Category Archives: Opinion

Hunter News, Opinion

Patch 6.2.3: Hey, something to write about!

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Hey, Hunters! Yeah I am still here. Just fresh out of stuff to talk about in this downtime and complete lack of news… until today! Patch 6.2.3 was announced today and it adds quite a bit for a minor patch. Here’s some quick thoughts on the main features:

Valor points returning

Valor is coming back purely for item upgrades. It looks like you can do two upgrades of 5 ilvl per item, for a total of 10. This isn’t something I am going to grind at all. I know I’ll get some incidentally from doing stuff and I’ll use those on my weapon, then a trinket (won’t bother using it on Mirror of the Blademaster since the on use doesn’t scale with ilvl), then the highest ilvl/stat budget pieces from there.

I don’t like that you can’t get the points from doing regular raids. I mean, I get that they want to give people a reason to do dungeons again, but it seems weird. Especially since LFR is going to reward some too. They mentioned some kind of bonus event. This may be a new event, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it just replaced the Apexis event. Apexis is almost entirely irrelevant with this patch with better Mythic Dungeon rewards, and the fact that Baleful tokens can proc ilvl 695 without using an empowered fragment.

I get why they’re doing this, but it is not an incentive to me. I’ll be happy to upgrade my 720 gun to 730 and call it a day from there basically. I would probably grind these if I were still raiding regularly, of course. That’s the benefit of taking a break from raiding. No more worrying about that ilvl number.

Continue reading Patch 6.2.3: Hey, something to write about! →

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Opinion

Legion: Thoughts on Artifacts and the Hunter class hall [Updated]

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One of the things I’m most excited about in Legion is the focus on class identity. The fact that every spec gets some lore surrounding their artifact weapon is pretty cool to me. I don’t expect them to be ground-breaking quest lines (since they have to do 36 of them), but the very fact that each spec gets a little something unique means a lot. It puts a lot more weight behind your choice of spec, and sort of commits you to that choice. I think fewer people will be inclined to switch to “flavor of the month” specs if they’ve identified themselves as another spec already.

However, it does put a little more responsibility on Blizzard’s end to make sure classes with more than 1 DPS spec are relatively balanced. I think it’s important that every time a new patch or hotfix drops you don’t feel forced to abandon your artifact journey because of numbers.

Continue reading Legion: Thoughts on Artifacts and the Hunter class hall [Updated] →

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Opinion

Hurry up, Gamescom!

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I killed Archimonde Heroic this past week. Killing the final boss of an expansion on this difficulty is a big milestone for me. I almost feel like my character has “beaten” the expansion. Anything else that happens (like some Mythic kills) is icing on the cake for me. Warlords of Draenor could end tomorrow and I’d be content.

It was a satisfying encounter and a great fight for hunters. Seriously, we rock on this fight. Especially with the glorious 4-piece bonus.  We actually rock through most of the instance.

The one thing I don’t really get about Archimonde is why I’m supposed to care about killing him, or why he is even there. I felt like Blackhand was a more worthy end boss, he was at least one of the “Warlords.” I’m no Loremaster, but usually I understand the core story points and the motivations of the characters. With WoD I just don’t know what’s going on. All I know is we stopped the invasion of Azeroth, and after that it all seems pointless.  I’m not invested in Draenor.

It’s all part of the reason why I want this expansion to end sooner rather than later.

There are plenty of aspects of Warlords I enjoyed, but I guess I feel like the whole package just didn’t come together in the right way. Almost as if all the various features and components of the expansion are puzzle pieces that don’t quite fit.

The news about WoW X6 being announced this week came at the perfect time for me. I need something WoW related to be excited about again. So bring it on!

There’s so many rumors and fake leaks out there that I don’t know what to believe (probably none of it). I’ll admit they are fun to read though. One universal thing is the assumption that we’re going to get another class that uses mail armor and ranged weapons. No, just no. Those are HUNTER WEAPONS!   😉

On a more serious note, how would they separate such a class from hunters? Magic damage? You mean like a Survival hunter? 😛  A healing spec would definitely fit the bill, but I still don’t know how the DPS spec(s) would be any different from a Lone Wolf Hunter other than a new resource system. Perhaps that’s enough?

