If you could design the BM artifact from scratch...

[f1nr]

What would you do?

On the realistic side

Within the general framework of Legion artifacts, I'd make the 4 paths for the artifact centered around pet family & weapon type combos:
- wolves and bows
- raptors and crossbows
- bears and guns
- boars and high-tech crossbow/gun combos

Each combo would obviously get unique weapon & pet skins (4 x 4, possibly with other families as alternatives). The intro quest would be settled in one of the "nature" zones (maybe Sholazar Basin? or even better, another version of the Vyrkul hunting forest from that new dungeon) and would involve meeting 4 mighty hunters (with 4 weapon & pet combos). The objective would be to hunt down a beast, basically a boss (for some lore-relevant reason), I would aim for a feel like in that game where 3 players are hunters and the 4th player is a giant monster (don't remember the name). The boss shows up in random locations and you have to do different things to weaken him. During the first encounter, one of the mighty hunters dies (you can choose which one to get his weapon and, later, his pet). You learn that to defeat the boss, all 4 pets have to be present (they could represents 4 elements or 4 meaningful things in the zone). You get the hunter's weapon and have to go find & tame his pet, now lost without a master. You and the 3 remaining mighty hunters heroicly defeat the beast and go have a beer with Hemet Nesingwary.

Other than that the artifact (traits etc.) could work pretty much the same way, I'd just replace the lightning theme with nature.

If I could do literally ANYTHING I wanted

Outside of the general framework of the artifacts (4 paths with 4 looks, one instanced quest/scenario to get it, one trait tree for all paths), I think I'd go with a list of different beasts you'd need to hunt down and another list of those you need to tame (or befriend with a special item that works like taming). Once you prove your worth, you can start the quest/scenario for the basic artifact. From there, I'd create 3 quest lines for 3 paths, this time revolving around pet specs. Tenacity would get a gun, ferocity - a bow and cunning - a crossbow. To get the weapon and be able to tame the associated pet, you would have to prove your abilities in DPS (Ferocity, providing back up fire, DPS races), soloing (Tenacity, leading the group and tanking) and PvP-style action (Cunning, CCing the right mobs, interrupting etc.). All the quest lines would take place in a jungle/forest under Legion's invasion (again, Sholazar is a strong contender but maybe if they revamped Un'goro? since it was like a playground for titans, I would imagine there would be some powerful toys buried there) and, specifically, demonically posessed wildlife. Each would lead to a different final boss that we manage to cleanse at the end and he allows us to tame him. Once again, I would pick the "default" families for all the specs: tenacity bear, ferocity wolf and cunning bear. Or since it's Sholazar or Un'goro, maybe a gorillas, a raptor and a dinosaur?

Weapon & pet skins would be independant, weapon skins could be unlocked the usual way (whatever it is), for pets you would need to go back into that scenario and hunt down rares/bosses, with each being a Fel Rangari-ish challange.

We would also get full control of the second pet, just like we can control out primary pet.

The general artifact theme would be, once again, much less engineering styled, more nature and druidic themes. Other than that I don't really care about the traits since DPS will be more or less balanced anyway and it's tough to give fun options without influencing end game. I would however include options to significantly boost pet healing and tanking capabilities, and maybe a trait that would cause it to grow 1% with each attack, stacking up to 25% or so. Those could just be disabled in raids and PvP.

So.. what would you do?

[WerebearGuy]

Here's my two cents;

I like the gun artifact, even though a gun SHOULDN'T be an artifact (modern technology is not ancient enough. Mimiron not allowed). Instead of it being a mechanical weapon, I feel it should be made of bones from Proto Drakes. Like, a massive femur carved intricately and enchanted to not shatter from explosive force. Proto Drakes are basically beast versions of dragons, so having the gun based off of Galkarond would be impressive. A common proc that, instead of Hati, summons a Proto Drake to your side would be amazing.

[Xota]

I'd have both gun and bow variants. The second pet would be summoned on demand, and it would be optional (with the damage being integrated into the real hunter pet when it wasn't used). Players would have more choice on its model and name, so that every single BM hunter didn't have the same third wheel.

I have no problem with it being tied to the Ulduar Titanic guardians (I'd even like one of the gun models be to similar to the unused Ulduar gear gun). The weapon would have animal motifs (at least in most of the variants). But not like giant elephant skull trophies hanging off of it, more like artistic carvings. The MM crossbow is a good example. Here's a mock-up I did for a BM bow:


There wouldn't be a weird sideways snake crossbow. I don't even

[Araucaria]

I feel that the theme that was chosen for BM's Artifact weapon does fit the gun. Technology and electricity. Norse mythology and Ulduar. Maybe it should have a closer relationship with our pets and the beasts we summon, just like the gun could have.
Imo, Hati is a good choice for the Artifact pet, but not the fact that every single BM hunter will walk around with one. The chance of changing the wolf's look with the different weapon choices is not so bad, but it is still quite limited. I would like a taming method of unlocking skins and models for Hati, with challenge tames, but instead of adding another pet to your stable, it adds another skin for the Artifact pet. It would be a way of making the BM Artifact closer to taming and being with beasts, which is a part of Beast Mastery, not just hunting down great animals (like Hemet Nesingwary), but also bonding with them (like Rexxar, even though he's not BM).

[13thmaiden]

Anything??

Well, I don't hate the guns, though I've always thought it weird we get guns and MM get bows, which MM as they're being described now make me think of snipers and sniper = guns in my mind. But meh, I've used guns a long time so it doesn't bother me too much.

If I could do anything, I'd actually go for a few more crossbows. That's a weapon that doesn't get enough love despite it being pretty awesome.

Also I'd design the guns better because they look pretty damn hideous. I'd go for more carved animal motifs, feathers, things like that.

