Hunter QuestionFollow

whell first of there is no such thing as an EXP party for say. you just do quests and get lvls as you go. but about getting parties. Hunters dont bring a ton to a party other than the damage. and really i think the reason they dont party isnt the fact that they cant find people but the fact that they dont have to. personaly i just pt with friends anyways so it didnt matter for me. but hunters do a lot of damage and would be viable in a party just i dont think a lot take the option.

Granted i only got hunter to 22 and i never needed to party except for instances. i dont know i love hunter and would play it party or not so i am kinda leaning towards one way

Hunters do fine in groups.

Actually any class does well in groups, depends on the person behind the keyboard.

That being said, I have noticed that almost any class that "Prefers to solo" gets somehow labeled as being not group friendly.

I often attribute this to the fact that often an easily soloable class often solo's and when in a group TRIES to keep using the solo techniques. Often this leads to the group getting killed off and therefore labeling the soloable characters as "Non-group friendly".

Case in point, last few hours of Beta we had a Hunter that would just pull, not informing anyone he was pulling, would often wander off and pull, only running back to the party when he had too many to successfully solo (adding to the ones the party had already pulled) and generally getting the party a nice little wipe out. After a bit people began to mutter how Hunter's were just not good group classes.

My guildie Hunter on the other hand, never did any of these things, often used the pet to control adds, was on the spot with wingclip and concussive shot on mobs that tried to flee. He was a definite assest to the group.

Hunters: One of the best backup tanks in the game. Most hunters that I have played with managed to use their pets to tank adds with growl and slow down the movement of any monster running around like crazies. <3 Hunter!

Pff my pet tanked better then wars his lvl did.

But I never needed to party, in all I needed to party 2 times, once for Blackfathom deeps and once for Tower of Altanaxx all the other quest I did by myself or I paried with someone to help them do it, liek the rabid thistle bear quest when it was still bugged, or various other kill so and so quest that a number of us wanted to do at the same time.

Well I knew that you got exp from quests... I just assumed that you also had more traditional (FFXI style) parties.

Oh speaking of hunters, do the aspects have a cooldown? Like Aspect of the Cheetah? Because I can't see you being able to use it all the time... of course depending on the amount of time and speed it increases... >.>

With the amount of quests and the rewards of exp in those quests in WoW, don't expect many people to do the grind thing. This is not that kind of game. If you want to grind, you do it as a soloer, not as a grouper.

Pet classes will always be a bit weak in groups since they are weaker and they are really two instead of just one. I have a hunter level 45 and I found myself to be less helpful in groups even though I could solo things a number of levels above me. Bow/Gun DPS isn't all that great right now though it's pretty good. It's not to say that I wouldn't want a hunter in my group, but on the otherhand hunters are on of those classes that isn't important to have. There are a few classes that DPS just fine, but you will need a healer and it helps a lot to have somone to rez. It's also nice to have someone who can tank and hold agro pretty well.

Just the addition of the Mark of the Hunter spell would make a Hunter group friendly. Not only does it make sure everyone in the group knows the target, but adds to the range attack of everyone on that target. Again, it's who's behind the keyboard, not the class that makes a hunter group friendly/unfriendly. Also goes for other people in the group. Was in many groups where other members would run off and pull mobs back, trusting the hunter and his pet to help them kill off the extra pulls.

On the aspect cooldown, it's a toggle. I basically left Aspect of Cheetah up when I was running from place to place, switching to Aspect of Hawk when combat was coming up.

Edited, Fri Nov 19 17:08:13 2004 by Jafder

Hunter's are awesome got mine to lvl 24 and was rockin stopped because i didn't want to do too much of it over again. First off your pet learn to use your pet as a meat shield and get the heal pet skill. With growl your pet can hold hate better than any warrior can at this point hands down. Additionally learn to use your ranged to your advantage in pulling because as a hunter you can actually solo some instances if your well prepared i did at a higher lvl than usual but it is possible non the less. Also FEED your pet keep it happy all the time this increases its damage output to 125% and increases its loyalty to you. Upgrade your pet training skills as they come along hopefully more skills will become available as they come along but trust me Growl is your pets version of taunt. And healing your pet while it tanks is a great function. Don't bother trying to take on higher lvl mobs because it just isn't exp feasible. Too much downtime while you get mana back instead just chew through same lvl or slightly lower mobs and you'll pull in a much higher xph (exp per hour) then you would trying to take on those higher lvl ones. Plus its its a very insignificant amount from one lvl to the next with regular mobs. But find your niche and enjoy, because solo you can do much more than your fellow chars but if you team up it goes way way faster if you find a good person to team with. I found too many people to be treasure hogs and would loot before you could move in from your ranged distance. So if you find someone cool who shares or just switch the loot to round robin and enjoy.


Edit the reason i used xph is because while doing a number of quests you will have to kill mobs to wait for the drop or hunt for certain mobs in an area loaded with high aggro mobs and as an appropriate lvl hunter you can kill these at a decent xph compared to other classes. And parties definately don't mind hunters because the pet adds to the groups DPS without subtracting from group xp. Aspects, traps, pet abilities or commands, ranged and melee its a big bundle to get down right but my hunter at lvl 20 became solid as a melee because of duel wield had some vicious ranged attacks and use of traps was awesome. I found that parties didn't understand my capabilities or how to work with me. I went into an instance with just 2 others backing me up and when i taught them how i could work things to our advantage they were awed and sat back and enjoyed the show attacking after my pet would tank the mob.

Edited, Fri Nov 19 16:47:53 2004 by Cumann

Hunters are great characters. I got mine to 31 in beta and I could solo with my pet mobs up to 4-5 levels higher then me. Of course I wouldn't recommend it always as an add can pretty much wipe you out.

Hunters are great pullers. All you have to do is set your pet on a mob let it hit the mob a bit, you blast away from a distance, then get close enough to mend your pet back to health, wash, rinse, repeat.

Also a great technique in group is to set your pet on a mob, let him agro and then recall your pet back bringing the mob to your group for some nice a$$ whooping. :) For those who think hunters are not made for group, they are wrong. They are just as stronger if not stronger then any other class. You want to pull agro from one of your tanks or healers, send your pet after that mob. Depending on the pet you have (i found bears to be great tanks) it can do some major damage. Add a little wing clip and some stun shots from those mobs trying to get away...well you get the pictures...don't rule out hunters in group, you will need one!

The hunter is great solo and in group. PvP might get a little rough but if you can play this class right, you can be just as great in PvP then any other class. There is so much ******* a hunter can use especially later on in the levels. One of the best combos in Pvp for me was to group up with a rogue.

I played Horde but it should work the same for Alliance. Position your rogue in stealth at a strategic point, wait for some unsuspected soul to come down the road, send your pet out, blast away from a far at the party and then have your rogue appear from behind backstabbing...instant death! :)

Like I've said and stand by hunters will be like Rangers in EQ, one of the classes that fills that extra slot and has to compete with all the other DPS classes for it. What you really need in a group that is going through a tuff instance is a healer that can rez, a second healer would be nice, a tank, and finally some DPS. I'm not saying hunters are a bad class, but their pulling isn't anything special I have a hunter 45, but I mostly soloed with him. Theres nothing wrong with the class so play it if thats what you like. It didn't stop people from playing Ranger in EQ, but it will be harder at end game to find groups.