That post inspired a semi-entertaining, un-educational conversation of comments in which the conversants are generally playing a tennis match of "my spec rulz and should be op, your days are over" or "my spec rulz and that's fine, you should continue to drool".
That conversation inspired this post. Enjoy...
Besides the tennis match, many of the commenters were rallying behind a banner of "bring the player, not the spec".
WRONG
WRONG
WRONG
Blizzard's position has been "bring the player, not the class". NOT "...not the spec".
So they tried to give a variety of options from different classes to provide the appropriate buffs/debuffs that raid leaders were deeming required, to avoid a raid sitting on their thumbs for an hour searching for that one last perfect class to finish off the raid. I'll leave the conversation of whether they've succeeded or not for another day, but that is the motivation behind their actions.
All Specs Equal? Come on now!
If I'm a Warrior, and the role I choose to play is Tank, there is one talent tree that will be receiving the bulk majority of my talent points.
If I'm a Druid, and the role I choose to play is Healer, there is one talent tree that will be receiving the bulk majority of my talent points.
Why?
I would not spec that way because I think Protection is cool and Arms is dumb.
I would put my points there because going heavy into the Prot tree gives me the tools to do my chosen job better than going heavy into the other two trees.
Why should hunters be different?
There's two reasons I have the spec that I do (50/21/0 as of this writing):
1) Close to 50/50 split in DPS between me and my pet. That is fun for me. I've long been a proponent of skewing even more in favor of the pet, but I'll stop the qq at that. Pretty damn near 50/50 is nice.
2) As of right now, this build provides very good PvE DPS (some might even say OP dps), which is the job I choose to play.
So clearly, reason number one is personal to me, I wouldn't expect everybody to share that.
However, I'll go out on a limb and say that reason number two is ubiquitous (oooh, big word) amongst the raiding Hunter community.
Warriors choose a job and put points into the tree that provides the best tools to do it.
Players of all classes choose a job and put their points into the tree that provides the best tools to do it.
Hunters should be no different.
Suggestion to Blizzard
Ok, I'll stipulate that 50/21/0 with cat or scorpid is OP right now. Blizzard should nerf it because its too out of balance.
If I had my druthers, I'd ask Blizz to nerf me, not my pet. Keep the pet's DPS where it is.
Additionally, they seem to be adamant that we include Arcane Shot in our rotation. Ok, that's cool, spamming my #3 key and blowing away the meters is probably unfair. Make us want to use other shots.
Here's how to make a Beast Master fire Arcane Shot.....
Make the shot apply an Au Jus debuff to the mob. Pets love gravy, so for the duration of the debuff, your pet just goes to town. Maybe more pet crit, or more pet attack power, or attack speed. What ever.
But make Arcane Shot attractive to a Beast Master because it helps your pet, not because it helps your hunter.
You talk a big game, Amava, but whatcha gonna do?
When the patch hits, what'm I gonna do?
To be honest, I don't know.
If any given spec provides an OP amount of damage, I'm there. I could care less what tree.
Reason #2 above trumps Reason #1.
I cling to hope that there will be at least two different specs that provide equally OP damage. It would be nice to see variety among the Hunters I raid with, accompanied by similar (if not exactly equal) DPS production.
But if there is one clear cookie-cutter winner and we all dress alike? Its all good, where's the Hunter Trainer?
Au Jus Shot, FTW
That's all I got.
Would you discard your preferred spec/style for an OP spec? How about for just a minor increase? How much of an improvement would it take for you to change your ways?
4 comments:
I'm stuck wtih BM. I like it. I might try the others just to get a feel for the varity, but I don't doubt for a second that I'll be back as BM before the next raid.
I believe in the "Bring the player..." and I also believe that while skill may not always trump spec, it'll hopefully be balanced enough that skill will be enough to keep me holding on to the spec I like.
Your examples of Warrior and Druid are exactly the problem. Hunter is one of the few classes that doesn't really have that big a difference between the trees, it's always just DPS. Sure, Mages may be the same, but at least Frost/Fire/Arcane are different enough that you feel like it makes a big difference when you change.
The difference between MM/BM/SV is not big enough for me, I think that's my problem.
At least this nerf will get some hunters who have never been anything but BM trying new things out!
While a tank should obviously spec prot, the player has the choice to take other role than tanking. He can choose to make damage.
The hunters shall also have some other choice than "damage monsters a lot". Surv's raid mana regen is one such option, questionable if viable compared to the shadowpriest or retripala version.
But there must be choices and not just "play X/Y/Z or be called moron&slacker"
"
Would you discard your preferred spec/style for an OP spec? How about for just a minor increase? How much of an improvement would it take for you to change your ways?"
This basically asks the question - would you wear the pink tutu of +5 win?
The answer (in my case) is I would wear it if it were neon pink with a juggling clown attached to it and nerfed to +1 win.
Good post.
pink tutu of +5 win would rule.
Picture a raid full of people dressed like Ace Ventura when he was trying to get admitted to the mental institution.
Go Long!
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