Removing pets from MM goes against Blizz’s stated goal of keeping the RPG in MMORPG

Dracarian-medivh · December 27, 2024, 3:09am

In Undermine(d), Marksmanship Hunter is receiving a substantial update to its spec tree and fantasy, and we thought we’d take the opportunity to outline our goals with this change.

Lone Wolf, No Longer
Likely the most substantial change to Marksmanship is a reimagining of the specialization’s fantasy and how it interacts with pets.

Hunters are in large part defined by their pets and their greater relationship with the natural world of Azeroth and beyond. Marksmanship Hunter stood in somewhat stark defiance of that for much of its existence, as it was often more than willing to abandon pet access in exchange for extra throughput from Lone Wolf. Over World of Warcraft’s history, this talent was iterated, changed, and grew to be a core part of Marksmanship’s identity.

There were many fantasy and gameplay issues with Lone Wolf. Pets had legitimate utility behind them, such as Bloodlust, defensives, and mobility. Having to summon your pet and lose Lone Wolf to access that utility as Marksmanship often had legitimate experiential and throughput consequences. Why should a Hunter be frustrated to pull out their pet? The discord between Marksmanship Hunters and their pets felt like something that needed to be solved-- and our goal was to solve that problem in a way that not only reembraced pets as a part of Marksmanship’s identity, but also did it in a unique and fantasy-forward way.

Eyes in the Sky
In Undermine(d), Marksmanship Hunters are losing access to “traditional” pets, like Survival and Beast Mastery have, and are instead permanently joined in battle by an Eagle. Your Eagle will descend from the skies when called upon to help your allies and hinder your enemies.

Your most frequent use for the Eagle will be via Spotter’s Mark, a new baseline talent that Marksmanship Hunters will have access to starting at level 13. When spending Precise Shots, your Eagle has a chance to descend from the skies and mark your target, substantially increasing the damage your next Aimed Shot will deal to that target. This mechanic is more deeply developed, expanded, and altered in the talent tree.
Marksmanship Hunters can expect a full suite of unique Eagle-specific versions of pet utility such as a line of sight-ignoring Intimidation, a unique Bloodlust, new visuals for Master’s Call, and even the ability to change your Eagle’s specialization between Tenacity and Cunning.

Aiming Down Sights
The flow of Marksmanship’s rotation is smooth and iconic. For our updates to the Marksmanship tree, we were focused on trimming away some of the more vague parts of Marksmanship’s kit both fantasy-wise and mechanically and really focusing in on what made Marksmanship special-- all while retaining the smooth gameplay that Marksmanship players have come to know and love.
A big pillar of our Marksmanship update was to ensure that Aimed Shot was the star of the show. Aimed Shot is the core of Marksmanship-- a long channel, lightning fast projectile, and it hits like a truck. We’ve added some new mechanics, keywords, and talents that all help to build up to huge Aimed Shots, fat crits, and satisfying procs.

New and Old Tricks
While the core of Marksmanship’s rotation will feel familiar, we wanted to add some more flair to the less core parts of Marksmanship’s kit, such as Kill Shot and Explosive Shot.

Within the new tree you’ll find some familiar friends like Double Tap, Volley, and Lock and Load alongside some new talents like Precision Detonation, that makes Aimed Shot trigger Explosive Shot’s explosion earlier and increasing its damage substantially.
Kill Shot (and Black Arrow) can be turned completely on its head with a new talent, Headshot, that allows you to use Kill Shot as a Precise Shots spender just like Arcane Shot or Multi-Shot.

Room to Grow
This next step for Marksmanship is, ideally, the first of many. We are interested in continuing to flesh out Marksmanship’s Eagle as a true pet and partner for you on your journeys with unique interactions, effects, and even appearances in the future, but we don’t have specifics to share yet. We’d love to hear your thoughts!

We’re excited for you all to get your hands on Marksmanship when Undermine(d) drops, and we’ll be eagerly awaiting your feedback!