TLDR: more damage, less survivability, more fun abilities
The good:
you have a “virtual” pet that cannot be rooted, feared, stunned or killed, therefore you can always cast Roar of Sac/Master’s call/Intimidation reliably
you can cast Aimed shot while moving during cheetah (new PVP talent called Aspect of the Fox)
you kind of have “double disengage” - new PVP talent makes you knock back yourself when using Bursting shot, so essentially you have a built-in Disengage in Bursting shot
as MM your Intimidation will not obey line of sight rules, so you retain the ability to stun people behind pillars as you could with the real pet
you have Mortal Wounds effect on aimed shot, therefore can be applied to several players at the same time
aimed shot is 3sec cast baseline and stronger, but there are effects to lower the cast time
sniper shot is replaced by a talent that passively gives you 30% more range during trueshot/volley
much more fun damage profile and interactions
The bad:
you cannot send the pet to chase rogues behind pillars/stop healers from drinking
you lose Fortitude of the Bear, which was usable by the pet on you while you were stunned (big survivability loss). Instead, you gain passive 3% damage reduction at all times if you choose Tenacity eagle
trueshot no longer makes aimed shots cast faster
trueshot will be back to 2min - trueshot mastery PVP talent removed; the talent that gives CDR on trueshot now competes on a choice node with Unerring vision
Overall, MM in PVP will be more slippery and will have more tricks, but at the same time will be more fragile.
Honestly unless the damage is overtuned it may end up worse in arena.
The 3 second aimed shot cast time which almost all abilities will focus around (precise shots, explosive shot combo, and RF being linked to getting them off), along with no longer being able to fast cast it under trueshot means Melee will continue to be able to roll MM over, but now casters will have an additional time frame to line them.
Even now outside of Trueshot, some casters can start as cast after you begin aimed, complete it, and line. Then you factor in casters that have a huge arsenal of instant casts, and they can peekaboo you to death with the worlds longest cast.
Not a fan of what I’m reading, slow play specs are non-existent in organized pvp.
There are a few talents that lower AS cast time. In theory, AS has a shorter cast time in 11.1 most of the time you’re in combat. I would prefer it just always be real short for no reason and no talents spent to make it be that way. But if it is functionally shorter of a cast time with the talents spent, thats fine too.
None of those talents that lower Aimed cast actually do so inherently, but piggyback off of other attacks. You’re relying on Streamline, which is proc’d from Precise Shots, Rapid Fire, and maybe Explosive. Precise Shots procs off of Aimed and Rapid- so, basically, better have Rapid Fire up and a target open, else you’re back to using a slowbro 3.0 Aimed Shot to eventually get to a faster Aimed Shot.
Soon the PTR will open a lot of Legolas’ are going to realize the rotation is clunky, constrictive, and only viable on a Patchwerk fight. Any little deviation is going to kill the intended rhythm of the spec.
Like pvp where you want to push X, Y, and Z, but instead you are CCed? Ill totally hold judgment on how it will feel until I play it, but I see your concern.
Essentially, you can’t do “naked” aimed shots any more - the cast time will be too long.
You must have used rapid fire, explosive shot or precise shots arcane shot/kill shot first.
During trueshot the cast time of aimed shots is expected to be the same, but again, only if you do your rotation right. You can’ thave back to back aimed shots.
Will have to wait and see how it feels, but w/ TS increasing effectiveness of streamline by 50%, and being incentivized to use procs granting streamline during TS, I anticipate the cast time on AS feeling fairly similar during TS. The number of aimed shots you cast during a TS will window will definitely decrease. The modifiers hopefully will increase the damage of each cast sufficiently to compensate. The way TS currently works requires the base tuning of aimed shot to be relatively modest so as not to be completely broken while it’s active. I see it as trading quantity for quality. Haven’t done the math though lmao so I could be wrong.
New PvP Talent: Aspect of the Fox – Aimed Shot may be cast while moving during Aspect of the Cheetah and Aspect of the Cheetah’s delayed effect is increased by 4 seconds.
Kind of interesting… Combine cheetah with trueshot, start aimed shot casts, hide behind pillars, pop out to let the arrow fly, bm-peek-a-boo style but with aimed shot.
This should be a normal talent as it would give MM more survivability. Open world it would make kiting much easier, which will be a requirement to master without a pet.
Then M+ and Raids it would help with avoiding mechanics while not stopping mid cast inorder to do so.