MoP huntering - initial impressions

so i had some time to finally quest a bit and run a couple of dungeons with my hunter. following thoughts so far:

1. survival still works: i was pleased to see that i was not alone in my concerns for the survival tree, as the changes that they made for initial launch have magically vanished. namely friends, they brought my beloved black arrow back to its original state. i'll be staying SV now - the play style is more or less the same with some modifications in what you cast when depending on your "animal" spec between murder of crows, lynx rush and dire beast and your "focus" spec between fervor, readiness and thrill of the hunt. if you spec for readiness it adds an interesting flavor to the mix, as it affects murder of crows, rapid fire and disengage, which now either heals, AOE CC's, or increases run speed based on how you spec it. still comparing it with my tried and true thrill of the hunt. BM's will probably still prefer fervor.

2. YOU WILL FEEL EXTREMELY SLOW: my steady shots now feel like i'm drawing back my bow in a pool of molasses so haste is going to be a have-to-stack stat. i haven't played with it extensively but as of right now in the level 85-86 range i would value haste over crit on green stats. obviously agility over everything.

3. blue dungeon gear will not necessarily replace DS gear: in cata quest greens instantaneously, as well as annoyingly, replaced ICC 25 gear. not the case so far in MoP. well maybe trinkets and rings, but on armor no. i got some AGI mail from the first dungeon (iLvl 410) and sockets meant my 397 gear was still better. stamina, on the other hand, was better on the dungeon blue.

4. temple of the jade serpent was a straight-up faceroll: mechanics were stupid easy to figure out on the fly. i don't have a dps meter yet but when i shot things they died with a speed that can only be described as the ill quickness.

5. pet specs: any pet can spec any tree between ferocity, cunning, and tenacity. learned this the hard way after running a little bit and realizing my wolf wasn't doing anything. i had to CHOOSE ferocity for it to learn those pet talents.

with the way they redid talents hunters can have a lot more raid utility. for example you can have SV with a silencing shot, which used to be an MM-only talent. i'll be looking at BM and MM next to see how they stack up as far as play style and focus management, and post my suggested situational talent trees later today.

Sounds awesome! I can't wait to try out my BM hunter

with the level 15 disengage option, disengage becomes a pretty nice tool for every hunter spec, both in PvP and PvE. remember the hunter dead zone is gone, so you can be firing from point blank range - when getting the hell out of the fray becomes far more important. before i go into the options, know that it seems to launch you further back then in cata, so be careful. i've played with all three options and i have to say i actually really like all of them and see value in any choice.

1. Posthaste - disengage gives you a 60% speed boost for 4 seconds. i'd call this one the PvP one, since when glyphed (increases the distance you leap back) it can take you so far out of melee range, and combined with traps, camoflauge and other selectable CC, not only will you burn their battlemaster trinkets but that they might just give up and change targets.

2. Narrow Escape - disengage webs all targets within 8 yards and roots them for 3 seconds. personally i've been using this one as a bonus trap in my SV spec - this fills in great as additional CC on boss fights with large amounts of adds or trash, like the brewery dungeon in MoP. it would also work like gangbusters on fights like bethilac. you can run into the fray then immediately disengage and root everything and everyone. this is good for all classes. it's especially good for SV, whose snake and ice traps also AOE CC, and you can chain the two so cooldowns don't screw you. and clearly, good for flag rooms or slowing down flag runners too.

3. Exhilaration - disengage restores 15% of your health. not BASE health, TOTAL health. i think this one is pretty self explanatory.

NEXT - BM overview and the level 30 talent tier - "CC options"