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Freezing Arrow and you
Aspect of the Hare has a great post up about "Freezing Arrow for non-Hunters" -- of all of the new Wrath abilities, Freezing Arrow seems right up there with Death Grip as a game changer during instance pulls. But as great as it is (a Hunter can now trap a mob at a distance, which means trapping casters is much, much easier), there are drawbacks that you other group members need to know about, hence AotH's post.First and foremost, chain trapping is out. On a normal trap, a Hunter can lay down a trap early, and get past the extra 10 second cooldown on getting the trap up again, which means they can have another trap pick up the same mob when the first one finishes its duration. But pulling with Freezing Arrow means you can't lay down the trap early, which means that the 10 second cooldown will always be in effect: there will be ten seconds after the trap comes up before the Hunter can Freezing Arrow again.There are loopholes, as AotH says: Resourcefulness can help Survival Hunters with the cooldown a bit, and Readiness means a Hunter can throw out two Arrows in a row (but no more than that). And of course positioning helps a lot -- if a Hunter can lay down a Freezing Arrow early and then kite a mob into it, chain trapping is theoretically possible (though with casters, it's going to be really tough, just because you have to move so much to get them to move after you). But non-Hunters beware: Freezing Arrow is good for trapping a mob for about 20 seconds. After that, you're on your own.
BigRedKitty: Freezing Arrow and a new Wolf
Daniel Howell contributes BigRedKitty, a column with strategies, tips and tricks for and about the Hunter class, sprinkled with a healthy dose of completely improper, sometimes libelous, personal commentary. At level 80, we hunters are getting a new type of trap called a Freezing Arrow. We'll show you how it works.Even better, we'll show you how it works as we hunt down, tame, and introduce you to the latest beta Wolf-skin! You are invited to download the YouTube version (36MB) of this movie here, and the full-sized version (53MB) here.As always, a great big Thank You to the WoW Insider editors for allowing us to publish this movie both here and on our little blog at the same time! From his video guides to Karazhan For Hunter Dummies, nobody covers raid Hunters like BRK. Looking for more Hunter goodness? Check out our non-raid Hunter column, Scattered Shots or the WoW Insider Directory of Hunter Guides.
Scattered Shots: What we didn't get
Welcome to another week of Scattered Shots, WoW Insider's column for Hunter miscellany and mischief. So with Wrath of the Lich King coming closer and closer, classes are probably getting more or less close to what they'll look like when it ships. Maybe. As for Hunters, We have our problems, be they a 41 point talent that won't be done in time for Wrath, an Aspect of the Viper identity crisis, or a new skill suddenly removed. But honestly, with the removal of shot clipping, the new Disengage and the new Pet talent system, I'm actually cautiously optimistic about our place in Wrath. We may need another patch or two before we're really settled, but we're getting some very basic class changes in Wrath that have been long overdue, and I'm hopeful that the class will end up solid by the time people are picking out their Arthas-killing teams and/or Season 6 Arena teams. But that aside, permit me this week to opine upon some of the stuff we really did miss out on. Why did Blizzard take it back? Did we need it? Should we get it back again?
Scattered Shots: On Roleplaying a Hunter
Welcome to Scattered Shots, a weekly column on all things Hunter related, now written by Daniel Whitcomb. I may have mentioned this before elsewhere, but often times it's hard to speak authoritatively on any class in Beta, because no matter what the changes and the new imba combos and whatnot are right now, they will likely change drastically the next time a new build comes into play. This isn't to say that it's impossible to write about them, but often times whatever words you write will be obsolete, or at least inaccurate, by the time you sit down to write next week's column. For example, last week I wrote about traps. I mentioned that Freezing Traps no longer break immediately on damage. Well, now they do again. As Ghostcrawler tells it, they couldn't find a way to make pets automatically ignore a frozen target, so they called the whole thing off. Now, honestly, that seems a bit like chopping off your hand to take care of a mosquito bite on your pinky finger, but hey. On the plus side, she also said that they'll put it back in once they figure out how to reign in pets (I recommend using the passive button on the pet bar, myself). But who knows when that will be? So I thought I'd take a trip down a path that's more solid this week, and speak a bit about roleplaying your Hunter. These are a few archetypes I looked at when roleplaying my various Hunters, with various tips on roleplaying them and reflections on how they fit in to various factions and alliances around the game. As always, of course, general roleplay rules apply: Don't be a jerk, don't godmode or Mary-sue it, and don't let roleplaying get in the way of your fun or your group's success.
Scattered Shots: Traps
Welcome to Scattered Shots, your weekly source for all things Hunter. This week, Daniel Whitcomb begins his stint as the official main author of the column.One of the coolest Hunter class changes in the expansion is the addition of the Freezing Arrow, which essentially the ability to "throw" a Freezing Trap at a targeted patch of ground. It's the type of ability Hunters have been asking for for a long time. Thinking of this, I noticed we haven't had a good trap discussion and primer for a long time, and now is as good a time as any. Traps are one of those parts of the Hunter class that separate the skilled from the Auto Shot AFKers. If you know how to use traps properly, it is much easier for you, as DPS, to stand out from the pack and prove that you bring enough to a group to merit a place on dungeon runs and friends lists. With that in mind though, the trap system is far from perfect, and some traps are definitely better than others. We'll take a look at each trap after the break.
