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