As many of you already know, tomorrow is the scheduled date for the official posting of the Cataclysm Hunter class preview. Seeing the proposed changes that have been announced for some of the other classes has me quite excited (concerned…?) over what Blizzard has planned for hunters in Cataclysm. The anticipation of tomorrow’s news is not unlike the eve of the NFL Draft, for me anyway. 
I’m quite anxious to see what’s in store.
Some of what lies ahead has already been revealed.
We know that our resource system is changing from mana to focus. This will no doubt be the biggest change of them all, as it will have us relearning how to play our class. Instead of having a predictable pool of mana to draw from, we will have to more carefully budget our shots, as we’ll be using a more limited resource system much like what Rogues and kitty Druids have.
Agility will once again provide us with 2 points of attack power per point of agility. Agility will be thee stat for hunters in Cataclysm, just as it was in the days of old. No more theorycrafterizing and mathematicalization of stats like armor penetration. In fact…
Armor Penetration will no longer be included in gear itemization. From what I understand, Armor Pen will not be a stat placed upon gear, but will exist in talents and talent masteries.
Haste will become more important because it will directly affect how quickly we regenerate focus. All throughout WotLK haste has been at the bottom of the barrel in terms of stat weight for hunters. Not in Cataclysm however.
As with all the class trees, hunters will have a mastery for each spec which will buff certain stat(s). Instead of just a spec defining talent at the end of each tree, classes will also have certain boosts to various stats depending on their specialization. For example… Beast Mastery hunters may receive a boost to raw attack power, MM will likely see Armor Penetration buffs, and SV might receive more haste, thus quicker Focus regen. We don’t know exactly what these will look like just yet, but perhaps we may have a better idea come tomorrow.
It’s also been mentioned that hunters may be able to choose any of the three family talent trees for their pets. This would provide for some interesting results, as we would then be able to create such things as ferocity worms, tenacity moths, cunning turtles, etc. A change like this will no doubt provide hunters with a little more in terms of variety when it comes to choosing a pet for whatever application.
So those are just a few glimpses of what the future will, and could bring.
Now that we’ve reviewed some of the foretold class changes, here are a few things I wouldn’t mind seeing tomorrow…
More stable slots. I know this sounds cliché, but I don’t care. I want moar pets. Not just because I want more pets, but because I want more versatility. At the very least, I’d like to see Beast Masters be granted additional stable slots. Heck, if I could have five stable slots for non-exotics and another five slotter for exotics, I’d be happy.
Scatter Shot becomes a baseline ability. I’ve wanted this for a long time. It’s wishful thinking, but then again, this is my wish list.
WTF happened to Camoflauge..?! It was rumored that hunters were going to be given some sort of stealth/sniper ability, but it has yet to see the light of day. Maybe tomorrow?
New and exciting ammo choices. This is on many a hunter’s wish list I’m sure. Situation specific ammo for PvE and PvP.
Apart from those things, I wouldn’t mind seeing more defining talent specializations, ie: a more savage and fierce Beast Mastery tree, Marksmanship being thee spec for ranged damage, and Survival being the most tactical spec.
This may sound crazy to some, but I think it would be kind of cool if Beast Mastery moved towards a more ferocious type of spec with some melee mixed in. I know Survival has classically been the tree associated with whatever limited melee viability we have, but to me BM seems the more appropriate place for hand to hand combat – man and beast fighting side by side.
Of course, I’d like to see all three specs be viable for PvE and PvP, but it’d be nice to see things shaken up some. It could even go to the extent that Marksmanship hunters rely almost exclusively on ranged weapon damage and don’t even use a pet.
Hmmm… that might be crazy talk there. I know I’d hate not having a pet, but I’m sure there are many hunters out there who would kick fluffy to the curb for the sake of higher DPS.
Enough of my wishes and speculation… what would you like to see happen with hunters in Cataclysm? What are your thoughts, wishes, fears..?
