Scattered Shots is for Hunters. David Bowers is caught in a Freezing Trap this week, so Daniel Whitcomb -- who did not set the trap, he swears to the Light -- is substituting for him.

You hear it pretty much all the time if you've ever slightly dipped into the world of Hunters. If you want to play in the big leagues, conventional wisdom says you're pretty much stuck with a select handful of pet types (also known as pet families): Ravagers, Cats, and Raptors for PvE, Scorpids for PvP.

But do you know why those pet families are so desired? What it really comes down to is Hunter roles and abilities.

Since patch 2.4, hunters have been having some problems. Aside from the outrage over the fact that our traps are now announced, we seem to be having issues with mana.

On the forums, hunters are not seeing much love from the non-hunter crowd, but I suppose that is to be expected. It is important to note however, that our mana efficiency is an intended attribute of our class. We are useful, not solely, but arguably primarily, because we can provide sustainable, long-term DPS. No, we don't crit like mages. In a boss fight though, we can keep going after mages short out.

Why are hunters all of a sudden having issues with mana? There are a few theories floating around, but we have yet to be graced with a blue response. Take the jump to learn more about why this might be happening.

When information began to trickle down about patch 2.4, hunters, like most classes, were groaning. Which nerf bat would we be hit with next? Fortunately, it seems that we have slipped under the radar. For now. Maybe Aspect of the Beast finally did us some good.

Let's break down the changes and see how this is going to be affecting us. With no major patches between now and Wrath, we might be living with these changes for awhile.

Bug fixes:

1. Equipping a thrown weapon while in the middle of an Auto-Shot will no longer cause animation issues. Since no one likes animation issues, I'm filing this under "win." Not that I've ever tried to equip a thrown weapon while already shooting, mind you.
2. Casting Flare while in any way not visible, will no longer cause your flare to be invisible to other players. To me, this sounds fair. Also, I want to be invisible. Rogues can, so why not hunters? Right? No?
   
3. Hunter's Mark: Hunters with Improved Hunter's Mark will now properly overwrite Hunter's Mark cast by Hunters without the talent. This used to be, but then was not. Now, it will be again. While it might rub your ego the wrong way always reading the message "a more powerful spell is already active," it is better for overall DPS this way.
4. The stamina tooltip for hunter pets will now display the proper health increase. Personally, I find that most of my tooltips on most of my characters do not reflect the changes made by my talent points. At least one more will appear correctly, and I will try not to be sad about the others.
5. Hunters will no longer spin around if they cast Aimed Shot or Steady Shot while facing away from their target. So this was a nice little bug we had for awhile, but let's face it; it wasn't fair. It also doesn't help the "huntard" image any when hunters are caught whining that now, we will have to learn to actually face our targets; and that's just too hard. What does this mean you ask? Do note that these are our two channeled shots, and as such, if another player sees us channeling, they need only run around us far enough to interrupt the channel. Prior to 2.4, we would have spun with the runner.

It's not new that players all over the trade channel and forums have been threatening to quit WoW after every change, or lack thereof, that Blizzard makes. After the latest hunter pet hotfix, rendering the Grimtotem Spirit Guides untameable, the fur has been flying.

In fact, with this change, discontent is circling the blogosphere as well as the forums. John Patricelli of WoW Insider and Big Bear Butt Blogger,
has quite a bit to say about the nerf, and Time Well Wasted composed a very thorough write-up on the subject.

Would you ever quit WoW because of a decision made by Blizzard? What would it take to push you to this point? Many people leave the game due to relationships, time constraints, jobs, and finances, but how many of you know someone who has quit because Blizzard made a change?

Personally, I have all but given up on alts, or taken hiatuses from my main character, because of game aspects that were altered, or needed to be.

I sincerely doubt I would ever quit WoW entirely because of Blizzard's decisions, but this is being stated with a fair degree of trust that Blizzard would never deliberately, and for a prolonged period, render a class wholly unplayable. Where do you stand?

More specifically, will you quit over the loss of the wolf?

[Thanks Christopher!]

Gentlemen, start your whining: Hunters can no longer tame Grimtotem Spirit Guides, the ghostly looking wolves from Dustwallow Marsh. Drysc announced earlier today that this is an intentional change that was recently hot-fixed into the game. If you've already gone through the arduous process of obtaining the pet for yourself, you'll get to keep it, but they will be unavailable for taming from this point forward.

Of course this all comes as a big surprise since a Blizzard rep had previously said that this very change would not take place. While Drysc hints at some of the reasons for this change and mentions that it was a difficult decision to make, it's difficult for me to comprehend why these wolves will no longer be available. The process of taming them and then leveling them up to seventy was already difficult enough to make them a rare appearance on the servers I call home. Why would a difficult-to-obtain graphic novelty be removed from the game? It's not like they have any special traits or abilities that make the more powerful than other hunter pets.

I was sad to hear about this change, since I've been procrastinating on taming one of these wolves for my hunter alt. Maybe I'll go and tame that Ghost Saber I've been thinking about, just to be safe in case Blizzard decides to wipe out that other unique pet. What do you think about this? Does anyone think this is a good change?