Hunters ... the last of a dying breed?

[Rabiator]

I didnt play WoW for almost three years and from what I hear that was a good choice. Easy mode and catering to entitled casuals seems to have made the game rather boring. Anyways ... since I have experienced the "good old days" and am interested in joining again I have - sort of - two snapshots of the game to compare with each other. One thing dawned on me recently which might not be so obvious to people who have not taken a break like I have:

Hunters are the last class with "class specific quests" to customize the class or gain new abilities. You can just grab the "standard bear 08/15" and "standard cat 007" and be done with it ... or you get one of each type and maybe even a special look (just for kicks and cuteness).

Blizzard has taken out every quest limited to one class only, but hunting new pets isnt a true quest ... and still you can get a lot of different abilities to benefit yourself and/or your raid. Personally I think that is one of the greatest things about the class and I mourn for the good old quests which Druids had to complete to gain their shapeshifts for example. One really intense one was the "waterborne chase" for the advanced flight form, but the others werent bad either and involved the player in the spirit world in Moonglade (Yay for Teleport: Moonglade !). It really is a shame that these kinds of quests are gone, because Blizzard has proven with the new expansion that they can make awesome quests.

Personally I had hoped - ever since the beta of vanilla - that they would follow the footsteps of Everquest and introduce an "epic weapon" (would be a semi-legendary in WoW) for every class. My enchanter in Everquest had a nice "wand" in the shape of a snake and it even moved its head around. That was 10 years ago or so ... so c'mon Blizzard, stop being lazy and stop catering to lazy wimps who havent learned to get of their butt and make an effort just to be special.

[Lisaara]

No offense but this seems a little....overdramatic. Dying breed? Not a chance. A class doesnt need a silly weapon to be an awesome class. The awesome pets were given to us because us hunters WANTED them. Infact, some of them are ingame now because of a few wonderful people from Petopia that said a few things to Blizzard. We asked and Blizzard responded. They listened to our desires. Most of us desired new pets to choose from. As a Beast Master hunter, my pet is my legendary. I dont need a silly weapon.

Now I'd like the druids to have a legendary weapon for once since I've yet to see a druid-only legendary.

[Cerah]

I miss the class-specific quests too. My guildie was telling me about getting his demons on his new Troll warlock -- no quest to earn your demon's respect is needed now, you just learn the spell from your trainer. When I remember my warlock's efforts -- getting the hearts of two "purehearted" men to tempt your succubus into existance, for example, I can't help but think that my poor guildie has been cheated. Earning the respect of my demons was a real RP experience for me, and I'm kind of saddened that new warlocks won't have that opportunity. I also really enjoyed my Druid's quest to get her bear form, and my blood elf paladin's epic horse quest (she already had her horse and journeyman riding at that point, but the experience really made me feel more like a Blood Knight, plus the new talbard)

For Hunters, I think it is a little different. Sure, starting out with a pet at level 1 is something new, but I'm not going to degrade new Hunters for it. When I started my new Undead Hunter, Lydeea, I found having her spider at her side right off the bat really helped me feel like a Hunter from the start. After doing the "training" quests to get pets at level 10 three times previously, it wasn't something I really missed. Also, I think as Hunters, we're in a unique position to do informal "quests" to get some of the harder to tame pets. What other class goes out there, hunts down a particular, hostile mob, and then convinces it to fight at our side? Whenever we choose to hunt for a spirit beast, or tame an Oil-stained animal, or organize an UBRS or BWL raid to make friends with a boss monster, we're doing something just as epic as any class quest, even if its not written out in our logs, and the rewards are so much more satifying. We're luckier than most classes this way.

[Lisaara]

I miss the class-specific quests too. My guildie was telling me about getting his demons on his new Troll warlock -- no quest to earn your demon's respect is needed now, you just learn the spell from your trainer. When I remember my warlock's efforts -- getting the hearts of two "purehearted" men to tempt your succubus into existance, for example, I can't help but think that my poor guildie has been cheated. Earning the respect of my demons was a real RP experience for me, and I'm kind of saddened that new warlocks won't have that opportunity. I also really enjoyed my Druid's quest to get her bear form, and my blood elf paladin's epic horse quest (she already had her horse and journeyman riding at that point, but the experience really made me feel more like a Blood Knight, plus the new talbard)

For Hunters, I think it is a little different. Sure, starting out with a pet at level 1 is something new, but I'm not going to degrade new Hunters for it. When I started my new Undead Hunter, Lydeea, I found having her spider at her side right off the bat really helped me feel like a Hunter from the start. After doing the "training" quests to get pets at level 10 three times previously, it wasn't something I really missed. Also, I think as Hunters, we're in a unique position to do informal "quests" to get some of the harder to tame pets. What other class goes out there, hunts down a particular, hostile mob, and then convinces it to fight at our side? Whenever we choose to hunt for a spirit beast, or tame an Oil-stained animal, or organize an UBRS or BWL raid to make friends with a boss monster, we're doing something just as epic as any class quest, even if its not written out in our logs, and the rewards are so much more satifying. We're luckier than most classes this way.

