Beast Mastery Buff..?

HELL NO!

The latest PTR Build has introduced a major change to the Beast Mastery tree.

  • The Beast Within now lasts 10 sec (Down from 18 sec) but now also increases all damage you deal by 10% at all time.
  • Bestial Wrath now lasts 10 sec. (Down from 18 sec)
Beast Mastery Nerf
The Great BM Nerf of '09

I don’t like this change at all. For one, this is going to seriously hamper BM’s viability in PvP. 18 seconds of immunity cut down to 10 is a deal breaker for sure. Right off the bat, I see this as a kick in the nuts for BM PvP’ers like myself. No bones about it, this change has me reeling from a PvP standpoint.

I haven’t seen any official comments on this, but it seems as if this is Blizzard’s attempt to bring Beast Mastery’s PvE DPS more inline with MM and SV. Gah… this is so misleading.

At first glance you may look at this and go, “wow, a 10% passive bonus to DPS… where do I sign up?” 😀 Let me tell you… the only time you’re going to see a huge bonus from this change is when your pet dies during a fight.

While a 10% passive bonus to Hunter DPS is nice, keep in mind that it’s a 10% passive bonus to weenie Hunter DPS. BM “Hunter” DPS sucks balls. It’s the pet that’s doing a good portion of the work.

What we’re losing is eight seconds of a 50% DPS increase for 45% of our DPS (this being our pet of course). Now granted this change will probably push BM up a teensy bit, it’s not going to be the 10% damage increase this changed tooltip would have you believe. I’d venture to guess it’s only going to be a couple of percent at best – like maybe 2-3%. Piss on that.

The other thing that the shorter duration on The Beast Within does is to introduce even more mana problems. Having only 10 seconds of 20% cheaper shots down from 18 is huge. In turn, this is going to cause Beast Masters to have to stay in AotV longer, which is really going to hurt. Actually, in certain groups where you may not have a mana battery, this new mechanic vs. the old may just be a wash for DPS.

Fargin Ice Holes!
Fargin Ice Holes!

F**K this change. 😡

At the very least, they should increase the duration of The Beast Within to 15 seconds. This would be a slight nerf to BM for PvP, but it would make enough of a difference in PvE to make it a worthwhile change across the board.

I’ll be watching this one closely. In fact, I think it may be time to copy over and keep an eye on this.

more later…

Source: MMO-Champion

23 thoughts on “Beast Mastery Buff..?”

  1. I personally see this as a nerf.
    At first i thought the bwrath timer nerf would balance out with the bonus 10% attack power increase but there is more to it than that. My dps in raids as a BM(yes bm) has been reduce from at 4k+(top 5 BM FTW) to a lowly 2.5k(average).(hopefully mana issue thingy and they fix it)

    I have tried several times and still got the same result.. i dont know what Blizz got planned but hopefully it’ll shed some petty for BM Hunts cause they are in a tough spot.

    And whats up with the attack power bonus? Is that a new feature to keep people busy and noticing that something is wrong with the current BM hunters?.
    I mean BM Hunters are suppose to play using their beast/pets. It looks like were movining farther and farther away from our characters roles. We might as well be half@$$ Marksmans lol cuz it looks just like another trueshot arua buff, cept we dont get all of their “kool” asz abilities. =(

    Overall if wow wanted us to have a defensive buff for Beastial Wrath wow should’ve alter Bwraith completely.

    Like the idea of speed bonus with the old “glyph of monkey”. We SHOULD be able to outrun our chasers(30%move increase) because we have no other way how to fight unless ya want us to go melee…..most like well just get one serpent sting and arcane shots as often as we can before the 10 secs up then we get pawned like a MM but with no abilities.

    Maybe they should allow us switch spots with pet or traps.(copy warlock portal)Having a short distance teleport trap doesnt sound to bad, althought survival would probably get first dibs since they are the trap masters.

    Summoning all pets to attack our preys for atleast 10 seconds(like shamans summoning two ghost wolves and DK summon undead army). Sounds great and worthy of actually traing all of our long trained pets but mostlikey not gonna happen dps would be to unstable.
    Would be very fun though to have your pets chase your prey.

    If they fix it so were not as realiable on Bwrath for dps they may just finally focus more on actually fixing how we can really dps.

    HINT:
    More dps wont really help us in pvp when their right on us, unless were able to over-dps and slaughter em before they even get close which is something blizz dont want to do. They’ve already cut our disengage down dont expect too much….

    Otherwise imma do like what warriors do.
    When all fail ROLL DK!!!!!!!!!!!
    jk hunter ftw!!

    Reply
  2. OMG more people are playing the lowest represented spec of the lowest represented class in arena!! WE HAVE TO NERF THEM!! F*** this. This is complete and utter bullsh*t, all because people saw beast cleave win some tournament and now people are overreacting. I still don’t see any nerfs to DK’s, mages, rogues, etc.. that are anywhere close to this. I’m one of the few hunters who play BM in arena, and this is a crock. Now I’ll have to respec to survival or marks to pvp and lose the ability to summon my 3 spirit beasts.

    Reply
  3. I did not say BM is a waste in every aspect. I said it is in terms of DPS, compared to MM or SV. If you go raiding and you are a hunter, raid leader/members will expect the best from you. In that sense, BM will not offer the top.

    I love exotics too but -yet again- in my opinion they are 90% vanity and 10% utility. That does not mean they are “useless, waste of time, etc..” in every aspect: they are bad for DPS, great for self satisfaction (and that counts, ofc!).

