WoD Hunter is amazing. Don't be worried!

[Regalbeast]

Hi all,

After reading about the state of Hunters in WoD on this sub-forum I became very worried. My Hunter has been my main for 3 of the expansions but I was considering going back to my Druid after reading about the changes and the reactions here. I got the beta in the invites this week so I have been playing a lot. Let me just tell you, the Hunter will be AWESOME in WoD. Every spec truly feels different, which is something that Blizz has been trying to do for a while with the Hunter.

BM: This spec truly makes you feel like your pet is your strongest asset. Adaptation is a great new talent that basically turns your pet into a killing machine. The spec is my least favorite, still, but if you are into BM and really into your pet there is nothing better.

MM: This has been my main spec since BC. I was so worried when I read about the changes (mastery changes, no arcane shot, etc) but I had a ton of fun playing with MM using Lone Wolf. The crits are insane and so much fun. Sure, standing still for 3 seconds can be tough at times but it requires you to be a lot more methodical about your positioning and engaging. I think that this spec will have a high skill cap in both PvP and PvE. Lone wolf is really fun to spec into because it makes you feel like a true master marksman. This will be my raiding spec for WoD.

SV: I think this is the most unique the Survival spec has ever felt. I love the short cooldowns on traps, the Lock and Load procs, and the multiple DOT's you can have going. The crits are near as awesome as MM but the sustain and pooled dps is fun to set up. I'm thinking that this will be my PvP spec for WoD

I know that I'm not a great analyst and I definitely know that I'm not as experienced in theory crafting as many of you on here. I just wanted to add my two cents from my beta thoughts and help bring some positive thoughts on our beloved Hunters going into WoD.

I'm excited!!

[Avikur]

I agree, I also have had loads of fun on the beta, my Hunter was my main in Cata, I switched to a lock in MoP as I really enjoyed the revamp, but they're nowhere near as much fun now (and yes I do mean fun and not OP! forget numbers for now, tuning is still going on, i'm talking how a class plays), depending on how I feel about the lock by the time 6.0 comes out I may well be switching back to my Hunter

[Deleted]

The specs are absolutely different now, but they're still quite lacking in a raid setting as a part of a team.

[Deleted]

Lots of classes look like crap in the beta. Have you asked warriors and warlocks about it? They have multiple threads discussing what to reroll to. Ret paladins are used to sucking balls, so they're pretty calm about it, and other classes remain at the same power level they were in MoP, except druids whose feral and boomkin specs are now OP as fuck - still not playing a feral though as I can't stand the animal forms.

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MM: This has been my main spec since BC. I was so worried when I read about the changes (mastery changes, no arcane shot, etc) but I had a ton of fun playing with MM using Lone Wolf. The crits are insane and so much fun. Sure, standing still for 3 seconds can be tough at times but it requires you to be a lot more methodical about your positioning and engaging. I think that this spec will have a high skill cap in both PvP and PvE. Lone wolf is really fun to spec into because it makes you feel like a true master marksman. This will be my raiding spec for WoD.

For PVE yes it can be fun, though Exotic Munitions - fire trumps it in performance, but not enough as to be a horrible choice in the talent tier, like Powershot (lmao).

For PVP though...you should be using Exotic Munitions - frost, as the sacrifice of your pvp tools for just a 30% increase in damage is pretty bad. http://www.mmo-champion.com/threads/...ne-Wolf-Talent

[Deleted]

It may be amazing for PVE, but for PVP - not so sure.

I played MM on the PTR and it feels disgusting. Keeping the mastery buff active, while keeping good range, even against normal lvl90 PVE mobs is hard, let alone against players. With fervor gone you can't get focus fast enough to burst, aimed+chimera uses it up and then you have to wait for 50 focus again and can't do any damage in the process. The loss of arcane is obvious. Barrage got buffed and hits hard, but it breaks all cc too. Powershot is still awful and glaive toss is just boring.

[Deleted]

It may be amazing for PVE, but for PVP - not so sure.

I played MM on the PTR and it feels disgusting. Keeping the mastery buff active, while keeping good range, even against normal lvl90 PVE mobs is hard, let alone against players. With fervor gone you can't get focus fast enough to burst, aimed+chimera uses it up and then you have to wait for 50 focus again and can't do any damage in the process. The loss of arcane is obvious. Barrage got buffed and hits hard, but it breaks all cc too. Powershot is still awful and glaive toss is just boring.

Try BM, I think it's better than MM for pvp now.

