Hunter Tank spec concept:

[shade3891]

Would really like to see survival made into a tank spec. Thought up a bit of an idea:

A Hunter specialization that focuses on protecting your allies with your pet.
Below here some sample abilities:

Passive effects:




Generate Huntmaster charges
Charges give some damage reduction. You need to consume charges to activate more powerful effects.


Spend Huntmaster charges:




Extra Flavors:



Traps, more powerful with longer cooldowns!
In combat you will always throw a trap at your target, triggering it instantly.
Out of combat traps can be set at cursor locations.





Abilities like Raptor Strike, Carve can stay ofcourse! We need some filler buttons.
Same goes for: Muzzle, (interrupt) and Harpoon (movement) etc etc

Not saying the above is perfect, i think it would be fun tanking with our pets.
Also sorry for the typos, a bit late over here and re-uploading the images is such a hassle. : /

Thnx for reading!

[Vurrin]

I can appreciate the idea of a hunter tank with the hunter's pet "tanking" operating similarly to a monk's Stagger. I.e. a % of the incoming dmg is directed to the pet, and skills like mend Pet to mitigate the dmg on the pet. (thematically its along the same liens of the pet covering/intervening blows coming at you) I don't think It'll happen, but I would get more use out of a hunter tank spec than melee survival.

[Bepples]

Terrible idea. Stop trying to force unwanted ideas on the Hunter class.

[Deleted]

Terrible idea. Stop trying to force unwanted ideas on the Hunter class.

Terrible post. Stop being triggered.

@ OP.

90s traps should be ~60s with a possibility to reduce it further somehow. (legendary/talents). Pretty cool traps though, I like the magic bubble
Not sure how you'd tank as Hunter with your skillset though.
Seems like the one tanking here is the pet, but I think the pet should only support your tanking and not take over it.

Spec would need more utility though, for example, maybe pull a single enemie closer with the Harpoon ability, stunning it for 3 seconds after the pull.
Make the pet intervene attacks on raid members somehow (imagine Monk-heal-birb running around and absorbing damage) etc.
And since Survival is attuned to nature and spirits more so than any other hunter spec, I'd suggest a theme and skills that go along with that.

A stacking mechanic that increases armor/toughness, or a mechanic that utilizes charges of a certain skill is a must for a tank these days. Your Huntsmaster charges do this... very slightly, but a skill-channel that blocks several GCDs for your damage mitigation? That won't work.

You'd be better off keeping mongoose bite as it is and add damage mitigation to it. And you'd want something to increase your parry chance too. Basically, tanking cooldowns in general.

[Bepples]

Terrible post. Stop being triggered.

If Survival going melee was so controversial, what the hell makes you think Survival going tank will be any better? The lesson to be learned from Survival's remake is that role changes do not work.

Plus, we just had this discussion on the official forums. It went pretty much how you would expect. Near universal condemnation for the idea, so much so that the OP snapped and deleted all his posts.

[Deleted]

If Survival going melee was so controversial, what the hell makes you think Survival going tank will be any better? The lesson to be learned from Survival's remake is that role changes do not work.

Plus, we just had this discussion on the official forums. It went pretty much how you would expect. Near universal condemnation for the idea, so much so that the OP snapped and deleted all his posts.

This thread is merely a concept... it's not demanding anything. Similar to how people make threads about the tinkerer class.
I have no flipping idea why you feel endangered by it.

I share OPs idea of having some diversity in our roles, what about it? I think a melee mage would be cool, a pet based tank, a combat oriented healer etc. etc.
I also believe that the sword&board gladiator was good for some fun.

[shade3891]

Thanks for the replies!

Ofcourse not everyone would be happy with an concept like this. I used survival as a base since i rarely play it myself, i don't find it really fun to play.
You could also see it as a fourth spec, just giving you more options if that helps?

With three competing damage dealing specialisations one or two of them are always clearly better. Putting the third spec in a tanking or healing role (where dps matters a lot less) you get more out of your class and time investment in your character gear. You guys never regret not playing all three specs to a fuller extent?