You said it better than I did(I just woke up...lol!). I'll miss my druid quests and the warlock quests. As annoying as they were, they definitely were an rp experience.

[Maladramatic]

I personally would like to see a quest that opened for each class and was tailored for them. It could be a right of passage, so to speak and continue from level 20 to 85 and perhaps be further developed so that it went even beyond that in the two future expansions. It should be difficult but not too much so, perhaps just really time consuming and demand a focused intent to complete if you really want the reward at the end, which is comprised of both the journey and perhaps a legendary item..a trinket, or a necklace.

[Royi]

I miss the class-specific quests too. My guildie was telling me about getting his demons on his new Troll warlock -- no quest to earn your demon's respect is needed now, you just learn the spell from your trainer. When I remember my warlock's efforts -- getting the hearts of two "purehearted" men to tempt your succubus into existance, for example, I can't help but think that my poor guildie has been cheated. Earning the respect of my demons was a real RP experience for me, and I'm kind of saddened that new warlocks won't have that opportunity. I also really enjoyed my Druid's quest to get her bear form, and my blood elf paladin's epic horse quest (she already had her horse and journeyman riding at that point, but the experience really made me feel more like a Blood Knight, plus the new talbard)

For Hunters, I think it is a little different. Sure, starting out with a pet at level 1 is something new, but I'm not going to degrade new Hunters for it. When I started my new Undead Hunter, Lydeea, I found having her spider at her side right off the bat really helped me feel like a Hunter from the start. After doing the "training" quests to get pets at level 10 three times previously, it wasn't something I really missed. Also, I think as Hunters, we're in a unique position to do informal "quests" to get some of the harder to tame pets. What other class goes out there, hunts down a particular, hostile mob, and then convinces it to fight at our side? Whenever we choose to hunt for a spirit beast, or tame an Oil-stained animal, or organize an UBRS or BWL raid to make friends with a boss monster, we're doing something just as epic as any class quest, even if its not written out in our logs, and the rewards are so much more satifying. We're luckier than most classes this way.

You said it better than I did(I just woke up...lol!). I'll miss my druid quests and the warlock quests. As annoying as they were, they definitely were an rp experience.

I agree, i think its lame that druids can just go learn Sealion from a trainer. I remember (was ally so I don't know what the horde version was) where you had to go in the middle of the ocean in WEstfall and somewhere in Darkshore to grab the 2 little pendants in order to get your sea form. Or how for Bear form at lvl 10 you had to do a quest with the Moonkin in darkshore.

I remember at lvl 20 when I got cat form, i asked myself "this is it??" feeling cheated that I could simply just learn it from a trainer.

Or even the quest to learn Ressurection for Paladins out on that lake in Elwynn, or the Rogue quest to learn Pickpocketing in Lakeshire... I never played a lock that high, but I remember the Voidwalker quest where I had to go downstairs somewhere in SW to a weird summoning circle room for Locks. That was pretty neat too.

Those were truly more "epic" than just visiting a trainer or knowing it from lvl 1

[Cerah]

Or even the quest to learn Ressurection for Paladins out on that lake in Elwynn, or the Rogue quest to learn Pickpocketing in Lakeshire... I never played a lock that high, but I remember the Voidwalker quest where I had to go downstairs somewhere in SW to a weird summoning circle room for Locks. That was pretty neat too.

Those were truly more "epic" than just visiting a trainer or knowing it from lvl 1

The Blood Elf paladin Ressurection quest was even better. You go out and "kill" a fellow Blood Knight, then go back to the inn in Silvermoon, where he's been brought, and practice your first ressurection spell on him. He wakes up, and complains "ugh, I am not volunteering for that again! ... I need a drink."

Epic.

[Vespias]

Agree...in vanilla besides my hunter I also ran a lock and the demon quests were great. Mrs. Ves ran a druid and some of her class quests were brutal. Later on I ran up a druid and even knowing what the quests were didn't make them a drop easier. Many quests for all classes even involved needing help! And lets not forget the hunter's quest for that epic staff/bow weapon. An epic quest for an epic weapon!

