Hunter Island: Submission Two

The next submission in my queue is from Oripoon, who chose to write about what you can expect when rolling a hunter.

What to Expect When You’re Huntering

So you’ve decided to roll a hunter. Nice choice, if I may say so. My hunter is specced BM, and I haven’t tried anything else. I suppose I could have tried another spec while I was sitting at 70 waiting for WotLK to release, but I used that time to try another class (shaman) instead of trying different aspects (pardon the pun) of my main. At any rate, playing a hunter is like always having a partner, thanks to your pet (after level 10 that is). As a hunter, you’ll be able to tame an animal of your choosing, care for it, and treat it in such a manner so that it comes to trust you. Once that trust is established, you can send your pet off to take the brunt of the damage from bad guys while you hang back drinking and throwing arrows or bullets, effectively destroying the trust you’ve established with the animal. Doesn’t sound so hard, does it? It isn’t, but there is a ridiculously large number of people playing the class that don’t know what they’re doing (yet– I’m optimistic).

You don’t want to be one of those players, do you? Well, there are some things that you’re going to want to keep in mind now that you’ve settled on the hunter class. Me and the boys down in the lab compiled a short list to satisfy your listful desires (I’m not judging) that includes things you can expect to run into during your time as a hunter. I’m not going to tell you what you’re up against, give you a bow, and tell you to go fight without putting some arrows in your quiver, so I’ll let you know what (in my opinion) a hunter should be expected to do in each situation I mention as well.

Number 1: People will see that hunter you play and assume that you don’t really know what you’re doing. It’s sad but true. There are a lot of uninformed (and in some cases unskilled) players in WoW and many of them are hunters. Stammering out “Oh yeah? Well…you’re…you’re a magetard!” when somebody flings a lame insult your way isn’t going to change any minds. So what do you do? You prove them wrong. How do you do that? You use the resources available to you! Blogs and forums are all over the place (and by place, I mean internet) to share information about how to play the game. Use them. This very blog serves as an example. If you’re in a guild, you can talk to the other hunters in your guild, or the hunter class leader if available. It’s in the guild’s best interests that you’re not a bad hunter, so they should be willing to help. But make some effort on your own, too, by checking out various websites for information. Once you’ve read up on some topics, go to your more experienced hunters with specific questions rather than general ‘how do I…’ inquiries. Things you’ll especially want to focus on are general class mechanics such as trapping, kiting, gear selection, food/potion choices for raiding, and pet micro-management. Pre-LK, I had another hunter (who reached 70 after most of us due to starting late with the game) in my guild post in our forums after three weeks of being carried through several heroics and a Kara run or two “you guys keep asking me to ‘CC’ and ‘Misdirect’ – what’s the deal with that?”.

/facepalm

The gist – know what is expected of a hunter across various situations before you encounter them and be prepared to fill those roles.

Number 2: Loot fights! There’s a chance that some BoP drop that’s an upgrade for you is also going to be an upgrade for the shaman in your group. What if you lose the roll to the shaman? Just between you and me, I heard from a source that World of Warcraft isn’t going anywhere anytime soon. If you lose a roll on a piece of gear, don’t act like a child (doing so plays into that first thing I told you that you could expect). Congratulate the winner and move on. If you’re running an instance, most of them go so quickly now that the group you’re with may be more than willing to run it again, either for more rep with their selected factions or because of the everlasting search for more loot.

Number 3: You should go into this with the expectation of having fun. It’s a video game, after all. This particular game allows you to have fun in several different ways, depending on your approach to it. You can log on for a bit at a time, kill stuff and level up, wash/rinse/repeat. You can meet new people and join a guild and enjoy the social aspect of the game while you kill stuff and level up. You can also embrace the number-crunching side of the game figure out what the absolute best gear on your spec is to maximize your DPS. Personally, I really appreciate the people that enjoy the game in that third way. I’m good with numbers, but generally need a hand getting started with stuff like that.

As far as I’m concerned, that’s really all that I can fairly tell you to expect as a new hunter in World of Warcraft. It is a MMO, after all, so the two of the three expectations have to do with the people that you are going to find in your travels. I saved the biggest expectation for last, though. This is a game and it’s here for our enjoyment. As with all opinion pieces, your own mileage may vary, but I’ll stand by the assertion that understanding our class and generally behaving like a decent person will carry you far in the game. Happy huntering!