This post is dedicated to all of you newer people who are stumbling upon me by way of BigRedKitty or various other links out there. Here’s a little introduction about who I am and why I write what I write…

Hi, I’m Pike, and I like hunters. Lemme tell you why.

I like hunters because hunter crowd control is hard and because to watch someone who can succesfully pull it off is to watch a symphony in action.

I like hunters because the hunter is two fold: hunter and pet. When one is strengthed, the other is. They draw power from each other. They help each other. They are each other. I play a Beast Mastery hunter because it makes that relationship even more literal.

I like hunters because no other class gets to carefully plan which companion they want with them, go into the heart of danger and come up with cunning plans or wait for hours and hours to get that companion, and then carefully raise and train that companion up to their level.

I like hunters because we do have that companion to get attached to; the one we’re willing to forego rested experience for in favor of keeping multiple pets evenly leveled. The one we spend hours searching for the perfect name for. The one we’ll shed a few tears over when it’s time to release it.

I like hunters because I like shot rotations. My love for shot rotations is not because they allow you to achieve maximum DPS, although that is a nice bonus. I love shot rotations because I like weaving them myself. I like the rhythm. I like the timing. I like the feeling that you have to be holding it all in your brain, suspended there, as you coordinate your shots and abilities into one graceful melody. I like shot rotations because they’re cathartic.

I like hunters cause they can play dead. Great party trick.

I like hunters because skilled ones can kite almost anything indefinitely.

I like hunters because they are masters of space and time; able to choose exactly when and where to fight with the clever use of misdirection, pets, and traps.

I like hunters because they’re the underdogs, the ones with the bad name, the ones everyone laughs at and calls “easy-mode”, and I love that because of that I can go into a random heroic with people and watch their reaction when they realize that hey… this hunter can trap. I like how at the beginning of the instance my trap is the first crowd-controlled thing the tank lunges for to pick up, and by the end of the instance it’s the last.

I like hunters because I like the little green symbol and WHOOSH noise when Improved Aspect of the Hawk procs.

I like hunters cause I like my screen filling up with crits.

I like hunters cause they look so awesome standing there at a distance, cool, calm, and collected, pointing their deadly gun or bow at the enemy with a big dangerous axe or polearm strapped to their back as if to say “Just you try and get close to me.”

I like hunters cause I dig a heroine in mail.

I like hunters because while enraged, they do not feel pity or remorse or fear and they cannot be stopped unless killed.

I like hunters, and I like writing about them.

I hope you like reading about them.

(And for those of you who want to know about the non-WoW-ish stuff for some reason… here’s the About the Author page.)