Survival Hunter 3.1 Notes vs PTR

#0 - Feb. 24, 2009, 4:36 p.m.

Now I know things change, however, I'm just curious as to whether the two mentioned things not even be in to test:

New Talent: Trap Launcher: When activated, your next Trap will be launched instantly at the enemy target. 1 minute cooldown.
T.N.T. re-designed: Increases the damage done by your Explosive Shot, Explosive Trap and Immolation Trap by 2/4/6%, and gives your Explosive Shot a 33/66/100% chance to refresh the duration of your Immolation Trap effect on the target.

I was really excited when I read those two, it sounded like finally a way of bringing traps back into the raiding game.

But then I see what the talent trees currently are on the ptr, and TnT doesn't have the immo refresh, and Trap Launcher has been replaced with Black Arrow(don't get me wrong, Black Arrow looks cool, but I'd still like to see Trap Launcher in some form so we can faesibly use traps without needing to run up to the target).

(Here is black arrow)
Black Arrow (Tier 9) - Fires a Black Arrow at the target, increasing all damage done by you to the target by 6% and dealing [ 10% of RAP + 785 ] Shadow damage over 15 sec. Costs 6% base mana. 5-35 yard range. Instant Cast. 30 sec cooldown.

Also...

Lock and Load re-designed: You now have a 33/66/100% chance when you trap a target with Freezing Trap, Freezing Arrow or Frost Trap and a 2/4/6% chance when you deal periodic damage with your Immolation Trap or Black Arrow to cause your next 2 Arcane Shot or Explosive Shot spells to trigger no cooldown, cost no mana and consume no ammo. This now has a new spell effect and sound.
vs
Lock and Load (Tier 4) now has a 33/66/100% chance to proc off Freezing Shot, Freezing Trap, and Frost Trap, and a 3/7/10% chance to proc off the periodic damage of Immolation Trap and Black Arrow. (Previously worked on all traps and included serpent sting)

Now, I understand the change to periodic damage off immo in stead of triggering, but why the removal of explosive trap COMPLETELY from the talent, and why the removal of serpent sting? Are survival hunters supposed to be using black arrow in place of serpent sting? And if Black Arrow has a 30 second cooldown, that means we're gonna be starved on lnl procs during the 15 seconds its not available.

Overall the changes look like a positive direction, but I think a little clarification on which we should be expecting - the notes or the ptr trees - to be more likely to end up having would be really nice? :)

Ghostcrawler

#31 - Feb. 24, 2009, 7:37 p.m.

I know this is a little confusing, so I will try and clear it up.

1) Trap Launcher is a very cool idea and something we would love to do. However, it requires a lot of tech and may end up beyond the scope of what we can do for patch 3.1. We don't want to give hunters a buggy, half-baked ability. If you are going on the PTR to test Ulduar or just mess around with numbers, I wouldn't worry about this ability, at least for now.

2) Black Arrow is on the trap cooldown timer, and we assume largely for PvE. Black Arrow is your ability to proc things normally caused by traps (like LnL) in PvE situations when using a trap is a pain or the target is immune.

3) Think of Lock and Load triggering from traps (esp. Frost Trap) as a PvP mechanic. Think of Lock and Load triggering from periodic ticks (esp. Black Arrow) as a PvE mechanic. In PvE, you may want to use traps on trash or group pulls however. In PvP, nothing is stopping you from using Black Arrow if it works for you.

Ghostcrawler

#83 - Feb. 24, 2009, 9:04 p.m.

You won't be trapping raid bosses to get LnL procs, even if they are immune to the effects. You probably won't be trap dancing much at all in PvE. You should really use Black Arrow for that purpose.

If the proc rate ends up being too low, that is certainly something we are willing to adjust.