Arghhh... I protest..!

[Roonok]

Howdy,


Okay nobody here knows me... I've played every mmorpg, I swear lol... I've played WoW since it came out on and off as friends migrated between the various games, but I've always enjoyed the Hunter class...

I've had level 80 Hunter's and everything in between. The other day I was on my priest farming badges for my new Hunter's BOA gear and got into a long chat with a guy about Hunter's. I figured I could use the refresh since my old lvl 80 Hunter hadn't been played for six months. Sadly I just couldn't believe what I heard. We also have a guildie Hunter and he about said the exact same thing. First the spec tree's are even more out of whack and everyone just HAS to run a wolf now. I even heard this from a group leader a few days later. The conversation went something along these lines.

Group Leader : " ... Hunter..? Where's wolf pet..? "

Hunter : " ... I'm BM and use Devilsaur... "

Group Leader : " OMG..! You noob..! Hunter's have to run a wolf, everyone knows that..! "

Hunter : " ... What..? "

Hunter gets dropped sadly moments later...

Now, I sit back on my priest shaking my head. I know people have become way to taken in by forums and all the min / maxing BS, but damn... And, I keep hearing the name Ghostcrawler come up over and over... Sounds like a nice guy. Anyway, I hate to see my all time favorite class in such a state. Back in the day BM was all about good old fashion sustained DPS and a strong pet. Sure back then BM wasn't going to hang in with the crit insanity of MM, but BM's generic DPS was just bedrock stuff. When the other spec's were watching cool downs the BM was pumping out a constant stream of "okay" DPS. That's no fun right..? I beg to differ. Some people don't want amazing crits, they want that dependable all day long " Okay " DPS... Back then the mages and MM Hunter's took chunks off mobs and I just kept up a steady pressure on it. I felt like my job was to just hammer away on a mobs hitbar no matter what. I'd blow BW at times when CC hit and just kept firing my okay DPS. More than one healer thanked me for sacrificing my pet to drag aggro off them. A BW'd pet and distracting shot coupled with blowing all cool downs will jerk some aggro lol... Least it use too... I was taught a decade ago to always take one for the team on other mmorpg's. I think that dynamic has completely disappeared though now-a-days.

I don't know. I guess it's all about the Damage meters these days... I sure do miss the days of just completing a dungeon as job well done. I sat in front of my character screen the other day thinking about all the BOA items I had gathered for my new Hunter and what spec I should run. I'm one of those that tends to keep whatever spec I start with. Just weird like that. I went BM even after all the negative stuff floating around. I know at 80 I'll be shunned by the elitist and min/maxers, but I just don't care... I like the class and I like the pets. I want my pet as good as I can make them. If that means my DPS suffers, so be it... They can nerf the spec into the ground and I'll stubbornly hang on. I talked to our high end Hunter in guild after the last patch. The one that claimed BM got a slight buff and his DPS actually dropped. No idea why, but he had to respec to bring it back in line again.

This thing about Wolves being a have to have is getting old as well. I love the little guys, I truly do, but a must have..? I thought those days were supposed to be gone. "... We've normalized all the pets now... " Guess not... I have to agree with the idea of moving the howl into the Ferocity tree and giving Wolves a new ability. The idea of letting the Hunter pick his pets talent tree is the best idea I've heard as well. A Tenacity Eagle sounds good to me lol... Opens up so many options and players will never know what's coming at them in PvP. That cute little Sporebat might rip your face off...

Finally... I've heard the argument about BM pets and Hunter's losing huge chunks of DPS if they die. Ummm... So what..? I think we're all aware that our DPS is going to tank if that uber pet drops, but isn't that what the spec's all about..? That's the fate we signed up for by attaching ourselves so closely to our pets in the first place, right..? I for one understand the concept. My pet's doing a big chunk of my damage, need to watch the 'ol boy a bit close in this next fight. I gave up that MM personal damage for my pet, so I'll work extra hard to keep him up... I never blasted Blizzard for my talent choice in the past. I just paid more attention to Smokey the bear a bit more than my MM or Survival spec'd brethren... That arguments logic doesn't hold water for me. I'll gladly accept my DPS fall off if my buddy goes down.

