With all the hype about the exotic pets, I sort of feel the need to post something about choosing the spec that is right for you. There are a lot of Big Red Devilsaurs running around right now and while it is 100% understandable that people want to have fun and try them out in this lull before the expansion, I also worry that some people may wind up Beast Master for the wrong reasons.
Beast Master Hunters are a special breed. We don’t get our kicks from putting up super big numbers or ridiculously high agility scores, or doing really in-depth shot rotations. We are the hunters who love having a strong pet to fight beside us as a partner, not just as an extra DoT. We are the hunters who love when we do something that procs an ability for our pet, or when our pet does something that procs an ability for us. We are the hunters who relish the fact that we’re shooting so fast that sometimes we feel like we’re about to spin out of control. We love watching those Scrolling Combat Text numbers fly by– they may not be big, they may not always be crits– but they are fast and furious. Oh, don’t get me wrong, we love big crits and big agility numbers and shot rotations too– but when it comes down to it, we are all about the frenzied machine-gun mentality. Other hunters may be calculating and precise as they weave their shots with immense care or design a perfect plan of attack and survival. But we Beast Masters throw such precision to the wind and toss ourselves whole-heartedly into the fight, the same way our pet would. We go nuts. We really, truly do unleash the beast within.
If that is how you feel, too, and you accept the fact that that means you will not have a particularly complex shot rotation or put up very big numbers yourself (because your pet will be doing a lot of the work himself)– then welcome to the family.
If that doesn’t sound as appealing to you as you like– if you really like using your other shots besides Steady Shot, if you really like big crits, if you like traps that last forever– then please, spec something else. It’s okay. Sure, you may not get the exotic pet, but there are so many great non-exotic pets out there just waiting to be your companion. Similarly, you don’t have to spec Beast Master just to show that you love your pet– Marksman and Survival hunters love their pets too. And I’m certainly not going to stop appreciating you and your comments here. I am an unabashed Beast Master fangirl, it’s true, but hunters of all specs and stripes are welcome here and there are many, many Marksman and Survival hunter blogs out there that I read and that are written by very talented hunters that I have a lot of respect for.
With the advent of 3.0 and the way that Marksman and Survival have really been brought up to par, now is a great time to take a deep look at your little definition of “hunter” and spec the way you really feel and experiment with different things. Then, read about your class– and spec– learn about it, test it out, and put it into action. As a wise man once said, “With great power comes great responsibility.” The road to hunter enlightenment isn’t always easy and it has already cost Tawyn several gold in respecs and several minutes of relearning, but Auntie Pike promises it will be worth it.
Well, that’ll do it for now. Be sure to tune in to our next episode of Aspect of the Hare: Tawyn’s Talent Tree Tweaking! May or may not include abundant amounts of alliteration. You’ve been warned.
Edit: Reading some of the comments I am getting, I fear my point may have come out the wrong way =/ I’m very sorry if it did. I am not discrediting any reason to spec Beast Master. If you just want to have a devilsaur, that is a perfectly valid reason as well. Toque, I agree 100% with your comment. “Remember Who You Are: A person who is playing a game. Spec how you want for your greatest enjoyment of the game, for whatever reason”, as you commented, is exactly what I was trying to get at. I was also trying to encourage trying out all the specs, so you can decide exactly where that greatest enjoyment of the game will come from, because the answer may surprise you. My deepest apologies if it did not come out correctly. This post was sort of a cut-n-paste from some stuff I had laying around in drafts so it probably wasn’t very smooth. I also want to clarify that when I am talking about “Beast Master Hunters” in this post, I am generally talking about BM Hunters as in those who love the spec, and not as in those who spec it simply for DPS. Once again, apologies for any confusion.
Ah great post.
Auntie Pike? Hmmmm…..
@ Gunsnbutter – Auntie Pike is an ooooold in-joke between me and some of my friends. =P
I’m going to have to disagree with you: While it would be nice if Beast Master Hunters were a special breed, for at least two years now, they’ve been the FotM hunter spec.
Want proof? Look through your old screenshots of BM hunters with pets with no names, just the species type instead. If these guys were “the hunters who love having a strong pet to fight beside us as a partner,” their pets would have a name.
Heck, I’m a Marksman until the end of time, and I don’t tame any pets without having a name picked out. If I were a true-blue Beast Master, I wouldn’t be wandering around for weeks (or indefinitely) with a nameless pet at my side.
