My 2 cents on the design/rework of Survival Hunter on the Midnight beta, which can be categorised into two categories: gameplay and identity, and Iâll start with the latter.
Spec Identity, Theme and Fantasy
To me, SV hunter has a big identity crisis. When leaning into the theme of explosions with WFBombs, Flamefang Pitch and Boomstick (yet with the puzzling removal of Explosive Shot), SV hunter does a thing; blowing up stuff, that no other class or spec really does. Whilst that is a commendable point of direction to reduce homogeneity between classes, SV hunter identity or fantasy just feels like a 50/50 split between two varying identities: one leaning into the Rexxar theme (animals, venoms, traps) and the other of just blowing things to smithereens.
However, this causes the spec identity (and redesign) to feel confused about itself. Boomstick replaces Fury of the Eagle, dual wielding now being a thing and not using a spear (makes sense!) but one the major mechanics of SV is Tip of the Spear. So..there is some Spear-named thing after all? Sure, a simple renaming of the spellname of Tip of the Spear to a differerent spellname (without touching how the spell acts) like Go For The Kill or Animalistic Aggression or something like that would solve that spear-named issue, but Iâm bringing this up more as an example of SV being stuck between two worlds.
Everyone will have their personal preference if SV should take a turn towards the Rexxar-hunter or towards explosion expert, but right now it just feels it tries to be two things, that make both identities feel lackluster.
Gameplay
Needless to say, my feedback is subjective, but personally I think SV on retail/TWW right now..is a pretty darn good spec. It has itâs flaws, but I think itâs an almost perfect spot when it comes to rotational buttonpresses and the amount of spells we have track and use. Going into Midnight, the design goal is to prune a lot of things from classes and specs, and unfortunately, SV feels woefully overpruned.
Butchery/Flanking Strike removal: I just fail to understand the reason why. They both were on a cooldown long enough to not be too intrusive, made sense thematically, had the Merciless Blow talent that fed into Bloodseeker and Outland Venom andâŠwere not just not problematic, but a positive addition to the rotation and spec.
FotE removal: being replaced with BoomstickâŠjust feels we lost FotE and got the old Barrage spell back. The parts that made FotE exciting to push, the 50% crit <20% making it a unique âAOE Executeâ (and yes, many crits = dopamine hits = fun) and giving us haste (fun) and giving us Tip stacks (handy) is now gone. ItâsâŠjust Barrage..with a cooler visual, granted.
Hatchet Toss: doesnât really do anything atm, apart from itâs interaction with Pack Leader. New spell, iconic..but unfortunately pointless. Unless it gets some reason to press, and letting it do a lot of damage is the most boring solution, itâs just wasted. It needs something, an interaction with some spells or talents, make it give a bleed or dot, just something.
Flamefang Pitch: Static AOE ground spells are just a generally bad idea, unless they are so minor with such a short cooldown that the mobs moving out of it part doesnât hurt too much, but on Flamefang with a 1 minute recharge is just really not a good idea. Simple solution though, since we are explosion fanatics: make it a Molotov cocktail kinda thing. You throw it with the targetting reticle and it leaves a fire damage debuff. I know that makes it pretty much a bigger and meatier WFBomb, but Iâd still take that over the ground effect. Wildfire Imbuement also would benefit from it doing AOE damage, else it becomes a ST increase hidden behind 3 AOE buffing talents. (The spell effect for that talent looks really sick though!!)
In conclusion: to me the spec feels stripped of things that added to the fun and feel of the spec, and (some) of the new additions like Hatchet Toss doing nothing, and Flamefang being clunky are not fixing the holes left behind by the pruned talents and abilities.