Such a class probably wouldn’t get me to switch from playing a Hunter. The only theorized class that could MAYBE do that is the Tinker. Basically an engineer who uses contraptions, turrets, and stuff that goes boom.

Continue reading Hurry up, Gamescom! →

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Opinion

About that no flying thing…

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I was hesitant to write some of this, because I didn’t want to come off as a petulant child whining because he can’t using his flying dragon pixels. That was very much the attitude towards pro-flight people before the Hazzikostas megaton, but the overall opinion towards flight seems to be shifting.

Before Blizzard came out and said that they are essentially shelving flying after 7+ years, I was in the neutral camp on the whole flying debate. I just assumed it would be enabled in Draenor eventually and I’d live without it until then. The announcement that it’s never, ever going to happen for any future content has put me firmly in the pro-flying camp.

I decided to wait a while before writing this so I could let emotions cool down and gain some perspective. I’m not going to threaten to quit the game over this, but it is another check on the list of the things that are making me slowly lose interest in WoW.

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Opinion

Five down, five to go

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Well, last night my group downed our fifth Mythic Blackrock Foundry boss, Gruul. Our previous progression order was Beastlord Darmac -> Oregorger -> Hans and Franz -> Flamebender Ka’graz -> Gruul. Next up is Kromog, then Operator Thogar, and then I imagine Iron Maidens after that. Blackhand isn’t even on the radar yet. So far we’ve been downing 1 new boss a week (and reclearing previous ones), but I won’t be surprised if that slows down as we get to the tougher bosses.

As a bonus, I got the Mythic Meaty Dragonspine Trophy off the first Gruul kill. I’ve also had some other good luck with bonus rolls, getting a Mythic Warforged ring from Oregorger and Mythic Tier 17 chest from bonus rolls the previous week.

As you may have guessed, I haven’t switched away from Beast Mastery since 6.1 dropped. It’s not perfect on every fight, but it’s definitely not bad on any of them. Unbuffed, I actually have more multistrike than mastery, so Survival would be viable too if Blizzard decides to change things up again in the future. It wouldn’t surprise me at this point. WoD has been such a rollercoaster for hunters, but thankfully it’s been mostly quiet on the hotfix front for the past couple of months.

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Hunter Pets, Opinion

How Blizzard could bring back Hunter pet loyalty

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Hunter pets back in vanilla were convoluted by today’s standards. You couldnt’ simply tame a pet and use it. You had to worry about several things:

  1. Pets did not level up to your level. If you were level 60 and tamed a level 10 pet, you would have to manually level them up. Very slowly, since they weren’t able to do any tanking for you when they’d get killed in a few hits.
  2. Pets had 6 loyalty levels, which also had to be leveled up. The more loyal they were, the easier it was to keep them happy.
  3. Pet Happiness had to be kept up by feeding your pet regularly, if you didn’t keep your pet happy they would do less damage. If they stayed unhappy for too long, they would permanently abandon you.

In today’s WoW this simply wouldn’t fly, but there was something good buried under all that. Hunters tended to pick a single pet and stick with it (helped that we could only have 2 other pets in the stable at the time). Rak’shiri was my main pet through a good part of vanilla. Your pet was your best buddy because you worked so hard to get them there. Not like today where it’s almost become a collection mini-game.

Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy collecting pets, but I still think something was lost from the spirit of the class. Pets feel more disposable than ever.

It got me wondering if there was a way to bring back the idea of a hunter bonding with their pet, without all of the baggage that made it not fun.

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Hunter Guides, Opinion

Beast Mastery in 6.1

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Well, it’s been a couple of weeks since patch 6.1 dropped and I can say I haven’t once specced out of Beast Mastery the entire time, and I’m loving it. I don’t know what it is, but I just have more fun playing it. Survival is still strong but it was becoming stale for me. What I like about BM is all of the opportunities to stack cooldowns and trinkets. Focus Fire has turned into its own little mini-game, with a ton of variables to take into account rather than the old method of simply using it when the button flashed.

