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Filed under: Hunter

Scattered Shots: A cure for the end-of-expansion doldrums

by Brian Wood Sep 2nd 2010 at 1:00PM


Welcome to Scattered Shots, written by Frostheim of Warcraft Hunters Union and the Hunting Party Podcast. Each week, Frostheim uses logic and science (mixed with a few mugs of dwarven stout) to look deep into the hunter class. Got hunter questions? Feel free to email Frostheim.

A question that I'm getting asked with increasing frequency these days is: "I've done everything there is to do in Wrath, Cataclysm doesn't even have a release date, and I'm bored! I'm sick of ICC and I'm not in the beta. What can I do to enjoy WoW?"

The end-of-expansion doldrums are hitting us all, and they've teamed up with summer in a flanking maneuver sure to leave almost every raid sign-up sheet a sad and empty thing. As the expansion winds down, we're left in a limbo-land. It's not yet close enough to Cataclysm to start preparing ourselves for the new expansion, but we've already conquered all the challenges of the old expansion.

If you're looking to breathe new joy and excitement into your WoW time, I've got a solution that just might work for you. Set your uber-geared badass Kingslayer away for a moment. You've done everything there is to do with your hunter for now. Instead, take a look at the class with fresh eyes, with a horde of bearded friends at your side, and learn what epic really means by rolling a new level 1 hunter!

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Filed under: Hunter, (Hunter) Scattered Shots

Scattered Shots: Grandpappy Frostheim on mana

by Brian Wood Aug 30th 2010 at 4:00PM

Scattered Shots is brought to you by Grandpappy Frostheim, who spends his evenings in an Ironforge tavern telling young hunters how much harder things were in his day, when they had to kite mobs uphill, both ways ... back when men were men, and women were men too, and pets were next to useless -- but they were also men.

You hunters these days and your love affair with mana. All I hear from kids lately is, "Waa! I don't want focus. I like my mana!"

Well listen up, pups: You may think you have mana right now, but you don't. I don't know what that little blue bar you have really is -- some kind of frilly decoration that has something to do with "feelings" or "positive reinforcement" or some such nonsense, I imagine. But whatever it is, it ain't mana.

Now back in my day, we had mana! Back then, mana was actually a resource -- something that ran out and left you desperate and gasping, rather than some decoration that offset your health bar prettily. And when you ran out of mana, you didn't have no fancy aspect or Viper Sting to get that mana back in no time. Hell, no! You just sat there and you auto-shot until your mana slowly crept back up enough to fire another shot. And by the Titans, we liked it that way!

You want to learn something about hunters, back before everything was handed to you on a silver platter, back when we exulted in the injustice of our class rather than cried about it? Then listen up!

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Filed under: Hunter, (Hunter) Scattered Shots

Scattered Shots: The golden age of pet tanking

by Brian Wood Aug 26th 2010 at 2:00PM


Welcome to Scattered Shots, written by Frostheim of Warcraft Hunters Union and the Hunting Party Podcast. Each week, Frostheim uses logic and science (mixed with a few mugs of dwarven stout) to look deep into the hunter class. Got hunter questions? Feel free to email Frostheim.

I have a suspicion that Wrath will go down in the history books as the golden age of pet tanking and extreme soloing. I think that Wrath hit the precise perfect balance for extreme pet antics, whether by design or by accident. We have solo'd from Molten Core to Violet Hold and everything in between (and more). We have used our pet to tank for our raids, from Naxx to Ulduar to TotC, all the way to ICC. Our pets have tanked Marrowgar, Deathwhisper, Gunship and Blood Princes, and our pets have even solo-tanked Sindragosa. We can pet tank Rotface while we kite the slimes.

The beauty and balance of the Wrath pet tanking, however, is that we're generally only able to do it after we're a tier or two of gear beyond the content (or with the ICC raid buff). This way, we aren't taking tank spots away from actual tank classes -- something that would get our pet tanking nerfed in a heartbeat. But these are still impressive feats, challenging feats -- and they are big fun.

While it's too early to say how pet tanking will work out in Cataclysm -- the pet design pass has not yet been done -- I keep getting emails about it, and we have seen enough to do some speculation. Join me after the cut for a look at what made pet tanking work so well in Wrath and what we know about it so far in Cataclysm.

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Filed under: Hunter, (Hunter) Scattered Shots

Scattered Shots: New hunter pet skins in Cataclysm beta

by Brian Wood Aug 23rd 2010 at 4:00PM


Welcome to Scattered Shots, written by Frostheim of Warcraft Hunters Union and the Hunting Party Podcast. Each week, Frostheim uses logic and science (mixed with a few mugs of dwarven stout) to look deep into the hunter class. Got hunter questions? Feel free to email Frostheim.

