Changes to MM in the next build, which should drop tomorrow:
Overall I’m really positive on these, but I’ll need to test a few things (particularly Focus consumption during Trueshot) to be sure. Chimaera Shot replacing Arcane Shot also seems super weird.
Just waiting on that Beta invite would love to test it out and see
Yeah, I dunno. Losing focus generation from Rapid Fire as well as Master Marksman, and increasing Aimed Shots cost…
I mean I would think you would be forced into using steady shot during Trueshot. And I think that feels awful.
It’s good that the first row should be more balanced. And that Rapid Fire and Streamline are improved. And locknload got a long overdue buff. But I feel like it’s steady shot spam incoming.
How much damage does chimera shot deal compared to an arcane shot?
Beta MM already lost BfA Master Marksman. Beta Master Marksman was a flat 25% crit on Aimed Shot, no Focus component.
The bigger issue here IMO is that Trueshot is still Aimed Shot cast speed and Aimed/Rapid CDR, rather than generic Haste (which would buff cast speed and Focus generation) and Aimed/Rapid CDR, combined with the slightly increased Focus cost for Aimed and Arcane. I think we still won’t be able to use all our Aimed Shot charges during Trueshot, and will have to cast Steady Shot.
One of the MM Legendaries reduces Focus cost during Trueshot by 30%, and that one got a lot better with this build.
Arcane is 60% AP, Chimaera is about 80% AP and hits two targets.
I admittedly haven’t been following the total amount of hunter changes in the coming expansion as much as I would like but for those that have have there been changes made that make MM hunters PVP-viable and not just a free kill? I see a lot of resource and damage changes but not much when it comes to being able to deal with survivability in PVP scenarios.
Baseline Binding Shot for MM will help you secure Aimed Shots, but there isn’t much aside from that. Resonating Arrow (Kyrian Covenant ability) lets you ignore LoS and buffs crit on targets in the radius, which will also be super strong in PvP.
Still a glass cannon, but hopefully a cannon that can actually fire, rather than just a weird shaped piece of glass.
They’ve got two sliders to work with. Either you’re very mobile and if you get caught you get deleted (mage), or you’re stationary and can soak a little damage (destro). Presently, MM falls into neither of those categories.
awful changes to mm damage is still bad no survivability in pvp no mobility
dead spec
i’d have to test these changes when i get a chance but from what i see, i feel like blizz didn’t listen to feedback almost at all with these changes. i find the chimaera shot change to be rather interesting but that’s about it. they nerfed focus generation and didn’t really solve any of the gameplay problems. they probably made some of the problems worse in fact.
the one change that is universally positive though is the steady focus redesign. haste is so much better than casting speed for one spell and the fact that another shot doesn’t end the haste buff is so nice.
Ugh. That kills any synergy we’re gonna get with Dead Eye. Of course it’s going to be redundant and stack its damage multiplier on top of Kill Shot - that’s the point, isn’t it?
Why are they using BfA master marksman to justify the focus cost nerfs when BfA master marksman isn’t a thing anymore?
Trueshot is the worst dps CD by far with these changes.
Level 35 talent row is 100x better, but I think new steady focus should be baseline. MM could really use the added depth.
Why do we need Careful Aim to synergize with Dead Eye? That makes it more difficult to justify Double Tap or Lethal Shots, as Dead Eye was already the strongest talent on the row, even more so for Venthyr Hunters with Flayed Shot.
Agreed with this 100%.
Baseline steady focus doesn’t help us. TS needs another rework to either being base haste or something else. As it stands it just doesn’t work as a CD. Maybe during TS arcane shot costs no focus? So now we can actually use PS procs during TS.
Baseline steady focus would just add a bit more skill to the rotation. MM is a really simple spec, even more simple than BM imo. I don’t think that should be the case.
I agree that more spell interaction is needed (was my main feedback on beta), we need TS or precise shots to be fixed to address the problems these changes caused.
Honestly Trueshot at this point should just be 40% Haste. That would buff cast speed, cooldown rate, and Focus generation. Add extra CDR for Aimed Shot and Rapid Fire if needed to make it feel right.
Just want to point out that with the new careful aim, it’s going from top and bottom 20% window (40% total window) to top 30% window only.
This is 10% less of a window on a boss.
Having to use Steady Shots more often outside of Trueshot is a good thing, during Trueshot is a really bad thing. The shorter duration of Rapid Fire is amazing, even if the damage is slightly less (but it sounds like that should get fixed to be the same as it is now).
Overall with these changes, the focus spending/generation is going to need testing. I’m not a beta tester, so let us know Adreaver.
Good changes, don’t see anything really different here though, especially with the focus changes. Serpent Sting seems just as weak, but less annoying. Master Marksman still seems like the go to in all situations, but, again, numbers on testing may change this.
Overall, a good change. Removes the redundancy of kill shot. on live, this is essentially a 20% buff to Aimed Shot. This change will be a 15% buff to Aimed Shot. Again, more testing needed, but maybe Explosive Shot could be taken into M+ now. I still would have preferred Careful Aim just made baseline.
Much better!!! Someone i think on the beta forum said this wasn’t high enough, which I don’t necessarily agree with. This is essentially just a 7% haste buff with 100% uptime, except during Trueshot. Depends on the numbers.
Again, much better! With the reduced casttime of Rapid Fire, and this talent no longer being backwards, Rapid Fire should feel a lot better. The focus thing is still a little worrisome just for Trueshot but we will see.
This one is weird. Basically, your arcane shot now hits harder and cleaves. I’m good with it. Having a 2 target cleave will be good. Not sure how it’s actually going to compete with Streamline or even Steady Focus though. Seems like a very niche pick that will only be used in certain dungeons, otherwise Streamline will be picked as the significantly better AoE option.
Clearly this was the loser in this row, maybe this will help it compete, but unless it’s a lot stronger, the other two are still so much more fun, so I don’t really care.
Should make this competitive again. I don’t like Calling the Shots, because I don’t really like Trueshot, so this will be nice at least for ST.
Overall…
These changes are a good start, but I think they still missed a lot of the big problems with hunters.
The focus regen could be a problem during Trueshot, but I don’t see it being a problem outside Trueshot. And the problem here isn’t the focus regen, but Trueshot. It’s bad. It needs fixing as it doesn’t work at all with our spec.
Personally, I hate Precise Shots. I don’t think this is a hunter wide feel though, so I guess I’ll deal. It does however, not work with Trueshot. Again, fix Trueshot.
Certain talents seem more balanced. Going into M+ with an explosive shot and Volley build sounds like fun. I’m curious how Chimaera Shot will work out compared to the other talents in this row.
No changes to Hunter’s Mark.
Again, giving credit where credit is due. These are, I think, good changes. But not enough.
If you wanna test these changes then download the ptr. This is prepatch tuning. Lots of bugs still though