The skill is cool just because it lets us keep track of people through stealth - but oh man I do not want to play with it in my rotation.
If we’re keeping it then change it into some sort of “Tracker’s Shot” that we shoot and deals light damage along with applying Hunter’s Mark. If the target isn’t in combat with you, then it would only apply Hunter’s Mark and would not create aggro. It should also be instant damage and application - no travel time on the projectile.
As for the damage portion of Hunter’s Mark… 5% damage is hardly worth the global cooldown, and the effect itself is unnoticeable in longer fights once applied. My suggestion here will be weird but actually noticeable:
How about auto-attacks against the marked target decrease the CD of a random hunter ability by 2 seconds - basically the same as the corruption effect on the bow.
If they are going to put Hunter’s Mark on the global cool down, they should at least make it more powerful. I say 20% increased damage. (Maybe not that much, but still like 15%)
I agree that Hunter’s Mark feels really bad to use, and it kinda helps illustrate some of the bigger issues at play here.
OP mentioned button bloat, which is one of my bigger worries with the whole “unpruning” thing. More things to press are not interesting or fun if they do not add anything meaningful or additional thought to the rotation. Right now, HM is a chore that you do to maintain the same DPS you would do if it just didn’t exist in the first place. It exists to hinder the player, not make us feel more powerful.
When you combine the GCD changes with unpruning, you need to make sure that the abilities we have all matter and feel impactful. BM hunters are already generally annoyed that we have so many GCDs to get through just to buff our damage. I think we are really going to feel this when azerite traits go away and we have baseline AOTW/BW and no DoD. Adding in HM just feels really bad on top of an already poor experience.
I really think the GCD change is the core of the problem here. If HM came back but off the GCD, fine, I still think it’s a dumb ability but I’ll macro it and forget about it. The people that love manually casting it for whatever reason can still do so.
I would want to lean into loosening the GCD issue even more though. The baseline rule should be, if an ability directly does damage or healing it can trigger a GCD, but if it buffs you in some way, or debuffs something in some way, it should not trigger a GCD.
See this is the problem though. If you just macro it to everything and forget about it because it’s not on the GCD, then it may as well not exist. If it’s going to stay, it needs to provide some interesting but not damage related utility that is on the GCD.
Say it increases the range of your attacks. Then during a boss fight an add fixates on you. The the question isn’t “well is it going to be alive long enough for the damage benefit to outweigh the use of the GCD?” Instead it becomes “Can I kill it before it gets to me without HM?” A much more interesting question to ask in a split second if you ask me., especially as an MM hunter who’d rather be standing still then trying to kite something.
Id be fine If they removed it, but it’s almost useless in PvE at the moment, especially when there are lots of targets. I’d like them to least make it 20% or apply the damage boost to all targets.
Then it may as well not exist because all this ability is going to do is just get whacked on a boss and forgotten about like it did back in the day or not get whacked on a mob because you’re going to kill is faster than the 1gcds with of damage that you’re about to waste
They keep nerfing MM, I’ll take any damage increase I can get lol. I’d also be fine if they got rid of it and just added a permanent 5% damage increase, that would rock.
No, that’s the very very OPPOSITE of what we want.
What don’t y’all get about “we’re balanced assuming 100% uptime”? The stronger the buff, the weaker our baseline damage without it, so that we aren’t just far and away the best single target DPS in the game.
When you see Hunter’s Mark, and it says “Deal X% more damage to the marked target”, instead think “Deal X% less damage to any target that isn’t marked.” That’s how it’s balanced. Hunter’s Mark as a mechanic exists to nerf our damage against secondary targets, pure and simple.
Searing Totem was brought back in Battle for Azeroth with the intention of Totems being a cool and iconic part of the Shaman class, but without significant redesign to the button to give it mechanical interaction and feeling impactful to press, it wound up feeling like just another cooldown you had to manage that didn’t have any excitement behind it.
You can almost replace that verbatum with Hunter’s Mark in the next expansion.
Hunter’s Mark was brought back in Shadowlands with the intention of it being a cool and iconic part of the Hunter class, but without significant redesign to the button to give it mechanical interaction and feeling impactful to press, it wound up feeling like just another cooldown you had to manage that didn’t have any excitement behind it.
I do not want Hunter’s Mark back. I was never upset when they deleted it. I didn’t want it back when they announced it. I don’t want it back now. Unless it is designed in a way that makes it fun and meaningful, it’s just another GCD and damage nerf.
The only way I can support Hunters mark if it gives us more utility / raid viability. Like a 3% damage buff for everyone or something. Otherwise it is purely a fluff ability, and not worth casting.
I had the same reaction for hunters mark that i had for 6 sec pet rez…why?
I have played both with and without it since BC. I don’t really miss it all. There is little good from it coming back (as it is right now), and has to potential to cause more harm then benefit.
It needs to either provide some sort of raid wide buff or utility benefit, and PLEASE take away the damage aspect. I never got excited about pressing it, and even with weak auras they way they are now, I just have no desire for it return. Barbed shot as it is now is a better example of a personal maintenance buff.
Aspect of the fox is a great example, letting people cast while moving for short bursts on use, just find a cd that works. Aspect of the pack, I mean the daze kinda sucks but it was just a much worse stamp roar that you made wipe walks backs alot more tolerable.
Distracting Shot, I missing playing ping pong.
Wyvern sting back when CC was an actual thing. PVE CC that is.
Kill shot now, I welcome back with open arms. Welcome back little buddy!
I really never understood why they didn’t turn Aspect of the Pack itself into a cooldown that was literally just a clone of Stampeding Roar. It was absolutely primed for such a change, tbh.
people think its a dps bonus, but with how blizzard works, its probably just an overall damage nerf that only gets to the normal level by applying the mark. wich is also on a global, making it even more clunky. stealth detection is the only useful benefit unless it was baked into the attack instead of applying it then attacking