Hi! Newb here.

[sythspawn]

I didn't see any sort of "introduce yourself" threads so I hope this isn't in a horribly inappropriate spot.

A friend and long-time WoW player recommended this site to me. I thought I'd register and see what wisdom I can glean from all of the Hunter vets around here. I've played WoW here and there, but nothing very long-term. This time, however, I was inspired by my 4th edition D&D Dwarven ranger with a bear companion to come back and create a similar Dwarven hunter in WoW. It's only been a few days and I've leveled him up to 16, and having fun doing it.

I do have some questions, and I'm wondering if I should just dump them in this thread/post or if I should spread them around the forum...

[Mockingbird]

Welcome!

I say either dump them here, or do a second thread with all of them in (no need to make separate threads for each).

[sythspawn]

How do I learn to use other weapons like maces? I was thinking it might be handy to learn other weapon types in order to maximize loot usage. Or is this just a waste of time/resources?

What's the best pet for soloing?

I'm thinking of trying to tame the Rare Loch Crocolisk (with no name) for my second pet. Any advice?

Since I've started with a pet thanks to the new patch, how do I tame a new pet?

Hunters can have 5 pets, right? I could've sworn I read somewhere that you can stable up to 20 now. How can you stable 20 and only have 5?

[Mockingbird]

Weapons
It USED to be that you had to go to weaponmasters in capital cities. I belive nowadays, you start knowing everything you'll ever know.

For hunters, that means Bows, Crossbows, Guns, Daggers, Polearms, Axes, Swords, 2h axes, 2h swords and fist weapons. (and I'm not sure about swords or 2h swords, now I think about it).

We do not have access to maces or 2h maces.

Soloing
For soloing normal mobs, any pet that you like will do the job as Beast Mastery, and probably for other specs too.
For soloing tougher stuff, anything from the Tenacity family will do (I personally like bears).
For really hardcore stuff a turtle has the most survivability and a worm is good for holding threat on multiple enemies.

Crocolisk
Never tried the crocolisk I'm afraid, I'll leave that to others.

Taming a new pet
There are two kinds of pet storage:
Stables - can store up to 20 pets, but you have to talk to an NPC to get them (like a pet bank, basically)
Active - you can carry between 1 and 5 pets with you (the number goes up as you level, with the fifth slot opening somewhere between 80 and 85)
Now I THINK that at your level you can only have one active pet. That means if you want to hold onto your current one you need to visit a stable master and put your current pet into storage, leaving you petless. After that you just get close to whatever you want to tame (must be tameable and your level or lower) and use the ability "tame pet". 10 seconds later you have a new best friend

If you don't care about your current one, pull out the pet, right-click on its portrait and choose "abandon pet" - be careful of this, because once abandoned it's gone forever!

5 vs 20
See above.
5 active + 20 stabled = 25 total at level 85.

Edit: InbeforeAntares

[Antares]

How do I learn to use other weapons like maces? I was thinking it might be handy to learn other weapon types in order to maximize loot usage. Or is this just a waste of time/resources?

As of Patch 4.0.1 Weapon Skills are gone. All classes start and can use whatever weapons they can use. If you look in your spellbook, under the General Tab, if you mouse over Weapon Skills, it will tell you what you can use. Hunters cannot use maces.

What's the best pet for soloing?

Whatever pet you want!! That's the best part about being a Hunter and lvling! I'd suggest Ferocity or Tenacity pets. You want something that can hold your targets attention while you kill it. I usually Skill Point my Ferocity pets for +dmg/Stam and take Charge just so they can hold aggro.

I'm thinking of trying to tame the Rare Loch Crocolisk (with no name) for my second pet. Any advice?

If you want, sure! Crocolisks are great, especially if you're leveling in or around water. I've learned that cats and other four-legged beasts don't work well underwater.

Since I've started with a pet thanks to the new patch, how do I tame a new pet?

At lvl 10, you go see your trainer and they will give you the Tame Pet ability and some other tools so that you can tame whatever Beast you want.

