Update: The raid utility has been announced. See here for details.
In the latest alpha patch notes, Blizzard stated they are currently working on adding a new “minor raid utility” ability for hunters in Warlords of Draenor. When asked on twitter, Celestalon replied that they are still open to suggestions.
@DeicideUH Always open to suggestions.
— Celestalon (@Celestalon) May 23, 2014
I’ll get us started with a few ideas here:
- The Hunter’s Focus: Reduce the resource cost of all party and raid member spells (mana/rage/energy/etc.) by xx% for x seconds.
- Lay of the Land: Reduce AoE damage taken by raid and party members by xx% for x seconds.
Vicious Talons: Increase all party and raid member’s Multistrike rating by xxx for x seconds.(multistrike raid buff didn’t exist at the time of this post)- Hunter’s Mark: Expose a weakness on your current target, increasing the critical strike chance of all party and raid members by xx% for x seconds.
- Pack Leader: All party and raid members can cast all spells while moving for x seconds.
Be sure to post your own ideas in the comments (or tweet them to Celestalon) and maybe we can get Blizzard to read them all. Just post whatever comes to mind. Even if it sounds ridiculous, it could spawn another idea. You may want to read the raid utility section of the official patch notes to learn more about their plans for it in Warlords. You’ll notice a lot of raid-wide damage buffs were removed, so something more defensive or utility oriented is probably more likely.
The Lay of the Land idea would be too forgiving in my opinion, unless it’s really moderate.
The Hunter’s Focus sounds a little too much like Bloodlust.
I like Pack Leader the best, it’s a good utility idea that would give the raid increased mobility for a moment.
That’s not something that would instantly give an offensive or defensive advantage to the group like a reduction AoE or increased DPS cooldown would, but it can indirectly have the same effect provided players are quick on their feet… figuratively and literally.
The main issue I see with something like Pack Leader is how do you telegraph it other than shouting it over vent/mumble. It probably wouldn’t last for very long, and unless you’re looking for the buff you may miss the opportunity. It would definitely fit the hunter class though…. the only ranged class who can cast everything while moving… Spreading the wealth for a few seconds 🙂
I like this as a way to bring back Hunter’s Mark. Great idea!
You could probably bring back some of the retired Aspects like this too… Aspect of the Wild? Maybe reduced magic damage (instead of just nature damage like it was)? Aspect of the Monkey? Well I guess that would be similar to the “lay of the land” idea.
I think we’re fairly safe in assuming it will be a DPS raidwide cooldown, based on the conversations they’re having about mages and such.
Pack leader is a great idea, though, while I’m sure you were trying to avoid this, we’re going to have to call it leader of the pack, so we can all get that ’60s song stuck in our heads. I don’t see having to call it out in vent as a problem. You only really optimize stormlash if it’s broadcast with a weakaura. most people don’t take advantage of it, but that’s ok. In mythic guilds the raid leader would probably call it out, in casual guilds it would just happen and some people would take advantage, others wouldn’t. It would be a little strange to have a utility that doesn’t benefit us at all, but several classes have that, so not a big deal.
If I had to guess, I imagine it would be something like stampeding roar though. Or something else that other classes already have. Hopefully it’ll be really cool, but something on par with Ancient Hysteria is probably out of the question, if it is a DPS increase, it’d probably more similar to stormlash.
Aspect of the Pack as a Stampeding Roar clone has been a pretty popular suggestion.I really like Stampeding Roar so I’d be cool with something like that.
“Helpful Raptor” Summons a raptor for every raid member who follows them around and yells at them when they stand in the fire.
I love how you chose raptor over all other possible beasts. I can just picture little raptors squawking at everyone.
Heh, thanks.
In all seriousness, I would love to see the “pet” flavor we have as a class used somehow in our raid cooldown. Something where a random beast takes a hit for a raid member (a la conducting totem) or give EVERYONE in the raid a pet for 20 seconds (like Dire Beast, but really good for breaking Recount).
“Mass Camouflage”.
Blends all party and raid members into their surroundings, becoming one with the environment. While active, every party or raid member takes 20% less damage. Lasts 6s.
Pack Leader sounds pretty useful so, as things stand I think that one is the best. I’d like to see a few more aspects (so say Iron Hawk gets replaced with Aspect of the Monkey so as to make it equivalent to the 10% damage reduction) with an ability to make them raid wide for a short duration (can’t affect Aspect of the Beast though – imagine a whole untrackable group in PVP). That or I’d have Aspect of the Pack changed to allow others to cast while moving at say 150% the normal speed so you wouldn’t want it all the time, but if people needed to move then it would be there.
The Pack Within: Every group/raid member become immune to CC for 10 secs and the mana cost of all healing spells is reduced by 10% for 20 secs
Spirit Pack: The hunter calls forth a spirit beast companion for every group/raid/pack member. The spirit beast protects and heals its target for 15 secs.
Avoidance: all raid members take 90% less damage from AoE damage for 15 secs.
Pack Focus: every group/raid member who does not have aggro automatically targets whatever the hunter marks for 20 secs (activated by casting Hunters Mark)
Pack Leader: every group/raid members automatically /follows the hunter for 20secs.
Pack Launcher: Allows the hunter to use trap launcher to launch group/raid members…parachutes not included.
Aspect of the Monkeys: All raid members are transformed into hozen/monkeys and throw something special as their basic attack…not sure yet about the utility….
Like that Spirit Pack idea… though summoning 20-25 extra guardians may be problematic for performance reasons. Maybe it just summons a few spirit beasts who run to random raid members and pulse some kind of beneficial AOE buff or heal. It would be cool if whatever it turns out to be incorporates beasts in some way.
When I hear X thing for Y seconds sounds broken. I think it will be more like the mages passive increasing healing.
How about a passive movement speed boost, something low like 3-6% stackable with everything.
Would be great if some of the traps could be used alternatively for raid members as well. For example, in GW2, there are several skills (scattered across classes) which cause harm to enemies or buffs to friendlies, depending on who runs through them. That would create more strategy (and more use) for some of the traps hunters have and give them great utility in raids.
Synergy: All buffs brought by other players are increased by 20% for 10 seconds.