• 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.

• 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. 
  
  
• 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 Blood Frenzy). 
    
  • Hyenas: Will provide bleed damage (similar to a weaker version of the druid ability Mangle).
  
  
• 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. 
  
  
• Viper Sting will now restore 9 Focus every 3 seconds. 
  
  
• 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.

• 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. 
  
  
• 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. 
  
  
• 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.

Focus

Instead of Mana hunters will now use focus which is capped at 100.

Shots will cost 30 - 60 focus and focus regenerates at 6 per second and 12 per second when using steady shot.

Focus works very similar to a rogue's energy bar.

New Spells

Widow Venom

5-35 yd range

30 Focus

Instant cast

Requires Ranged Weapon

A venemous shot that reduces the effectiveness of any healing taken by 25% for 30 sec. Only one Venom per Hunter can be active on any one target.

Learned at level 40.

Trap Launcher

30 Focus

Instant cast

When used, your next Trap can be launched to a target location within 40 yards.

 This provides the current Freezing Arrow treatment to all traps and, as a result, the Freezing Arrow will be removed. 1-minute cooldown. No global cooldown. 

Learned at level 48.

Cobra Shot

5-35 yd range

1.5 sec cast

Requires Ranged Weapon

Deals weapon damage plus [RAP*0.27+950] in the form of Nature damage and increases the duration of your Serpent Sting on the target by 6 sec. 

 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. 

Generates 1 Focus.

Learned at level 81

Aspect of the Fox

1 sec cooldown

Instant

The hunter takes on the aspects of a fox, increasing your focus regeneration by 20% and allows you to Auto-shot while moving.

Learned at level 83.

Camouflage

45 Focus

1 min cooldown

Instant cast

You camouflage, causing you and your Pet to blend into your surroundings. After 3 sec., you will enter a camouflaged state for 1 min, making you untargetable and providing stealth while stationary. 

The character would still be subject to melee or area-of-effect attacks, and dealing or taking damage will break the Camouflage effect. 

While camouflaged, you and your pet's movement speed is reduced by -30%, but the damage done by your next attack is increased by 15%. You can lay traps while under the effect, but any damage done by you or your pet will cancel the effect. Cannot be cast while in combat.

Learned at level 85.