What should be done with Survival's core abilities?

[Snes]

Now that they are going melee, what do you think should be done with things like explosive shot, serpent spread, etc.

I think they could shift some over to Marksman and BM, especially since MM is complete faceroll at the moment.
ie: Black Arrow reworked to be a proc that makes next Aimed Shot deal shadow damage, Explosive Shot changed to deal AoE physical damage upon detonation (somewhat similar to the old school explosive shot). They could always rename them to distance MM from current SV, such as Black Arrow --> Piercing Shot, Explosive Shot --> Shrapnel Blast etc.

Or would you rather see them reshaped for the new SV to retain some of the original flavour? SV's already going to be getting some new abilities for melee (ie: probably Raptor Strike, Wing Clip, etc.) so I think they'll have to shift some around or ditch them entirely to avoid bloating.

[Bluesilverkt]

I think they need to make a completely new set of spells for SV being melee. I do not think "Shot" spells make much sense being in melee, they will need a new list of moves and the few range spells that are left must feel like a Rogues Shuriken toss of some sort.

[Derian]

I'm really hoping they don't just rename everything and make them melee skills; I don't want to see shadow strike, or dark strike, or black strike, or any version for melee survival.

I could go for black arrow being given to MM hunters, with lock and load (for instant aimed shots). That's the only one that really makes sense to me, otherwise I'd rather see MM and BM get completely new things to differentiate them, rather than squabbling over the SV skills.

[Stormspellz]

i'm sure you will see oldies come back like mongoose bite and wing clip as abilities, prob some pet abilities as well.

[DeicideUH]

i'm sure you will see oldies come back like mongoose bite and wing clip as abilities, prob some pet abilities as well.

Teah, I bet they'll bring back many old melee strikes to Survival.

As for Surv's current abilities, I don't know, but I think they may become talents for other specs.

[Snes]

I wonder if trap launcher will still be available to SV? It'll be cool to see how they work out in PvP. I hope they hit like a truck but require lots of skill.

[Derian]

I wonder if trap launcher will still be available to SV? It'll be cool to see how they work out in PvP. I hope they hit like a truck but require lots of skill.

That's an odd one. I really hope traps stay a core aspect of melee survival, way more so than they are now, and I hope trap launcher sticks around. I could see SV losing some range on it (down to 20 yards or something), but trap launcher is too powerful for any of the specs to lose outright, it's pretty much mandatory in any pvp situation.

[PuppetShowJustice]

That's an odd one. I really hope traps stay a core aspect of melee survival, way more so than they are now, and I hope trap launcher sticks around. I could see SV losing some range on it (down to 20 yards or something), but trap launcher is too powerful for any of the specs to lose outright, it's pretty much mandatory in any pvp situation.

People said that about Kill Shot.

Honestly I wouldn't be surprised if Trap Launcher ends up being unusable by SV. Especially since we're getting a Deathgrip like ability, they may expect us to launch our prey to the trap instead of launch our trap to the prey. On topic though, I'll be really bummed if they just give us Explosive Spear, Black Spear, Cobra Spear. But as long as we keep our current resource system I can't see them deviating much from what they already have.

Do you really want traps to be super core to SV, though? Like using them in your damage rotation? That could work but not if we continue to have to use something akin to trap launcher. Then it does make more sense to just point-blank-trap people with Explosive or Snake or whatever.

[ButterBeast]

I think it would be pretty cool if they would get buffs from killing beasts or something for soloing. Like when you kill a wolf you get the crit buff for a while, kinda like that. but that's just a lvling flavor idea.

[Deleted]

The trap launcher would certainly be useful in PvP as a gap closer (rooting/ice trapping fleeing opponents). It's necessity depends on our other gap closers. We have that grappling hook thing but on itself that wouldn't suffice. What will happen to disengage, I wonder? Changed to engage? Entirely removed (hopefully not! O.o)? It would feel a bit akward to use it as a gap closer in it's current form.

I think it would be pretty cool if they would get buffs from killing beasts or something for soloing. Like when you kill a wolf you get the crit buff for a while, kinda like that. but that's just a lvling flavor idea.

That's a neat little idea.

