HuntsmansLodge.com

WoW Hunter Guides, News, Resources and Musings

More Stable Slots..?

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Gotta catch em allPerhaps.

In the Blizz Developer’s Blizzchat on Twitter today, one of the questions raised was the ever so popular topic of adding more stable slots. The response was both interesting and favorable.

Q. Are hunters likely to see more stable slots for their pets in the future? With the current variety of pets, the amount they have right now seems too small.
A. Arm-waving here, but a model I would love to see is dramatically expanded slots (so you can store all those Spirit Beasts) but have a smaller number of “active” pets, like 3. You could summon an active pet from anywhere in the world, when outside of combat. You would swap a pet from active to the stable at the Stable Masters.

I like this concept. BM Hunters will be allowed to “collect” more pets (ie: Spirit Beasts), yet there will be a practical convenience limiting factor in place for all hunters. Pet happy hunters won’t be capped to how many they can acquire, with the only trade-off being that Call Stabled Pet may be limited to 3 choices, down from the 5 we have now. I’m liking this direction. [Read more…] about More Stable Slots..?

Beast Mastery Changes: Acceptance and Ponderings

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Rather than continue my diatribe against the probable upcoming changes to the Beast Mastery tree, I’ve decided to shift my focus towards finding ways to adapt to the new mechanics.

First, let’s rewind a bit and recap this week’s announcement(s) and the ripple effect it had at HuntsmansLodge.com…

On Wednesday, MMO Champion posted news of a change to the Beast Mastery tree that was data mined from the Patch 3.2.2 PTR patch notes.

  • The Beast Within now lasts 10 sec (Down from 18 sec) but now also increases all damage you deal by 10% at all times.
  • Bestial Wrath now lasts 10 sec. (Down from 18 sec)

My initial opinion of this change was somewhat favorable. Although the shortened duration for The Beast Within and Bestial Wrath left me a little sad, the 10% passive damage bonus seemed like a fair trade-off. From a PvPer’s standpoint, it wasn’t the change I’d hoped to see, but I was OK with it. I liked the idea of upping the spec’s damage as a whole by 10%, even if it did mean losing some time in god-mode.

Then, the other shoe eventually dropped…

Not long after this announcement came out, it had the PvP Hunter community in an uproar over the 8 second reduced duration nerf to TBW. This prompted GC to make a formal post in the Damage Dealing forum detailing the change.

In my opinion, the news was not so good…

I love data-mined patch note day.

It should be no surprise to anyone who has been on these boards for long that we’re trying to chill out abilities that convey offensive and defensive bonuses with the same button press. At the same time, BM damage was a little low and too dependent on the pet. With this change, hopefully, Bestial Wrath becomes more of a defensive ability while taking Beast Within will boost hunter (and just the hunter) damage at all times.

I call it more of a defensive cooldown because it now breaks all CC like a PvP trinket.

[…] “Send your pet into a rage causing 50% additional damage for 10 sec (down from 18). While enraged, the beast does not feel pity or remorse or fear and it cannot be stopped unless killed.”

The tooltip doesn’t say this, but it now breaks all forms of CC that a PvP trinket would break (including Cyclone, Sap, etc.).

“Increases all damage you deal by 10% and while your pet is under the effects of Bestial Wrath, you also go into a rage causing 10% additional damage and reducing mana costs of all spells by 20% for 10 sec (down from 18). While enraged, you do not feel pity or remorse or fear and you cannot be stopped unless killed.”

So the changes are:

  • Duration lowered.
  • Passive hunter damage buff added.
  • Now breaks all forms of CC (whatever a PvP trinket breaks, including Sap and Cyclone).

These are the things that bothered me about this explanation…

  • Since when does a pure damage-dealing class need a 41 point defensive ability..?! Especially one that is currently bringing up the rear as far as DPS and burst damage is concerned. Sure, BM has the highest burst within its 18 second window, provided the pet is active, but overall it’s lacking.
  • “…taking Beast Within will boost hunter (and just the hunter) damage at all times.” Ouch. 10% passive damage doesn’t sound so hot anymore does it..? 😕

Once I realized that the damage bonus was exclusive to the Hunter, this change left me reeling. Considering the factors involved, I quickly deduced that the PvE buff would only be realized in the form of a 2%-3% boost to DPS, but the collateral damage to BM PvP would be catastrophic. [Read more…] about Beast Mastery Changes: Acceptance and Ponderings

PTR Patch Notes for 3.08

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Looking over the patch notes today I saw a few more things of note. These being changes that mainly affect Night Elf Hunters that have Skinning as a profession, such as myself. Not to mention the greatest change of all…

Too long have I pained and agonized over the inability to open clams while riding a vehicle, sitting, mounted, stealthed, and invisible…but NO more!

The unopenable clam

Blizzard, why must you torment me..! Curse you!

The suffering is over. With 3.08, BLIZZARD is about to introduce a wealth of options for clam opening.

Players can now open clams while riding a vehicle, sitting, mounted, stealthed, and invisible.

Praise you, Blizzard! It’s good to know that you’re listening to the legions of fans who’ve been pushing for less restrictive clam opening options.

Racial restrictions on mounts have now been lifted. Night elves on mechanostriders? Tauren on raptors? You’re not seeing things.

Finally I can have my Mechanostrider! 😀

The run speed in spirit form has been increased by 50%. Night Elves in Wisp form will now move at 75% speed.

That rules. Of course, I have to die first in order to see that benefit, which very rarely happens. 🙄

Hunter Changes

I’d posted these earlier but here they are again in case anyone hasn’t seen them. Mostly bad news. 🙁

  • All Hunter pet abilities with a cooldown of 30 seconds or more are no longer on the global cooldown.
  • Aspect of the Wild – This aspect is now raid-wide.
  • Call of the Wild: The benefit from this pet talent now applies to only the Hunter and their own pet.
  • Deterrence: Design changed to grant 100% parry and 100% chance to “deflect” spells coming from the front, but prevents the Hunter from attacking. Lasts 5 sec. 60 sec. cooldown.
  • Improved Tracking(Survival): This talent has been slightly re-designed. Now reads: While tracking Beasts, Demons, Dragonkin, Elementals, Giants, Humanoids and Undead, all ranged damage done to those types is increased by 1/2/3/4/5%.
  • Kill Shot – Cooldown reduced to 15 seconds, down from 35 sec.
  • Kindred Spirits: This talent now grants only 3/6/9/12/15% pet damage.
  • The coefficient of Rake (Cat) and Scorpid Venom (Scorpid) has been lowered.
  • Readiness: No longer resets the cooldown on Bestial Wrath.
  • Steady Shot: Now gains 10% of attack power as damage instead of 20%.
  • Serpent’s Swiftness: This talent now grants only 2/4/6/8/10% bonus attack speed to pet. The hunter attack speed bonus is unchanged.
  • Unleashed Fury: This talent now grants only 3/6/9/12/15% pet damage.
  • Viper Sting: Now drains a percentage of maximum mana.
  • Volley: The damage has been reduced on all ranks by approximately 30% (including attack power scaling).

Profession Changes

  • Glyph of Deterrence: Now -10 seconds instead of -20
  • Increased the critical strike rating granted by ranks 5 and 6 of Master of Anatomy.
    Very good change. I hear it’s going up 7 points. While not fabulous or as good as other Profession bonuses (Inscription for example), it’ll help keep me skinning.