I think it’s very satisfying to pick a specific target to try and get the maximum amount of damage while still getting the reset. With it becoming a passive we’re losing that micro-gameplay loop in favor of a pick-and-forget damage proc.
I think that some pruning for The War Within is generally warranted but this specific ability is more interesting as an active, IMO
I’ll take passive damage with a fairly entertaining visual over an active nobody ever takes ten out of ten times.
And the last thing BM needs in TWW is more resets.
It’s a talent, it’s optional. I’m all for having plenty of passive alternatives, but I personally like to use and want to keep that active cooldown.
Between…
…you left out the most obvious/unobtrusive and seem to be satisfied with the 3rd?
Right.
But I’ve not taken MOC throughout the entirety of DF. I’ll be taking it in TWW.
It is still optional but more attractive and actually has integration with the BM hunter kit.
A mediocre passive is better than a mediocre active because it doesn’t consume a GCD or require any thought.
And visually, it’s better as a passive as you have it running constantly. You can even multi-target it.
There’s no sense in measuring raw effects, only net effects.
Something not consuming a GCD is no different from raising its %AP by your average %AP per GCD within the given window from which the GCD was spared / an extra GCD given. It’s a tuning buff.
Cool. Putting aside maintaining it constantly/“passively” requires 5+ KCs per 15 seconds… how about gameplay?
You know, the thing that makes a game more appealing, hopefully, than a series of concept stills?
You have plenty of other mediocre passives to pick from, so the only thing you want is the visuals. Why not argue for a choice node with an active and a passive version?
Yes. Because BM doesn’t already cast KC every chance it gets. 5x KC is such a burden.
Gameplay wise it is nice too. It makes KC resets more enjoyable.
Why would I argue to retain the active version of a spell nobody ever takes? It isn’t like MoC’s is a new spell. It’s existed for many years and never sees play. It is tried and tested, and the results are in. Nobody cares for the active version of Murder of Crows.
Well my very existence proves you wrong. And if it does see low levels of play, this surely has more to do with balancing than gameplay. It is no justification to remove it.
I don’t. BM is bland as it is.
Fixed it for ya.
pruning and hunter in the same sentence is a meme
I think I see why we’re not seeing eye to eye here. You seem to think having things to track and do is a bad thing, or at least that I do. I think the opposite; I like having a lot of things available to track and do.
I’m not saying that hitting KC 5 times is a burden. It literally cannot be, because you would have done that anyways. That much is a non-change, and therefore not gameplay.
I’m saying that making Murder of Crows, an active and mechanics-bearing skill, into instead a passive addition to every nth highest-priority-filler (i.e., highest priority after larger CDs, conditionally vital maintenance buffs) removes most of its former typically actionable/relevant considerations/cognitive load, which for a typical player without disabilities is some 90% of gameplay (the remaining 10% being mere hand movement).
That in turn degrades its impact on gameplay, which in turn negatively affects what all gameplay is available to BM as a whole (up to such levels and content types AMoC would/could be tuned competitively for).
In short, imo, a skill that has a net addition to gameplay (considerations, means of optimization, etc.) is good.
Careful, net value tuning (i.e., accounting for talent, resource, and/or GCD opportunity cost) may be a bit complex for this corner of the interwebs.