The Spirit Beast - View Post - In Defense of Beast Mastery

In Defense of Beast Mastery

Posted on Feb 2, 2010 by Hesson

First off, I wanted to apologize for having not updated this site in quite some time. I've been extremely busy during the day with work projects, which leaves me very little energy to want to continue working in the evening. When I first started this blog, I had hoped that I could quell some of the arguments that Beast Mastery is a poor choice for talent specialization. Why did I even want to do this? Surely I could just roll Marksman or Survival like all the other "good" players and force myself into a cookie cutter build of what the perceived ideal hunter should be. The World of Warcraft community would have you believe that Beast Mastery is really only good for heroics, leveling and world PvE. They'd tell you that it's "not raid viable." Before I continue with that, I'd like to tell you a little story about a game I used to play.

Back before I played World of Warcraft, I was hooked on the much more painfully harsh game of Lineage II. When I say harsh, I mean that it was, well, kind of the opposite of WoW in terms of player expectations, punishments, rewards, time needed to advance, and just general gameplay. Now, I'm not putting WoW down, because after all, I'm only playing one of the two games right now and it's certainly not Lineage II. One thing I've found from World of Warcraft though, is that it encompasses a particularly unforgiving community of "hardcore" players who fancy themselves experts in doing the highest amount of damage per second in strictly Player vs. Environment settings. I put hardcore in quotes because World of Warcraft is arguably one of the most easy-on-players MMOs to date. The amount of time required to hit max level is miniscule, so much so that nearly everyone who's played for more than a few months most likely has at least one max level alt character. There is no penalty for a PvP death aside from the minor inconvenience of walking back to get your corpse, and the repair costs of PvE deaths are insignificant compared to the XP and potential item loss from a multitude of MMOs. The point of all this is I simply want to set the stage for what a truly hardcore game expects from players. One of the key things to note about all this is that in Lineage II, once you picked a character race and class, you pretty much stuck with it because max level was a true grind. Additionally, character "specialization" was fairly limited in comparison with WoW, as there were only a select few things you could change about your characters stats as you progressed. You picked your character and stuck with it, through thick and thin, which would create a level of expertise that I have yet to see in WoW.

The Story of the Treasure Hunter and the Wiff Walker

Back in my Lineage II days, I was in a guild named Berserk on the Bartz server. Bartz was the main US server, and if you played on that server back in the days of open beta and Prelude, you knew who Berserk was. It was a tight knit group of players who all knew exactly what they were doing, mostly due to the fact that many of them had played the Korean open beta together extensively, which had been released long before the US release. These were hardcore players. I was lucky enough to observe and play with them, choosing an archer class that left me basically on my own leveling for most of my experience with that game, aside from raids, sieges and massive world pvp.

Out of this guild, there were two skilled players who both struck me as very interesting in terms of their class choice, and how they handled them. The first was a Treasure Hunter by the name of Rug. The treasure hunter, being the human version of the dagger character, was the "balanced" of the three potential dagger choices, as it was equally effective in critical damage as well as the likelihood of critical strikes, both something a dagger character at the time needed. The other was an Abyss walker by the name of Kivek, which was the Dark Elf's dagger character. The Abyss walker's strength was in critical damage, with a significantly noticeable decrease in critical chance. Everyone called them Wiff Walkers for a reason. Of the three dagger races, they were the most likely to miss their essential critical dagger skills. However, when they hit you, they would hit you harder than a ton of bricks being thrown at you by a two hundred foot tall brick throwing machine. Complimentary to this attribute, they were also harder to hit than the human Treasure Hunters, which meant that your blows would miss more on them, theirs would miss more on you, but when they landed a hit you would probably be asking for a resurrect.

Rug arguably happened to choose the most balanced and probably most effective dagger class overall. However, he was also probably one of the most skilled players in the game, which made his character all that more effective and dangerous. Kivek, while having chosen a class that was considered by many to be "inferior" to the human Treasure Hunter in situations where he wasn't getting critical chance buffs, was still extremely skilled and respected throughout the community.

