Spirit Champion - Possible Spells and Talents

Warsong

Talent - Storm, Earth, and Fire - based off the Padaren Brewmaster ability. Divides the Champion into three warriors, Storm (Twisting Storm), Earth (Towering Oak), Fire (Twin Embers), if there is no appropriate weapon in inventory then the form will not manifest.

Talent - Final Strike - Attacks with weapon ending the current war dance, different effect depending on the dance.

Ability - Bladedancer's Respite - Wardance converts a portion of damage done into mana.

Ability - Dancing Strike - Attack does 30% weapon damage as magical damage against the targets lowest resistance.

Voodoo

Talent - Serpent Ward - Places a serpent ward that attacks your target dealing nature damage for x sec.

Ability - Big Bad Voodoo - Make all party or raid members around the Champion Invulnerable for x seconds, shadow hunter is unaffected. Places the Tainted debuff on the targetn

Talent - Get The Voodoo - The Champion can benefit from the effect of Big Bad Voodoo, decreases the Duration of the Tainted debuff by x amount.

Ability - Sleeping Thunder - Ranged Attack that deals nature and shadow damage.

Breaking

Talent - Star Shield - Fires a beam of Arcane Energy From shield doing x damage.

Ability - Sun Step - Teleport to target blinding them for 3 sec

Talent - Force Shield - when your shield spells expire or break they inflict x arcane damage on the attacker.

Ability - Twist Flow - Diverts magical energy tranferring one beneficial magical effect from the target to the Champion.

Ability - Mirrored Shield Reflect one spell or ability back at the target.

Edit: There is now a full list of Abilities for the Spirit Champion, both Trainable and Talented. As well as a number of talents. The talent trees are currently based on the current style of talents, but I am working on mastery bonuses. As soon as I have completed the talent trees I'll post it for people to see and critique. Once that's done I'll try to start work on the Rune Master.

Homemade Class: Geomancer Redux - The Spell Fighter (Class Name Tentative)

The second half of the old Geomancer class is gonna be all out DPS, with the possibility of tanking. The Spell Fighter, no The Spirit Champion. Spirit Champions in Lore are warriors who have built up a strong connection to the spirits. Fitting for a Warrior of Magic. This class takes most of the offensive features of the Geomancer class not related to the Rune Master.

Spirit Champion is a magical warrior who fuses magical prowess with martial skill. The Geomancer infuses his sword strikes with with fire and his and his arrows with lightning. He can battle both at range and in Melee. He is equally adept and countering magic used against him.

Armor: Cloth, Leather, Mail, Shields

Weapons: 1H and 2H Swords, 1H and 2H Axes, Spears, Daggers, Bows, Crossbows, Thrown, Wands

Resources: Mana

A lot of things carry over from the original version, however there is one significant difference. The focus has shifted entirely to combo physical/magical DPS, be it melee or ranged. The class is a fusion of Pandaren Shodo-Pan, Spell Breakers, Battle Mages, and Shadow Hunters. The S. Champ will have a lot in common with Enh Shaman and Ret Paladin. However he will have some machanics that make his play style completely different.

Talents - Warsong, Voodoo, Breaking

Warsong is akin to the martial tree from the Geomancer, and will have similar talents and abilities, however its focus will shift more toward the Shodo-Pan with it focus on war dances. It will focus on Fire and Nature magical damage. War dances will be a key part of the play style and it will have talents associated with the different weapon styles. Twin Embers talent will focus on dual-wielding adding fire damage to all attacks while dual wielding. Towering Oak talent will improve your physical damage and increase your haste with two-handed weapons. Lastly the third style is unique to Warsong stance, Twisting Storm Talent will improve the damage you do with one handed weapons and let you equip wands as one handed melee weapons and adds nature damage to your weapon strikes. Each talent will also provide inherent bonuses that work regardless of weapons equipped, this is to promote taking all three instead of focusing on one style. For Warsong Champions it will be wise to carry additional weapons in order to maximize damage by using multiple Wardances.

Voodoo is the ranged spec, it is the second physical damage based ranged class, after the hunter, but with more magical damage. This spec is based off of the shadow hunter. Like hunters they'll have an auto-shot/throw and want to stay at a range, because even though they're attack work at both melee and at range their talent only benefit attacks made with a ranged weapon. Magical damage will focus on shadow and nature damage. To facility a consistency within the class some strikes will be usable regardless of range using ranged weapon beyond 5 yards. The class will lose the most of its ability to heal but will definitely gain serpent ward and big bad voodoo. Will focus on Loa spirits for talent and signature skills.

Breaking or Spell Breaking is based on the elven spell breakers, this is the possible tanking spec, as it will be the most shield focused of the three. They will use spell shields and have a talent to convert Intellect into AP, which will be low tier (1 or 2) to provide access for the other specs. It will focus on Arcane and some Holy damage for magic. It will have abilities like Spell Reflect, Spell Steal, Power Word Shield, Purge, Silence, Wind Shear, and Mana Burn, as it is focused around countering magic. However many of these will work for non magical effect as well in the case of the breaker. Offensive attacks will use mostly arcane, while defensive will be holy, with talents like Reflective Shield inflicting damage. They will also have talents that improve Channeling.

Players will want to dip into the other trees for different reasons. Warsong to improve wardances, Voodoo for better CC, and Breaking for more powerful channeling.

Wardances are abilities that have no cost but have a strong effect on your play style. Wardances will come in 2 Varieties, unrestricted and weapon locked. Unrestricted dances can be used with any weapon and work for any of the specs. Weapon locked dances however can only be preformed by have the right weapon combination equipped. However so long as the right kind of weapon can be found in your inventory it will automatically equip it. Each tree will have a signature wardance. Voodoo will be Legba Rumba which would increase movement speed and ranged damage, and decrease the duration of movement impairing effects. Breaking would be Sunstrider's Waltz, which increased dodge and parry, and reduce mana cost. Warsong would be the Dance of 7 Dragons which would shift through the different wardances in the Warsong school.

Channeling would be equivalent to Stances or Aspects. There would be three key one. Spirit, Element, Energy. Spirit Channeling would be used by Voodoo, increase the effect and damage of nature and shadow spell. Transforms a small amount of damage done into AoE heal effect. Element channeling would be more used by Warsong increasing Fire and Nature Damage done decreasing enemy resistances to them as well. Energy channeling would be used by Breakers, Attacks would drain opponents resource, rage, energy, runic power, etc, and convert some of it into health and mana for the Champion, and damaging any attackers with holy damage. There would also by a universal channel called Focus Channeling used at lower levels, by all three specs.

Abilities That need to be in WoW.

As time passes and we add more and more expansions to the World of Warcraft, we gain more and more abilities. Many of these come from the games rich heritage. Many of the abilities of from Warcraft III have made it into WoW at some point or another. Abilities like Shockwave from the Tauren Chieftain, Black Arrow from the Dark Ranger, Fan of Knives from the Warden, Thunder Clap from the Mountain King, and Frost Nova from the Lich have all made their way into at some point or another. But within the lost lists of Hero abilities from WCIII there are still some good ones yet to enter our MMO arsenals.

Shadow Hunter's Big Bad Voodoo
Turns all friendly units invulnerable in an area around the Shadow Hunter. The Shadow Hunter does not turn invulnerable. Lasts 30 seconds.

