With Evokers in the game and Monks recently getting the Plunderstorm charge up ability “Slicing Winds” added to their trees, would you like to see something similar for Hunter?
I could see them turning Aimed Shot into a charge up ability with 3 levels and perhaps 3 effects per charge level. Some people might not want Aimed Shot to change which is understandable.
They could add a whole new ability literally called Charged Shot or Piercing Shot. You charge it up and it could fire off a huge arrow (or bullet) in a line and pierce every mob in the line.
Just a couple random ideas. I think a charge up ability of some kind would fit perfectly on Hunter though.
I’d like that too. Tickles the brain in a good way. There’s a mechanic like this in Star Wars Battlefront where if you hit the “good zone” you get faster reload/less overheat.
Some are “hold longer, affect more mobs” which isn’t better when you’re fighting a single mob.
Some are “hold longer get more direct damage/healing, less DoT/HoT” which is only necessarily better on short fights or when you need a big heal – for boss fights or maintenance healing you’re better off releasing quickly.
ETA: I kind of wish healing was reverse – hold longer get more DoT, less direct healing, because when you need a big heal you need it now but when you are doing maintenance healing, you can more likely take a couple seconds to set the DoT.
I don’t mind “hold longer, do better” as an occasional pre-positioning-rewarding mechanic, but otherwise, yeah, I’d prefer something like that.
Though, tbh, I’d think that might be better fit by, say… putting Kill Shot on an oGCD or rollover-GCD and having [de]buffs of varied (and perhaps even conditionally rushable) ramp up over time so that one wants to space them just right away from each other and hit Kill Shot just as they’re all about to fall off together? /shrug
Just as a capstone playflow-altering option a la old Patient Sniper, though, not something core/obligatory.
I think it would fit with rapid fire the best, instead of the traditional “cast at end of charge” it would be a press and hold channel.
So you can stack up to X, say 5 seconds of rapid fire. If you hold it for 3, you still have 2.
If they added the potential to overcharge something like aimed shot they’d have to add some sort of fizzle mechanic for it balance out in pvp. Like if you’re holding a >70% charge and you’re struck there’s a chance of the cast being cancelled altogether. So you can’t just sit and face tank someone while you “sniper shot” + double tap lnl global them.
Honestly with the frequency of aimed shot in pve I would get tired of constantly hitting whatever range is optimal, I’m sure others would too, and if its just a “always max it” then its no different than a non empowered version.
Bursting shot would be fine as an empowered spell, plenty of times you just want the swing delay, others you want distance.
I suggested a similar change for Rapid Fire, though mostly in the interest of being able to target swap (and being encouraged to spread Master Marksman, then limited to primary target damage only outside of buffed ESs/MSs, via its crits, since those could offer bonus Wind Arrows against bleeding enemies) and resolve desync and at 3 shots per second pre-Haste since I can only trigger effects per hit or per cast.
And agreed regarding Aimed Shot and a “perfect timing” portion. If there were to be an “active reload” mechanic, I’d rather the manual timing…
Be a way to opt out of spending a buff ‘early’ (say, Streamline in a setting where the base cast time is shorter but Streamline is much less readily available, or a piercing shot that hits for bonus damage per target… per additional target struck, but only if fully charged), and/or
Involve compromise between spectrums of situational priorities (say, burst DPS vs. resource efficiency, piercing shots vs. single-target, bleed uptime vs. capitalization, or whatever else) beyond just mobility vs. damage.
A CD called Power Shot (or cooler name later)
Level 1 Good damage to single target
Level 2 Better Damage and Small AoE area (About the size of enemies in melee with it)
Level 3 HUGE DAMAGE WITH BIG AOE! KABOOOOOOM!
I don’t think an empowered (charged) ability would work well with something rotational like Aimed Shot.
However, if they did re-add the old Power Shot ability with a long cooldown as a talent or something…… I think it could work and even be fun. I’m fine with the name as it’s already an old Hunter ability.
I have always been on the idea that AiS should be usable while moving; however, the longer you stay still the more damage it does. This has a 3 second cast, but if you stay motionless that whole time you get the full damage.
That way you don’t need to break cast to move out if a sudden ground effect drops under you, or just multiple. Likewise, not being able to get a AiS off in a group cause the lead is rushing, and will not stop long enough.
I’d rather it had just charged twice as quickly while stationary, or even was forced to fire if moving a second time (stop, move, stop, move).
Though, tbh, I’m also fine with (or maybe even slightly prefer) it just not being usable while moving at all.
The problem here…
…is one with refusing to use pre-positioning and the occasional Camouflage, Posthaste, Trailblazer, and/or Cheetah… or with the simple fact that Aimed Shot is now dependent on getting an extra stack of Streamline just to get to where it was before.
Even with an ADHD Sonic-impersonating Prot Warrior or VDH, I don’t generally have trouble getting an AiS off. That said, I certainly wouldn’t mind if we gained a stack of Streamline over time while out of combat. Or, better yet, that the need were removed. /shrug
I don’t mind that this is a thing. It is, after all, punishment for misplay by either…
not sufficiently spending Aimed Shots when safe to do so,
not managing Streamline sufficiently before what would need to be a hastened shot,
not popping Trueshot before a safety period too short for an AiS not benefitting from Tensile Bowstring, or
popping Trueshot when there’s no way even the hastened shots’ worth of stationary time would be permissible.
Between the two charges we have options aplenty.
That “issue” (a.k.a. room for skill expression) is also far from unique to Marksmanship. Rather, it’s Marksmanship that still has a uniquely easy time of its casts despite generally being the longest ranged class in the game.