[Regalbeast]

Lots of classes look like crap in the beta. Have you asked warriors and warlocks about it? They have multiple threads discussing what to reroll to. Ret paladins are used to sucking balls, so they're pretty calm about it, and other classes remain at the same power level they were in MoP, except druids whose feral and boomkin specs are now OP as fuck - still not playing a feral though as I can't stand the animal forms.

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For PVE yes it can be fun, though Exotic Munitions - fire trumps it in performance, but not enough as to be a horrible choice in the talent tier, like Powershot (lmao).

For PVP though...you should be using Exotic Munitions - frost, as the sacrifice of your pvp tools for just a 30% increase in damage is pretty bad. http://www.mmo-champion.com/threads/...ne-Wolf-Talent

Definitely. I'm planning on trying out Survival with Exotic Munitions for PvP.

[Gestopft]

I was on a premade 100 today and also didn't feel that the sky has fallen or anything, but I found some talent combinations that I had trouble with. For example, I found that Thrill of the Hunt didn't work well for me as MM unless I had Focusing Shot, but I found that the same combination as BM was really awkward. BM with focusing shot and steady focus, however, felt much smoother.

[Nnug]

I was on a premade 100 today and also didn't feel that the sky has fallen or anything, but I found some talent combinations that I had trouble with. For example, I found that Thrill of the Hunt didn't work well for me as MM unless I had Focusing Shot, but I found that the same combination as BM was really awkward. BM with focusing shot and steady focus, however, felt much smoother.

ToTH works beautifully with LW, what do you mean?

[jace85]

I was just wondering; Blizzard has been going on with the cutting down of button bloat, and I personally do feel that I would enjoy the game alot more if i didnt have so many CDs and abilities to juggle during a fight.

I wonder if anyone has some specifics with regards to how Hunters are getting help with the bloat issue.

[Eltreum]

I don't see how hunter can be amazing in WoD:

1 new skill: Aspect of the Fox.

No new skills other than that.
No interesting perks at all, they pretty much give you +damage.
Removed cooldowns

If you go in the PTR right now a BM is likely the best spec and there is pretty much no difference between a level 90 BM and a level 100 BM.

Aspect of the Fox is that much fun? I don't think so, sure it will score raid spots and be very useful for raid/party members, but for the hunter itself it has almost zero impact.

They really made hunter unfun in WoD and no rare tame is going to change that.

[Broraga]

Aspect of the Fox is that much fun? I don't think so, sure it will score raid spots and be very useful for raid/party members, but for the hunter itself it has almost zero impact.

As far as this goes I mentioned it in my thread about AotF and MM Mastery, but it does work to maintain that during the duration Fox is up and you are moving. Even to the point of restacking Sniper Training. But by and large, I do agree that it is a fairly weak CD. I'd like to see it buffed to 12 seconds or the cooldown reduced to maybe 1-1/2 to 2 minutes or so. Just something to give it a little more umpfh.

[Eltreum]

As far as this goes I mentioned it in my thread about AotF and MM Mastery, but it does work to maintain that during the duration Fox is up and you are moving. Even to the point of restacking Sniper Training. But by and large, I do agree that it is a fairly weak CD. I'd like to see it buffed to 12 seconds or the cooldown reduced to maybe 1-1/2 to 2 minutes or so. Just something to give it a little more umpfh.

That is assuming you play MM, if you go SV or BM and don't spec into focusing shot/barrage/powershot I don't see how it will be useful at all.

[Thursley]

Why does a new expansion have to mean a revelation in the playstyle of the class? MM has a very different and unique spec feature in Sniper Training, while BM and SV mostly stayed the same or were slightly simplified because they were mostly fine to begin with. The raid content is new and apparently has a different feel than we've seen before, the new talents add a bit of extra depth on top of that, and AOTF as a raid cooldown is unique, flavorful, class-appropriate, and absolutely quite powerful when used correctly. They tried to shake things up more for survival with the lock & load changes and they didn't work out. It would be nice if they could have figured that out sooner and done something else, but it's not the end of the world. The class will play just fine. Damage tuning could be a different story, of course.

[Broraga]

That is assuming you play MM, if you go SV or BM and don't spec into focusing shot/barrage/powershot I don't see how it will be useful at all.

You would be correct sir. As I said, by and large it's not great... but knowing what it is useful for (even if it's every 3 minutes -_-) is useful.

I think they'll do some sort of modification to it in the future to increase duration or reduce CD.