Legion Beta Data Speculating

Last night brought us our first Legion beta build, and shortly after our first look at datamining from that build.  There's really very little to garner from there, but I wanted to go over a few highlights. Just in case anyone isn't already aware, heed Sparkle Dragon's warning:

Please remember everyone: Datamining is just that. It's not final, and easily misunderstood. MANY changes yet to do. https://t.co/WRatfxRvSS

— Celestalon (@Celestalon) November 20, 2015

First off, Sylvanas Sylvanas Sylvanas!  She's looking more and more to be a huge part of this expansion, and I'm fairly worried that means they're going to kill her off. With the legion trailer we saw she's finally no longer just a pale blue barbie doll, but instead has some character to her model.  In this datamined version it looks like she's somewhere in between the trailer version and the old in game version.  At least she's finally wearing more than just a bikini.  I mean, I don't wanna tell anyone what they should or shouldn't wear, and I'd assume being undead she never gets cold, but I, at least, find her a lot more believable like this (well, as believable as an elven ranger raised from the dead by banshees can ever be).

Not to mention:

Saw someone at petopia point out that the Hunter tier gear icons look very Sylvanas inspired. I agree! pic.twitter.com/EDx9rFhHeQ

— Bendak (@BendakWoW) November 20, 2015

Pitch!  I feel like pitch is kind of a mainstay in fantasy RPGs, so I'm glad to see it make an appearance for SV hunters in the form of the Tar Trap.  Though I have no evidence that this is the case, I am assuming this will be for Melee SV hunters what Conc Shot is for MM and BM (and the old SV).  On a side note, this does nothing to assuage my fears for SV in PvP.  Traps have always been a much more difficult to land than any other class's CC. Perhaps this will seem more useful after getting to play the spec, though.

Skinning from 40 yards away. When Blizzard announced that professions would no longer have direct combat abilities, I dropped engineering on my main hunter and picked up skinning again.  I feel like Skinning/Leatherworking just makes sense for hunters.  Little did I know, they would basically remove skinning from the game, as all of your leather would be coming from the Garrison's Barn.  Regardless, I'm excited to be a skinner again.  It's fun to do while leveling, and some of the perks they're adding will make skinning a little more worth your while.  The perks include things like Butchering, which lets you harvest meat while skinning, or Gutting, which gives you a chance to find various items when skinning.  The oddest of the perks, however, is Mother's Skinning Knife, which let's you skin a kill from  up to 40 yards away.  This may sound like a nice perk, but unless you can also now loot kills from 40 yards away, it will have no benefit, as you'll still have to loot before you can skin something.

There's one datamined icon that seems unmistakably Hunter.  It's name is "ability_pvp_initiation".  This may mean it's part of the new PvP talent tree. Ok, I'm kind of scraping the bottom of the barrel here for hunter news...

Drum Circle. The last little bit of info I wanted to mention was a Drum Circle in Highmountain.  Highmountain, as you all know, is home to an ancient Tauren tribe, as well as the Hunter Class Hall.  And it appears there are now achievements for participating in this drum circle.  In addition, there's an archaeology project called the "Hunter's Drum".  I have no idea what any of this really means, but irl, I dabble a bit in the percussive arts, so I'm excited to see what they do with it.

Of course, the best part of all this news is that it likely means Legion Beta is fast approaching.  I remain cautiously optimistic for this expansion, and of course can hardly contain my excitement to have more hunter math to do!