Any time there was a raid, you'd be happy to see either one show up to help kill the boss while simultaneously fighting off the rest of the server trying to stop you from accomplishing this task. He knew how to play his class, he played it well, and it added to the guild as a whole. Even with an arguably inconsistent character, he still brought something extremely significant to the guild in both PvP and PvE, benefitting everyone as a whole while also playing the role he had chosen from the beginning. If there was ever a need for a dagger player, either one would be an excellent choice depending on who was available. It was their skill that made them valuable, not their class.

Now, to the point. World of Warcraft allows players to quickly change their specialization for a nominal in-game fee, building their character however they want, built after any character they want. Players quickly shift from one "best" specialization to another with little regard or concern for their previous spec as new patches are released, or even simply re-roll an entirely new character since max level is so easy to reach. There's no respect for the choices made early on in the game, and while there certainly are a lot of characters, there's a lack of character within this community. The Marksman and Survival hunters you see today talking about how great their specialization is would likely change trees the second they thought they could pull higher DPS with another tree. They don't care about their class, their character, and they lack the character to roll with the punches and build their expertise with their chosen build. No one cares about working with what they have and making it as effective as possible, they just jump ship as soon as there's any sign of a nerf. The rest of the community is witness to this, often using it as justification for perpetuating the idea that anyone who continues to play it is therefore bad at the game.

We could all roll Marskman and call it a day, but I don't think I'm comfortable with that, both from the standpoint as an individual player and as a part of the community as a whole. Even within a guild, there needs to be some variety, as every class holds their strengths and weaknesses, but behind every character lies a player whose skill will be the final determinant for whether a raid is cleared or wipes, and whether a team wins or loses.

With this rant aside, I'd like to discuss some of the Beast Master's strengths that are often forgotten due to the perpetuated concept that "Beast Master hunters are bad."

Bestial Wrath: Unleashing the Beast

The fundamental skill of every Beast Master, this skill is what makes big red kitties, well, big and red. It's an effective and powerful skill that has different strengths that can be played on depending on the situation. It's a huge damage boost for your pet, who should be dealing a large percentage of your damage anyway. If you have it, it's almost certain that you have the complimentary talent Longevity to reduce its cooldown time which, when coupled with the Bestial Wrath glyph, will drop your cooldown time to 1.17 minutes. When combined with other cooldowns, this is where pet skill management, player attentiveness and skill coordination comes into play on how much more DPS you can get out of it.

I Fear Nothing

The damage increase is fairly significant, and depending on how you use it can be extremely effective. However, the true benefit with this skill comes from the fact that it works like a pvp trinket in that it not only prevents Fear and CC effects during its duration, but also interrupts them when cast on both the hunter and the pet, fully preventing any DPS loss during what could potentially cause a complete loss of character and pet control for several seconds. Onyxia's Bellowing Roar and the disabling effects from the Faction Champs are two instances that come to mind where Bestial Wrath is extremely effective and useful. The minor DPS lost in waiting a few seconds to cast Bestial Wrath can far outweigh the loss of DPS while completely disabled, and can even save your life.

A Boy and His Dog

Another great advantage of playing a Beast Mastery hunter is the low threat because you and your pet are working more effectively as a team. I can hear the Marskman and Survival hunters shouting "Because it's the lowest damage!" No, because unlike the other two specs, your damage is more equally distributed amongst both the Hunter and the pet, which count as two separate entities as far as threat is concerned. Where the Beast Master will probably have their damage split anywhere from 55/45% to 65/35%, Marskman and Survival hunters can often pull a lot more threat going even as high as 90/10%. What good is having the "best" DPS if you can't go all out from the very beginning of the fight to the very end? Misdirection's recent changes have made this less of an issue at the very start of a fight, but even within about 10 seconds of the fight (after the first 3 are up) you can see the Survival and Marksman hunters pulling a lot more threat even if they're pulling less DPS. It keeps you alive and makes the tanks lives easier.

