Feedback: Hunters

[Lyndreia-moon-guard]

Please rethink this eagle thing. I really appreciate trying something new for MM, but some of us like to play MM with a pet. If you absolutely insist on minimizing the pet, can we please replace the eagle with any of our stabled pets, using the same “dedicated slot” tech as Animal Companion? Ground-based pets could just use a charge animation or something. I want my night elf Sentinel to ambush targets at range in tandem with her nightsaber flanking them in melee.

The same goes for this new bear/boar/wyvern thing for Beast Mastery spec. I think when a lot of us say they want to feel more like Rexxar, they mean we want dual-wielding to come back. Not to literally borrow his pets. I don’t have any wyverns or boars in my stable. They don’t fit the night elf fantasy for me.

Also, on the subject of dual-wielding, can we have that back for Survival please? It feels weird that Marksmanship and Survival are the only two specs that can access the Sentinel hero spec, but neither of them can use the signature weapon of the Sentinels, the moonglaive. We can collect glaive weapons for transmog but can’t utilize dual-wielding in combat anymore. It used to be an iconic hunter thing.

EDIT: I forgot to add that I do like the way the bear/boar/wyvern pets will work in combat. I just would like the option to replace those pets with my own. I’ve already been playing Pack Leader instead of Sentinel just because I like having two pets, and I love the idea of summoning 3 more pets that actually perform specific functions. But being able to replace the wyvern with one of the several different night elf-themed avian pets I’ve collected would be huge. And having a hippogryph or a stag trample my enemies instead of a boar would continue that theme. The bear is fine as a bear, but if given the choice, I’d probably replace it with one of the bears I tamed from the Emerald Dream.

[Bheleu-arathor (Bheleu)]

@Markelf-zuljin

Weird that BM could have 1 pet instead of 2 now, so much for class identity but good for those like 2 or 3 weirdos that wanted that and spammed about it on the forums during TWW Beta.

I think you meant, “so much for spec identity”.

But BM with 1 pet may be the only option for those of us that picked hunter for ranged + pet (I view ranged + pet as our class identity). SV doesn’t fit, and soon MM won’t - unless Blizz changes their mind on the horrible plan for MM.

Don’t think we are weirdos, just want to play something like what we originally signed up for…

[Rikaku-muradin]

BM Hunter here, an unchanging BM Hunter since Vanilla even.

I think it’s a good idea you guys are allowing BM Hunters to opt-in to one pet or two. I mean personally I would never use just one pet, but that’s literally the great thing about opt-in choices, my friends who prefer single-pet BM from pre-Legion get to enjoy that. When I’m in a raid with my guildie who is also BM and Pack Leader, we’ll both still have an individual flavor-difference of I prefer 2 pets and he prefers 1.

So what I can’t understand is why you’re taking that choice away, in the same patch and update, from the MM Hunters. I know MM was built with the ‘Ranger-style’ combat theme and so pets aren’t really part of that theme. But WoW’s playable class is Hunter, not Ranger. To me, that means, pets are a core part of the class. Whether or not an MM Hunter uses a pet should purely be flavor, just like my example with a 1-pet or 2-pet BM Hunter.

Like others said, Lone Wolf issue could’ve been solved with just giving MM a special button that lets them choose what utility they use/bring.

I really don’t think removing access to pets for MM is a good call.

[Aousha-wyrmrest-accord]

Ive been with my pets for almost 20 YEARS.

Removing my pet is absolutely insane. Just because some people liked to play lonewolf does not mean it should be forced on all of us.

I see no reason why we have to be focred to lose a core part of hunter customization. DECADES of pet collectiolng would now be irrelevant if you want to play marks as your prefered spec.

Please dont make the eagle exclusive and locking you out of your pets., idc if my pets does 3% of my dps. I want to travel alongside them, not some generic bird.

I will actually unsub. Please, please reconsider.

