Wednesday, February 20, 2013

The Rise of MM & SV and the Decline of BM

Very very interesting PTR hunter buffs close to release.  Marksman is getting a ton of love.  Overall, I'm pretty excited to see these changes.  It's been a while since I played MM.  It may be what it needs to get back in the playlist:
- Aimed Shot damage +10%.
- Chimera Shot damage +50%.
- Steady Shot damage +20%.
I am a little concerned.  The issue I have is that these numbers look extremely round.  That means lots of changes ahead -- probably as hotfix nerfs since they wouldn't hotfix buff other specs/classes.  Steady Shot is just a straight-up win.  Chimera as well.  But Aimed Shot is still a bit of a puzzler;  It isn't clear if just +10% damage turns it into a win or not -- over say Arcane Shots.

Of course nothing for BM.  No spill-over buffing of Arcane Shot, Cobra Shot or the signature KC/BW.  But Survival is also getting some extra love for [mostly!] single target: 
- Black Arrow damage +15%.
- Explosive Shot damage +15%.
So where do I get off calling the "Decline of BM"?  Sure perhaps there's some hyperbole there.  But consider: if MM and SV are looking to be made on equal footing as BM for single target damage then BM will be behind overall -- as it lags on AoE fights.  I'd suggest that perhaps BM could get a Beast Cleave buff as BM AoE is anemic.  BM is an important role for 10man guilds as we can bring most every buff and debuff.

And it's also mentioned by GC that Power Shot is wonked in PvP.  I'm thinking the following may be in regards to stuff like what Braindeadly shows on YouTube.
- Hearing lots of concerns about Power Shot in PvP, so we may need a PvP-specific tweak there.

2 comments:

  1. If BM AoE is bad, then MM AoE must be god awful. As for Powershot, I'm glad that it's actually viable now. It may be OP but you can't really base it off Braindeadly's video because he was playing against people at 1500 MMR while he was at like 2300. It's also the PTR so LOTS of people don't have gear.

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  2. BM isn't declining.
    If anything, it may remain a shade ahead of the other two.
    Certainly, they'll all be a lot closer to each other.

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