Arena Balance: Hunters

As we mentioned last week the hunter class is one of the most under represented in arena teams at the moment. There are many theories as to why this is ranging from dead zone, to lack of DPS while moving, to the LOS issues in all arena maps. As our 2v2 Arena rating is climbing and we are facing better and better teams we are starting to see the reasons even more.

Personally BRR thinks it is a combination of all of these and a few more. Mrs. BRR and I have been playing in the arenas for a few months and in BGs for a few years, so we do have a fair amount of experience with the issues and the state of class balance. Trying to balance all classes to be fair and viable in PVE, Arena and PVP (BG and world) is a nightmare that blizzard has been attempting to over come one patch at a time.

Then main issues for hunters are as I mentioned above anyone in our dead zone cannot be effectively DPSed, this feeds into the 2nd issue of Hunters having very little DPS while being forced to move. The third issue Line Of Sight is not purely a hunter issue, most direct damage casters and healers have to worry about this as well. DOT classes and healers however can use it to their advantage easily. DOT classes can step out of cover throw up enough dots take 50-80% of their targets health then duck out of LOS for 20 seconds while you hemorrhage HPs. Healers on the other hand can use the cover for uninterrupted healing and time for HOTs/dots to tick.

The deadzone and movement issues are really the killer for a hunter. To DPS effectivly we need to be stationary and firing at a target more that 8 yards away from us, in arenas this doesn't get to happen very often. Once a player is in our dead zone we must try to use a trick to get out of range and go back to DPS, this means for all hunters Traps and Wing clip. Spec /build depending some hunters my be able to use, deterence > counter attack, scatter shot, intimidation or BW.

BRR's favorite was Wing clip + BW but currently we are MM for the greater burst damage so Wing clip + scatter shot is the flavour of the day.

I believe the main issue it that in PVE balance vs PVP balance. PVE our DPS is at the right point as we normally have a tank holding the target at range and FD to drop out aggro allowing us to DPS all out and over time reach levels that approach caster DPS. Due to not being limited by the tanks aggro as much as they are casters are we can compete, how many times have you seen your locks or mages /dancing on a boss while waiting for tank aggro to get ahead again.

In large scale PVP our survivability and DPS works as there is a wealth of targets to choose from and we are not limited in LOS as much. In small scale PVP especially 2v2 or 3v3 our DPS is limited as we are build for low maintenance raid DPS on a static target, not high burst DPS in a fluid and moving environment as required in Arenas. When you face more often than not a smart group of players, usually with a dedicated dispeller/healer to keep your opponents out of CCs the dynamic changes.

Next post: Arena Tactics Paladins

/AFK

We have been MIA for a few weeks now, quite surprised at the continued traffic levels despite our lack of updates and content.

We humbly offer apologies and our feeble excuses. Mrs BRR and I have just finished purchasing our first house. She is already ordering new doors and planning epic upgrades. Our Alliance guild while misguided in choosing the light over the strength of the dark side has been hitting Kara with a vengeance and progressing quickly. Unfortunately this has required BRR and the Queen of Frost shocks to be left a little unattended while our Warrior and Priest combo smash the Curator and Aran with the our very nice but undeniably Alliance Guild. Running 2 sets of PVP toons (on both sides of the BG) and raiding with one of them as well really eats up the hours. Not to mention the gold costs in respecting 2-4 times a week.

BRR has also been experimenting with MM builds for Arena battles. We love our BM build and dominate BGs but in 2v2 our near constant requirements for motion limits the ability to put our DPS on the target. Hence we are testing a 7/43/11 build for some bigger crit numbers and burst but with less need to plant for SS to shine. Shock horror, a BM hunter and evangelist is speccing AWAY from BM and to MM no less. Trust us on this, BRR is never going to be a MM glass cannon but we are not blind to the limitations of BM either.

An interesting note in hunter Arena news that BRR found interesting was the statistically proven dirth of hunters in teams especially the smaller ones. SRC: Wowinsider. When taking into account the undeniably high number of hunters in WOW this is even more telling of the class. Blizzard may or maybe seriously looking into this but as a hunter and serious PVPer on the ground I can see it. Our dead zone and LOS issues can make our usefulness in 2 mans limited. How to buff our Arena viability without unbalancing our PVE viability is a tough question and one BRR plans to tackle in the future.

In the last 2-3 weeks the Queen and BRR have managed to keep up our arena games, improving our rating a good 70-80 points as we gear up to some BG epics and Arena gear. More on that later I promise. Stacking on the STA and Resiliance is the name of the game. 9.6k HP and going up.

