We need range Survival Hunters back

[Ghorak-laughing-skull]

@Entrerri-proudmoore

Funnily enough, my melee surv hunters fires poison darts out of a crossbow. Hunter = archer + pet. Melee surv fits even your definition. Sweet irony.

I would say that you’re gonna have a hard time finding a fair number of hunters that agree with you on that.
1 ability that makes you draw a small 1h-Xbow from your “pocket”, to then fire a mini-arrow, this does not make for an archer-playstyle.

@Ruddypiper-sargeras

Which he pulls out of his rear. Such immersion!

I guess that depends on what you’re used to. Or what you imagine to fit a specific fantasy. Those “sneak-attack”-inspired 1h Xbows, they aren’t unheard of. Though we haven’t seen much of it before, in WoW. I would say that it can have a place here, thematically.

For me, it’s more about MSV as a whole. The fact that it’s a spec that is made up by abilities that have been taken from other specs. If you ask me, considering the current Survival is still meant to be a melee-spec, then it would make for a better immersion if your focus was mostly on using melee-based abilities.

Sure, some players like the melee/range-hybrid spec. But for the most part, you won’t find a lot of players that both want to give up the ranged aspects of the Hunter class, while still not actually getting a proper melee experience.
Sure, you can stand in melee range and use the abilities, but this does not make for a proper melee-spec/experience.

We’ve heard the developers say that the old SV lacked a niche, say that it did not have a strong core fantasy(this still baffles me, I very much saw what it was meant to be).
Now, compare that to current SV.

As far as having a niche goes, sure, it has the hybrid element of both melee/range-based attacks. But the actual abilities that makes for the spec. They aren’t unique or new in any way.

@Jamanji-zuljin

That is much different than objectively poor combat animations that get used and seen on a much more consistent basis.

The Hunter class have struggled quite some time with the ability to provide combat animations that are very exciting. Now, as far as liking the animations or not, this is up to every single individual to determine what they want.

@Jamanji-zuljin

Take Beast Mastery standing side by side with the pet doing Raptor Strike and Flanking Strike and Lacerate and Bestial Wrath all with strong melee attack animations and you’ll have a great spec visually and thematically.

I agree that this could be a thing that made sense for sure. But how much of a positive effect this would have on the playerbase that focus on the hunter class, I’d say that there’s a big risk with doing this.
We’ve seen this mistake being made in the past(when they removed ranged Survival in favor of a completely new playstyle).
Observe that I’m not actually saying that having a melee spec option for the class is bad. I’m saying that the act of removing another spec/unique playstyle for this to happen…THAT, was the wrong choice.

@Jamanji-zuljin

Take all the gadgets and gizmos (but ditch the pocket crossbow) going back to full range and you’ll have a markedly better visual and thematic spec that also makes the ranged abilities have meaningful impact on their own.

Opinions vary ofc. But as far as having a ranged DoT-based playstyle for the class. Again, I think you would struggle to find a fair portion of players that wouldn’t just say that the old Survival playstyle would be the best choice here.

If you keep the abilities you’re able to use from range currently in Survival, while removing the melee ones in favor of some basic ranged attacks. This would still not put the spec anywhere near what the Ranged Survival spec felt like in the past.

However, I will hold my final opinion on your suggestion as I’m not completely sure what you would want for the abilities that should be kept, as well as knowing what you would want to be put in instead of the current melee-based abilities the spec has.

@Entrerri-proudmoore

You may want to learn the difference between opinion and fact. I happen to like the visual and theme of the melee surv hunter.

Nothing wrong with this. And there are those that say the same about both the current BM spec as well as MM. And this again leads to the problem we ran into when at first the old ranged Survival spec was removed.
If you want to introduce a completely new playstyle for a class. It should NOT be done at the expense of already existing styles/specs.

Many of us in this very thread(and other threads) are not saying that melee survival should be removed(nor should current BM or MM).
We want the DoT-playstyle/spec back as a 4th spec in order for us to enjoy the class more, while still letting the players who like the current specs, continue to enjoy those as they are/their themes are.

@Entrerri-proudmoore

Hate to break it to you, but the surv artifact pretty much guarantees that melee ain’t going anywhere.

You are very right on this. I mean…who knows what will happen in X years.
But still, introducing the melee spec just to take it away a few expansions later…
I find it very difficult to see that this will happen.

I would just say, stop arguing for the removal of an existing spec. There is little to no point in doing so. Nor is it needed for us to get what we want.

We have seen the introduction of a 4th spec for a class in the past. If there is a proper void to be filled and if there is enough of a base that can be used to fill that which is missing, then why not do it?

I refer to my first reply in this thread: We need range Survival Hunters back - #457 by Ghorak-laughing-skull

Or the topic with motivation included: [Suggestions updated] Pre-Legion/Ranged Survival

Is this perfect for everyone? No. There is no perfect spec you can create. The point with this is that you can create a version of that spec that can hold it’s own identity among the other available specs.