Beastmaster Deep Dive discussion

JohnNS

https://monstersandmemories.com/class-beastmaster

Graves

Really good class, many are saying the best.

tuesday

bug report: rat form still not in game

Jairus

So! When is the "swap pet" ability going to be adjusted down to a level that makes BST's new pet lineup useful? Long CD at earlier levels, lower the CD at higher levels - bam, easy fix to make your new pet focus really nice.

Versus what you have in beta currently, a watered down BST that is less interesting than all similar classes in other MMOs.

Lean into the fun of these pets, don't lock it behind 50. That's ridiculous IMHO.

Faelin

2 cents hot take:

Primary pets should have a Type-unique ability, that is, all Tank pets have X mitigation ability, all DPS pets get Y Damage ability, all Balanced pets get Z ability. Keep unique model abilities off primary pets to avoid meta pets, no more slow on wasps. Tank type-unique ability would be desirable to mitigate spell damage as well as physical, example: 'Ignore Pain-reduce incoming damage by 50% up to x damage, duration 10s, 30s cooldown' on all tank pets. Move utility like Lethargic Sting to Kinship: Wasp and Sonic Pulse to Kinship: Bat. Utility in Kinships would create more agency and competition on the ability bar.
Add one or two more Strike abilities that share the same cooldown as Enraging Strike and Savage strike, making the rotation more interesting and increasing agency, otherwise you're just doing Enrage>Savage>Savage>repeat. Maybe a Strike that decreases or increases threat, or a defensive.
Dexterity is seemingly a very boring stat for Beastmaster, having it interact with the class in another way besides Hit and weapon procs would be nice. Could make stat gearing more ambiguous.
Survival Instinct stance with small hp regen, +agi, +dodge/parry instead of Lick Wounds since we'll be using bandages which are superior anyway. And or make Lick Wounds better.
Predatory Instinct would make more sense to buff either dex, strength, or both instead of agi. Or if it's supposed to both be defensive and offensive, add hp regen to it.
Untamed Spirit buffing agility is strange since it's a defensive stat on a DPS buff, have it buff Str, Dex, or both instead.
Guardian Spirit could buff Agi, Sta, or both in addition to the current effect.
Command Kill is just an extra auto attack every 10 seconds, might be cooler to make it an execute ability like it does 200 damage instead of 50 when the npc is below 10% health or increases in damage gradually as the target's health gets lower. That would also make Invigorate Companion more desirable to use.

MikeXG

I've really been enjoying the Beastmaster and the new direction the class has taken. Overall, I think the redesign has been a success, but there are a few areas that I think could add more depth and improve the overall experience.

One area I'd love to see expanded is pet progression and pet choice. Swapping to a different active pet—or leveling a pet that has fallen behind—currently feels a bit too punishing. I'd like to see either a catch-up mechanic for pets that are several levels behind or, even better, the ability to access stabled pets moved to level 20. Both would encourage experimenting with different companions without feeling like you're sacrificing progression.

The loss of SOW and invis also feels rough. I like Prowler's Instinct, but it doesn't fully replace the utility we previously had. Being able to invis through dungeons gave Beastmasters a unique level of independence that is now gone. Even adding Hide would go a long way, allowing us to hide and sneak through dangerous areas without relying entirely on another class.

Lick Wounds also feels underwhelming in its current state. I think it either needs to heal for significantly more, gain an additional effect, or have its cooldown reduced substantially to make it feel worthwhile.

Chop should be restricted to two-handed weapons. If it's currently intended to work with dual wield, I'd still like to see it receive a meaningful bonus when used with a two-handed weapon so it reinforces that playstyle.

I'd also love to see a third Instinct added—a defensive option. Faelin's suggestion of an HP regeneration instinct is exactly the kind of thing I had in mind. Along those same lines, I agree with Faelin's comments about adjusting the stat values on the various stances and buffs.

Guardian Stance, in particular, could benefit from a percentage-based threat modifier. Right now it's often easier for a pet to maintain aggro while in Offensive Stance than in the stance specifically intended for tanking, which feels counterintuitive.

Another quality-of-life improvement would be better visibility into our pets' status. Being able to see pet buffs and debuffs without needing Sense Magic—or at the very least seeing whether our primary pet buff is active—would make managing pets much smoother. An even better solution might be moving the pet buffs to the Aura bar, since they effectively functions as a pet stances. This would also solve the issue of not having a clear indicator that the effect is active.

Finally, I'd love to see a dedicated food container similar to the Lumberjack's Pouch or Miner's Pouch. This would benefit every class, but Beastmasters especially, since we often need to carry multiple types of food for different pets in addition to our own supplies. A crafted version with weight reduction would be an excellent long-term addition.

Overall, I think the Beastmaster is in a great place, and these suggestions are less about fixing major problems and more about adding depth, improving quality of life, and making the class feel even more complete.

Thank you to all the Devs for the hard work - really enjoying my time playing the class in the world you have created.
-Jinja

Ocellus

MikeXG What a wonderfully thoughtful and refreshing post. Well said sir!

Tsunamisan

Has anyone tried the sneaking and moevment speed aura. 15% seams really low unless its usable indoors??

Cornmuffin

[unknown] it is usable indoors.

The sneak potion works with sow as well, if you happen to have sow and the aura on while outside (kinda cool)

Vyanie

I can honestly say I was really loving the changes, until this last patch that is trying to force them into 2h, purposely trying to lock the only decent skills behind 2h feels horrible. At present they are the only DPS class that does not allow you to use their kit because the devs want to treat a beastmaster like a bad barbarian. Rangers get away with locking abilities because you do not need to weapon swap to use them, just take a step back and boom your bow skills are usable. With the forcing of 2h i can confidently say that I personally will no longer play the class when EA comes out and sadly now need to find another that I can enjoy.

Tsunamisan

It seams like if they want 2H to be good and what beast masters use that they should just remove the dual weld only abilities. Keep them on the same cool downs but let you use all your abilities with whatever weapon you have.

The other issue is that the way drops are you may not get a good 2H or 2-1H DW weapons essentially locking you out from that part of your kit because you can't find anything good enough to use.

Grobo

I tried a ton of classes, I wasn't too enthusiastic about trying beast master its a solo class, and I play with friends. Big ogres with two handers and a class that is actually is incentivized rather than handicapped in using two handers made me relent to trying it and the second I got chop, I was sold. There was a brief moment in between expansions that in wow you had to use a swing timer and you just used SLAM (which interrupts your auto attack) and that simple to learn hard to master gameplay was so much fun I was sad when they took it away.

Swing timers seem a little more forgiving in this game, but nevertheless timing your chop with your swing timer is so much fun, thank you for this gem!