I don't really get all the hate for SV hunters

[Kaver]

They aren't though really. Of all 3 specs only Spriest is any fun this expansion. Players of those classes just have to suck it up because they know that's the tradeoff of rolling a hybrid. When you choose a pure DPS class, part of the reason for doing that is having 3 specs to choose from. Taking 1 of the 3 specs away made the hunter class much worse.

Best arguement I’ve heard so far. Thumbs up!

[SirCowdog]

If hunter is going to have melee forced upon it, it could at least have the decency to be the first mail-wearing tank spec.

[myzriel]

You do realize that Survival was a melee spec in vanilla. They added one new shot kept some shared shots that were baseline and labeled it as a new ranged spec. If they want to go and make surv a ranged spec then BM needs to be melee like Rexxar. The point is hunters were initially designed with a melee viable spec.

[Rhaxus]

If hunter is going to have melee forced upon it, it could at least have the decency to be the first mail-wearing tank spec.

i like melee hunter, but i would have preferred this so much

[xDarkaix]

Survial Hunter in WotLK/Early Cata was prime time, hell even early MoP, Explosive Shot, and Black Arrow, it was a really fun time for me personally. I would have loved for them to have made Survival into a more trap/dot focused ranged build, with marksman being more sniping long range burst, and bm of course being the pet spec, rather than overhauling it into melee, but regardless, here we are today, and i have to say BFA survival is the best it has been since it was overhauled, it was a nightmare in Legion Pre-patch, and not much better throughout Legion all the way until the end, there's a reason its the least played spec of all the hunter specs.
The best thing they can do now, is keep improving the feel of the spec and identity, make it smooth and on par damage wise as the other two specs and people will come around to playing it.

[Deleted]

I like the Spec Fantasy.

Being a rugged trapper fighting alongside your pet, outflanking and outsmarting your enemy then moving into the kill while they are bloodied and weakened feels amazing as a Class Fantasy.

I ironically think Legion's Survival is the ONLY spec of all of them that felt like a HUNTER not just a shooting guy or a zookeeper.

Sums it up for me, especially being able to mix close in and ranged.

[Kaiarra]

I hate it because I enjoyed the various old SS, Exp Shot, Black Arrow + Traps Survival specs. If melee had been added as a 4th spec I would have zero issues with it. Not that we actually needed yet another melee spec in the game (offering Rogues a ranged spec would have been far more productive)

When I play my Hunter, it's because I want to play a RANGED WEAPON BASED PET CLASS, and only one Hunter spec met that criteria during Legion. If you don't like ranged, I'm not sure why you'd be playing a Hunter, I mean we had UH DK if you desperately wanted a melee pet spec...

I'm sure you'd see equal amounts of bitching if they made Arcane Mages a pure melee spec for no reason.

[Casterbridge]

I enjoyed the Legion survival spec and I'm enjoying the new BFA spec, I think they swung the pendlum a bit further than necessary in making it easier, but still I enjoy it overall.

Spec fantasy does help, very much a jack of all trades skilled hunter/warrior thing going on, using various weapons and skills, decent mobility etc, I'm not thrilled graphically with Aspect of the Eagle, not the ability itself, just the way it looks, I rather instead of throwing out ghost birds we graphically looked like we were using a ranged weapon or something less magical for lack of a better description.

I do understand people being upset though about outright losing their old survival hunter ranged spec though especially if they were dedicated to it, Blizzard should have found a way to make it a 4th spec.

[Deleted]

When I play my Hunter, it's because I want to play a RANGED WEAPON BASED PET CLASS, and only one Hunter spec met that criteria during Legion.

Poor thing... Before you had 2 but you would only play 1 through an entire tier because it ranked higher, letting the other spec in the trash.

[Rhaxus]

Poor thing... Before you had 2 but you would only play 1 through an entire tier because it ranked higher, letting the other spec in the trash.

and then there are the special snowflakes who refuse to play any other spec (mostly bms) since they started playing, even if the raid needs actual range damage

- - - Updated - - -

I enjoyed the Legion survival spec and I'm enjoying the new BFA spec, I think they swung the pendlum a bit further than necessary in making it easier, but still I enjoy it overall.

Spec fantasy does help, very much a jack of all trades skilled hunter/warrior thing going on, using various weapons and skills, decent mobility etc, I'm not thrilled graphically with Aspect of the Eagle, not the ability itself, just the way it looks, I rather instead of throwing out ghost birds we graphically looked like we were using a ranged weapon or something less magical for lack of a better description.

I do understand people being upset though about outright losing their old survival hunter ranged spec though especially if they were dedicated to it, Blizzard should have found a way to make it a 4th spec.

i agree with the "raptors" being weird as a projectile, but i like that we use melee animations for it, i hate shaman, but the ability to "melee" from range is my favorite concept for ranged dps ( bonus points if it is void/ cosmos themed)

[Deleted]

and then there are the special snowflakes who refuse to play any other spec (mostly bms) since they started playing, even if the raid needs actual range damage

Back in the days when I raided in Myhic mode during the Emerald Nightmare tier, I remember to have switched from SV to MM cause I couldn't harpoon my way through the weird pools on the ground. For the sake of the raid, always ! Those Beastmasters are just part of a weird animal-fetichist sect. Don't mess with them.

[Eapoe]

I hate it because I enjoyed the various old SS, Exp Shot, Black Arrow + Traps Survival specs. If melee had been added as a 4th spec I would have zero issues with it. Not that we actually needed yet another melee spec in the game (offering Rogues a ranged spec would have been far more productive)

When I play my Hunter, it's because I want to play a RANGED WEAPON BASED PET CLASS, and only one Hunter spec met that criteria during Legion. If you don't like ranged, I'm not sure why you'd be playing a Hunter, I mean we had UH DK if you desperately wanted a melee pet spec...

