I think they did the talent route rather than just add the pet summon back because they definitely want separation, which is what pretty much everyone has been asking for.
If they went no talent and you could just summon your pet as usual, but without the utility (which is what I suggested) then technically a player has no reason not to summon a pet alongside the Eagle and get utility from the Eagle while getting about 2% more damage from the pet or whatever it adds up to. Only the people who truly don’t want to bother with a pet wouldn’t summon it, otherwise it is a net gain even if it dies because there’s no Lone Wolf.
They need to commit to one or the other. This has created so many more problems than it’s solved. There was no reason to design in a mortal strike effect to aimed shot to then turn around and give it a pet that you now have to hard code to not give ms. It also doesn’t make sense to give a spec access to passive ms from a pet and also the same Ms effect from aimed shot. Why is this a thing that marks now gets to do instead of bm or sv? Conversely, why doesn’t bm or sv have to give up anything to have passive Ms on one target instead of one with at least 50% downtime?
Why should marks not get two talent points worth of value from the spend? But also does any of this actually make sense? Everything about the decision you have to make about the pet is now worse than when lone wolf was just -5% damage in PvP to get to use your utility.
They originally didn’t need to worry about pets having utility like mortal strikes because we weren’t going to have access to them. Since they’re going to add that access back they’ve obviously hit a huge issue because they probably didn’t intend for it to be this way. I’m guessing that the whole pet system is very entwined between the three specs (semi confirmed now since apparently BM or SV lost a utility?) which means turning off switches for MM pets and leaving them on for the other two is a big problem.
We really could use an elf-themed Ranger class for Midnight, designed without a pet. Sentinel, Dark Ranger, Priestess of the Moon, three classic Warcraft 3 heroes to model the specializations after. Throw in Warden for flavor? There is enough there to fill out that fantasy for those who want it.
Myself and others warned about this when Unbreakable Bond was announced. There was going to be an issue if the pet class abilities would remain since these were baked into the MM talents and skills. We indicated there was a chance of double-dipping pet abilities with certain talent selections. We wanted the pet only to be capable of claw/bite attacks. But, as you mentioned, the underlying code is entwined.
I said it once before, the talent changes and abilities should be tied to whether the Hunter blows the whistle. Leave in all of the Spotting Eagle changes. That way the pet-less Hunter can benefit from these. If they call their pet, they get the benefit of using the pet class abilities/utilities just as it is currently and the Eagle is disabled. Spotter’s Mark and its interactions are also disabled. For loosing the Eagle, they then get their damage/defensive tuning buff.
The Tenacious/Cunning talent should be scrapped. Make it a Hunter Aura or stance that is available when no pet is called. This aura or stance is disabled when a pet is active. That way the Hunter can choose what is best for them. Now you have little to no conflict. No double-dipping. Blizzard, be sure to change the names of the aura/stance and create a new spell for these so that the potential interaction with the pet abilities is removed.
EDIT: Some clarical adjustments.
Additionally, why not just get ride of Spotter’s Mark. No one likes RNG. Just buff the current abilities and damage to match. Or, put the RNG buff into Steady Shot. Give us a reason to use this abysmal filler. Give Steady Shot a damage buff that matches Arcane Shot (80% to 86%).
The way I remember it, this was one of the many reasons Blizzard struggled with taking away pets in Legion and BFA alphas — it’s just way too entrenched into the coding.
…because, y’know, Hunters are a pet class. We’re literally designed, from the ground up, around having pets. Pets ARE such a huge part of our defensive kit.
This has happened over and over — MM cannot survive with just half the defensive kit that BM and SV has (I’m talking about pets. Remove pets, and MM loses half of its defensive kit).
This is, perhaps, the most glaring example yet — BM and SV are being impacted by bugs caused by trying to rewrite MM’s coding.
It’s patently absurd to attempt to divorce a spec from the very foundation of a class. One would think that Blizzard has learned its lesson in Legion.
That’s why I’ve been saying we need a second, petless physical ranged class — and preserve pets for MM.
I didn’t speak up before because I knew it was fruitless, so I thought I’d sit back and watch just in case Blizzard had successfully figured out a way to re-invent MM’s very foundation and radically divert it away from the basic Hunter design — but… nope.
It’s looking messy, and very painful.
I forgot who proposed having pets stay and disabling the Eagle when the pet is out (and vice versa). I like that solution.
I’m not going to sit and bicker over it. I could go back and reread and I’m sure we could argue back and forth for awhile, but it’s not going to do any good.
All that means is that Blizz has work to do.
With how complex the Eagle and its mark is, I don’t think it can just be switched off and on either. The rotation and abilities will probably break without it.
I don’t know if that is possible. I’d have to actually get on the PTR and that’s not something I think I can really do.
People seem oddly upset over something breaking on the ptr as if it’s not the perfect time and place for things to break. Just give your feedback and report the bugs. Stop being ridiculous.
Raise your hand if you actually know how much work it takes to recode all of the pets to no longer give their pet family buffs, specials, and command pet abilities while you’re spaced marksman and have the pet talent. Hopefully it’s really not that big of a deal. I’m not optimistic.
I do like the concept of “Your pet marks a target for you to exploit”, like a spotting dog or falcon might do for a real world hunter. They need a more elegant way to implement it- an RNG off Precise Shots just to make Aimed Shot stronger on that specific target is clunky, random, and the limited window to use it is bothersome. There’s also got to be a way to make it, and other utility, work more elegantly between pet/no-pet.
You guys seem to listen to all the feedback on MM wanting pets but not a single mention of actually fixing Trueshot and making it feel less like a poop emoji. At least that is something all MM players are agreeing on atm.