Given the recent talks about classes/specializations in need of rework for TWW, I’m sharing my concept of Marksman rework (with some class talent tree changes included). Given that I’ve retired from competitive play after Antorus, I will only focus on abilities and mechanics, not on numbers, as those can be tuned (if the devs wished hunters to be any good, let alone fun).
The sad fact is that, after Legion, MM was butchered in BfA and haven’t received a much-needed rework since then (while classes in much lower need have received several). Especially with the plan to make solo and outdoor gameplay a part of progression in TWW - an area where MM suffers a lot, quite contrary to what a MM hunter should be.
Marksmanship issues:
- Focus starving: with quite a low base resource generation and needing an active source of focus that relies on casted abilities, MM is prone to be focus-starved, especially in world content and “lower” instanced content (TW, HC, and lower M+ dungeons). More so in AoE scenarios. Ths is especially a problem now that they’re acknowledging world content as an endgame content for casual players.
- AoE is available too late: doesn’t need many details, but most other specs have their AoE available significantly earlier (2nd or 3rd row compared to 6th row for Multi-shot).
- Lack of group utility: if we have anything, there’s always a class that can do it, often better. We lack hard CC or interrupts (very obvious in Legacy of Tyr) and the CC we have has a high luck factor and skill cap compared to any direct CC of other classes.
- Lack of identity: a lot of what were once core MM talents have been given to the class tree, many signature and unique abilities were outright removed. This is further fed by the lack of cosmetic quivers (promised repeatedly at least since WoD beta). Meanwhile, druids got a ton of form customizations, shamans got a few for Ghost Wolf, and warlocks got several pet customizations, all of which took much more time than a couple of quiver models would. What did we get? A single cosmetic quiver and ammo pouch that had a much higher trader’s tender cost than most comparable cosmetic items.
- Poor scaling with secondary stats, especially later in the expansion cycle. I’ll not offer a solution to this, given that this is related to tuning. I wonder if part of that is caused by the fact our mastery contributes a major percentage of our final ability damage, which then leads to the base damage of abilities being lower and thus scaling poorly as gear gets better (because the % is determined based on damage in the early stage of the expansion cycle).
- Lackluster talents: too many of our talents are simple X% boosts and improvements most specializations have baked into their abilities without needing to spend a talent point. Often, they require 2 points whereas comparable talents of other classes require just one. Furthermore, talents on the middle-to-right side seem to be just thrown around instead of having a specific theme (consider the Demonology tree where the left side is based on Wild Imps and the right side on Felguard; or the reworked Retribution tree where you have several modifiers to choose from to improve various abilities).
- Miserable recovery: If you compare Exhilaration to other recovery options even among pure DPS classes, we fall behind a lot. Victory Rush or Crimson Vial heal a similar amount on much shorter CD. Demon hunters can heal from almost dead to full with a single Eye Beam. Death Strike heals less but with a good supply of enemies, can be refreshed a lot, bringing decent self-sustain at the cost of damage.
In the following suggestions, I won’t be even suggesting new things, most of it will be a mix of past ideas with some repurposing, considering that there’s a lot that can be used from Artifact and Azerite traits as well as pre-Mists talent trees.
Class talent tree changes:
Arctic Bola and Master Marksman are removed from the class tree and moved to the specialization tree. Especially the latter was the very core of MM for years, so that’s where it belongs.
Serpent Sting moves to Master Marksman position. Serpentstalker’s trickery (MM talent) moves to Serpent Sting’s position and is updated to work with appropriate BM and SV abilities (Cobra Shot and Mongoose Bite).
Arctic Bola is replaced by Gutripper (repurposed generic Azerite trait): Your attacks have a chance (RPPM-based, doubled on targets below 30% HP) to cause the target to bleed over 6 seconds and generate 2/5 [two-rank talent] focus. Benefits from Serrated shots.
Natural Mending - functionality changed: killing an enemy that grants experience or honor [“assists” count too] heals you for 5% of maximum health. Possibly with a short cooldown (5 to 10 seconds).
Intimidation - replaced by a shot ability with the same effect for MM. Possibly reusing the Wyvern Sting name and visual.
Improved Tranquilizing shot - functionality added: also causes Counter Shot to generate 10 focus and reduce the cooldown by 4 seconds on successful interrupt. Renamed to Superior tactics.
