BfA Alpha - Hunter Changes

[Eapoe]

But MM looks at BfA very weak for now.
1. No AOE for 6+ targets;
2. If AS on cd, MM hunter don't do any significant damage;
3. AS cast time is too long (3 sec);
4. MM is extremely squishy.

Now compare it with Surv:
1. Very mobile with harpoon reset on kill;
2. A lot of healing after kill and from mastery:
3. Pet on default, while MM should choose - pet (pocket tank/hp and utility) or damage;
4. Consistent damage and better focus generator.

It's still early, changes can and will come. Keep in mind these changes usually have the end of the current xpac in mind as well, and some reflect those. As to your points:
1: they are probably starting the AoE off based on current tier. Like my point, current AoE is capped for tier. Changes possibly reflect this.
2: same issue MM had at the beginning of Legion with Vulnerable. Changes made close to mid xpac to adjust damage values.
3: cast time might be long, but if it's a "holy shit what just ran you over" damage ability, or affects other abilities, 3 second cast might be necessary. Haste values will also bring this down, and might make haste a #1 secondary stat.
4: MM has always been squishy compared to the other 2 specs.

SV is meant to have mobility with Harpoon resets. Blizz is just incrqseing it somewhat with giving Disengage baseline and the option for posthaste.
SV currently has quite a bit of healing thru RS, Exhiliration kill reduction, Turtle.
Pet baseline is required for abilities, as KC is now a focus builder. MM also hasn't taken a pet for 3 xpacs for anything other than solo content where it is required.
I'd rather have consistent damage on SV next xpac than what we have now: ramp up time and complete loss of damage if off the boss or add for any decent amount time.

[Keltas]

I'm pretty sure nobody noticed, but survival can now dual wield.

All weapon damages were changed to AP, and requires two handed was removed from all tooltips.

[Luzkaz]

The new Coordinated Assault cooldown is also a welcome sight and making the lvl 100 talent Birds of Prey worth taking. Which can make up for the power we will lose from live Aspect of Eagle. And changing Aspect of the Eagle to a utility cooldown and not a dps one. Which will help with the whole melee spec with some range ability

[Lorgar Aurelian]

I'm pretty sure nobody noticed, but survival can now dual wield.

All weapon damages were changed to AP, and requires two handed was removed from all tooltips.

oh thats gonna be pretty sweet.

[threads]

so they are literally centering SV around kill command and filler focus dump.

hmm sounds almost exactly like another hunter spec that already exists. good ideas blizzard.

[Keltas]

so they are literally centering SV around kill command and filler focus dump.

hmm sounds almost exactly like another hunter spec that already exists. good ideas blizzard.

Survival was too much like MM

Now they can make it ranged next expansion and say it was too much like BM.

Then the cycle will continue.

[Deleted]

Frontpage

Aimed Shot A powerful aimed shot that deals [*275% of weapon damage * mult* 0;] Physical damage. Damage increased by 50% against a target you have not yet damaged. 2 charges. Hunter - Marksmanship Spec. 50 Focus. 40 yd range. Instant. 12 sec recharge. 2 charges.

Mispelling or is it instant now?

[Yhcti]

Im only looking to play survival as my shaman will be Ele/Enh. Though i am hoping they fix MM

[Pengalor]

Frontpage

Aimed Shot A powerful aimed shot that deals [*275% of weapon damage * mult* 0;] Physical damage. Damage increased by 50% against a target you have not yet damaged. 2 charges. Hunter - Marksmanship Spec. 50 Focus. 40 yd range. Instant. 12 sec recharge. 2 charges.

Mispelling or is it instant now?

Hard to say but that doesn't seem consistent with their design idea for MM. Probably a datamining error or something like that.

[Yhcti]

Hoping its not an error. 2s steady shot then a 3s aimed shot... ill stay Survival if that's the case.

[Luzkaz]

Aimed shot cant be instant cast while lock and load is still a talent.

