Sup guys! I’ve been diligently following SL MM changes and lots of threads talking about MM in both live and in SL. Mixed in with my own thoughts I wanted to make a list of things that might fair better for the spec, imho, in the Upcoming xpac. Most of my PoV is from a PvP perspective and how the spec works, not necessarily numbers.
I’ve played MM for years now and in BFA I dove head first as making MM my main. Apart from enjoying the ability to blow people up in the right circumstance I feel that there are a few problems that I’ve encountered with the spec and most of these have been talked about since BFA’s beta. Imo, BFA’s Iteration of MM has been by far the weakest in terms of how damage is dealt and how our utility is used and used against us.
Kiting
Firstly I want to point out that as the premiere kiting spec MM struggles to shine in Arenas as there isn’t much room for kiting and is easily stopped by LoS options. In open areas I can kite most specs for days and not break a sweat but in an arena its a WHOLE different story. This combined with our hardest hitting ability having a longer cast time than most leaves us in numerous awkward situations. SV does a way more efficient job in both kiting and dealing damage + taking/making opportunities in a pinch. Imo Kiting for MM should be revised and these things taken into consideration.
CC’s
I feel that our CCs leaves a lot to be desired. I’m glad they are making Binding Shot baseline but with it’s current CD and mechanic of just rooting when BM and SV have stuns it makes me think of “wut” memes. Binding Shot might remedy this some in SL but not against teams or specs that have root escapes/immunities vs our long 45s CD root.
Examples
- BM’s mobility and SV’s Harpoon makes trapping much easier to secure.
- BM and SV’s Stun makes it that your target is not able to do anything apart from trinketing or using abilities like Dispersion and can continue CC chain’s much easier.
Solutions
- If stuns for MM isn’t an option, give Binding Shot the ability to silence the target for a shorter duration than the root.
*If stuns may be an option, give Binding Shot the ability to simply Stun the target.
Our Traps are not as potent as they were in past iterations. You would think that things only progress and get better but when it comes to traps I honestly feel that the progress has gone backwards.
As I said earlier, BM and SV can place traps much more reliably but for MM we have a greater potential to leaving us vulnerable. Not only do we have to get closer to the target in a dire situation because of the traps’ travel time but also our abilities need setup time. In order to use your traps effectively in BFA arenas as MM you need to have a partner CC the target first to then be able to trap after but in a game where there are so many variables that isn’t always the case and in those times you really feel useless especially when a SV hunter or BM do not have that problem to such a degree. They can still deal damage and stun targets WHILE being able to trap. MM cannot.
While Scatter Shot being on the same DR category as Fr. Trap has it’s obvious downfall I don’t believe it is a problem. When you play in practice, Scatter after a trap or trap after a scatter is almost the same duration as a SV’s and BM’s Stun into a trap combo. The real problem is since MM can’t reliably get a kill, Scatter becomes an ability to stop the target from fleeing and allows you to deal a good chunk of damage and maybe get the kill. Kill Shot will remedy this somewhat in SL.
Damage
How we deal damage is another culprit in why the spec struggles. In BFA the spec-defining abilities that were given to us have major problems and problems that has been repeated over the course of BFA and it sucks to understand that since the spec hasn’t gotten any meaningful changes it has widened the gap in some cases on a weekly basis between MM and specs that are the go-to or stronger in the meta. Very discouraging that no matter how much time you put in and no matter how much progress you make you will never be as good as other specs because of design. And if you do, you AND your partner(s) have to play almost perfect for the same result as other specs that require less input. Along the same line, abilities such as Trueshot doesn’t make things easier for newer players to entirely grasp what to do or what is the ideal rotation. You HAVE to put in the research whether it be from looking up guides or doing it yourself. I will list the abilities I feel need tweaking in some fashion with my reasoning on why they’re bad and possible solutions.
Hunter’s Mark Problems
Eats up your GCD especially with Haste builds. Makes you question whether or not you should use it on a target in pve when switching (The “If living for ~15s” is a guideline not the end all be all), It’s an ability that requires set up yet it’s such an underwhelming button to press, imo. Especially in BFA’s volatile pvp environement where specs can global people.
HM Solutions
Keep it baseline sure or make it into a PvP ability ONLY (Only if pvp talents are redone for SL) or Have it provide 2x utility rather than damage and make a talent allowing it to provide that utility to others and more integral to our kit.
Rapid Fire problems
It is a long channeled ability (can be made longer) that can be stopped by many, especially when tied with Double Tap. The higher you climb on the arena ladder the more often your DT setup will be denied (which is bad as DT RF is probably our quickest and biggest damage unload).
