SL pre-patch notes

[Adhominem]

Hunters thoughts?

Personally glad to see Kill Shot & arcane shot coming back for all specs, as well as hunters mark (should not be on GCD though).

However, thee are some massive rape nerfs in there:

1. Revive Pet doubled cast time
2. Multi-Shot and Beast Cleave now capped at 5 targets.
3. Spirit Mend (Spirit Beast pet ability) healing reduced by 66%.
4. Barrage now capped at 8 targets (WHAT THE FUCK?)

AoE & survivability is gone now, hunters will be literal shit come the 13th of october.

- - - Updated - - -

Yes, I read about the AoE cap on all targets. Doenst make it any less shitty.

As someone who has been playing Marksmanship for the last few expansion I'm very happy with the changes or to be more accurate, the additions.
Juggling with focus- and movement management is still in tact and now we have more abilities to take into account which is what i wanted.
Demoting Hunter's Mark to mere utility is a welcome change.

As for the points you mentioned:
1. Not using a pet
2. We were already capped at 5 targets to do our meaningful aoe, so no biggy
3. Not using a pet
4. Can't remember the last time barrage was a thing

[Kaver]

Wrong. Patch notes arrived now, and as I wrote, AOE cap is retarded. Doesnt matter whats been going on in SL alpha or beta. This is now going live. The rest is irrelevant. There is no context where AOE cap is a good idea. Hush now.

AOE Cap is retarded. But it’s a general problem for all classes. And you would know that if you knew anything. Again do some research before you talk.

[ReleaseDay]

AOE is retarded. But it’s a general problem for all classes. And you would know that if you knew anything. Again do some research before you talk.

"AOE is retarded" k. Get back to me when you've actually played wow, or any mmo for that matter.

[Kaver]

"AOE is retarded" k. Get back to me when you've actually played wow, or any mmo for that matter.

AOE Cap is retarded*

But it would be nice if people like you didn't wait until a week before the pre-pathc to figure that out. But again, you clearly just read a blue post and got angry by the text. You have no idea what is actually going on in the game.

[LazuOG]

I'm reluctant to main hunter in SL. I am liking MM, however not BM or surv. I would hate to have MM be the lowest performing of the specs. Surv is a joke of a spec not even gonna go into it, BM feels like its the most boring its ever been. I know that atm on beta MM is the best but i dont trust blizz to keep it as is throughout the expansion, or on launch either.

I get it if you don't like melee specs. When it comes to depth and engagement tho, no other Hunter spec comes close to survival, especially with latent poison. It's definitely one tier above the other two in complexity and variety.

[ydraw]

Well in the end it's all up to tuning. Those things were overtuned in BFA, but MM being better isn't an Azrite Trait thing, it's a "higher numbers" thing.

And noone knows yet what it will be after tuning yet.

Well no, it's a damage profile thing. RR didn't just make us do more damage, it also made our cooldown windows shorter.

[Crimsonfiend76]

I get it if you don't like melee specs. When it comes to depth and engagement tho, no other Hunter spec comes close to survival, especially with latent poison. It's definitely one tier above the other two in complexity and variety.

Honestly in terms of complexity, I'd say MM is close to SV, but at the end of the day, I've mained a hunter (and lock) since BC, the last thing I want to play is melee. I've tried to suck it up and move on from my old beloved SV w/serpent spread and explosive shot, I occasionally will still play that spec....it just sucks, I hate it, its not for me and I would have rather Blizz add a 4th spec or cannibalize BM to be the melee spec considering how mind-numbingly boring it is. The only draw was spirit animals, til they got nerfed.

[Sondrelk]

Honestly in terms of complexity, I'd say MM is close to SV, but at the end of the day, I've mained a hunter (and lock) since BC, the last thing I want to play is melee. I've tried to suck it up and move on from my old beloved SV w/serpent spread and explosive shot, I occasionally will still play that spec....it just sucks, I hate it, its not for me and I would have rather Blizz add a 4th spec or cannibalize BM to be the melee spec considering how mind-numbingly boring it is. The only draw was spirit animals, til they got nerfed.

I really don't get how MM is considered a complex spec. There is nothing even resembling a rotational quirk that separates the wheat from the chaff. BM is often ridiculed as the easiest spec in the game, but even that has the Barbed Shot mechanic that players can work on.

[Crimsonfiend76]

Given that there is a movement penalty in MM and you need to plan out when to hardcast Aimed Shot within the brief window where you get a buff, it actually makes a huge difference from doing good dps to average/shit dps. Tracking 1 dot (Barbed Shot) does in no way compare, when you don't have the same movement penalty and most of your dps comes from your pets.

[Adhominem]

I really don't get how MM is considered a complex spec. There is nothing even resembling a rotational quirk that separates the wheat from the chaff. BM is often ridiculed as the easiest spec in the game, but even that has the Barbed Shot mechanic that players can work on.

The rotation isn't what augments the complexity of the spec. It's the sheer planning and juggling with focus management, the movement, reacting to (haste)procs and choosing what the best course of action is (which isn't always obvious) and of course in Legion we had the timing during the vulnerable window where even half seconds were precious. In addition, it's fairly punishing to waste your aimed shots and even the focus. Lastly, by becoming a Marksman hunter you sometimes take risks while you (finish) cast(ing) to maximize damage. But this is only from a min-max point of view.

EDIT: I forgot to add the somewhat clunky way to aoe optimally in bfa. The setup & the execution. To properly aoe you had to use a GCD to tag the main target with Hunter's Mark (which was a damage increase over the passive streamline), wait untill at least 3 targets were close enough to trigger Trickshot with multi-shot and cast Aimed shot while 'hoping' that the target was still above 80% health to trigger Careful Aim. Compare that to specs that use one button to aoe. I think only Balance Druids have it slightly worse in this regard. Some frustration was also in place when tanks weren't close enough to adds, so sometimes you just fire multi-shot more than once. The Lady Ashvane and Orgozoa encounter comes to mind.