Good news for hunters! (I think)

[Quantum Ninja]

Blizzard posted some information about the upcoming changes to the hunter talent trees tonight. Check them out here (http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/info/classes/hunters/talents.html).

As I have zero experience with the hunter class, I can't honestly say whether these changes are for better or for worse, but at a quick glance it looks like they made some decent improvements in my (not so worthy) opinion. The previous top Survival talent "Lacerate" has been replaced with what looks like a much more effective ability: "Wyvern Sting". It seems the changes are well-received on the WoW forums.

All you experienced hunters can fill me in on whether this an overall positive change. If it is, I'm hoping for some equal love for the paladin class. :D:

[Chylde Roland]

That's actualy a pretty decent talent, however it's at the top of the survival tree. The sucky thing about that is not many hunters use that tree, because it's heavily melee oriented.

We tend to either go marksmanship or beast mastery, or a combo, because they work well for us. I have 32 in marks (for Trueshot aura and aimed shot) and 18 in beast mastery, which makes my pet a more effective tank in PvE.

In PvP I could see a full survival spec being a bit of a surprise to other players, but not for long in BG or whatever. After a few ticks, most players would adjust, and then still kick a hunter's ass up close.

I've beaten a warrior who was one lev above me in a duel, but that's one of the only wins I've had, only because I managed to freeze trap him, crit with aimed, then slow him down with a root and kite him.

In PvP and instances, I tend to take the role of a ranged damage over time type. :):

The thing I'd MOST like to see would be new pet skills, such as a poison or curse type of effect, as well as a root, that would be effective in PVP and PvE. This would make your pet more valuable in PvP, and harder to ignore. Most PVPers know to ignore the pet. New (and decent) skills would make that harder for them to do.

[Chylde Roland]

Ok, more information....

I had a much closer look at the whole tree, and there are some damn fine abilities in there. They've re-vamped almost the entire tree, and I see a couple of changes in the beast mastery line as well.

I"m going to go have a better look at them and play with that talent calculator. I'll prolly have more feedback after a much closer look. :yes:

[Chylde Roland]

So, here's (http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/info/classes/hunters/talents.html?0000000000000000050503205000003305202 512303101) the build I'd go with on this, which I think would do very well in PvE, but has a definite PvP flavor to it.

The talents I took in the Survival line would make me more efficient against dragons, giants, beasts and humanoids, as well as making my melee attacks more powerful. I'd get bonuses to my traps, dodge/parry/HP scores, and the ability to cancel the cooldown on several of my important skills. I'd also get wyvern strike, which is an excellent opening shot: it sleeps a target for 12 seconds, which would help in group play; in addition to causing 300 dmg (over 12 secs) when the target wakes.

My marksman talents would make me efficient in terms of mana used per shot/sting, increase my crit shots, and add dmg for my two favorite shots, Arcane shot and multi shot (which can crit for almost 1,000 dmg).

If we get a free respec because of this (which I'm sure we will) I'm probably going to try the template I just created.

[Bruenor]

Well, from a quick looksie, it looks like Survival is now actually useful, which will make the respec all the more challenging. Previously, most hunters never even bothered to look on the survival tab.

Hmm, going to have to play around with it for a bit.