To Focus , or not to Focus

[cpia2002]

I know its hard to say what it will be like, but wanted to see who was excited about the change to focus in the upcoming expansion, and who thinks its a big mistake.

[Zweistein]

mana is awesome.

[DaLeetPawner]

I say yes. I dont like mana as resource and it doesnt feel like it belongs to a Hunter.

[Vongimi]

Hate having to drag a paladin everywhere i go for judgement of wisdom.

[Gerti]

well it will rock for leveling, my hunter is almost always oom while leveling.

[Ekoor]

It's a cool idea, I just hope we get the same focus regeneration as *cough* other classes without the need to spam an awful ability.

[Narkis]

Can not say what it will be like with out actually playing it but I do think its a good Idea and I'm sick off getting low on mana,
What will happen to aspect of the Viper?
Are they going to change what it does or just do away with it?

[Vongimi]

Can not say what it will be like with out actually playing it but I do think its a good Idea and I'm sick off getting low on mana,
What will happen to aspect of the Viper?
Are they going to change what it does or just do away with it?

I assume it will be removed. Along with viper sting.

[Chimaria]

Hate having to drag a paladin everywhere i go for judgement of wisdom.

^this, in 10 mans focus is gonna be awesome, since you more than likely won;t have a Retty, in 25s its a toss up.

I assume it will be removed. Along with viper sting.

I doubt it considering Viper sting drains mana, AkA pvp ability. Yes I obviously know about how it works with Chim shot.

[warptwist]

I assume it will be removed. Along with viper sting.

why would they remove Viper sting just because we change to using Focus?

Stings the target, draining 4% mana over 8 sec, aswell as energizing the Hunter with 35 Focus over the duration, one Sting per Hunter can be active on any one target.

Chimera shot effect could be changed into many things aswell, for example to instantly restore 30 focus, or something els.

[TheSpid]

Mana was always weird on hunters. This is an interesting change.

[Narkis]

Mana was always weird on hunters. This is an interesting change.

I have to agree with that, Since its not magic that we use its arrows,

I always thought they were going to use poison when I was picking a class,

[Shazu]

While having hunters use mana might seem a little weird, completely changing the mechanics of our class this late in the game's life is a huge mistake imo. I play hunter because I like how it plays. It's been established for years now and to change it when the game is arguably in it's 'twilight years' is pointless. It's an indication that the developers are getting bored and tinkering with things that really don't need tinkering, just because it doesn't 'seem' right.

How about using all the development time involved with changing hunter mechanics on providing better quality control. Less realm downtime. Improved instance/boss mechanic design. Fixing broken specs. Fixing imbalances, etc...Or add a new class. All these things would make WoW a better overall gaming experience for all of the subscribers.

[Siri]

It all depends on how they manage to implement it, it can be awesome or terrible, I remain positive though!

[darkwarrior42]

While having hunters use mana might seem a little weird, completely changing the mechanics of our class this late in the game's life is a huge mistake imo. I play hunter because I like how it plays. It's been established for years now and to change it when the game is arguably in it's 'twilight years' is pointless. It's an indication that the developers are getting bored and tinkering with things that really don't need tinkering, just because it doesn't 'seem' right.

I get where you're coming from, but I respectfully disagree. Hunters are one of a number of class/spec options that use mana, yet don't *really* use mana. Ret pallys and enhancement shamans fall here too. Mana isn't really meant to be a limiting factor for any of these classes; granted, how/when you use viper aspect is critical, but in the end you just have the same focus on managing your mana as a mage or a balance druid.

Last I heard, the model for focus was going to be "6 focus/sec, 12 focus/sec if you're casting steady shot". Given that, let's compare hunter now to hunter with focus. I'll use marksmen as an example. According to the sticky on this form, the marksman rotation/priority is:

1) Rapid Fire
2) Readiness
3) Kill Shot
4) Chimera Shot
5) Aimed Shot
6) Steady Shot

So, cooldowns aside, what are we doing?
-If Kill shot is applicable and available, hit it. If it's on CD, hit Chimera shot. If that's on CD, hit aimed shot. If nothing is available, chain-cast steady shot until something else is ready.

Now, let's consider putting all these abilities on focus instead. Figure aimed shot will have a focus cost, but no cooldown; the regeneration rate of focus will provide a natural cooldown to aimed shot, much as energy regen provides a natural cooldown to mutilate. Kill Shot and Chimera Shot will likely still have cooldowns. So, cooldowns aside, what will we do now?
-If Kill shot is applicable and availablie, hit it once you have focus. If it's on CD, hit chimera shot once you have focus. If that's on CD, hit aimed shot if you have focus for it. If you're out of focus, chain-cast steady shot to build the focus needed for more powerful attacks.

Yeah, it sounds a bit different... but in the end, you're doing the exact same thing. The only differences are:
-You no longer have to deal with intellect
-No more switching to aspect of the viper, killing your dps, just to get the resources needed to do what every other class does

*shrug* It's how the hunter should have been all along. Granted, it's been a long time coming... and the ret pally and the enhancement shaman will still be classes that have mana bars, but treat them as energy/focus bars. The difference is, they have specs that need mana as a true mana bar. Hunters don't.



But that's all just my take on it. If you still disagree, cool. Just wanted to share my thoughts.

[phycus]

I am looking forward to it, but I'm a bit concerned that when it hits it will be like figuring out how to play a totally different class. I think they probably could have fixed the problem by removing int from our gear; thus drastically diminishing our mana pool and giving us a skill like ret pallies and a shammys imp ss to return a chunk of our mana when used. I think the change will be good in the long run, but I don't look forward to the total shit storm of bugs and other problems when they push it live.

[TheSpid]

How about using all the development time involved with changing hunter mechanics on providing better quality control. Less realm downtime. Improved instance/boss mechanic design. Fixing broken specs. Fixing imbalances, etc...Or add a new class. All these things would make WoW a better overall gaming experience for all of the subscribers.

Considering different teams work on different things all they could do instead would be work on other classes. While i too want more classes, i doubt that changing hunters from mana to focus will require the same amount of work as it will to create a new class.
Also considering that all classes will have a lot of reworking done, some of the time this change will take can be saved as they have to go through all talents and stuff anyway.

[LordArcsinh]

Hate having to drag a paladin everywhere i go for judgement of wisdom.

They could, y'know, just do what they did for Fire Mages (who have less mana issues than we do) and given us a personal JoW through Piercing Shots.

Just tack onto Master Marksman the line "In addition, every time your Piercing Shots deals periodic damage, you have a 20/40/60/80/100% chance to gain 2% of your base mana." Voila, mana issues solved.

[Traezz]

Apparently I'm the only person who finds threads like these extremely hillarious.

Hunters during BC: "Mana is a horrible resource, give us an energy-like resource!"

Hunters now: "NOOOOOOOOOOOOO LEAVE MANA ALOOOOONE"

It's going to get changed, there is no point in bitching about it.

[Shazu]

I think the change will be good in the long run, but I don't look forward to the total shit storm of bugs and other problems when they push it live.

This is a good point. How many patches and hotfixes will it take to get hunters dps balanced? How far into what very well may be the last WoW expansion will it take?

Apparently I'm the only person who finds threads like these extremely hillarious.

Hunters during BC: "Mana is a horrible resource, give us an energy-like resource!"

Hunters now: "NOOOOOOOOOOOOO LEAVE MANA ALOOOOONE"

It's going to get changed, there is no point in bitching about it.

The irony...It's called a forum and if you don't want people to discuss upcoming major hunter changes I think you're probably in the wrong spot. Also worth noting, your post is bitching about people supposedly bitching. OLD.