Azerite Traits, CDs, essences and talents change the timing of when you should use RF so that you do not cap. it isn’t an issue when you’re leveling but at 120 it changes too often as our builds and gear setups change. Having too look at my focus constantly if using Lethal Shots or Double Tap in pve is a step I wouldn’t mind not worrying about considering how our main abilities are tied to Focus, CDs, essences and talents. Also RF looks horrendous. Never liked it when I first saw it and I still don’t enjoy it now. It’s immersion breaking, imo.
RF Solution
Remove it completely. If removing it is not an option make it so that it only becomes accessible during TS (Explained under Trueshot)
Precise Shot Problems
I actually like Precise Shots but it comes with it’s problems. I like it because it allows our only magical damaging ability deal 75% more damage. Without this we would struggle even more with armor based classes. The reason I don’t like it is because it is tied to our main ability and in order to take advantage of Precise Shots we have to cast AiS. Lets face it, you can’t really rely on Precise Shots in PvP like this.
PS Solutions
decouple it from AiS or remove it and give us Chimeara Shot/ a similar Instant damaging ability to compensate or introduce some kind of Armor Penetration to MM in our talents/passives.
Aimed Shot Problems
For our top damaging ability it feels lackluster without Careful Aim and it doesn’t have synergies that work or make sense with the rest of our talents. The only 3 talents are Master Marksman (which only gives you better focus management), Careful Aim which is almost mandatory, even in aoe and then Lock&Load which has an abysmal proc chance for a lvl 100 Talent. So far, it looks like it will continue this way through SL. The cast time drags and without proper preparations missing out on an AiS is detrimental to our damage. Enemy players can avoid a non buffed AiS rather easily even more so than a Chaos Bolt or a Pyro (This is mostly because of how their specs work vs how MM works, practically speaking)
Aimed Shot Solutions
Make AiS castable on the move. I think the developers took the abilities name too seriously. I say if you stand still during the entire cast of AiS it should deal more damage, if you don’t you should deal less. This will allow for more suitable preparations in both pvp and pve, a more seamless rotation and not give this awful feeling when you cannot cast an AiS. Talents should be introduced that make Aimed Shot behave differently (Ex. Serpent Sting for MM as a buff akin to Rogues poisons to coat your shots with a dot)
Bursting Shot Problems
Way too unpredictable. I have a pretty solid idea of the positioning and distance to press Bursting Shot but the amount of fails I’ve dealt with to get to this point is beyond understanding. You have to be in completely in level ground or at high ground to use this appropriately, anything else is a waste. There are multiple specs that can completely negate its effects and it feels like half the time it won’t work right for “unknown” reasons. I don’t like the feeling I get when I’m hoping for it to work even though I know the moment I used it might’ve been the best time.
BS Solutions
I have no clue on how to begin with the problems it gets with latency but what I do know is that at the very least this ability should disable your opponent for a minimum time up to a maximum time (depending on the distance knocked back. Or maybe something like if you Bursting Shot your target into a wall they are stunned for 2s. This doesn’t solve the “unknown” problems but it helps with using this ability in awkward situations/positions. Basically if they’re not going to help us land it more securely, buff it in other ways.
Trueshot Problems
TS is exciting to press even with it’s problems. However, the problems are obvious. How much focus do I need to use it? Is it ok to cap on my AiS? Should I use RF first or AiS? etc. While I now know which abilities I should press given the circumstance the question remains, why doesn’t this ability make things more streamlined and make more sense?
TS Solutions
Redesign. I believe TS should make you more proficient at doing what you do best. Shooting enemies. Trueshot should have the mechanics of Master Marksman and Precise Shots baked into it (or atleast have Precise Shots have a role in TS). While under Trueshot your AiS turns your next Arcane Shot into *Mystical Shot (*insert name here). 1 Charge only during Trueshot. Instead of the Precise Shots mechanic giving you 2 charges while under TS it will instead give you the same chance of making your next *Mystical Shot deal extra damage. Your Steady Shot becomes Rapid Fire where instead of pressing Steady Shot to build focus you RF to gain a big chunk of focus back as it is now but with fixed focus regen. This will allow a few things to happen.
- Your rotation becomes straight forward. AiS-> ArcS->AiS-ArcS->RF
- The idea of Dumping Focus to build it up and dump again is more apparent.
- 1 limit charge of Precise Shots will remove the feeling of wasting a proc or confusion.
Explosive Trap Problems
Explosive Trap is interesting in that Freezing trap and Tar Trap has an almost instant activation upon landing, while Explosive trap has another animation AFTER it lands. This with what feels like a smaller radius makes Explosive Trap very tricky to use.
Explosive Trap Solutions
Remove activation animation or increase the range radius of activation.
Lets talk about Talents.