OK, so I don't know exactly how this could be put in game. And at thirty seconds this would be a PvP balance nightmare, but it's awesome! It just doesn't fit with anyone other than the Shadow Hunter, so let's hope we get a new Hero class soon.

Beastmaster's Stampede

Calls down hordes of rampaging thunder lizards to explode upon the Beastmaster's enemies. Each exploding lizard does 60 damage

My question is simple, why isn't this already a talented ability for Hunter, or even Druids? This is awesome! It doesn't even have to be Thunder Lizards. For hunters it could just be all your stabled pets rush out and charge your target. The only thing i could think of is visual difficulted of hordes of hunter pets flooding the screen.

Mountain King's Avatar
Activate Avatar to temporarily give the Mountain King 5 bonus armor, 500 bonus hit points, 20 bonus damage and spell immunity.

This could be an awesome cooldown for Warriors or Shamans. With some tweaking, espicially with Dwarf shamans on the way. The key fact is the Warcraft III version doesn't cut it but the concept of the power needs to be revisited, in better ways than stoneform.

Blood Mage's Phoenix
Summons a powerful Phoenix. The Phoenix burns with such intensity that it damages itself and nearby enemy units. Has Spell Immunity, and Resistant Skin. When a Phoenix dies, it creates an egg that will hatch into a Phoenix.

No I don't want to give Fire Mages pets, but this is awesome. It doesn't fit with warlocks thematically. Phoenix are a little to prissy for them, but for a fire mage its awesome. Best bet make it something more akin to a guardian, which you really have no control over it just hits what you hit for a few seconds then leaves.

Priestess of the Moon's Searing Arrows
Increases the damage of the Priestess' attack by adding fire. Searing Arrows will fire until the Priestess is out of mana. Manually casting Searing Arrows will allow the Priestess of the Moon to fire beyond her normal 60 range at level 2.

I want this. Pop this cooldown and bam! Fire damage on My arrows and to that extent give me this too.

Sea Witch's Frost Arrows Adds a cold effect to each attack, slowing a target enemy unit's attacks and movement.

Throw in the ToC Lightning Arrows and I'm a happy hunter indeed.

Warden's Vengeance
Creates a powerful avatar that summons invulnerable spirits from friendly corpses to attack your enemies. When the Avatar of Vengeance dies, the spirits vanish

OK so this power is bad ass, and it's more bad ass because the pet summons more pets. Who gets this? Sub rogues, I know it's a bit magic-y for rogues but wardens are rogues (but with blink). It's be a great booster to Sub damage and being a sub is the most magic-y of rogue specs it fits. It's like a one man Ambush (See what i did there?)

Homemade Class: Geomancer Redux - The Rune Master

With the new rush of Cataclysm info we learned of the of the demise of the Death Knight system of Talents, this means the DPS/Healer hybrid Geomancer is now obsolete so what does that mean. Well in all honesty it's not bad news. One of the things that occurred with the Geomancer Class that I ended up merging a lot of lore classes together to allow for both healing and DPS in each tree, but now I only need one DPS tree. The original design for the Geomancer gets split in two. For a healing class, The Rune Master, and for a DPS (Possible Tank), The Spell Fighter (Name Tentative). Well start with the Rune Master.

Rune Masters are master of Titanic Rune magic. By painting Runes onto themselves, their allies, or the earth itself they can channel magical energy directly through it to heal or strengthen. Runemaster whether they are Healing or Doing Damage work best in the thick of the fray alongside Warriors, Rogues, and other melee fighters as many of their spells require contact, but also they can improve their Healing by inflicting damage on their Enemies.

Armor: Cloth, Leather.

Weapons: Fist Weapons, Daggers, 1H Maces, 2H Maces, Staffs, Rune Brush (Relic)

Resources: Mana/Chi

The Mana/Chi system is the evolution of the original Quintessence system from the original Geomancer class, however there have been some changes to how it works. Chi will function almost identically to Rage, in that when you are damaged or do damage it will build. However it will not be required for most of your abilities, which will cost mana. Instead chi will allow you to tap into the power of your runes, be they on yourself, your allies, or the ground. This means there will be no ramp up time for DPS or more, importantly, healing. With Mana you'll place your runes and cast your normal heals. The Tap ability will be a standard use of Chi for healers and will be standard. Tap releases the energy of the rune Healing for x amount, and some other effect based on the rune, but reduces the duration by 5 seconds. Talents will reduce the amount of time eaten by the spell. Other will cause AoE effects from Ground Runes. Rune Burst will absorb all the runes on a target increasing healing by the total duration of all active runes which be a massive heal with an AoE component. Chi strikes will tap the power of Runes or Ritual Tattoos on the player to do damage. These will be reminiscent of Monk attacks with names like "Thousands Palms" and "Iron Soul".

Like Shaman Totems(Relic) which are required to actually use totem abilities, Rune Master will have to have a Rune Brush. The Rune Brush is what's used to draw Runes. There will essentially by 4 kinds of runes. Runes of Fire, Runes of Earth, Runes of Air, and Ritual Paint. There will be a Class profession called Ritual Tattooing which places enchants on Head or Chest items. These are permanent and don't stack with other enchants, (Arcanum of Torment for example) in addition they overwrite the Armor graphics placing blowing tattoos on the character instead, but it can be glyphed to show armor if one choses. Ritual Paints will be long duration buffs, like Blessing of Kings or Prayer of Fortitude, which will require Runic Ink as a reagent. Earth Runes will create area of effects as glowing patterns on the ground players will only be able to place 2 different Earth Runes at any given time possibly with a talent. Air runes will be short term buffs or DOTs, often secondary effects of other spells. Runes of Fire will be short term Debuffs.

Talent Tree - Burning Fist, Sky Painting, Geomancy

Burning Fist or the Way of the Burning Fist will be the DPS tree it will be focused on melee damage and Runes of Fire. It will also increase the benefit you receive from your own runes of earth and air. Also you will gain bonuses to Runes that increase you and your parties Damage and Defenses. You will also gain improved Chi generation as you will rely on it more that the healing specs. Dipping into Sky Painting will allow access to Storm Runes for added DPS, While Geomancy will award additional survivability.

Sky Painting will focus on Runes of Air and Ritual Painting and Tattooing. Your Runes of Air will be more potent making you better suited to single target healing, however you will also be able to spread your Runes of Air around to other targets, giving you more AoE ability. You will also be better able to Heal from a distance with the ability to use tap on enemies and some ranged offensive abilities, called Storm Runes, which act like both Runes of Air and Fire. Dipping into Burning Fist will improve your secondary buff, while Geomacy will improve AoE healing.

Geomacy is all about Runes of Earth. It will allow you to use Tap with your Runes of Earth which will have longer durations than Runes of Air or Fire (about 5 Minutes)for single target heals as well as AoE. You will be more suited to group healing and will be able to place additional Runes of Earth. Your other Rune abilities will have the chance to cause a Crystal Rune on any target under the effect of an Earth Rune. Spending points in Sky Painting will improve single target heals while Burning Fist will improve your secondary buffs.

Rune Masters will use the same gear as druids and rogues. Talents will allow for Attack Power from Intellect(Sky Painting), Spell Power from Agility(Burning Fist), or Hit Rating from Spirit(Geomancy). These will be high enough in the trees so that it's possible to get all three, though DPS won't need hit from spirit, while heals won't need spell power from agility. Since healing on the Rune Master requires melee. Int and Spirit will have to preform double duty for so both specs will put point into the other healing tree for that. Look for Int to AP and Spirit to Hit to be Tier 1 or 2 while Agi to SP will be much lower 5+.