Arena - Dealing With 2 Stealthers

Dear BRR, I haven't dabbled much in PVP prior to L70, but I've gotten on-board a 2V2 arena team and it's a blast. I also know that PVP will help up my skill on PVE content as well. Do you have any advice / strategy/ tactics for a 2V2 arena team? How does BRR roll up the opponents in arenas & do you have any tips to up my PVP game in general?
For the Horde!
-RC

After mailing RC back to ask his teammate we recived.

BRR, I run with a combat rogue. The strategy we usually operate under is for a healer, DPS team, take out the dps then chew on the healer. Usually he can handle the squishies while I try to keep them at range.We've had better luck leaving the healers till last in 2v2.

What I'm inquiring about is some basic strategies, how do you maintain good kiteing distance? what do you do against a pair of stealthed rogues / druids. What's a good strategy for staying at range and what tricks can you use to keep that 9m buffer between you and the target. Any macros that are useful (aside from the trinket-popping, intimidation, TBW "Iwin button" macro)

I've been having a tough time finding PVP guides for Hunters Vs. other classes. I do like the Viper Sting (Rank 1) trick against a pally, but I'm usually running around trying to get the hang of the battle to effectively DPS down my targets.

-Ripcat

We find discussing PVP strategies to be a most satisfing way to spend our time, almost as much fun as implementing and adapting them to real world use. Unfortunatly it is huge topic with so many variables we cannot possibly cover the topic in a single post. So we shall pick a prarticlar topic mentioned to start the ball rolling - fighting 2 stealthed opponents.

Hunters are particularly well equipped to deal with stealthers. Mrs BRR is an elemental shammie, she also has some tricks to bring to the table. Like magma totems to create safer areas and mitigate the chances of getting cheap shotted, sapped or 3 shotted with an ambush. On the hunter side of the equation we bring traps (ice is particularly nice), flares, marks and dots (Serpent sting).

Our standard tactic when charging out of the gates in 2v2 arenas is if we see a single enemy, enter combat and start burning ASAP, this locks you in combat and prevents sap. BRR's first cast depends on the class we are facing in the open and the time the match has been going but is frequntly flare > ice > BW while my frost shocking wife starts laying down magma > tremor or straight DPS. Having 2 range classes lets us set up a safer area to DPS from to minimize risk w/o losing damage output.

If we see no one on exiting our buff area we have a designated spot in each arena that we head for and setup a safe zone to work from. Flare is always the first cast in these instances, followed by a trap. Once we are safe in a magma/flare area we can either wait for the assault to start or the buffs to come up. If we want to force an earlier start to the action we can leave magma/flare running and "Eyes of the Beast" Spike for a scout around the edges of the area and usually force a destealth. Another tactic we use is to rely on magma for body cover and flare out further than our safe zone randomly.

"Eyes of the Beast" is particularly useful when you have seen a non-rogue/druid stealth up with Shadow Meld. They are stuck in place and even though you cannot reach them quickly w/o exposing yourself you can set up a safe zone to ward off their partner and use your pet to knock them into site for a hunters mark. The most common reason I've seen this used is a squishy priest is attempting to hide so you cannot focus fire them down fast of the bat.

We have much more to say on the topic but cannot continue, we promised to try and keep our posts smaller and easier to digest. We shall try to post some macros tomorrow.

- Good luck in all your battles BRR.

Feeling Nostalgic

We have been inspired, fueled by nostalgic memories of time spent with our first 'true' pet, Humar the Pridelord. BRR has fond recollections of how we obtained him... Over the bodies of many would be alliance poachers in the barrens.

Pre-BC 25-60 he was our leveling and killing companion, many an gnome has been shredded under his claws. Alas he sits at 60 in our stables displaced the moment BRR reached 61 and tamed his first ravager. This is unfair to our still loyal black lion.

Spike shall trade out places for a few hours every week while we train Humar to lvl 70, He is a magnificent beast and deserves to have a share of the alliance killing. Not to mention a view of the Outlands beyond Hellfire Peninsula.

Which bring us to the issue, pet leveling. Unlike warlocks who summon demons that are always their level and always happy, hunters must put a lot more work into their pets. The leveling system for pets at the moment seems rather restrictive. To level a pet you must kill a mob that is green to you, regardless of the level of your pet. This means if you were to go pick up a unique level 30 pet at 70 the only way to get him XP is to kill level 62 or higher mobs. As you can imagine grinding out 1000's of mobs worth of XP with a level 30 pet on 62 or greater mobs would not be fun. Pets do not benefit from bonus XP, however they do have smaller amount of XP to gain per level. At level 60 a hunter will need 494000XP to level, a pet on the other hand only 145000 xp. Blizzard has not indicated any plans to alleviate this problem as yet but we may hold out hope.

