We Miss Old Survival hunter and Why it should be back

i used to main survival hunter since cata until wod it had a very good playstyle . which u miss alot in today’s most spec’s if not all of them . + i was putting most of my time and effort in wow playing Survival and 1-2 alts maximum although i had all chars 85 but i spent most of my time playing survival because i enjoyed it a lot, now i am having all chars 120 and all of them feel the same and they have similar playstyle and i dont feel good about any spec . i am talking about dps spec’s only which are 60% + of all spec’s in the game . Most of the hunters that i talked to ingame about this topic agreed that the old survival was very interesting and felt much better than the new " survival " we have waited too long to see a reaction from blizzard about this situation . by having a good dps doesn’t mean fun experience so buffing the new spec will not make it fun to play . so in the end blizzard should rework it back as it used to be. do somthing good once in a while

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I still have night terrors with facing SV hunter/Disc priest in arena back in WoD. Some things were cool about SV but overall they were cancer during that time.

My problem with the current iteration of SV is no built-in proc. Every time I think about a fun spec I always end up naming one that has a built-in proc that makes you mix things up and needs you to react to it.

I like the new SV hunter
I don’t want to go back.

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I also really enjoy the new SV hunter. It is literally the most fun class spec in the game at the moment. I don’t know how the old SV spec was like as I always mained a MM hunter, but if it differentiates a lot from the current one then I would not find it as fun. Because current SV is literally the pinnacle of fun.

I can definitely see how it would hurt old SV players to receive a completely new spec after having played the old one loyally for many years. But as a new SV hunter I really wish for the current SV to remain as it is. It is time to let go of the old spec and try the new SV with an open mind…

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You right dude i really miss the old Survival Hunter 100%. I think Blizzard after delete old Survival Hunter, they delete all the class (HUNTER). Dude we’re same Survival Hunter was my main, but not anymove. Thank you Blizzard for destroy Survival Hunter.

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Hunters really are lacking the run-and-gun DoT playstyle that ranged SV brought. SV feels so bland in BFA when compared to Legion iteration, which had its own problems - I won’t dispute that. The latest rework was an attempt to appease both sides of the fence but the numbers show it remains largely unpopular despite being the only viable spec in arena and the highest damage in PvE. Blizz have had ample time to incorporate old SV playstyle into MM but they continue to fail the community.

I won’t be so naive to think that old SV won’t return in some form - 2 major reworks of SV in back-to-back expansions proves that Blizz’s shiny new spec isn’t safe from the chopping block.

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Pardon me, as a warlock in the hunters topic, but i can understand people who was in love in old survival. I never was a hardcore hunter player, but i enjoyed old surv.

In my opinion, if blizzard wanted to do something new, and they had some ideas, they should make a 4th spec for hunters. It is quite unfair and rude, to force people who mained old surv to lose what they loved.
I as demonologist losed Metamorphosis in legion, in favor of puppeteer gameplay that doesn’t work at all.

Have a nice day.

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Edit: Since this reply, I’ve decided to create this topic - [Suggestions updated] Pre-Legion Survival [4th spec]

Been replying to most threads that bring this subject up. I very much agree on the fact that we should get the ranged SV spec we had prior to Legion back.

Why? First off…it makes sense.
The aspect of ranged combat(with weapons), and coating your ammo/bullets or arrows in various venoms/poisons or adding explosive effects to them. It just fits.

I’ve been proposing since early Legion that hunters should get the ranged SV playstyle back through MM. Many key abilities are already in there, just they work a bit different. Also, thematically, marksmanship while at the core, is about mastering archery or sim. it still makes sense to add a version of this spec that instead focuses on the ammunition/arrows used by your ranged weapons.

Now, how to actually fit old SV into current MM?

