“Exotic” pet families should not exist. They should be tameable by all hunters.
The line between “exotic pets” and non-exotic pets is so blurry it may as well not even exist, thematically. Hell, even the idea that something is or isn’t exotic is absurd. Example: Pterrordaxes and devilsaurs are not exotic to a Zandalari troll, but you have to be a BM hunter to use them because they fall under the category of being arbitrarily special. Wanna be a melee-themed Zandalari hunter who fights alongside your devilsaur? Too bad, Beast Mastery only. Krolusks? Not exotic to a vulpera, as it’s basically one of the three animals in the whole desert.
We’re not playing vanilla anymore. There’s more to a specialization than being able to tame corehounds, so BM isn’t going to suffer thematically. They summon stampedes, swarms, and are the only spec that can have two pets at the same time.
Does Marksmanship get unique weapons other than Legion artifacts?
Does Survival? (I mean, technically yes because you aren’t gonna equip a melee weapon as MM or BM.)
If anything, I feel like I don’t have enough exotic pet options and I definitely don’t have enough pets out at once. Two pets? Meh. I need two pets + dire beast + stampede to even feel like I’m living up to my potential as a beast master.
There are plenty of non exotic pets out there to go with the races, like trolls. My guess is you are pissed because you refuse to play BM but want to have a spirit pet.
I refuse to play BM but want to have a number of pets that are locked out to non-BM hunters.
I earned Hati in Legion, dagnabbit.
But really, the whole thing just feels like BM is teacher’s pet, pun unintended. Best DPS of all the Hunter specs and they get unique pets and they can have two of them at a time. I just don’t enjoy how they play, nor does it fit my “class fantasy” to be sending a roving zoo at my enemies.
It was Slurpo, the Incredible Snail that brought this old grudge back to life.
I have 2 hunters (one 50+, one 60+), I just post as this character.
I am still upset that Blizzard made Survival a melee spec back in Legion, BM is the only reason I play hunters anymore. I do not want to see Pole Dancers running with Core Hounds.
The other 2 specs getting more pet options doesn’t take those options away from your BM. At the very least they should reconsider what they mark as “exotic”. Similarly to how undead hunters can tame undead pets from the get-go and goblins/gnomes can tame mechanical ones without needing the special “how to tame” books, Dark Irons shouldn’t need to be BM to tame corehounds, Zandalari shouldn’t need to be BM to tame pterrordaxes or devilsaurs, and pandaren shouldn’t need to be BM to tame quilen.
But credit where it’s due for the Scrubs clip.
Edit: Add nelves with chimaeras to the list if you’re feeling generous.
If every hunter spec could tame exotic pets, the only reason to roll a BM Hunter would be the damage, and considering how Blizzard can nerf things, that might not last long.
Think of BM as the “Super Hero” of the Hunter Class while MM is the Sniper and Survival being Aragorn (IE guy who used to weild a bow and arrow, but went melee when he’s King).
Ignoring overall rotational abilities and just taking stock, face-value appearances–
MM: Nothing unique or incentivizing over other specs unless you want to be without a pet entirely and pick Lone Wolf (which isn’t applicable to this conversation).
Survival: Uniquely melee. However, this isn’t anything special compared to DPS classes as a whole.
BM: Special tameable pets, and two of these tamed pets at once. The only specialization in the game that offers this.
And no one is ever going to mistake a Surv or MM hunter for BM because BM will always have that 2nd pet, similar to how Fury warriors have Titan’s Grip compared to something like an Outlaw Rogue.
And what about BM hunters who don’t want to use those exotic pet families? Are they shooting themselves in the foot, either in gameplay or what can be perceived as wasted potential? Like if you get a super rare mount but it’s just kinda… ugly, or not to your taste. Do you still feel obligated to use it just because it’s “special”? Of course there’s no gameplay advantage in regards to mounts-- they’re all just reskinned movement speed buffs-- but to some people it would feel like a waste to not use it since they have the opportunity to.