Hunters can have 5 pets, right? I could've sworn I read somewhere that you can stable up to 20 now. How can you stable 20 and only have 5?

As of 4.0.1 Our Stables have 20 slots and every 10 levels or so we get a new Active Pet slot. Hunters have four Active Pet slots in addition to the 20 Stable Slots. Once the Expansion comes out, we will get an extra Active Pet slot. So, Hunters can have 25 pets.

[sythspawn]

Weapons
It USED to be that you had to go to weaponmasters in capital cities. I belive nowadays, you start knowing everything you'll ever know.

For hunters, that means Bows, Crossbows, Guns, Daggers, Polearms, Axes, Swords, 2h axes, 2h swords and fist weapons. (and I'm not sure about swords or 2h swords, now I think about it).

We do not have access to maces or 2h maces.

Mace Specialization is a passive racial trait. Is this just overridden by the Hunter class traits?

Taming a new pet
There are two kinds of pet storage:
Stables - can store up to 20 pets, but you have to talk to an NPC to get them (like a pet bank, basically)
Active - you can carry between 1 and 5 pets with you (the number goes up as you level, with the fifth slot opening somewhere between 80 and 85)
Now I THINK that at your level you can only have one active pet. That means if you want to hold onto your current one you need to visit a stable master and put your current pet into storage, leaving you petless. After that you just get close to whatever you want to tame (must be tameable and your level or lower) and use the ability "tame pet". 10 seconds later you have a new best friend

By "active", are you saying we can have more than one pet roaming around with us at a time?

According to wowhead, Call Pet 2 is available at 18, Call Pet 3 at 42, Call Pet 4 at 62, and Call Pet 5 at 82.

[Mockingbird]

Active pets can only be called one at a time (to call another you first cast "dismiss pet" to hide your current one away, then can call another).

They are "active" because you can call and switch between them at any time. The stored pets can only be accessed by visiting the stable master or using the level 80 spell "call stabled pet", and when a pet goes into storage (in the stable) its talent points are reset.

Mace specialisation is indeed a bit of a kick - it improves your use of a weapon you can't use, sadly.

[Mania]

Hello! It's great to see so many new faces around here. (Not that I'm tired of the old faces, mind.)

We used to have an introduction thread but I can't find it. Feel free to start a new one.

[Teigan]

Hi, welcome

[sythspawn]

How are some members getting/making those nifty animated signatures?

[Mania]

Ah, you should check out the Avatars & Signatures forum!

[Vephriel]

I think the current animation guru would be Kamoodle. She has a thread open here, you could ask and see if she's taking requests:
http://forums.wow-petopia.com/viewtopic.php?f=18&t=4177

[sythspawn]

I just hit lvl 20 last night, and I was so excited to get Apprentice Riding and a nifty ram mount, but I was 1 gold short!

I learned Dual Wield, though. How do you determine if your two one-handed weapons are worth replacing your one two-handed weapon?

[Karathyriel]

For each class, some stats are more important than others.

For hunters, it's agility. So, if you have to decide if you use two one-handed or one two-handed weapons, you take a good look at the stat improvements they'll grant you. When it comes to melee weapons, they are just for stats. So basically, if you got a sword with +2 AGI and a dagger with +1 AGI or a two-handed sword with +4 AGI, you choose the two-handed sword because it boosts your agility more, than the two one-handed weapons would.

You're a hunter and if you get into close combat, somethings gone wrong! So looking at the damage ability of your weapon is only mandatory with your ranged weapon, meaning bow, gun or crossbow. Your pet is supposed to do the fighting while you put arrow after arrow or bullet after bullet into your enemy. So, dual wielding just means, you can have an additional stat improver!

Oh... By the way:
Welcome to Petopia!

[sythspawn]

For each class, some stats are more important than others.