While the pet design pass has not yet been done for hunters in the beta, we do have a handful of new pets in the game, as well as new skins for old pet families. Also, our fox pet is no longer in the wolf family -- it's in the new fox family now! Monkeys also get their own family.

This video will give you a look at a handful of the more impressive new pet skins in the beta. If you want a complete list of changes, Mania is keeping up to date with every pet change over at Petopia. Be sure to watch to the end of the video -- the most impressive pet ever is saved for last!

[Update: in the last beta build (after this video was made) that last pet was indeed fixed.]

Scattered Shots is dedicated to helping you learn everything it takes to be a hunter. See the Scattered Shots Resource Guide for a full listing of vital and entertaining hunter guides, including how to improve your heroic DPS, understand the impact of skill vs. gear, and getting started with Beast Mastery 101 and Marksman 101.

Filed under: Hunter, (Hunter) Scattered Shots

Cataclysm Beta: Hunter changes in latest build

by Brian Wood Aug 21st 2010 at 4:00PM


The hunter class received handful of tweaks in last night's Cataclysm beta build 12803, but by far the most significant among them is the removal of the minimum range (sometimes referred to as the dead zone) for hunter special shots. However Ghostcrawler, lead systems designer, was quick to jump into a thread to point out that it was only a bug.

Ghostcralwer - Lead Systems Designer
We did not remove the minimum range of hunter shots intentionally. If it's happening, it's a bug.


It's as if a million voices all cried out in joy and then were extinguished. Read on after the cut for a full list of the hunter changes in the latest build. As if life were worth living while Blizzard toys with our hearts this way.

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Filed under: Hunter, Cataclysm

Scattered Shots: Beast mastery rotation in Cataclysm

by Brian Wood Aug 19th 2010 at 1:00PM


Welcome to Scattered Shots, written by Frostheim of Warcraft Hunters Union and the Hunting Party Podcast. Each week, Frostheim uses logic and science (mixed with a few mugs of dwarven stout) to look deep into the hunter class. Got hunter questions? Feel free to email Frostheim.

We've now covered what the MM Cataclysm rotation and the SV Cataclysm rotation are looking like in the beta, so it's time for BM. Ghostcrawler, lead systems designer, recently identified SV as the least-polished spec in the beta currently. While that may be true, it is also true that BM is the least functional spec at the moment.

While BM has come a long way in the beta, it still has not-yet-implemented talents and not-yet-functional talents. But the main problem with BM is that the pet design pass hasn't been done yet. BM relies on its pets far more than any other spec, and until we know how the pet design will play out, we are left with big questions in our rotation.

Join me after the cut as we take a look at exactly where BM is right now, why our pets are more important than ever, why big red pet is better than ever, and why we can't say for certain just what the final BM rotation will look like.

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Filed under: Hunter, (Hunter) Scattered Shots

Scattered Shots: Survival rotation in Cataclysm

by Brian Wood Aug 16th 2010 at 7:00PM


Welcome to Scattered Shots, written by Frostheim of Warcraft Hunters Union and the Hunting Party Podcast. Each week, Frostheim uses logic and science (mixed with a few mugs of dwarven stout) to look deep into the hunter class. Got hunter questions? Feel free to email Frostheim.

Last week, we covered what the new PvE rotation is looking like for MM hunters in Cataclysm, and today we're going to move along to the SV PvE rotation. Currently in Wrath, the MM rotation is more fixed and requires some careful forethought and planning. In Cataclysm, it is more so. In Wrath, the SV rotation is more reactionary, and in Cataclysm, it is that and more so.

Despite the frantic gyrations from being focus-starved to actually having too much focus, the SV rotation is probably the least-changed hunter spec rotation in Cataclysm. We use Cobra Shot instead of Steady Shot, we don't have to worry about reapplying Serpent Sting and instead we get to actually use Arcane Shot from time to time. Join me after the cut and we'll take a look.

