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Mists of Pandaria Beta: Hunters get new challenges for rare pets
Hey hunters, sick of players killing beasts you've spent hours trying to track down? Syiler has dug up some new news for hunters on the Mists of Pandaria beta, in the form of new hunter pets with a unique twist. Hunters were given a series of unique taming challenges in the Firelands patch, with several unique hunter pets that required specific tasks in order to tame them correctly. For hunters, it was an incredibly entertaining new challenge to add these pets to their stable. In Mists of Pandaria, it looks like challenge tames are making a return -- with a little twist. These beasts are not out in the open for all to see; instead, they are hidden away. Hunters will have to track the beasts via sets of mysterious tracks found on the ground, rather than the usual tracking methods. These tracks are apparently only viewable by hunters; other classes can not see them. If you follow the tracks to their natural end, you'll see absolutely nothing at all. But if you cast a flare, you'll find a rare pet of your dreams just waiting for you to tame it. This is not only a fun mechanic, but it also prevents random players from wandering around indiscriminately killing the rare pets that hunters crave. And the creatures themselves seem to be elites, which discourages other players from intervening on a hunter's tame as well. Players killing rare spawn spirit beasts and other creatures has been a source of irritation for many a hunter over the years. Perhaps this solution will keep the creatures in the hands of those who can use them for more than padding their pocketbook. It's open warfare between Alliance and Horde in Mists of Pandaria, World of Warcraft's next expansion. Jump into five new levels with new talents and class mechanics, try the new monk class, and create a pandaren character to ally with either Horde or Alliance. Look for expansion basics in our Mists FAQ, or dig into our spring press event coverage for more details!
Scattered Shots: Levels 10-20 and the art of staying smart
Scatered Shots is for da inteligent peepul who knows what hunters is good at.We started off this column talking about the very first levels you go through as a hunter, from one to ten, and from there we got off onto other topics, such as getting your first pet, controlling it well, managing your threat, using crowd control, and other things all hunters must learn as we level up. But we talked about all these things in the abstract, not in the context of actually leveling up, the specific abilities you'll get, and how that'll change the way you play.So today I'll start up the leveling train again, from levels 10 to 20, and we'll have a closer look at how these general ideas fit in to that period of your hunting career. Except for the sheer time investment involved, the hardest part of hunter leveling is already over once you reach level 10 and get your pet, and that makes this the most dangerous time for a hunter, when we are most likely to fall into lazy hunting habits and neglect the opportunity for complexity that shows up later on. Whereas before you had to work hard to stay out of your enemy's melee range, now it's a simple three-step process: Send in your pet for the attack. Shoot. Profit. It is so incredibly simple that idiots can do it. In fact, idiots do do it, and therein lies the problem. We have to do something while leveling to keep our complex hunter brain synapses firing fast don't we? Just what can you do with all the abilities you get at this stage?