For hunters, it's agility. So, if you have to decide if you use two one-handed or one two-handed weapons, you take a good look at the stat improvements they'll grant you. When it comes to melee weapons, they are just for stats. So basically, if you got a sword with +2 AGI and a dagger with +1 AGI or a two-handed sword with +4 AGI, you choose the two-handed sword because it boosts your agility more, than the two one-handed weapons would.

You're a hunter and if you get into close combat, somethings gone wrong!

Hmm... Then something must go wrong quite often. Or my pet isn't holding aggro like it should. Do you know of any good Hunter guides I can read in order to properly play my class?

[Karathyriel]

I don't know about hunter guides.
I really don't like class guides at all because you won't have any fun playing when you try to copy someone elses style of play that probably doesn't suit you. And, lets face it, WoW is a game. And you play games to have fun. So you have all the opportunities in the world to develop your "own style of playing a hunter". Enjoy!

First of all, try to get an add-on called "Omen". You do know about add-ons, do you?
"Omen" is measuring aggro from the mob you are targetting and telling you, when you're about to steal the aggro of your pet or tank. It's better to stop causing damage to give your pet the chance to regain aggro than to actually go into melee.

On the other hand, I'm leveling a new hunter myself right now (Lvl 27 currently) and the whole game was made pretty easy, so you shouldn't have any problems at all to even kill the mob in close combat. I only suggest that you don't get used to this because it'll be hard to lose that "bad habit" again.

In fact, I had aggro problems as well at that level. But it won't take long, before your pet starts holding aggro better. I'm used to my Lvl80 hunter that I played before patch 4.0. I'm used to take a shot and my pet charging and intercepting the mob, taking the aggro off me instantly. That doesn't seem to work on our low level or in patch 4.0 anymore, I'm not sure which.

On a later level, you'll get 2 skills: Feign Death and Misdirection. Those will be your best friends. Misdirection leads the aggro you cause to the target of the spell. Cast it on your tank or your pet and cause as much damage, as possible and shove the tank/pet up in the aggro list. Feign Death will make your hunter to feign his untimely demise, taking him out of combat, out of target and, more important, reset your aggro to zero! (Some mobs can actually resist it. If that happens... Well, the next cemetary isn't far away! )

You sound like you are new to the game, not only the hunter class. Be sure that only try and error will teach you something about the class and the theory and maths of your class will not be needed for another 50 or so levels.

I'd say, any pet you tame can do the job of tanking for you properly but, if you're not sure what to pick: Use a bear! They've always been great beginners pets, as they eat almost anything and hold aggro pretty easily. Be sure that you have the "growl" skill of your pet active, when soloing and inactive when you play in a group with a tank. And keep your pet well fed and in a good mood. If the little face is green, the pet will do 125% of damage and more damage = more aggro.

Have fun!

[sythspawn]

I'm not exactly new, but I wouldn't consider myself experienced, either. I've played on and off over the years, but have yet to get any expansions. This isn't my first hunter, but it is my first toon to hit level 20. And as a newly created dwarf hunter post 4.0, I already have a bear pet.

I'm actually quite proud of myself. It's only taken about a week for me to reach level 20. It's too bad I won't be able to go up another 20 levels in a week - otherwise, I'd be ready for The Burning Crusade by Christmas! I will probably pick it up if the price drops after Cataclysm's release. I'm also a bit of an alta-holic, but I've managed to avoid that particular habit this go-round. Maybe it's because my friend isn't playing anymore and I don't have to keep switching realms when I play.

I do know about add-ons, but I've only scratched the surface. I did find a nice coordinates one a couple nights ago. Are there any others you'd recommend?

[Karathyriel]

Right now, I'm playing without any add-ons myself.

Omen can be a life-saver. To see wether your close of stealing aggro or not is pretty nifty in both, solo and group play.
I used to have FuBar and some plu-ins for that, which put all kind of info at the top & bottom of your screen but that's just for comfort.
Later on, when you're high level and start heroic dungeons and raiding Deadly Boss Mods was always helpful for me.

