Blizzard has finally gotten around to the hunter class Q&A. You can read the full transcript Here.
Generally we learn again that Blizz wants to remove ammo, but they still aren’t sure how it will be done, or when it will be done; however, crafted ammo will cost substantially less in 3.2.
There were some dumb questions, like the hunter dead zone (which, you know, there isn’t one anymore).
However a really interesting comment on a Haste question was this:
Now for hunters specifically, we think the class is just too cooldown limited, which creates problems with haste. We’ve driven in that direction in order to give hunters a more interesting rotation, and to be fair, we feel like we’ve done that. But being cooldown limited isn’t necessarily a fun way for the class to play and we think it’s one of those things that makes hunters feel more like casters than like ranged-weapon users. (Hunters are casters in the sense that they’re ranged dps, but we still want the emphasis to be on the gun or bow.) More on this at BlizzCon, too.
This comment is a bit cryptic (and the second time in the Q&A they’ve told us we’d get the A to our Q at BlizzCon) but suggests some interesting changeups to the core of how our class works. Most interesting comment in the whole Q&A, and I wish they told us more about what they were thinking.
Otherwise we hear that yes, BM dps is low but nothing speficic about how to fix it. Yes, hunter suck in Arenas, but nothing about how they’ll fix it. Yes, we want pet PVE survival against boss specials to be better, but they don’t know how they’ll do that. No, you won’t get to fire auto shot while moving, yes, your stings will stay on the GCD.
So overall not terribly enlightening. In fact, it wasn’t so much a Question and Answer but more of a Question and Discussion of the Question. I understand that for some things they just don’t have an answer worked out themselves yet – but it was really frustrating to see the references to “ask that at BlizzCon!” which implies that they know the answer, but just don’t want to tell us yet.
In which case, you know, maybe rethink the whole Q&A concept, if you aren’t willing to give use the A.
The answer to the question “Are there any long term plans to possibly removing the need for hunters to rely on a different resource system then mana?” stirred up some speculation over on wow.com that it might be focus-based. How do you feel about that Frost?
It would make sense — the other item they refused to answer until blizzcon was the idea of making hunters not cooldown-dependant, and switching to a focus-based system would be a move in that direction.
Honestly, I’d much rather work in a mana-based system than a focus-based system. The focus window is so small and it makes timing your abilities much more vital (must hit the button JUST as your focus jumps up to the point where you can afford it).
However, if they want to make hunters “feel” different than a caster, ditching the mana system is a good idea. It is, after all, very much a caster-feeling system.
The changing from mana to another resource would be a very delicate situation. A lot of things would be up in the air as to how it would work.
Would intellect now be useless and all this gear with int that we have be a complete waste, also if intellect is useless would Careful Aim also now have to be reworked?
There is much more detail that could be thrown in, I am just wondering how they would even go about changing it since to an extent, intellect is still pretty important to the hunter.
I dont understand what they mean by “which creates problems with haste” – what does that mean specifically???
The reason they are waiting till blizzcon is they probably are associated with the expansion they will announce and they aren’t allowed to talk about the expansion until then. So don’t get your hopes up for any fixes in the immediate future.
I highly doubt they’d do focus, because that is just like energy. Unless they want to expand the use of energy out to another class…/shrug Maybe they will succumb to that decision.
focus….
/target Blizzard
/facepalm
Tweaks, sure. But what’s horribly wrong with the class anyway? I feel like they have too much time on their hands to think.
Maybe I’m weird but I object to the idea of endless free ammo that i think they are moving towards. I’m a Hunter…I use ammunition…I have worked my way up to a Dragon Scale 28 slot ammo pouch and I mine to get mats for my Mammoth Cutters. If all all I have to do is blast away with a never ending stream of free ammo…what was the point ?
As to mana usage…..again I think that they should tread carefully. I work to manage my mana ( I’m MM spec for instances & raids). I should NOT be able to just blast away with stings and special shots with no thought to “resources”…..otherwisw WoW will truly become a kids game.
The “endless free ammo” is something the Blizz has said they want to implement for a while — I’m guessing it will be similar to the way they changed throwing weaopns to work. So instead of a consumable, you get a blue, or a purple item that is your ammo slot. This just makes sense — since right now hunters are the only class in the game that has to pay money for every attack that we make.
As for the mana system — I agree that doing away with it would be a massive change — but they would *certainly* put another resource system in its place, not just let us do everything for free
I bet the haste problem is that haste doesn’t scale up our cooldown-based shots, which is the majority of our DPS. They probably want to make haste a more valuable stat for hunters, which means more of our DPS needs to come from auto-shot or chance-on-ranged-attack.
If they want to make us feel less like casters, they may switch to chance-on-hit abilities that trigger potential skill chains, kind of like melee classes get. Think Lock & Load–something procs, and we fire off a specific sequence of shots in reaction to that. If they added more of those, our DPS would no longer be a shot priority or rotation, but instead it would be firing off a few things and waiting for procs to happen.
I could see them rolling this in with the ammo changes, so we can get ammo types that have different procs and new (or changed) shots to exploit those procs. That would make us a new class entirely–the mechanics would be part caster, part warrior.
One thing that has always annoyed me, why do they give hunters the thrown weapon skill? Is it just to mess with the heads of lowbies? It’s the only weapon skill I have that’s not 400 and it ruins my skills panel. (I may have OCD).
I was disappointed to read that they don’t want to make autoshot an instant, since so much of ulduar is a moving fight, and from what i’ve heard on the ptr, the colliseum will be too. My guild ran 25 Naxx the other night, 4 of the top 5 were hunters. The next night, had almost the exact same group in 25 Uld, top 5 were mages a rogue, the 4 hunters were 9th – 12th on the chart. In Naxx the top hunters were all over 4k, in uld 1 was over 3k, the rest of us hovering around 2800. It gets annoying to have a lock in blues out dpsing me because i have to move so much, and it kills my dps.
I’m right there with you on that padluck, but for me, I DO have OCD about it… I took the time to level up my thrown weapons to 400… if you check me out on the armory (I reside over on Stormrage), you’ll see that EVERY single skill on my skills list, weapons and professions, is completely maxed out. 450 fishing ftw!!! XD
i think that autoshot should not be instant and able to go off while moving, i mean, really? Should we have the game play for us too so it can be more like a movie? – think about it, with that in mind, we could just /follow a healer on just about every fight and sit back with my 9 button mouse and watch tv while spamming the buttons and be pretty competitive on the charts. – koonazz – i was top dps in naxx and i am still top dps in ulduar, all it takes is some studying and learning the fights. there are fights in ulduar where the hunter should NEVER be on top of the meters – Hodir and General Vezax for example. And yes, i have been there before – i have my rusted proto-drake and I found out today that i am currently the best geared hunter on Lethon!
Jgulr- Lethon
Call me a stubborn old fart…but I still see nothing wrong with buying ammo. When our guild wipes in Nax ( a regular occurence) I run off and pay maybe 20G for repairs, whereas the plate wearers fork out small fortunes. The pally’s and locks suck up assorted and mysterious herbs and potions like water which costs them $$.
As an aside…while nowhere near as well geared or experienced as you guys…our guild has two “senior” hunters; me an MM spec’d Dwarf and Sudzy an SV spec’d night elf. The only guy who can out Dps us is the guild pres who is a very well geared, experienced and “24/7″ player Warlock
I forgot to add that I agree completely with Jguir that you should NOT be able to shoot while running….it just does not make sense