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Filed under: Hunter, (Hunter) Scattered Shots

Cataclysm Beta: Hunter news and changes in the latest beta build

by Brian Wood Aug 14th 2010 at 2:30AM

Beta build 12759 was released tonight, bringing some very significant changes to the hunter class. Ghostcrawler, lead systems designer, also stopped by the beta forums to share some thoughts on the current state of hunter design in Cataclysm beta. Here are some of the highlights:
  • Hunter mastery system is now implemented
  • Aspect of the Fox now lets you cast Cobra Shot or Steady Shot while moving, and regenerates 2 focus when you take damage. It no longer lets you auto-shot while moving.
  • Blizzard is not happy with the hawk/fox aspect dynamic and plan to go back to only letting steady/cobra focus regen work while in Aspect of the Hawk.
  • Silencing Shot will have damage removed from it to prevent people from macroing it into all their shots.
  • The pet design pass and scaling has not yet been done.
Full blue post text, hunter masteries and notes on how the new Aspect of the Fox works after the cut.

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Filed under: Hunter, Cataclysm

Scattered Shots: Marksman rotation in Cataclysm

by Brian Wood Aug 12th 2010 at 9:00AM


Welcome to Scattered Shots, written by Frostheim of Warcraft Hunters Union and the Hunting Party Podcast. Each week, Frostheim uses logic and science (mixed with a few mugs of dwarven stout) to look deep into the hunter class. Got hunter questions? Feel free to email Frostheim.

As the Cataclysm beta continues, the different hunter specs are finally beginning to settle into place. There are still a lot of bugs, a lot of things not working or working oddly, and some talents that clearly need tweaking -- and of course, focus regen is being tuned weekly at this point -- but the overall PvE feel of each spec is becoming increasingly solid.

Today we're going to start by looking at the MM spec in Cataclysm, which seems to be the most polished spec at the moment. We are not forgetting SV or BM, which we'll hit up next week (though BM, as the most changed spec, is also the least finished, with big stuff not working right now). Join me after the cut for rotations, key abilities, how those talents really work and to bask in the awesomeness of the Cataclysm hunter.

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Filed under: Hunter, (Hunter) Scattered Shots

Scattered Shots: Internal review

by Brian Wood Aug 9th 2010 at 1:00PM


Welcome to Scattered Shots, written by Frostheim of Warcraft Hunters Union and the Hunting Party Podcast. Each week, Frostheim uses logic and science (mixed with a few mugs of dwarven stout) to look deep into the hunter class. Got hunter questions? Feel free to email Frostheim.

Here at Frostheim Industries Consolidated, we recently realized that some time ago we whizzed past the 50-article mark for Scattered Shots. Naturally, this revelation prompted a swift internal review by our quality assurance team, who are always eager for an excuse to hold meetings and enjoy a variety of jelly-filled pastries.

As a result, we are going to deviate a bit from our standard fare today as we complete the review process. Rather than telling you the greatest details of the latest beta build -- where base focus regen has been changed to 4.16 focus/second, shots are now costed correctly, Improved Steady Shot now affects cast times correctly and tons of BM stuff still doesn't work, incidentally -- we are instead going to ask for your patience and your help in the form of clicking your mouse several times.

Please join me after the cut -- even if you don't even play a hunter -- and let me know how you think Scattered Shots is doing as a column, and most importantly, what kind of things you prefer to see more or less of in the future.

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Filed under: Hunter, (Hunter) Scattered Shots

Scattered Shots: Cataclysm hunter video roundup

by Brian Wood Aug 5th 2010 at 1:00PM

Welcome to Scattered Shots, written by Frostheim of Warcraft Hunters Union and the Hunting Party Podcast. Each week, Frostheim uses logic and science (mixed with a few mugs of dwarven stout) to look deep into the hunter class. Got hunter questions? Feel free to email Frostheim.

There's a lot of Cataclysm info flowing fast and furious these days, and of course the information is changing almost as quickly as you can digest and analyze it. But it's one thing to read about all these Cataclysm changes to the hunter class, and yet another entirely to actually see them.

So today we're going to do a round up of some of the Cataclysm hunter videos out there to let you see the new pets, the new specs, the new rotations, and the cool new hunter abilities at work.

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Filed under: Hunter, (Hunter) Scattered Shots

Scattered Shots: New beta build for happy hunters

by Brian Wood Aug 2nd 2010 at 9:00AM


Welcome to Scattered Shots, written by Frostheim of Warcraft Hunters Union and the Hunting Party Podcast. Each week, Frostheim uses logic and science (mixed with a few mugs of dwarven stout) to look deep into the hunter class. Got hunter questions? Feel free to email Frostheim.

We got a new Cataclysm beta build filled with delightful hunter treats, and that was promptly followed up with some blue posts with more good hunter news. From the hunter point of view, this beta build seemed mostly aimed at refining focus and focus regen -- basically getting our focus into a better spot. For the first time in beta we are able anticipate hunter movement DPS being back to a good place. I shall manfully refrain from saying I told you so to everyone who cried that the world was ending. Our ability to shoot on the move was too drastically low, and Blizzard recognized and is fixing it.

