Aventures in Azeroth: Lizzy's first instance
by Elizabeth Harper 
Jun 21st 2007 at 7:30PM
Now, I've got to say -- I have high expectations for Hunters in an instance setting. My main is a Priest, and my favorite instancing partner is always a good Hunter. Why? Because a Hunter stays back from the action, usually near where I am. And if an add runs after me, a tank, who's busy tangling with the main target of the group, might not even notice. But a good Hunter will always notice. They'll send in their pet with Growl, Intimidation, or Bestial Wrath and have that thing off of me in a flash. (Trust me, I heal very little while being smacked around by a mob -- and by saving me, an open-eyed Hunter can easily save the entire group.) So, despite being rather low level, I tried to emulate all the best Hunters I'd played with in the past.
And what did I learn from all of this? Playing a good Hunter isn't as easy those Hunters make it look!
In Friday's instance run, we had a huge group of people, and though we tried to balance out groups as well as possible, the group I wound up in had a Rogue, a Priest, a Warlock, and two Hunters. We had healing and plenty of DPS, but no obvious tanking class. What that meant, to me, was that we were going to have Hunter pets tanking. (Sure, Rogues can evasion-tank occasionally, and Warlock Voidwalkers can tank a bit, out of our available options, Hunter pets seemed the best choice.)
So into Ragefire Chasm we ran! Of our group, none of us were playing a class we were accustomed to, so it was a learning experience for everyone. I'd mark a target, and the pets would fly in, and, for the most part, all went well! And though at times a bad pull or accidental aggro wound up with us dealing with many more mobs than we were prepared for, the only deaths in our little group were pet deaths.
And while playing a Hunter is, overall, easy enough, the devil's in the details. Sure, for most pulls I'd cast Hunter's Mark, send in my pet, and throw out Serpent Sting (though some mobs in RFC were immune to nature damage), Arcane Shot, and autoshoot until our target was dead. Then I'd repeat the process for any remaining targets our group was working on. But if the Priest or Warlock has pulled aggro? If the rogue is off-tanking and low on health?
When everything's going right, it's a breeze. But when something goes wrong, there's a lot of things to pay attention to. Where is every mob? Am I far enough away from all of them to range them, or do I need to back up? (And if I need to back up, will I back into anything and make the situation worse?) What's my pet doing? If it's main tanking a mob, pulling it away to grab something off someone else may just mean the first mob is going to be running loose soon. If my pet's target is low on health, though, I can probably send my pet to the second target and just wear down the first before any trouble happens. But if my pet's main tanking a high health mob? I need to send a Distracting Shot at whatever target is heading towards the group's squishies to pull it off them. (And maybe end up, eek, meleeing with it until my pet's free to deal with it.) And I've got to go through all of these options in an instant -- if I took as much time to think about them all as I've just taken to type them up, anyone I was trying to save would be dead.
In short, a single RFC run has given me a huge amount of respect for all of the Hunters who have ever saved my squishie main in an instance. I've always appreciated what you could do -- and now I appreciate the amount of effort and attention it takes to do it. All I've got to say is that it's going to take a lot of work to live up to my own expectation of what a good Hunter needed to do.
Do my experiences trying to figure out the Hunter class sound interesting to you? Read more of Lizzie's Adventures in Azeroth!
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Enix Jun 21st 2007 7:44PM
Freezing Trap can be your best friend. Nothing like a cool Mob Pop in the middle of a hot instance.
isobelle Jun 21st 2007 7:49PM
so is that why everyone calls them Huntards?
Tobie Jun 21st 2007 7:58PM
Ctrl+1 Ctrl+2 are your best friend as a hunter
Magnetite Jun 21st 2007 7:58PM
Actually I agree with Elizabeth - my respect for *good* hunters has gone up a lot, especially since hitting 70 and either healing on my priest or doing my feral thing on my druid.
I also have a 67 hunter and would probably be best described as a 'huntard' with him. But he's only been inside an instance a few times and a raid a couple too (ZG).
I'm beginning to think that the difference between good players and also-rans is possibly the biggest in the game among hunters.
/flame away
disarrayed Jun 21st 2007 7:59PM
Being a hunter (70) I have to agree. Hunter is easy mode(solo). Hunter in a group is easy. Being a good hunter in a group is not. You have to be aware of everything going on, most people dont see that side of it.
