The New Hunter Archetypes

With Legion comes huge changes for two Hunters specializations.  As such, I wanted to talk about what I want to see as the new spec archetypes.

Marksmanship:  Katniss Everdeen

The loss of our pets as Marksmanship Hunters is a huge blow to our identity, but it does open up a lot of famous pet-less characters that we can now look to for inspiration.

I like the idea of Katniss for marksmanship because she retains a lot of the wilderness/survival skills.  This is someone who learned her archery as an actual hunter, feeding her family, then modified that for battle. She also uses traps, which helps keep her closer to the traditional hunters of WoW.

Another aspect that makes Katniss an interesting archetype (at least from my viewpoint) is in the movies, she has a very regimented Olympic form.  While it wouldn't actually lend itself to hunting in a forest that well, it does provide a much more accurate, consistent shot, even if it's a bit slower than other styles, keeping the name of the spec in mind, this fits pretty well.

Survival: Princess Mononoke

Fighting with both daggers and polearms along side her wolf family, San/Princess Mononoke (from the anime film of the same name) makes an ideal Survival Hunter.  

Her primary strength isn't, well, strength, but as an agile fighter, she uses her knowledge of the forest and her animal friends win battles.  This would work perfectly with the new Survival spec, and would even provide some inspiration for some possible new directions for the spec. 

Even if you're not a fan of Anime in general, this is a great film. San has several similarities with Rexxar, too, at least at the end of the film when she heads back out into the wild.  

What I hope doesn't happen

We really have no concrete idea of what the specs are going to play like, yet.  My fear is that MM will lose all of its hunter identity, and just be like a sniper type spec, with no connection to the wilderness. I imagine they're using the night elf sentinels as their basis for the new MM, which wouldn't be too bad, but is really more soldier than I want my hunter to be.  As for SV, I really have no idea what they're going to do with the spec, aside from the announce melee. With its future so up in the air, I haven't really developed any fears, though.  

Hopefully Katniss and San can find their way into WoW lore, even if only as inspiration.