I saw this post late last night in the WoW Damage Dealing Forum, but was too tired to comment on it at the time.
The spirit beasts are not the real issue from our perspective. We think spirit beasts are doing fine and we don’t want them to be the only choice for BM hunters since speccing BM should give a player more choices for pets (ideally) and not less.
The problem mainly lies with the wolf just being overpowered. We did consider nerfing them for patch 3.3 but decided that the nerf to pretty much all hunter PvE dps was not worth the benefit of providing more options for pets. Keep in mind though that we have and will continue to make unpopular or even controversial nerfs if we feel they are a benefit for the game.
Groan… What a load of crap.
First of all, wolves are not the issue here. The real issue here is that exotic ferocity pets need to be doing more f**king damage, especially Spirit Beasts. They’re 51 point talent pets, with a dps-only special… wtf..?!
If they were to really put the bat to them, all nerfing wolves would do is cause every hunter to switch to a raptor. Sure, some will go for wasps and maybe even cats, but chances are nearly every hunter currently using a wolf will just grab a raptor if it’s going to provide the best DPS. Now where’s your variety..?
Instead, why not show BM Hunters a little love and buff the pets that took them days, weeks or even months to obtain. Taming a Spirit Beast is no small feat for many, so there should be some sort of reward that accompanies it. Why not have them be just a little bit better. They don’t have to be the best, but they could at least be right near Devilsaurs. Makes sense to me.
BM is already behind MM and SV by a noticeable margin, so why not give hardcore BM Hunters a slight tip of the hat by making Spirit Beasts something more than just a vanity pet. It’s pretty sad that a pet which can take weeks on end of camping to acquire, provides less overall DPS than 2-3 different non exotic pets.
Beast Mastery is a 51 point talent, and Spirit Strike is a pure DPS ability. Why on earth should Spirit Beasts not be at least first or second in damage for Beast Mastery Hunters..?! /boggle
In my opinion, Blizzard has dropped the ball with Spirit Beasts. They should have either stopped with Loque’nahak, or introduced new Spirit Beasts with different abilities. Instead, they just keep reusing the same pet model with a new skin. It’s ridiculous.
At the very least… they should give hunters the option for additional stable slots so that the Spirit Beast “collectors” can catch ‘em all. Hell… if they did that, I’d probably go grab Arcturis and maybe even Skoll, just for the fun of it.
I think the concept of Spirit Beasts was a cool introduction to the game for pet people such as myself. However, I feel the novelty is wearing off.
What I would like to see is a move towards more pet-specific skills. Each pet should mirror it’s normal counterpart in terms of abilities, but just make them a little bit sweeter.
Cats could have a “sepectral claw” attack that maybe ignores a portion of the target’s armor. Wolf SBs could have a ramped up howl that also does a small bit of single target damage along with the AP buff. Arcturis could be more of a tanky Spirit Beast with ethereal armor maybe, which gives him an increased chance to be missed, or something else along those lines.
Those are just rough examples, but I think they help make my point. Some variety ffs. That way, BM Hunters could have 3 or 4 Spirit Beasts if they so desired, yet all of them would be useful in some way.
I think as long as the devs are fine with BM being a distant 3rd from the other 2 specs in terms of DPS potential, they should at least indulge the die-hards with some added benefits like more stable slots or SB variety. It’s the least they could do.
Anyway, here’s how Blizz feels about BM’s sub-par DPS potential…
It may not be great for raiding but is still good for leveling while both Marks and Surv are competitive for raiding. I wouldn’t expect any big changes for now.
So there ya have it. Beast Masters, don’t hold your breath waiting for buffs to your DPS. Blizz is fine with BM being a “leveling tree”. I know some of you that are quite proficient at Beast Mastery are able to do amazing things with the spec, but with gear and skill being equal, there’s just no competing with MM and SV.
Chances are, many of the Beast Masters that play the spec at a high level do so because they are into the pet aspect of the class. These are the same people that probably would go the extra mile to use a Spirit Beast if they felt it would provide more overall damage. Why not make this happen?
…and leave Wolves alone!!!
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So what does Mousie, a raiding Beast Master who uses spirit beasts think of this blue post?
I had him for about 20 levels, until about the time I found out about Broken Tooth.