I'm a Ramblin' Man

One of the other great things about having distributed damage amongst you and your pet is the fact that you as the hunter can move around while still maintaining a large percentage of your damage. The Deathbringer Saurfang is a great example. Where Survival and Marksman hunters will lose a large amount of their damage while they're busy kiting, the Beast Master can maintain a solid amount of damage on the boss with their pet while they kite and trap the Blood Beasts. DPS loss isn't as significant in fights like Lord Jaraxxus where you're forced to continue moving with Legion Flames as well.

Ferocious Inspiration

While it doesn't stack with Sanctified Retribution or Arcane Empowerment, nearly every Beast Master should have Ferocious inspiration at 3 points which means the entire raid should have a constant 3% damage increase. This includes casters, melee, and other ranged dps! Is there anything about Ferocious Inspiration that isn't raid viable?!

Some Misconceptions

While it's arguable that at the peak of endgame, where every piece of possible new gear has been acquired, Beast Master hunters might not pull the same DPS as Marksman hunters (I can't test this because I'm not there yet in terms of gear), I've come across the misconception that the spec pulls less DPS overall in nearly every case, including AOE. It is NOT deficient when it comes to AOE. Quite the contrary. Given the fact that you'd only be sacrificing roughly 55-65% of your single target damage and converting it to multi target damage with Volley, the Beast Master is quite capable of delivering some extremely high AOE damage, coupled with simultaneous, effective, single target damage delivered from your pet. I can assure you that out of the many perpetuated weaknesses of Beast Mastery, Area of Effect damage is not one of them.

In closing, like every spec, Beast Mastery has its strengths and weaknesses, but the final determinant is not which cookie cutter build works best, but which player has enough skill and intelligence to use their class to the best of its abilities. With a large number of variables coming into play such as user input lag time (i.e. user error), server ping, disabling effects, required player movement and threat management, spreadsheet data can only go so far. It's a shame that this community has become so heavily invested in finding a "best" single solution rather than respecting the individual talent and skill of players who choose to play what they play, regardless of reason, and play it to the best of their abilities. It's these players, not the prebuilt specs, who are viable for raids. Let's not forget that.

Post a Comment

3191 Comments

deandremorphy

View Profile

<a href="http://www.aboutdress.de/brautkleider.html">batiste brautkleider</a> <a href="http://www.aboutdress.de/brautkleider.html">brautkleider traditionell</a><a href="http://www.aboutdress.de/brautkleider.html">celebrity brautkleider</a><a href="http://www.aboutdress.de/a-linie-brautkleider.html">blau brautkleider</a> <a href="http://www.aboutdress.de/a-linie-brautkleider.html">braun brautkleider</a><a href="http://www.aboutdress.de/cocktailkleider.html">carhartt online shop</a><a href="http://www.aboutdress.de/schlichte-brautkleider.html">outdoor brautkleider</a> <a href="http://www.aboutdress.de/klassische-brautkleider.html">duchesse silk brautkleider</a> <a href="http://www.aboutdress.de/brautmode-fur-schwangere.html">taft brautkleider</a><a href="http://www.aboutdress.de/brautmode-fur-schwangere.html">brautkleider 2011</a>

deandremorphy

View Profile

<a href="http://www.putonmoncler.com/">Moncler</a><a href="http://www.putonmoncler.com/">Moncler Jackets</a><a href="http://www.putonmoncler.com/">Moncler Jacket Outlet</a><a href="http://www.putonmoncler.com/">cheap moncler</a> <a href="http://www.putonmoncler.com/">buy moncler</a><a href="http://www.putonmoncler.com/moncler-accessories-sale-c-1.html">Moncler accessories online</a><a href="http://www.putonmoncler.com/moncler-mens-coats-sale-c-5.html">cheap moncler coats</a><a href="http://www.putonmoncler.com/moncler-women-jackets-sale-c-11.html">Buy Moncler Women Jackets</a><a href="http://www.putonmoncler.com/moncler-men-jackets-sale-c-4.html">Moncler Men Jackets</a><a href="http://www.putonmoncler.com/moncler-mens-coats-sale-c-5.html">moncler coats sale</a>