This new Rune Master comes almost entirely from the Rune Master Lore, with influence from Pandaren Geomancer and Transcendent. This also builds upon the class theorized by Matthew Rossi of WoW.com and the WoW Insider Show.

Game Vs Lore: From Warrior to Mage

Welcome to Game Vs Lore A new thing i decided to add to my list of things i do on this blog space of mine. Here we'll look at how things in lore are ignored, changed, or just plain destroyed in game, and vice versa. To start we'll look at arguable the most bad-ass class to every exist in WoW lore, the Orc Blade Master.

It's one of the few reasons I wan't to make a warrior (the others being Troll Berserkers and Blood Elf Spellbreakers) The Blade Master was in my opinion one of the coolest things in Warcraft III, along with the Shadow Hunter and Beast Master, but what happened to this awesome class? Well according to blizzard the Blade Master along with the Mountain King and the Tauren Chieftain became the foundations of the warrior class. This can be seen in the abilities Bladestorm, Thunder Clap, and Shockwave. But the Blade master had a bunch of really cool abilities.

Bladestorm - Causes a bladestorm of destructive force around the Blade Master, rendering him immune to magic and dealing 110 damage per second to nearby enemy land units

Mirror Image - Confuses the enemy by creating illusions of the Blademaster and dispelling all magic from the Blade Master.

Wind Walking - Allows the Blademaster to become invisible, and move faster for a set amount of time. When the Blademaster attacks a unit to break invisibility, he will deal bonus damage

So warriors eventually got their hands on Bladestorm in WotLK but what about the other two abilities both of them sound awesome but what about the others. Well Wind Walking, sadly, doesn't exist but worse than that They gave Mirror Image to Mages. Now I have no problem with the fact that mages have Mirror Image. It's a great spell that fits well. I just would have opted to given it a different name than the iconic Blade Master ability (Arcane Reflection, Doppelganger, Prismatic Copy) yet with the coming of Cataclysm arms warriors, who are the embodiment of the Blade Master, look to become more mobile their an opportunity for these abilities to return, but not as spells. A better idea would be talents.

After Image - When ever you use Charge, (Intercept, Intervene) or Heroic Leap to switch from a one living target to another, you leave an after image on the original target that continues attacking for 6 sec or until the target is dead.

Not only does this maintain much of the feel of the Mirror Image, which I believe wasn't meant to be magical in nature, but its cool as hell. A warrior could get a target to low health then charge to another leaving his after Image to finish the job.

Wind Walking - Your Intervene ability is now usable in Battle Stance. In addition it now lowers your threat by 10% and renders you invisible for 3 sec.

Warrior threat dump. The originally ability was used for the Blademaster to flee combat. The same principle here. Instead of increasing movement speed it's just rolled into Intervene the defensive charge. So not only does it lower your threat but also someone else. Like that hunter who never FDs or a Healer who landed a massive crit during a tank switch. Powers like this represent the return of the iconic Blade Master. The mobile and elegant warrior with the massive sword. Coupled with new abilities and new talents like these could mean the most awesome class from lore returns with a bang.

Of Hunter Pets and Druid Forms Part 3

We we'll finish up with the last few Hunter Races today

TL;DR: Troll-Raptor, Draenei-Moth, Undead-Bat, N. Elf-Cat(Night Saber), B. Elf-Dragonhawk,

Worgen-Wolf(Worg), Goblin-Gorilla

Troll - Horde - Raptor, Cat, Crocolisk, Turtle, Crab, Wind Serpent, Serpent, Bat

When it comes to trolls the loa spirits they worship represent the best link between them and the Wild beasts of azeroth, but in the end there is one thing that remains fact, they are awesome.

Ferocity pet of trolls would be a Raptor.Where there are trolls there are almost always raptors, with a few exceptions. (Ghostlands, Darkshore are the two that come to mind) The Echo Isles are no exception to this. Cats are another solid choice, Panthers, Leopards, and Tigers all have connections to trolls, Tigers being native to the Echo Isles, but raptors still take the gold.

Tenacity pets come down to two real choices, Crabs or Crocolisks. Turtles make the list since they're reptiles but they don't fit with the savageness of troll culture. Bear are a Forest troll thing like Birds of Prey. Crab are native to the echo isles but I have to go with the Crocolisks simply because they fit better with troll culture in my opinion.

Cunning pets had a number of possibilities. Bats represent the Troll flying mount of choice, but this fact has taken a backseat to there connection with the foresaken. Wind Serpent and Serpents both fit the troll theme well, however access to wind serpents out weighs that for serpents so Serpents take it.

But for the starting pet, it's gotta be the Raptor. Orcs and Wolves, Trolls and Raptors no argument possible.

Exotics for troll goes to the Devilsuar Giant Reptile, perfect for a troll. Loque comes in a close second since he's technically a Loa spirit, or at least the mate of one.

Lizards would make a great new pet family, with a lot of think D&D drake, but basalisks, Thunderlizards (Exotic) and a host of other Un'Goro dinos would be great pets for troll kind

Draenei - Alliance - Moth, Ravager, Sporebat, Nether Ray, Warp Stalker, Wasp

Draenei like the Tauren have a sort of quiet strength about them, that same kind of peaceful nature what with all the light worship and racial heal.

Ferocity goes easily to the Moth, they're all around the exodar and are surprisingly tuff to boot. Wasp are native to outland and would also make a good choice but they don't exist until 70 so they're out.

Tenacity really only has one choice, Warp Stalker, outland's premiere tenacity pet is the only real choice for Draenei's tank pet.

Cunning was another one of those tough choices. Nether Rays, Sporebats, and Ravagers all have great standing, but ravagers don't mesh as well with the Draenei serenity. Neither do nether rays but they have the advantage of being a mount often used in outland. In the end though the sporebats more peaceful nature takes it for cunning.

In the end the moth looks to be the best bet for Draenei starter pet.

Core Hound (Kurken) represents the only real choice for the Draenei's exotic, however if tripods became tameable they'd have it easy. Basalisk and eleks would also make great addtions to pet families for draenei, but until we head into the twisting nether again and travel to argus or some other world there won't be many new families made for the draenei.

Undead - Horde - Wolves, Bears, Boars, Carrion Birds, Bats, Spiders, Serpents,

The name really says it all, if its poisonous, sickly, or just plain creepy it would probably be trained by the forsaken.

Diseased Wolves are the best option for the Forsaken racial ferocity pet. Carrion birds also seem like they'd be a fitting pet for the undead, but its hard to beat something that looks just as undead as its master.

Diseased Bears are in the same place for Tenacity, though they only beat Diseased boars only because they show up at a lower level.

Bats had some steep competition with Serpents and Spiders for the Cunning spot, but when every one of your towns has a guy who trains these things it's hard not to win.

In the end though bats will proabbly be the undead starting pet.

Worms represent the perfect exotic pet for Undead because, well their worms. Toads would make an interesting new family, but Darkhounds are number one on the list for should be tamable by undead. There A guy in howling fjord who already does it. and The Red Mage Hunter, which shares a similar model, is already a tamable pet (though only the red ones). Darkhounds, are considered demons, but demonic beast is a better description, like fel boars they should be tamable.

N. Elf - Alliance - Cats, Bears, Birds of Prey, Carrion Birds, Turtles

Nature Loving and Gentle crossed with devote warriors gives you night elf culture, and makes them well suited to the path of the hunter.

