Bear trap gone? A new pet family? Ranged Pets? Lots to discuss indeed. Let’s roll.
Always Read the Fine Print
Apparently we all forgot to read the fine print on Bear Trap, and it turns out that Readiness was a prerequisite for Survival Hunters dishing out heaps of DPS.
@Coldfire989 A) That was before passives that reduced it to 2min. B) We decided not to add Bear Trap after all. Not needed without Readiness
— Celestalon (@Celestalon) June 5, 2014
Readiness is gone, and so is Bear Trap. While nature may abhor a vacuum, Blizzard does not, and there will not be a replacement for Bear Trap.
@JVel2 @Coldfire989 No, we don’t think they need any more complication. Rather have one fewer button. — Celestalon (@Celestalon) June 5, 2014
It looks like the only burst happening to Survival is their bubble. This means Survival’s big damage will come Black Arrow’s Lock and Load procs.
If you’re keeping track that’s no baseline DPS cooldown and no execute ability for Survival.
Assuming that Survival DPS will be competitive with other DPS in Warlords this could mean that SV’s sustained DPS could be some of the best in the game.
I liken Beast Mastery and Marksmanship to Nigel’s amp in Spinal Tap where the numbers all go to eleven. In a fight Beast Mastery and Marksmanship are rolling at 10, and then when they need that little extra push to go over the cliff, they crank it up to eleven.
With Survival they made 10 hit a little harder and made that the top number so there’s no need for burst. I’ve reached out to Celestalon for confirmation on this.
@Celestalon @JVel2 @Coldfire989 So if I understand Hunters now, BM and MM go to 11, but SV’s top number is 10 but it hits a little harder.
— Darkbrew (@TheBrewHall) June 6, 2014
I think Stampede becomes mandatory for Survival now. Focusing Shot could be an attractive option as well for its added DPS, although I think Exotic Ammunitions is a better fit. Survival will have choice, let’s hope they’re all good ones.
There Be Rylaks Here
Blizzard is changing things up with Hunter pets. Hooks Wasps are no longer exotic and are part of the Wasp family. I don’t know if they’ll retain Flutter, the slow fall ability. It’s a useful ability and I’d hate to see it get dropped. It’s possible they’ll give that to the new pet family, Rylaks.
@Bro_ketsu Update: Rylaks now tameable (exotic). Hook wasps have joined the wasp family. Still no unicorns. — Jeremy Feasel (@Muffinus) May 29, 2014
Rylaks are the new exotic pets, and they are Iron Sky Reavers. They’re similar to Chimaera’s, but will be their own family. The Iron Sky Reaver is a pretty amazing mount, so I’m glad they’re making it into the game as tameable pets. A tameable armored version would be quite savage, and welcome.
One other thing that Muffinus touched upon was the possibility of ranged pets.
@OgrikuStormrage Would love to do these, need to talk to class guys about balance.
— Jeremy Feasel (@Muffinus) May 29, 2014
It’s a neat concept that is probably fraught with complications. A ranged pet has the makings to be a very powerful pet. There’s lots of damage it can avoid. They might be harder to kill PvP. Where will the pet position itself relative to the target? Will it always be at max range, and what would the max range be? Could it become the best pet for the DPS?
I certainly like the idea, but I wouldn’t want to just see a ranged pet added to the game. I’d like to see existing pets, probably the flying ones, be turned into ranged pets. It’s just a concept at this point, not something I’d expect to see Soon ™.
“No, we don’t think they need any more complication. Rather have one fewer button.” Ahh, because of the three specs, SV is just too complicated… :-/
I hear ya. I don’t know that adding an ability to replace bear trap would make things more complicated. Assuming that the replacement wasn’t going to be a trap, I’d say that additional button would’ve made SV less complex than if Bear Trap stayed.
Imps are ranged pets so it should be possible to give hunters a ranged pet family as well.
I really don’t understand the complication statement..SV is already the easiest spec (which is why the level 90 hnter tutorial uses SV as an example).