Old hunter, coming back - disappointed

[Bellatrex-Saga]

So I used to be a pretty hardcore raider (some of you might remember me from "back in the day"). I wasn't in the very top tier of guilds and rankings, but I was in guilds that were top 30-50 spots 25 man rankings (US). I wasn't the best ever, but I was pretty good at being a hunter (just saying that so you know I'm not an idiot or newbie). About 3 years ago raiding just got to be too much - too much farming, too much rep grinding, too much work outside of the raid to maintain that level of playing. So I quit WoW after 7 years of raiding. Throughout that entire time the ONLY class I ever played for a main was my hunter. I loved it, never once did I want to change mains.

That being said. I came back for this xpac and leveled a hunter to 110 and I'm just bored. I'm not a melee player so I have no interest in SV, I need more mentally than just 4 button brainless BM, and while I don't exactly hate MM, I dislike not having a pet. Now I just feel like a mage with arrows. It's just not the same. I don't like MM in 5 mans and in PVP I feel like we lost too many abilities - once a melee gets in close it's generally all over(yes I know I have disengage and the turtle shell and one cc).

THEN I just learned today that you can't even switch specs anymore (and keep your weapon skills) unless you do a shit ton of rep grinding and dailies - which is the exact freaking reason I quit to begin with. Which also means that my plan to level a druid alt and heal in BGs and DPS in raids is out the window too.

Basically I'm one week in and really disappointed and am probably just going to quit again. I just wondered if anyone else feels like this is an all time low for the hunter class - and I'm not talking about numbers - I'm just talking about the feel of the class. Maybe most of you have had a chance to gradually get used to the idea, but I haven't been following WoW news since I quit so this is all a shock for me. I didn't even know the xpac was out until an old guildie texted me about it. This is the first time in my "WoW career" where I wasn't in love with my hunter - combine that with the endless dailies, no spec changing (at least not easily) and rep grinding at 110... I am really considering quitting again after a week.

I'm just looking to have a constructive discussion on how everyone is feeling about the hunter class right now (and not from a DPS perspective) and also what's the vibe on gearing up for raids or another spec? I know it's always been somewhat of a rep grind to get raid ready, but it feels worse to me this xpac than it ever did before. Thoughts?

[Underverse]

You could always try playing another class that you might enjoy more.

[Bellatrex-Saga]

I've never loved any other class like I did my hunter. I've been investigating all the changes to other classes...I just have no idea what I would play and all my alts are lvl 90 since I quit a few weeks into the heroic WoD raids.

[Deleted]

U can easily maintain 2 specs, i do it just fine

[Bellatrex-Saga]

U can easily maintain 2 specs, i do it just fine

I guess technically you can - just not with all the abilities that other hunters would have that chose it for their main.

[Deleted]

I guess technically you can - just not with all the abilities that other hunters would have that chose it for their main.

The 13 first traits cost as much Ap as the 14 trait.
It increases exponentionally, so u are able to maintain an offspec on 80% of your mainspec while only Being 1 trait behind on your main, this is because of the interaction of AP and AK.
Dont make false assumptions.

[Hey There Guys its Metro]

ya absolutely no reason you can't play both BM and MM. Every hunter I know is doing it.
I think you need to just admit you don't enjoy the game if that's what the deal is. None of the things you are trying to complain about are actual issues for serious players.

[Bellatrex-Saga]

ya absolutely no reason you can't play both BM and MM. Every hunter I know is doing it.
I think you need to just admit you don't enjoy the game if that's what the deal is. None of the things you are trying to complain about are actual issues for serious players.

I feel like that's what I just admitted. Although i disagree with you that no serious player has these issues. I still keep in touch with many of my old raiding friends and I'm hearing the same things from them about the endless rep grinds, farming etc. I don't have any old hunter raiding buddies that I keep in touch with though, which is why I was asking here how people were feeling about the state of the class.

[Boogums]

You can have a pet as MM. If you're only choosing to go petless because "teh sims," then you don't like having a pet that much.

[Bellatrex-Saga]

True, but I'm far too competitive to even consider raiding in a sub optimal spec. I'd have gotten a gkick in my old guilds for raiding with a pet, if it lowered my dps.

[Thra]

I need more mentally than just 4 button brainless BM

Sorry, I got to here and immediately got taken back to my first ever WoW toon. A BM hunter, in which I just macro'd everything to one button.


And yes, you can easily maintain 2 spec's. On my monk I am trait 19 on my MW weapon, trait 13 on both WW and BrM spec. The additional 'rep' grind was actually more of an AP grind with rep as a side bonus, and was purely my choice.