Marksmanship talent and ability changes:
Aimed shot damage increased. The goal here is to buff the single-target damage of Aimed shot (given that we’re currently lacking in ST) while keeping the secondary target damage the same, which means the percentage conversion of secondary damage caused by Trick Shots would decrease, but the absolute damage dealt to secondary targets would stay the same.
Crack Shot [14], Improved Steady Shot [12] and Lone Wolf [15] are removed from the talent tree and become baseline spec abilities at bracketed levels. Especially Lone Wolf, despite being intended as a significant part of MM identity, is extremely dumb to need a talent point AND be a full block to another talent point. Master Marksman takes the position of Crack Shot and deals 15/30% of the damage as a bleed, up from 7/15% [which returns it to the old value]. Arctic Bola is combined into one-rank talent and takes the position of Lone Wolf. Precise shots is reduced to single-point talent and the effect can now stack up to 3 times to smooth out the RNG and reduce lost procs.
Improved Stead Shot is replaced by Rapid Recuperation (revived pre-MoP talent): killing an enemy that grants experience or honor [“assists” count too] regenerates 25 focus over 5 seconds. Unlike the old version, it’s now an over-time generation instead of instant, to control the potential burst of focus that, as far as I remember, could be quite absurd back in Cata and devolved AoE rotation to Multi-Shot spam with endless focus on large AoE pulls. To help hunters with being focus-starved in such scenarios, this effect would also trigger in legacy instances, regardless of the enemy’s “worth”.
Lone Wolf also grants direct access to a Time-Warp type of ability without the need to summon and dismiss a pet.
Target Practice removed. Deadeye moved to Target Practice’s position. Killer Accuracy and Hunter’s Knowledge swapped positions. Tactical Reload removed. Bullseye moved to Tactical Reload’s position.
Lock and Load converted to RPPM mechanic instead of flat % chance and the proc lasts 15 seconds, up from 10 [to give more space to loot, skin, and move on to the next mob when playing solo]. Focused Aim removed (damage added to be baseline).
New talent: Steady Aim - steady shot increases the damage of your next Aimed shot by 5%, stacking up to 3 times (repurposed Azerite trait). Takes the vacated spot of Focused Aim.
Rapid Fire is removed and replaced by a reworked Chimera Shot: 10-second recharge (reduced by haste), 2 charges, instant cast, no focus cost, generates 5 focus + 2 focus per target hit. Hits two targets plus up to 5 additional targets when under the effect of Trick Shots and is affected by any talents previously affecting Rapid Fire. The extra per-target generation, instant cast, and two charges provide extra focus in AoE, where MM is the most focus-starved, without the clumsy channel that could be interrupted (and thus further hindering focus generation) by LoS or target’s death. Now being a generator, the spread would be limited to ~10 yards and would only hit enemies already in combat (the current Chimera shot can be quite weird on pulling definitely-not-nearby, out-of-combat targets around).
New ability: Windburst - revival of the artifact ability. Takes the talent spot of “old” Chimera Shot. 2-second cast, 25 focus cost, 25-second cooldown (affected by haste). Deals heavy damage and leaves behind a trail of wind that grants 20% movement speed to group members. The right side of the talent tree (spots vacated by removing some flat % damage bonuses [see above] with some possible relocation needed for balancing reasons) will be used for talents boosting Windburst:
- Cyclonic Burst: the trail of wind causes light AoE damage, benefitting from Serrated Shots.
- Windrunner’s Wrath: Windburst also knocks up enemies caught in the path (providing MM hunters with a potentially powerful ability to stop silence-immune casts like the mentioned mobs in Legacy of Tyr that still requires some thought into positioning for full effectiveness).
- Ranger’s Tricks: Windburst grants Trick Shots (possibly a choice node with Cyclonic Burst).
- Wind’s Blessing: Windburst causes your next Aimed Shot within 10 seconds to be castable while moving.
New ability: Aspect of the Fox: grants the hunter and group members the ability to cast abilities while moving for 8 seconds – a much-needed unique raid utility. 3-minute cooldown, reduced by Born to be Wild.
Functionality changed: Sharpshooter - when Multi-shot hits at least 3 targets, the next Chimera Shot deals X% more damage (repurposed Azerite trait, exact damage and whether it would be 1 or 2-part talent would be subject to tuning).
Cosmetic changes: Quivers from the past (Classic, TBC, LK) are added as back-slot mog items. Crafted by leatherworkers, the recipes are purchased from trainers from the respective eras. Further quivers are added to match some recent armor sets. Artifact quivers are duplicated as back-slot mog items.