- BRR

We have Mail

BRR is pleased and surprised. Overnight while we slept out blog has passed 1000 hits and kept right on trucking. We have also received mail, lots of mail. We are almost humbled. Answers shall be forth coming to all, we swear it on the blood of the gnomes we spill last night. We have selected this one to begin with as it was the first received.

I'm new to the game. I started a Troll Hunter on the Bloodscalp server and I'm currently level 18. I was wondering what talent choices you recommend for being on a PvP server. So far I have put my points in the BM tree. 5/5 Endurance Training, 3/3 Thick Hide, and 1/2 Focused Fire. I was just curious about your build and what you might recommend.

Thanks, Gromrot

Dear Gromrot,

Welcome to the Horde and Warcraft. We shall link our PvP spec and our PvE spec for your viewing pleasure. As for talent points, the path you have begun is the same we would have chosen if leveling again. When it comes to leveling talent selection our favorite Alliance hunter, BRK has beaten us to the punch. We whole heartedly recommend his guide “The New BM-Leveling Tree – Your first 40 points”. Learn from thy enemies.

The strength in leveling a hunter on a PVP server is you may grind at a reduced pace, conserving your mana and still be ready to deal with any wandering allies around attempting to gank you. You'll often see them coming a good distance off due to "track humanoid". Dropping an ice trap to cover your back while shooting is also an excellent preventative measure. We have lost count of the number of times we iced and upitty rogue on Wildhammer while leveling. When we did we would mark him, finish killing our mob and then wipe the floor with him/her to show our dispeasure. On days when the allies are too persistant another nice PVP leveling tactic is to equip your handy dandy Hydrocane and farm turtles, murlocs, hydras or other underwater mobs - you will very rarly be disturbed and if you are a leather worker it can be very profitable.

As a side note we recommend you select a pet to compliment your play style and tree early, some pet types are only available at lower levels and some very nice unique pets are coming up. Our information needs regarding pets are always meet at Petopia they have all the skills and taming information a young hunter could need. If you are the adventurous type and do not fear an epic journey to have the best, an Enraged Ravager is tamable from the Draenei islands (level 16-17). The rare and very unique black lion “Humar The Pridelord" is also coming up at lvl 23 near ratchet. BRR has Spike as our main DPS/PVP partner in death, but Humar still has a warm spot in our heart and stables. Being a rare spawn, level 23 to tame and the only black lion in the game he is a rare sight in Azeroth and the Outlands.

Season 2

Arena Season 2 has begun!

We see many Horde gathered around the PVP quartermasters and arena quartermasters to inspect and pick up new gear. BRR has stockpiled enough points to pick up 1 shiny epic BG item and must now choose between 5/4 pieces.

We feel a spread sheet and some intense number crunching coming on. The new Veteran's Pendant of Triumph calls to us but the Veteran Band of Triumph shall probably be a smarter upgrade. With the new stats for Veteran's Chain Sabatons being so tasty BRR may have to look hard again at breaking up our level 60 Warlord set bonuses. We hold a number of pieces in the bank at the moment that are only side-grades until we can justify breaking our 6 piece bonus, this item may do that.

Mrs BRR has already chosen the new epic elemental bracers for her first 'Season 2' item.

PvE makes me sleepy

BRR was helping some guildies finish the "Ring of Blood" quest last night it was a cake walk. Spike even OTed the one of the blood brothers and with the help of a little yo-yoing didn't even suck up much healer time past our mend pet. Our GM even dinged 70.

After that a nice guildie hunter who knew we had a chain quest in Auchenai Crypts we'd been putting off kindly brow beat a tank and healer into running the crypts for us. Kindness like this cannot be ignored so we pushed back our bed time.

Our guildies fielded :

MS Warrior

Resto Shaman

Enhancement Shaman

BM Hunter with a kitty

and BRR

Not the ideal make up but we still destroyed the instance handily.

BRR had to turn on some music to keep ourselves alert and stop lady sleep taking us into her warm embrace. Mrs BRR has given us very clear instructions regarding other women. We are always amazed and shocked at the ease of PvE for a DPS class after PvPing. Chain trapping? In our sleep. DPS? We go it covered. Protect the healer? Our pet is already OTing that loose mob.

Damage meters you ask?

• 45% BRR - Storm (28%) + Spike (17 %)
• 23% BM Hunter (14 %) + (Kitty 9%)
• 17 % Arms Warrior
• 13% Enhancement Shaman
• 2% Resto Shaman 2 %

We feel spike could have done more, but over all we are happy with our run.