Hunters have been characterized as the Loner class in the past, and we all know they excel in PvP. However, with changes dating back years, Hunters have slowly but surely had every single niche they ever had in a team setting eroded away. They have next to no role in a Raid or Nightfall group anymore, besides occasionally smoking teammates through certain sections. Every other option we had to bring to the table has been powercrept away from us.
[b]THIS IS NOT SIMPLY A RANT ABOUT STAR-EATERS.[/b]
Star-Eaters' release and treatment thereafter is merely a symptom of a much larger issue: Hunters have no role in an endgame PvE team. We finally had an exotic that allowed us to excel, and it was taken away from us. It received what I believe to be a punitive nerf with the orb requirement to max out the bonus being increased to 8, from 4. We've been told the post-patch iteration of Star-Eaters is bugged, once again, and that the 90% bonus damage to Supers for 8 orbs is unintentionally high. It's an already ridiculous activation condition that we must meet for the privilege of even considering outdamaging Cuirass Titans.
Hunters used to have Celestial Nighthawk, the single best option in the game for burst boss DPS. With its nerfs and the inclusion of Cuirass of the Falling Star, we've lost that niche to Titans.
Hunters used to excel at Orb generation, mass CC, and weakening targets. We've lost that to, respectively, Banner Shield, Shadebinder, and the myriad of Weakening effects on abilities, mods, and exotics such as Melting Point, Breach and Clear, and Divinity.
I implore you to consider the following:
Imagine a Raid or Nightfall team without Warlocks.
No Well of Radiance, no Shadebinder.
In my experience, if our Raid team is missing a Warlock come time to kill a boss, someone scrambles to swap to one if at all possible, without fail.
A team without Titans?
No Ward of Dawn, no Banner Shield, no Thundercrash.
All crippling losses to boss damage, the team's Orb generation, and ad clear/CC
Now imagine a team without hunters.
There's nothing of value lost there. We won't miss the boss damage, Titans do that better anyway. Want orbs? Ursa Titans have you covered, protect and buff your team, and self regen Super for the privilege of doing so. Are the ads bothering us constantly? We have a Shadebinder that has that covered in spades. Maybe we need a Hunter to smoke us through this one section. He'll need to swap off afterwards so the actual classes can do their jobs.
Aside from Smoke Bomb, Hunters have lost every niche they have ever had in a team. They are in an absolutely pitiful state and this needs to change.
I'm not begging for Star Eaters to get reverted to their launch state, or buffed to the sky, I'm begging for something more.
Give Hunters something they're [i]NEEDED[/i] for, like the other classes have.
Please.
-
I don't use exotic armor on my hunter and I'm still doing fine. If you look at hunter supers you can see that ironically their strong suit is in providing orbs of power and surviving. You don't have to use celestial, star eaters, raiden flux, or even Orpheus to find success in the hunter. All you need is a dream and some know how on the class. A little tip when using the squishiest class, the enemy shoots where you're gonna be so you can bait shots midair with double or triple jump and only the hunter does that exceptionally well.