Epic Ammo Coming in 3.3

Epic Ammo in Patch 3.3A new item of interest to Hunters was included in MMO Champion’s data mining report yesterday. Hunters will once again have access to epic ammo. It seems that there will be 2 plans for craftable ammo that will be available to engineers once they reach honored reputation with The Ashen Verdict. The plans are for: Iceblade Arrow and Shatter Round. The Ashen Verdict is the alliance between the Argent Crusade and Knights of the Ebon Blade. I’d imagine slaying beasties, demons and the like in Icecrown Citadel will get you on their good side.

There are a couple of interesting notes about this new ammo. For one, since they’re craftable, the new epic ammo will available to all Hunters once they reach 80. This is very different from epic ammo that had been introduced in the past, as previously it required a rep grind to obtain. Now all’s you have to do is have an engineer buddy make you some if you’re not already an engineer yourself. I’d imagine honored reputation should be pretty easy to obtain, so we should start seeing this stuff in the AH not long after 3.3 goes live.

The one thing that’s rather unusual, is these items require either Gnomish or Goblin specializations. These two paths have been irrelevant for the most part since TBC, but it seems that Blizz may be moving back towards specialized professions heading into Cataclysm. To craft the arrows you have to be a Gnomish Engineer, and to craft the bullets you must be a Goblin Engineer.

Lastly, the mats are ridiculously inexpensive, for now at least. The arrows only require two Crystallized Shadow, and the bullets only two Crystallized Earth. On my server, these go for maybe 2-3 gold apiece. I’m sure opportunists are hording these things as we speak, preparing to escalate the price once 3.3 goes live. I dunno though… the drop rate on that stuff is ridiculously high, especially if you’re a miner. 15 minutes of killing Shadow Revenants in Wintergrasp would keep me in arrows for an entire week.

This new ammo provides a tooltip DPS increase of 24 over the current blue ammo – Saronite Razorheads and Mammoth Cutters. I’m not a mathematicalist, but I’m guessing this should translate to maybe around a 1%-1.5% gain in DPS with raid buffs, as this is the approximate gain one receives from the current blue ammo over the previous TBC Adamantite stuff. I’d expect to see Marksmanship Hunters to see the greatest gains from the new ammo, as they’ll benefit the most from the raw physical damage increase.

So that’s the latest… Looks like non-consumable ammo won’t be coming to a server near you for some time. Most likely it will occur along with the Hunter class overhaul planned for Cataclysm.

Here’s a look at the rest of the reputation rewards that The Ashen Verdict has to offer. The Ashen Verdict look’s to be WotLK’s version of The Violet Eye. In addition to all of the crafting recipes, they also offer rings that will most likely upgrade as you gain rep with them, much like the ones we received for running Karazhan (and like the one I still have in my bank). 😉

Since all of this is off of the Patch 3.3 PTR, none of it is finalized. Let’s just hope that the material requirements remain the same. 😀

I don’t know about you, but I’m getting pretty excited at the thought of venturing into Arthas’ hood. Come on 3.3… 😀

15 thoughts on “Epic Ammo Coming in 3.3”

  1. Patch 3.2 added the ability to switch Goblin/Gnomish specs for 150G. You can do it back and forth with no limits just reading a book near Gadgetzan.

    I guess this solves any problem with bullets and arrows 🙂

    Reply
    • @ Dalaila

      Good point. The 150G would probably pay for itself pretty quickly due to the amount saved by crafting your own.

      You’re talking about that book in the hut next to Steamwheedle right..?

      Reply
  2. This ammo means death to Survival. Since Explosive Shot doesn’t scale with ammunition, Marks will pull waaay ahead. These beatiues have 20 more dps than blue ammo, which is HUGE considering that best TBC ammo had like 10 dps less than current best WOTLK one! I hope Blizzard realizes that..

    Reply
  3. @ Phil

    I believe this is the case. Other DPS classes seem to be scaling better in end-game gear. The ammo will help to provide a little more parity between Hunters and other pure DPS classes.

    Reply
  4. Does anyone else recall that Blizzard said they were not giving us new ammo, hence the bump on damage to 226+ guns/bows? I wonder if the new ammo is because they decided we were falling behind other pure dps classes.

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  5. Am I the only one that doesn’t bother with crafted ammo then? I never bothered with it even when I was in a proper raiding guild…

    Reply
  6. I predict a new way to sell ammos:

    /2 WTT 10x[Iceblade Arrow] for 10x[Shatter Round]

    and:

    /2 WTT 10x[Shatter Round] for 10x [Iceblade Arrow]

    At the end of the day… we will easily farm our mats (much better than buying ore from AH). Not THAT bad, even if I hate the idea of not being able to craft my own ammos.

    Reply
    • @ Dalaila

      That’s some good thinkin’, doing the /2 barter system. Also, keep in mind that you “may” not be able to craft your own ammo. If you’re using a ranged wep that takes the sort of ammo you can make, then you’re golden. Unless of course you’re one of those people who only uses guns, etc. 😉

      Reply
  7. Same here… My “problem” is, I’m a Gnome engineer but I currently wield a Nesingwary 4000. I don’t want to *be* a Goblin engineer just to get those Shatter Rounds.

    Reply
    • @ Jroaeyl, Dalaila and lawman30

      The mats are so damn cheap, I doubt it’ll really matter even if they decide to keep the specializations tied with the two ammo types. As long as you’re in a medium sized guild, I’d imagine there’ll be at least a few engineers of the opposite specialization to fill your orders.

      As for me, my DK alt (ammo supplier) is Goblin, so that means I have to get that BRK-1000 from the TotC Tribute Chest ’cause he only makes bullets. Makes sense right. 😉

      Reply
  8. My main is an engineer and he keeps my hunter fed with his mammoth cutters. However he is a gnome and will be DAMNED if he’s going to be a Golbin Engineer! If I can’t use him to craft the bullets I’m gonna be SERIOUSLY p!$$#@ off! Not that it will make a difference to anyone. =P

    Reply
  9. I hope Blizzard will make both arrows and bullets craftable by any engineer (goblin, gnomish and non-specialized). Nothing worst that being engi and completely unable to craft your own ammos :|.

    Mats will be farmable: that means you do not need to be miner/engi and you are not required to buy them form players. that’s a welcome change, In my opinion.

    I bet mats will be changed tho. Right now epic ammos cost far less than blue ones, that does not make much sense 🙂

    Reply

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