melee range seems wrong for a Hunter. I think its also time to look into another pet. I like my moth, but I think I can do better for a non-exotic ferocity.

Any suggestion on spec or pet choice would be more than welcome.