    Another aspect that makes me feel “meh!” when hunters tame beasts: I love hunting and taming but I hate dismissing pets. WoW offers gazilions of pets to be tamed: vanity ones, rares, useful, fun, … But you will be allowed to keep few of them. Too few. With dual spec, PvE, PvP, … it would be great to have more slots. Maybe having 2-3 “fighting” slots and (unlimited?) vanity/collection slots, for example.

    That’s why I do not enjoy/like BM. I feel it’s still broken in too many aspects -for PvE at least- compared to MM or SV. That said, one of the best moments in all my WoW career was the hunt Loque’Nahak.

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  4. Seriously, TBW and BW is pretty much the only thing BM hunters have going for them. It is a huge hit to Hunter PVP, which is almost nonexistent from a competitive standpoint anyway.

    It hurts every aspect of the game for a BM hunter from soloing to PVE, to PVP.

    To reiterate, the only time it will help at all is when the pet dies.

    Can we change Trueshot Aura to add 10% damage instead?:)

    They better seriously drop the mana cost or cooldown or something.

    Reply
  5. Hi Pike,

    It is a buff for raiding BM Hunters, albeit a small one, but the nerf to PvP is what has me reeling.

    I too normally try to remain positive regarding changes such as these, but this one is tough to swallow. 10 seconds of big red down from 18 is going to neuter BM something fierce in arena and BGs.

    If I was a raiding BM Hunter such as yourself, I’d be pleased with this upcoming change. As for me, I can only hope they reach a little better compromise before it goes live. I’m all for BM getting buffed for PvE, but not if it means nerfing BM PvP to the ground. :\

    Reply
  6. I don’t see it as a huge nerf myself, but then, I don’t spend much time in PvP (except for pre-60 battlegrounds, which are made of awesome and win).

    It’s gonna be a buff, not a big buff, but a buff nonetheless. In addition, latest inklings from Ghostcrawler seem to be hinting at buffing (perhaps largely so) the mana reduction thingy.

    Overall even if it’s kind of silly for a buff, it’s a step in the right direction I think.

    Then again, I tend to be waaaaay optimistic about these types of things sooooo… >_>

    Reply
  7. To each his own.

    Dalaila’s obviously more than a little biased when it comes to specs. 😉

    I like the rare exotic pet hunts. Many see them as a waste of time, but really… if you enjoy it, is it really a waste..? I mean c’mon, what exactly defines a good usage of one’s time when it comes to playing World of Warcraft..? lol.

    In the right hands, Beast Mastery can be a competitive spec. I’ve been in a handful of raids where I’ve seen good BM Hunters own other SV Hunters who even outgeared the BM.

    I say do what you like, and if you do it well, then that makes it even more enjoyable. 🙂

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  8. Look on Youtube for Tribunalxhunter, he is another BM PVE player and does decent DPS. It’s not as good as MM/SV for raiding, but it’s still not bad, so it depends if you are a min/max’er or someone that wants to enjoy the game and still be able to pull their weight.

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  9. Your entitled to your opinion Dalaila, but I disagree. BM is my main spec, the only spec I’ve ever seriously used and i’m always competitive if not leading in dps. BM is perfectly viable.

    As for this change, I have mixed feelings, popping bestial wrath is my biggest dps boost so shortening it for a little extra hunter dps seems like its more likely to neuter BM dps rather then buff it :/

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  10. @ Gar

    Being a PvE player with minor PvP fun (BG’s) I see BM as a vanity spec (Loque, Skoll) and “farming spec” (+10% mount speed). Apart from that… in a PvE environment is just pure trash (not to mention raids).

    I’m a deep MM lover, always been since day 1… moons and moons ago. I can’t stand being a dumb puppet when my pet dies. Plus, I feel MM is much more fun in terms of tricks and things to do 🙂

    There is also another thing that drives me crazy: speccing BM and hunting for a rare exotic… wasting a lot of time… to discover that you will do less damage than any MM/SV with a normal cat. That’s just silly.

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  11. @ awesome

    The 10% passive bonus applies to the Hunter only. It is not a flat 10% passive bonus to overall DPS.

    The damage boost is not a stat boost, so therefore none of the Hunter DPS boost applies to the pet.

    Pets are responsible for roughly 45% of overall DPS.

    We are losing 8 entire seconds of a 50% damage bonus to 45% of our DPS. Furthermore, we are also having to pay 20% additional mana for approximately 5 shots that won’t enjoy the 8 additional seconds of TBW.

    The nerf to PvP is huge. The buff for PvE is really only going to be in the neighborhood of about 2%.

    While you are entitled to your opinion, I suggest you do a little more research before you start name calling.

    Reply
  12. You are an idiot.

    This is a huge BM buff if it is true, 10% more dmg at ALL times, not just when you click to go big red.

    If the other patch notes are true stats transfuring to pet then it will be a spec that might come close to SV and MM now.

    of course I think they will decrease overall pet dmg then.

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  13. Half of a hunter’s mechanics are ill thought out sadly, so I fully expect them to do this as they seem to think it’s a brilliant idea.

    Better work on camping KK before this is rolled out then…

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  14. I think the biggest thing you have not touched on is…

    We won’t be able to solo tame King Krush anymore!

    No more guaranteed fear protection for the 14-odd seconds it will take to tame him.

    Reply
    • @ Uchikoma

      Believe me… that occurred to me after I posted this. We think alike. 😉

      This change is so ill thought out. I really hope they don’t go live with it in its existing state.

      Reply

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