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World of Warcraft: Dragonflight’s Hunters will receive an interesting Raid Buff in the 10.2 update. However, the question arises whether this will make a difference for the pet-based class. While we don’t know all of the balance changes coming in 10.2 just yet, if this is the best the ranged physical DPS class is going to get, I think there’s very little to smile about. I have always thought it was a fun class, with its many changes and iterations over the years.
I don’t think this Raid Buff for Hunters is all that great. There may be raid leaders who see it differently, and that’s perfectly fine. However, from my viewpoint, it appears to be more of a temporary solution than a comprehensive fix. Here’s what World of Warcraft: Dragonflight’s 10.2 update offers the ranged class.
World of Warcraft’s Raid Buff for Hunters isn’t going to be good enough
This change was announced in both a Blue Post on the Blizzard forums and also discussed on Reddit. Here’s the way this new buff works. Hunter’s Mark will give everyone targeting this enemy a 5% damage bonus as long as it has over 80% Health in World of Warcraft. This does have some practical applications for the ranged physical DPS class.
Raid groups will be able to get through phase 1 of certain boss fights a bit faster, perhaps to avoid mechanics or to stop dealing with particularly stressful mechanics. There are quite a few raid bosses where the first phase is brutal, and you want to get through it as fast as possible.
However, in reality, I think this is a low-value addition to Hunters in World of Warcraft. This Raid Buff doesn’t do anything to make this class more viable. Looking at Raid DPS charts, Hunters, at best, are sitting around #15. Some people rank Marksmanship at B on their tier lists, but the other specs are less fortunate. Even that B-tier puts them behind so many other DPS specs.
What does this Raid Buff mean? At best, one Hunter gets to join a raid group just for this brief DPS buff. However, other classes already offer useful DPS buffs, like Enhancement Shaman. Unlike the ranged class, Enhancement Shamans are dealing with incredible DPS. Frankly, this feels like a mediocre salve for the World of Warcraft: Dragonflight class.
Of course, more changes could come to this World of Warcraft class. But it only sticks around for 20% of an enemy’s health, and it has a Cooldown when used in battle, or it doesn’t stack. It all sounds weak.
This reminds me of Retribution Paladins in the Vanilla/Burning Crusade eras. You might bring one Retribution Paladin, not for their DPS, but for a helpful buff, and that’s it.
Personally, I’m glad that Hunters are getting something to be excited about, but is it enough? Not by half. They need their DPS addressed, too. We’ll just have to see what the final changes are, but it doesn’t seem like it’s going to be enough.
I think the real solution to the Raid Buff problem is to make it a passive bonus for the class instead of just another button to hit. WoW suffers enough from Bloat in many classes.
I’d love to be wrong, though. I’d love for this class to show up and be a dominant force of nature again, but I don’t think 10.2 will be it. World of Warcraft: Dragonflight’s 10.2 update launches on October 10, 2023, with a wealth of new content like the Amirdrassil raids.
We’ll keep an eye on the raid makeups and DPS charts as the raid opens its doors to see if the Raid Buff helps.