The way BM use to be setup we had good constant damage. We sacrificed those really big numbers for it and our pet, but we filled a niche and most never complained except casters on the receiving end of a BW in a BG. I for one will remain BM no matter how bad times ever get. It's my personal playstyle. BM is about team work between Hunter and pet no matter how much people like Ghostcrawler might want it not to be. I know it's crazy getting so worked up over a spec line, but I do so get tired of the endless debate that others constantly express in dungeons, raids, forums and Blizzard panels... If they do continue to leech pet DPS and abilities away from the BM tree they really should call it something else...

Take Care, Roo...

[Saturo]

All of this very true. I like wolves too, and I prefer MM overall, but it's just so overdone now. After attempting to play my petopians hunter as BM trough heroics and stuff, my laserkitty usually just gets me a ZOMG GET WOLF, and once a ZOMG GET LOQUE HES BETTR DPS!

Ah feel ya' pain. Ah really do, mon.

[Roonok]

Aye,


I'm the laid back casual type that never lets anything get under my skin, yet this managed too... What set the post off was a group leader in WC's yelling at my baby Hunter alt. I was told I had to run a Wolf lol... I mean it's baby stuff lol... A rabbit would have done just as good in there. These players are getting way to caught up in the " must do this to play " attitude for my taste...

I almost wish the Hunter community would revolt on this deal about spec's and pets... I'm fortunate enough that my guild cares more about the people than spec's or all my characters would never get anything done lol, but pugs get tiresome on my Hunter at times these days...

[Saturo]

Now I feel like laughing. And crying. A wolf in WC!?
You can beat most other DPS with a worm. To claim that a wolf is needed is just ridiculous. And trough the lowbie stuff? You can get trough the lowbie stuff wearing nothing but greys. Being picky about pets? I think I'm getting a laughattack.

[Aleu]

Wolves do have a nice Dps boost and it does help... However I do not always run with me wolf. Hell, I'll run with whatever pet I feel like. Usually when I'm Surv, that's either my cat or my wolf. I tend to bring out my Spirit Beast when I'm BM just for the hell of it, but that's heroics.

When I raid, I do tend bring my wolf to try and maximize my DPS, however I've been able to pull excellent numbers without a wolf. No Hunter is required to use ONE type of pet. That's up to you. If someone told me I was required to use a wolf in a heroic or raid, then I'm hauling my butt outta there. I'd honestly rather take a 30 minute deserter debuff, then be told what pet I HAVE to use. (I very rarely, if EVER pug raids. >.<)

[cowmuflage]

well i knwo your pain but i don't see how revolting would change anything. It would more likely get us more hate from them

[Ryai]

Every time a hunter comes into a group, he has a wolf. It seems Yas is the only one who brings anything different into the mix- though thankfully for now I've just received kind words and compliments about my pet choices. Or a congrats for my tame of Freki, Moonglow or Landowar. Or a kind word about Orthros.

Even Sunscale has garnered love from melee classes for his Acid Spit.

But I digress a bit.

Finally... I've heard the argument about BM pets and Hunter's losing huge chunks of DPS if they die. Ummm... So what..? I think we're all aware that our DPS is going to tank if that uber pet drops, but isn't that what the spec's all about..? That's the fate we signed up for by attaching ourselves so closely to our pets in the first place, right..? I for one understand the concept.

Because you see- we'd have to sacrifice FURTHER dps for a talent to instant rez our pet from death; IT Heart of the Phoenix. We'd also have to sacrifice more dps talents, to make them less of a glass cannon. And I'm all for there being some dangers to pets. But even Warlocks can still keep going without a pet. Oh sure when Zel was demo and his Felgaurd somehow got aggro and smished, did my dps suffer as much as BM? Oh hell no and I didn't even know the right rotation.

