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  1. #1

    How do you get used to focus?

    I like playing hunter, but i dont like focus. I have been trying to get the hang of it but i really much preferred it the way it was when hunter used mana. I dont like energy classes and focus sorta falls into that category. Just cant do it.

    Yeah i could just not play the class but the hunter is interesting to me it feels unique but the focus resource just sways me away from it...

  2. #2
    I found focus to be the most fun out of all the energy resources, because rather than always waiting for it to regen, i can hit cobra/steady shot and feel like im ALWAYS doing something. rather than, well, rogues where they just auto-attack til they get 60 energy again. As for getting used to it... i can't really help you there, it came naturally to me.

  3. #3
    Deleted
    Hunters are all about focus management, so if that puts you off you really shouldn't be trying to force yourself into this class.

    I still think it's one of the best things they ever done for us. Sitting in Aspect of the Viper doing 50% damage for half the fight was horrible.

  4. #4
    Hunters are more engaging to play now. Focus management allows a lot of room for improvement as you learn fights, etc. just hitting stuff on cooldown til you were OOM was boring in comparison. If you don't like it, hunter probably isn't for you. There's no magic way to make you good at managing focus. Half of it is instinct, the other half is planning.

  5. #5
    Deleted
    just practice managing it with cobra shot thats all really.

  6. #6
    Herald of the Titans Marxman's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Bovan View Post
    Sitting in Aspect of the Viper doing 50% damage for half the fight was horrible.
    To be fair, the majority of the time that we had mana it was just an infinite resource. Other than yelling at my guild leader to judge wisdom and chugging Fel Mana Potions like candy, it might as well not have existed. It was fairly rare to have to sit in Viper under normal circumstances.

  7. #7
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    Quote Originally Posted by Marxman View Post
    To be fair, the majority of the time that we had mana it was just an infinite resource. Other than yelling at my guild leader to judge wisdom and chugging Fel Mana Potions like candy, it might as well not have existed. It was fairly rare to have to sit in Viper under normal circumstances.
    That's not quite how I remember it. I mean yea I was over exaggerating in my previous post, but I had to switch to Viper quite often. Then again my Hunter was an alt which I only played in a very gimped 10 man ICC raid. I think the only form of mana replenishment was a Resto Druid.

    I didn't play my Hunter in TBC so I have no clue how it looked at those times. But my point was that sitting in a stance to generate resources with a heavy damage reduction wasn't pleasant.

  8. #8
    Elemental Lord clevin's Avatar
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    You couldn't chain mana pots after TBC though, so 'chugging Fel Mana Potions' hasn't been an option for awhile.

  9. #9
    Quote Originally Posted by Bovan View Post
    That's not quite how I remember it. I mean yea I was over exaggerating in my previous post, but I had to switch to Viper quite often. Then again my Hunter was an alt which I only played in a very gimped 10 man ICC raid. I think the only form of mana replenishment was a Resto Druid.

    I didn't play my Hunter in TBC so I have no clue how it looked at those times. But my point was that sitting in a stance to generate resources with a heavy damage reduction wasn't pleasant.
    Most of the time you would only need to switch to viper during steady shots near the very end of the fight. Mana would last for 5-6 min or longer the farther you got into the exp. So when you were low you would aspect dance between hawk and viper like we did with hawk and fox. The only annoying thiing about mana was you had to drink after the fight and while you were out doing anything else. With focus you can just go go go.

  10. #10
    When hunters changed from Mana to Focus, I definitely struggled at first to get the hang of it. The only recommendation I have is to practice. Spend some time at the training dummy and really get a feel for how much Focus your abilities require, and translate that into the number of Cobra Shots needed to recoup the Focus spent. Eventually, you should be able to maintain a shot priority where you aren't starved or capped for Focus. Once I got the hang of Focus, I loved it. I definitely prefer it over Mana, but it's a steep learning curve if you're still accustomed to using Mana.
    Nameless hunter pets make me rage. You have been warned.


  11. #11
    It comes naturally after maining a hunter for a number of years. I literally got used to it within the first week of the change from mana. I rarely even look at my focus bar because I just know if I need to cobra or not.

  12. #12
    Get some addons to help you manage your focus (like TellMeWhen, which if set correctly will tell you when you should spend your focus, and when you should build some)

  13. #13
    I find focus usable but I did have more fun with mana myself, never did really have a problem managing it.

  14. #14
    Keyboard Turner
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    Quote Originally Posted by Tokas View Post
    Get some addons to help you manage your focus (like TellMeWhen, which if set correctly will tell you when you should spend your focus, and when you should build some)
    There are also focus bar addons (JS Hunter Bar & PowerAuras/WeakAuras) that can help to easily understand & find out what your current focus is.

  15. #15
    Deleted
    I didn't really need to get used to it. It did feel a little odd at first but after a few hours it was like nothing had changed. Although, that being said hunters have had focus now for almost 3 years. If you haven't got the hang of it yet, you should probably try a different class.

  16. #16
    Quote Originally Posted by Marxman View Post
    To be fair, the majority of the time that we had mana it was just an infinite resource. Other than yelling at my guild leader to judge wisdom and chugging Fel Mana Potions like candy, it might as well not have existed. It was fairly rare to have to sit in Viper under normal circumstances.
    Err, what? I clearly remember having to sit in aspect in the viper pretty often, certainly a lot more than I would've liked. Judgement of wisdom helped but ultimately you'd run dry eventually and then have to sit in viper to get it back.

    All in all using aspect of the viper was a really shoddy design decision and hunters are much much better off using focus. Likewise I think warlock pets having energy bars now instead of mana bars also made more sense.

    As far as getting used to focus, it just felt kind of like it's the way it should be really and wasn't that big of a deal to switch to. You just burn focus when you can, and cobra/steady it back up when you're out of it. It gets a little more complicated than that with saving enough focus for certain abilities then they come off cooldown, etc, but really if you play a hunter enough you'll get to feel this stuff out and it'll come naturally. Focus is really a much better resource for hunters than mana.
    I like ponies and I really don't care what you have to say about that.

  17. #17
    Honestly it comes to a point where it's completely second nature and you barely even think about it. Even starting out though I feel its much smoother to manage than ferals or rogues are with energy.

  18. #18
    Quote Originally Posted by mistahwilshire View Post
    Honestly it comes to a point where it's completely second nature and you barely even think about it. Even starting out though I feel its much smoother to manage than ferals or rogues are with energy.
    ^ This. Just stick with it and report back about how silly you think this thread was, a month from now.

  19. #19
    I remember when pre-cata launched and Hunters swapped mana for focus, I pretty much refused to play my Hunter for nearly 6 months. I played my Warrior, my Druid, my Mage... Until I got the itch to play my Hunter again, forcing myself to work around the new changes, by the time I leveled to 85 I pretty much knew how to manage focus for the most part.

  20. #20
    Deleted
    i hated focus at first cause it was such a change.
    but i kept playing my hunter, and i have too admit that it was the best hunter change they ever made.

    the whole what can i use best now game really speaks to me, for exampe being on 20 focus i could just fire an arcane shot.
    but within 3-4 sec explosive shot comes of cd costing 25 focus. i could just wait that time or use a cobra shot too fill that time gain extra mana and be able too use both explosive and arcane after that. having refreshed serpent sting at the same time.

    its lots of fun, and it pushes you to do better and better. cause everytime you make a wrong choice you notice you either have too much or too less focus and you hate yourself for it for a sec, and then you're pushing to get it better the next time.

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