[Firebyrd]

Rep has absolutely nothing to do with changing specs. You can maintain multiple specs easily. The way you get higher traits is through artifact knowledge research increasing your artifact power gain, not through grinding. You can grind all you want, but once you start getting to the traits that cost millions, it's not going to do you a bit of good unless you've gotten pretty far up in your research. If you look through the MMO-C front page posts, around the date Legion released they posted an infographic showing exactly how easy it is to keep up multiple specs.

All that being said, while you're woefully uninformed on how the game works, yes, hunters have been ruined. I keep almost quitting mine and that's been my main since vanilla.

[Deleted]

I have the exact same feeling.

My guild stopped raiding last year, just after we've killed Archimonde on heroic (lack of people showing up).
Now they are back, but I just lost all motivation to play.

I absolutely loved Survival in Mists of Pandaria, not only the main DPS abilities, but also the fun tricks the Hunter class had.
Now, its all gone. The only "fun" thing about Hunters is that you can change Hati to whatever you want, my Hati is a big troll.

BM has 4 boring abilities.
MM is Spray & Pray with Barrage and Sidewinders and it has two cast abilities which you cant use while moving (makes sense, but not fun).
SV? Nope doesn't exist, Hunters only have two specs.

No, but seriously, if I wanted to play a melee spec, I'd play a melee class instead.
It just doesn't interest me in the slightest, if anything they should have made BM the melee spec and SV similar to how it was in MoP.
The spec with mobility and dots.

[Madh4tter]

Most of the classes play rather boring now not only BM. New Combustion from the firemage is definitely less complex than the old one from wod too name one example.

[Trapped]

I feel you, OP. Having a hard time loving my hunter right now. First they make Survival (my favorite spec) garbage to raid with for an entire expansion (WoD), and then turn it into a melee spec, because the game needs more melee, right?

I got used to MM in WoD and it was pretty good. Now, like you said, I feel like a caster. While I felt spoiled to have all that mobility in the past, I can understand where the old MM would be OP in Legion content. Not very many fights where you can plant your feet for 60 seconds and go through a perfect rotation. With Aimed Shot and our artifact ability not able to be cast on the move, it really hinders the game play for me.

Hunter is, and always will be, my main and I just can't drop it for a FotM class like some people can. Hope it gets better down the road.

[ReVnX]

I guess I must be the only one enjoying the hunter this expansion (I'm playing MM)

All I read is negative feedback of how the class is no longer enjoyable/fun

[Torais]

I agree 110% with the OP.

I've been a Hunter since the WoW beta in 2004. Stuck through everything thick and thin with him. Now? He sits on my character screen as a lv 100 bench-warmer because Blizzard gutted the entire class.

BM is boring and plagued with the same AI issues we have been dealing with since launch. Now X2 thinks to your artifact weapon giving you an even derpier pet than your basic one. MM is just as bad with pointless busywork forced in to the rotation with zero gain in actual interesting mechanics. SRV had potential but in an expansion where most melee specs are unstoppable supermen, SRV is lacklustre in final results at best. Interesting mechanics but nothing that any other melee class doesn't do better. Also doesn't help that they are ironically one of the least survivable melee classes in PvP.

All in all, Blizzard fixed what was never broken in the first place and did a laughable rush job in trying to build spec identity. Where classes like Warlocks were rebuilt from the ground up to revamp their specs, BM and MM Hunters just had entire gaping chunks ripped out of their spellbook with nothing of interest (or in the case of BM, nothing whatsoever) to replace them. SRV is the only interesting spec now but there is exactly zero reasons to play one when I can be a Rogue, Warrior, DK or DH and achieve far superior results in both PvE and PvP.

[stresskiller]

healers will have same problem , most of them used to switch too dps for questing

[Jimm3]

I don't know about hunter status but competive raiding will always require that extra grind to squeeze every possible increase in performance.
Hardcore raiders would grind staff even if they told them not to.
So if you quit about that and came back to be again a full time competitive raider the grind is still there.

The fact that hunter feels boring to you maybe adds up negativeley to the whole experience I think

[Deleted]

I feel like that's what I just admitted. Although i disagree with you that no serious player has these issues. I still keep in touch with many of my old raiding friends and I'm hearing the same things from them about the endless rep grinds, farming etc. I don't have any old hunter raiding buddies that I keep in touch with though, which is why I was asking here how people were feeling about the state of the class.

Endless rep grinds?

I'm pretty softcore and i'm revered with pretty much all the new factions.

What a bunch of pussies these raiding friends.

You say BM is to simple for you, but most of the time you have raided a rotation has been 1-2 buttons plus a shitton of consumables.

I call bs