What I Like About Teh Hunter

So everyone and their mothers have been ranting about some blog topic consortium or something and the topic of the month is.

Why I like to play xxxxx!

So why does shiftnoobs like playing hunter? 5 Reasons I got that. Many people are taking things from the PVE perspective this is mostly from my pvp side. For raiding its pretty easy to like the hunter. You help tanks, you help dps and you look good when you smoke the rest of the raid dps while doing it. PvP is different. Its about what you can do that your opponents can't. Things unique to how your class is played. That list of factors that the opposing team is contimplating when you walk into Blades Edge Arena and they go "Oh Shit Its a XXX Hunter".

Reason Number 5:
Pets! Now sure locks have them, mages can coldsnap them. But ours need food and have names! Theres nothing better than someone having to see "Bowner hits you for 145" in their combat log. Seriously bowner in the face! But really, our pets are a huge part of our utility in arena. They allow us to easily keep a second person in combat while fighting their dps. Stopping drinking is huge. They hide our poisons or in the case of our boars give us time to get that last kill shot in. One of the key parts of playing hunter is the need to master pet control. Boar charge isn't nearly as devistating if you don't know how to micromanage your pet with stays and hotkeying that one clutch charge to los a healer and get a kill. Without pet skills your scorpid would be mace meat in arena making what was a 2v2 into a 2v1.5 as you no longer have the help of your trusty best friend. Our pets help out farming keeping us from having to blow mana full nuking. They let us show some style. Plagued swine may not be pretty but you can't get such a cool visible tool on your warrior!

Reason Number 4:
Underdog complex! While hunters have always done well in BG's since the release of the BC hunters have been crying that their class is riddled with pvp issues. While some changes have helped with this I still like playing the underdog. I wouldn't feel nearly as satisfied finishing high 1800's in season2 playing a maces warrior or ar-prep rogue. I'm sure teams were hugely agitated to drop to a hunter drain team before they were popular. Much like the Giants blowing up the pats I love slapping the easier to succeed classes in arena. Screw your skillherald. Scattershot FTW!

Reason Number 3:
Complexity! While many classes fall back on a few maneuvers in pvp I find that you do a ton as a hunter. Seriously compare a warriors fight to a hunters. Charge, MS, Bloodrage, Hamstring.... Wack Wack Wack intercept if shaken. Piercing howl or aoe fear in case of emergency. Now the hunter is wingclipping the warrior and his healer to prevent mobility. Selecting the right trap every 30 seconds, snakes for poisons, frost for team kiting, freezing for CC when no dispellers are around. They're alternating steady multi for dps while throwing up arcanes to dispell key buffs from opponents. We're managing our pet and dismissing to save it from dmg! Scattering to get our teamates freedom from mele. Silencing a healer/caster. I forgot to mention swapping aspects and weapons to maximize mana regen, our offense or our defense. Oh yea we can fear druids and hunter pets and stupid travel form shamans.

Oh yea and vipersting for your mana! You're ass is oom!

The ammount of tools I can be using as a hunter is awesome. Much like a warlock or druid there are tons of things you can be doing at any time to give your team the win.

Reason Number 2:
Being a huge pain in the ass! You're in combat cant drink and have a viper sting draining the crapole out of your mana. I'm silencing you. CCing your mele. Forcing you guys to blow CD's left and right. A well played hunter is a huge X factor in a game combining a bunch of abilities to really shut down the opposing teams momentum. Given enough time a hunter will make you pay for ANY mistake on the battlefield. With our drain, dispell and ability to control your team via aoe slows and snares and roots and short CC we are truely masters of the battlefield when used well. Master tactician isn't in your trees for a reason other classes. You aint the masters!

Reason Number 1:
It aint easy shootin bows! Its hard to be good at hunter in pvp. Any schmuk can spam an auto-steady macro at Leotheras! Not many hunters can successfuly jump shot concussive a rogue to get room while vipering his healer and dropping a frost trap. Being an effective hunter requires you to be the master of your shortish cooldowns, a master of movement from strafing to jumpshotting as well as having a good sense of what is going on around you to select the right trap and shot to turn the fight for you. In any given match you have an additional player to keep track of (pet). Miss any of the above and you're not bringing your A game. Bring them all? Some rogue priest team is gonna be bitching about you in vent all night.


So theres my take on the hunter. And yes I do have a boar named Bowner.