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.