Class Balance Q&A: Hunter

Phoenix asked:

Hello Blizzard! Will the hunters be able to parry with bows in MoP? :O

Ghostcrawler answered:

No. Hunters will lose parry as part of the trade-off for losing minimum range.

Guest asked:

Will hunters be able to equip melee weapons instead of a ranged weapon in MoP, even if just for show ?

Xelnath answered:

Yes.

Sweep asked:

Hello, for the hunter Talent; Transmorph Trap. Can more of a description be given on it? Is it the same as a hex effect, or can you also fear the target after while they're turned into a beast?

Celestalon answered:

Transmorph Trap is a nature trap (and so can be placed at the same time as Freezing Trap), and allows you to cast Scare Beast on the transmorphed target. It will have a similar duration to Freezing Trap.

Nicholas Gates asked:

As a hunter I love collecting the odd pets that only a BM can but I dont get to use them much while raiding because to max my DPS I raid MM. I spend the time and effort to get these pets but noone sees them very often. Will we in the future see hunters be able to use these pets in any spec?

Celestalon answered:

We're actually excited to see how spec balance for Hunters turns out in 4.3. We're pretty confident that their raw damage is competitive between all 3 specs now, and so hope to see more exotic pets in raids, as well as survival hunters, and specs chosen based on the situational utility that they offer. We definitely want to reserve exotic pets as a BM-only perk though.

Smarty asked:

Considering the remove of melee weapons for hunters in Cataclysm, will the currently existing utility spells that require a melee weapon be replaced. (especially Raptorstrike Glyph)

Wradyx answered:

Removing melee weapons from Hunters and removing their minimum range on their attacks will have many different balance implications. We will carefulyl evaluate all their defensive abilities to make sure they don't become too survivable, or conversely too easy to kill. Mechanics on glyphs will be kept in some form if we feel they are valuable to the design, but some glyph mechanics may go away as no longer necessary.

Timothy asked:

im saying this for most hunters but y hasnt the snake trap damage been increased i have used it at max lvl a few times but the trap when the snakes attackk each one only does like 25 damage each is there a way you can fix this trap so that it does more damage

Koraa answered:

Snake Trap is intended to be utility, not damage. The damage on it is just there for flavor, really.

Alexander Howell asked:

Aspect of the cheetah/pack have seemed a little outdated with the daze on hit mechanic and can't really use them effectively in raids or pvp. Are there any plans to change these aspects to more a cooldown spell like stampeding roar or a self run speed for aspect of the cheetah?

Koraa answered:

Yes, we plan on it not dazing you but turn off the speed bonus for a short while when you get hit in those aspects (or at least Cheetah).

Chris Kramer asked:

Have you considered having a pet stampede spell where our 5 pet stable rushes our enemy for a 5min cd? Too epic for GC?

Xelnath answered:

Yes.

Zarhym:

Haha. It appears it was considered then. :)

Xelnath:

There's no such thing as too epic. Just ask Thrall