Ferocity was probably the easiest choice of any class. Like Orcs they are instanly connected with Cats (Night sabers) but unlike orc they live right in the night elf starting area. Of coures there is a second contender, Carrion birds, specifically because of the storm crow.

Tenacity came down to the Bear and the turtle. Both seem like the'd fit well with night elves for different reasons. Turtles for nature loving bears for warrior. Since Hunters fall more into the warrior end of that spectrum Bears get it.

Cunning was a no contest Birds of Prey took it easy. Owls are almost as night elf as cats. the only low level owls live in night elf territory.

As for the starting pet cats get it hands down, seriously they're so many of them in the night elf starting area you have to kill some of them.

Spirit Beast is the best choice for night elves specifically Gondria who uses the same model as the cat mounts. Two families lend themselves to becoming pets for night elves, Stags and Hippogryphs (Exotic) they represent the same powerful connections to Night Elves as Cats and Owls. The possibility of a Fox pet also seems promising for night elves.

B. Elf - Horde - Dragonhawk, Tallstrider, Cat, Wolf, Bears, Birds of Prey, Serpents, Warp Stalker, Turtle

Blood Elves, the hordes beautiful, magic addicted, light wielders. Unlike most other Blood Elves Hunter have the advantage of being Rangers which means they were less effected by the loss of the sunwell, and marking them as arguably the most iconic characters in azeroth.

Cats are the best ferocity pet for Blood Elves. The lynx model is based on the old night elf cat form and found almost exclusively in blood elf lands. Wolves are not a bad choice but they are relatively scarce in blood elf territory, though the mage hunters in northrend, with their red color and magical nature, make great pets for a Blood Elf. Tallstriders also sneak onto the list because they are the closest thing to tamable Hawkstriders, the Blood Elf mount.

Warp Stalkers, Bears, And Turtles are the contenders for Tenacity. Warp Stalkers and the connection with Demons mark them as a great pet for Kael'Thas supporters, but those aren't the blood elves in game. Turtles are another good choice as they are native to Blood Elf Lands, but nothing about turtles fits with the Blood Elf culture. In the end Bears are the best fit despite being a bit rare.

Dragonhawks win the Cunning race against Birds of Prey and Serpents. Eagles are one of those pets that seem perfect for and Elven Ranger, while Serpents fall perfectly into the sinister nature of Blood Elves, but Dragonhawks are part of blood elf culture, being the flying mount of choice and being use by their flight masters.

Dragonhawks are no doubt going to be the Blood Elf starting pet, easy pick.

Core Hounds would be the best Exotic for blood elves because of the magical nature. In addition tamable Mana Worms would be a great option for hunters who want to have that magical connection. Foxes have even more potential for blood elves than night elves.

Worgen - Alliance - Wolves, Hyenas, Cats, Bats, Boars, Bears

The newest member of the alliance is bringing with it a new level of ferocity to the alliance and of course they get wolves.

Wolves are really a given for worgen, be they worgs, wolves, saber worgs, or dogs they go well with worgen. Hyenas also work well. Cats are still an option because of their ferocity, but they're way behind and would be a hold over from humanity.

Once again Tenacity is a battle between Bears and Boars this time Boars win straight out. Why? one piece of concept art depicting a possible worgen mount that resembles a boar affected by the worgen curse. Bears also work though like cats seem more of a holdover from the past.

Worgen like Undead have gothic feel so Bats are a good fit for cunning, and their mammalian nature lets them connect better with the worgen than other pets would, spiders are another option though.

As I said in the first part everything with worgen is wolves, why would this be any different, the only difference would be the model used.

Core Hounds or skoll would be the best options for an exotic. A wolverine pet or a fox pet would also be great possible pets.

Goblin - Horde - Crab, Cat, Raptor, Gorilla, Hyena, Carrion Bird, Turtle, Bats, Serpents, Bird of Prey

The last class we look at is the last class i expected to get hunters (and shamans for that matter) goblins money grubbing characters who care little for their environment and the things in it, but hunters none the less.

Raptors are most likely going to be present in the goblin starting zone, and along with cats they seem like the best choices for Goblin ferocity. However Hyenas and Carrion Birds seem like a better fit for goblin personality to me.

Turtles, Crabs, Gorilla are most likely going to be around for young goblins to tame, and I'm putting my money on the Gorilla, simply because little goblin big gorilla equals awesome.

Birds of Prey of prey win the spot over bats and serpents because of the rare Aotona who uses the same model as the epic companion pet the Hyacinth Macaw. If the pattern continues further parrot pets will also be birds of prey.

My pick for the goblin racial pet is the gorilla who should also serve as a non speed increasing mount so the goblin can ride on its shoulder.

Exotics for goblins means bigger is better, Rhinos are first on the list, then devilsaurs. Mammoths, Clefthooves, and Kodos need to be tamable for this reason. Monkeys and Foxes would play to the rich goblin stereotype as well.

That's it my views on hunter pets and druid forms. Took longer than I expected but still I'd like to here what you think.

Of Hunter Pets and Druid Forms Part 2

So time for the second part of my foray into racial connections to the wild beasts of Azeroth. Last time we looked at Druid forms. A quick addition. Zhevrah form would make a good travel form for Taurens or possibly a tallstrider. Now on to the Hunter stuff, we look at each race individually and go through the pets that have connections to them, then pick a cunning, tenacity, and ferocity pet for each and finally look at possible future options both in game and speculative.

TL;DR: Orc-Wolf, Human-Wolf(Dog), Tauren-Boar/Tallstrider, Dwarf-Bear

Orcs - Horde - Wolves, Boars, Ravagers, Scorpids, Warpstalkers.

Orcs represent a sense of savagery and honor, thus no herbivores, unless thoroughly aggressive.

Ferocity is a given for Orcs, Wolves without a doubt. The only problem with this is there are no native wolves in Durotar, but who cares. Wolves are raised as mounts in Orgrimmar why couldn't a young hunter have been given an already trained wolf so I say wolf for ferocity.

Tenacity pets the scorpid is the prime candidate. Warpstalkers are native to outland but are associated with Fel corruption something the orcs are seeking to shy away from. Native to Durotar, boars were once the premiere leveling pet. Traditionally Boars and orcs are often paired together, however Orcs in Azeroth are known to be fond of pork. Alsonative to durotar are scorpids. The Durotar Scorpid pet can be bought from Orgrimmar Vendor at the Argent Tournament sementing the connection between orcs and scorpids.

Cunning pets really only have one option, Ravagers. During BC Cats, Ravagers, and Raptors stood at the top of the raid pet ladder (at least there was some choice, how does a wolf beat a SPIRIT BEAST?!??) As players travel to Hellfire Peninsula they encounter the Mag'har, uncorrupted orcs. Among them are a number of hunters with not wolves, but ravagers as pets. The only cunning pets that come close are serpent and chimera but that making a stretch, a big one at that.

So out of the three which one do they get, wolf. No arguing orcs and wolves are like PB&J they just go together.

No lets go into special categories.

Exotic would be Spirit Beast Skoll. Wolf+Lightning=AWESOMSAUCE. 'nuff said.

For new tamable pets, a new cunning pet that would fit with orc culture would be great, though i don't know what it would be. Tamable Wyverns would be great for orcs, Exotic of course.