In practice, I should note, most of these new changes are bugged. The result is we can't actually do a lot of testing on what the new rotations feel like in the beta, but I'm certainly very positive on how they'll work out. Heck, MM and SV rotations already had a similar instant to steady ratio as they do on live. With these changes, we'll be using a lot more instants (BM is still bugged and can't be tested well).

Join me after the cut for the list of all important hunter changes in the latest Cataclysm beta build, our blue post on raid buffs, and the latest measure of our new base focus regen rate!

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Filed under: Hunter, (Hunter) Scattered Shots

Scattered Shots: How to tell your friend he's a huntard

by Brian Wood Jul 29th 2010 at 2:00PM


Welcome to Scattered Shots, written by Frostheim of Warcraft Hunters Union and the Hunting Party Podcast. Each week, Frostheim uses logic and science (mixed with a few mugs of dwarven stout) to look deep into the hunter class. Got hunter questions? Feel free to email Frostheim.

The term "huntard" stretches all the way back to vanilla, when all the gold farmers were hunters (and actually farmed). While usage of the term has died down a bit due to widespread educational programming, it still exists, and we now know more about the huntard than ever before. Sometimes these bad players are just teenagers with parasitic worms burrowing through their brains, driving them slowly mad; other times, they're hillbillies destabilized from imbibing massive quantities of impure corn liquor and generations of profoundly unbiblical procreation.

But more often than not, the classic huntard behaviors aren't directly related to mental acuity. Modern medical science now knows that huntardism is a disease, often infecting newer players who just honestly doesn't know any better. They're trying their best. All too often, they're newer players who got some crazy and foolish advice (usually from other classes) and, not knowing any better, have done their best to follow it. But here is hope. Recent studies show that 90% of huntardism is, in fact, curable.

Join me after the cut as we take a look at how to identify the warning signs that a friend might be a huntard and how to break the news.

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Filed under: Hunter, (Hunter) Scattered Shots

Scattered Shots: Hunter beta leveling through Mt. Hyjal

by Brian Wood Jul 26th 2010 at 9:00AM

Welcome to Scattered Shots, written by Frostheim of Warcraft Hunters Union and the Hunting Party Podcast. Each week, Frostheim uses logic and science (mixed with a few mugs of dwarven stout) to look deep into the hunter class. Got hunter questions? Feel free to email Frostheim.

Today we're going to go on a journey, not of distance and miles, but a journey of the mind. Today I shall take you with me on a stream of consciousness trip through the Cataclysm beta. You will vicariously experience the first moments of the beta and leveling through Mount Hyjal.

This, dear friends, is even better than a beta invite itself. Partially, yes, because you will get to skip over the grueling slogging through bugged quests, the endless searching for new pets to tame, the constant World Server Down messages -- all this, you'll experience in just a handful of words rather than living the hours of pain. Seriously, though, as you're reading, just imagine getting booted out every hour or so (sometimes a dozen times in an hour) and seeing World Server Down when you try to log back in.

Oh, and this post contains spoilers. But, you know, it says Cataclysm beta in the title. When you see that, just always assume that there are spoilers, OK? OK.

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Filed under: Hunter, (Hunter) Scattered Shots

Scattered Shots: Cataclysm beta hunter video sneek peek

by Brian Wood Jul 19th 2010 at 5:00PM


Welcome to Scattered Shots, written by Frostheim of Warcraft Hunters Union and the Hunting Party Podcast. Each week, Frostheim uses logic and science (mixed with a few mugs of dwarven stout) to look deep into the hunter class. Got hunter questions? Feel free to email Frostheim.

Today, rather than telling you all about what's happening for hunters in the Cataclysm beta, I'm going to show you. This video goes through a handful of the hunter changes, including the tracking update, new pet skins, the new stable master and the improved pet stay command.

Before anyone asks, the beta currently has a level cap of level 83 and Camouflage cannot be learned until level 85. It's still very early in the beta, and we have a way to wait before we can see how that one works out.

Scattered Shots is the WoW.com column dedicated to helping you learn everything it takes to be a hunter. See the Scattered Shots Resource Guide for a full listing of vital and entertaining hunter guides, including how to improve your heroic DPS, understand the impact of skill vs. gear, get started with Beast Mastery 101 and Marksman 101 and even solo bosses with some extreme soloing.

Filed under: Hunter, (Hunter) Scattered Shots

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