Now I could be wrong, and I could just be seeing a very limited sample of peoples’ thoughts… but it seems to me that, perhaps more so than any other class, hunter is a class that you either “get” or you don’t. You either love it (perhaps to the point of obsession, *cough* me *cough*), or think it’s boring and wonder why anyone would want to play it.
My boyfriend has tried to play hunter a few times now to see what all the fuss I made about it was about… and he has sheepishly admitted to me that he just doesn’t get it; he can’t get into the class. He’s not the only one either, I think a lot of people just don’t “get” hunters.
It sort of makes me wonder why the class has such a polarizing effect… though when it comes down to it, I think it might be how people view the purpose of the class. At the most basic level, the style of a hunter is to have your pet hold aggro for you while you pew-pew a mob to death. I can understand why some people, particularly those coming from a melee-class background, might not find this appealing or challenging.
But I also think that those of us who really “get” hunters are able to see past the fundamental mechanics and see the potential that is there. We look at all the hunter talents– the traps, the pet, etc.– and see a bag full of magic tricks. We put ourselves into challenging situations and see if we can get out alive. I am a sucker for attempting stuff in the game that I shouldn’t be attempting: doing quests that are orange or red for me, seeing how far I can solo an instance that just a few levels ago I was still doing with a group. Other people may see the fact that I can often do well in these cases as proof that I am “overpowered” or “easy-mode”, but the way I see it is this: I am a hunter, and this is how I get my kicks. I go into places where most others wouldn’t dare go because I like seeing if I can survive with my weapon, pet, and wits and tricks alone. It’s a rush; it’s exhilarating.
People get their WoW rushes in different ways, which is why people like different classes. But I would argue that a lot of us who really enjoy playing hunters do it for, to put it simply, the “thrill of the hunt”. I don’t think everybody quite “gets” that, and I’m not saying it’s bad. I just think it’s interesting the way different people approach classes differently.
And now, after eight days of very little gaming because I’ve been away from home, I’m headed back to civilization and World of WarCraft. As dorky as this will sound, I have really missed playing my hunter and I can’t wait to spend some quality time with the class again.
People say the same thing about locks. EZ-mode!
I was watching our GM’s lock alt at work in Shadow Labs the last two nights and it looked like he was having a blast chain fearing orcs and dotting them to death when they were 70e’s and he’s a lowly 68!
Hunters and locks are similar in a lot of ways. Let pet get aggro and wail on the mob.
Since we have trap skills and stunning skills, we are great at kiting and if we skill our pet right and respect him/her as a tank, we can take down elites we really shouldn’t be.
Some people just like smacking stuff in the face and poking out eyes with melee weapons. It’s all a matter of play style. Some people are born to be tanks, some dual wield dps monsters, ranged dps, healers… it takes all kinds.
Me, I like being a ranged dps’er, but I also like smacking stuff in the head! I like to feed my delusion that I can tank. It makes being a bored 70 a lot more fun!
My wife had the same opinion as your boyfriend…at first. It takes a special kind of person to play a hunter imo
Hey there, just discovered your site yesterday. Thought I’d drop by and say hi.
I got introduced to WoW using a warlock. Having the pet kinda gives me some form of familiarity I think despite the fact that warlocks and hunters have completely different functions from each other.
I haven’t tried other classes yet, but I’ve generally never been a melee guy in a lot of games.
OH MAN. I’m so glad to find a hunter who has the same attitude I do about it. 🙂 I love nothing better than finding mobs six levels over mine and attacking them to see if I can take them down. Or hunting devilsaurs solo in Un’Goro Crater for the thrill of being able to knock over something the size of a house. Or running through an area, aggroing everything, then spending the next three minutes keeping myself and my pet alive versus a pack of six angry mobs. That’s what I adore about being a hunter (hunters are hax!), and I’m so glad there’s someone else who “gets” that that’s the fun part about being one.
Cheers!