Chris M Jun 21st 2007 8:03PM
You've missed the most important question:
Where's the hunter loot?
Answer me this, and I'll show you a blue cow.
;)
I've got a reasonable respect for hunters as well, with me recently rolling my first alliance character, I've learned to steer clear of night elf hunters- and I'll be fine. Every single 'huntard' I've met as an Alliance priest has been of the night elf variety. Legolas copies run far more rampant than I thought possible.
Regardless, I've dealt with quite a few decent ones, and as such my respect for them has raised quite a bit.
Chris
Laheth Jun 21st 2007 8:11PM
I have a Night Elf hunter (who was a huntard, but I am learning (Go BRK!)), who I mostly solo with.
Every other hunter (with the exception of one) I've run with has been marksman with no concept of how to use their pet, or a melee-er without a pet (that was sad).
Actually... every other Night Elf MALE I've played with has been disappointing. Maybe that's all it is.
khaosworks Jun 21st 2007 8:25PM
70 Hunter here. I'm not as good a player in general as some others I've seen, but I like to think that I'm somewhere in the average range and I know how to play my class. I've seen huntards really worthy of the name: people who refuse turn off growl on their pets, people who insist on meleeing, don't know how to chain trap, or continually break their own traps...
I agree with what others have pointed out above, and in addition part of the problem is a matter of instance experience. There's still a perception that hunters are crap in groups, and so hunters are rarely asked to join, even though our abilities offer quite a bit of flexibility, in pulling, kiting, crowd control, and so on. So hunters don't tend to instance as much as other classes, and that becomes a vicious circle.
Guilds, and especially hunter class leaders in guilds, need to nurture their hunters and educate them on how to play nicely with others. A couple of well-geared, properly spec'd hunters can make a lot of difference.
Coherent Jun 21st 2007 8:37PM
Pvp is a good place to hone your skills. When you can reliably kill most any two other people your own level, you'll finally know what kiting really is :)
You're one of the only classes that can effectively run and gun. You can run full speed ahead while also shooting directly behind you (hint: try running sideways)
For aggro control, make sure you're high on the enemy's aggro list. If he moves too fast, you have many many ways to slow him down enough to GET high on his aggro list, and your squishie priest to get away safely.
Just stay on task, stay awake and alert and your hunter will always be the one between the squishy and the monster.
Stormsinger Jun 21st 2007 8:49PM
As a tank I really love a good hunter too. Nothing makes me happier than knowing the mob that got pealed off me onto the squishies is going to be "handled". No need to spin around, target, feral charge, growl, lacerate and then drag the mob to a safe distance. Knowing I have an on the ball hunter behind me is a great comfort. Freezing trap, pet attack, distract and kite. Knowing the hunter is good really lowers the chaos of fights.
This is one of the reasons I won't bitch about hunter dps. I'd much rather have them handling problems when things go wrong than hitting a regular shot cycle.
Justin Jun 22nd 2007 12:42AM
My hunter has finally hit 70 and suffers from a bit of stage fright when it comes to running high-level instances. Unfortunately, in my rush to hit 70, I skipped trying to find a group for an instance run and now feel woefully unprepared. The last thing I want to be seen as a "Huntard," lol.
Oh well, good thing I'm unplugging from WoW after this weekend. :)
CB Jun 22nd 2007 5:42AM
@11
I am the same, I can count on two hands the number of instances I have been into. Luckily I have some very good friends who are quite happy to help me become as good as I can be, because the better I am (and the rest of the party is) the smoother things go.
Sohanstag Jun 22nd 2007 1:41AM
Hrm...playing a hunter and playing him well IS tough after all! I have a 70 hunter and I think, like post #8, that I'm decent at it. I also have several alts in the 40's from several different classes including a druid, a priest, and a fire mage. I haven't done any end-game stuff with any other class, but my hunter is definitely the toughest to play as far as the demands placed on my characters at their current levels. I'm sure that, at 70, every class has its own challenges. I just wish hunters got a bit more respect in LFG. For my part, I'm trying as hard as I can to up our image. I think any savvy player will tell you that a good hunter is an incredible asset with CC, DPS, off-tanking, etc. A bad hunter is no better than a bad healer, tank, DPS...
