On topic:
IMO, current Survival should focus more on actual melee combat with syncronized attacks from hunter+pet.
I know some like the hybrid playstyle, but it also alienates many that either want more ranged focus, as well as those that want more focus on melee.
(Hint, multiple weapon styles allowed(1h weapons), remove Kill Command, replace it with Raptor Strike as a builder and bring in either Mongoose Bite or Flanking Strike(version of it) as the main spender).
This very much depends on who you ask ofc. But compared to the theme/design of specs today, yes it wasn’t as defined as they are now. No specs were.
Though, any arguments that it was to similar to MM(statement by the lead devs in an interview at the time), or that it lacked a clear theme/identity. I don’t agree with.
These statements became invalid anyway the moment they decided to rework every spec in the game. They could’ve just done the same with ranged Survival as they did with the others. Give it a fantasy overhaul, a focus on spec identity with a core of it’s own.
If you ask me, it DID have that core. It had Explosive Shot, Black Arrow, Serpent Sting along with several other nuances that spoke to it’s fantasy.
If we look at what the spec could be today, design-wise, what comes to mind for me, is this(link): We need range Survival Hunters back - #457 by Ghorak-laughing-skull
These suggestions of mine for a 4th spec option for the class, they speak to the past core fantasy of the class where you’re a hunter, fighting with a ranged weapon while being aided by a loyal companion.
And it brings back that beloved playstyle that was ranged Survival. And IMO, builds on the theme, even more so.
Which is why the best option to get the spec many of us liked in the past, get it back as a 4th option rather than arguing for it to replace anything already in existence.
IMO.
Yep, they should’ve.
I feel your pain!(I agree in full).
Like I said above, specs back then weren’t as defined as they are today. But the core of the old ranged Survival spec, felt nothing like that of MM. The only similarity was that of you, using a ranged weapon to attack with.
Talents back then weren’t meant to differentiate the feel/design of specs like they are now. Only the core mechanics of each spec was different.
And yes, Survival was different from that of MM. MM focused on bursty gameplay with strong hitters while Survival had nearly no burst at all, it instead was a very consistant, steady playstyle. That focused on DoTs.
It was actually in WotLK that they first gave us the playstyle of Explosive Shot combined with Black Arrow. In Cata, they reworked it to be more of a core identity rather than being fully optional.
In MoP and WoD, they iterated on it, trying to see what they could do to improve it even more.
Not the best choice they’ve made no.
If you compare the thematic design of Explosive Shot to Aimed Shot along with Comparing Black Arrow to Chimera Shot, no, they were not the same. Go deep enough into mechanical functions and everything looks the same no matter the spec really.
I would urge you to recheck the design of the vanilla hunter class. No matter how you specced into talents, you would never become a ‘‘melee hunter’’. Sure, survival had options that focused a bit on giving you strengths in melee range. But you still wanted to fight from afar with a ranged weapon.
If you look at the general design of the specs in vanilla, mostly, they just enhanced certain aspects of your base toolkit, stuff you already had access to.
Beast Mastery talents, improved on the pet aspects.
Marksmanship talents enhanced your ranged gameplay.
Survival talents built on your theme as a tracker along with proving your…survivability, both through ranged options as well as melee.
Yes please.
Could work, though this might not be the best option considering those that like the current MM playstyle with a focus on strong hitters.
Idd!
No matter about subjective viewpoints, you cannot compare a spec designed by old philosophies, with a spec that is in the game today. There is no point in comparing them in that way.
The design philosophy of today is that each spec should have it’s own, very clear, very unique theme. Some would argue that in despite of this, the current MSV does not live up to the new philosophy.