*flail*

It's the fact Blizz doesn't seem to realize yes we have to micromanage our pets, and that we have enough distractions keeping up a rotation, worrying about where to move, and when to blow a next CD at phase XX to keep up decent dps or make up for AotV and whoopsie while I'm switching aspects and blowing a trinket. My pet dies. then I have to either rez pet- or finish off the Boss. And while thankfully a pet hasn't died in a boss fight where I CAN'T use Rez pet yet, mostly say FoS second boss, Krick and Ick or Tyrannus or worse, HoR, I know eventually there probably will be moments and that's the bad thing because THAT is when I could use HotP but oops.

Can't have it.

I mean yes I have imp rez pet, but when I DON'T need it, it's a waste of points, and when I DO need it, it's still taking away mana from me if I'm deep into a bossfight, or ruining my rotation. I don't want to be able to keep dpsing without a care like MM or SV but I would like something more viable for if our pets die. I mean BM shouldn't have the glass cannon pets.

My pet's doing a big chunk of my damage, need to watch the 'ol boy a bit close in this next fight.

^see above. Not everyone can micromanage every little detail and sometimes there's just to much on your plate to handle the pet.

I gave up that MM personal damage for my pet, so I'll work extra hard to keep him up... I never blasted Blizzard for my talent choice in the past. I just paid more attention to Smokey the bear a bit more than my MM or Survival spec'd brethren... That arguments logic doesn't hold water for me. I'll gladly accept my DPS fall off if my buddy goes down.

Again it's not that we're QQing about lack of DPS when pet is dead- we're QQing about how easily the pet can go down, and a talent that should be available to all hunters really [HotP] is a chained talent in the ferocity tree. Blizz could have fixed it by removing the chain and leaving Lick your Wounds a chained ability, but they haven't. They could have fixed it by just making it a talent for hunters, either at 60, 70 or for 80, but no, they didn't.

As much as I love BM that is the one downside I always hate, because Mend Pet is borked, because I usually end up with to much on my plate at once, or because someone screwed up and my pet died to fix that mistake.

I am not saying I don't want to micromanage my pet, but I shouldn't be forced to go looking for macros, keep all my pets on passive and just turn my pet into a mindless tool at my beck and call.

[Roonok]

Okay,


I'm an older guy... (cough) Yeah that old... I'm not the guy looking to squeeze every ounce of DPS out of my character. I don't run any addons at all. Yeah, got the OMG..! from my guild leader before... I enjoy my time on WoW, but I'm just not turning it into work. I'm the guy clicking his hotbar with a mouse and using the cursor keys... So, now you understand just how generic I am.

What drew me originally to the BM line so, so long ago was it's clean simplicity. I didn't have to run any complicated macros or worry over all the various shot rotations. I beef up the pet and fire away. I always geared up for sustained DPS and never burst. That alone took me out of the loop for most Hunter's. But, to me Blizzard had setup the BM tree just for us casual gamers. It was all about that generic player that didn't want to fuss with all the bells and whistles. If thing's got bad even my poor hand eye coordination could pull off hitting BW in a disaster. And, I really just liked the pets more than anything else. It was a match made in heaven for me. Geared right I could pump out that good steady damage and have a good pet as well.

I'm sure even back in the day there were people who found ways to go crazy with any spec, but it wasn't me I assure you. BM simply allowed me the ability to play and not suck my friends down in the process. If I had to manage all those macros and cooldowns I'd be doomed for sure. I'd be ashamed to tell you I how my original Hunter was spec'd. I used every single passive talent there was and none that required a crit or cooldown to use, except BW. I can manage one lol... That gave me really good flat damage and a strong pet. Perfect for a wore out old guy like me.

I am really not a top tier player in any sense I promise. I have my Hunter's on various servers setup for those passives and beefed up pets. I've only lost my pet a few times even in heroics, but again I do micro manage the pets health bar more than most so losing DPS because it dies was never a huge thing for me. I have BM's abilities for the pet, I run tenacity pets with really beefed up hits and heal effects, I have glyphs for 40% to mend pet, etc, etc... When I heal my pet it hits fairly hard. If the instance has a massive aoe dealer I respec the pet. If pugging I usually set him up for taking massive aoe damage with pet talents. Still, I realize I'm not the typical Hunter I guess. When a boss yells massive damage is inc I pull my pet off till it passes. Again I'm setup for steady damage with generic shots so I have the time to manage the pet like that.