I'm sure you'd see equal amounts of bitching if they made Arcane Mages a pure melee spec for no reason.

I picked Hunter because it is a “person being one with nature” class that isn’t consumed by it like a Druid. I picked Hunter because of the bond with the pets, not the servitude of the undead.
I’ve always enjoyed the lore of the Hunter class and always liked the characters that have this way with nature and animals.
To me, the greatest upset Blizzard did to my class was bringing in Lone Wolf. Part of the core appeal of the class is a character that fights with their pets/companions from nature, and traverse the world together, with BM being so in tune with their animal companions that they become beast like themselves with Bestial Wrath and can tame any of the beasts that exist. The comes LW, shattering that bond by going “oh, MM? Nah, pets aren’t necessary, they don’t matter to ahunters. To back this up, we’ll make you do more damage without a pet and have this be the mandatory thing to do.” As someone who enjoys SV, both old and new, I find the LW to break more of the class than anything else (from a lore perspective).
Now, I’ve said it before and I will keep saying it, I do think Blizz would be better off just making a 4th spec for melee, but that doesn’t mean I curse them for removing range SV.

[Kaiarra]

Poor thing... Before you had 2 but you would only play 1 through an entire tier because it ranked higher, letting the other spec in the trash.

Until Legion I played BM (Surv on the occasions when BM was super undertuned) for soloing and whatever specs were best for dungeons/raids (assuming there was a massive DPS margin between the specs, which there often is with Hunters). And by 'until Legion' I mean since Vanilla, as Hunter was my main back in those days. I don't usually limit myself to one spec on any class.

No point having an army of pets if I barely use them, and no point gimping group content by insisting I play BM during tiers that it's poop, or on fights with constant target switching.

But do carry on with your random assumptions.

[LiPiNo]

I came back to my old main hunter and rocking SV now in prepatch, having fun i hadnt in years. I know the numbers are subject to change so i am trying to not hold my hopes too high.. HOWEVER in world and bgs, there are actually rogues running from me or hesitating to engage. We are talking about rogues which now in prepatch dominating everyone.

Also i love the concept of melee + range, you start damaging already on your way to target if its melee , or you get on ranged face instantly with harpoon and keep dmg as they try to kite you. I can see and feel how confused the mages are now. It also feels nice in normal Pve and i can see this being beneficial in M+ (granted i didnt do high keys regulary).
Last but not least, and somebody mentioned it already - this spec feels more beastmaster then actual BM ever had. I mean you are pouncing around with your beast , spamming KC and so on. You also become one with pet, i mean, even the naming of abilities.. Feels a bit sad for BM spec to be honest ( i played it often in past).
As i said i do hope they wont change the concept and 120 dps numbers are viable, otherwise it will be shit no matter how much some of us like the concept now.

[Uthir]

I came back to my old main hunter and rocking SV now in prepatch, having fun i hadnt in years. I know the numbers are subject to change so i am trying to not hold my hopes too high.. HOWEVER in world and bgs, there are actually rogues running from me or hesitating to engage. We are talking about rogues which now in prepatch dominating everyone.

Also i love the concept of melee + range, you start damaging already on your way to target if its melee , or you get on ranged face instantly with harpoon and keep dmg as they try to kite you. I can see and feel how confused the mages are now. It also feels nice in normal Pve and i can see this being beneficial in M+ (granted i didnt do high keys regulary).
Last but not least, and somebody mentioned it already - this spec feels more beastmaster then actual BM ever had. I mean you are pouncing around with your beast , spamming KC and so on. You also become one with pet, i mean, even the naming of abilities.. Feels a bit sad for BM spec to be honest ( i played it often in past).
As i said i do hope they wont change the concept and 120 dps numbers are viable, otherwise it will be shit no matter how much some of us like the concept now.

Well written and totally agree, this sums it up perfectly for me and I will keep having fun.

[Bepples]

You do realize that Survival was a melee spec in vanilla. They added one new shot kept some shared shots that were baseline and labeled it as a new ranged spec. If they want to go and make surv a ranged spec then BM needs to be melee like Rexxar. The point is hunters were initially designed with a melee viable spec.

You do realise that's full-of-shit revisionism. Even though vanilla SV buffed your melee abilities it did not make you a viable melee DPS; you were absolutely still intended to use the ranged abilities that came with the class. The idea was that you weren't as useless in melee as the other two specs but you still preferred to play at ranged. Blizzard quickly realised that's a garbage idea for the spec so they improved the tree and made it ranged+utility focused.

We don't need a god-damned melee spec. You people can't just screech "REXXAR" and act like that 100% justifies mutilating the Hunter class to shoehorn in a fully melee spec when next to no Hunter wants it. If you want to play melee, go lose yourself in one of the 12 other melee specs in the game. Dredging up failed early Vanilla ideas and going a step further by taking away the ranged weapon is god-awful design.

[Tyze]

I liked MoP and WoD Survival Hunter

The game doesn't need another melee, would've been in much more use if it were a ranged dps.

Could've been a dot spec

[SL1200]

I stuck with survival for years. Even when it wasn't the top spec. I just liked the way it played. Now it's melee. I don't even play anymore.

[Deleted]

You do realize that Survival was a melee spec in vanilla. They added one new shot kept some shared shots that were baseline and labeled it as a new ranged spec. If they want to go and make surv a ranged spec then BM needs to be melee like Rexxar. The point is hunters were initially designed with a melee viable spec.

Yeah, I will argue that 2 melee skills doesnt make melee spec ;p

[RobertMugabe]

The new SV hunter is really nice actually.