In my opinion, you'll have to play a while and see what actually is missing or uncomfortable while playing and you can then always ask or search for an add-on that helps you. But find out what is needed first.

Are you on US or EU realms? I'm pretty sure, someone might be willing to meet with you ingame and show you some stuff.

[Mockingbird]

Well, if you're an alt-a-holic then I won't suggest class-specific ones (they are generally more useful at higher levels anyway).

My personal must-have addons are these:
Omen (a threat meter - more use at high level or in dungeons)
Recount (a damage meter - lets you know how much damage you're doing. Useful for trying out new things and refining your play)
Grid (when you start joining groups of more than 5, for example in battlegrounds, it gives an easy way to put everyone's name and health bars in the same place without taking up your whole screen and blocking the action)
OmniCC (puts the cooldown of abilities in nice big easy-to-read numbers, instead of the ticking-clock animation)

There are loads and loads of others, to change the appearance and function of literally every element in the interface.

For co-ordinates, I use Chinchilla Minimap - it gives you a customisable, movable minimap (I have mine square instead of round) with coordinates and other useful things.

The main groups of addons are as follows:
Bar mods (Bartender, Dominos etc) - these take your action bars (where your abilities go) and reorganise them to your heart's content.

Raiding/Dungeon addons (DeadlyBossMods) - give you warnings about boss abilities that may be not too obvious. Some people hate them, others (most people in fact, in my experience) seem to swear by them.

Timers - (Elkanobuffbars, ClassTimers, Needtoknow) these keep track of things like buffs (how long is left on power-word: fortitude?), debuffs (How long until my Curse of Agony disappears from the boss and I need to recast it?), cooldowns (How long before Bestial Wrath is available?) and so on. Most of this information is available in the main UI but hard to see or spread out, so these make it easier to focus on the information you need.

Map mods (E.g. Chinchilla, Atlas, Cartographer) These change either the minimap or the main map or both. Atlas gives really nice zoomable maps, and has an add-in module called AtlasLoot that can show you all the rewards that can be dropped by the various bosses spread throughout WoW.

Inventory addons - (BagNon, Altaholic) these tend to let you rearrange your bags so they appear as one huge bag, or divide up however you want, or let you see (but not access) your bank from anywhere, or see what your other characters have etc etc.

Quest mods (e.g. QuestHelper) These give a LOT of extra information (and remove a lot of the useless/flavour information) to make questing a more efficient, production-line process, and they tend to divide folks - some people say they make questing easier, some claim they strip a lot of the interest and joy out of the world (of warcraft). I think both may be right. I use them for alts when I'm going over areas I've been to a lot before, and all the quests are old news.

Casting bar mods (Quartz) - the usefulness of these depends on how much PvP you do and what class you play. Basically gives more information about skill use, cast times, latency and autoattacks.

Unit Frame mods (ShadowUF and many, many others) - these change the appearance and information presented by the unit frames (i.e. the player, pet and target portrait/health/mana boxes to the top right, and those of anyone you group with that appear below. A common use for them is to put the player frame and target frame either side of your character's feet, so they are closer to where you'd normally look.

HUDs (IceHUD, TinyHUD etc) - Heads Up Displays - basically adds information that surrounds your character to make it right there where you are always looking. Often includes health, mana and major cooldowns.

Roleplay addons - these let you make up a backstory for your character that others can share, and so on.

Hope these help. There will doubtless be ones I've missed, but others will fill you in. To be honest, all addons are optional. I know people who have completed the content available in the game without using a single one (a resto shaman, which boggles my mind given how useful Grid type addons are for healers, but there you go). Don't feel you HAVE to use anything, but if you can think of something that would be useful to your character, someone else has probably made a mod for it, so have a look!

[Mania]

I've been getting reports that pet aggro is ... wonky ... right now. I haven't been playing much in a real fashion (too much time on beta), so I've just been going on what people tell me. It could just be red tapers burning more often (c.f. Onyxia deep breathes more) but it might be a factor.