I love the MM changes except one thing, how come you guys are obsessed with forcing a talent change to hit 2 targets… why not make the easy fix and go to the code of trick shots and change the 3 to a 2? I guarantee every mm hunter would be unbelievably happy with that change. Thank you for working on the class and i hope you read this post and do this edit like how after years of posting on shaman thread to make feral charge baseline which they finally did this xpac.
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Here is the single target arena build I’m working with. I think it’s important that windrunner quiver and headshot get looked at again, both for pvp and pve users of dark ranger. The issue you run into:
The design of quiver and headshot means that you need to use as many precise shots stacks on deathblow procs as possible. The problem is that you need to expend your precise shots charges immediately after you use the abilities that have a chance to grant deathblow, and you obviously don’t know if the proc will happen or not. In order to play this correctly, you need to either add downtime between use of rf/aimed and your precise spenders, or use outside macros via keyboard/mouse/cheating software to conditionally cast one or the other immediately.
This is the same problem that elemental shaman had last expansion. The issue isn’t that it’s impossible to play without breaking game rules, it’s that legitimate users won’t be able to keep up with someone scripting this interaction. Last expansion, this led to an obscene amount of players in m+, raids, and pvp scripting elemental shaman.
/cast kill shot
/cast arcane shot
Is not a valid macro and will just try to cast kill shot over and over since both abilities are on global. You also can’t castsequence the interaction because again the sequence will stop after it tries to cast black arrow and it’s not available. You are not allowed to use conditional macros that poll the UI to determine if one spell is available and cast that if so, or cast something else if not. Essentially what ele abusers did last expansion was use a gaming keyboard/mouse macro that press both buttons in very fast sequence to each other with one keystroke. I don’t have a suggestion for a fix, but I think it’s important that someone on the design team at least be aware of what they’re signing up for.
Not loving the changes to Pack Leader, but they’re mostly tolerable. My biggest gripe is getting rid of Covering Fire. It allowed for a nice break in a mostly stagnant rotation. Ursine fury as a replacement isn’t the same… Maybe if it allowed the cooldown with every beast, but one beast isn’t compelling.
The way it is, yeah, not valid… You CAN run this macro though. /castsequence reset=3 Kill shot, Arcane shot … It’ll let you press them consecutively and then reset to kill shot after 3 seconds of not pressing the macro.
I tried something like this as well when ptr was up and it still just tries to cast killshot. Same problem. I think it actually needs you to cast the killshot before it knows to move on to the next thing in the sequence.
Edit:
Tested again on live, this does not work there either. You need to actually cast black arrow/killshot before the sequence iterates.
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I’m back. Again. After play with non bugged version of Trueshot interactions with the talents I am concluding once again this is a laughable button that needs a lot of help.
Truth be told, I was thinking primarily of new players and/or players new to the Hunter class.
If MM is frustrating to solo with, quest with, level with no pets… then they’re gonna avoid MM!
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Putting two skills that use the GCD in the same macro is usually a big no no.
I use a lot of modifier macros, however, like:
/cast [mod:alt] Multishot; Arcane Shot
So that a single button has two spells and I free more space in the bars.
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They need to rework the entire Exile’s Reach starting experience due to this change, that much is already true.
I’ll give it a shot, as said!
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It didn’t stop them with the ranged starting experience (since you couldn’t spec until level 10), then “whoops! You’re melee now” with melee SV. I’ve pointed out in the past that this was confusing to new players, but Blizzard never did anything about it. 
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It is definitely better to put them on a shift/alt mod but is still not conditional and not as fast and precise as someone who will script it. It’s not broken, it’s just a type of interaction that needs to be looked out for, because people will script it.
They changed a lot of ele mechanics around so that it’s not such a big deal for that reason. Wasting precise on arcane one time when you have a deathblow proc is a lot of damage loss and some of your procs are off global.
After some testing on the PTR, I find the Spotter’s Mark mechanic to be very uninteresting, and I think that both its gameplay impact and its visuals could be revisited.
On paper it’s the rotational “peak”: a rare proc that enhances Aimed Shot, only obtainable after either using your big CD Trueshot, or after having used your medium CD buttons Rapid Fire and Explosive Shot to generate Streamline, consuming them with your main ability Aimed Shot, and then spending the Precise Shots it grants. Doubling your chance to apply Spotter’s Mark is one of the main effects of Trueshot, even, so applying it should be an exciting moment.
