Wednesday, May 13, 2015

Focusing Shot Spoiled Me

Am I the only hunter out there that was playing survival for a long time with focusing shot and recently started messing around more with marksman and beast mastery that is finding that cobra / steady is really annoying the crap out of me?

The cast time between focusing shot and cobra / steady seems to be negligible.  Before haste is applied focusing is a 2.5 second cast time and both cobra and steady sit at a 2 second cast time. 

To anyone that is a button masher like I am where I spam my keys waiting for the next ability I can cast to become available a 0.5 second difference really is like an eternity but after using it for so long, and seeing it after some haste was applied, that 0.5 second cast time doesn't seem to be much of a difference.  Actually that 0.5 second difference in cast time seems to be a little bit closer to a 0.2 or a 0.3 second difference now with some gear.

So basically we are talking something you need to stand still for (focusing shot) which might be considered more of a skill thing for the usually mobile all the time hunter class vs something you can cast while moving.  One returns a boatload of focus, the other almost none in comparison.

With the exception of a few fights were I was still sucking it up with focusing shot sometimes thanks to the RNG of things I have pretty much gotten comfortable with standing still, or at least standing still 2 seconds at a time.  I was not very fond of focusing shot when I first started using it.  So many times I was used to moving that I messed up a cast and needed to fix myself from that habit, but such is life, I adapted and I got used to it.

Now going back to steady shot while playing marksman and cobra shot while I am playing beast mastery I always feel like I am focus starved.  I hit my steady shot and then still can not use any ability.  What is wrong with this.  I had gotten used to one focusing shot gave me enough focus to keep me going, at least for a few seconds, and now here I am having to chaining multiple steady shots before I can even do anything?  And then when I hit one shot I am out of focus again?  Ahhh, I am hating this.

I can not tell you how much DPS I am leaving on the table.  I will hit an ability like aimed shot or kill command thinking I have more than enough focus because I don't, so it never goes off and I need to hit another steady or cobra shot instead.  Every time I hit an ability expecting to be able to use it and it does not go off, even when I am extremely quick about it, I am losing DPS and it feels like I am losing a lot because I can easily name 5 or maybe even 10 times or more on each fight where I have wasted time trying to hit an ability that does not go off because I do not have enough focus.  Subconsciously I feel there is enough focus there, or should be enough focus there, because I am so darn used to focusing shot returning more for only a minimal bit more of a cast time.  It is making my transition away from survival a lot harder than it should be.

Is focusing shot that much of a huge boost to focus management that it really makes it that smooth or is cobra / steady just that pitiful?  Or maybe there is just another option that it could be, I have gotten so used to focusing shot that I am spoiled by it and have to learn how to live without it again.  That is what I think it really comes down to.

With adaptation being the beast mastery level 100 talent and lone wolf being the marksman level 100 talent that means I will need to learn to live without it.

But I see another option, one that would require us giving blizzard a little push in the right direction.  Make focusing shot base line and add another level 100 talent instead in its place.

I would not mind a little change like that and I doubt anyone else would.  We would have focusing shot for when we can stand still and cobra / steady for when we can't.  But that would be too easy I guess and it would completely invalidate cobra / steady shot because any decent player would never use it if focusing was an option.   So that will not happen and it looks like I will just have to get used to cobra / steady now that it looks like survival is the red headed stepchild of hunter specs.

I'll admit it, focusing shot spoiled me and while survival has never been my favorite hunter spec I would rather stay survival with focusing shot than switch to a "better" spec without it.  Yep, that is how much it spoiled me.  I would play a spec just for it.  How about you?  Has it spoiled you and do you find yourself missing it when in other specs?

8 comments:

  1. I agree, I too use Focusing Shot as SV and after using it and switching back to BM/Cobra makes Cobra feel underwhelming. I find that I don't need to move around too much and when I do I can plan when to use FS, even when fighting Oregroger. But the trade off we are looking at is being mobile while casting yields a lower Focus generation. Imagine if Cobra/Steady shot generated the same amount of focus we would be considered overpowered for sure. However, I still feel I am always focused starved when using Cobra Shot.
    I like SV because I have fewer buttons to manage so I will miss it if the proposed nerfs do happen. But I can play BM just as well, however that 4P bonus of a 1s reduction to Aimed shot looks promising.

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    1. I was never a fan of survival but it is the last spec left that has the "hunter feel" as I first learned it and got used to it. The rapid always shooting something. Now MM feels like waiting on generation, waiting on cast times and BM feels like waiting on your pet to do all the work. I miss wrath MM, my favorite hunter spec of all time. Rapid button mashing and armor pen made it feel like a real life taker and death maker.

      I agree if they boosted cobra / steady it would make them too powerful. I actually think to smooth it out they should make cobra / steady instant instead of a cast timer and maybe lower the focus regeneration if need be, and that would get it more in line with a fast paced class, which is what I love about hunters and am not feeling with cobra / steady after using focusing for so long.

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    2. I too used MM in Wrath because they nerfed BM back to the stone age. That is also when I started using SV as my secondary. Even though SV to me really seemed more fit for PvP, I still liked it better as an off-spec of sorts and actually liked it better than MM esp. when they dropped ArP. Then when they screwed up MM in Cata altogether I have not used it since, however I played around with it in early WoD and found it too slow, too many key shots take 2+ sec to cast. So I am optimistic that it may be fun to play again once 6.2 goes live with that 4pc, if I can ever get my gear to drop.

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    3. Good news for you grumpy, you'll like MM in 6.2. MM 4p make aimed shot instant, and crit CS triggers rapid fire., according to first test, with FS and ToTH you're a living minigun deat dealing turret :p

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    4. @Anon, yes that is great news, it would make playing a hunter feel like what playing a hunter should feel like. If I wanted to play a dirty rogue and wait for resources I would play one. :P

      But there is one issue there. I just went and counted, I have 35 kills on tier dropping bosses. (yes I know a lot less than most but it is what it is) I have used a coin on nearly everyone one of them.

      # of heroic tier pieces I have = Zero, nada, nothing.

      So it does not matter what the tier set is. Doesn't mean anything if you do not have it. You should not need to have a tier set for the class to not feel bad, or even broken, that is just bad design.

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  2. I've recently hit max level with a hunter for the first time so my pov is one of a new hunter just learning the class.

    I HATE Focusing Shot!

    So much of the fun of playing the hunter for me is the complete freedom of movement and I just feel restricted so much by this talent.

    I could learn to play with it but I just don't want to, and because it's just an alt, I don't need to be optimal in any way so I'm not going to.

    I think a hunter without a pet is just plain wrong so I may be the only hunter out there using Exotic Munitions :-)

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    1. I hated it when I first saw it but it grew on me with use. I remember the old days when a hunter was a stand skill class, so it was less of an adjustment, just getting used to it again.

      I played around with EM for a while, it does have its place. And for kiting it has its uses as well as massive AoE grinding when questing. Other things might do it better, but in some cases it is not actually horrible. Just not best.

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  3. you mean there is something other than Beast Master? Go on, yer pullin' me legs.

    -roo

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