[ozusteapot]

Frontpage

Aimed Shot A powerful aimed shot that deals [*275% of weapon damage * mult* 0;] Physical damage. Damage increased by 50% against a target you have not yet damaged. 2 charges. Hunter - Marksmanship Spec. 50 Focus. 40 yd range. Instant. 12 sec recharge. 2 charges.

Mispelling or is it instant now?

REALLY wouldnt mind ais being instant cast. They can just change LocknLoad to grant you another ais charge. How cool would that be?

[Rohip]

Aimed shot does imply some time aiming, but 3s would be a lot!

At the moment MM is usually looking to do back to back AiS though; I assume that wouldn't still be the case, and if so 1 x 3s cast would be less time stood still than the current two AiS?

[shade3891]

Aimed shot cant be instant cast while lock and load is still a talent.

Then i gladly say goodbye to lock and load, instant aimed shots =)

[Scarnage86]

Frontpage

Aimed Shot A powerful aimed shot that deals [*275% of weapon damage * mult* 0;] Physical damage. Damage increased by 50% against a target you have not yet damaged. 2 charges. Hunter - Marksmanship Spec. 50 Focus. 40 yd range. Instant. 12 sec recharge. 2 charges.

Mispelling or is it instant now?

Even steady shot is instant in new build or i'm reading wrong? is this a dream? MM al instant?

[Tehterokkar]

That part is most likely datamining error.

On the bright side, %WeaponDamage is dead. Hurray!

[Mavick]

Another thing to keep in mind is that your stats are going to be very low going into the new expansion.

BM and SV right now on live feel pretty good because you have 30%+ crit and haste and whatnot. Without those higher stat levels you won't see many procs and your rotations will feel a little bit more awkward.

This is essentially how stat scaling works at the beginning of every expansion, regardless of stat squish, etc.

[Tehterokkar]

Another thing to keep in mind is that your stats are going to be very low going into the new expansion.

BM and SV right now on live feel pretty good because you have 30%+ crit and haste and whatnot. Without those higher stat levels you won't see many procs and your rotations will feel a little bit more awkward.

They made that thing a non-issue with Legion. Sure you will have much less of secondaries in the first tier of BfA than at the end of Antorus.

However they fundamentally changed the stat budgets at the start of Legion so that you gain a lot of secondaries instantly and not much of primary stat. Then with item level increases you get a lot more of your primary stat per iLvl than you do secondaries.

This was done because the game feels a lot more enjoyable to play certain specs(or it did before they made a lot of RNG-allieviating mechanics) like Fire Mage or Fury Warrior who needed a lot of crit to work, so they were kinda awful to play with low secondary values, and then at the end of an expansion they skyrocketed to orbit with damage since they finally got enough secondaries to make the spec function.

So now that you gain a heap of secondaries right from the start, you can have a better experience overall playing some specs that rely on them to feel good. It also helps with stat scaling, since secondaries tend to scale wildly better compared to primary stat.

[Deleted]

Dual wielding is good news, indeed.

Dual Axes like the Beastmaster itself, or like the Blightcaller.

Also, the change of Aspect of the Eagle is really cool. You can pop it when you need it most instead of just where you're bursting.

Also, anybody know if Survival still has the 5yrds range in autoattacks and Raptor strike?

[Rhaxus]

Also, anybody know if Survival still has the 5yrds range in autoattacks and Raptor strike?

on wowhead it still states melee range, but also "requires two handed melee weapon" even with the changes to AP instead of weapon %

http://bfa.wowhead.com/spell=186270/raptor-strike

- - - Updated - - -

But MM looks at BfA very weak for now.
1. No AOE for 6+ targets;

the only thing that doesn't hit more than 5 additional enemies is trick shot, everything else hits either "everything in front of you"or "within 8 yards of your target"

the only time you are affected is when you get to cast aimed shot in your aoe rotation and then you will hit 6 targets. your multishot, barrage, explosive shot, bursting shot etc will still hit everything that is around