Here’s another list of the recent changes the Hunter class has undergone on the Patch 3.1 PTR. Good stuff, have a look…
- Ammunition: All types of gun and bow ammunition now stack to 1000. All quivers and ammo pouches no longer provide haste. 15% ranged haste is now built in to Hunter Autoshot.
- Call Stabled Pet: This new ability lets the hunter remotely access the stable. 30 min cooldown.
- Cunning, Ferocity and Tenacity pets now all have +5% damage, +5% armor and +5% health bonuses. This should make more pet families feel viable, while additional talents have been added to distinguish a pet’s abilities based on its specializations.
- Disengage: Cooldown increased by 5 sec.
- Pets now inherit more spell hit from the hunter. Pets with magic attacks should not require a player to stack additional hit compared to pets with physical attacks.
- Viper Sting re-designed: Stings the target, draining 4% of mana over 8 sec (up to a maximum of 8% of the caster’s maximum mana), and energizing the Hunter equal to 300% of the amount drained. Only one Sting per Hunter can be active on any one target.
The ammo change is nice. That should translate into roughly around 15 more bag slots, by being able to tote around an extra Frostweave Bag.
The Call Stabled Pet skill sounds great. Switching pets on the fly is going to be a nice luxury. No more hearthing back to town, or flying to the nearest stable master to switch pets before a dungeon. Or perhaps your groups struggling and needs an OT… no problem… just call your Tenacity pet.
The pet stat normalization is interesting. Provided the new pet talents that go live are viable enough, this seems like a positive change.
5 more seconds on Disengage. Somewhat of a trivial change in my opinion. It may be a slight nerf for some high ranking arena Hunters, but pretty inconsequential to me.
The +spell hit change is exciting. This is going to bring Loque’nahak’s damage up to par with the Devilsaur I’m thinking. The main problem the Spirit Beast was contending with was Spirit Strike misses. Good job Blizzard.
Viper Sting’s mana drain acting as a Life Steal..?! Oh yeah! This change is almost too good to be true. I just hope it sticks and doesn’t see the nerf bat or get removed before the patch goes live.