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I'm wondering if this will make Marksman more viable as a raid DPS increase. Since Trueshot is raid-wide now, will it take the place of EW?
In theory yes, it would seem that Marksman would be the better choice for a raid DPS buff. In my opinion this change came about because Blizzard didn't want two specs having the same exact affects: EW VS TSA raid buff wise. Although between the two I think most would agree they would rather have EW over TSA, since TSA doesn't scale and our idea's to make TSA scale with RAP just seem to be falling on deaf ears.
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On another note, since Shadow Priests have pretty much lost their "mana batteryness" do you think SV Hunters will be replacing them in raids as the Battery? I mean in BC raiding, SV Hunters already out DPS shadow priests, so why bring in a less-efficient battery?
Yes and no, the biggest problem most people foresee with Shadow Priests is the scaling of their damage. If the damage doesn't scale as well as a Survival Hunter then there might be no point in even bringing one along to the raid. However you have to remember the buff now counts towards 10 people in the raid at any given time, and is based on who has the lowest amount of mana at the time when it procs.
Personally speaking my typical raids consist of 3 Tanks (1 paladin), anywhere from 7-8 healers, 5 Melee DPS (1 Ret Paladin, 1 Enh Shaman), 3 Hunters, and the rest are typically casters, warlocks, mages, elemental shamans, and a balance druid. Among everything in a typical raid you're looking at around 19-20 total mana users. Now granted in the high end SV should be critting a lot for their special shots, Explosive, Multi, Steady, and Kill-Shot (although I hope they change this ability before release), however when they crit they're only going to be getting half the raid, roughly. Now without proper testing it's hard to say if when it procs again, will it hit those same people who have the lowest mana? So out of the 10 you just hit with the buff, let's say 5 of them still have the lowest mana overall, will the buff restack on them and just start over?
Taking it a step further, if the Shadow Priest buff does not stack with the Survival Hunter buff, it should in theory move onto the next 10 people that it couldn't previously buff before. This is all in theory mind you since we can't test it on beta. I could see the benefits to having both classes in the raid, but would it make you choose a Shadow Priest over a Survival Hunter that's hard to say. I personally don't think it will change to much how raids are setup at the moment with current guilds. We've always used what works for us in the past, and even with talent changes from TBC there wasn't a whole lot of changes made to what you bring along in a raid.
You're going to want tanks, you're going to want healers, and you're going to want DPS. Yes specs will change, and one spec will more then likely be optimal over the other for Raid Buffs, Personal DPS, and Utility, but we'll just have to wait and see how this really affects us in the long run.
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Of course, beta notes are beta, and none of this reflects set in stone changes. I'd just like to hear some opinions on the matter. (As a SV Hunter I, personally, am shocked.)
From my own opinion, it appears that blizzard is trying to make all specs viable for DPS (hunter perspective not talking about any other class).
BM Tree for example is more or less emphasized on the talents themselves then anything else. Now you have a lower cooldown on your abilities to continue to use the same buff during a PVE or PVP situation. Will this sustain their #1 spot as the DPS spec for a hunter? Hard to tell due to the other changes of the other tree's. A lower cooldown on Beastial Wrath doesn't exactly mean you'll be able to dish out more damage then say a MM or SV right now. Not to mention Separation Anxiety seems a little lack luster to me and will probably need a buff, although again it's hard to theorize for a raid setting over a normal 5-man or PVP perspective. The exotic pet choice just seems more like a fun thing at the moment that they decided to put at the bottom of the tree. According to blizz they shouldn't be able to do more damage then another type of pet, just have "Exotic" abilities. So my raptor can claw you, but my T-rex can eat you kind of thing.
MM now looks like a better choice for DPS. The tree itself is very top heavy and most every other spec will be able to get some of the basic DPS talents this tree has to offer, but looking further down into the tree, it would seem that they are trying to buff this class out with even more damage and a more efficient way to do so. We may even see more hunters spec into Imp. Stings for better Chimera Shot effects. It appears that this class will be focused on a shot rotation consisting of Steady Shots, Chimera Shots, and Multi-Shots with a constant refreshing of stings on whatever it is you're fighting.
SV is still the utility raiding spec with a bit more DPS. With EW changing to self only this just means more personal DPS for us. It also appears that Blizzard is trying to make us use our stings more often with the new talent of Lock and Load. I've personally tested this on the beta and I have to say it's awesome. You get a 10 second buff to fire off 3 explosive shots free of cost. Currently it's bugged for the trapping portion of it and just doesn't work at all, but the sting does work quite well. I'll constantly round up 5 mobs and sting them all as I run them through a frost trap and lay waste with Explosive Shots everywhere, it's great fun.
Although the emphasis of Survival appears to based solely around Explosive Shot. T.N.T., Lock And Load, and Sniper Training all benefit Explosive Shot directly or in a small portion. In fact I don't see any other spec being able to successfully spec into Lock and Load without giving up something in their respective talent tree's. Not to mention it wouldn't do them any good since Arcane Shot is on the same cooldown as Chimera and Explosive Shot, and it's hard to say if BM's will be using Arcane Shots in their shot rotations with the new changes made to Steady Shot.
All of the specs appear to have the makeup for equal or on par DPS with each other. Although again it's hard to say just yet with all the changes coming about. We have yet to see anything in terms of raiding on the beta side, so all we can do is wait.
As far as PVP goes, MM and SV appear to be the real contenders right now. Personally speaking I think MM still may reign supreme, but I believe SV will give it a run for it's money. BM did receive some extra PVP perspectives in their talents but not nearly as much as these two tree's, at least in my opinion anyway.
Edited, Aug 29th 2008 10:45am by Joobishwun