Again discussion in this thread seems to be veering away from BEAST MASTERY.
In general I don’t think damage breakdown of abilities reflects flow or feel of the spec… an ability might do 50% of the overall damage through an instance but a few other abilities might reflect 80% of the gameplay interaction ie button presses and tracking.
Like Tanais is saying limitations can be defining and some tuning needed to level the playing field from a throughput perspective (because, this is a game). There’s a lot of over-compensation required to make melee fighters on the whole numbers-equitable with ranged & casted abilities, by the nature of their respective windows of opportunity.
Where this sucks from a fantasy perspective is that from any sense of in-universe “realism” (I use this word very lightly, this is a game) people slinging magic and using efficient ranged weapons SHOULD be outperforming melee types consistently and significantly. By the same token- actual magic should be outperforming conventional ranged weapons in most cases.
So yeah, from a feel perspective it’s pretty much going to be impossible to reconcile comparable performance (from the perspective of melee players) with fantasy “realism” (from the perspective of ranged/caster players).
But how does this conversation actionably help discuss improvements to the Beast Mastery spec for what it is? My takeaway is that the numbers game is moot, it’s a game and we want things to perform comparably. Where we should scream and shout is FEEL because that’s the fantasy “most” (my opinion) players are indulging in when it comes to gameplay. Games design themselves to cater to those different audiences by degrees.
As a BM player, what >I< want most of my DPS gameplay to be taking actions that reflect my spec fantasy- directing and refining my animal(s) innate abilities to their full potential as a true force to be reckoned with. More generally under the Hunter class umbrella- repositioning relentlessly to never let my target escape (mobility, large window of opportunity to engage) and using preparation & surprise to gain the advantage (uniquely triggered tools or escapes).
Where my experience seems to fall short right now is that too much of my gameplay time does not really feel Beast Master fantasy related (anecdotally, too much less-than-beast-flavorful abilities like Cobra Shot, and to a lesser extent Barbed Shot)
I would like more of my Beast Master abilities to be directly pet-related; having it perform feats like Intimidation or Kill Command, flashy AOE swipes or furious howls that demoralize our enemies. Execute maneuvers! Imagine an active where the pet leaps back to Hunter and knocks away enemies, or holds one end of spiked-chain clothesline we can run briefly into enemies lol. Perhaps a passive like “Spiked Collar” that inflicts damage when switching targets and the pet moves past enemies.
When my character is taking actions- I want them to reflect engagement with my Beasts, my specialized tools & companions… Barbed Shot is not the worst concept- I’m just not sure it’s exciting to stack something that has so little visual feedback. Imagine an alternate playstyle reversing Kill Command & Barbed Shot in gameplay- Kill Commands trigger stacks of idk “Hunter’s Cadence” which rewards consistency of executing that active ability (with the pet animation of a big ol swipe and sound effect for feedback). Imagine Barbed shot as an ability that instead opens up a window that CHANGES GAMEPLAY! Maybe it keeps Hunter’s Cadence stacks at max for a period without needing to keep up consistent execution, creating a window of opportunity of CHOICE to get another ability off depending on the situation: maybe you use it to get a movement ability off and reposition, maybe you cast a wailing arrow, set a trap etc)
I would love Hunter class talents that affect gameplay decisions too. Imagine a “Blunderbluss” talent ability that incentivized closing the gap on low health targets for a high damage cone facing your target, or an “Unseen Vantage” talent that incentivized remaining in a targets blind spot for damage & avoidance bonuses- which might vary in risk or practicality by encounter.
I want to sound a hunting horn and empower myself & allies against my target when I use Hunter’s Mark in combat. I want Scare Beast to be a more broad “Terrify Prey” type fear ability- and if the target hits a trap while under the effect, perhaps the trap effect is empowered. I want a pitfall trap- AOE stun ability on a long cooldown.
There’s a lot of potential for cool here- I want the thrill of the hunt in my gameplay!
Hunter should be simple core, lots of choice modifiers & situational abilities.
Damage should be overall comparable even though fantasy wise it doesn’t make sense.
/rant
