6-25-24 Hunter Feedback

Classes Hunter
1

Class Tree Changes

  1. Not a fan of the new Blackrock Munitions talent. It’ll effectively be nullified by balance changes anyway (either to Explosive Shot directly or to some “aura modifier” for the hunter class.
  2. Really good to see Implosive Trap on a choice node with High Explosive Trap. Hunters have been asking for this for a while. The comparatively increased cooldown is an interesting balancing mechanic, especially since hunters already have a different “AoE stun” in the form of Binding Shot.
  3. Territorial Instincts seems to have been changed primarily as a result of the introduction of Implosive Trap, though I’m not certain that I’m a fan of taxing Lone Wolf Marksmanship Hunters another talent just to use Intimidation “on command”, unless it’ll also immediately dismiss an active dead pet and replace it too.
  4. A lot of the node repositioning in Gate 2 seems to make sense.
  5. More node connections is good.
  6. Removing Steel Trap and Death Chakram were good moves.

Beast Mastery

  1. Swapping Alpha Predator and Improved Kill Command makes sense with the updated pathing to point talents toward Bestial Wrath. I still don’t know why Improved Kill Command is so lackluster though, I kinda want some better, more interesting version of itself in its place.
  2. New icons can be useful at times.
  3. I’m not a fan of the new pathing going into Dire Beast. It makes investing into Kill Shot a requirement (with Serpent Sting maybe being the most “optional” of the two, though less so considering that the right side of the tree paths into Basilisk Collar).
  4. I mentioned some feedback on the pathing above.
  5. Yay for fixing sound effect bugs.

Marksmanship

  1. Numerical tweaks are understandable.
  2. Bug fixes are good.

Survival

  1. This redesign of Sic’Em is a huge win. Significantly better version of this talent.
  2. I appreciate efforts to simplify the complexity of Coordinated Assault, particularly in a way that doesn’t rely so heavily on what your pet is or isn’t mechanically doing.
  3. The redesign of Quick Shot is a big win. Much more reliable/desirable version of the talent.
  4. This is a big increase for Butchery. Very nice.
  5. I have mixed feelings on the Flanking Strike redesign, though I appreciate the efforts to simplify the rotation (personally, Flanking Strike was rarely pressed for me in it’s current/previous form). Fury of the Eagle’s “Flanking Strike” cooldown reduction mechanics will need to be revisited too. More on this later.
  6. The Flanker’s Advantage change reads more like a lazy way to get around a bug that popped up. I’m sad to have this interaction with crit removed.
  7. I actually like the direction of the Mongoose Fury changes, since spamming Mongoose Bite directly competed with so many other things that were going on with Survival’s rotation. More comments on this later.
  8. Numerical tweaking for things related to Wildfire Bomb are understandable.
  9. Bug fixes are good.
  10. Is the Spearhead change supposed to make it easier for the Survival Hunter to utilize Harpoon manually (thus receiving its benefits)? I’m genuinely confused as to why this change was made.

More specific feedback

Flanking Strike

If the goal is to reduce button bloat, I’d rather see the following version:

Flanking Strike - Passive
Harpoon automatically triggers a free Kill Command on your target, and you automatically attack with a free Raptor Strike or Mongoose Bite once you reach your target.

  • Allows “Flanking Strike” to naturally synergize with lots of other talents.
  • Works to homogenize “dash in” abilities into a single button.
  • Increases skill ceiling by creating an opportunity for players to really take advantage of Harpoon resets.
  • Could likely see “Terms of Engagement” move into the talent position directly above “Flanking Strike” if a change like this were made.

Mongoose Fury

Once again, I like the direction the recent changes are going in, particularly in terms of removing conflicting interests within the rotation. However, I think we could take it a step further by making the following changes:

  1. Put Mongoose Bite on a choice node with Raptor Strike. Keep Mongoose Bite (baseline) with it’s new version of Mongoose Fury.
  2. Introduce a new talent in Mongoose Bite’s old position:

Hunter’s Prey - Passive
Mongoose Bite can consume multiple stacks of Tip of the Spear, and each stack it consumes produces an additional stack of Mongoose Fury, and Mongoose Fury can stack up to 5 times.

Raptor Strike hits one additional nearby enemy when consuming Tip of the Spear.

  1. Update the “Bloody Claws” talent:

Bloody Claws - Passive
Mongoose Fury increases the chance for Kill Command to reset by 2% per stack.

Raptor Strike hits two additional nearby enemies when consuming Tip of the Spear.

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