Talents, imo, should be about enhancing or adding to your baseline kit. There are many specs that feel that without this talent or that talent their spec won’t feel/play right and for the most part there will always be this type of mentality but currently I understand that the entire wow talent system should get a revise. It doesn’t work when we get both illusions of choice AND OP rental powers among other things that are so powerful and game changing.
MM in particular not only does it have talents thats been dominant since pretty much all of BFA it also has talents that without them the class cannot perform right. Careful Aim, Scatter Shot, Posthaste are big culprits. Careful Aim is just too good and it’s been a part of MM for a long time. Scatter Shot is MM only but it’s a pvp talent to a pvp talent tree that has extremely underwhelming options. Posthaste has been such a core and integral passive for us and it only competes with itself. Without it, we’re too slow and for a spec that avoids damage and want to be without a pet for max damage we’re sh*t outa luck. We WANT to use our pets AND posthaste in pvp. Another problem is Posthaste is competing with 2 other talents that are supposed to give you choice but in reality its just there to give you the illusion of choice. Not in all scenarios but for many specs it is what it is.
Talents for SL that are lackluster with their alpha iterations- Serpent Sting, Barrage, Trailblazer, Born To Be Wild, and Lethal Shots. Tuning numbers might make some of these these shine but these talents show a disconnect with the spec.
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Born To Be Wild could easily be Ranger’s Finesse
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Serpent Sting for MM doesn’t make sense as we shoot for big damage. It eats up globals just like HM and we already have AMoC doing the same thing but less forgiving.
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Barrage has had problems for multiple xpacs, too volatile to use and you need a specific number of targets to be worth taking and always scales to be a dps loss in ST while the other two options scale really well in both, one better than the other on what they are meant to do but still usable in both st and aoe.
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Trailblazer is a joke of a talent. It’s only important when running away from something and not towards it. Yea I can deal damage if I’m running towards the target but not at the speed the talent gives me and if I do ignore dealing damage to gain the speed then I just caught up to my target with a lot more health than I’d like. In pve it only has it’s uses when there are no targets and dealing with mechanics or running towards a target after an intermission. Last time I checked in wow ALL specs have to deal damage AND deal with mechanics. There are 2 real situations you’d use Trailblazer. Leveling and going after monks, druids and shamans in arenas but again when you catch up to them they have more health than you’d like and they can punish your chase very effortlessly.
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Lethal Shots imo is a very dull talent when you have the likes of Double Tap and Dead Eye. I can’t even come up with a defense to why keep this talent as is.
Then comes PvP talents. Imo, MM’s PvP talents are very underwhelming. 3 stings take up 3 slots in our talents yet only 1 is rarely used. Hunter’s are the only class in the game that use beast pets yet in BFA we HAVE to spec into Roar of Sacrifice when it used to be part of the pets repertoire the same way Master’s Call is to cunning pets. Hunting Pack is obsolete because of how important other abilities are in the pvp options. Only talent you could swap out is Survival Tactics. I see many hunter’s running without RoS to fit in Trueshot Mastery or Sniper Shot and I do this myself when in random BG’s but holy heck is RoS so integral to us and our teammates’ survivability but because we lack damage in arenas we sacrifice that choice. This hurts MM since it doesn’t provide as much utility SV or BM. We have no talents that enhances traps like we used to. To put it simply we have a lot of dead talents and too few to actually pick from and it sucks.
Lastly, I feel like MM has no absolute theme, nothing super cool that imo other specs have when it comes to talents and no reason to bring MM to a group because the utility is lacking and survivability is shot the farther you climb in any aspect of competitive wow.
Wishlist? - Armor penn should be MM-unique (Give HM armor penn for the group), AiS should leave a gaping wound on the target to bleed out, Freezing trap should give your next ability 100% crit, Tar trap should be way bigger and I can keep going. Crazy to think MM had ALL of these things at some point.
Things I do like so far in the SL Alpha are the increased focus regen, some talents rearranged, Piercing Shot removed, Binding Shot baseline, cleave improvements and most defintely Killshot. I’m disappointed that I had to wait 4-5 years to get what I’ve always had back instead of improving upon or introduce something new outright yet still manage to make it worse? Binding Shot and Killshot will remedy some problems but a band aid over a gushing wound isn’t going to stop the bleeding.
Although It may not sound like it in this thread I’m optimistic and hope more things get attention but to be frank It’s a bit jarring to not see any improvements or changes after so many weeks for the whole Hunter class and even though MM has had the most changes, from what I’ve seen it isn’t enough to make the spec feel enjoyable to master. And it isn’t because of lack of communication either from the communities part.
Thanks for your time!
Edit - Clarifications and Grammar