I know most specs got pruned, but this one is kind of extreme. At least other classes have some nuance in setting up CDs for max damage, but BM is literally two buttons
I originally played hunter because it was ironically one of the harder and more “strategic” classes, now it’s not. Do you think this is a skill issue on my part or is BM just doomed to be very basic? How does it compare to MM in this regard?
hasnt BM been perceived as the most basic DPS spec for a decade plus
We’ve been using same 4 button rotation for a decade. Every once in a while something new comes in (dire beast / flare+trap / wild spirits/ etc) but not really rotationally and it quickly gets yeet’d out.
It’s been Barb (dire frenzy), kill command, bestial wrath and cobra shot for over a decade now.
?
Are we talking about classic when it was used by all the gold farming bots because it was the easiest, or tbc where you literally had cast sequence / timed macro that was doing entire rotation ie :
#showtooltip Steady Shot
/run UIErrorsFrame:Hide()
/castsequence reset=2.52 Steady Shot, !Auto Shot
/use [exists,target=pettarget] Kill Command
/run UIErrorsFrame:Clear(); UIErrorsFrame:Show()
I’m not going to pretend that i have perfect memory, but i do not recall hunter being viewed as “harder” or “more strategic” class.
Hunter definitely required more competency vanilla through mop, which is what i’m mostly referring to. And I should have clarified I wasn’t really referring to pve, either.
You did actually have to manage a deadzone, your pet not getting gibbed by utilizing premending and positioning it correctly, and had to ensure you used BW correctly or it got wasted (mop). I suppose since pet management isn’t a thing anymore I ought to consider something else.
I guess that’s the bigger angle, because even deadzone was nuked half way through TBC. But in PvE i do not believe hunter was ever even in top 5 complex classes.
I wouldn’t say there’s only 2 buttons to press after the pruning, but the rhythm and the flow is definitely bad compared to what it was in The War Within and Dragonflight. 
it can be called basic. I’ve played BM since vanilla. In every aspect, pvp, pve farming and just generally wandering looking for whatever i can find in the game.
There is a HUGE difference between a good hunter and a bad one. Simple rotation, once you get it your dps will soar. until then you will wonder why…
as for midnight…where did all my haste go? Is the haste in the room with us? leveling/ mythics etc the gear …i have 5% haste and i can feel it.
Cobra, KC, Barbed, BW and Wild Thrash in aoe. Min maxers still have to track which beast is coming and time it correctly. I agree it’s very easy but pretending it got pruned excessively is hyperbole.
Now are gone Call of the Wild, Bloodshed, Dire Beast, Kill Shot, Explosive Shot, and Multi-Shot that was far superior to Wild Trash. Then before those BM had Serpent Sting, and Murder of Crows.
You had to watch your rotation to keep your Frenzy stacks to not drop. Cobra Shot would only be used as a filler, but now it’s the only ability that’s available between the cooldowns. The spec has no flow and is just waiting for cooldowns while watching my pets on auto doing all the work.
It went from simple to brain dead easy. I have lost my excitement for the spec, which I have stopped playing. Why does a spec that was already so friendly for beginners needed to be cut down? Did Blizzard actually believe that Beastmastery rotation was so complicated?
Meanwhile most of the guides have haste valued just about vers. They really want yall struggling.
Am I playing BM wrong?
I usually lead with Kill Command till it’s on cooldown, then Cobra Shot (w/ the Talent to reduce KC by 2sec), then Barbed Shot, and repeat. Mind you, I am also using Dark Ranger and Black Arrow for supplement.
Barbed Shot first, BM apex you want to cast KC after a BS or Cobra
Even though Barbed Shot is meant to regen focus? Casting it while it max focus seems counter-intuitive.
Lesser of two evils, otherwise you’re wasting a KC charge unbuffed by apex. Barbed is regen over time too so it isn’t fully lost value
Basic B… M Hunter.
As long as BM hunter can keep doing its full damage on the move I’ll enjoy it. I personally didn’t think BM needed pruning, but whatever, we’re still using basically the same spells. I do enjoy the new beast cleave spell, in most cases I think it’s better and easier then before, but it would be nice to still have multi shot for solo stuff. It’s super easy now, but I like that, and really BM has never been that hard.