I find that the best solution wouldn’t be to just remove Barbed Shot, with the Frenzy-mechanic, but rather to allow for an alternative path within the spec. Like what they did during Legion with Dire Beast vs. Dire Frenzy(now Barbed Shot).
Coupled with some other changes as well and you would, IMO, get several more interesting/engaging choices and the gameplay with them. I posted this in an earlier concept but…yeah, here they are again:
#Beast Mastery - future improvements[Partial rework]
Core Abilities
[Cobra Shot] - 35 Focus - Instant cast
A quick shot causing X Physical damage.
Reduces the cooldown of Kill Command by 1 sec.
[Kill Command] - 30 Focus - Instant cast - 7.5 sec cooldown
Give the command to kill, causing your pet to savagely deal X Physical damage to the enemy.
[Barbed Shot] - Instant cast - 12 sec recharge - 2 Charges
Fire a shot that tears through your enemy, causing them to bleed for X damage over 8 sec.
Sends your pet into a frenzy, increasing attack speed by 30% for 8 sec, stacking up to 3 times.
Generates 20 Focus over 8 sec.
[Multi-Shot] - 40 Focus - Instant cast
Fires several missiles, hitting up to 5 targets within 8 yards of your current target for X Physical damage.
The Focus cost of your next Kill Command is reduced by 5 for each enemy you hit with Multi-Shot.
Casting Multi-Shot activates Beast Cleave(Passive)
[A Murder of Crows] - 30 Focus - Instant cast - 1 min cooldown
Summons a flock of crows to attack your target, dealing X Physical damage over 20 sec.
If the target dies while under attack, A Murder of Crows’ cooldown is reset.
Class-wide abilities
[Kill Shot] - 10 Focus - Instant cast - 10 sec recharge - 1 Charges
You attempt to finish off a wounded target, dealing X Physical damage.
Only usable on enemies with less than 20% health.
Major Cooldown
[Bestial Wrath] - Instant - 1.5 min cooldown
Sends you and your pet into a rage, instantly dealing X Physical damage to its target, and increasing all damage you both deal by 25% for 20 sec.
Bestial Wrath’s remaining cooldown is reduced by 12 sec each time you use Barbed Shot/Dire Beast.
The Focus cost of all abilities is reduced by X% while Bestial Wrath is active.
Mastery
[Mastery: Master of Beasts] - Increases the damage done by your pets and summoned creatures by X%, and the damage bonus of Bestial Wrath by Y%.
Passive Effects
[Animal Companion] - You may call 1 additional pet to fight for you at all times. The second pet will obey your Kill Command, but cannot use pet family abilities.
If you have two active pets, they both use the same damaging abilities and benefit from the same effects but they only deal 50% of normal damage(each).
Only using 1 pet instead causes that pet to deal 100% of normal damage.
[Beast Cleave] - After you Multi-Shot, your pet’s melee attacks and Kill Command also strike up to 5 other nearby enemy targets for 75% as much for the next 5 sec.
[Exotic Beasts] - You master the art of beast training, teaching you the ability to tame Exotic pets.
[Kindred Spirits] - Increases your maximum Focus and your pet’s maximum Focus by 20.
[Pack Tactics] - Passive Focus generation increased by 100%.
[Wild Call] - Your Auto Shot critical strikes have a 25% chance to reset the cooldown of Barbed Shot/Dire Beast.
Utility/defensives
Includes all other abilities, such as [Tar Trap][Frost Trap][Aspect of the Turtle][Concussive Shot][Counter Shot][Tranquilizing Shot][Misdirection][Pet Utility][Exhilaration][Disengage][Feign Death], and more.
Note that I would prefer if(on a class-wide basis)
- [Posthaste] - becomes a baseline effect.
- [Master’s Call] - comes back as a baseline ability.
- [Pet Specializations] - Ferocity, Tenacity, and Cunning were changeable.
- [Revive Pet] - Cast time brought down to 2 seconds again.
- [Camouflage] - comes back as a baseline ability.
Talents
– Level 15 –
[Killer Instinct] - Kill Command deals 45% increased damage against enemies below 35% health.
Kill Command deals an additional 10% damage against bleeding targets.
[Bloodshed] - 50 yd range - Instant - 1 min cooldown
Command your pet(s) to tear into your target, causing your target to bleed for X damage over 18 sec, and increase all damage taken from your pet(s) by 15% for 18 sec.