Maybe some of you play all three specs, but i really doubt you have them all on the same level of play.

[Bepples]

This thread is merely a concept... it's not demanding anything. Similar to how people make threads about the tinkerer class.
I have no flipping idea why you feel endangered by it.

What does this even mean? People don't just post class concepts for the hell of it. It's something being proposed as an in game implementation. Otherwise there would be no point to posting it. The opening line is literally "Would really like to see survival made into a tank spec" so you can't take this stance and expect it to hold up.

This is yet another suggestion of a massive, ground-up overhaul for no real reason other than "for the hell of it". Diversity in playstyles and any other buzzword you people like to conjure up when it's convenient are no consolation when the cost is losing beloved, refined playstyles.

[RaZz0r]

Its a interesting concept but honestly i rather just see SV going back to being a ranged spec a hunter in melee range makes no sense to me and survival even less so as right in the face of the enemy is the last place you want to be if your main focus is survival.

[Deleted]

What does this even mean? People don't just post class concepts for the hell of it. It's something being proposed as an in game implementation. Otherwise there would be no point to posting it. The opening line is literally "Would really like to see survival made into a tank spec" so you can't take this stance and expect it to hold up.

This is yet another suggestion of a massive, ground-up overhaul for no real reason other than "for the hell of it". Diversity in playstyles and any other buzzword you people like to conjure up when it's convenient are no consolation when the cost is losing beloved, refined playstyles.

The reason is "for fun".

[Bepples]

Its a interesting concept but honestly i rather just see SV going back to being a ranged spec a hunter in melee range makes no sense to me and survival even less so as right in the face of the enemy is the last place you want to be if your main focus is survival.

You're absolutely right. Also, consider that there are two mainstream opinions driving melee SV: Firstly, you have the people who just want a new Warrior spec. You'll see them pushing for SV to move further and further away from the Hunter class; they even want to take away pets and traps. They're generally the Warrior/Paladin/DK mains who are only really interested in taking away from Hunters for their own sake. Secondly, you have people who at least try to pretend there is a place for melee in the Hunter class. Their angle is basically "BM but melee". There's all this focus on fighting side-by-side with a pet even though coordination with a pet is BM's thing. Like you said: doesn't fit Survival and its traditional niche. Neither of these opinions do. In both cases there is a disconnect between what Survival was traditionally meant to be and what they want from the spec, so most of them just look past the name.

If you put a gun to my head and demanded I pick a Hunter spec to be melee, I would say BM fits best. However, I think NONE of them should be melee, simply due to the history of Hunters being ranged. It may have made sense to start with that idea and stick with it from 2004 onwards, but instead we had a decade of ranged and going away from that now is pointless and destructive. At the very most: a level 100 Gladiator-style talent for BM which replaces the ranged abilities with melee equivalents (with some damage or mitigation boost to make it worth it) while moving Stampede to baseline again, or a fourth spec (highly unlikely).

[Stormmantis]

They already stated there was not going to be any major class/spec changes this time round

[RaZz0r]

You're absolutely right. Also, consider that there are two mainstream opinions driving melee SV: Firstly, you have the people who just want a new Warrior spec. You'll see them pushing for SV to move further and further away from the Hunter class; they even want to take away pets and traps. They're generally the Warrior/Paladin/DK mains who are only really interested in taking away from Hunters for their own sake. Secondly, you have people who at least try to pretend there is a place for melee in the Hunter class. Their angle is basically "BM but melee". There's all this focus on fighting side-by-side with a pet even though coordination with a pet is BM's thing. Like you said: doesn't fit Survival and its traditional niche. Neither of these opinions do. In both cases there is a disconnect between what Survival was traditionally meant to be and what they want from the spec, so most of them just look past the name.

If you put a gun to my head and demanded I pick a Hunter spec to be melee, I would say BM fits best. However, I think NONE of them should be melee, simply due to the history of Hunters being ranged. It may have made sense to start with that idea and stick with it from 2004 onwards, but instead we had a decade of ranged and going away from that now is pointless and destructive. At the very most: a level 100 Gladiator-style talent for BM which replaces the ranged abilities with melee equivalents (with some damage or mitigation boost to make it worth it) while moving Stampede to baseline again, or a fourth spec (highly unlikely).

