Not the eagle, Its not going to be a real pet. It exists off screen and comes in as required, its less pet and more spell effect that looks like an eagle.
I meant the summonable pets, just keep those and have them give a damage reduction. The the only time they would be used is solo and open world stuff or delves without affecting anything else.
Well said. They call me delusional for saying it has always been a pet class.
If it was not, Blizzard wouldn’t need to stick a pseudo pet into Marksmanship just to cover bases.
Loving the look of the Marksmanship rework, and the eagle overhead sounds neat—hopefully it remains on-screen, just to have those visuals of it circling above and diving in, etc.
Only real complaint is having some rather underwhelming 2-point nodes, but this can be overlooked if the gameplay/feel of the spec is as hype as the preliminary review.
Great job with this one!
I know exactly what you meant. Big oof.
Very Good:
Very, Very, Very Bad:
If 11.1 goes live and my hunter can’t summon his best friends, the pets he found along his twenty year journey, while in Marksmen spec, I’m done, forever.
I’ve already unsubbed in expectation that this awful change is going to become a reality.
This change is a disaster.
It’s like saying “We know Affliction and Destruction Warlocks have been running Grimoire of Sacrifice in group content for 6 years now, so we’ve just removed all their access to demons and now those spells are baseline. Trust us, you won’t miss Blueberry one bit. We may even plan a battle pet so that a fake Blueberry who doesn’t tank can follow you around!”
Explain to me explicitly where the problem is and why because everything I said results in pets working exactly as they do right now except all the utility and stuff is no longer tied to them.
If you think that’s “oof” back that non opinion up with an actual argument that refutes the points I’ve made.
Otherwise you’re just trolling.
As a Rogue, I think Subtlety and Assassination should be be combined into a single spec (they feel too watered down to be separated into their current themes) to make room for a “Sniper” spec.
Stealth Sniper is definitely a class fantasy that is missing from the WoW roster. I think the MM 11.1 changes are a great step toward that direction.
Then again, if they updated the 11.1 to grant MM hunters stealth as a trade-off for not having a pet, 
These MM changes look INCREDIBLE. I cannot wait to jump into the PTR and test them out! An MM shakeup was desperately needed, and this is exactly what I was looking forward to seeing.
Echoing others: I’m hyped for the changes. If there is a middle ground for players that want a pet, please find it. But PLEASE do not scrap this rework, it’s an incredibly cool fantasy/play style shake up.
Been playing MM since MoP. Personally, I’m looking forward to the change. Losing a pet is a loss for solo lvling. But its worth it to have a spec that functions better, makes more sense, and is more cohesive. And I’m excited to lust finally without having to lose DPS to take out and dismiss my pet. If people really want a pet that bad, just make it an option with a stance or something. But I think this rework is positive overall.
MM’s identity is a master sharpshooter specialized in taking enemies from afar. NOT pet user that BM and Surv and Blizzard is finally thank goodness setting that once and for all. For those who want to play the dwarf with a riffle and a bear pet thats BM for you, for those who want melee that’s Surve Rexxar inspired. Respec and have fun
Hello this is me speaking to you. I want the changes in fact they can’t come fast enough. Respec to BM and play with the pet you tamed and have a nice day
I like the changes that have been proposed. MM has needed a major update like this since the rework it got going into BFA. With these changes we will have a reason to want to cast our precise shot empowered abilities (kill shot now among them with a talent) even during trueshot instead of the current gameplay of ignoring them in favor of spamming out aimed shot and rapid fire as much as possible. I’m looking forward to seeing this eagle interact with our kit and the animations that go with it (please give aimed shot a new animation to go with it)
I do have some concerns with call the shots since it will be a choice node with unerring vision which is just better trueshot that still lines up with trinkets. I love the idea of having double tap back and having it tied to trueshot instead of its own gcd, so maybe with the right tuning, call the shots combined with this will make it worth it.
I feel for the people who will miss their pets. I get that people may have a bond with them. I think a middle ground would be to have a glyph where our pet would appear, charge the enemy, then disappear, just like the new “pet” would. Having the new rework and having our pet out without any downsides would make it so we always need a pet which just as many people don’t want. As people have previously mentioned, having there be a damage debuff for having a pet out could possibly work
Losing the pet for soloing isn’t as big of a factor as some have made it out. It is possible to solo delves and world content without a pet, I’ve done it up to 11s. With delves, the healing received from Brann and not getting hit by the telegraphed attacks will keep you alive just fine.
TLDR: I like these changes so far and I’m excited to see how it’ll turn out.
And then Brann falls over dead two seconds later BECAUSE WE DON"T HAVE ANY WAY TO HEAL HIM.
They could have just made BL a baseline ability instead of relying on a pet. Then for stuff like Mortal Wounds, add it to Lone Wolf so people can have more choices instead of needing pets.
That way the people who still want pets can use them and the people who don’t want pets never have to bother with them again. Makes everybody happy.
Beast Mastery Changes I’d Like to See
• Multi shot baseline like MM will be getting, having to spend talent points just start your aoe cleave feels awful.
• Dire Beast is locked behind aoe talents which will not be helpful in any single target encounters. Poison Barbs sounds great for aoe as a passive, but being a forced pick for ST is lame. Dire Beast also has too many talents designed around its power. You have 6 talent points currently involving Dire Beast, combine some of them and trim them down.
• Explosive Venom after being buffed is still very unplayable and now the only way for
BM is apply serpent sting, making Envenomed Fanged on the Pack Leader tree dead on arrival for bm aoe.
•Find something to do with Scent of Blood, BM hunters basically found ways to remove it from ever being needed so now it just sits there unused.
• The Bloodshed route, a one minute build sounded cool but it heavily locks you into pure single target. I think Bloodshed should be some where in the middle of the tree and the right side needs a new type of capstone that fulfills multiple roles. Cotw is just too versatile and can be used for multiple scenarios.
• Just get rid of Barrage at this point or make it a hunter talent, it just wont ever be used, until you can make the pets kill cleave during barrage as well. Here’s an idea, make Barrage apply serpent sting to everything, then Envenomed Fang will be better.
Good luck doing that with mobs swarming you in solo content. You’re going to be a melee shooter at best, or a stain on the ground at worst.
Playing the prototypical Dwarf Mountaineer does not lend itself to BM, whose kit revolve around conjuring animals from your stable (or just surrounding area), beast-themed abilities like murders of crows and poisonous shots, and commanding your beasts to do the killing for you.
My suggestion for a solution to MM soloing rares or guarding nodes in PvP. Could be a talent or a baseline ability:
Harassing Tactics
Instant, 20s Cooldown
Your Spotting Eagle descends to taunt and attack your target for 10 seconds. Spotting Eagle attacks cause no damage but can interrupt activities that are disrupted by normal attacks. The eagle can be affected by crowd control effects, and won’t apply Spotter’s Mark as long as Harassing Tactics is active.
In essence, this turns Spotting Eagle into a pet that keeps taunting and attacking a single target, so it “tanks” for a bit, and can also stop enemies from capturing nodes.
The oof part was penalizing players for having a pet out. You know, the main thing you’re arguing for.
So you’re taking away pets from ALL THREE SPECS? Beastmaster is down to one, Survival has to use Rexxars pets and MM gets “some random eagle”.
Do you even get to customize the look for your eagle? Can it be ANY bird of prey? Whay about the trio of pets? Can it be a pet from each category instead? Like one cunning, one ferocity and one tank? Because plenty of folks play hunter for the aesthetic of having a horde of pets that are all in one category of pet (like an undead having all undead pets or a gnome having all mechanical pets). You’re destroying the identity of what a hunter is by doing this. Its gross.