This is probably a vent post, because I’m just tired of facepalming every time I either play another, better designed class, or get dunked on in PvP by some inexplicable combo. This is going to be a wall of text, but only due to the amount of bugs and nonsense the spec is suffering from.
- Pseudo-caster gameplay
This is so hilarious to experience. You stand still like a buffoon, with your ~2s Aimed Shot (wich has cooldown, long cast time, physical damage, stationary requirement), only to have it hit for like 300-400k on non-crit, meanwhile actual casters barely stop to cast anything, but when they do - you get your face blown off by 1m+ autocrits from warlocks and mages. I have no idea why aimed shot needs to be a cast ability with the pitiful damage it does. - Dark Ranger nonsense
Yeah, it was good for a whole day post-rework, then the mastery double-dip fix kicked in and we got a pitiful imitation of kill shot that barely rivals it’s damage. But nope, not awful enough, another 10% damage nerf came through because “a single-target oriented hero tree was overperforming in single-target.” And now another nail in the coffin with the “fix” to pulling random mob packs during Trueshot - Black Arrow won’t fire at an out of combat target, making it unusable as engagement ability. Top it all off with bugged interaction of Black Arrow and Razor Fragments (literally what makes kill shot/black arrow good) where a non-deathblow Black arrow procs Deathblow and Razor Fragments, but the very same arrow also CONSUMES the Razor Fragments buff to apply bleed, yet deals no additional damage, making your next Black Arrow hit like a wet noodle back to back. - AoE gimmicks
The fact you have to spec into multi-shot and ricochet is hilarious enough, but to see that you STILL have to hit atleast 3 targets to be allowed to AoE is a spit in the face. Playing a ret paladin where literally everything autocleaves 5 targets, or a fury warrior that gets a free 5-target cleave on next 2-4 abilities every time you use Whirlwind. This silly requirement just eliminates MM from 2-target cleave that (I think) everyone else can do, wich also persisted since BFA. - 11.0.5 reworks
Only one precise shot per aimed shot is somewhat understandable, but why limit it to one stack now? Feels awful, especially in AoE, where you lack that second Precise Shot charge to lower the cost of Multi-Shot after a Rapid Fire. Should’ve atleast made Rapid Fire grant Precise Shot too, or make Crack Shot passive lower the cost of Multi-Shot aswell. Oh, and we also lost 3 seconds of our “burst” ability duration, thanks Blizz! - Pet reliance
I don’t want to play with pets, but I still have to deal with all the pet nonsense to use Intimidation. 1m cooldown is ridiculous for such an unreliable “stun.” It can be broken by elevations AND CC (against the pet you summon!), had numerous times where the summoned pet wasn’t able to charge up the stairs, got stuck of terrain. It can also get cc’d by abilities like Typhoon, Ring of Frost, etc, basically anything that can “catch” the pet mid-charge bricks this one hard-cc you have from even occuring. Same with Roar of Sacrifice, probably the strongest defensive a hunter has, requires a pet and then literally kills it most of the time. Dismiss Pet being a cast, instead of cooldown is a mess too, can’t pop a quick wolf for bloodlust and make it go away, nope, gotta cast. - Feign Death vs. pvp pets/minions/summons
Not sure if bug, or intentional, but priest’s tentacles (that cast mind flay), DK’s riders of apocalypse, balance druid’s orbital beam that chases you, all seem to ignore FD completely (yes, I don’t break it prematurely) and just continiue to attack you through it. - Aspect of the Turtle
Imo - the most hilarious defensive in the game. Barely lowers the damage you take, does not protect you from ground effects, but also doesn’t let you do ANYTHING because you’re “Pacified.” But that’s not all - you also shine bright across the entire battlefield with the gigantic green shell, literally signaling to everyone that you’re out of juice, inviting to focus you down. Even paladin’s bubble doesn’t attract that much attention. I would GLADLY trade this joke of a “defensive” for the old Deterrence, gods how I miss it. - Disengage
It’s just outdated. One charge, 20s cooldown, still, after all these years it propels you at an almost horizontal angle making jumping prior to using it mandatory. Almost any melee class has multi-use gap closers or plainly lower cooldowns. And the buggy nature of your CC abilities makes the situation even more dire.
And that kinda concludes it. At this point I’m only held to my char by sheer time investment (gear, professions and prof. tools, etc.) and the weight of having to re-farm all the things on an alt if I decide to reroll. Kudos if you read all my ranting, hope your experience is better than mine!