Well, it looks like Survival is finally and officially going to be the melee spec. And I don’t mean the weird sort of hybrid Lacerate spec from Vanilla. A full on melee spec.
…and that’s all we know so far. That, and they get a polearm or something for their artifact weapon.
I find myself wondering how they’re going to play out. Will they play like a warrior? Like a rogue? Since we’ve got Focus and that works similarly to Energy, I’d assume it’ll be kind of like a rogue. But I also think with large weapons like polearms, things’ll feel more like a warrior or paladin with a two-hander.
I also find myself thinking about the role the pet is going to play. Maybe there will be combo moves where the pet and hunter act together? Who knows! There are a lot of possibilities.
All I know for sure is that, even though every expansion I gripe like an old fogey about “hunters these days”, this is definitely gonna be the biggest change to the class we’ve had since mana was replaced by focus. How is it all going to turn out? We’ll just have to wait and see.
What do YOU guys think about Survival going melee?
I find myself playing melee more often these days so hopefully they don’t muck this up. It would be nice to play my favorite class in a role I enjoy playing more these days. Plus, how awesome would it be to say you just put Raptor Strike and Mongoose Bite back on the bars?
I absolutely, utterly hate this idea in every way.
Hunter has always been and still is the only non-magical ranged class available nowadays.
There are already very few ranged classes anyhow. That’s: Mage, Warlock, Balance Druid, and Elemental Shaman. That is all. Compare this to the number of melee classes available.
Why make another melee class out of a class that has always been ranged?
I have been playing Survival from the start (WoTLK) with a brief break for MM (WoTLK) and BM (Cata). I absolutely loved SV since they introduced the auto Serpent Sting DoT in MoP. I still love it and play it all the time.
Now my favorite spec is turned completely around. I hate MM, because nowadays you have to stand still to get better DPS, and Aimed Shot makes me go nuts (since it’s non-instant). I never enjoyed BM that much. And now I’m going to either have to go with one of these specs (no-DoT BM or no-pet MM) or go melee.
Blizzard has lost a huge bunch of subscribers already due to their experiments in WoD. One would think they realize, that making such huge changes is not the way to keep their player base intact, and a melee hunter definitely won’t get them a bunch of new or returning subscribers.
This is one of the news items that is making me seriously consider giving up on the game after 8 years…
Oh… One more thing… Artifacts, doh. I am a DWARF. I use a GUN, not an elven bow or a crossbow. I do NOT want to use a spear. I want to keep my wonderful rifle, and my wonderful pets!
We don’t need more melee classes but I think the idea is kind of cool. It could potentially be a fun specc to play, we have to wait and see. Very doubtful if I would want to raid with one.
I think it will add to the gameplay if it can retain certain mobility, which is the main reason i enjoy Hunter..especially at pvp regardless the spec.
At the end i like the idea of try melee without having to lvl up and gear an Alt