Losing the love of BM?...

[Slickrock]

So... looking at the BM AOE nerf, and the general approach to BM in Panda, and..

When did BM become the cooldown happy spec? Didn't that used to be MM? I remember when MM was the harder rotation. I'm not thrilled that base damage is consistently getting nerfed to control damage for the times that 5 procs or cooldowns line up. Yeah, you get great damage if everything lines up, but it kinda sucks when it doesn't all line up.

While I might miss some of my BM pets, I'm being drawn to MM as a spec that's easier to manage, and might actually do better dps at times when all the stars don't align.

(It doesn't help that the other hunter in my raid went BM because its the 'best' spec, and he has his little lineup of spirit beasts, and doesn't bring out other pets for missing buffs.. and he was SV all through DS because it was the "best" spec. He is a good player, but it is annoying.)

[Sasrei]

I actually really like BM, in fact I love BM dislike surv. I dont mind the gcds though annoying its not too bad. im still not used to having so many buttons to press and keep track of lol.

For some reason I cant get back in love with surv..

And the aoe nerf is for aoe pets only really, and not alot of people I know use an aoe pet anyways.

[Kalliope]

Amusingly, I am happy playing BM now that there are extra talents to watch out for. Oddly, I am running with Orpheus still in PvP, as opposed to my silithid, since for some reason silithids are kill on sight, but a tarantula is not, despite going big red. It's hilarious. I feel like a stealth BM hunter AND I get to keep my favorite PvP pet.

If your other hunter isn't bringing pets for missing buffs, he's not a good player, especially not when there are buffs missing. This hunter from my old guild, Mr. Min-Maxer, would have zero problem bringing a pet for a missing buff if it didn't hurt his dps. There's nothing to lose with every pet able to be ferocity for a raid now, so yeah....covering all the buffs increases one's own dps as well, so THAT should be top priority.

I really miss that guy, sigh.

[Slickrock]

Yeah, if I pvped a lot, might be different...

The other hunter certainly does rotations better than I do, I tend to keep my mouth shut, he also keeps up on gearing, the only thing he really is sub-par at is pet management (and he's also the GM!).

I do have my hyena and will be picking up a wolf, but not in love with either. I'm hoping the raidchecklist is working soon, as the in-game tool doesn't keep track of debuffs...

I might just bring my favorite boar to raid next week for the lols, but since we are working on heroic Spine still, that might not be the best choice... sigh.

[Kalliope]

Anyia is working on it in another thread, actually. There's an alpha version up!

If you're missing the physical damage debuff, it could be helpful.

[Sesamee]

One of the things I disliked about BM was it's relatively simple pve rotation. I loved it for pve but in pve I was just bored. I came from having a warlock as a main and I like having to keep track of lots of stuff. The current BM pve rotation is a step in the right direction. I'm still getting comfortable with the feel of BM right now but so far I'm really liking it. I find it to be a balance of watching cd's while making sure to use KC as soon as it comes up, and keeping track of focus so you don't get capped.

Ironically, it seems that Warlocks have been simplified now while Hunters have gotten a bit more complicated. At least for Destro as far as pve goes.

[Slickrock]

I hate tracking too many cooldowns, especially if they need to be stacked....

[Sesamee]

But the thing about the new cds is that other than in your opener (so readiness can refresh them all) for the most part you don't want to stack them. Get a good cd timer addon and it's a lot easier. A lot of hunters use Need to Know. I personally don't like the format of it and prefer Button Timers and Power Auras. PA isn't functional right now but it should be by the time MoP hits.

[Cerele]

I'm going to be honest here
I've played BM since vanilla, i love the spec and all the little tricks with it
Been through the title of worst DPS class/spec in the game, slaughtered thousands so on and so on, but not a single thing would prepare me for how much i absolutely love the new talents and BM. it's not as set as it was, many things are conditional, we have to many neat little abilities now and we've gotten so many awesome pets i feel we are getting a lot of love in my perspective

[Ziarre]

Power Auras is functional if you check 'Beta' as your preferred release type in Curse Client. Or, at least, it offers a new version for you to download when you do so.

And I love having more to do as BM! It was easy to learn and hard to master, but at the same time...it was too simple.

[Akycha]

Not right now. He took down the betas, because people were being whining drama queens and didn't know the difference between a beta and a release. Since he wasn't getting any useful feed back he took em down and is planning on putting something up in a week or so that is closer to a release state. It is a shame too since the current version works pretty good.

[Lisaara]

A small nerf to AoE shouldn't kill your love for a spec considering AoE doesn't matter that much.

[Slickrock]

A small nerf to AoE shouldn't kill your love for a spec considering AoE doesn't matter that much.

It wasn't the nerf, it was the way it was nerfed. Instead of nerfing the proc stacking, they nerfed the base damage.

But again, my real issue is that BM is becoming even more of a cooldown-happy spec, and I'm not a fan of it going more in that direction.

[Galaxy]

^ I'm with you, there.

I enjoy either weaving or a rotation so I can pay attention to the pretty graphics and mechanics instead of having my eyes locked on my action bar. But, that's me

[Lisaara]

There will be addons to manage it and we dont have THAT many cooldowns. Then again, I'm used to playing a druid. Cooldowns aren't an issue with me. I think it makes BM more interesting. Old rotation was boring.

[Ziarre]

Yeah, an extra two buttons to push isn't the end of the world. One of them's only every minute and a half!

(That's if you took Lynx Rush and Dire Beast.)

[Lisaara]

It honestly makes me love BM that much more cause it gives a new flavor to the rotation.

[Myrrmi]

Oddly, I am running with Orpheus still in PvP, as opposed to my silithid, since for some reason silithids are kill on sight, but a tarantula is not, despite going big red. It's hilarious.

So it's not only my problem?

I'm keeping a spiritbeast for pvp, and a rhino for 'special moments'... although I haven't really pvped in 5.0.4. yet (too busy packing alts up for Pandaria)

[Kalliope]

Oddly, I am running with Orpheus still in PvP, as opposed to my silithid, since for some reason silithids are kill on sight, but a tarantula is not, despite going big red. It's hilarious.

So it's not only my problem?

I'm keeping a spiritbeast for pvp, and a rhino for 'special moments'... although I haven't really pvped in 5.0.4. yet (too busy packing alts up for Pandaria)

It amuses the hell out of me, since almost every hunter I've seen in a bg has been BM in some shape or form....which means ALL pets should be KoS....but they're not. Non-exotic pets still fly under the radar. Other classes are so silly!

[Sar]

I've started using NeedtoKnow, which sticks handy timer bars onscreen to keep track of anything at all:

Mend Pet duration
Hunter's Mark duration
SS duration
KC cooldown
Dire Beast & Lynx Rush cd

etc etc

Loving the complexity of it atm, and still getting to grips with the rhythm and flow of it all.