With one day left before the round one submission deadline, we’re getting down to the wire with only a few submissions left to post before voting begins. In today’s post, Chris explains what got him into the game and why he chose to roll a Hunter along with some helpful tips to guide you along the way.

For me it all started in February 2008 with Captain James T. Kirk.  That’s right; I was lured in by the siren call that is William Shatner.  I was flipping channels and I caught a WoW commercial.  The famous last words at the end of the commercial are what tickled my fancy, “try it for free at warcraft.com.”  Without further ado, I went to the site and loaded my 10 day trial.  I never looked back.  For some reason it was easy choosing a hunter.  I read the descriptions of each class, and the hunter kept winking at me.  I chose Night Elf and have been rolling ever since.  Sure, I’ve dabbled with other classes, I’ve tinkered here and there… but I always return to my first love.   Now, sitting at 80, I still remember running through Aldrassil looking for webwood eggs!  The thought of soloing without a pet-tank gives me the heebie-jeebies.  I enjoy raining death from afar!  Yes, we have been buffed, nerfed, buffed and nerfed again… but that only strengthens my resolve.

I enjoy getting around the nerf, and I love exploiting the buffs (volley, anyone?).  I wish I had a dislike… well, it would be nice to wield a mace every once in a while.  And yes, I could do without the “guilty until proven innocent” stigma hunters have when it comes to the dreaded “huntard” label.  Those are trivial things which can’t possibly outweigh the joy I get from blazing across Azeroth with my little animal friends.

When I rolled my hunter I was new to WoW, new to any mmorpg for that matter.  I learned a lot… the hard way.  I’ve tried to keep my UI and add-ons to a minimum.  I like having a minimalist view into Azeroth.  I picked up a few nuggets of information.  These are just things that made my experience more fun…I’m sure there a better ways to do things, but there is more than one way to skin a cat.

1. Take your time learning your class. It’s a long way to 80, if you don’t stop to smell the roses; you could get sour real quick.  I hit 80 just three days ago… almost one year since I signed up.  Sure I could’ve leveled faster; sure my fellow guildies think it’s hilarious that it took me nearly a year to cap… so what?  I had fun, and I saw a lot of cool things.

2. Find a helpful guild. You’ll have to break a few eggs to make this omelette.  Decide what kind of player you are first.  I’m a casual player, so I found a casual guild.  There are all kinds of guilds out there, and you don’t have to join any of them.  However, it is mighty nice to have a group of people you can call on to help you with a quest… or to raid Tarren Mill.  I found my guild whilst questing with one of the members around Darnassus when I was a level 12… been a member ever since.

3. Download some add-ons. I didn’t discover add-ons until the mid-40’s.  Life would’ve been much easier if I knew about them when I started.  WowMatrix has a ton of add-ons to suit your needs and play style.  I can’t live without QuestHelper!  If I could have only one add-on, it would be QuestHelper.  It’s exactly what it sounds like, a quest helper… big arrow at the top of the screen points you where to go… easy.  Experiment with add-ons, there are a lot of good ones out there.

4. Know your pets. Petopia is an excellent resource.  Soloing?  Use a tenacity pet.  Gorillas are my favorite tenacity pet and Thunderstomp is pure win for soloing.  Want to top the damage charts?  Go with a ferocity pet.  I like cats,  armed with Prowl.  It’s a lot of fun when you can sneak up on somebody!  Want to have your cake, and eat it too?  Cunning pets are up your alley.  Spiders are my favorite in this category.  Also, pets can get you in a lot of trouble in a raid… click on that little baby seal when you enter an instance please!

5. Know what stats you need in weapons and armor. Just about everything you roll on could be considered hunter loot… just because it could be, doesn’t mean it should be.  Look for agility, stamina and intellect in your base stats.  Once that requirement is satisfied, go with the stat of the day… be it ranged crit or haste or (fill in the blank).  Nothing worse when I see a fellow hunter roll for what is clearly priest loot.  Heck, I once saw a hunter roll on plate!

6. It’s nice to be nice. This game is all about the people behind the people, remember that.  In real life, you will meet jerks and really good people.  Azeroth is no different.  Take it all with a grain of salt.  It is a game, it can be turned off.

7. Do not, I repeat: DO NOT, run out of ammo. Yes, I am guilty of this.  Single worst moment ever as a hunter.  Halfway through Blackfathom Deeps I ran out of ammo… bad hunter, bad.

Those seven tips will help you as you level.  We hunters are already at an advantage because of our pets, so the leveling is super fast and relatively easy.  I took the long way around, that’s how I roll.  But, you may want to hit 80 as soon as you can.  Hunters are well suited for that endeavor.  Once you hit the cap, albeit my view is only three days old, the only change is that your little blue experience bar is gone.  There’s still leather to be farmed, heroics to run and reputations to grind…and a little Tarren Mill destruction.  Oh, and the battlegrounds, lest we forget these little dens of adrenaline.  The game doesn’t end at 80; in fact, a whole new game starts.