WoW TWW 11.1 Development Notes - Hunter Changes

We will go over all of the Hunter changes for World of Warcraft The War Within.

WoW TWW 11.1 Development Notes - MM Hunter Changes
Blizzard Entertainment

With 11.0.7 now live, Blizzard is steadily working on the next major patch for World of Warcraft The War Within. Given that 11.1 will mark the start of Season 2, we can expect some massive overhauls to gear, class philosophy and overall PvE and PvP balancing.

Having said that, we will go over the Hunter changes in the recent The War Within 11.1 PTR Development Notes. Keep in mind that these changes are subject to change as more players provide feedback to the dev team.

Advertisement

 

Hunter PvE Changes

WoW TWW 11.1 Class Changes
Blizzard Entertainment
Dark Ranger

Dark Ranger

Developers’ notes: A common complaint of Withering Fire is its consistency. The goal with this change is to raise Withering Fire’s randomness floor while lowering its ceiling, still allowing for exciting high-roll moments where you get many Deathblow procs rapidly and reducing the times where nothing happens during Withering Fire.

  • Fixed an issue preventing Bleak Powder’s cone from dealing damage over its intended area.

Advertisement

 
Pack Leader

Pack Leader

Advertisement

 
Sentinel

Sentinel

  • Lunar Storm damage increased by 25%.
  • Lunar Storm's radius increased to 12 yards (was 8 yards).
  • Lunar Storm's duration increased to 12 seconds (was 8 seconds).
  • Lunar Storm now triggers once every 30 seconds (was 15 seconds).
  • Lunar Storm now does initial damage in addition to its periodic damage.
  • Lunar Storm's visual effects have been updated.
  • Lunar Storm's cooldown can now be tracked via an aura on the player.
  • Lunar Storm will now present an aura on the personal resource display when it is ready to be fired.
  • Lunar Storm now follows its target very slowly.

Developers’ notes: Our goal with these changes is to help make Lunar Storm feel like more of a “moment” be reducing its frequency and increasing its damage. We’re also looking to increase its usability by allowing it to slowly track its target. Since Lunar Storm is spawned at your enemy’s position, and in most content, Hunters have very little agency over where mobs are moving, we felt that allowing it to slowly follow your target is more justifiable relative to other ground / area spells.

hunter-beast-mastery

Beast Mastery

Developers’ notes: We’re happy with how Beast Mastery Hunter is playing and performing, we are just adding more hooks to ensure that this spec has appropriate area of effect tunability.

  • New Talent: Dire Cleave – When summoned, Dire Beasts gain Beast Cleave at 100% effectiveness for 8 seconds.
  • New Talent: Poisoned Barbs – Direct damage from Barbed Shot has a 30% chance to explode on impact, dealing Nature damage to nearby enemies. Damage reduced beyond 8 targets.
  • New Talent: Solitary Companion – Your pet damage is increased by 35% and your pet’s size is increased by 10%. Choice node with Animal Companion.

Developers’ notes: Our vision for Beast Mastery’s fantasy is tied to Animal Companion, but for players who would like to opt-in to solo-pet Beast Mastery, this talent should allow you to enjoy that playstyle with only a marginal throughput loss. We’ve taken some initial steps to ensure that this talent doesn’t dramatically increase the throughput of spells like Call of the Wild and we’ll be making changes as necessary if issues arise.

Advertisement

 
hunter-marksmanship

Marksmanship

Developers’ notes: Moving into Undermine(d), we are looking to reimagine Marksmanship’s Sharpshooter fantasy and reconcile some large spec friction points such as Lone Wolf. Undermine(d) is seeing Marksmanship lose their pet functionalities and it is instead joined in battle by a unique Eagle pet that will exist outside of the game space but continue to support you in combat in a uniquely Marksmanship way.

  • New Ability: Harrier’s Cry – Your Eagle descends from the skies with a screech, giving the signal to attack. Increases Haste by 30% for all party and raid members for 40 seconds. Allies receiving this effect will become Sated and unable to benefit from Harrier’s Cry or similar effects again for 10 minutes. Learned at level 48.
  • New Passive: Manhunter – Damaging a player with Aimed Shot applies Grievous Injury, reducing the healing they receive by 25%. Learned at level 11.

Developers’ notes: Marksmanship lost access to Mortal Wounds by losing pet access, so we’re returning Aimed Shot’s ability to apply Mortal Wounds.

Developers’ notes: Precise Shots’ stacking behavior has been updated. The damage bonus of Precise Shots now stacks and all stacks are consumed when Arcane Shot or Multi-Shot are cast.

Developers’ notes: Headshot has substantial rotational implications, and Deadeye should provide a simpler option for players who want to improve Kill Shot’s throughput without substantially increasing cognitive load.

Advertisement

 
hunter-survival

Survival

Developers’ notes: We’re mostly happy with Survival Hunter’s gameplay after the 20th Anniversary Celebration update, but the spec continues to have a lot of cognitive load around what buttons to press and when. To better condense Survival’s rotational decision space, we’re making access to Butchery and Flanking Strike mutually exclusive. Both spells have their own strengths and nuances, but having access to both at all times creates a crowded rotation that is absent of filler spells like Raptor Strike or Mongoose Bite.

  • New Talent: Cull the HerdKill Shot increases the damage units receive from your Bleed effects by 30% for 6 seconds.

Developers’ notes: The emergent power of Survival’s bleed effects paired with old Pack Leader’s Cull the Herd mechanic was compelling, so we thought we’d preserve it and expand upon it in the spec tree to ensure some spec depth isn’t lost with the Pack Leader rework.

Developers’ notes: The damage of Flanking Strike’s Merciless Blow damage is equivalent to 20th Anniversary Celebration update Butchery’s Merciless Blow damage.

Advertisement

 

Hunter PvP Changes

WoW TWW 11.1 Class Changes
Blizzard Entertainment
hunter-beast-mastery

Beast Mastery

hunter-marksmanship

Marksmanship

And that covers all of the changes posted so far for World of Warcraft The War Within 11.1. Once Blizzard releases the PTR patch for players to test, we might see even more updates to the class balancing. You can check out the official development notes, here.

Advertisement

 

 

World of Warcraft

World of Warcraft

World of Warcraft (WoW) is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) developed and published by Blizzard Entertainment. Released in 2004, the game is set in the high-fantasy world of Azeroth, where players create characters and embark on quests, battle monsters, and interact with other players. WoW features a vast, open world filled with diverse regions, dungeons, and raids. The game includes various classes and races, each with unique abilities and playstyles. World of Warcraft is known for its deep lore, engaging gameplay, and vibrant community. The game receives regular updates and expansions, introducing new content, storylines, and gameplay mechanics.

Genres
MMORPG
Platform(s)
PC
Release Date
Nov 23, 2004
Price
$49.99
Developer(s)
Blizzard Entertainment
Publisher(s)
Blizzard Entertainment
ESRB Rating
T