Humans - Alliance - Birds of Prey, Wolves, Cats, Bears, Boars

Humans boil down to three key traits, regal, loyal, courageous when it comes to pets for them. Ferocity goes to the Wolf. Now of course cats would be great, lions are the symbol of Stormwind after all, problem they don't even exist on the continent. The lion models only appear save a stabled one in nagrand and Pitch in Sholazar. But as Stormwind represents Medieval Europe and they despised wolves back then why do they get them. Simple answer dogs, we already know that there will be new dog models in Cata if they don't get their own family they will most certainly count as wolves. Man's best friend is a given.

Tenacity is a bit of a toss up between Bears and Boars, Bears represent the more regal option but Boars are local to the area around Stormwind and pigs are known to be just as loyal as any dog. Seeing as I wan't to avoid as much overlap as possible within factions, Boar is my choice for human tenacity.

Cunning is an easy choice in Birds of Prey, in fact its the only choice because Eagles (like lions) are part of the Stormwinf crest. "But there are no Eagles near Stormwind," you may say, "the only ones in the old world are the one summoned in Zul'Aman." Your half right, the only targetable ones are in Zul'Aman. If you pay attention to the old world and parts of outland and northrend as well. There are a number of non targetable birds the serve as ambiance, swooping across the screen ore being seen off in the distance. Blizzard could easily add some targetable one in if they chose to.

So who gets the gig, Dogs(Wolves) Along with Gilneans Humans would be perfect to receive dogs as starter pets it just feel human.

For humans no exotic pets really stand out, aside from dogs there are no real standout families for humans. Horses could be a possible option.

Tauren - Horde - Boars, Cats, Wolves, Tallstriders, Birds of Prey, Carrion Bird

Tauren in my mind represent a peaceful strength. Their bovine nature causes me to lean towards similar creatures.

Ferocity in the end goes to the tallstrider. Just as much as cats and coyotes are common in Muglore so are Tallstriders, but what gives them the edge over the more combat ready competitors is that it is not seen as aggressive. They mirror the peace and serenity that tauren as a race seem to give off, the only other Ferocity pet with that feel is the moth (this bit is significant for later), add to that the Muglore hatchling pet and you've got gold.

Tenacity is boar all the way. Not only are they the only Tenacity pets native to Muglore, but a Tauren with a Boar just seems right, to me.

Cunning pets on the other hand present a problem. The actually distribution of cunning pets is a bit limited and the families themselves have less variety within them than say Cat (5 skin types) or wolves (5 [possibly 6] skin types) meaning they cover a much more focused family, the exception being birds of prey.

Taking a second we'll discuss this a bit further. Cats, Wolves, Birds of Prey, Carrion Birds, and Spirits Beast are unique among pet families in how they are built. They possess multiple model types within their families, these different models correspond to different species on a much larger scale than other families. Tigers, Lions, Leopards, Lynxes for cats, Wolves, Worgs, Mage Hunters, and possibly Dog for wolves, Owls, Eagles, Hawks, Parrots for Birds of Prey. Vultures, Condors, Alien Vultures, and Crows for Carrion Birds. and of course the various spirit beasts. The distinctions between these are much more pronounced than say between the three spider models. Simply because to us A tiger is distinct from a lion. We see a big cat with stripes in the zoo its not whoa check out the cat, its whoa check out the tiger, but when we see a spider, whether it's a tartula or a daddy long legs it's a spider. We only differentiate as an after thought. This allows these families to have a much greater array of connections culturally. Vultures may have one legend but the Storm Crow has another, yet both are Birds of Prey.

Back to Tauren Birds of Prey get the vote for one solitary reason, the Fjord Hawk, which uses the same model as the Tauren Flight Form (Where as it's counterpart is a Carrion Bird which occurred back when Birds of Prey were exclusively owls).

However who gets the gig as a total toss up between the Boar and the Tallstrider both would be great, both would make sense.

Exotic pets for Tauren Rhinos look good. Kodos would make for a great addition as would mammoth, particularly for Taunka. A new bovine mob like some sort of long horn steer would be cool, aside from cow critters Tauren are the only other bovines in WoW which is hard to believe. They new division to the barrens would be a great place to toss them in. Zhevras would also be cool.

Dwarf - Alliance - Bears, Cats, Wolves, Boars, Birds of Prey

Dwarves are stout and Hardy and are known to develop deep connections with particular creatures.

Ferocity for dwarves is gonna have to be cat, snow leopard, since they are common around Dun Morogh, and they fit with the winter theme of the Ironforge Dwarves. Why not wolves, well it's a rather simple equation. Given that Winter=Frost, Winter+Wolf=Frostwolf which is equal to Orc.

Tenacity boars are cool but there's really no arguing Bear wins hands down, if you disagree go watch the original opening cinematic, if you still disagree then you fail at WoW and should quit now.

Cunning took a bit of cunning to devise (see what i did there) since Dun Morogh has no native cunning pets, but on the other hand we can play the Eagle card similarly to how we did with humans but that's not the key point here. The three Alliance Dwarf Clans, Bronzebeard, Wildhammer, and Frostborn have one particular thing in common a connection to a particular type of beast. Rams for Bronzebeards, Gryphons for the Wildhammers, and Snowy Eagles for the Frostborn. It's these eagles that are the reasoning for the Dwarf Cunning pet going to eagles.

Of course every Dwarf deserves to start with a bear plain and simple.

Gryphons (Exotic) and Rams would make great additions as pets. A wolverine/badger type pet would be pretty awesome as well.

Of Hunter Pets and Druid Forms Part 1

So with Cataclysm comes awesome new stuff, and the class previews have reveals some great new teasers for use to drool over. But here's some interesting things that are coming up, Hunters get racial pet at Level 1 and Troll and Worgen Druids, as well as further druid form overhaul.

We'll start with druids. With the precedent already set by the new Cat and Bear models there are high expectations for the new druid forms. Travel, Aquatic, Moonkin, and Tree of Life forms all hope for updates. Meanwhile we wait with baited breathe for our fist looks at Worgen and Troll forms, so here are my hopes.

Travel Form:

Night Elf - Stag/Deer - The icon for travel form is a hoof, so why does travel form look like a cheetah? Night Elves Identify with two creatures very strongly, Deer and Nightsabers, since they already have cat form, deer is a likely choice for them, furthermore Druids of the Antler already exist in lore.

Tauren - Antelope - Tauren like night elves are rather peaceful the idea of them gaining an antelope as their travel form is not so far gone, however another hooved creature would work as well. The idea of tauren becoming a bull is cool, but that would require and entirely new model.

Troll - Raptor - unlike night elves or tauren trolls do not inspire thought of peace. They are agressive and inherently evil, they ride raptors proudly into battle, why not become one. An updated cheetah model would work as well though

Worgen - wolf - OK so everything for worgen is going to by wolfish, but do you see it going any other way. Ghost Wolf is already used by shamans for the same purposes, however like trolls an updated cheetah model would work as well.

Aquatic Form

Nigh Elves - Sea Lion - N. Elves should receive an updated Sea Lion model. It fits the feel of night elves well.

Tauren - Orca-ish - Tauren should are big, they should for the most part stay that way, even when shapeshifted, always being a bit bigger than the norm. An orca model akin to those in northern would be a great aquatic form for them.

Troll - Shark Hammerhead - Once again troll use a predatory theme, troll get hammer head becuase they'll all have mohawks. and that would look awesome

Worgen - Shark - Like trolls you have that same predatory nature for the race reflected in the form.

