As others have mentioned already, some buffs are in the works for us Hunters. They might change yet again before the hotfix update on the 13th/14th, but so far, this is what’s planned:
Kill Command damage decreased by 15% in PvP situations.
And, while these changes are ofc welcome, Beast Mastery is already behind the other two specs in several areas, and these buffs aren’t going to do anything to fix that.
Since much of our damage is pet-based and the only real buff we get in that area is with Kill Command, this will do very little for single-target pet damage. Not to mention how our AoE-capabilities were way behind even before these proposed changes. As our[BM’s] sole real AoE-throughput, Beast Cleave, is weak, and proportionally will be even more so now.
I’m happy to see we may get something. It’s a step in the right direction. People who enjoy the class will be thrilled. People who think we are trash will be unhappy and still think we are trash.
Of course, I’ll save my happy for when I actually see it. I may be optimist but I’m also gonna be realistic as well. Lol.
The amount of negativity towards Hunters in the comment section is astounding. All 3 specs (well maybe not MM in some areas) have been doing terrible all expansion, and finally Blizzard gives us some love and what to people do? Say how undeserving we are of the buffs. It’s sickening that other people would rather us do terrible than for us to be a little more viable.
That being said, while the buffs are nice, they aren’t enough to push us to being great. The following is for BM only. I can’t speak for MM or MSV.
We still need a better mastery (one that affects both the hunter and the pet), or at the very least, allow mastery to scale with Kill Command, and some other abilities. Beast Cleave is an absolute joke, and while there is a tiny buff to our AoE (Multishot is getting a buff) it’s not enough to make our AoE stand out. Increase the AoE cap on Beast Cleave, and increase its potential damage.
And of course any attempt at fixing broken pet AI and pathing is always welcome. Maybe a return of that teleport ability that Warp Stalkers used to have?
These buffs are certainly welcome, but they feel like a bandaid placed over the entire spec. More thorough work needs to be done.
Would like to see mastery affect more than just pet. But any buffs are welcome. Not going to help us much in aoe, seems like devs relying on Slyvanas bow for that first.
Sadly hunter 2v2 strength hampers the community response to any buffs, even if pve oriented
Comments in the official topic on these changes, linked above, its…interesting…indeed.
Essentially, with this buff, Multi-Shot will hit each target(Max 5) for 43% of Attack Power as Physical damage instead of 37.5%.
Considering that it’s an ability only used once every ~4 sec, even in a fight with constant AoE, it’s…what…less than a 0.5% bonus to AoE damage done?
And, considering how Multi-Shot in itself doesn’t do anything towards actually hurting the enemy(for obvious reasons), I can’t even figure out why they included MS in this round of buffs. Is it just because it was a BM hunter ability so therefor it should be included? Okay, too bad MS isn’t actually intended to be a big hitter so it’s a meaningless buff to said ability.
Agreed, they are ofc needed, but they won’t do much towards fixing the issues with
BM.
I think the negativity you see is purely a pvp reaction. I’m a pvp only BM and we are already insanely strong in PvP. I don’t think anyone would argue that BM needs a pve buff and I’m guessing survival got slightly lower numbers bc they just had a small buff to a couple abilities and another 15% on top would be too much
The buffs are truly welcome, however, I do not see them bringing us up to higher levels. I see them raising up to mid-pack levels and that’s about it. Blizz is still counting on the bow, 2-hand proc weapon, and quiver to make up the rest. Unfortunately, those who don’t get those drops will be sorely behind the curve.
What’s worse is look at the amount of buffs. Msv has had its main spells buffed over 30% and its still not going to be anything special. That should tell you how bad of a balancing job blizz is doing lately.
I did some Sim manipulation to see how these buffs should translate. Basically, I just did multiple sims assuming both single target and AoE and added 15% to the abilities that are getting buffed. Used my 226 ilvl BM Hunter.
The results were about 6.2% overall increase on single target and 4.8% overall on AoE.
Not to be a naysayer, but this just seems like the 5% aura buff we got in 9.0, but targeted to specific abilities to make it sound like a bigger buff. It’s welcome, but still a lazy response in my opinion.
As far as how much that will help us…
My BM Hunter is 226 item level with all of Shadowlands to pick and choose gear from the vault to optimize stats.
My Shadow Priest is 222 item level after three weeks of life with whatever gear I could throw together.
Shadow Priest still sims 3-7% ahead of my Hunter with the SP nerf and BM buff taken into account. I think this buff will move us up from the bottom, but doubt it goes higher than middle of the rankings.
I still feel like most of BM’s issues could be solved with just a mastery adjustment. Kill Command, Dire Beast/Command, Stampede, Crows, Spitting Cobra… All fixable with a mastery tweak. (Just nerf Animal Companion to compensate.)
You need to remember SV already received a 15% buff to KC and all of its strikes. So this extra 10% is like buffing 25% from the get go. Also now bombs and serpent will receive a 10% buff that we did not get at first.
I think this will be helpful for SV hunters, as we use serpent and bombs as part of our rotation.
Honestly, uncapping Beast Cleave would probably solve the issue. Everyone was lamenting the loss of certain traits on armor, but I said then and will reiterate now, capping Beast Cleave to 5 targets was a HUGE nerf to BM AoE, whereas MM (for example) never felt that pinch because they were always capped.
Cant really agree with that. This wouldnt do anything for the vast majority of fights and also they should simply do away with all the differentiation around target cap. Either cap all to the same size or uncap all, dont add more unnecessary exceptions.
Making KC cleaeve sounds like the best solution ive heard so far. It would add quite some more damage and would also add more much needed skill epxression to the spec.