Thanks everyone for the encouragement.
With the new patch coming I decided to take a look at the thread, re-read it, and reassess where I was at in regards to said patch.
Here are the changes that will affect Hobbes in the upcoming patch:Fire Claws-Damage increased by 75%
-Removed synergy from Fissure
-Removed synergy from Volcano
This is only a benefit to Hobbes. He was already only maxing two of the Fire Claws synergies anyways, so it's a free +75% physical damage. The completed build has like +1000%+ physical damage though, so an extra 75% isn't huge. We'll take free bonuses though. 
Werebear-Tooltip updated to now display Casting Delay
-Changed how attack speed is determined while transformed as a Werebear. Attack speeds while transformed should match attack speeds while untransformed.
Okay. Well this changes everything and makes all of my gear goals obsolete. I will need to entirely rebuild my gear goals when I have some more time.Heart of the Wolverine-Min Life and Max Life values are averaged to always be the same, accurate to the tooltip
-Physical Damage Resist in Normal Difficulty increased from 0% to 25%
-Physical Damage Resist in Nightmare Difficulty reduced from 100% to 25%
-Physical Damage Resist in Hell Difficulty increased from 0% to 25%
Overall nice since most time is spent in Hell. Having that 100% phys/poison res HoW was really nice during Hobbes' initial NM Andy runs though.Shock WaveMaul synergy increased from 5% to 10%
No1 cares.Mercenaries:I'm not married to an a2 might merc. This is a physical/fire melee hybrid, but if the new mercs offer something substantial or even adequate, it would be amazing to use a non-a2 merc.Act 1 - Rogue Archer-Updated each stat/skill gains in each difficulty to match so that there is no disadvantage of leveling up a Hell difficulty mercenary versus a Normal difficulty mercenary.
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Cold ArrowAdded Freezing Arrow
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Fire ArrowAdded Explosion Arrow
Freezing arrow would be an amazing safety net heading into hell, especially with Hobbes doing the tanking. I would consider it if/when I found another Witchwild String (amp bow). Amp + Freezing arrow merc would be incredible going into hell.Act 2 - Desert Mercenary-Updated each stat/skill gains in each difficulty to match so that there is no disadvantage of leveling up a Hell difficulty mercenary versus a Normal difficulty mercenary.
-Nightmare and Hell difficulty now have all 6 different aura types available from the Hire menu, instead of separating them out by 3 per difficulty. Normal is unchanged.
-Thorns aura level scaling increased and will now continue scaling up beyond the highest-level threshold up to max level.
Don't fix what isn't broken I guess.Act 3 - Iron Wolf-Updated each stat/skill gains in each difficulty to match so that there is no disadvantage of leveling up a Hell difficulty mercenary versus a Normal difficulty mercenary.
-Life baseline and scaling increased by about 25% (Now has Life similar to the Rogue Archer)
-Defense baseline and scaling increased by about 40% (Now has defense closer to the Rogue Archer)
-Resistances baseline and scaling increased by about 20% (Now has the highest resistances baseline compared to other mercenaries)
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ColdNow casts Glacial Spike more often
Glacial Spike level scaling increased
Frozen Armor level scaling increased
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FireRemoved Inferno
Added Fire Bolt
Increased chance of the Iron Wolf casting Fire Ball
Added Enchant - Now the Iron Wolf will cast Enchant on himself, the player, and nearby allies
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LightningAdded Static Field
Charged Bolt level scaling increased
Increased chance of the Iron Wolf casting Lightning
Well, the Static Field on lightning merc is obviously insane. Something to think about. The Glacial Spike merc was insane already for survivability and will now be even better. The fire merc or now known as the Enchant merc, not bad but wouldn't use.Act 5 - Barbarian Warrior-Updated each stat/skill gains in each difficulty to match so that there is no disadvantage of leveling up a Hell difficulty mercenary versus a Normal difficulty mercenary.
-Life baseline scaling increased (Now has the most life compared to other mercenaries)
-Defense baseline and scaling increased and the scaling at higher levels was reduced (Now has the highest defense baseline compared to other mercenaries)
-Bash level scaling increased and will no longer be capped at level 80
-Stun level scaling increased and will no longer be capped at level 80
-Added Battle Cry
Those are some great improvements. Battle Cry is the warcry you don't want to meet in a dark alley. This merc was fun to use before, and now it could actually have validity depending on your char.Here are the mercs I am considering for Hobbes:The GoodStatic Field: Static Field is op. Really depends on the frequency of the casting in ratio with the other skills though, which is questionable since they did mention that the frequency of Lightning was increased.
a1 cold: As mentioned, with Witchwild String. The thought of Freezing Arrow's AoE + the amp from WWS is a dream. One thing to consider is that 90% of packs are already perma-disabled by Shockwave though. So that Freezing Arrow really only helps vs ranged packs. The amp is good all day long though baby.
a2 mercenary: At the end of the day, a Might/Decrep merc is still the best for Hobbes
The MehGlacial Spike: Obviously this is a godly merc, especially now. The crowd control is unparalleled among mercs. As mentioned above though, Hobbes is not lacking in the CC department since he has Shockwave, arguably the best CC skill in the game. Amazing merc, but Hobbes will pass.
Barbarian Warrior: Insane tank - so is Hobbes. Applies stun. - so does Hobbes. Applies Battle Cry - okay that's pretty sweet. It's an amazing warcry. It reduces the damage you take and increases your chance to hit via a defense reduction on the enemy. DOPE, right? It's just that Hobbes doesn't get hit a ton due to the nature of Werebear play (Shockwave), and he shouldn't really have much trouble to hit due to the insane attack rating increase on Fire Claws. So while this is again a very nice merc, he's not ideal for Hobbes.
Alright, well I'm not really sure how Hobbes' gear goals will change yet, but they are changing. The skill changes have a hugely negative impact on Hobbes' current build goals. Where Hobbes reached 7 frame attack speed before, he will now reach 11 frames... To me, 11 frame attack speed as a melee is not enjoyable. So I will explore other gear options when I have some time. I guess my best option is just swapping to Grief PB + Spirit Shield which was already better in the first place but I was trying to avoid Grief if I could >_<. Haven't really looked at anything though, so I still have to figure out what I'll go for.
Regardless, I'm actually quite happy to have Hobbes be a cross-patch walkthough! Seems more fun that way. The funny thing is, I never would have expected a fire/phys hybrid Werebear build to be getting a
de-buff 
What a life! He will turn out fine though, just have to tweak the build a bit and likely go 1-handed.
So I didn't really remember where I was at, it has been so long. Looks like I am at level 80 and was scraping by in Hell a1 alvl 85 areas hoping for a rare drop. That's basically what the original Hobbes did and it worked, so I don't blame myself haha. I will first have to determine what my new gear goals are before I decide where I'll continue with MFing. I think I'll be able to carve some time out for theory crafting tomorrow night.
Thanks for checking in!
