Monday, April 9, 2012

Mists of Pandaria Buffs & Debuffs - A Hunter's View

So in Mists of Pandaria (WoW's upcoming expansion), the buffs/debuffs system is being completely reworked.  Currently, a good hunter chooses which pet to bring to the PvE table based on what buffs are missing from his or her group.  However, current buffs are being consolidated and some old buffs entirely removed, so the pets will be entirely different come MoP.


Hunters will have two of the new buffs & one debuff, regardless of spec.  All hunters will provide their party or raid with 10% extra Attack Power (melee and ranged), as well as 5% additional crit.  We will also have the ability to provide (through our shot Widow Venom, most likely) a Mortal Strike debuff.  This last may be annoying to apply, but chances are it won't be needed much in a PvE setting regardless.

Bleed debuffs will be removed from the game, as will the agility & strength buff.
  Bleed classes will likely simply have the +bleed incorporated into their bleed spec.

Many pets will likely see their buffs/debuffs entirely changed.  Cats, Wolves, Devilsaurs, Spirit Beasts, Hydras, Rhinos and Hyenas have buffs/debuffs which will be removed from the game or directly provided by the hunter.

Hunters will have the ability to choose their pet's spec regardless of family.  So providing Blessing of Kings from a Shale Spider no longer requires the hunter to DPS with a tank pet, and providing 10% stamina will no longer necessitate raiding with a Cunning Silithid.

What does this mean for us?  It means that we will provide two of the most powerful DPS buffs in the game simply by turning up.  It also means that we can choose any third buff in the game to provide to our party or raid, without losing DPS by having to pull out a non-Ferocity pet!  Thus a hunter bringing along a Mastery pet (potentially a Wolf or Cat) will bring three extremely powerful buffs to a single raid or dungeon.  It also means that for solo play, hunters will continue to be very self-sufficient--we will have two powerful damage buffs as well as our choice of Blessing of Kings (Shale Spider) or Stamina (Silithid) for BM, or Mastery or Haste, and so on, while just out questing or soloing old content (or new, for that matter!).

Remember that the buffs & debuffs not currently given by our pets will likely become available once the cats, wolves and so on are given their new skills.  For example, it's more than likely that the new +5% Mastery raid buff and the 10% haste (to melee/ranged) buff will be given to the more popular pets. 

Raptors dancing for joy at the news, or something.


The List of MoP Buffs & Debuffs:

5% Agi/Str/Int, 10% Stamina, 10% Melee/Ranged AP, 10% Spell Power, 10% Melee/Ranged Haste, 5% Spell Haste, 5% Crit, 5 Mastery (not sure if % or rating), -12% Armor Debuff, +4% Physical Damage Taken Debuff, +8% Spell Damage Taken Debuff, -10% Physical Damage Done Debuff, -30% Casting Speed Debuff, & -25% Healing Taken Debuff.

Final Speculation/wish list:  I'm hoping that the Devilsaurs, at least, get a Fear.  I'd love to see the Wolves get it too.  But then again, I'm a PvPer at heart, and the idea of the Devils' old Terrifying Roar or a Wolf giving a Terrifying Howl just appeals to me!

Source: http://eu.battle.net/wow/en/blog/3793437/#blog

3 comments:

  1. I hadn't read that the agi/strenth buff was being taken away from cats. Only that it was being changed to a % instead of fixed value. I knew the crit buff is going to be brought by the hunter themselves, not from a wolf or devilsaur anymore.

    If this is true I really hope they give both of these pets some extremely useful buffs. They are the two most iconic hunter pets, IMO, and it would be a shame to see them made obsolete.

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  2. Thanks for the great article. It does lead one to a lot of hopes and a little speculation.

    I hadn't realized they where removing the agi/strength from kittens either, and totally forgot about the bleed debuff.

    Personally I would like to also see some of the BM Special buff spread out a little, even if it is around the BM only pets.

    For eg, I don't "mind" Shale spiders so much but don't love them, and it would however be nice to have at least one other pet/model to pick from if a hunter wanted to provide this buff (Yes I'm look I'm looking at you devilsaurs... Come on...! King Mosh, King Krush, King Dred, surely these should be granting us blessing of kings :D )

    But again, that would just be a personal preference of having a little more variation.

    I do really like the idea of them having a fear as well, it would just be so fitting :)

    Cant wait to see how it all pans out!

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  3. I admit I'm assuming that the agi/str buff is being removed, but only because it's not listed among the official MoP buffs. I don't think they'd forget it, simply because it is also a Warrior & DK buff currently, but it's possible!

    I can only assume they're working it into a passive somehow, or buffing damage to compensate. We shall see :D

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