I guess I see BM as less of a ( help the Hunter DPS ) tree as ( help the Pet ) tree. So I don't see the BM tree as DPS as much as I see it as boosting my pet. Which is why I always spec it. If I was worried about my pet dying and dropping my DPS I would never spec BM to begin with honestly. A life long friend of mine plays a MM Hunter and I've seen his pet drop and he sometimes forgets to rez it. It's just not as important for his spec. I myself always grimace when his pets lying there dead and he never misses a beat. Just entirely different play styles is all. To me my pets important enough that I don't mind the added issues it brings. (HotP) would be nice on all pets, but if my pets down, usually I'm down. My pets not a glass canon in any sense. He's not uber DPS, but he's no push over. He usually hangs in a firefight as well as most, but again I run BM and all the pet skills to keep him up over ultimate DPS.

Hunter : BM

Endurance Training : + 10% Health

Spirit Bond : + 2% total health regen, + 10% added to healing.

Glyph : Major

Glyph of Mending : + 40% to Mend Pet.

Tenacity Tree :

Great Stamina + 12% Stamina

Blood of the Rhino : + 4% Stamina , + 40% added healing " That's from any heals "

Wild Hunt : + 40% from Hunter's Stamina

Silverback :

Pet's Growls heal it for 2% of total health.

My mend pet hits fairly hard and with Spirit Bond and Silverback he's getting some okay healing on fights, but if he does drop I don't get frustrated. I'm not telling people to run out and only use tenacity pets by any means, but as BM the damage difference to me isn't that big a deal. Ferocity has (HotP) and Lick your Wounds which are good as well. I'll get lynched for this, but I'd love to see more passives in the BM tree personally and less cooldown abilities lol... Please use a pre-stretched rope... To me I always expect Hunter's, that are after damage meter results, to spec MM or Surv. As BM I've never dreamed of topping those lofty heights I just want my beefed up pet and steady damage.

I should have never let the guy earlier tonight push my buttons so badly in WC's on my new Hunter then I wouldn't have posted lol... I'm out of my league in forums anyway... : D

Take Care All, Roo...

[Ryai]

I enjoy my time on WoW, but I'm just not turning it into work. I'm the guy clicking his hotbar with a mouse and using the cursor keys... So, now you understand just how generic I am.

And that's how I am. I only have one macro and that's for TBW/Pet attack/Rapid Fire/Serpent Sting, to get everything off at once. My other dps boosters are on a click when needed basis. But I don't see how that has anything to do with what I said

I'm just going to single out one thing.

He usually hangs in a firefight as well as most, but again I run BM and all the pet skills to keep him up over ultimate DPS.

I'm going to bet you've not seen Halls of Reflection atleast?

I did when they first came out. We were whammed faster than sin.

I got into a group a second time, no one explained tactics, I got kicked because evidently I was doing 'to low of dps' and they decided to kick me right between wave intervals. So GG there.

I can't 'afford' to do 'steady' DPS. Some fights aren't about 'Steady' DPS and some fights, especially like HoR/PoS and all that you can't really focus on the pet, you're busy with other things. So as I said, that may be how you play, but it's not how I play. I'm not saying how you play is wrong but I'm saying how you play is not how I'm going to get Ryai into HoR or Yas into HoR. If I'm going to be BM I have to bring the dps, not the steady drip drip. I have to be able to go full out hard when needed, it's why I've learned to stagger my cooldowns, because they are my only form of burst damage.

Hunter : BM

Endurance Training : + 10% Health

Spirit Bond : + 2% total health regen, + 10% added to healing.

Glyph : Major

Glyph of Mending : + 40% to Mend Pet.

Tenacity Tree :

Great Stamina + 12% Stamina

Blood of the Rhino : + 4% Stamina , + 40% added healing " That's from any heals "

Wild Hunt : + 40% from Hunter's Stamina

Silverback :

Pet's Growls heal it for 2% of total health.

