Survival hunter is incredibly fun, and in the right hands super powerful. The class needs tuning and (like every other SV hunter will tell you) a few “talents” that really should just be baseline. Wildfire infusion and Mongoose bite are fun and interesting, and when they aren’t the “optimal” pick, the spec is just simply not as fun.
Additionally, hunter players that want to be ranged have two other specs to choose from. Let those of us who want to play a melee hunter spec be. <3
As for tuning, I would suggest:
Make Wildfire Infusions and Mongoose Bite baseline
Increase Mongoose Bite/Raptor Strike damage by 25%
Increase Kill Command damage by 15%
Decrease Wildfire Bomb damage by 15%
Make Raptor Strike/Mongoose Bite reduce the cooldown of Wildfire Bomb by 1 second.
9 Likes
Most people here who want the old spec back don’t want to take away current SV. We’d rather a 4th spec to prevent another Legion level terrible implementation of a spec.
Arguably, it’s in current SV player’s best interests to argue for a 4th spec as well. The current precedent right now is Blizz can and will delete specs if they want to implement something different.
That means SV still runs the risk of going back to ranged down the line. Which is obviously not good for it’s current fans. I think having to preface the thread with begging the devs to keep it melee is something that should be unnecessary but is because it’s a legitimate possibility.
The same should have been extended to old SV players.
As for tuning, I think raptor strike needs to do some actual damage to start. SV’s single target is really bad but it brings good AOE.
9 Likes
Depends on what you consider to be “powerful”. ST we are basically not even worth bringing as we can almost get out dps’d by a tank, along with not even bringing anything other than a lust to a raid (which mage/shaman already bring but they do more damage/healing). AOE we can do some good damage with bomb legendary and a lot of mobs stacked, but we will never be on the same level as a boomy or fire mage.
I don’t think any one thing should always be the optimal pick for everything. I do agree that mongoose bite should be baseline but keep infusion as a talent as it adds in a new playstyle, which is what talents are meant to do. Infusion is always taken for AOE as it adds a lot of damage and just overall better for the other options in the tier. Mongoose will be taken later in the xpack when we get more haste values, but still make it baseline 
. I would honestly just love to see Blizzard make Survival talents not so cookie cutter and give us some options.
I would love to try out ranged Survival and think we should get a 4th spec for it. I doubt we will ever get that or Survival back to ranged since Blizzard already threw us out the window and forgot about us. The most they will give us is a 3% damage buff, not even a bunch of them like DH or Fury. We just get one or two and then they call it a day.
2 Likes
Nah make SV ranged again or give it the option to be ranged so that others can still live their Rambo dream loool
16 Likes
Isn’t it funny how every time someone comes here talking about how great survival is, it’s always an alt to a melee class.
14 Likes
Yea, um… no OP.
MSV has had the lowest spec representation since its implementation, even being lower than demo locks and feral druids, and that’s saying something. Not only that but msv dmg is nearly none existent, utility is very poor, and brings nothing to the table that other specs can do 100 times better.
While I think it was cool to experiment, it was a failed experiment, and it needs to go ranged. It’s OK to allow players to go melee with it if they want, but blizz barely can manage the specs they have, they wont be adding anymore id imagine.
So make surv ranged again, but allow a talent for players to go melee.
9 Likes
Not really. We have one ranged spec, and one that’s just a cheerleader for our pet. BM is technically ranged, but since it relies so fundamentally on its pets, it has some of the disadvantages of melee as well (notably, travel time and mobs being able to go out of range).
I mean, if we want to come at it from that direction, MSV players have 12 other melee specs in the game to choose from, while ranged hunters have only two ranged physical classes, only one of which is actually thematically based around ranged attacks. And even stepping outside of that, there are only 9 other ranged specs (all of them some variant of caster).
In fact, ranged DPS is the only role in the game that has more spec options in Classic than it does on Retail. Since vanilla launched, the net change has been +3 tanks (blood, vengeance, brewmaster), +1 healer (mistweaver), +5 melee (unholy, frost, havoc, windwalker, survival), and -1 ranged (survival). Every single one of the new classes added to the game has brought with it at least one more melee spec. There are currently 13 melee specs to 11 ranged, despite the fact that literally for the entire lifetime of the game, raid groups have generally preferred somewhere in the ballpark of 2-3 ranged for every melee in the raid (and a huge part of that is that fights have nearly always been designed around no more than about 4-6 melee in the raid).
All that said, I’m frankly fine with MSV sticking around, as long as I get MoP or WoD era RSV back. But if push comes to shove and it’s a choice between MSV staying and never getting RSV back, or getting RSV back and MSV being nuked, I’ll take the latter without a second thought. Sorry not sorry.
18 Likes
“Live and let live” died when they took away ranged Survival.
24 Likes
None of which play anywhere close to what old RSV used to.
Having said that…
By all means, give the class a 4th spec option for those of us who enjoyed pre-Legion SV. That way, we can all have what we want.
Personally, something like this: [Updated for Dragonflight] Munitions - If RSV was to return
2 Likes
Considering I spend about 95% of my play time on SV, this is my main. 
I have a long-abandoned monk that’s more geared, if that’s what you’re referencing. However Survival is my main and has been since legion.
Regardless, I don’t know what your point is here.
If you wanna be THAT way about it, I can’t help but notice that everyone pushing for Survival to be ranged again are ranged players that don’t play Survival.
3 Likes
So what you’re saying is fans of melee are fond of melee specs?
2 Likes
Right? Every time I see a thread begging to have Survival changed to ranged, it’s from some ranged player!
Some of us like the challenge of playing a melee spec, and enjoy the lore/fantasy of a hunter.
1 Like
Lets have our cake and eat it to. Fourth spec! Also MOP RSV was tight.
11 Likes
I don’t see how anyone could be apposed to that.
1 Like
I oppose anything that is not 100% in alignment with my own personal goals/opinions/priorities/beliefs.
And on the rare occurrence I don’t opposed them it’s just because I am feeling particularly chairtiable at that moment.
1 Like
I never support any spec being removed from the game, no matter what. Someone out there likes it, and it isn’t fair to do. And that goes for MSV too.
RSV fourth spec.
And for MSV honestly they should give it more love for the people that actually want it. I’ve never felt like it had a clear identity and if it is staying, it deserves it.
You’re saying people that enjoy ranged combat and want a ranged spec back are not playing a cobbled-together and terrible melee spec?
I’m SHOCKED.
8 Likes
Because those ranged players often played Survival before it was stolen away for melee players.
12 Likes
Well yeah, it was a ranged spec first and foremost and people want that play style back. And on the flip side the only time you see people defending survival it’s people who enjoy melee. I’d be ok with a 4th spec but if a choice has to be made, sorry I’m choosing ranged survival every time. It was my favorite spec of all time until it got removed from the game and I want it back.
12 Likes
