The biggest change is one we’ve known about for awhile now. Hunters will no longer use Mana and instead will use Focus which is like Energy but regenerates a bit slower. This is going to change the game for Hunterswow gold big time because their rotation will now be similar to a Rogue’s rotation. They’ll need to micromanage their Focus in order to stay ahead of the game unlike now where it’s just straight “pew pew pew.” This also means that there won’t be a specific long period of time where a Hunter is out of Mana and can’t shoot; fulfilling Blizzard’s promise to make Hunters focus purely ranged attacks.
Is this a big change? Yes it is, but is it a good one? Time will tell. Right now Hunters shoot everything they have until they’re out of Mana then kind of sit there and shoot what mana they have as they get it. This kind of adds a bit of finesse, but at the same time abilities will need to be changed to compensate for this new resource method.
The removal of ammunition is bad for the economy, good for Hunters. The meatsink may be gone but Hunters will no longer be tied to a city or repair bot in order to be able to attack. This is going to help a lot of newer Hunters out even more because one of the biggest problems for newer players is understanding how important it is to keep stocked up on ammo along with the huge issue of having enough of it with limited bag space.
The pet changes are pretty big too. Newer Hunters will get a free pet at the start helping define their class at an earlier level. Pet swapping on the go is also important because it allows Hunters to keep a set number of pets in rotation so they can use a specific pet one battle and then a different one in the next. Pets will also debuff with a weaker version of a class’s debuff like Rampage or Curse of Elements. This is huge because it gives Hunters more group utility; especially in 5-man to 10-man instances where any one debuff is a huge boon.
The removal of some melee abilities I see as a “meh” because most Hunters don’t use them anyway and it confuses newer Hunters who try to melee everything down.
The new abilities are interesting to me, but I don’t see them as being anything impressive. Cobra Shot seems to becheap wow gold great against heavy armor users like Warriors or Paladins and possibly bosses, but we’ll need to see the damage comparisons to put in a yay/nay in on this.
Trap Launcher is a great idea, but we’ll need a return to crowd control in PvE for them to see much use. There is a lot of tactical use in PvP, but again we&rsquo,ugg boots;ll have to wait and see how the ability pans out.
Camouflage is another PvP-centric ability to keep a Hunter alive when they’re focused on by ranged. I don’t think there will be much PvE use with it since PvE has historically been pure offense for a Hunter (not to mention feign works wonders on getting a ranged attacker off of you).
I don’t have a lot to comment on about the talents. Careful Aim looks to be the new Aimed Shot which could be interesting. Again, something that looks more like a PvP skill. Then there is Hunter vs. Wild which seems completely silly to me. Focus regeneration when your pet is snared, stunned, or rooted? The only time that happens is… ding ding ding in PvP.
The mastery bonuses all look pretty standard. Pet Damage seems like the standard, Double Shot could be a huge DPS boost for geared Hunters, and Elemental Damage is again something for PvP and getting past the huge armor amounts some players wield or helpful in certain PvE fights.
Lastly, allowing Haste and Crit to affect Stings is a real good change. Having more of the a Hunter’s gear affect all of their skills only serves to make their DPS grow better the better their gear gets. We just have to hope the DPS is balanced and not have Hunters taking DPS leather for more Haste.
Arcane Focus is USELESS except for leveling up. When was the last time you weren’t hit capped? This will be good for non-hit capped Mages and nothing more. Playing with Fire is a fail because who uses Blast Wave regularly? Unless, of course,led lights, this is another PvP-centric change. Pyromaniac is good because haste is always good. Using health for mana with Burnout is interesting, but I hope it’s not a 1:1 ratio.
As for the masteries, it seems all like the standard fair. Mana Adept will just make Arcane Mages want to stack as much regen as possible (however it is possible in Cataclysm) and will provide an actual DPS advantage to regen. I don’t know, it seems like it’ll throw a huge cog in the wrench for Arcane Mages who now have to obsess over their mana in order to do their best DPS. Ignite is interesting because it add&rsquo,wedding dresses;s DoTs to the target, when combined with Pyromaniac it might make it interesting to change up Fire’s rotationbuy wow gold a bit to make sure you hit that Haste bonus. As for Deathfrost… hrm, there isn’t a lot in these changes for Frost Mages so I don’t see it being useful. Unless it’s for Frostfire. Cast Frostbolt, then cast the buffed up Frostfire. It could work, I guess.
In conclusion, it seems like they’re mixing Mages with Warlocks and Warlocks with Mages with some of these changes. Not to mention Bloodlust on a Mage. The only thing I don’t see is some love for Frost in all of this. On good note though is that Fire should be a lot more viable than it has been in WoTLK and we should be seeing a bit more flavor.
