Can we please have the Dev’s look at the weapon ratings of the various Hunter items compared to weapons from that tier. Currently hunter items have higher ratings than weapons from 2 expansions later. This makes it where there is no choice in what items are used for almost every class. Currently DoF Hunter 1 hand hunter weapons have a rating of 81.07 Qeynos Claymore 1 hand weapons have a Rating of 70.93 Soulfire 1 hand weapons have a rating of 75.95 DoF Crossbow has a rating of 106.67 (comparing to sig 2 handed weapons) Qeynos Claymore 2-Hander has a rating of 93.01 Soulfire Longsword has a rating of 99.68 This gets even worse with the release of KoS Hunters & EoF hunters. Historical ratings hunter ratings below. KoS Hunters 1 handers had a rating of 97.89 EoF Hunters 1 handers had a rating of 107.89 KoS Crossbow had a rating of 128.8 EoF Crossbow had a rating of 141.47 More food for thought the Heroic Ranger Epic only has a rating of 136.8 while the Mythical version has a rating of 151.2, this makes the EoF crossbow better then the Heroic Epic and the RoK crossbow would be better then the Mythical version. Based on the hutners items supposed to be 1 tier above the current tier of equipment, DoF 1 handers should have had ratings in the low 70s, KoS in the mid to upper 70s. DoF crossbow should have been in the low 90s and KoS crossbow should be in the upper 90s. *Please note, all of the numbers above are from online out of game sources, once I get home I will log in to live and I will update the values to the in game values.
There should be no hunters weapons, and the ratings from them should be swapped onto the sig weapons or epic weapons from the expac. Simply removing hunters weapons kind of dunks scouts a bit, since they're barely keeping up *with* the OP hunters ratings. The rating formula is: (Rating1+Rating2)*0.7 And then account for a ~5-10% hit bonus in favor of xbows. and the fact that it takes up a single slot that can be used with a shield. It's all a mess. Really seriously needs a fix, since some of the most iconic items in the game are going unused, and class balance is getting obliterated by it.
They've figured out that this approach maximizes subscriptions across the expansions for those who drop in to get all the pixels then drop out once they have them. These items are walled behind tokens, forcing people to keep playing, just like they rolled out in TSO.
I personally agree with Maergoth that they should be removed but if they want to keep them as you said, then they should atleast fix the ratings on them and not make them better then items 2-3 expansions later.
People will still play for every slot other than weapons. Keep them to the dual-slots, like charms, wrists, rings, earrings.Or consider the adornment approach. Or the new gear slot. Or literally anything.
100% agree that hunters weapons ruin a massive part of the game IMO. Weapons used to be by far the most interesting part of itemization and progress. Now most of the cool weapons go straight in the trash. Even though adornments technically come out in EoF, we already have plenty now. I would LOVE to see hunters rewards be changed into some type of adornment that empowers existing items instead of replaces them. Or potions, mounts, buffs, or something else too - anything but the way it is now. Game feels like it should change it's name to "CrossbowQuest 2"
It is a two fold issue though. First, you need to flatten any previous tier hunter items. (turn down the damage, lose the fervor, adjust the stats) And then adjust any future tiers to meet, but not exceed items that you get from signature quests, epics, etc. I like the idea of making it adornments that you could get that would enhance some of the already good gear out there to keep it relevant, especially the closer we get to having epics. If people are concerned about being able to get a crossbow for looks or whatever, leave it on the vendor. Cut the stats to match current tier weapons and remove the fervor and make the proc equal to current tier. Seems foolish that a caster would want a crossbow (a tool that was created for foot soldiers) over a nice wand that shoots out balls of fire or bolts of lightning. Even more foolish is that it has become the go-to for every class. All those items and only 3 or 4 ever get used. Archetype specific (fighter, healer, mage, scout) adornments and/or adornments that fill gaps of stats we seem to be missing on gear (casting/reuse/recovery speed, etc.) would be a much better option than the current hunters options.
An alternative to weapons or adornments is to make the hunters buffs/procs/etc. a spell buff. There could be a generic tank (and heal, and dps) buff, or DBG could add some flavor and make class or subclass specific spells as they did with epic weapon spells when the weapons themselves became obsolete. To keep the same sort of balance, you can only run two of the spells at once. The T7 spells would be an upgrade of the T6 spells, with the same effects and bigger numbers.
That is a nice idea. It could even be used to make up for some of the classes that lack in the group/raid utility areas to bring them up to the level of being desirable and get us out of the summonerquest we seem to be stuck in.
I wouldn't be opposed to making Hunters orange slot adorns instead of OP items like they did in EoF Tarinax. Allows signature items to be reusable and not be completely useless like they are now.
With the announcement of a Live Event Gear Slot, maybe Hunters can be reworked into an item for that slot? Hunter's Medallion - 60 hunters coins -- Hunter's Quickening Medallion - stats are fervor, cast stats (reuse/cast/ab mod) with Flay Proc -- Hunter's Slaying Medallion - stats are fervor, melee stats (flurry, ma, ab mod) with Flay Proc -- Hunter's Defending Medallion - stats are fervor, tank stats (max hp, mit increase, block) with Undying Clicky
I also really like Habeas's idea. On Live, there's "Flawless buffs", we could rework Hunters into an upgradeable spell.
I don't have a good idea for replacements options like some others but I can say as a scout feeling like you are locked to the Stiletto and crossbow feels bad. there are so many cool weapons in the game that just don't get touched. +1 for the adornment option.
If it was itemized in such a way as to be on par with current hunters, it'd be fine. For example, if you removed all of the blue and green stats off of it, and just left the fervor, procs, and worn stats (extra reuse from off hand/ranged), then it'd still be worth doing, and there'd be no stat inflation.
I personally think they should lift the two Hunters items worn at any one time and let the uber nerds collect them like Infinity Stones.
It seems like the point of hunters SHOULD be to keep max level people logging in so that the people still lvling up will have people still running dungeons throughout the xpac. The fact that you need to be max level to get the quest seems to defeat the purpose. So you have a bunch of max level people running dungeons they are well bored with while people still lvling up are spamming lfg all day.
The point of Hunters isn't to help people who are leveling find groups. Just like it isn't about catchup mechanics or helping guilds complete raid content. It's just about DAU metrics, that's it.
Afterwards, nothing prevents us from doing them and being satisfied with what the game gives long before the implementation of the hunters. If another system takes hold, there will be others unhappy. For some guilds it's a significant plus to achieve your goals.