[Thalanas-stormrage (Thalanas)]

yeah keep dreaming

[Thalanas-stormrage (Thalanas)]

The pet is not gonna be on your face all the time only when it procs lets just chill and see the changes on PTR first

[Vortan-proudmoore]

Blizzard please, you are COOKING with this rework. KEEP IT. The only change to consider is reskinning the eagle with a pet of my choice through the stable. Otherwise, iterate and polish what you are doing!

[Thalanas-stormrage (Thalanas)]

10000000 times what they said!

[Eskers-uldum]

There’s a lot of pressure to give pets back to MM. I am fully on board for being petless. PLEASE don’t revert this because I do not want to cast dismiss pet after every lust anymore. It’s awful gameplay. I really like the MM rework. If you can find a middle ground, sure, but PLEASE don’t make us call a pet to use lust or utility.

[Tali-silver-hand]

Apparently I posted this in the wrong forum thread. Reposting here:
I have mained a hunter since Vanilla Beta. Other than for a few months during a move, I have played continuously since launch, so I have played a hunter for more than 20 years. Marksman since BC. I have never felt sad reading any blue post about hunter updates until today. I certainly don’t mind having a talent that allows people to pick a generic bird pet in raids if they want, but to take away the ability to have a pet of our choosing by our side whenever we want, which is something that has been with us since day one, feels like a betrayal and a stab in the heart. I also resent being told what my fantasy is. My wolf pet is super special to me and if I lose access to him, my fantasy is shattered. I have used him at times in raids even with the dps loss because I wanted him with me. It’s not right to be a hunter without my pet by my side. Please don’t do this.

MM Hunters had Lone Wolf thrust upon them, we didn’t have a choice, and many of us still hate it. We didn’t play hunters for over 10 years to NOT have to use a pet. Matter of fact, before Legion, many pets had special abilities like being able to resurrect players, had an AOE fear, or could kick off a true Bloodlust, which was fantastic and useful and felt great. We’ve done extra quests and special events in order to be able to tame certain types of pets. We have camped out for hours at a time waiting for a chance to tame a rare that only shows up under certain conditions. We have gotten groups of people to help us to jump through hoops to get enough buffs to make a 20 second Tame Beast cast time down to around 6 seconds to tame the Grimtotem Spirit Guide. We love our pets.

People who started playing during Legion might have seen MM as the “I don’t have to worry about a pet” spec, but that’s not how most of the older players I know feel. With Lone Wolf, we were forced to stable our pet if we wanted to push higher level content. When not pushing keys or heroic/mythic raiding, (or maybe PvP, I don’t know since I don’t PvP), we usually have our pets out for questing, delves, world content, etc. BM is not the same, it feels like a doggie day care, and since survival went melee, that’s out. Survival is a discussion for another thread.

There is just no reason for this change that I can wrap my head around. Blizzard is telling millions of their players that the are going to euthanize our dogs against our will, making us literally feel like our dog just died. Not only that, now we have to adopt a bird, whether we like birds or not, because they want us to. It’s heartless and I don’t think they know how cruel this is.

The mechanic sounds fine, if you want to have a pet fade in and out and do stuff during a fight, then by all means, keep the mechanic. It’s not the mechanic that is causing the hate and discontent. Just don’t force a NEW fantasy on us that you think we want, changing a basic truth about an original class. We want our pets. And those of you that don’t, it probably won’t affect you much since Lone Wolf appears to be here to stay in one form or another.

[Ptar-frostmourne]

The fact that you are forcing an ‘eagle’ onto hunters where 90% of the appeal of the class is in finding and taming the right pet is excruciating. Since Legion, developers have been hot garbage at lining up ‘class fantasy’ with what players actual preferences are and it has left some specs conceptually unplayable and alienating players who have stuck to them for the entirety of WoW.

Blizzard you just do not have what it takes anymore to get this right.

Take ‘class fantasy’, drop it, and never, ever pick it back up again.

