Hunters: Worth the time put into them?Follow

Since I've been a hunter fan since I bought the game a few months back, and my hunter has been gaining levels after rerolling a couple times, I've been wondering about Hunters usefullness late game.

Late game instance runs they strike me as crap. The current state of pets means they're fodder. So the hunter is left with their bows correct? I've never been to the late game runs so I don't know for sure.

PvP I've heard (never seen) that if played right they can do wonders as well (use of wing clip, the turn 180 shot and run etc). But again, I've not really done any PvP so I've no idea.

Any have a higher level hunter that can calm my fears of leveling one to the higher levels only to find out they're kind of crap?

Thanks muchly

Y they get better and better as we go andits always cool your pet tanks you use your arrows {or guns} and shoot the hell outta em and there very easy to heal and goes fast to and the traps are great and gotta love AoC

Edited, Tue Aug 30 11:09:22 2005 by Dugramaul

I would say that this is the point of view from a MM (marksman) spec'd hunter. For a BM (beastmaster) spec'd hunter it looks more like:

Hunters are:
Excellent solo PvE
Excellent solo PvP
Decent but undesired in group PvE
Decent because they're ignored in group PvP
Decent in large scale PvE
Useless in large scale PvP

Edited, Tue Aug 30 19:07:37 2005 by Battlement

It really depends on your play style.

* It is my opinion that if you can PVP well with a hunter, you would be able to PVP well with ANY class.

* Sometimes being a hunter makes it very hard to get into groups (quite simply because almost everything we can do another class can do and more).

I'm not saying that playing a hunter is a bad thing, just don't expect people to beat a path to your doorstep for groups.

* PVE we rule the world and can solo just about everything (with some exceptions, of course) outside of instances. There is a reason that the epic quest for hunters requires us to solo 4 elite demons (not all at the same time, of course)...it's because we *can*.

* PVP..I have to say that, contrary to some people's opinion and experiences, we pretty much suck simply because our melee just isn't up to par and just about every class has ways to keep us from getting range.

- Warrior's generally open with charge+hamstring

- Druids love to use entangling roots and stay in our deadzone

- Shaman - nuff said

- Mages frost nova and frost bolt are our worst nightmare

- Rogues - same problem just about everyone has with them. Stealth+sap+stun-lock and you might as well just let them kill you.

Playing a hunter can be alot of fun, just don't expect to rule in PVP (especially 1v1)

and as far as group PVP, for some reason I am usually the first one they go after (alot of the time even before the healers).

I'm still in the middle of the pack @ 26 but I wouldn't trade my Hunter for the world. I love being able to take on Yellow and some Orange Quests alone. I noticed in a group yes you get them done faster but alone you are never alone with your pet and you get most of the Exp.
In PvP I seem to do pretty well. I love being a flag chaser, Hunters can use cheetah and can shoot arrows to hit on the run. You will usually also have a higher kill percent because you can tag almost every PvP with some sort of shot including your pets attacks.
I noticed in alot of threads the total disregard for BM for PvP. I seem to do very well in H2H against most classes that dare to chase me, and I love having a pet that can keep on their heels as I backpeddal and wingclip.
But again most of my PvP is that I still do most of my PvP in BG but I ran across a lvl 20 and 23 the other day south of XR and took the lvl 20 rouge out easily with the lvl 23 druid in cat form on my heels the whole time (I as lvl 24 or 25). If my pet hadn't died and I wasn't having a duh moment thinking I was fighting another hunter with a cat I had almost taken out the druid as well.
If you think a Hunter can't PvP in the real world take another look at the Assara videos. She not only took on 1 on 1, did 1 on 2 and some 2 on 2. And usually I think of myself as a Flag chaser not a runner but I've heard (haven't seen) in the 4th Vid she can run the flag for a score in nothing more than a hat.

Does anyone have a working link to the fourth assara video? I have been unable to find anything but the filefront page which displays an "Unable to be found" message.

Edit: My deepest apologies, I didn't realize there was already a thread on the subject.

Edited, Tue Sep 13 22:46:56 2005 by Fanar

On the contrary, having a hunter pick off people in large scale PvP is quite useful. People don't notice an arrow like they notice a Pyroblast, so if the hunter tries to stay covered (in a bush or behind a tree maybe?) the hunter would become a pretty big menace for the opposing team.

I can just see it.. Mages and warriors retreating to the backline to rest and heal up, and a hunter picks them off with Aimed Shot from within a bush.

Edited, Wed Sep 14 14:02:32 2005 by Mazra

In PvP groups they do come after the hunter first...not because they are the easiest, but we hit HARD and our debuffs are deadly. It's like natural agro with other players....but!!!!

I start stinging and hitting hard.... player peels off and starts coming after me... I have a rogue sitting by me and a frost trap waiting.....HA they are stuck - stun locked - dead and I'm still hitting....now 2 peal off and start after me...
I run around like a chicken with aspect of the cheetah on and they are getting punnished by the other players for chasing me even though they can't catch me....now they are dead....

Hunters are deadly, but you have to play them the right way and they will surprise you alot!

A marksman has great group PvP ability, in AV especially, for the same reason they thrive in large group instancing. Solo PvP...If the hunter gets the drop he wins, if it's even or the opponent gets the drop, things don't go so well.
Groups tend to avoid hunters because there's a myth that there's a lot bad players playing hunters. I've seen terrible players in all classes, and I don't think bad hunters are any more or less common than bad rogues, or priests, or whatever. I think hunters stand out, because when the hunter screws up the pull, it can easily end in a wipe.
Try to hook up with other hunters. Hunter heavy parties are a blast. I've done several instances - BFD, Uldaman and ZF - with 4 hunter 5 man parties, and we rolled through the whole instance with very little effort. I'm trying to get some guildie hunters to go for BRD with me, but we keep having scheduling issues.

hunters do great in instances (depending how you specced). Every group i've ever gone instancing with, my DPS has been, in general the highest...unless the mage AOE's.. then he pulls ahead by tons... or you have to keep switching targets often.

pssst..sometimes they don't like to hear it but hunters can actually outdamage rogues in higher instances..and we'll survive much longer.

Hunters stay behind with the DPS/support classes. If these other support/DPS classes get aggro, my pet & me are the first ones pulling it off. Otherwise it would have been a clear wipe.

But it is, I'll admit, a very underappreciated class. You'll get used to everyone congratulating each other after surviving a bad pull and get passed by...such as GJ so-and-so for healing and so-and-so for this and that.. then you expect someone to pat you on the back at least once and it never happens even though your pet just died tanking 3 elites by himself, you just pulled an elite off the healer and it's beating the crap out of you while you're finding time to pop off the debuffs, wing clips AND DPSing at the same time. <---without all that the group would be a sure wipe situation...except noone's going to appreciate your contribution. you're basically ignored even if you just saved the healer when the whole group wiped so that she can res.

That's IF you can get a group since they'll pass on u pretty often.

especially after the hunter patch, our dps is even higher and the pet is almost comparable as a main tank...maybe even moreso since you can heal your own pet, freeing the healers to do more critical healing. Even then, the pet makes a fantastic offtank that can occupy 1 or 2 equal level elite long enough for your group to finish mobs off 1 by 1. So you can see that having a hunter in group is = to having 1 hunter + 1 very decent offtank. A group of 5 is now a group of 6.

in large group pvp, i've found that i get ignored... which is great for me and bad for the enemy. Rapid fire and all our goodies dumped on 1 person is REAL deadly...especially against a cloth wearer. Instant death for them.