I mean look at this gun:



Or some of these, I especially love the Envoy of Mortality for the proto-drake bone idea.



Or even this



I mean seriously they already have some great designs they can work with, and they gave us.......those.

But I did say that I'd go for more crossbows, so lemme show some pretty crossbows:











I mean LOOK AT THESE MODELS!!!!!!

Is it so hard to work with some of these to make a decent looking set of artifacts for us? That don't look....like bleh?

I also like the idea of having some kind of lightning skin or something applied to our pet, it would make us a lot more varied rather than having an 8 year old model with broken front legs huffing against our backs. We're all gonna look the same even though they claimed they took away the pet buffs so that 'we could chose whatever pet we wanted, without having to worry about buffs.' It's just annoying. I mean I like the idea of another pet with us but not if they'll all be the same *sigh*

((Also, Hati IS A BOY BLIZZARD!!! In every prose he's mentioned, he and skoll are called BROTHERS, and referred to as HE. If you're gonna use the mythology atleast let the poor animal keep his regular gender!!! *grumbles*))

[Bendak]

If I had the opportunity to do it from scratch I wouldn't even make it strictly weapon based.

Idea 1: Something that augments the pet, like a mythical pet collar that is paired with a weapon.

Idea 2: A weapon that comes with some kind of accessory (like a whistle?) that enhances the Hunter's ability to control beasts, giving them the power to fully command two of their own beasts at once.

Since it would be near impossible to visually show a collar on all the available pets, obviously you can't do that. But you can do other cool things, like new spell effects or even new effects on the pets themselves. If you go with the accessory idea, you could display it on the Hunter (if it fits) or use some kind of effect to sell it. Or maybe it's attached to the weapon itself, sort of dangling off it like a keychain Let's be honest, Hunter spell effects and animations are pretty far behind the other classes. Have you seen some of the cool stuff coming in Legion for other classes? It's insane. To be fair we have the pet customization, but still... some of our current effects are going on 10 years old.

When I cast Kill Command, I don't want my Hunter to just do a little fist bump. I want a crazy red effect shooting out of me, towards my pet, as I command it to kill. Then a vicious bite graphic in front of the pet itself when it happens. If I'm using it on another player, I want them shaking in their boots. They should know it happened without looking at their floating combat text. Bestial Wrath could look so much cooler with some updates as well. Have the pet literally fuming with wrath, and have every attack it does during BW add a blood effect or blood spatter on the ground (too far? ). Cobra Shot could be a little more exciting visually, considering it's our only real shot we have left!

Speaking of the current artifact effects, I hope they keep working on those. Titan's Thunder is like... well, you don't even if you used it without looking closely. There should be beam discharged from the Titanstrike into the pets to initiate it or something along those lines.

Fun stuff to think about, but you're better off just accepting our newfound interest in high voltage electricity.

[Quiv]

To be honest, if I was building the BM artifact up from scratch, it would be based around Rexxar and BM would be the melee spec, not Survival. However that ship has sailed soooooo....

[The real suggestion]: The BM artifact isn't so much a concern of mine, its the story that props it up. I actually really enjoyed the story by itself, I just didn't like that they forced BM into it. So that is where I would make the change, the story/lore.

The main thing (only thing?) that ties the Beast Mastery spec to the Titanspark is an extremely circumstantial situation with Loken's wolf. This is the main problem with it IMO, you have to make it fit BM. Beast Mastery is one of the most thematically robust specs in the game, it shouldn't be hard to play it up. Since a forced artifact doesnt really play up the fantasy of being a master of beasts, at least not in my eyes, this is my direction.

The spec as I have seen now focuses on having a swarm of beasts out. This angle does play on being a master of beasts (pet AI challenges notwithstanding). So why not make the artifact unlock our current beasts full potential, and truly master them?

I would change the "exotic" mechanic. I would make each pet family have a special "exotic" ability/function/graphic that only Beast Masters tap into. To me, a beast mastery taps into the full depths of all his beasts, not just a select few that are deemed too "exotic" for normal taming. A wolf (or even devilsaur) in the hands of a Survival hunter won't be as powerful/versatile as one trained at the hands of a Beast Master.

I believe if you start with this foundation, building an artifact around the theme would be easy, fun, and relevant. Animal themed weapons for example. Tie it to a lore character that makes sense.

[pop]

A more exotic beast inspired designs

and megaman blasters.

[13thmaiden]

I've heard another good idea, giving the guns and bows artifacts to the MM and instead giving us something that affects the pet.

(someone may have said this already)

Anyways, like a 'collar' of Hati or something, that applies a lightning skin to the animal, and depending on the type of collar you unlock, it makes various different colors and whatnot.

It would be somewhat like how they've got the feral druid's artifact turning them into trees.


Here's what it could say:

"This is the collar of the legendary Hati, the brother of Skoll. Like his brother, Hati is imbued with the power of storms, even able to control lightning with just a howl! With this, your pet will be given the power of Hati and become one with the storms!!"

Something like that, and possibly add that it gives us another pet slot to open and have one of our CHOSEN other companions and have 2 pets out...

Never will happen, but I can dream!

[Nazja]

Leaving the models aside (They don't really look like something crafted by Mimiron.), I actually like Titanstrike a lot. The questline is one of my favourites, if not he favourite.

If I could change something though, I would change the characters we interact with.
I would (a) either turn it into an elunite bow (She's basically Artemis, after all.) and Hati could... remain Hati (But with Elune's blessing.), since he chases the moon, or (b) I would swap Thorim and his gun with Freya and her bow (Yes, I know that druids like to claim her as theirs, but hunters are also nature magic users and it makes sense for their thematics to overlap.) and give her some other pet.