I've been in plenty of groups with crap players of all classes, and the bottom line is that a good player is a good player. Good hunters ftw!
Kaito Jun 22nd 2007 3:31AM
#11: I'm in exactly the same situation as I just hit 70 with my solo-PvE hunter the other day and while still questing in Netherstorm I'm also a little scared to check out the instances ahead. If it's possible to blame the hunter for a wipe, they usually will. So I'm trying to be prepared by at least reading the Wowwiki hints and some guide for the respective instance. Always ready to save some squishies' bottom. ;)
Nyx Jun 22nd 2007 3:29AM
Nothing really beats being a hunter in UBRS [back when it was challenging!] during a TPK, one pull before the last boss, with cables, with a dead pet and kiting an elite dragonkin to death as the rest of the party cheers you on. :D
Well, maybe handling [trap, pet, kite] three separate elites in Steam Vaults for your party might count. A little bit.
CaseyJonesspeeder Jun 22nd 2007 11:04PM
It's really nice to finally hear some people admit/realize that hunters aren't "EZ-mode" all of the time. Holding it together as a hunter in a group is a very difficult, but very rewarding experience. I have a lvl 60 hunter (I know, I'm a bit behind) and I've been in several instances where I've been complimented on helping to smooth out an otherwise rocky situation. Not every hunter is a huntard folks!
Aetius Jun 22nd 2007 7:58AM
@1 Been all of us in the run were low level running RFC for the fun, none the Hunters had freeze traps as yet. Think i was just a new lvl 15 Hunter.
Traz Jun 22nd 2007 8:47AM
Very nice article - good to see that Lizzy is progressing nicely :)
I can totally identify with the others above who have not really done many instances. Although I am now running Heroics and Karazhana as a 70 Hunter, when I first hit Outland I suddenly realised that me and my pet had only been in an instance about half a dozen times.
Even between 58 and 70 I still didn't do many as it was so easy to level from quests and farming for my LW skill. Since 70 I have really focused on them and applied many of the teachings from the legendary BRK, which has resulted in my instance performance being pretty reasonable now.
However, it never fails to amaze that so few people appreciate what hunters can do in a group. This article has gone some way to correcting that, which is very useful indeed. I get really fed up with seeing "LF mage" or "LF mage/rogue". How often do you see "LF hunter"?
To any hunters who are inexperienced in instances I would strongly recommend running the same one over and over - it really helps build confidence. To the players who always moan about 'huntards' I would ask that they take a minute and try to help. We can all improve and a little patience goes a long way to helping less-experienced players catch up and become more valuable.
Storm Jun 22nd 2007 10:09AM
Wait till you get to higher level instances and cc becomes even more important. Pet tanking was nice in lower level stuff but won't work so well later on.
To the level 70 hunters without confidence in running instances I'd suggest running ramps a bit. It's high enough that you have mostly to play it properly even though you're 70 (assigned targets, focused dps, chaining cc) and low enough that you can dps your way out of most problems that arise when things go badly. Groups will be happy to have you too simply because you're 70 so you've just got great dps for the run. Should give you some confidence to move forward with level 70 stuff. The best idea is to get in with a hunter who knows what they're doing and ask for some pointers as you go. Don't just try to watch because as has been stated hunters have to think about a lot of things which translate into only a few actions. In my experience I want other hunters (especially ones in my guild) to play better so that we get a better rep overall.
The comments about NE hunters give me a break. I know there's a ton of LOTR fans who do it just to be cool, but I run as a NE hunter too because I love shadowmeld and use it fairly frequently on a pvp server. I'm definitely not a huntard and usually get some form of compliments from the group midinstance for the work I'm doing and often get invites back.
griffdog Jun 22nd 2007 10:49AM
Hunter is the only class where you conceivably may have to handler all roles in wow simultaneously. DPS, pet is tanking so you have to keep an eye on that, CC through traps and kiting and healing your pet. Lots to watch for. The problem is so many hunters simply quest and grind their way to 70 and never learn all these tricks. This is why there are so many bad hunters out there. It is the easiest class to level without really learning anything about your role in a group setting.
Soloing as hunter takes no skill nor attention to details, but as soon as you start grouping and raiding, it's ALL about the details. It can be a very hard transition for some.