Again this is a tank pet- and I can't have growl up in an instance! I mean my Corepup grabbed aggro off a DK in FoS and that was bad enough! I can't risk even a tank pet in higher levels and while I was allowed to apologize for growl slipups with the cowerbug, this would be my own mistake for having growl on and I'm not going to lie and say 'sorry Growl glitched on'


again I'm sorry but while I know you are trying to help I don't think you understand the situation and while you are trying to offer help, it is not viable. Even when I bring Sunscale, his growl is off

Having to bring a tenacity pet into an instance and sacrifice more dps just for pet survivability and nothing more, is not a viable solution in my eyes. When I bring Sunscale, it's for his spit not his health.

[Roonok]

Ryai,


Bud, I hear 'ya... Really I do. Honestly I wasn't trying to help or hurt. Just venting my frustrations with the masses at first that's all. Afterwards I was just explaining my rather unorthodox Hunter design. Viability sorta comes in second for me personally. I set my Hunter's up for me and if it ends up working out later on, that's gravy...

Yeap, Halls of Reflection's a rough one, my Priest hates the place. Pit of Sauron as well. Damn those dotting, diseasing, cursing, etc, etc... We run them all endlessly in our quest for 'da badges. Always heroic mode >< darn those extra badges... So far no one's told me to turn off Growl, opps... Our tanks insane though. A personal friend from way back. He has crazy gear on and runs ICC 25's every freakin time they roll around. I guess that's why I never had issues. Not to sound completely ignorant, but what problems occur with growl on..? I know it may sound crazy, but my Priest hates heroics, but DPS was always relaxing in comparison for me. In HoR after the first room I honestly never even think about the rest of it. The Pit is by far my all time hated dungeon on any class I'm on... We never seem to get to the ramp before the mobs spawn ><

The bear pet is a bit weird I know, but I just can't get rid of the thing. He always manages to just survive. Even when we wipe he always seems to make it out lol... I'll cast revive pet and get the message that my pet isn't dead. Now his DPS is lack luster, but not what I'd call bad either. I do agree that BM Hunter's shouldn't be forced to haul around a Tenacity pet just to have one that's tough enough to survive fights. The times he has dropped in a fight I get him back up. I realize that's time I'm not DPSing, but I just chalk that up to being BM and go on.

Your one big macro is light years beyond anything I use or could manage to pull off... Yes, I suck that much. I think once upon a time I had my hunters mark macro'd with turning cower off back when it would turn itself on and off randomly. Yeap, that's about it... I guess I wouldn't have posted anything if I hadn't re-rolled a new Hunter and gotten these crazy lowbie elite mongers on my case. My friends I run end game content with must be shielding me from the same sort of harassment my baby Hunter gets now. My 80 Hunter always fields DPS in the middle of the pack and no one's ever complained... Again I'm starting to see that could perhaps be from them being real life friends.

Lastly, in all seriousness, what's the deal with growl..? If I'm doing something terribly wrong I'd really like to know since I don't want to be the cause of some disaster in the future that was from my ignorance about it... Thanks.

Take care, Roo...

[Saturo]

Growl is essentially a taunt. Not only can it kill your pet, it makes the work harder for your tank and possibly the healer.

[Roonok]

Aye,


Knew it was a taunt... Never realized it was really that powerful though. I've leveled with these guys since coming to Exodar and never, ever pulled aggro off our tank. As I mentioned he's good at his job and insanely geared. Knowing it could happen though will make me click it off next time we do a marathon series of heroics... There goes that 2% heal lol...

Kinda funny to me. Growl was never an issue with those guys. Guess I'm lucky I usually pug on my Priest and never did on the Hunter... In all honesty I pugged like a madman on the Priest just to get the BOA items on the new Hunter. I can say without a doubt it has made my baby Hunter's life extremely better. I was hesitant to spend all those badges on Bow, 2 daggers, armor and trinkets, but WOW, they really do help. Not having to search the world over for bows is just, joy...

Thanks for the info. I have one more quick question not really pet related, but here goes... All these crazy, insane purple items we're fighting so hard for, I mean like the ICC 25 man Hunter gear we're wearing. That go bye, bye when cat comes out or will it be somehow grandfathered in..? Say, new stats on it..? I was wondering because that stuffs insane hard to get and I'm hoping it suddenly doesn't become useless lol... Anyone heard anything..?