I feel like having so much DPS potential built into Focus Fire has added an entire new dimension to the spec that rewards you for proper decision making. There is a downside with the RNG component, but that probably helps keep it balanced. If gaining Frenzy stacks was more predictable, it’s possible that Focus Fire wouldn’t be able to have the same power level. And to be honest, the awesome feeling I get when I have a pull with good Frenzy stacks outweighs the pulls where I have bad luck. I actually grin when I get good RNG as I play Beast Mastery. I never did that with survival.

In the first paragraph I said I don’t know what it is, but I guess I just answered my own question.

Continue reading Beast Mastery in 6.1 →

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Hunter Guides, Hunter News, Opinion

Patch 6.1: Hunter specs compared [Updated]

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I originally did these simulations for my own amusement, but I thought I’d share them with you guys. Again, like most sims I post on this site they are done with whatever gear I’m wearing at the time (ilvl 672). Whenever you see “official” comparisons between specs on the actual Simulation Craft page, or on some other sites and guides, these are almost always done with best-in-slot gear. That’s all fine and dandy, but I don’t have anywhere close to BiS so I don’t really care about those sims. I’d rather see how things look in my own gear. Keep this in mind as you read this, and always remember your results will be slightly different.

The first thing I did was compare the DPS differences between live servers and the 6.1 PTR. I went through all the talent permutations and found the highest simulated talents and used those, so each spec was represented as best as possible. I also swapped gems and enchants for each spec (mastery for BM, crit for MM, and multistrike for SV).

Simulated DPS never tells you the whole story, but I think it’s a good tool for seeing what the impact is from buffs or nerfs. Instead of using screenshots from Simulation Craft, I’m testing out some fancy HTML5 charts. Mousing over (or tapping) each bar should give the actual DPS numbers.

New Post: More information about Beast Mastery in 6.1.

Changelog:

Update Feb 19: Numbers updated again to reflect changes in simulation craft. The pet summoned by BM T17 4-piece does more damage. Also, survival pets inherit multistrike damage bonuses. Both of these changes are now reflected.

Update Feb 15: These numbers are now updated with the latest MM and BM buffs from the patch notes (from Feb 13): Focus Fire now grants 8% attack power per stack, Chimaera Shot damage increased by 30.4%, and Sniper Training effectiveness increased by 25%.

Continue reading Patch 6.1: Hunter specs compared [Updated] →

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Hunter Pets, Opinion

What new pets do you want to see?

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I’ve written posts in the same vein as this before (like this Scattered Shots) and I try my best not to sound like a spoiled, entitled hunter. The reality is, we have a crapton of pets to choose from. There’s not much reason to beg for more, but hey, Muffinus asked! The same designer responsible for Gara and other new pet families in in 6.0.

So with that in mind, I thought it would be cool to touch on some of the interesting potential pets out there. Think of it as a wishlist. Some of them are new skins for existing families, and some would have to be new families entirely (much less likely outside of a new expansion).

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Hunter News, Opinion

Mastery and Haste Buffs: What does it mean for BM?

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Beast Mastery remains as my favorite spec. It might not pull off the single target numbers of Survival, but it’s pretty darn close. It also has Beast Cleave, the most badass AoE in the game (especially with that new claw effect it received in 6.0). And most importantly, I just enjoy playing it more than the other specs. Recently there were a couple of hotfix buffs to stats which gave a decent little bump to Beast Mastery, though not as big as I was hoping.

  • Mastery: Master of Beasts’ effects have been increased by 12.5%.
  • The Haste stat is now 11.1% more effective. For example, characters at level 100 now receive a 1% increase per 90 Haste (up from 1% per 100 Haste).

Combined, these buffs only result in a 2-3% overall damage increase for BM (perhaps slightly more for AoE damage).

Prior to this, Multistrike was (barely) the best performing stat for BM in single target, but now it is Mastery. The question is, should you bother swapping your enchants from Multistrike to Mastery?

Continue reading Mastery and Haste Buffs: What does it mean for BM? →

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