I should have added the word unique in there, because SV brings nothing (as far as I know) that the ranged hunter doesn’t also bring and doesn’t have anything like the damage debuffs of DH/monk the player buff of warrior or the mind control of DK or group stealth like rogue.
they suffer from much of the same problem that ret pally does that all of their utility is better brought by another spec of the same class or another class. because there are tons of AoE slows/roots rarely a need for more than 1 sooth or offensive dispel which a few other specs can do and a couple can do much better.
Survival saw its entire spec obliterated and turned into a lite version of an arms warrior. It’s not even remotely comparable to specs that received changes here and there. What they did to Survival is like changing the unholy dk spec into a slightly different version of havoc demon hunter.
They are one of the lust classes, so you can lust, the aoe build also makes them decent for mythic plus. Being a lust class can make it so you can bring other classes. The wide range of pets they can use can also bring other utility like wound effects. They also have a cc in frost trap that is just as useful as a mage’s polymorph or shaman’s hex.
Survival needs its ranged version back. Not as replacement for melee, but in addition to it.
You don’t even need a 4th specialization, just have SV play like old school if you have a ranged weapon equipped, and have it play like modern day SV if you have a melee weapon equipped. That would make it such a fun and versatile specc.
Or if that’s too complicated go ahead and make a 4th specialization. Ranged could be called ‘Survival’, and rename the melee version to something like ‘Savagery’.
I usually post on my main from Alliance named Lotus but saw this thread and wanted to represent here on my survival hunter. Feel sorry? Well, I don’t know how they do in Mythic content but I’m rockin it in pve. I love this class so much. Very survivable and fun!
Not really sure what I should feel sorry about when it comes to current SV.
It’s not the top pick for various types of content? Same as with most other specs.
Very few people play it in general? Okay, and? It just shows that very few people are interested in playing it, even when it does perform well, which we have records showing that being the case on several occasions since they introduced it in Legion.
I feel sorry for all the players who had invested in what was Survival prior to Legion. A spec that was entirely removed for no reason other than that the devs wanted to enforce their own ideas no matter how much those contradicted what most players wanted from the class. No matter why most players chose to play as hunters in the first place.
I feel sorry for those of us who lost what we thought of as being the best core playstyle there was in this game, because the devs couldn’t envision how 2 specs mainly focusing on the use of ranged weapons could somehow be different enough to warrant further development.
yeah i absolutely loved the old survival with black arrow. and as much as i love BM, it was just my pet tamer until that unfaithful day where they made that change to melee.
This is an admirable mindset but this wouldn’t be possible or feasible for a few reasons. Most importantly ranged SV and the current melee SV have different aesthetics and mechanics. It wouldn’t be possible to just cram both into the same spec.
There’s no added “versatility” to having both ranged and melee attacks. If you have any dependence on melee at all to deal your full damage potential that’s inherently less versatile than a spec like BM that can do 100% of its damage from 0-40 yards.
All 3 specs should be ranged baseline. There should exist a talent for BM that swaps out its ranged shots for melee strikes in exchange for a damage boost. That’s the most practical and sensible way to approach melee Hunters.
From 3.0 when it got Explosive Shot until 6.2 when it was last ranged SV was actually more often than not better than MM. SV was better during:
All of WotLK until late ToC and into ICC
All of Cataclysm outside of Firelands
All of MoP
WoD from the early Highmaul balancing until HFC’s release
As Apples said these aren’t things SV brings that ranged Hunters don’t. Ranged Hunters can also bring pets to bloodlust and use traps and Binding Shot.
They are a pretty great spec for pvp tbh. A really good amount of surviability, can stay kite melee, can close gap ranged i like the playstyle a lot. Very versatile gameplay.
They have been pretty strong in 9.1 i saw some doing 9k+ overall dps in a SD.
SV was even better in PvP as a ranged spec (SV’s current strengths in PvP are in spite of being melee not because of it) and 9K+ over all in a SD is low.
I’ve been having fun with it. I’ve played MM and BM and just recently decided to try Survival. I don’t do any raiding or keys though. Just casual play.
The old spec isnt coming back and never will. So chill a bit. It would be more probable to introduce a new class with old surv mechs, which was pretty much Dots.
Its not that much of a melee class at all, it just has the option to go melee if it has to. Which is cool.
Also too many pvp skills SV has were never avaiable before. Such as the bandage, net or frozen trap.
