In Classic WoW Hunter has 2 Primary and 2 Secondary identities, with some mixing available:
Ranged AP DPS
Pet Focused DPS
/
Melee DPS-Tank Hybrid
Ranged SP DPS
All of these have gotten some degree of additional support in SoD, but some very simple changes could drastically increase the fun, usability, and self-expression of Hunter’s secondary specs and personal builds.
PLEASE NOTE I’m not trying to make any of these the new meta, just expanding options for people that want to play in their own way. Self expression and off-beat options are a big part of Classic.
Melee Hunter
Survival Hunter historically mixes melee DPS with survivability, and importantly locks 2 of its DPS cooldowns behind the need to tank enemies (via dodge and parry). SoD has added additional melee DPS options for Hunter, but ignored its original identity as a dodge/parry off-tank.
There’s a lot you could do here, from making Lone Wolf turn Distracting Shot into a melee ability to adding additional parry and dodge options, but we’re keeping it simple.
Just make Counterattack and Mongoose Bite scale with your weapon or AP. Simple change, but now people who want to off-tank as Hunter have some reason to do it. This combined with the new melee Hunter additions should make the melee off-tank style engaging in its own right and allow melee Hunters to flex a bit in a pinch.
Spell Power Hunter
Less tree specific, Spell Power Hunter is born from Classic Hunter having several abilities that scale purely with spell power:
Serpent Sting – 100% over the full 15 duration
Wyvern Sting – 100% over the full 6 duration
Arcane Shot – 42.9%
Volley – 33% per target hit
Mend Pet – Healing, 100% over full 5 second duration
Historically this spec has largely focused on Arcane Shot, but SoD has opened up options for it to shine in new ways, distinct from the ranged AP Hunter.
One option is to have SP Hunter explore other under used parts of the kit by making damaging traps scale with SP. However, this would pair best with further trap changes and we’re looking for one-line, simple stuff here.
I see 2 options to dramatically increase usability, the first also increasing Hunter flavor.
The best option in my mind is to simply give pets a portion of the Hunter’s spell power. Certain pets such as the Scorpid, Wind Serpent, and Gorilla already have SP scaling abilities so that’s no additional work. With SoD, Hunters are now giving some of there stats to their pet, so all it would take would be to give 1 more. An extremely simple change that adds variety and identity to the SP Hunter as these pets have different niches from AP focused options like Cats, Boars, and Birds.
Another easy option which straightforwardly adds power in an intuitive way would be to allow Chimera Shot to scale with Serpent Sting. SS Already scales with spell power, Chimera Shot already deals a portion of SS’s base damage, just make it deal the scaled damage instead. Now Chimera Shot effectively has 40% SP scaling, similar to Arcane Shot.
Of these I believe the pet scaling change adds more flavor with less chance of an overpowered outcome, but both support the identity of SP Hunter when compared to AP Ranged Hunter:
- Mobility as SP scaling shots don’t require stopping and Wind Serpent is ranged
- Tank busting via armor ignore
- Increase AoE through Serpent Spread, Volley, and Gorilla slam
- Mana hungry, worse for sustained fights
- Worse single target DPS
- Worse against magic-resisting enemies
Knock-Ons
Tiny changes such as these also add variety and expression in more ways than is easily visible.
For those that like to gamble or double down on AoE, mix SP with On-Hits such as Dragonbreath Chili and an SP scaling Gorilla slam with fast duel wielding and Carve.
Extreme solo players can build SP, Stam, and Armor with a Scorpid and let their pet do most of the damage while they heal with the very efficient Mend Pet.
etc etc
TL;DR
Easy, little changes to SP and Melee Hunter can open many fun options to play the game in your own way without disturbing the meta at the top, while remaining in keeping with Classic flavor and design, and while lining up with current SoD changes.
Do you have other easy changes you’d like to see? Do you think these would cause unexpected issues? What is your opinion on support for non-meta builds?