Tree of Life

I really don't know about this one. It all depends on how the updated models look, Troll should definitely be palm trees though.

Moonkin

The same boat as Tree of Life, once again must have mohawks on trolls.

One thing D&D Druid has over WoW druid is freedom of form chose. You can be either a Predator or a Guardian which only implies the role not the animal, though they should fit. Predators could be Wolves, Lions, or even Hawks, while Guardians were Bears, Boars, Rhinos, and the like. So in dicussing the two primary druid forms i'll discuss my best possible forms and the likely forms.

Bear

Night Elf - Bear - The class was originally only night elves, nuff said

Tauren - Boar/Bull/Kodo - Somethings match with the class. Tauren are powerful bull men. Bears are nice but Bulls would be the best. The would best exemplify the beast within the Tauren. Boars and Kodo are also sturdy beasts and would make for great choices as well. For tauren its all about size and making it reflect the class.

Trolls (Ideal) - Turtle - Once again reptiles and trolls go hand in hand Crocolisks would also work nicely

Troll (Best Possible) - Bear (smaller than others though) - Not that bad Bear loa exist in both the Drakkari and Amani pantheons, Though Darkspear are Jungle Trolls Raventusk are forest trolls so that could fix that problem.

Worgen (Ideal) - Dire Worg - Seriously a huge hulking gorilla of a wolf is what i would love to see.

Worgen (Best Possible) - Wolf-Bear - This will be a bear with a wolfish face hopefully it will look awesome.

Cat

Night Elf - See Bear

Tauren - The Lion is a great choice for the Tauren cat form. The Lions of the barrens would be the first choice of any up and coming tauren druid when seeking a predatory animal form.

Trolls (Ideal) - Raptor/Serpent - Troll have a natural connection to reptiles. Serpents already have a precedent in lore and in game but mechanics wise they're a bit to far off, raptors on the other hand are perfect for this sort of thing, even better than travel form.

Trolls (Best Possible) - Tiger - Trolls lands have three native cats leopards, tigers, and panthers. Of these only tigers are native to Echo Isles, and differentiate them best from the panther-esque night elves cats, plus tusks and of course mohawks!

Worgen (Ideal) - Worg - They're worgen what do you expect

Worgen (Best Possible) - Wolfish Cat - Let's face it it'll be a wolf. Sure it'll technically be a cat, but the canine features will make it a wolf in everything except animations. Deal with it.

Flight

Since flight form was released with TBC it's Models are Rather nice, so we'll focus on Trolls and Worgen for the last part of this discussion.

Troll - Wind Serpent/Bat - Troll must absolutely not have a storm crow form. Darkspear trolls look down upon bird spirits, so Moonkin form and Storm Crow forms will have negative connotations for them. Wind Serpents on the other hand are different they have Loa, and are reptiles but that's more Drakkari. Dragonhawks would be good to, but not only are they amany but worse the Elven racial mounts, and trolls can't have that at all. However one thing that has slipped away with WoW is the troll's connection to Bats. With the forsaken being commonly associated with them instead, the troll batriders of Warcraft Three were forgotten, until BC where they could be seen guarding Horde outpost by air and later in the form of drakkari bat riders in northrend. The bat would make an ideal choice due to the similar shape for the overall model and animations.

Worgen - Storm crow/Bat - Like trolls a non avian would work well for worgen. A flying-fox like bat would make for a great wolfish flight form. Otherwise a storm crow model with wolfish ear-like tufts of feathers would work nicely.

So that's it for the first part of this post next we'll take a look at possible racial pets.

Shapeshifters - My views on Druids and Tree of Life

No class is more associated with its core mechanic than the druids and shapeshifting. Druids are defined by: bears tank, cats melee, moonkin cast, trees heal. However with the recent class previews there is a new debate amongst the druids ranks. Blizzard intends to convert the "beloved"/"detested" Tree of Life form into a cooldown. As stated earlier druids are identified by their forms Resto Druids who strongly identify with the Tree of Life as their hallmark are up in arms about the loss. However there is little other than aesthetic and sentimental value, all of which could be maintained simple with a something like this

Glyph of The Ancient Oak - Minor Glyph - Level 60 - (While in combat,) You maintain the appearance of your Tree of Life spell regardless of whether the spell is active or not.

From a Technical standpoint, druid forms present a unique opportunity for blizzard using the druid class. Utilizing the shapeshifting forms blizzard is able to completely change the classes mechanics to something completely different. Druids are normally casters, however when they shift into bear form, they share most of their mechanics with warriors, including resources and role. When they shift into cat form it rogues. However with both Moonkin and Tree of Life form they only serve to buff their stats. In fact they tack much more away from the classes utility in order to increase DPS or healing, respectively. Unlike an elemental shaman a Moonkin must shift out of form to heal, unlike a priest a Tree must shift out of form to damage when healing isn't needed. However in the case of Moonkin they simple become more mage like, which does nothing to gimp their DPS. However when a Tree cannot cast Balance spell because she is in Tree form she losses much of the classes utility and versatility. Furthermore the coming changes to Balance druids look to moved to move them more towards the Cat and Bear end of the argument. The implementation of the new Eclipse system as a core mechanic adds a new functionality to the Moonkin form, one which as no implications for the other specs, including Resto. This means that tying it to Moonkin form makes the most sense, since the only ones using it will be them. Now if some new mechanic was implemented for Healing druids tying it to Tree of Life would warrant the keeping of the spell in its current state, this of course means the death of the druid's caster form which leads to our next argument.

Druids are not shapeshifters. That is according to the lore of Warcraft shapeshifting is only a small portion of the druidic arts. In fact, Feral druids (ie druids of the talon, and the claw, etc) are the only druids who use shapeshifting abilities. Even then they are used limitedly as prolonged time in animal form leads to the druid losing herself and becoming nothing more than the wild animal they appear to be. However, in game, in order to help balance them against other classes, moonkin and tree of life forms where added in order to buff their performances in their respective roles. Adding new forms made sense since the concept of shapeshifting was already established for the class, this however resulted in the druid class becoming the shapeshifting class, as opposed to feral being the shapeshifting spec. Shapeshifting is very much a secondary ability in much of the lore, as powers over nature tend to jump to the forefront. The Warcraft Comics and Stormrage novel had a much needed does of shapeshifting to the lore, with Broll Bearmantle and Malfurion Stormrage shapeshifting extensively, but feat of nature control and communing with nature are formed entirely in caster form. Moonkin and Tree of Life seem to exist only in game, and have little or no representation in the extended universe.

This is not to say that I have any personal grievance against Trees. I will admit my personal foray into druidism is on hold until Cata and troll druids. This isn't meant to be Tree bashing, or anything like it. My intent here is to show that with in the context of current state and the coming state (ie Cataclysm) of world of warcraft, the transformation of Tree of Life into a cooldown makes much more sense, without the new Eclipse the same would be true of Moonkin. However as much as players may dislike it the change is going to be a massive buff to resto druids, allowing them to keep up with other healers but keep access to all of their caster spell be they balance or restoration. And in my personal opinion there should also be a glyph of this sort

Glyph of Student of The Wild - Minor Glyph - Level 60 - While Moonkin form is active you maintain all of of its affects (including polymorph immunity), however you retain the appearance of your caster form, has no affect in arenas.

