I saw this over at MMO Champion just now, and reading it made my pants get a little bit tighter.
Below you will find the patch notes for the next minor content patch. As we do not intend to release this patch on the public test realms, we thought we’d share the notes with you ahead of time. Please be aware that these changes are subject to revision until the patch is officially released.
World of Warcraft Client Patch 3.1.3
- Hunter’s Mark: The ranged attack power bonus from this ability has been increased from 300 to 500.
- Master Marksman: This talent now also decreases the cost of Aimed Shot and Chimera Shot by 5/10/15/20/25%.
I highly approve of these changes. What makes this even better, is that many of the other classes’ changes are nerfs. 😆 Death Knights, Druids, Paladins, Warlocks and Warriors are all getting kicked in the stomach in one way or another..
As far as PvP is concerned, the nerfs to the other classes practically outweigh the importance of the buffs we’re receiving. While it’s not all the help we need, this should help to balance Hunters a little bit more in arena as well.
I seem to remember reading a few days back that they were planning on introducing more Hunter buffs aside from the DPS boost to ILVL 226+ ranged weapons. These two changes are a little more than I would have expected. 200 additional attack power for a baseline ability! Oh yeah! The buff to Master Marksman is going to really help MM Hunters’ mana issues. In fact, I foresee MM possibly overtaking SV as the popular raiding spec.
Word on the street is, Hunter’s Mark will provide 750RAP once fully talented with 3/3 in Improved Hunter’s Mark along with the Glyph of Hunter’s Mark. 😯
Now there’s only one more change to make in order to make me really happy… take Hunter’s Mark off of the GCD. Once talented, Hunter’s Mark will no longer require mana to cast, and if it were off the GCD we could macro it into a shot, therefore ensuring that it’s always up. This change wouldn’t have too much impact for raiding Hunters, but in PvP… oh boy!
As a Beast Mastery PvPer, I’d find a way to put 3/3 into Improved Hunter’s Mark and toss in the Glyph of Hunter’s Mark if that were the case. Honestly, I still may do it anyway… 450 more RAP than I have now would be pretty decent I must say. 😈
As for PvE, I’m still not entirely sure about the Glyphs, but this will be my new raiding spec come 3.1.3.
MM Hunter Raiding Spec in 3.1.3
Of course, I’ll have to actually raid again to see just how much these changes are going to benefit MM Hunters. Between keeping busy outside of the game and banging my head against the wall in arena when I am on, I haven’t had much chance to raid lately.
After starting our hellish night of 2v2 arena at 1778, we eventually sunk to 1670, at which time my partner realized he had neglected to re-glyph after he’d purchased his dual spec last week. He’d made Retribution his secondary specialization and forgot to re-glyph it. 😕
What makes this bit about the glyphs really funny is he that he didn’t have them in Friday night either. I was pretty buzzed, he was unglyphed and we still hit 1846. I cracked up about that, then I thought… hey, wait a minute!
If he’d have been properly glyphed that night then we probably would have broke through 1850 no problem..! Aaargh! Oh well, ’tis just a game.
Needless to say, once he glyphed we went 11-2 and clawed our way back to where we started. We peaked out at 1830, only to fall back down to 1732 before finally throwing in the towel. We should have quit while we were ahead and lived to fight another day. Once you get on that slippery slope in arena where you start getting well geared Ret/Ret, Ret/Mage and Rogue/Priest combos one after another, it’s time to log.
I’m still playing catch-up after this weekend’s mayhem, so I may not pick up the talent guide posting for another day or two. Hopefully my next post will be a sexy screenshot of me and my shiny new bow. We shall see…
“I hope they wont just nerf them as they usually do after throwing a delicious bone to the hungry dogs.”
I hope not either Dalaila. This is a well deserved buff for all Hunters, but especially Marks.
Hey Blaqy,
I was laughing about it more than anything, but he was beating himself up about it something fierce. There was nothing we could really do about it, other than him glyphing and us just shaking our heads.
I doubt it would’ve made a world of difference, but as you know, a lot of those matches can be won or lost by a ball hair. It’s quite possible that the glyphs may have turned one or two losses into wins, but who knows…
He uses Divine Storm, Judgement and HoJ
Don’t fret too much Garwulf. Paladin glyphs suck. Even fully glyphed, I doubt it would make much difference. Since Exorcism was taken from us against players, that was the only meaningful glyph. Judgement is the only other one that adds any damage (10% increase in judgment damage), but I suspect your partner is using Seal of the Martyr and that judgement damage was reduced by quite a bit so that doesn’t do much either. Nearly all glyphs for Ret really reduce mana cost (Concecration, Crusader Strike, BoK, etc.). Divine Storm glyph heals for more, but negligible in the Arena setup. Eye for an Eye was a meh talent, which now they’ve made it even less useful.
A very welcome buff to our MM tree. I hope they wont just nerf them as they usually do after throwing a delicious bone to the hungry dogs 😐 Let’s wait and see 🙂