Here's some good news for hunters in the next patch that I don't think we've covered on its own yet.
Huntsman's Lodge points out that there are two new types of craftable epic ammo on the PTR for us to load up.
Iceblade Arrows and
Shatter Rounds are both learned by engineers who rep up with the
Ashen Verdict, the new faction to go along with the assault on Icecrown. Both add a whopping 91.5 damage to ranged weapon DPS, and of course they're BoE, so all you'll need is an engineer buddy honored with the new guys. One catch: arrows require Gnomish engineering, and the bullets require Goblin engineering. Interesting choice by Blizzard, but it shouldn't be too big a problem, especially since mats are pretty cheap anyway (two
Crystallized Shadow for the arrows and two
Crystallized Earth for the bullets).
Sounds good to me. Still no sign of
those great ammo plans we heard about way back when, but more damage (especially some so relatively easy to get) is never a bad thing.
Patch 3.3 is the last major patch of
Wrath of the Lich King. With the new Icecrown Citadel 5-man dungeons and 10/25-man raid arriving soon, patch 3.3 will deal the final blow to Arthas.
WoW.com's Guide to Patch 3.3 will keep you updated with all the latest patch news.
Tags: ammo, ashen-verdict, changes, crystallized-earth, crystallized-shadow, dps, epic-ammo, faction, gnomish-engineering, goblin, goblin-engineering, hunter, iceblade-arrows, patch-3.3, patch-3.3-changes, patch-3.3-wow, reputation, shatter-rounds, world-of-warcraft-patch-3.3, wow-3.3-changes, wow-new-patch, wow-patch, wow-patch-3.3, wow-patch-news
Filed under: Hunter, Engineering, Patches, Items, Factions, Wrath of the Lich King
Nov 23rd 2009 at 5:00PM 
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 4)
Andrew R. Nov 23rd 2009 5:04PM
I almost wish I kept engineering on my dwarf hunter. Keyword being ALMOST.
I've got a rogue with engineering so that will make up for it. The price of crystalized earth and eternal earth will sky rocket soon as the patch drops. I'm curious to see how much these will cost from server to server.
cj Nov 23rd 2009 5:10PM
pretty easy to obtain, so i'm thinking the price on these will rise, but not too much. thank god its not a titansteel bar.
Ametrine Nov 23rd 2009 5:06PM
As a gun-wielding Gnomish Engineer from the first day I made him, my hunter is highly displeased at having to consort with those who are advocates of a clearly inferior engineering method simply to obtain his ammunition.
Falcon6 Nov 23rd 2009 5:09PM
The entire situation is odd. You'd think you'd be used to having things blow up by accident to learn to work with things that will blow up on purpose.
Ametrine Nov 23rd 2009 5:10PM
"Add more gunpowder and jack the price up 25%" is not a reasonable or even safe engineering method, but that's exactly what goblin "engineering" is all about.
Jack Miles Nov 23rd 2009 5:23PM
"BOOM! HAHAHAHA!"
THAT's what goblin engineering is about.
Raze Nov 23rd 2009 5:29PM
Oh yeah. Gnomish Engineering. How's that irradiated city working out?
But wait! We've got X-ray goggles! At least the last thing we see is vaguely enjoyable ourselves while our body rots away.
With the sucky semi-IC joking out of the way, it is a little weird that all of a sudden, they think it's a good idea to re-implement the Gnomish/Goblin Engineering split into Wrath, especially when all signs were pointing to the entire idea of profession specialization going the way of dodo in the near future... and than for something like this. It doesn't even make sense from a lore perspective. Gnomes like arrows, now? Huh?
It's a bad omen. First we get an entire expansion full of gadgets that don't actually ever malfunction, /far/ too many Gnome-looking robots, and now being a Goblin Engineer lets me make.... High-end bullets? Pretty lame, Blizzard. Thanks for the Northrend Portal, but bring some slapstick back to Engineering, please.
Tamednan Nov 23rd 2009 5:48PM
Gun-wielding Gnomish Engineer here as well. Guess I'll have to bite the bullet and pay the 150g to respec.
Tweek Nov 23rd 2009 6:43PM
My Night Elf is a gun wielding gnomish engineer too, I'm not to happy about the decision to do this although I do not plan to respec, I shall have to stick with my Mammoth Cutters I guess.
Monsoon Nov 24th 2009 9:30AM
Yet another Gnomish Engineer who wants to make bullets. Since it's still on the PTR, maybe there's a possibility that we can persuade Blizzard to remove that restriction, or perhaps give us a way to convert arrows bullets. There were quests back in Vanilla WoW that would give you 200 Thorium Headed Arrows in exchange for 200 Thorium Shells, so perhaps you could do the same here.
Rifter Dec 10th 2009 12:33PM
Here is yet another Gnomish Engineer that wants bullets. Engineering has some very cool little toys... but otherwise, it feels like we get very little real respect. Changing the stacks of healing/mana potions, and removing our injectors was a slap in the face... now this.
Mikee Nov 23rd 2009 5:09PM
I hope there are more Goblin/Gnome engineering differences coming in Cata. Wrath has been kind of boring for my engineer, who now makes things that every other engineer can make.
Ringo Flinthammer Nov 23rd 2009 5:12PM
X-Ray Goggles are the sole interesting point of departure in this expansion.
Ringo Flinthammer Nov 23rd 2009 6:02PM
If we respec, do we have to relevel engineering? I'm not sure I can face that.
Coldbear Nov 23rd 2009 7:04PM
hell yes
wowaddict Nov 23rd 2009 5:09PM
The engineering requirements are abhorent. There's no way they'll keep that beyond PTR.
Ringo Flinthammer Nov 23rd 2009 5:10PM
No, it's not OK. Most engineering hunters do it for the ammo anywhere goodness and having specialization on this -- when NO other Ashen Verdict recipes are specced -- is asinine. Ammo has never been specialization-restricted.
Nick S Nov 23rd 2009 10:05PM
Yeah, restricting it is really stupid. Blizzard more or less tells us that our specializations are meaningless, then makes the most important pattern of the final patch spec-dependent?
Shenanigans!
QQinsider Nov 24th 2009 9:24AM
Agreed. I'm not an engineer myself but if I was I'd be pretty annoyed. Blizzard have removed specialization requirements from everything else, my LW doesn't have to choose between being able to make mail or leather, so I can't understand this ammo restriction.
It's even more annoying for hunters with engineering, it's not like you can choose whether it's a gun or bow/xbow that drops for your next upgrade. That situation could lead to people rolling on weapons that aren't really any better than what they already have, just because they can make the ammo for it.
t0xic Nov 23rd 2009 5:11PM
"One catch: arrows require Gnomish engineering, and the bullets require Goblin engineering."
Why? That doesn't make sense.
If I carry a bow and win a gun upgrade I have to decide whether I want to get raped at the AH for ammo or not? I'm on a low pop server where everything costs way too much. Gnomish/Goblin has been trivial in this expansion. Why now?
Will you be able to get Ashen Verdict rep without raiding? I don't currently raid on my hunter. Just curious.