Disclaimer
I’m not talking about the effectiveness or validity of the class, only about the feel of the gameplay
Disclaimer2
I am Russian server player, so sorry for mistakes in english.
TL; DR
The rework of Survival did not live up to expectations and failed both times and 3 ways.
- it gutted the spec, scattering his insides over others, filling the voids with generics (legion).
- it was promoted as melee spec, but 3 out of 4 buttons are rdd (bfa).
- It did not work conceptually and "I still cant role-play Rexar”
- the gameplay loop didn’t bring anything new, and the spec got thematically into the Outlaw Rogue field (and lost to him)
Meanwhile, in the thematic pool “hunter” there remains one unique and regularly appearing concept - Throwers. From the Berserk Trolls and Axe Throwers in WC3, to the Grebgoblins in Azsuna and the harpoon organization in Boralus.
Survs can be transferred to throwers with minimal change, while saving the spear and most (if not all) of the kit. And one-handed wielding can easily return. So spec will fill a unique niche, separate from others and return to rdd. For role-playing a melee hunter I say give 1 melee button to all specs.
The full part.
What I do not like
In the Legion, there were successful hits in style - throwing hatchets, emphasis on traps in talents. Unfortunately, those things that better reflected the spirit of the spec usually competed with talents that were stronger in numbers. And in total, spec was more like a basic lancer and with a very basic set of abilities. What can I say it’s hard to look worthy when you are a dude with a spear in the world of dead mages in armor, huge cats and cows with sledgehammers and lightning.
But in BFA, unfortunately, there is no sense of a hunter at all, the survival part was cut off and the hunter now throws grenades (?) and magic (??) eagles and at the same time depends more on pet than BM.
The Blizz love of making class mechanics separate from style and the spirit of a class (bumkins still have no idea what exactly they are balancing in spec called “balance”) is a separate topic, but the bottom line is: there are no Hunter nor Survival in the thing called Survival Hunter. And long gone the things that made this spec what it was from the start.
Survival in BFA feels like an abomination molded from the remains of Outlaw Rogue and Druid.
Thrower
In the announcement of the Shadowlands we were promised the return of Kill Command. Some people concluded that Survival would be rolled back to the bow. But the transmog of the Legion Spear is hinting at “no”.
This is where the Thrower comes in.
To begin with - it is safe and possible both with a complete rework, and almost without changes from BfA.
The cast animation for all classes has remained since the time of 3 weapons slots.
And if for some reason you like the current Survival - everything will remain in place, just instead of a crossbow, your huge orc will throw a poisoned spear, and instead of a grenade, dynamite will be attached to the spear (like art for an Explosive Shot), Harpoon won’t be hurt either.
At the same time, the gameplay can be varied with talents / basic mechanics / ability, which would modify the game depending on whether daggers / axes / spears are thrown.
This also gives us space for a number of abilities that were removed / thrown to other specs, such as Black Arrow, Explosive Shot, LockAndLoad, Wyvern Bite.
Oh yes and you can finally be Rexar.
Melee Hunter
I really think that the idea of a close combat Hunter expands to much on framework of other classes. Since the framework quite expanded since we last saw melee hunter in WotLK.
To add more the Blizzards desire to shift traps towards utility-only and homogenization of classes leaves Survival no chance.
The solution I see is adding 1 ability to the whole class, which would be to grab a knife from the belt and poke someone in the face, with a little knockback or blind effect. It will fill the role-playing fantasy and close the question, without interfering into gameplay loop.
(This also can be solved a little more radically if the bow occupied 1 slot for a weapon and hunter could take one-handed in the second slot. So that it is also constantly displayed on the model. Like a bunch of NPCs in various places in the game.)
Bonus section where I move away from the topic and say what else could be added to the spec / class.
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Interaction between Fire Trap and Oil one. If Fire Trap (/ grenade) enters Oil, it lights up dealing increased damage.
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Return Snake Trap. It could become a unique trap of BM, because it is good both thematically and gameplay.
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Replace Legion’s generics. Instead of WingClip use Hunting Net right away. Moving the class away from others and promoting a unique style.
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Camouflage is a basic ability for spec called Survival.
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Bring back instant cast of Traps right under your legs. Because its quite handy. Throw a Trap did not kill itself oh sry wrong topic