[Anyia]

A long long time ago I rolled a tauren druid, and I found the druid quest line to me the most engaging and awesome that I had encountered. The quest for getting the bear form was a challenge, not to mention the !^@#!$%$ aquatic form that required hiking across to the other side of the world to dive for a tiny item that didn't have sparkles back then nor the extended breathing-under-water time. I was so looking forward to questing for the cat form, and when I discovered it was simply a trained ability I felt really cheated. I didn't end up playing that druid much past that point.

I for one will miss the epic adventures that were the class-specific quest lines.

[Rabiator]

Maybe I wrote the first post a bit overly dramatic, but what I meant is more or less to give each class some special memories like the quests for shapeshifts for Druids. The comparison with the Everquest epic weapons needs another little reminder and that is that Everquest 1 didnt have instances and that everyone on one server was competing with each other for bosses / instances after a reset. So having that epic weapon was something special. On some servers it was "rough competition" and on others people learned to cooperate. Thus the epic weapon was *something special* because they all required drops from raid bosses (and one of my first pieces got accidentally looted by a Mage ...).

One of the "bad trends" I noticed in WoW is to give "class defining abilites" to other classes now and this kinda makes you "lose your role / identitiy" in the game. Examples are Mortal Strike debuffs, making certain buffs have the same effects as others, Innervate for ALL druids and not merely resto ones and giving "raid gets mana back" buffs to a lot of classes. One of the best parts about WoW is that the classes have different mechanics and feel different, but spreading these key abilites over more classes erases that difference. Personally I blame PvP as a reason and whiners who only want to do what they want instead of doing what is necessary for the "greater good of the guild / raid progression".

So Hunters are the last class which can do quests for "something special", even though Blizzard could put in optional quests for all classes. They wouldnt really hurt anything and give a way to customize a character.
- Mages: alternate polymorph forms (now lazily put in as glyphs)
- Druids: flight form - Seagull (if Hunters can have that as a pet why not Druids as a flight form? There isnt a shortage of different types of flying mounts, so whats the problem with one more?)
- Warlocks: alternate Demons and maybe even special Demons for the trees (a poison using rogue demon for affliction and a nuker for destruction)
...
Instead they give us class quests at level 20 and 50 which probably will not make those level 85 people go back and do them. IMO a waste of time and resources, because you can get gear in a lot of places. Personally I tried the Hunter quest for the bow and it was an awesome experience which required you to acquire some skill and overgearing wasnt really an option. That is GOOD, so please bring these things back! To stop the whiners you could also be given a choice for "alternate skill quests" and pay to get them without the quest.

[Acherontia]

I definitely miss the class quests--all the ones described here.

I like immersion, and having the CHOICE to take a challenge to go out and do something unique, to help define yourself against the masses, was great. They were well-written and exciting, and the only real hassle was travel time (having to travel to Westfall as a Night Elf back in the day for seal form was NOT easy).

I do miss that blood elf res quest too!!

Epic mount summon quest chains, quests to get demons, epic flight form, pretty much the entire "the Sceptre of the Shifting Sands" line (yeah my hunter has the Veteran achievement!), Sunken Temple chains, hell even the profession spec-specific quests (Dragonscale Leatherworking, anyone?). I think part of it is that if you get something now, it doesn't feel special--before, it took effort to get, and was so involving, that it felt like a real accomplishment.

On the other hand, the WoW world was becoming an actual world, very chaotic, with tons of "unknown" content that 90% of the playerbase would never see, or never think to look for. I think with the world revamp and the changes, Blizz is trying to make it smooth and clear, which I do applaud. But it also means that the joy of having something unknown, or experiencing something nearly unique (special isn't it?), will pretty much disappear.

It remains to be seen, imo, whether this is a fair tradeoff. I definitely suggest questing through several of the new zones before you decide whether the game as a whole is changing in a good way or bad, but either way, I do miss class quests

[Ryai]

Or even the quest to learn Ressurection for Paladins out on that lake in Elwynn, or the Rogue quest to learn Pickpocketing in Lakeshire... I never played a lock that high, but I remember the Voidwalker quest where I had to go downstairs somewhere in SW to a weird summoning circle room for Locks. That was pretty neat too.

Those were truly more "epic" than just visiting a trainer or knowing it from lvl 1

The Blood Elf paladin Ressurection quest was even better. You go out and "kill" a fellow Blood Knight, then go back to the inn in Silvermoon, where he's been brought, and practice your first ressurection spell on him. He wakes up, and complains "ugh, I am not volunteering for that again! ... I need a drink."