Furthermore racails should be usable in all forms. It is unfair that Bear are denied access to Warstomp, while Death Knights, Warriors, (and soon) Paladins are, (Why can't a bear stomp?) if you're going to do that then it shouldn't be usable with Righteous Fury, Defensive Stance, or Frost Presence either, to be fair.

Holy Damage

So everyone knows paladins do holy damage, but a lot of people don't realize how manage damaging spells exist within the Healing Priest trees.

Smite, Holy Fire, Holy Nova, and Penance, Power Word: Shield can be talent to reflect back damage absorbed as Holy Damage. A good number of talents in both Discipline and Holy trees increase damage as well as healing done. Seeing this i began fooling around with the Talent Calculator and came up with this "Holy Damage" Build This is actually makes me want to level a priest quite a bit more, seeing as I'm by far the worst healer in existence the Idea of having another fun, if suboptimal, DPS spec to play with is pretty cool. This got me thinking. First off after tier six in Holy there are no more talents that specifically benefit Damaging spells, though a couple do increase them indirectly. Secondly Discipline has a number of talents that increase damage, however the only spell in the tree that specifically does damage is Penace. For the maximum usage of points it requires 17 points in Holy the rest in Discipline and maybe a few over in shadow.

but imagine this

Glyph of Restored Faith - Major Glyph - Transforms your Shadowform into Seraph Form. You lose the ability to cast Shadow Word: Pain, Shadow Word: Death, Vampiric Touch, and Devouring Plague, but you can now use Holy Fire, Smite, Holy Nova, and Pennace. Damage Bonus applies to both Holy and Shadow Spells.

Sadly this isn't possible currently but if Shadowform was moved up or became a baseline ability it could make for an interesting second dps option for priest. However there's a large amount of healing filler in the current build which feels a lot like wasted points. Plus there could be a new spell called.

Heavens Fury - Calls down a bolt of divine lightning to strike your foes dealing X Holy-Nature damage and Y damage to all enemies nearby

Or one like this

Wrath of An'She - Fire a beam of radiance at the target dealing X Holy-Fire damage and Y damage over Z seconds.

And this would be a must for shadow and holy damage DPS

Perversion - Twists the targets faith against them dealing X Holy-Shadow damage over Y seconds, and an additional Z damage when it expires

Shadowfrost damage is cool but, there's no precedent for frost within the tree. Of course there isn't really such thing a resiting holy, so anything combined with it would always do Holy damage so to for these spells you could separate the damage types between the portions of the spell. Initial attack does holy, while the secondary attack does the other damage type.

There are only a few more BHFL articles left to write, and I'll be moving into, BCFL, Building a Class From Lore, and i'll make an attempt to build and Inquisitor with this Spec at it's core. Maybe I'll find some time to roll a priest and do some testing with it, who knows, but this just seemed pretty cool

The Time has come, Cast down your bullets and arrows and hope the epics sell for gold.

Hunter Preview is Finally, Finally here, you don't understand how good it feels to finally know something of my beloved class, (To my paladins friends out there, Sucks to be you man) and now lets take a look

NO MOAHR MANA!!! - It's gone just like they said at blizzcon. We got more specifics on how things will work

Hunters will no longer use mana; instead the class will use Focus. Focus generates much like Energy, by building up. It will not be affected by Intellect at all. Haste will improve its generation. Hunters will generate roughly 6 Focus per second, slightly less than rogues' Energy generation rate of around 10 Energy per second. Below, we have listed some examples of how we intend Focus costs to operate:

• Steady Shot/Cobra Shot: No cost. Generates 9 Focus per shot (or 12 per second instead of 6).
• Arcane Shot/Chimera Shot /Explosive Shot: 45 Focus.
• Aimed Shot/Multi-Shot: 60 Focus.
• Concussive Shot/Tranquilizing Shot: 35 Focus.
• Rapid Fire/Master’s Call/Disengage: 30 Focus.
• Viper Sting will now restore 9 Focus every 3 seconds.

NO MOAHR AMMO!!! - No we won't be getting awesome mega lazer arrows, but we will no longer have to spend our hard earned gold just to function Plus Free BAGZ

A major change coming for the hunter is the removal of ammunition. Guns, bows, and crossbows will now do damage without consuming ammunition at all. There will be no more ammo slot on the hunter’s character display. Any ammunition that a hunter has at the time of the change will become gray sellable items. Existing quivers will be converted into large bags -- though each hunter can only have one and non-hunters will not benefit from this change -- and we will not be making any additional quivers.

Beast Mastery - Looks like we'll be saying by by to steady shot, Say hello to Cobra Shot, which is essentially Nature Damage Steady Shot,wherein the other specs will mostly use it situationally (or SV may use it with their mastery) against high armor targets, this will be our bread and butter shot. Plus careful aim no longer. The Careful Aim talent needs a new name, it still feels Marksman-y (Since its currently a Marksman talent that turns Int into Ap) Maybe something like Wolf's Focus or something like that. Haste bonuses and Pet Damage are a given for BM. Assuming the Longevity decreasing Cobra Shot to 1.5 goes through, and we retain are natural haste (which gave our steady shots a 1.5 cast with no extra help) giving hunters the ability to reach a 1 sec GCD like casters, and (innately Rogues) could mean some serious DPS, particularly for BM.

Cobra Shot (level 81): A new shot that deals Nature damage instead of Physical damage. This ability will share a cooldown with Steady Shot. This will give hunters an alternative to Steady Shot on heavily-armored targets, and we will have talent incentives in the Beast Mastery tree to make this a signature shot.

• Beast Mastery hunters will have a new talent called Careful Aim, which increases the damage of the next Steady Shot or Cobra Shot, but also increases the cast time of these abilities. The intention is to make the combination of spells into a decent damage opener, especially in conjunction with the new ability Camouflage.
  
  
• Beast Mastery hunters will also have talents that make Cobra Shot superior to Steady Shot, such as Longevity reducing the cast time of Cobra Shot to 1.5 seconds.

Beast Mastery Mastery
Ranged Damage
Haste
Pet Damage: Many of the passive benefits to pet damage will no longer be available in the Beast Mastery talent tree. However, these will be provided through the new Mastery mechanic.

Survival - Finally trap launcher, along with other changes hunters are moving into a full range class feel, this essentially means there will be no reason to move into melee range anymore (let BM talents buff snakes it only makes sense). Camo has the potential for some potent PVP trapping combined with the launcher, combine that with some Cheetah adds some serious strategy, and help for leveling. The mastery means extra kick for SV's Stings and traps, plus Explosive shot, Black Arrow, Arcane Shot and Volley. With Serpent Sting crit-ing naturally more crit for SV can only be good

Trap Launcher (level 83): When used, the next trap can be shot to a location within 40 yards. This provides the current Freezing Arrow treatment to all traps and, as a result, we will be removing the current ability Freezing Arrow. 1-minute cooldown. No global cooldown.

Camouflage (level 85): The hunter enters an obscured state that prevents him or her from taking ranged damage. The character would still be subject to melee or area-of-effect attacks, and dealing or taking damage will break the Camouflage effect. The hunter can move and set traps when under Camouflage, and will receive a damage bonus when attacking while under Camouflage (which will then break the effect).

• Thrill of the Hunt grants Focus when you land a critical strike.
• Hunter vs. Wild increases the hunter’s Focus generation when his or her pet is snared, stunned, or rooted.
• Stings and other periodic effects will now benefit from haste and critical strike ratings. Hasted damage-over-time abilities do not lose duration, but instead add additional damage ticks.