[Lucetia]

I think it would be pretty cool if they would get buffs from killing beasts or something for soloing. Like when you kill a wolf you get the crit buff for a while, kinda like that. but that's just a lvling flavor idea.

That doesn't make much sense, since Survival still gets to have pets. Only Marksman loses the pets.

[Deleted]

That doesn't make much sense, since Survival still gets to have pets. Only Marksman loses the pets.

That'd just be a bit of support for all the poor, clueless hunters who will venture into the dangerous realm of melee range.

[Prokne]

That's an odd one. I really hope traps stay a core aspect of melee survival, way more so than they are now, and I hope trap launcher sticks around. I could see SV losing some range on it (down to 20 yards or something), but trap launcher is too powerful for any of the specs to lose outright, it's pretty much mandatory in any pvp situation.

They could make it trap toss and lower the range a little bit. How far do you think a hunter can trow a trap?

As far as the other specs, I hope they remove traps from MM (and BM but I don't play it) and replace them with similarly useful abilities that are shots like scatter shot.

As far as taking Surv shots and putting them in MM/BM, I would rather they don't and come up with new shots to differentiate the specs if they think the ranged specs need new abilities. In this case Explosive Shot and Black Arrow would probably just disappear because setting an explosive at melee range doesn't seem like a good idea and Black Arrow has to be ranged since it's a dark ranger ability by definition. Anyway, I'm hoping they are more imaginative than just renaming the same abilities and making them applied melee, and reusing the old Surv abilities in the other specs.

[bloodmoth13]

They should become talents for BM and MM

Black arrow should be removed, it doesnt fit its lore at all and is completely underwhelming.

Explosive shot is cool though (thematically) and serpent spread/sting could be either baseline for MM/BM or become talents..

[Varithmus]

I'd like to see Explosive Shot converted to melee.

[Pijips]

Ignoring balance: Make explosive shot like legendary ring/tristana's explosive charge, and have some melee equivalent of rapid fire on a shorter CD. Slow focus regen for SV so it's almost like fury's old CS burst window. Explosive shot could change depending on the trap used. Explosive trap = aoe explosion of the shot. Frost/freezing trap can have some kind of aoe freeze cc from the explosion of the shot. Reintroduce snake trap as a baseline trap and have it make the shot do increased single target damage from a dot or just flat increase damage when the shot explodes. Give SrS and BA to the other specs in another way. Should also have some kind of relatively short ranged actual ranged ability that SV can still use, like a quick draw of a shotgun and a blast from it. Then also give back Kill Shot without the reset mechanic, with a flat focus cost, but with the damage scaling with the damage dealt by your last explosive shot

[Deleted]

I'd like to see Explosive Shot converted to melee.

Because, as we all know, it is a good idea to handle explosives in close proximity. Just ask Jimmy. Right Jimmy? Thumbs up... uh oh... Yeah, ring finger is good too.

That gives me an idea. What if the hunter sticks the explosive to the opponent? 5 seconds, then BOOOM! Damage to the target and any of his comrades that got too close... (So long simply a melee version of mages' living bomb, without the ticks--since a real explosive only goes boom once) The catch is, if you are in range when the bomb goes off, you will take damage, too! Predictable, I know. It would allow for some interesting situations though, when all of a sudden the melee hunter has to keep distance.
Just imagine a stickied mage blazing speed into the hunter (who could now himself react by popping, for example, deterrence).
And if the damage taken is not enough, we could up the stakes by adding a stun to the explosion. Only affecting the hunter. So as SV, you really wouldn't want to be near your victim if that thing goes off.

[Feanoro]

That would be "How to Make Your Raid's Melee and Healers Hate Your Living Guts 101".

I'm all for re-using some of SV's better ranged abilities, after all, BM and SV stole most of MM's goodies through Cata and MoP, but what MM needs most is more feedback loops.

[Garfurion]

MM could get 2 subspecs through talents:

Talent A: rapid fire + careful aim
Talent B: black arrow + lock-and-load (for free chimaera shots)

This way SV's playstyle is largely retained and MM needs talent changes anyway because it looses its pets.

[Dossou]

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