Helm’s Deep Hunter Skills Video: A First Look

If a picture is worth a thousand words, then is a video worth a million? Regardless of the exchange rate, sometimes there’s just no substitute to seeing something for yourself. I made this video to show the new skill trees in action, and to specifically show how they will influence the hunter class in battle. Enjoy, and let me know your thoughts!

 

 

Braxwolf Stormchaser

12 comments

  1. The Nimrodelian Tale-Spinner /

    Very interesting. It looks like the yellow line mechanics will take some heavy getting use to and figuring out for people who want to go that route. I am curious especially how it would function in a group.

  2. davidt /

    Thank You Very Much for the video!

    A question: Currently a free or premium account player must purchase trait slots beyond the two given in each category. How is this addressed in the new system?

    • I’m not sure Turbine has answered that question. I would guess (hope?) that charging for class traits would go away since they are a part of the skill tree now. I suppose they could charge for specialization unlocks, since those are typically used for boosts, but hopefully not.

      They have said that virtues will remain untouched, so I expect free/premium players will still need to unlock slots for those types of traits.

    • The trait slots purchased become trait tree spec slots in the new system. As with mounted combat, you have the ability to create a spec and save it for later use. Everyone starts out with 2 free ones, the rest need to be unlocked. If you’ve bought trait slots, you will have more unlocked trait tree slots when HD goes live.

  3. I can’t wait for that new class passive: 20% chance to cause a mounted rider to inexplicably attempt to walk up a rocky cliff. Nice work on the run-down, man.

    I only had the chance to try out a little beta (had a computer derp, then decided to just hold off after getting a new one) – happy to see there appear to be some improvements here and there in the hunter class!

  4. Limorel /

    Thanks for the preview. Very interesting.

  5. Funkyus /

    Hi, just a few questions based on the video:

    1. What skills do you have on your bar? It seems like a lot compared to the Captain/RK.
    2. What skills are still activated upon Parry? Since they removed Agile Rejoinder 🙁
    3. How are the problems with animation aftercast, especially after Barbed Arrow and Merciful Shot?

    • As far as combat skills, for the blue line I’ve got quick shot, swift bow, penetrating shot, barbed arrow, exanguinate, barrage, merciful shot, bard’s arrow, distracting shot, blood arrow, scourging blow, blindside, low cut and dazing blow. Non-combat, I’ve got campfire, cry of the hunter, the three stances, the three tracking skills, purge poison, find the path, focus, intent concentration, strength of the earth, beneath notice, camouflage and rapid fire. So yeah, quite a few skills, still. The hunter still feels like a hunter.

      I honestly don’t know what the parry response is, but I sure parried an awful lot in the video! I got back on Bullroarer to try and figure it out, but I just couldn’t see it. I was getting a buff that simply said “parry response” but it didn’t appear to me that any additional skills were opening up because of it. I’m probably missing something, there.

      I’m not sure I understand your question about animation aftercast. I will say that I think the new hunter animations, although subtle, are a little puzzling. They don’t seem to make things feel any faster or more fluid (at least to me). They could have accomplished this through reduced inductions instead of a different animation on the hunter, anyway. The only real noticeable difference is that the hunter now appears to nock the arrow down by his/her waistline during an induction before bringing it up to fire. If anything that type of motion would seem to slow a person down, not speed them up!

  6. Celonglir /

    Blue line looks super fun, that’s what my hunter runs in. Thanks for doing this Brax!

  7. Matthew Thomason /

    Hi Braxwolf I would first like to thank you for your informative comments.

    My question

    Can hunters still track wrags in the moors?

    I have researched the forums but could not find a definitive answer.

    Thank you Athreros

    • I honestly don’t know – I don’t have freep access on live so I didn’t even make it to the ‘moors. I don’t know why they would remove that, but you never know, I guess. Sorry I couldn’t help more!

  8. Jestro /

    Great preview Braxwood 🙂

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