[Rathan]

Ive had the same prob with my hunter, with people saying in need to switch spec and pet (im a BM and usually run hc with my Skoll and raids with my Devilsaur), but luckly ive managed to find myself a nice guild who except me for what hunter i wanted to create and have never said one word about me changing spec or pet. So if anyone ever says you have to have a wolf and not be beast master in raids tell them rubbish ive run all (10 man) raids as a beast master with my devilsaur up to and including Icecrown (not finished that one yet)

[Suicune]

Ugh... I'm so glad that I don't encounter people like this, and my server isn't exactly the most well rounded and polite bunch you could meet... I ran BM with a Spirit Beast for most of Lich King (yes, including 10 mans and a few 25s), only recently within the past few months respecced my dual spec from PvP to another PvE build, first MM, then Surv, then back to MM as Arpen build. I swap between the two specs randomly and get inquiries about my pets if anything...

Running with a wolf 24-7 gets tiring, and BM can be a boon for some fights (even in ICC), so swapping doesn't impact much, especially after the patch. Close minded people do not realize just because a spec isn't the flavor of the month, or you don't run with the FotM pet, a well played hunter can and will pull their weight. I have the luxury of running my own guild, and rarely PuG runs, but haven't had complaints if I was BM when I did run with others. I have even been complimented on my DPS when I ran as BM by people in more of the hardcore raid guilds on my server.

I base my spec decisions on the fight and DPS needed. Most dungeons are a joke, and for leaders to demand certain specs, let alone pets for them... that's sad. I wish no one had to deal with that garbage, but my heart goes out to those who do. It's not tolerable, and you shouldn't stand to sit back and let people tell you how to play the game you pay for to enjoy.

BTW... anyone notice the Spirit Beasts in screen shots of some of the hardcore raid guilds world firsts? Quite possibly were swapped out to cause confusion, but I know for a fact I saw Skoll up in at least two of those shots. I scoured MMO Champ for comments on that from the elitist morons who like to bash people who don't hold strictly to the FotM... but... nothing.

I wish you all the bet of luck and when you feel down... remember why you started playing WoW- to have fun!

[Azzrazzah]

My prob is; and I've said it before in these forums is... Too many useful shots are tied in trees to stuff we don't realy need to have to throw points into to get.. get rid of the hooking of shots.. And allow us to spec the way we want for us and our pets

[Rhyela]

I agree with both Roonok and Ryai because I'm kinda in the middle. I love my pets and pay attention to them really well for the most part. I'll give up that steady shot to toss in a mend pet, it doesn't bother me to lose dps for that split-second. However, I do use everything I've got in every instance - every trinket, every cooldown, everything. I understand that BM isn't MM, it's not the pwn-your-face spec, but I put 110% into my spec because I enjoy seeing that I can still out-dps well-geared specs that should normally pwn me.

Anyhow, I digress. About the wolf thing, you know it's getting bad when you see fresh level 10 hunters with wolves. I see wolves on twinks, wolves on 80s, wolves wolves wolves. I think about the only level area I don't see wolves on that frequently are the 30s-40s, at least on my server anyway. I tend to see more variety in that level range, possibly because some new things have opened up like gorillas and such. But yeah, the wolf thing is getting ridiculous. Initiallly I was the one that talked my hubby into using a wolf for the buff (this was a long time ago), before everyone and their mom had one. Recently I talked him into bringing back Mittens, his favorite little STV tiger in the world. He missed Mittens but was afraid to bring anything other than a wolf. Oddly enough, his dps is still fine and now he gets to use the pet he likes the most. Who'da thunk?

[Roonok]

Yeap,


I completely see everyone's point here... If I were to suddenly become concerned about DPS I'd be in a pickle, but since I don't I tend to take thing's more care-free. The main point I was sorta aiming for was that BM pets shouldn't be toned down, nerfed, or otherwise monkeyed with. I feel they could be bumped up a bit. I was more-or-less stating that if the pet's were to be adjusted up in anyway I wouldn't mind keeping a close eye on them, etc. for my added benefit. From reading Ghostcrawler's original post it sounded as if they wouldn't even consider it due to pet deaths and BM Hunter's suffering a DPS falloff mid-fight, etc... Well, my point was simply, I wouldn't care personally. I'd get my pet up and then continue to DPS once more. I think BM Hunter's wouldn't enjoy it, but wouldn't complain either. I mean we go BM for the pet stuff generally, so we tend to focus a lot more on our buddy's than the other spec's anyway...

