Hunter Lock and Load nerf

Ok, in the last patch there were some MAJOR changes to SV hunters. Most hunters that I encounter are SV, so I would say that it is a pretty far reaching nerf.

There is a talent called Lock and Load. When it procs it gives you three shots of either explosive shot or arcane shot that cost no mana and have no cooldown.

That talent used to have a chance to proc on the damage from serpent sting, and had a 100% chance to proc if a trap went off. Any trap.

So, the old strategy was to serpent sting EVERYTHING first so lock and load went off all the time. Then, you could either run in and drop a trap to force a proc, or launch a freezing arrow trap from range. Doing this, lock and load procced VERY often.

The patch changed everything.

They added a new talent, Black Arrow. Black arrow is a dot / damage buff. It is on the same cooldown as traps (aka LONG). This means that you either get a trap OR black arrow. Black arrow buffs your damage, so that is the priority.

Lock and Load now proccs on freezing trap and a chance to proc on the DOT of Black arrow. Black arrow is not up all the time (dot is shorter than the cooldown), so lock and load hardly procs, PLUS black arrow can only be on one target unlike serpent sting, so no more spamming it to increase the chance of procs, PLUS since it is on the trap cooldown it means no more lobbing in a ice arrow trap to force a proc.

Lock and load used to be up all the time. No cooldowns means more damage done in less time, no mana cost means my mana pool lasted a lot longer.

Now, it hardly procs, so not only does my DPS drop due to that, but also I use more mana faster, so I spend more time in Aspect of the Viper, nerfing my DPS even more.

While I like Black Arrow, I wish that they would eliminate the cooldown, or at least make traps on a seperate cooldown.

The whole concept of Black Arrow and Lock and Load broke what used to be a very good synergy of talents.