Speculation

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.

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No More Mortal Strike for Hunters in Cataclysm?

Looking over the Warrior class preview for Cataclysm, I noticed an interesting bit that suggests hunters may be losing their mortal strike. Overall, heals cast by players in Cataclysm will be a lower number relative to players’ health than the current game. So to make the Mortal Strike debuff less mandatory but still useful in PvP, Mortal Strike will reduce …

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Epic Ammo Coming in 3.3

Epic Ammo in Patch 3.3A new item of interest to Hunters was included in MMO Champion’s data mining report yesterday. Hunters will once again have access to epic ammo. It seems that there will be 2 plans for craftable ammo that will be available to engineers once they reach honored reputation with The Ashen Verdict. The plans are for: Iceblade Arrow and Shatter Round. The Ashen Verdict is the alliance between the Argent Crusade and Knights of the Ebon Blade. I’d imagine slaying beasties, demons and the like in Icecrown Citadel will get you on their good side.

There are a couple of interesting notes about this new ammo. For one, since they’re craftable, the new epic ammo will available to all Hunters once they reach 80. This is very different from epic ammo that had been introduced in the past, as previously it required a rep grind to obtain. Now all’s you have to do is have an engineer buddy make you some if you’re not already an engineer yourself. I’d imagine honored reputation should be pretty easy to obtain, so we should start seeing this stuff in the AH not long after 3.3 goes live.

The one thing that’s rather unusual, is these items require either Gnomish or Goblin specializations. These two paths have been irrelevant for the most part since TBC, but it seems that Blizz may be moving back towards specialized professions heading into Cataclysm. To craft the arrows you have to be a Gnomish Engineer, and to craft the bullets you must be a Goblin Engineer.

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Armor Penetration Nerf Incoming

Yesterday evening Ghostcrawler announced in the Damage Dealing forum that a nerf to Armor Penetration was likely going to be on the horizon for Patch 3.2.2. The news wasn’t received so well by the forum community, and as a result, the thread has reached 13 pages. Needless to say, we’re not talking about 13 pages of “thank you Blizzard”. 😉 …

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Whoa! I Missed This One.

I must have either been in the bathroom or outside flipping the steaks on the grill when they announced this possible change… Hunters might be able to choose the talent tree of their pet to let them pick the pet that looks best to them. Zhevra is a possibility for Cataclysm. Holy s**t! Thunderstomping moth tanks. I’m thinking that moths …

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