A Look Back at Beast Mastery Hunter in Dragonflight & War Within Wishlist - Editorial

Live Posted 2024/01/23 at 3:46 AM by Tarlo

Our Guide Writers have reviewed their specs throughout Dragonflight and share wishlists of what they'd like to see in the War Within. Check out all of our released editorials below.

Dragonflight Retrospectives & War Within Wishlists

Blood DKFrost DKUnholy DK

Havoc DHVengeance DH

Balance DruidFeral DruidGuardian Druid
Restoration Druid

Augmentation EvokerDevastation EvokerPreservation Evoker

BM HunterMM HunterSurvival Hunter

Arcane MageFire MageFrost Mage
Brewmaster Monk
Mistweaver MonkWindwalker Monk

Holy PaladinProtection PaladinRetribution Paladin

Discipline Priest
Holy PriestShadow Priest

Assassination RogueOutlaw RogueSubtlety Rogue

Elemental ShamanEnhancement Shaman
Restoration Shaman

Affliction WarlockDemonology WarlockDestruction Warlock

A Chronological Run-DownImproved Tranquilizing ShotBarbed ShotBloody FrenzyAspect of the WildSentinel OwlAlpha PredatorDire PackAlpha PredatorKiller InstinctFortitude of the BearNature's EnduranceHunter's AvoidanceNeltharax, Enemy of the SkyNeltharax, Enemy of the SkyRejuvenating WindKurog GrimtotemRaszagethBroodkeeper DiurnaNeltharax, Enemy of the SkyAberrus, the Shadowed CrucibleNeltharionSarkarethAspect of the WildRoar of SacrificeCall of the WildBloody FrenzyLarodar, Keeper of the FlameFyrakkAmirdrassil, the Dream's HopeMaster HandlerSavageryHunter's MarkAccelerating SandglassAugury of the Primal FlameConclusions

Talents that do not play into the "Spam Kill Command" gameplay are somewhat dead. Cobra Shot has too many talents related to it for how little we use it at the moment. Talents such as Killer Cobra, Cobra Senses, Cobra Sting, Hunter's Prey and Kindred Spirits have not been reasonable choices for the entire expansion.

We need more talents that change up the base gameplay and add depth and/or variation. Many of the new talents are plenty flavorful but they mostly lack gameplay interaction. Savagery simplifies the rotation by a large amount.

More innovation in general. You can count the talents that are all new, viable and interesting on one hand. Reduce the amount of boring passives.

The bottom third of the class tree is essentially locked in as the picks are divided between the three different specs, with some being mandatory for one spec and entirely useless for another.

outlined in previous articlesHunter's MarkAmirdrassil, the Dream's HopeDire Beast: BasiliskDire Beast: HawkGoing Forward

Allow Misdirection to transfer damage from pets.

Give Kill Shot a purpose for Beast Mastery.

Give a greater room for skill expression.

Improve Hunter's Mark in terms of usage, power or flexibility.

Make leech from pets transfers to the player in some fashion.

Move Killer Instinct to the Beast Mastery spec tree somewhere.

More options to control/move your pet more easily. Make it simpler to swap between pet types for different types of utility.

Tier Sets which change up the gameplay more.

No rare bow.

The level of communication we got during Dragonflight Alpha/Beta.

Trinkets that more consistently work with pets.

Updated utility spells for more practical applications:

Give Tar Trap a lingering slow after enemies leave its range.

Give High Explosive Trap the option to function as a knock-up. Alternatively, add some other form of AoE Crowd Control.

Make Roar of Sacrifice a usable external in PvE.

Make Wailing Arrow an instant cast and move it to the class tree.

Do something about Sentinel Owl being woefully underpowered.

Allow Tranquilizing Shot to remove more than one stack of a debuff on a target.

"Pack Leader" is almost certainly a Beast Mastery option just based on the name, and might play into our "pet swarm" playstyle. This most likely being the Beast Mastery + Survival option since those are the "pet" specs. Based on the other two specs this could be based on the Warcraft 3 Beastmaster, which could cover the playstyle I discussed earlier: Summoning specific to do specific things more briefly. This could also feature Stampede, which could use an update. This could basically be "Rexxar, the spec".

"Sentinel" could be based on on Night Elven Sentinels and maybe more specifically the Huntress from Warcraft 3. It's therefore most likely the Marksmanship + Survival option because of the "glaive" theme.

"Dark Ranger" could easily play into Wailing Arrow further and solve some of its issues. Checking out the Warcraft 3 Dark Ranger, this unit includes a silence ability (like Wailing Arrow), a Mind Control ability, a Life Drain ability and an ability similar to the old Hunter spell Black Arrow. Summoning minions is definitely in line with what Beast Mastery wants to do. However, this ability has been both a Marksmanship ability AND a Survival ability so it's unclear where this specialization could land.