deandremorphy

View Profile

<a href="http://www.kisstiffanys.com/">tiffany</a> <a href="http://www.kisstiffanys.com/">tiffany sale</a> <a href="http://www.kisstiffanys.com/">tiffany online</a><a href="http://www.kisstiffanys.com/">tiffany outlet</a><a href="http://www.kisstiffanys.com/">tiffany jewelry</a><a href="http://www.kisstiffanys.com/tiffany-jewelry-tiffany-rings-c-1_13.html">cheap tiffany jewelry outlet</a><a href="http://www.kisstiffanys.com/tiffany-jewelry-c-1.html">tiffany jewelry online</a> <a href="http://www.kisstiffanys.com/tiffany-jewelry-tiffany-locks-c-1_10.html">tiffany locks</a><a href="http://www.kisstiffanys.com/tiffany-jewelry-tiffany-necklaces-c-1_12.html">tiffany necklaces</a><a href="http://www.kisstiffanys.com/accessories-tiffany-money-clips-c-5_11.html">cheap tiffany money clips</a>

deandremorphy

View Profile

<a href="http://www.bigjerseys.org/">Cheap authentic jerseys</a> <a href="http://www.bigjerseys.org/">cheap authentic NFL football jerseys wholesale</a><a href="http://www.bigjerseys.org/">Authentic NFL Jerseys</a> <a href="http://www.bigjerseys.org/nfl-jerseys-c-1.html">wholesale jerseys nfl</a><a href="http://www.bigjerseys.org/nfl-jerseys-c-1.html">new nfl jerseys</a><a href="http://www.bigjerseys.org/philadelphia-76ers-jerseys-c-83_206.html">cheap authentic SanAntonio Spurs jerseys</a><a href="http://www.bigjerseys.org/houston-astros-jerseys-c-66_216.html">Houston Astros jerseys</a> <a href="http://www.bigjerseys.org/orlando-magic-jerseys-c-83_96.html">authentic Orlando Magic jerseys</a> <a href="http://www.bigjerseys.org/miami-heat-jerseys-c-83_258.html">Miami Heat jerseys</a><a href="http://www.bigjerseys.org/philadelphia-eagles-jerseys-c-1_25.html">cheap Philadelphia Eagles Jerseys</a>

deandremorphy

View Profile

<a href="http://www.sellthenorthfacejackets.com/">north face online</a><a href="http://www.sellthenorthfacejackets.com/">the north face online</a><a href="http://www.sellthenorthfacejackets.com/">north face outlet</a> <a href="http://www.sellthenorthfacejackets.com/">the north face outlet</a><a href="http://www.sellthenorthfacejackets.com/">cheap north face</a><a href="http://www.sellthenorthfacejackets.com/mens-the-north-face-shoes-c-87.html">North Face Shoes Men</a> <a href="http://www.sellthenorthfacejackets.com/mens-the-north-face-jackets-c-82.html">Cheap The North Face Jackets</a> <a href="http://www.sellthenorthfacejackets.com/womens-north-face-fleece-jackets-c-90.html">Womens North Face Fleece Jackets</a><a href="http://www.sellthenorthfacejackets.com/kids-the-north-face-jackets-c-92.html">Cheap North Face KIDS Jackets</a><a href="http://www.sellthenorthfacejackets.com/mens-the-north-face-denali-jackets-c-84.html">Cheap North Face Mens Denali Jacket</a>

