Originally Posted by
Me on the WoW Hunter Forum
The only way the to improve the class is to further distinguish the specs.
Too many abilities available to each spec and not enough emphasis on each specs unique qualities.
Aspect of the Pack is given a wolf for an icon, and Beast is given a bear (helps distinguish them from each other and Cheetah.)
Without mana, Arcane Shot makes no sense. Arcane shot is converted to physical damage, re-named Simple Shot, and is only used <L10. At L10, Simple Shot is converted to a spec specific ability.
MM - Sniper spec. Focus on bleeds, physical damage, and the ranged aspect of the class.
Mastery - Barbed Ammo: attacks can cause extra damage as bleeds.
Petless
Level 10 - Simple Shot converts to Barbed Shot, bleeding dot.
Aspect of the Hawk, Concussive Shot, Eagle Eye, Rapid Fire, & Deterrence become MM exclusive.
Loses all traps. Ice Arrow brought back.
New (and only) trap - Bear Trap, root + Bleed, can be shot at range
Passive ability that grants +5% haste (or whatever) when at 20+ yards, +5 yards max range, encourages "sniper" playstyle.
*Never used MM, so don't hold that against me if I'm a bit limited on the MM knowledge.
Surv - Trapper spec. Focus on elemental damage, toxins, and resourcefulness.
Mastery - Toxin Specialist: +nature damage.
Aspect of the Viper brought back and re-tooled, +Nature damage
Scatter Shot, Readiness, SS, & Trap Launcher become Surv exclusive.
WV rolled into SS.
Black Arrow dies...in a fire...literally. It becomes a Fire dot instead of a Shadow.
Level 10 - Simple Shot converts into Toxic Shot, nature dot.
All traps remain in tact except Snake trap is removed.
New trap - Toxic Cloud Trap, single explosion of a poison cloud that lasts a few seconds, mobs dotted with nature poison.
BM - Beast spec. Focus on physical melee damage and pet interaction.
Would have to be re-designed to be a melee spec.
Dual-Weild axes, maces, fist weapons. Not swords.
Aspect of the Monkey brought back, +dodge +damage
Snake Trap, Scare Beast, & Stampede become exclusives.
Level 10 - Simple Shot converts to Kill Command
Snake Trap re-tooled as a root + physical damage, BM only trap, snake damage is no longer a joke.
Several beast/hunter tag team abilities created.
*Melee hunter has been brought up to death, I get it, and mostly, I agree, but it is the best way to distinguish a normally ranged class. Plus, the new troll mobs (Beastcallers, I believe they're called) kinda help sell the idea a bit.
**I loathe the idea of my precious BM (the spec I've had for 7 years) being turned into a melee spec, but, realistically, it's the best candidate for this role. Nature-damage, dual-weilding, mail wearing spec is way too similar to a Shammy to be acceptable, so no to Surv.
Not to be taken too seriously. There are numbers that would need to be tweaked, other abilities that would need to be moved around (just named the ones that came to mind), new abilities created, and something to replace Stampede.