Epic.

The quest sucked. Seriously. Oh no it was fun. And I did it.

But do you realize how many lowbie dungeons were failiures because the healer, dps or tank paladin Never bothered to do the god damn quest in the first place? Yeah. I'm not sad to see that quest gone, honestly. Good riddance if it lets me avoid five wipes in a god damn dungeon because no one can be smart enough to learn rez spell or go back for healer -_-

I also don't miss the Sunken Temple chains- again they were to faffy and to stretched out. Oh go here, go do this. I also want you to go into this dungeon for this information; or kill a boss that no one ever tries to kill. Or go to the bottom of ST and faff about with one of the most ridiculous gimmicks ever.

For those quests yeah i have to say I'm not sorry to see them gone.

[Acherontia]

Oh man, the pally one was one of my favorite moments in levelling my blood elf!

Of course, I hate playing a blood elf, and deleted her the minute this last patch hit--and am levelling my tauren...

BUT STILL! I loved it!

Like someone mentioned before, I think a nice comprimise would have been to massively up the cost (treble at least) so that it's easily doable for alts if they prefer to skip the quests; but leave the quests available as an alternative. They'd already done this for the epic mount when I did the chain, but I did it anyway, because that's one of my favorite things about the game <3

[Griffley]

follow the footsteps of Everquest

Dear Blizzard, please accept our sincere apologies as petopia community, for this suggestion.
amen

[Ryai]

Oh man, the pally one was one of my favorite moments in levelling my blood elf!

Of course, I hate playing a blood elf, and deleted her the minute this last patch hit--and am levelling my tauren...

BUT STILL! I loved it!

Like someone mentioned before, I think a nice comprimise would have been to massively up the cost (treble at least) so that it's easily doable for alts if they prefer to skip the quests; but leave the quests available as an alternative. They'd already done this for the epic mount when I did the chain, but I did it anyway, because that's one of my favorite things about the game <3

I just did the chain for the tabard really- I couldn't have been assed otherwise- the chain was alright by itself but you also needed XX amount of herbs, also taking down bosses in a dungeon at the time people rarely did or wouldn't help out without a fee, and I had to have Aria boost me thru there [and for all the ST quests too, we had to boost eachother because heaven forbid people aknowledge the lower half of ST! ontop of faffy gimmick].

And why up the cost of buying a mount. What's the point of actually having it sold if it costs more than doing a quest? Not everyone could do the quests, Acheronita, that's why they made the mounts buyable in the first place. Hell on my server there were lv 70-80 warlocks who still hadn't done the quest as either A: they couldn't be assed to try and get a group for it [as groups do help] or B: didn't even know there was a quest. OR C didn't have time. So yeah it wouldn't be right to punish those unable to do the quest.

Not that it matters anyways with 60% mounts becoming 100% with lv 40 mount skill now O_o

[Tilo]

follow the footsteps of Everquest and introduce an "epic weapon" (would be a semi-legendary in WoW) for every class.

Now now this is only in the "Epic Weapon" department... not the release an expansion every two months department with consistent bugs, & such... ^_^

[Acherontia]

I just did the chain for the tabard really- I couldn't have been assed otherwise- the chain was alright by itself but you also needed XX amount of herbs, also taking down bosses in a dungeon at the time people rarely did or wouldn't help out without a fee, and I had to have Aria boost me thru there [and for all the ST quests too, we had to boost eachother because heaven forbid people aknowledge the lower half of ST! ontop of faffy gimmick].

Yeah, hence my suggestion of having the non-quest versions cost more.

And why up the cost of buying a mount. What's the point of actually having it sold if it costs more than doing a quest? Not everyone could do the quests, Acheronita, that's why they made the mounts buyable in the first place. Hell on my server there were lv 70-80 warlocks who still hadn't done the quest as either A: they couldn't be assed to try and get a group for it [as groups do help] or B: didn't even know there was a quest. OR C didn't have time. So yeah it wouldn't be right to punish those unable to do the quest.

I think you're misunderstanding entirely When they made the mounts trainable, but before they removed the quests, you had the OPTION--either PAY the money for the mount/training, OR do the quest chain and get it slightly cheaper and with the long chain as a req. THAT is what I think the option should be--that people who want to skip it, can, and people who want to experience the lore have that option. That's what I meant by

They'd already done this for the epic mount when I did the chain.

Simply removing it makes me miss a lot of the lore, and I think a lot of people feel the same way.

Btw, once again, name's spelled "Acherontia."