I’m writing this suggestion (plea?) after one of your team members encouraged me to do so (on Discord). Initially, I was hesitant because I thought suggestions take months to be read and, if they’re applied at all, it’s usually a year later. Given the "urgency" of the current situation, I wasn’t sure it would help. But hey... it’s probably better than nothing. And it seems that all hunters who understand the extent of the issue share the same opinion.
Yesterday, you implemented the following "bug fix":
"Freezing Trap and Scatter Shot now share diminishing returns."
(viewtopic.php?f=63&t=14765&sid=b5a5812b ... 08854c0bfd)
Nobody saw this coming. At first, I wasn't sure if it was a bug or a stealth nerf, but it turns out it was intentional, labeled as a 'bug fix'.
(viewtopic.php?t=14775)
But in practice, as subtle as this 'fix' may seem on paper, it’s one of the harshest nerfs a class could suffer in PvP (maybe even more brutal than a '-15% damage' nerf or anything like that). To sum it up, it completely destroys the basic sequences that allow a hunter to stay competitive against certain classes (especially melee, but not exclusively).
Let me be clear: in the context of Twow, this "bug fix" was a mistake. It only creates sadness and frustration. There’s no positive feeling for anyone (except maybe for anti-hunter sadists). You probably didn’t anticipate the consequences, and no one will hold it against you if you revert it. In fact, most would really appreciate it.
Here are a few reasons why you should do it:
1/ Before the nerf, PvP hunters were already a tier B class.
2/ Nobody ever asked for hunters to be nerfed. Honestly, nobody even talks about hunters. They’re a tier B class with unique strengths and weaknesses, but definitely not overpowered. I’ve seen plenty of requests to nerf other classes, but hunters? Never.
3/ Hunter traps are already 100 times harder and riskier to use and chain than any other CC (sheep, fear, seduce, etc.). They come with far more constraints (must be out of combat, target positioning, cooldowns, etc.) while sharing the same vulnerabilities (can be dispelled, break on any damage). If you reduce their duration, it becomes the worst CC in the game by far.
4/ This nerf reduces the variety of viable PvP hunter builds. Without the talent, using Freezing Trap is now impossible (and without Freezing Trap, there’s no PvP for hunters). Up until now, the fun 30/21/0 build was playable, but now it’s useless because traps have become ineffective. In general, any build that doesn’t include Clever Traps is now irrelevant.
4b/ PvP has become less fun for hunters, while it hasn’t changed much for other classes. There’s really only a loss here... less reason to play a hunter (or to play at all, for 100% pvp guys).
5/ On Discord yesterday, you mentioned wanting to stick to the Blizzard baseline, hence the "fix." But in many ways, you’ve already defined your own baseline—and that’s a good thing. Twow is already quite different from the original game, and everyone’s fine with that. 'Fixing' certain classes while others don't follow the same rules makes no sense and is actually unfair.
6/ If you’re planning to make a major balance change soon, please leave hunters as they were until that happens. Don’t create a (possibly indefinite) period where hunters are the weakest and least interesting class to play in PvP.
7/ I played a hunter in vanilla (a loooong time ago), and I don’t remember traps being this short in Survival spec. It used to be easier to land the 'trap > take distance > aimshot' combo than it is after yesterday’s nerf. Now, the duration feels incredibly short.
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EDIT (important): AFTER TALKING WITH MULTIPLE HUNTERS ON DISCORD, IT APPEARS THAT:
1/ Since the "bug fix," trap duration is indeed much shorter than on vanilla (likely due to an issue with the DR calculation).
2/ The 'Clever Traps' talent isn’t working.
(so we find ourselves in a situation where Freezing Trap, our main CC, has become useless)
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So, please... reconsider this specific update and roll it back as soon as possible so PvP hunters aren’t left feeling demoralized when playing. Also, please don’t rely on time passing and our resignation to impose something as unfair and unjustified as this... As a PvP hunter, every day on Twow is a sad day from now on
We hunters are not asking for a new feature, a boost or anything like that - just a simple reversion to how things were two days ago. As if nothing happened.
Best,
Ragetto - Hunter
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