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Comment by StuporFire mage class guide link is a dudComment by LangorothPreheat credited and Mage Guide instead of beastmaster and TarloComment by soulyouthThanks for such a well put together post mate! community thanks you.Comment by deadlyPeachour Beast Mastery Hunter Writer, Preheat, offers a retrospectiveComment by Anomytthat's a whole lot of text about demanding stuff for a spec that presses 2 buttons.

and you know it's true that this is all that makes BM what it is, if this spec would be more "complicated", nobody would play it anymore because the majority of players who choose BM for either 1. it's the best performing hunter spec (which tbh it never should) or 2. you only need a half brain cell for itComment by Anaide0. Unnerf pet utilities, for cuddly sake. Hunter had so much optional utility to choose and bring on the table, and now its just a joke. Almost all utility concerns might be compensated trough it.Comment by Lobo720that's a whole lot of text about demanding stuff for a spec that presses 2 buttons.

and you know it's true that this is all that makes BM what it is, if this spec would be more "complicated", nobody would play it anymore because the majority of players who choose BM for either 1. it's the best performing hunter spec (which tbh it never should) or 2. you only need a half brain cell for itComment by GammaraFor all Hunters, find a way to have our pets in a collection tab similar to battle pets.Comment by svingarmthat's a whole lot of text about demanding stuff for a spec that presses 2 buttons.

and you know it's true that this is all that makes BM what it is, if this spec would be more "complicated", nobody would play it anymore because the majority of players who choose BM for either 1. it's the best performing hunter spec (which tbh it never should) or 2. you only need a half brain cell for itComment by Kilgharrah96that's a whole lot of text about demanding stuff for a spec that presses 2 buttons.

and you know it's true that this is all that makes BM what it is, if this spec would be more "complicated", nobody would play it anymore because the majority of players who choose BM for either 1. it's the best performing hunter spec (which tbh it never should) or 2. you only need a half brain cell for itComment by izagatoMy (probably not very realistic) wishlist:
1. Replace Hunter‘s Mark with a buff that actually provides good value in M+, too. Maybe they could bring back the mechanism that allows us to provide a missing buff based on pet, but this time either Mystic Touch or Chaos Brand instead of Battle Shout etc. Or do something new and provide 2.5% physical damage and 2.5% magic damage.
2. Make Primal Rage a baseline spell that can be cast without needing a specific pet (or any pet at all in the case of MM).Comment by Kilgharrah96My (probably not very realistic) wishlist:
1. Replace Hunter‘s Mark with a buff that actually provides good value in M+, too. Maybe they could bring back the mechanism that allows us to provide a missing buff based on pet, but this time either Mystic Touch or Chaos Brand instead of Battle Shout etc. Or do something new and provide 2.5% physical damage and 2.5% magic damage.
2. Make Primal Rage a baseline spell that can be cast without needing a specific pet (or any pet at all in the case of MM).Comment by kuhntaDear diary....
I have thought up some random hypotheticals for a class that I play in a video game, please blizzard gods. While I may only play in one game type. I think my opinion is above all.
Sincerely yours,
Opinion Journalist.Comment by Kyouma44Where my boy Tomrus at in these trying times?Comment by SaruyaThey should make Hunter's Mark a buff, similar to Fortitude, Mark of the Wild etc, that you cast on your party/raid, which just makes everyone automatically do 5% extra damage on a mob when it's above 80% health, just to avoid the swapping aspect, because it's rarely worth swapping on most content - Mythic Nymue/Fyrakk adds perhaps being a best case example of where it's worth swapping it over/applying mid-fight.

Also make it an execute where that 5% gets applied below 20%.

Make it actually relevant and worthwhile for the entire encounter.Comment by johntravolta342that's a whole lot of text about demanding stuff for a spec that presses 2 buttons.

and you know it's true that this is all that makes BM what it is, if this spec would be more "complicated", nobody would play it anymore because the majority of players who choose BM for either 1. it's the best performing hunter spec (which tbh it never should) or 2. you only need a half brain cell for itComment by lovelywazStory of BM Hunters in a nutshell...

Weak at the start, gets "some" minor buffs

Every other Caster Spec floods the forums complaining about BM doing too much damage because THEY CAN MOVE WHILE CASTING

Gets nerfed every week/fortnight until back to being pathetic.

Rinse and Repeat patch after patch!Comment by Hoplowemy bm dreams are:

1. allow us to choose and freely switch each individual pet's spec again. i just want to tank with the smallest pet i can find it gives me so much joy.

2. there are so many mob types that aren't tameable yet and i don't understand why. deepstriders, marmonis, soul eaters, ferrets, armadillos... if they could be made tameable OR a reason as to why they aren't is given that'd be great. soul eaters in particular - i spent that much time in the maw but never figured out how to tame something that shares a skeleton with lizards and the now tameable drakes? other maw mobs are tameable like the bears, roaches and rats, why not them?Comment by Lobo720that's a whole lot of text about demanding stuff for a spec that presses 2 buttons.

and you know it's true that this is all that makes BM what it is, if this spec would be more "complicated", nobody would play it anymore because the majority of players who choose BM for either 1. it's the best performing hunter spec (which tbh it never should) or 2. you only need a half brain cell for itComment by PeacemoonGreat post, and your wishlist reflects mine as well.

For BM, because so much damage comes from the pets not the Hunter, there a lot of things that just do not play well for this spec. Misdirection, Leech, Trinkets. It would be really good if there could be some sort of fix that would encapsulate all of these - so that pet damage really is attributed to the hunter in game, and not the pets.

I know technically this would be a nightmare to solve, but it would really help the spec.

Also switching pets, I don't think you should have to dismiss your current pet. You should jus be able to summon a new pet and have your old pet run off and fade away.

Also I really hope Barbed Shot does not creep into making BM a multi-dot spec.

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