Survival

Ranged Damage
Ranged Critical Damage
Elemental Damage: Hunter abilities such as traps, Black Arrow, and Explosive Shot will do elemental damage of the following types: Arcane, Fire, Frost, Nature, and Shadow.

Marksman - Not as much direct info for Marks mostly because it's probably in the best state right now. Looks like MM is gonna stay super efficient with the change over to Focus. Plus they will get the ability to turn any weapon into Zod's Repeating Longbow And they'll gain natural Armor pen just by being Marks

• Rapid Recuperation will cause Rapid Fire to give 20/40/60 Focus immediately and will cause Rapid Killing to generate 3 Focus per second.
• Efficiency will reduce the Focus cost of Chimera Shot, Aimed Shot, and Arcane Shot.

Marksmanship
Ranged Damage
Armor Penetration
Double Shot: The hunter will have a chance to launch a free attack off of the global cooldown for 50% damage

FINALLY MOAHR SLOTZ!!! - More stable slots. Active and inactive pets is perfect, plus hunter get a racial pet at level 1 and learn to tame a new one at 10, G-E-N-I-U-S. Why is this not in game now? Orc - Wolf/Ravager/Scorpion, Troll - Raptor/Tiger, Tauren - Boar/Wolf/Tallstrider, Undead - Bat/Diseased Wolf (or Plaugue hounds even!), B. Elf - Dragonhawk/Lynx, Goblin - ???, Human - Wolf/Bird of Prey, N. Elf -Night Saber/Owl, Dwarf - Bear, Dranei - Moth/Ravager, Worgen - Wolf (obviously) are my guesses. Some make sense based on the races starting zone, other based on the races culture. For example Orcs revere wolves as companions, but in Durotar there are no wild wolves, but their are boars and spiders. I'll right up a separate post on this at a later date. Plus more utility for hunter pets which will make all pet families seem more viable in raids. Now we need to see the new pets

• Pet management will also change. Hunters will now have two types of attainable pets: active pets and stored pets. Hunters will be able to have up to three active pets (perhaps five for Beast Mastery specialized players) and will have the ability to switch among these pets any time they are out of combat, without going to town. They will also be able to have a large number of pets in storage at the stables. In order to swap a pet from active to passive, a hunter will still need to visit their local Stable Master. However, this should afford ample storage for the many Spirit Beasts wandering the lands of Azeroth.
• Additionally, hunters will now start with a race-appropriate pet at level 1 and will be able to tame a different pet at level 10. We are also changing many pet family abilities to provide important buffs and debuffs. The intention is to allow the hunter to be able to swap pets and fill a position if a certain role is missing from the group. The goal is to have all pets provide a damage increase that is very similar and no greater than any other pet. Some examples of the changes we are making to the pet families are listed below:

• Wind Serpents: Will provide a debuff that increases the amount of spell damage taken by an enemy (similar to a weaker version of the warlock ability Curse of Elements).
• Ravagers: Will provide a debuff that will increase an enemy's Physical damage vulnerability (similar to a weaker version of the warrior ability Rampage).
• Hyenas: Will provide bleed damage (similar to a weaker version of the druid ability (Mangle).

R.I.P. Mongoose Bite - I will miss you and my dreams of melee huntering, but I HAZ COBRA SHOTZ NOW!!!! (Memorial Music)

We are reinforcing hunters as a ranged class. To this end, the class will now start with ranged abilities at level 1, and we will be removing some melee abilities, such as Mongoose Bite.

Still waiting to here about a couple of things like the proposed Aspect of the Beast changes for BM. Or new a new aspect. With the removal of aspect of the viper there are now two unused aspect animation in th game files. Still hoping for a new hunter shot. Demo locks got Demon bolt which is similar to my first idea for a BM shot but it suits Demo better, a shot that shows the oneness of the hunter and pet is what BM needs, and less super dot.Aside from hunter stuff I'm hoping for more character options in the future particularly in the case of the horde. Orc or Mag'har, Tauren or Taunka, Darkspear or Raventusk (jungle or forest troll), Forsaken or Darkfallen (Undead high elf with the Cata, with the exception of Paladins B. Elf and Undead will have essentially the same class options), Ironforge, Wildhammer, or Frostborn dwarves (Wildhammer would be taller and get awesome tattoos). If certain options were limited by class you can have even more options, Night Elf or High Elf (Mage/Priest/Hunter/Rogue only) This could be used to have Pandaren without pissing off china, Pandaren or Furblog (Only Furblog in China) of course some of these are more likely than others.

So I swung by Streets place a couple days ago

Yeah as in Greg Street, anyway we was talking about WoW and shit, and I tossed him a brew and was like, "Shamans need an untalented melee strike, you know. Its has a melee spec but out of the box, nothing really melee they can do."

And he was like, "True, true"

And then i was like, "Seriously you could tie that shit to the weapon enchant and be like bam, hit you with a tornado bitch, why cause i just tapped my windfury, and it proc'd so and one!"

I though we were just joking over sum drinks but it looks like he took it to heart.

Primal Strike (available at level 3): Primal Strike is a new weapon-based attack that every shaman will learn very early in the game. Our goal with this ability is to make leveling as Enhancement rather than as Elemental more viable, since many key Enhancement talents become available at fairly high levels.

Unleash Weapon (level 81): Unleashes the power of your weapon enchants for additional effects (see below). A dual-wielding Enhancement shaman will activate the effects of both of their weapon enchants. Instant cast. 30-yard range. 15-second cooldown. Undispellable.

Here are a few examples of effects we're considering for this ability:

- Windfury Weapon – Hurls a spectral version of your weapon at a target, dealing 50% weapon damage and increasing the shaman's Haste for the next five swings.
- Flametongue Weapon – Deals instant Fire damage and buffs the shaman's next Fire attack by 20%.
- Earthliving Weapon – Heals the target slightly and buffs the shaman's next healing spell by 20%.

OK so none of that visiting ghostcrawler stuff's true (I live in the middle of Illinois though I wish i could just swing over to california whenever, and i don't drink) but Blizz jus released the first of the cataclysm class previews Shaman we see some great changes coming including spirit walker's grace, case a lightning bolt while attacking, HELLZ YEAHZ!!! My only real grief is the name of Enh Mastery. Ele get Elemental Overload (note: must be read with a booming echoing voice). Res get Deep Healing, not as awesome as Elemental Overload, but it evoking water so it works. Ehn, Nature Damage, just says what it does right there. Really hoping that's a place holder. Also gonna kinda miss Mental Dexterity, which strangely is one of my favorite shaman talents, not just because of what it does but the idea of it (and the name and the icon are cool too)

Now all i can say is MOAHR!!! MUST HAVE MOAHR!!! (but it sucks that hunter's aren't 'til friday)

Yeah, Sorry

So, yeah, I haven't posted in a while, sorry. Just haven't had much to say. I've got a great post ready for when I tame Krush, but that might take a while. Hopefully I'll have a new D&D character story up in the next few days, time permitting (Ranger/Druid pretty cool I might add). I got my hands one DA:O: Awakening so I've had the urge to finally sit down and beat the game, so there'll probbably be some stuff on that soon, and some other cool stuff. Maybe I'll post some of my older work as well who knows. BHFL will be coming back soon, I just need to figure out where i left off, soon will be getting into the overlap characters, which will be describes using not only hunter builds, but builds in other classes so until then later.