I have played a hunter from 2006 to this season and this revision of the class lines up with nothing that matters to me.

The only way this will be well received is if a subtype was applied to tamed pets and the abilities called on selected pets. Lets say you have equipped one flying pet, one predator pet and one protector. So for my Zandalari they would a pterrordax, raptor and scalehide. For my OG Night Elf an owl, nightsaber and bear.

If the class is underplayed right now my only feedback is it feels dreadful to play as a glass cannon. The pet could once tank a boss comfortably but now 75% of your attention is on making sure it’s still alive.

Either way Blizzard this is my feedback take it or leave it.

[Niccolai-shuhalo]

THIS!

I’ve mained my BE MM Hunter for 15 years, and kept a pet of my choice by my side the whole time. If not having a lust was the main gripe that line wolf MM hunters had, just give them a lust and leave everything else alone!

No one wants an eagle spell! Hunters who lone wolf don’t want it. Hunters who love pets don’t want it.

LEAVE MY PETS ALONE! I play MM with a pey because as a solo, not high end, casual player, the utility and playstyle of it is perfect. BM feels too clunky forbmy raste and Survival is not my thing at all. I refuse to play MM without my pet, and if you take it away you’ll be forcing me to play a different spec (most likely BM) that I simply don’t enjoy. I’m in it for the immersion, not trying to max DPS tryhard 10 key Mythic Plus. DO NOT TAKE MY PET BLIZZ.

If you want this stupid solo hunter with an eagle spell thing, make it a new spec or different class entirely. I’ve invested 15 years into this character, playstyle, and the bond with the pet, and I don’t want to give that up for YOUR fantasy which ISN’T mine.

Don’t. Take. My. Pet.

[Ghonhir-living-flame]

pretty sure the eagle pet people are upset about isnt a traditional pet or even following you. it just exists as a debuff bot you don’t see

[Thalanas-stormrage (Thalanas)]

Which is fine by me I do think we see it when spotted mark procs or when we use it for intimidation or master`s call. I think its great news and super stoked about being able to play MM and have 2 target cleave, hero, stun and no need for a pet =)

[Ghonhir-living-flame]

yeah MM has been a huge mess since bfa, just a confusing frankenstein of conflicting concepts and themes that didn’t translate well into gameplay. hopefully this fresh iteration works out well!

[Nemphrie-wyrmrest-accord]

Making the Pack leader feel more like Rexxar is not a problem; it’s kind of cool, but RNG is not the solution.

Also, speaking from a Survival perspective why is PL RNG and our T2 set bonus’s also RNG. We’re not Outlaw rogues and please don’t make us.

Continuing On the topic of Survival please evaluate that you just re-complicated our AoE rotation with the nerf to merciless dot and an emphasis on using Filler/Raptor ( likely with contagious reagents and bear proc). You took away one less button, but are making us spam another while tracking kill commands, howl of the pack cooldown, and making sacrifices to the RNG gods.

[Yuraa-benediction]

Blizzard you tried this whole petless MM thing in Legion and it still isn’t going to work as long as there are only 2 ranged hunter specs in the game. People want an option to play the game as they have for the last 20 years, which is the hunter and their pet. Something that’s inbetween having a zoo and having no pet at all.

If you want to commit to a completely petless spec then maybe it’s time to consider making hunter a 4 spec class and bringing back our 3rd ranged spec you deleted in Legion.

[Ahngrim-argent-dawn]

Losing access to our pets as MM is insanity.

[Eskers-uldum]

I disagree, it’s not that huge of a deal and an improvement from a gameplay perspective. In open world if you want a pet tank you can do BM or SV, and in Delves Brann will be able to tank in 11.1.

[Pärker-wyrmrest-accord (Pärker)]

Removing pets is a massive massive ridiculous mistake.

We’ve lost ranged weapons on Survival and now we’re going to lose pets from Marksmanship, what core class feature will Beast Mastery lose since you all apparently hate hunters.