I died?! BUT I AM HUNTER!

In just under two weeks we will be receiving more news regarding Mists of Pandaria, this is exciting due mainly to the fact that the Beta must not be far away – get amongst it!! Also, recently in a dev watercooler, it was revealed that hunters will be using expertise in MoP, because our ranged attacks can be dodged.

Ranged attacks will be able to be dodged. Hunters will benefit from expertise and will have it on their gear, which will also allow hunters and Enhancement shaman to share gear more easily

Now, the talk of the town looks at a few different point of views, and it is important to look at them all to regard the big picture, so I would like to take the time to break down some of the common opinion;

1. The other agi classes will smash us in PvP

This is a pretty common complaint at the moment. Hunters are saying that since rogues/feral druids are running around with high amounts of dodge, it may result in PvP pains. I can understand how it may be terrible for us. Here is a scenario; you are smashing face in arena/bgs… you are finishing off a target, just about to Chimera that fuzzy fiend to death. You charge up your steady shot, and… What?! It missed!! No regen, the passive amount comes crawling in, druid line-of-sites you, heals up, and you die from the DoT’s.

2. Hunters have had it good for too long

Something no hunter wants to see; other hunters saying we have it easy! Now I can understand the premise behind the remark, but I reject the conclusion. We do not have it easy, especially in competitive PvP. All WoW players recognize that we are weak in that area, and I doubt there is an arena team around that doesn’t get giddy as the gates open and they see a hunter running out of the opponents end. Have we had it too good? Not really, yet we keep the melee hit rating and act like a caster, I would simply prefer they increase our hit rating as opposed to bringing in expertise from us.

3. Chill guys, silencing shot cannot miss

The saving grace from all of this, interrupts cannot be dodged or parried… You can just see the MoP release with there being some bug that silencing shot DOES miss… Yet thanks to all the awesome Beta testers, surely this won’t happen…

 These points bring me to the forth point, everyone loves counting! this is more of the solution option, a prediction of what is to come – a point that I completely agree with.

4. They must be changing hunters, giving us better toys now that we have to deal with this shiz on top of everything else.

This may be our saving grace – with the roll out of changes happening, there must be more powerful abilities. They need to start with fixing disengage – that is the worst change we have received this expansion imo. We will have to see how these new abilities on the talent calculator come out, such as how hard Powershot hits for, or if they have anything hidden away they have kept secret. I think it is fair to assume that there must surely be something to deal with our focus regeneration if steady/cobra shot can be missed – they may even make it that only our special shots can miss (minus Silencing Shot). I for one am looking forward to the next month or two as we learn more.

Speaking of PvP…

Since this post had a central theme based around expertise and the impact that had on PvP, I thought I would break down my PvP build based on the MoP talent calculator.
This is my current build, here is the break down of my choices:

Subject to change... obviously...

• Exhilaration: when you disengage, you are instantly healed for 15% of your total health

The three choices are all great for the first tier, and there may be a tossup here between this and Evasiveness. I will most likely be playing as Marksmanship for PvP, so combine this talent and a 5% chimera shot, and suddenly we have a pretty decent self heal going on. Posthaste is also great for getting out of tight spots, but strictly for PvP, the other two options are far superior.

• Silencing Shot: a shot that silences the target and interrupts spell casting for 3 seconds.

This is a clear winner in my book, intimidation is still a good ability, and would apply similar pressure… yet a 20 sec CD on Silencing Shot vs. a 1 min on intimidation? no thanks, this one should be a no contest.

• Aspect of the Iron Hawk: Your Aspect of the Hawk now also reduces all direct damage taken by 15%

Let’s face it, we are giant targets in PvP (everyone is afraid of our awesomeness), the passive 15% buffer allows a bit of breathing room. The regen from Spirit Bond could be useful depending on your comp (in arena), yet passive defence is something we have needed for a very, very  long time.

• Readiness: When activated, this ability immediately finishes the cooldown on all Hunter abilities

This is a no brainer as well, Readiness (although it has a large CD) is what creates the control and utility that MM brings to the table. This is a great ability for all 3 specs (double big red pet thanks… they should bring that shiz back!- OP ftw)

• Flash Freeze: Your Freezing Trap no longer has a cooldown, but only one target can be affected at a time

All three choices here have great potential, yet to give the greatest advantage you would have to disregard Black Ice. Against casters it will be useless, against melee it shall be awesome – yet max range is better regardless, and you can’t guarantee that you won’t go up against 10 straight teams of casters who like to mess up your traps. With our freezing trap as it is – still with no glyph for dot removal, still breaking if sneezed upon, having the ability to re-trap could turn the tide. The amount of times a trap has not been successful at a critical point in a game…. sad face.

• Binding Shot: You fire a magical projectile, tethering the enemy and any other enemies within 10 yards to the landing arrow. Increases all damage they recieve from you by 15%. If they move 15 yards from the arrow they are stunned for 10 seconds (5 secs in PvP).

Depending on the damage of Powershot, this will be an interesting choice for us. Binding shot may be a winner due to the fact it will keep people out in the open; I cannot wait to see this bad boy in action. If it is a recognizable ability that players take note of, they will have to remain still(ish) or suffer the stun. Either way you can train them and unload CD’s without pillar humping coming into the equation. This is definitely something to keep an eye on.

Well that is just my thoughts on a build for MoP, Let us face it – as soon as they released the talent calculator for Mists you all clicked through and picked what you wanted. The Beta shall shed new light on ALL of this no doubt, and I look forward to it.

Happy Hunting

PS. That silly montage of BG stats up the top was compiled from the end of Wrath through the start of Cata in random BGs… Thus the low damage and the illusion of grandeur

- <3 Quelys