I agree 100% with this if hunters where to have a melee spec BM would make the most sense but adding a melee spec to a class that has been ranged for over a decade just feels wrong.

And the SV hunter play style basically feels like a hunter watched a DK and Warrior in combat and thought i can do that! Here hold my beer!.
There was a reason why melee abilities where removed from hunters to begin with it just makes no sense.

They already stated there was not going to be any major class/spec changes this time round

Except for survival hunters and Demo warlocks.
4th point on class changes on the front page Demonology, Survival, and other specs will probably see more significant changes.

[dcc626]

I agree 100% with this if hunters where to have a melee spec BM would make the most sense but adding a melee spec to a class that has been ranged for over a decade just feels wrong.

And the SV hunter play style basically feels like a hunter watched a DK and Warrior in combat and thought i can do that! Here hold my beer!.
There was a reason why melee abilities where removed from hunters to begin with it just makes no sense.



Except for survival hunters and Demo warlocks.
4th point on class changes on the front page Demonology, Survival, and other specs will probably see more significant changes.

survival will stay melee though. and i dont believe they will be adding additional tank specs anytime soon after just bringing dh's in.

pure dps all want a tank spec. its not going to happen.

[Agallion]

Terrible idea. Stop trying to force unwanted ideas on the Hunter class.

How is he trying to force it?

How is it unwanted? Unwanted by you doesnt make it unwanted by all.

[HammondQ]

Unwelcome...is the best word I can think of to describe how I feel about this.

[Bepples]

How is he trying to force it?

How is it unwanted? Unwanted by you doesnt make it unwanted by all.

Would really like to see survival made into a tank spec.

Right there. Saying you think SV should be a tank spec and posting a concept for doing so = forcing an unwanted idea on the Hunter class. And yes it is unwanted because most Hunters are playing the ranged specs and most certainly not asking for a tank spec on the forums.

[Xtacle]

Hunter pet tanks will never work, you can give them abilities and some great synergy but would still be a terrible idea in the current state of pets in wow. The main difference is that other tanks are actually actively controlling their characters, a hunter using a pet to tank is controlling a different one. And the biggest problem spawned from that is when needed normal tanks can just move the boss easily and effortlessly, while a hunter would need to use the primitive move commands allowed to us.

Personally I am a big fan of the current state of the survival hunter spec. Obviously it needs more work to get rid of the button bloat and make it less clunky along with the addition of some more synergy between abilities, but I overall enjoy the idea of the spec and how fast paced it is. I don't have as much negative feelings towards the spec because I only started to play Hunter in Legion after the Survival rework was announced, and I have only ever been a fan of the melee playstyle. But I can understand why long time hunters have great disdain towards it.

[Deleted]

Hunter pet tanks will never work, you can give them abilities and some great synergy but would still be a terrible idea in the current state of pets in wow. The main difference is that other tanks are actually actively controlling their characters, a hunter using a pet to tank is controlling a different one. And the biggest problem spawned from that is when needed normal tanks can just move the boss easily and effortlessly, while a hunter would need to use the primitive move commands allowed to us.

The way I understood it, he wanted the pet to be more or less a "shadow" of yourself if you put it into tanking stance. At least that's what I'd do.

Meaning I can't really target anything with it for more than a few seconds and it's more of a "visual" thing than an entity on it's own.
On the other hand, you could, in theory, split tank on your own if that's not the case.
But yeah, the "protective" stance is basically saying that you can't order move commands as it will always remain right next to you, even if you attack something or it's attacked

Right there. Saying you think SV should be a tank spec and posting a concept for doing so = forcing an unwanted idea on the Hunter class.

Actually, that's wishful thinking or a wish in general, not a demand.
So.... no, you are wrong.

[Bepples]

Actually, that's wishful thinking or a wish in general, not a demand.
So.... no, you are wrong.

"Wishful thinking" is a euphemism for "wanting it to be implemented". You're not going to make this look any better by dressing up the wording.