[Dire Beast] - (Replaces Barbed Shot) - Instant - 12 sec recharge - 2 Charges
Summons a powerful wild beast that attacks the target for 8 sec.Generates 20 Focus over 8 sec.
– Level 25 –
[Scent of Blood] - Activating Bestial Wrath grants 2 charges of Barbed Shot/Dire Beast.
[One with the Pack] - Wild Call has a 20% increased chance to reset the cooldown of Barbed Shot/Dire Beast.
Using Barbed Shot/Dire Beast increases your Haste by 5% for 12 sec.
[Feeding Frenzy] - Damage dealt by Barbed Shot increased by X%. When the periodic damage effect applied by Barbed Shot is refreshed, the remaining damage will be added to the new effect, and it now lasts for a total of 9 sec.
In addition, Frenzy’s duration is also increased to 9 seconds.
- Dire Frenzy(Requires talent: Dire Beast)
Each time a Dire Beast is called, the damage dealt by your main pet(s) is increased by 1%.
When you activate Bestial Wrath, this consumes all stacks of Dire Frenzy and increases the initial damage dealt by Bestial Wrath by 30% for each stack that is consumed.
– Level 30 –
[Trailblazer] - [Natural Mending]
[Bestial Dicipline] - While your pet is active, you and your pet(s) regenerate X% of total health every 3 sec. Healing done to you and your pet(s) is increased by X%.
Damage taken by your pet(s) is reduced by 15%
– Level 35 --
[Spitting Cobra] - Bestial Wrath also summons a Spitting Cobra to aid you in combat for 15 sec. Each Cobra Shot used during Bestial Wrath extends the remaining duration of the Spitting Cobra by 1 sec.
[Thrill of the Hunt] - Barbed Shot/Dire Beast reduces the remaining cooldown of Bestial Wrath by an additional 4 sec.
Barbed Shot/Dire Beast increases your critical strike chance by 5% for 12 seconds.
[Birds of Prey] - Kill Command extends the remaining duration of A Murder of Crows by 2 sec.
Damage of A Murder of Crows is increased by X%.
– Level 40 –
[Born to be Wild] - [Binding Shot]
[Adaption] - (Replaces Posthaste) Getting hit with an incapacitating effect(Stun/Fear), reduces the remaining cooldown of your Aspect of the Turtle by 30%. This effect has an internal cooldown of X sec.
Aspect of the Turtle is now usable when incapacitated.
When rooted or slowed, the remaining cooldown of Aspect of the Cheetah is reduced by 15 seconds. Aspect of the Cheetah frees you from movement impairing effects and you cannot be slowed below 100% movement speed while it’s active.
– Level 45 –
[Stomp] - When you cast Barbed Shot/Dire Beast, your pet stomps the ground, dealing X Physical damage to all nearby enemies.
[Chimaera Shot] - Instant cast - 15 sec cooldown
A two-headed shot that hits your primary target and another nearby target, dealing X Nature damage to one and X Frost damage to the other.Generates 10 Focus for each target hit.
[Talon Frenzy] - While Beast Cleave is active, A Murder of Crows affects up to 8 enemies near the primary target.
– Level 50 –
[Aspect of the Beast] - Increases the damage and healing of your pet’s abilities by 30%.
Increases the effectiveness of your pet’s Predator’s Thirst, Endurance Training, and Pathfinding passives by 50%.
[Stampede] - Instant cast - 30 sec duration - 2 min cooldown
Summons 5 of your stabled pets to fight for you for 30 sec. These pets deal X% of normal damage and obey your Kill Command.Pets summoned by Stampede heal themselves for 200% of the damage they deal.
[Unleashed Fury] - Instant cast - 20 sec cooldown
Sends your pet into a rage, causing it to deal X Physical damage to the target in a flurry of 5 attacks. Damage dealt is increased by X% for every stack of Frenzy the pet currently has.When this ability is used, your pet will let out a savage roar, increasing your haste by 10% for 12 sec.
- Bestial Fury(Requires talent: Dire Beast)
Damage dealt by Dire Beasts during Bestial Wrath is increased by another X%.
Any Dire Beasts called during Bestial Wrath will have their duration increased by an additonal X sec. This also applies to Dire Beasts who have already been called to fight when Bestial Wrath is activated. Attacks made by Dire Beasts will now also benefit from Beast Cleave, if activated.