Advertisement

GC answers Hunter questions

Eliah Hecht
Updated ·2 min read

Hunters, do you have questions about your class? Well, Ghostcrawler's got some answers. Not all of them, of course, but Big Red Kitty can probably handle the rest. Our favorite crab has been chatting a bit about the Hunter class on the official forums. Let's take a look at what he's been saying.

  • As far as DPS numbers, Blizzard balances in terms of absolutes, not relatives. This means Blizzards wants people with X quality gear to be doing Y DPS on fight Z, so things like "I got 5th on the meters" aren't as relevant - they're looking at specifically how much DPS you do. (source for this and the next three points)

  • Pets are balanced using "a trade-off between damage and utility." Some pets, like wasps, bring bonuses that your 5- or 10-man groups may be missing, and thus it is justified that they do less DPS. That said, "more parity among pets is something [the devs] want to pursue."

  • In reference to Trap Mastery, GC says "we hope to be able to announce some 3.1 change soon," so expect changes to that talent in 3.1.

  • A limited number of glyphs were added initially. Especially glyphs for new spells will be added over time. The reasoning for this was so people got a chance to see what the spells were like without the glyphs.

  • Blizz's goal is to see "nearly every Ferocious pet and the occasional Cunning pet feel like they were valid choices for PvE and nearly every Cunning pet and the occasional Tenacity pet feel like they were valid choices in PvP," although they've been focusing more on Hunter trees than on pet trees recently. (source)

  • Explosive Shot's coefficient has been hotfixed to be lower. More changes are in the pipe "to get damage done more in parity...If there are other classes far ahead of you on the damage meters, chances are good they will see some nerfs to their damage soon too." (source)

  • BM will be un-nerfed "soon." (source)

BRK has some brief numbers and analysis on spec distribution in 3.0.3 vs 3.0.8, and I have to say, it looks like Marks needs buffs even more than BM (or maybe it's unjustly unpopular). At least Survival is getting some actual players; maybe I'll be seeing more Replenishment in my 5s and 10s now.

Patch 3.1 brings us Ulduar, dual specs, significant changes to all the classes, and more! We've got you covered from top to bottom with our Guide to Patch 3.1.