Thoughts on the latest 4.0.6

I'd like to be level-headed about the changes that come around in the PTR.  Clearly SV hunter damage is a bit too high.  I would like to see them add an interrupt for SV and knock off about 5% damage.  They appear to simply want to knock off about 20% damage. 

Below are the current testable changes:

Beast Mastery

• Animal Handler now provides a passive 25% bonus to attack power.
• Arcane Shot damage increased by 15%.
• Hunters can now use Auto Shot while moving.
• Cobra Shot will eventually benefit from haste.

Marksmanship

• Chimera Shot's overall damage increased by 50%.
• Aimed Shot weapon damage increased to 200%. In addition, the base cast time has been reduced to 2.4 seconds, down from 3.
• Arcane Shot damage increased by 15%.
• Hunters can now use Auto Shot while moving.
• Steady Shot will eventually benefit from haste.

Survival

• Black Arrow damage has been reduced by 15%.
• Explosive Shot damage has been reduced by 15%.
• Serpent Spread still possible
• Hunters can now use Auto Shot while moving.
• Cobra Shot will eventually benefit from haste.

So on the surface, it's clear they'd like to make MM much more potent, BM a little more potent, and SV far less potent.  That said, they're going to shift the earth a bit more with two rather huge changes; 1) Cobra and steady will eventually benefit from haste, and 2) Auto-shot on the move -- without stutter steps.

I know I don't need or even want the auto-shot change.  I find myself on the verge of attacking the wrong mob plenty of times and just need to move until my fingers can find the escape button.  (Since you can no longer click the ground to unselect your current target.)

Other important questions:
#3 - Is SV still getting the -5% to agility nerf too?
#2 - Will the Chaotic meta gem requirements benefit SV more than MM?
#1 - Will SV start firing Arcane Shots instead of Explosive Shots now?

 

Fun in Heroics

Last night I ran Grim Batol heroic.  It was with my guild so it was a blast.  What made it so?  For three of us it was our first time.  We cleared it in 45mins.  On two bosses we were three-manning it.  (I was one of the dead one of those times!)  Why was it fun?  We didn't know the fights but figured them out on the fly.

What else has been fun in heroics?  It's usually the unexpected. 

I had to train-trap a big ugly heroic mob for four minutes while a pug tank fixed his router.

With only me and a healer up (who tried to dps), I kited a different big ugly heroic mob around while widdling its 1M health down.

I got called into heroic Deadmines while doing my TolB'd dailies.  I unfortunately still had my gorilla.  After the tank went down to the whirling blades of the robot in the forge the healer somehow thought to heal the pet.  I threw on growl and MD and the damn pet took hardly any damage.

Being SV, my only boss interrupt for the first boss in heroic Shadowfang Keep is to use my Gorilla and pummel up to every 30sec.  I was astonished that I was able to do it.  Pummel works a lot better than it once did.

In general, the heroics feel like five man raids.  Like raids, pug raids can really really suck.  This is magnified by pug players that you will never ever encounter again from other servers.  But if/when you have a good group the runs challenge your abilities and certainly keep you awake.