Hunter Cata Update from OutDPS

Hi guys! The non-disclosure has been lifted, and what we know about hunters in Cataclysm’s beta is postable. I’m not in the beta or alpha because I didn’t sign up for it, however my co-host and dwarven chauvinist, Frostheim, has been chewing his tongue trying not to tell us all on the podcast about the cool stuff he was seeing in Alpha.

Well, I’m glad that’s over! He just posted everything we know about hunters so far on his site. Here’s some of my favorite parts: 

Camouflage
You camouflage, causing you and your pet to blend into your surroundings. After 3 sec., you will enter a camouflaged state for 1 min, making you untargetable and providing stealth while stationary. While camouflaged, you and your pet’s movement speed is reduced by 30%, but the damage done by your next attack is increased by 15%.
You can lay traps while under the effect, but any damage done by you or your pet will cancel the effect. Cannot be cast while in combat.
-45 Focus, Instant, 1 min cooldown

This is going to be a big one in PvP. I imagine we might use it for trash pulls in PvE and openers as well, but this will be huge for BGs and arena.

Additionally, we’re getting a bunch of nice new abilities:

• Trap launcher- lets us use any trap like we currently use freezing arrow.
• Cobra Shot- regens focus and replaces steady shot for BM.
• Venoms- we now only have one sting; serpent sting. We can apply a venom (one per hunter) on top of the sting, however. There’s the MS debuff Widow Venom, the armor reducing Scorpid Venom, and a cast time debuff Viper Venom. If you’re marks, Chimera shot will perform a bonus effect based on the venom you’ve selected: Scorpid disarms, Widow heals you, and Viper burns 5% of the enemy mana.

Now here’s a big change that I’m really excited about:

Aspect of the Fox
The hunter takes on the aspects of a fox, increasing your focus regeneration by 20% and allows you to Auto-shot while moving.
-Instant, 1 sec cooldown

To me, this aspect means a few things. Stylistically, and in the eyes of the designer, I totally get this. In aspect of the fox, you go all John Rambo on your opponents, crouching and sprinting while sending metric tons of ammunition in the general direction of your target. Balance wise, in-game, what this looks like to me is the aspect that hunters will turn to when they need to kite, and when they need to run for a boss so long that they run out of focus for instants. Here’s the thing: the better skilled at positioning a hunter is (and the less they have to move), the more likely they are to be able to stay in some other, more damaging aspect. I’ll always support mechanics that allow exceptionally skilled hunters to perform better!

I really really like these changes. It sounds like the devs have been playing hunters while making these decisions- what about you? What do you guys think of them?

Filed under: Beast Mastery, Hunter, Marksmanship, Survival, World of Warcraft Tagged: alpha, aspect of the fox, beta, camouflage, cataclysm, chimera shot venom effect, cobra shot, how does camouflage work, how does cobra shot work, hunter alpha, hunter beta, hunter changes, hunters in cataclysm, pve, pvp, scorpid venom, trap launcher, venom, venoms, viper venom, widow venom, World of Warcraft, wow