In the Mists of Pandaria Beta Classes forum, Diranux asked, “Hunter Ranged Weapons… When will they gain the stats we lost from the 2-handed weapons?” Read original post
Later in the thread, Ghostcrawler replied, “There are two issues here getting muddled together.”
Ranged weapons will have the stat budgets of two-handed weapons. You can treat them as two-handed weapons in most respects. That work hasn’t been done yet.
Ranged weapons are not going to be compensated for the loss of stats from no longer having a melee weapon equipped simultaneously. This is because all ranged-weapon slot type things have gone away, so everyone is affected evenly. However, we also want your damage when you log in for the first time to be about the same as it is now, so overall your damage will be compensated in a sense.
“Ranged weapons are not going to be compensated for the loss of stats from no longer having a melee weapon equipped simultaneously. This is because all ranged-weapon slot type things have gone away, so everyone is affected evenly.”
Don’t have a clue what this means. I don’t even see how one sentence relates to the other, except that both mention ranged weapons. Maybe I need some more wine?
I *think* what GC was trying to say is that while we will not be compensated for the loss of stats we had on our melee weapon in terms of (melee weapon stats + ranged weapon stats) = total stats, we *will* have the stats on our ranged weapon adjusted to be in line with the stat allocations on melee weapons.
As a hypothetical example, if our current melee weapon had 100 agi and 100 stam while our ranged weapon had 50 agi and 0 stam, our new ranged weapon would have 100 agi and 100 stam rather than 150 agi and 100 stam. Meanwhile, the *damage* component of our ranged weapon would be increased so that we will do the same damage as we do now, even though we will be losing some stats.
Put another way, while we are being compensated for the typical difference in stat allocation between melee and ranged weapons, we will not be compensated for the loss of stats we gained from being able to equip both a melee weapon and a ranged weapon, although we will be compensated for the loss in dps by upping the damage.
Ghostcrawler is saying that hunters don’t need an extra stat boost because other classes are also losing their ranged slot items (relics and so on). Everyone will be on an equal footing in his eyes. For that reason our ranged weapons can be itemized like other 2handers.
Thanks for the clear interpretation Eidotrope. I miss reading your blog.
ranged weapons at the start of the beta were seeing about double damage figures. The DPS ranges (and thusly average DPS) was double for lvl 85 weapons, same at lvl1, with scaling starting at about lvl70.
i put up a video about this a few weeks ago where you can see a direct comparison of most weapons in game, and explain why it’s happening.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KgBgx57tuhg
What Tabana said.
The stats a hunter would lose from a polearm/staff are far greater than a melee class would lose from a bow/relic/throwing weapon. Plus hunters would also lose the +130agi melee enchant or the MOP equivalent. I hope they make it up to us.
They did. See Ranged Weapon Stats Adjusted in the MoP Beta Ranged weapon damage was also increased to compensate.