I find it so frustrating to play Marksmanship, but still have to use a pet because I can’t use Intimidation or Master’s Call without one.
I know Hunter has a lot on its plate being the only “bow” class in the game and has to meet a lot of class flavor/fantasy requirements because of it, but when I want to play the master marksman I feel a distinct clash in identity when I essentially have to use a pet or give up precious survivability and CC for a small damage buff.
If lone wolf brought stances to hunter then I could see it working if abilities shared CD and swapping was out of combat they could possibly do that and not be broken.
the whole point of lone wolf is to not have a pet and you don’t have to pick that, if you do you miss out on 10% crit chance for aimed shot and rapid fire but thats not really a big deal considering how much crit hunter already gets, if you don’t like not having pet abilities then just use a pet
I feel like the whole point of Marksmanship should be that it’s just you, the supreme sharpshooter, and you shouldn’t need a pet.
Yet, the value you lose from not having a pet is immense in PvP and I just think if you pick Lone Wolf, you should get access to the things that you lose by not using a pet.
Like what? You already have a slow and a debuff.
How would Intimidation work without a pet? Would there be a new ability or would you have to wait for whatever to be in melee range to use it?
I’d think it would be a new, but equivalent ability. If you’re specced into Lone Wolf and Intimidation it just changes into the new ability when you don’t have a pet out. Ranged stun. Switches back to Intimidation if you do summon a pet. Obviously, they’d share a CD so you couldn’t ranged shot stun and then call out a pet and chain another stun.
Think that would cause many players to cry unfair if it was ranged. It would get nerfs to its range or CD time just to make them happy.
You’re probably right, although Intimidation as it works now is just a ranged stun.
Even if your pet is right next to you and you’re max range from the target, the stun happens instantaneously.
Players would take Rogues and Warriors as examples as they need to be in melee. It would end up being like Wingclip and only usable in close combat, might even replace it as an option for LW.
Another idea is just make lone wolf a lil stronger and a baseline passive so if your pet dies you get stronger as MM
Lone Wolf should give the buffs/abilities of the last pet you had summoned, so you can switch the “spec” of lone wolf just by summoning/dismissing an appropriate pet.
Also, Intimidate should be paired with Binding Shot as a choice node, so you either pick between a pet stun or ranged aoe stun in one node, then Scatter Shot and Explosive trap act as our other CC choice node. This way if you’re playing Lone Wolf you’re not losing out completely on a stun in pvp, since you can at least grab the Binding Shot talent and not have to give up Scatter Shot.
Nah if you want to use lone wolf and not have a pet you should not get the benefits of having a pet. Pets are a core part of the hunter class and as such you should be penalized without them.
Seems a bit like me thinking I still deserve to be able to block and throw Avenger’s Shield if I decide the Prot fantasy is better defined by wielding a 2h weapon.
I can understand not wanting to deal with the pet. The AI can be incredibly frustrating and the pets seem especially squishy these days, but I can’t say I agree with somehow gaining all the benefits of the pet without managing the pet.
Wild Kingdom looks like it could make this work. Consecutive Concussion exists if not.
You just have to decide which is more important to you. I will say that running Ranger’s Finesse and Trueshot Mastery with Calling the Shots seems like a solid way to boost your chances of survival if you aren’t willing to give up Lone Wolf.
If it’s a core part of the class that we should be penalized for not using, then Lone Wolf shouldn’t even be a talent option.
But if they are going to provide it as an option it should at least be viable and not lock the hunter out of so much utility while hardly providing a dps increase.