deandremorphy

View Profile

<a href="http://www.roxyuggbootssale.com/">Ugg Boots Sale</a> <a href="http://www.roxyuggbootssale.com/">Ugg Boots Online</a> <a href="http://www.roxyuggbootssale.com/">Ugg Outlet</a> <a href="http://www.roxyuggbootssale.com/">Ugg Boots Austrslia</a><a href="http://www.roxyuggbootssale.com/ugg-classic-cardy-c-8.html">UGG Classic Cardy </a><a href="http://www.roxyuggbootssale.com/ugg-nightfall-c-18.html"> Discount UGG Boots</a> <a href="http://www.roxyuggbootssale.com/mens-ugg-boot-c-28.html">MENS UGG Boots</a><a href="http://www.roxyuggbootssale.com/women-bailey-button-triplet-c-42.html"> UGG For Cheap</a> <a href="http://www.roxyuggbootssale.com/ugg-classic-tall-c-13.html"> UGG For Women</a> <a href="http://www.roxyuggbootssale.com/ugg-classic-short-c-12.html"> UGG Australia Sale</a>

coachbags

View Profile

<a href="http://www.greatuggbootsoutlet.org/">ugg</a> <a href="http://www.greatuggbootsoutlet.org/">ugg boots</a> <a href="http://www.greatuggbootsoutlet.org/">ugg outlet</a><a href="http://www.greatuggbootsoutlet.org/">ugg on sale</a> <a href="http://www.greatuggbootsoutlet.org/">ugg boots online</a><a href="http://www.greatuggbootsoutlet.org/women-bailey-button-boots-c-6.html">Cheap UGG Shoes</a><a href="http://www.greatuggbootsoutlet.org/ugg-classic-tall-paisley-boots-c-10.html">cheap UGG Classic Tall Paisley Boots</a> <a href="http://www.greatuggbootsoutlet.org/ugg-classic-tall-paisley-boots-c-10.html">discount UGG Classic Tall Paisley Boots</a><a href="http://www.greatuggbootsoutlet.org/ugg-classic-argyle-knit-boots-c-7.html">Argyle Knit Boots stroe</a><a href="http://www.greatuggbootsoutlet.org/ugg-slippers-boots-c-4.html">UGG Slipper Clearance</a>

coachbags

View Profile

There is a popular multiplayer computer game called World of Warcraft in which you go around killing dragons and pretend you're a wizard and all that. This is one of those games that has an ongoing virtual universe built around it. In the life of your character you need to make money to buy weapons and armor and things. One of the ways you can get some money is through "farming" for gold. (Strange term, but whatever.)

Now "farming" isn't as fun as duelling and casting spells and all that nerdological geekitude; it's a time-consuming chore.

Gold and other items in this game are transferrable from one player to another. You could do a ton of work to get some loot and then give it...or sell it, for real money, to a lazy player who just wants to have more toys.

Now the amount someone would be willing to pay for this virtual gold isn't gonna be worth your time. You're much better off working at White Castle than pulling shifts on Warcraft, so the farmer-for-hire thing hasn't taken off in American suburbia.

But some industrious entrepeneurs made a few calculations and learned a very valuable fact... The amount an American kid is willing to pay for this imaginary gold is well worth the time of a Chinese peasant. So the Warcraft sweatshop was born.

As you read this, there are rooms of rural Chinese sitting at terminals, farming computer gold in 12-hour shifts (each character has 2 people working it 24 hours a day), staying carefully out of the purview of the game's administrators, and trying not to bother the real players. Agriculture on planet earth can't provide them with the 0 (equivalent) check they recieve for a month of Warcraft farming.

That's 42 cents an hour, and low enough that the white middle-man can make a sweet profit when he resells these "goods" to his customers over here.

This process is the same phenomenon as clothing manufacture, and a million other tangible things. And you know what happens when a flood of cheap foreign goods suddenly becomes available on the American market? The value of the products plummet.

In Warcraft, it's the currency itself that's being overproduced, not just any product. That means it'll take more units of that currency to exchange for any product. Inflation. The price of everything goes up. Everything you worked so hard to save up suddenly becomes worth so much less.