But in actual gameplay, it felt really unimpactful:
- The proc itself is numerically powerful after investing some points into it, but despite there being several effects you can talent into that impact your rotation (stacks of 4% haste for 10 seconds, 2 seconds of Aimed Shot, Explosive Shot and Trueshot CDR), none of these have an impact that’s immediately felt, only really being noticeable on a longer fight.
- The visual where your Spotter Eagle swoops down, like it does for Intimidation is very subtle and hard to notice. I was expecting something like a bigger “mark” effect, and/or an enhanced impact on Aimed Shot when consuming Spotter’s Mark.
Since Feathered Frenzy gives Trueshot a large focus on Spotter’s Mark, I think improving this mechanic would also make it a much more engaging cooldown to use.
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Hard agree. IMO, using hunters mark should give you an eagle mark. Would make sense as an interaction and it feels like you need the ability to guarantee yourself a proc approximately that often anyway.
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Yes. That’s one of the two biggest things that… confounds (for the lack of a better term) me about the rework.
RNG has never made a “smooth rotation.” It’s the exact opposite! So I find it bizarre that the devs would say MM is known for its “smooth rotation” (AKA, having total control over your shots) and then introduce significant RNG elements that heavily impacts your DPS…!?
Am I the only one who doesn’t understand how it’s possible to have a “smooth rotation” based off RNG?
This is basically Legion MM. All I’ll say is that there’s a good reason Legion MM didn’t survive the BFA alpha.
That being said, you’re correct — by making Hunter’s Mark give an eagle mark, it’ll reduce the burden of RNG and give the player greater control.
(Edits due to autocorrect. My phone’s update messed up the autocorrect. What a pain in the butt.)
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I had the same conclusion in another post. It’s fire and forget. It isn’t noticeable and is not really impactful to the rotation. The Streamline-to-Precise Shots loop is the only combo that is being paid any attention to during a rotation.
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It feels a little better with the bugs fixed but the awkward parts are still there. Cooldowns on aimed/rapid/explosive feel like they take forever sometimes. Even during Trueshot it feels bad when you have to cast a 1 streamline aimed shot because nothing else is off cd. Somehow even 5 point Trueshot doesn’t feel as good as live atm.
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Reported this in ptr, not sure if this was active in last ptr, but:
If your’e at 2 stacks of streamline and you cast aimed shot into explosive shot (using precision detonation), you don’t get a streamline stack from the explosive shot. The aimed shot should have consumed the 2 stacks of streamline and the explosive shot should have granted another stack.
Is this a function of the stacks not dropping until the aimed shot lands? If so, should the streamline charges not reset at the end of cast instead of when the aimed shot lands? The interaction happens too fast for me to really gauge on client side.
Also, consuming precise shots with black arrow is never triggering spotter’s mark now.
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To say the least.
The eagle, as so many feared, is not only a non-pet, it’s barely a visual indicator. It flits in, occasionally, for a quarter of a second, and is about the size of a hummingbird so it’s completely invisible amidst the visual noise of combat unless you’re specifically looking for it, and sometimes even then. No wonder giving it different visuals wasn’t a priority-- the sodding thing is almost never visible, and you can barely see it when it is.
Then we get a PTR adjustment for the spec and… zero acknowledgement that the marksman community is up in arms, zero acknowledgement that people are unhappy having their stable of pets forcibly removed, zero acknowledgement that this is now a dungeons-and-raids spec only. “No player left behind” indeed.
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Explosive Shot grants Streamline when it’s fired, not when it explodes.
You don’t need to stack Streamline twice before shooting Explosive Shot. You get it once from other sources, fire the Explosive Shot, then use AiS for the detonation.
Have streamline x2
Cast aimed shot
Cast explosive shot
You should exit this situation with one streamline charge. You currently do not.
I think what’s happening is that you don’t actually consume the streamline stacks until the aimed shot lands. However there is no travel time for the application of explosive shot, which in this situation overcaps you while you’re still at 2 because the aimed shot is still in the air when you apply it. Streamline should be consumed when aimed shot is finished casting instead of when it lands to avoid this problem.
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