3rd spec ranged archery for Demon Hunter

[LordVargK]

We already had too few hunter abilities for Blizzard to make 3 distinct ranged hunter specs. DH ranged would work as MoP Demo. But not as a hunter.

Also this concept would give wow a hunter² spec. I don't know if the game can take so much idiocy in one character.

[DatToffer]

But you can imagine that a DH who uses a bow is not at all the same as a classic hunter.
And the classes you cite as the warrior have no choice but to be in melee. It's a strange comparison, except for the thief who could operate from a distance. And for me, in the latter case, yes it's redundant rogue with 3 melee specs.

Melee and ranged gameplay aren't the same at all, and personally I'm more comfortable at range. That's why druid works well: it offers every type of gameplay so people can adopt the style of play they prefer.

Especially since the arc corresponds to the philosophy of DH. I find my proposal the most suitable, given that we have official illustrations in HS to draw inspiration from. (It's happened before that HS somehow impacts WoW).

It would attract more people to the class than you think.Your only argument here anyway is:

Absolutely nothing constructive, so I'll stop arguing for a troll.

The joke was the introduction for the rest that immediately followed, just because I'm teasing doesn't mean I don't want to participate in the discussion.

And what makes you think the Demon Hunter has more choice to go in melee than the Warrior exactly ? Or that the Warrior has less choice ? We may have very different views on those classes, but I believe if you're flexible enough to see the DH becoming ranged, you should be flexible enough to see how the warrior could. GW2 showed us what a Warrior with a bow could be like since its beginning.

The whole Druid thing is that they are jack-of-all-trades, so of course it makes sense for them to have different playstyles. And of course you would find your proposal more suitable, but how exactly would you imagine them to be different from Hunters ? What would be their gimmick ? How does the Metamorphosis fit in here ?

[Al Gorefiend]

Lost me at taming demonic beasts. That's just a Demon Hunter Hunter. Let Hunters keep the whole taming animals thing, DH doesn't need it. Would your pets just disappear when you switch spec?

Also the most important update to Demon Hunter needs to be more races! Being forced to play a blood elf doesn't fit the design choice of WoW going forward, should have Orc and Troll Demon Hunters. Imagine forcing players to play an annoying race and having to edit the voice files and customization options to make them bearable

[Utsuko]

And what makes you think the Demon Hunter has more choice to go in melee than the Warrior exactly ?

Because demon hunters are elves, and elves are great at their bows. Also there are already official representations as I showed in the first post and Illidan had a bow. I mentioned this in a previous answer. They are HUNTERS of demons and as hunters the most suitable weapon apart from warglaives is the bow in fantasy.

Or that the Warrior has less choice ? We may have very different views on those classes, but I believe if you're flexible enough to see the DH becoming ranged, you should be flexible enough to see how the warrior could. GW2 showed us what a Warrior with a bow could be like since its beginning.

Because WoW is not GW2 and the class philosophies are not the same at all.

And of course you would find your proposal more suitable, but how exactly would you imagine them to be different from Hunters ? What would be their gimmick ? How does the Metamorphosis fit in here ?

They would be different because they would be based on dynamic DH gameplay with a lot of mobility. They would be able to transform into a demon (as in the illustration) changing their main abilities into enhanced skills that would do more damage and/or have other uses. They could summon series of felfire arrows or simply imbue them.

I mean, they would obviously be different. Like a paladin and a warrior who both use the same type of weapon have vastly different gameplay.

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Lost me at taming demonic beasts.

A DH NPC had felhounds: Loramus Thalipedes.
I like pets very much. it stops there. xD

I understand that it does not make unanimously but it could be in several forms: invocations, only a particular spell (like for the warlock who summons felhounds then disappear) or like for the hunter a taming.

After that I wouldn't mind if they didn't have pets.

[DatToffer]

They would be different because they would be based on dynamic DH gameplay with a lot of mobility. They would be able to transform into a demon (as in the illustration) changing their main abilities into enhanced skills that would do more damage and/or have other uses. They could summon series of felfire arrows or simply imbue them.

I understand that it does not make unanimously but it could be in several forms: invocations, only a particular spell (like for the warlock who summons felhounds then disappear) or like for the hunter a taming.

After that I wouldn't mind if they didn't have pets.

Okay now we're talking. But with just mobility, a cooldown for more damage and special arrows you're only describing a hunter. Giving other uses via metamorphosis seems kinda cool though and I imagine this calls for a new demon form skin. What do you imagine ? A felbat face with no eyes using echolocation ? Eyes all around the head ? How about making the DH able to shoot all around them in a circle ?

The multitarget mechanics for hunters are kinda old to be honest, that hypothetical DH spec would benefit from something more modern. Like visible aoe patterns. I would love some rapid fire in a cone, like a Barrage but only a rapid succession of fewer shors. Or some shots that cleave around the initial target. Abilities with a lot of accuracy to go with the DH high mobility. I guess this would work well to put the Sigils from a distance ? And considering the Fury resource is (and should stay) different from the hunter's Focus, the gameplay should adapt too. I imagine this is what you meant by a more nervous playstyle. Quick single-target attacks to build Fury before releasing it in cleaving powerful shots ?

As for summoning pets. Well... DH summon demons to kill them and even though it would be redundant to summon demons like the Warlock, I guess felhounds could make an appearance as a form of Dire beast. Maybe as an execution to finish a fleeing target ? Could even be tied to a Talent that lets the hounds bring you the soul fragments afterward lmao.

[shanthi]

I think a third demon hunter spec could be one that could pull off a ranged/melee hybrid. I'm thinking of a gameplay loop like so:

You fire a shot that does some damage but also teleports you to the target of the shot (when it lands), you use a powerful melee attack (that has a longish CD), you use Fel Rush or Vengeful Retreat to get out of melee to wherever you want to resume being a ranged from.

You would of course have quite a few more ranged attacks (the one I mentioned was just for moving in to attack in melee) and maybe only 2-3 melee attacks, all on long but different CDs...so you have to move in to melee every so often, but not constantly. Designed well, this could feel very dynamic...an archer that is zooming around the battlefield. The "teleport shot" might have two charges, so on a fight where there are adds that need to be tanked away from the boss, you might use one charge to teleport to the add group and use an AoE melee attack, and then the other charge to teleport to the boss to use a powerful single-target melee attack. And then either Fel Rush or Vengeful Retreat back to the ranged stack. This would, at least, feel very distinct from hunters.