SVs past core abilities were:
Explosive Shot
Black Arrow
Serpent Sting

Make Explosive Shot work as it used to. Make it replace Aimed Shot as a 2-charge ability(though with an instant cast time)

Make Black Arrow return and be a replacement for Rapid Fire. Same CD as it used to have. Each tick from the DoT applied should restore focus to you(in total, similar to what Rapid Fire gives you). And in addition, any target affected by Black Arrow also takes increased “Elemental Damage”, which is essentially what SV used to be about in the past. Meaning, damage caused by Explosive Shot or Serpent Sting on that target is increased.

Serpent Sting could essentially stay as it is. However, I would argue that we should get the Serpent Spread effect back we had for example in Cata. Where Multi-Shot applied a version of the SS-dot to all targets hit.

Bonus:
Since we got Tar Trap instead of Ice Trap I’ve toyed with the idea that Explosive Shot could interact with it in a way.
For example, if you hit a target with Explosive Shot and that target is standing in the tar applied by your trap, it’s(the tar) set on fire and any enemy caught in that fire takes damage along with receiving a small DoT-effect.

Make this version of the MM spec be about what old SV used to be along with making AoE-damage come from Serpent Sting as well as proper placement of your Tar Trap.

There is ofc more to this than what I’ve written here, but no real need for such details right now.

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I have no idea how Surv was is Legion
Tbh I don’t care. It’s the most fun spec I have had in 13 years and I absolutley love it.

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This is the kind of class design Blizzard need to bring into action. Making it so that meaningful talent choices can completely change the playstyle of a spec rather than talents just being utilities and flavour. With both warlocks and hunters in Legion they changed something which completely ripped apart and reimagined specs, and didn’t give players anything to fill the holes left by old survival and old demonology.

It’s a shame that it would be so simple to integrate the old specs into existing specs but the developers just won’t do it.

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Agreed.

I should probably say though that, the direction we took with hunter specs in Legion, and how they went at them hard to focus on “Spec fantasy”. This is something that I like a lot. The actual core idea of what it means to be a: Beastmaster/Marksman/Survival hunter.

I’m not agreeing with all the choices they made that gave us our current end results. There are still quite a few changes I like to see across all three specs. One of which is the above mentioned change where they should’ve brought the old Survival spec/gameplay into Marksmanship as it was, for MANY hunters, a very iconic style, and it was very liked as well.

Why didn’t they do this when it was on the table? Who knows…
They had an idea of what they wanted MM to be like. They had their vision of the new Survival spec as a melee spec(nothing really wrong here as I do believe there should be a melee option for hunters as a class). Though I just wish that they didn’t have to completely remove an entire spec/style because of it.

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Back when they were changing to a melee spec I was hoping for one thing… that they made it a PRIMALIST spec. Aspects, sorta like stance dancing. And berserking

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Imo melee hunter was needed, as a specific fantasy of wild tarzan boy with his beloved pet facing everything together :smiley:

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I agree that would be awesome if they put old SV hunter into MM spec now. I think everybody should be happy then if MM at its current state is trash anyway.

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miss old mm more the new one just feels awful in pvp

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What about all the people who liked the old SV, from wotlk to wod? (8 years btw)
It was always the most popular hunter spec until HFC patch destroyed it.
If they brought back old SV I would resub instantly even with the current terrible state of the game.
(it’s nice being able to post without having a sub active btw)

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The new SV was needed to change things up in the class. BUT i do miss the old SV it has some fun parts thats missing in current specs.

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What about them? Been playing Hunter since BC and in my opinion it’s better now than ever before.

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Things is with all those changes like shifting Demonology from Meta gameplay to puppeteer gameplay, and range surv hunter to melee, is that those changes alienates big chunk of player base of this class/spec. And it just sounds weird when Blizz just came and said to players something like «Hey folks, now you can throw away your freaking bows nad guns, because you now a freaking melee.» Instead of making and effort and creating 4th spec for hunters and warlocks, they just ditched old and beloved existing specs and replaced it with their new ideas, with zero care about player base - changes for the sake of changes. And if melee survival works good ish in BFA, demonology - “it doesn’t just work” ©Todd Howard.

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I still don’t understand why Blizzard removed the old SV . The old SV was the best class in wow R.I.P SV.

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