I understand Ryai's points as well. Ryai's much more versed than I in the fine art of DPSing I assure you. I may have played since release, but I don't focus on the finer points as I'm sure you can tell... (HotP) would be a boon to the BM line in general use, 100% agree. Here again, I read Ryai's statements and feel the pain. Anyone determined to stay BM and maximize DPS will be in one hell-of-va up hill climb.

My friends in game seem to have insulted me quite a bit from the majority of this disturbing trend lately. Until I re-rolled a new Hunter I honestly didn't think it was that bad, but trust me, my eyes were opened. For other players to be asking such low level Hunter's to have X spec and Y pet is simply insane to me... And yes, I have been paying much more attention to what takes place outside my circle of friends now. If I tried to pug up heroics with my bear I'd most likely get laughed out of the instance, and I ain't giving up my trusty bear, so it'll be friends and guild runs for me lol...

The wolf thing has just gotten way to out there... I've begun to talk to many more lowbie Hunter's as I level up my alt. The old hands know the wolf thing is a necessary evil or stubbornly cling to favorite pets out of sheer determination. Those veterans I'm not concerned about so much. It's the spanking new players that scare me. Two I chatted with are fighting their way up the level ladder MM and Wolf in tow because that's what they've been told to do. That does bother me a bit, especially since they're brand new and are already being groomed to look down on the BM spec straight out of the gates... If they had decided to try MM and a wolf simply by their own desires then no problem, but they struggle up the line because that's what they think everyone demands. One well read noob even asked me why on Earth was I leveling using BM spec when it was garbage. Okay, he's a noob, so I didn't take it personally, but he did have a point. By a growing percentage of the player base giving advice out there he's right. It's no use debating the point with them either with all the forums listing the end gear DPS and people like Ghostcrawler waxing and waning about BM at times. Again, I advocate playing the spec and pet you enjoy and simply nothing else. I get a bit perturbed that new players are being stripped of this option and bending to peer pressure from posts and ingame advice...

In the case of the aforementioned noob, a pictures worth a thousand words. I located him in game, was 3 levels below him, and proceeded to paste some mobs to the terrain. After watching my garbage BM spec'd Hunter and bear wade through the camp he had been having so much trouble with I think I opened his eyes. Yeah, I know, I have a bear problem... On every Hunter I roll I attract bears. Must be my deodorant or something (shrug)

Anywho... I honestly didn't mean for this post to stir up anyone's hackles. I was just PO'd about being dressed down for not having my pre-req wolf out by a misinformed group leader yesterday. I was posting out of frustration. If Hunter's could tame critters I swear I would have run off and come back with a rabbit and dared anyone to say a word... I mean we all know, only Holy Hand Grenades can kill rabbits, right..? Okay, decaff tomorrow...

[Vephriel]

If Hunter's could tame critters I swear I would have run off and come back with a rabbit and dared anyone to say a word.

http://pc.gamespy.com/flintlocke-vs-the ... 756p1.html

[sargeaw]

I agree with alomost all the above posts. very much the reason why all the BMs have been up in arms lately

[Tunderbrew]

If Hunter's could tame critters I swear I would have run off and come back with a rabbit and dared anyone to say a word.

http://pc.gamespy.com/flintlocke-vs-the ... 756p1.html

Made my day, thank you lol XD. On a more serious note, I have encountered the ZOMG where's your wolf attitude a few times too many, though not necessarily directed at myself. For instance, a guildy DK(the individual that caused my eventual departure) griped about the "idiot" hunters using other pets like raptors and cats. If I ever encounter this attitude in a raid I'd probably just leave. Not worth running w/ that kind of misery and if a raid feels like it'll make or break on a hunter's pet, they've got bigger issues.