The Warcraft economy appears to be on the lip of this plunge and administrators are taking steps to curb inflation. When they find a career farmer, they ban the character. Now the farming company has to re-buy the game and set up a new account. This makes the process of creating these goods overseas more expensive, and functions similar to a tariff (which is a protective tax).

With these tariffs, the price of overseas goods rises, and it becomes more worth the time of Americans to...well...farm their own damn gold. As it were.

But there are ways of getting around this barrier. One is through a black market. (This system is already a black market, though not illegal in the real world, and such an approach would only mean being more sneaky and stealthy.) Another is to increase productivity per dollar on the supply side. e.g. Xian used to get 0 every month (42 cents/hour), but now he only gets 0 and has to work 14 hour shifts, to counteract the effect of the tariff.

But however it happens, water finds its way to the ocean, and cheap foreign goods find their way to the American market. If it gets really out of control in Warcraft, then gold, and anything that can be produced through time and effort--anything that's not finite in amount will become worthless, and trade will occur among things that are finite, or require much greater skill to acquire...or everyone will turn the game off and read a book. Probably Dragonlance.

If that happens, it'll be like a factory shutting down. It'll put a bunch of rural Chinese out of work all at once.

There is a balance, which in the real world, the Treasury, and the Federal Reserve, and a bunch of International Organizations try to maintain. And by maintain, I mean getting as much cheap shit for themselves as possible without throwing the system completely out of whack. (In the finance industry, human rights is a footnote, if anything.)

What lies ahead for the Warcraft economy? Let's keep watching it in the future.

deandremorphy

View Profile

<a href="http://www.loginmonsterbeats.com/">beats by dre headphones</a> <a href="http://www.loginmonsterbeats.com/">beats by dre tour</a> <a href="http://www.loginmonsterbeats.com/">beats by dre studio</a> <a href="http://www.loginmonsterbeats.com/">beats by dre solo</a> <a href="http://www.loginmonsterbeats.com/2011-new-dr-dre-studio-for-christmas-gifts-c-4.html">2011 New Dr Dre Studio For Christmas Gifts</a> <a href="http://www.loginmonsterbeats.com/monster-beats-miles-davis-tribute-high-performance-inear-speaker-p-92.html">Monster Beats Online</a> <a href="http://www.loginmonsterbeats.com/monster-beats-studio-lebron-james-c-22.html">Beats Studio Lebron James online</a> <a href="http://www.loginmonsterbeats.com/monster-beats-by-dr-dre-tour-c-16.html">Monster Beats Studio Red Sox</a> <a href="http://www.loginmonsterbeats.com/monster-beats-studio-dr-dre-graffiti-c-17.html">Monster Beats Studio Online</a> <a href="http://www.loginmonsterbeats.com/monster-beats-by-dr-dre-power-c-25.html">Monster Beats Studio Outlet</a>

deandremorphy

View Profile

<a href="http://www.egrich.com/TERA/gold/8183">tera gold</a> <a href="http://www.egrich.com/TERA/gold/8183">buy tera gold</a> <a href="http://www.egrich.com/TERA/gold/8183">cheap tera gold</a>

...

159

...

You are not currently logged in:
Unregistered users' comments are moderated, so your post won't be viewable until it's approved.
You will only be able to post once every 15 minutes as an unregistered user.
Registered users can post every 30 seconds, and their comments appear immediately!
Registered users can ignore other users' comments, including all unregistered users if they choose
Don't already have an account? Register here!

The Spirit Beast summary

The Spirit Beast website and all written content was created by Hesson, a BM (Beast Mastery) hunter and web developer for the purposes of advancing a specialization that for a while has been (unfairly) considered inferior, as well as providing general resources and entertainment relating to World of Warcraft, spirit beasts, pets, hunters, php and whatever else he feels like at the time. If you want to know more, check out the post:
An Introduction to The Spirit Beast, the BM hunter blog.

User Control Panel

Site designed/developed by Paul Hesson ( Panda Designs )