My hope is that Blizzard actually gets all three specs roughly comparable at some point, so people can play what they want, not what they feel pressured to play. (My favorite is when I’m #1 or #2 in hunter DPS in a 25-man raid, and then I get tells asking me why I don’t switch to BM instead, as though I’m somehow bringing up the rear. Sheesh …)
With all respect (and there is respect, or I wouldn’t be reading your blog on a regular basis), I really dislike this type of post.
You say that people may be speccing beastmaster for “the wrong reasons”. But their reasons, be it just to have a devilsaur, are just as valid as your reasons to be beastmaster. They shouldn’t be rejected from ‘the family’ just because they don’t feel the same beastmaster mentality that you do.
Remember Who You Are: A person who is playing a game. Spec how you want for your greatest enjoyment of the game, for whatever reason.
@ Ringo – Indeed, I think I need to clarify though. This isn’t about hunters who spec for DPS. This is about hunters who spec for what they like, personally. BM was obviously the flavor of the month spec for quite some time, I understand that. Now that 3.0 has hit, we have a lot more options because the DPS seems to have really been brought up a lot with the other trees. Apologies if I caused confusion =P
@ Toque – I 100% agree with you, having a devilsaur is as valid a reason to be BM as any other. =) Once again I fear this post may have come out in haste, deepest apologies.
Edited my post for clarification. Toque, your comment is actually EXACTLY the point I was trying to make, I fear it may have come out wrong.
Thanks for the clarification, Pike, I really appreciate it 🙂
I actually feel the same about Beastmaster spec as you. I love having my pet be a greater partner is the ‘whole’ that is a hunter. I’ve seen a lot of blogs turn very elitist, though, about what kind of person should be ALLOWED into their spec. It just never made sense to me.
@ Toque – Indeed Toque, it is a touchy subject. It is always hard to write about because it’s sort of a sore spot for a lot of people and people can be very emotionally invested in their spec. I welcome everyone who wants to be a Beast Master, to be a proud Beast Master! But I also encourage everyone to try out all the specs, just in case they find another one that they love even more.
I will have to agree with you that “Beast Master Hunters are a special breed.” Most of the ones that I know are very attached to their pets and have gone through a lot with them including the sometimes unique names that they choose.
On my troll I have chosen to spec. Marks due to the countless number of squishies that I love to kill in the BG’s, but none the less, all my pets are very special to me and it would be tough to give any of them up.
On my ‘other’ hunter I’m specced BM, and while I don’t ever see the crazy high crits that my troll gets, I do enjoy the overall damage that my pet does for me and I don’t have to hardly ever feign death at all.
All in all I think each of us should play with the style that suits us best whether it be you’re a raider, a quester, a RP’er or just love to PvP. Let’s all go out and have some fun with our pets!!
I’m forced to agree with Ringo (though I’m sure you saw that coming, Pike) – the pervasiveness and frequency with which you see BM Hunters nowadays is largely (solely?) due to their performance in raiding environments. It’s not a love for the playstyle – most BM Hunters I’ve encountered have told me that with no two ways about it.
That’s why I’m hoping the more equal performance of the trees in Wrath will change all that, and the remaining Beast Masters will be the ones who are in it to BE a Beast Master. 🙂
Maybe in the next expansion BM Hunters will get the 61 point talent “Tame Druid”. For example:
Tame Druid
Instant Cast
956 Mana
Duration 1 Minute Friendly/15 seconds Enemy
Tame target Druid. Usable only if Druid is in Cat, Bear, or Dire Bear form. Druid attack power increased by 100%, haste increased by 30%, armor increased by 10%, health increased by 10%. Can be used on friendly or enemy target. 5 minute cooldown. This will not dismiss current pet.
It would be like Priest Mind Control, only useful for things other then running people off of cliffs. Hehehe
[…] But, I agree with Pike, BM is not the spec for everyone.[…]
Like you, Pike, I have a couple of hunters, and I found it interesting that on my raiding hunter, I decided to forgo the last two tiers on the BM tree for the more desirable talents in the MM tree.
But on one of my leveling hunters (lvl 65), I went for the Exotic pets…even though I seriously doubt I’ll be able to do anything without my best friend PuddyTat.
PuddySaur or PuddyHound just doesn’t sound right….
Dax