No pets and melee hunters O'MY!!

[evil950510]

I want to first off say I love my pets and is the main reason I have created five level 85 hunters. There is no other class I have enjoyed or played through more than hunters.
Now with that out of the way I have read on other forums people not being too happy with their pets and wanting a way to be able to be a hunter without having the pet. It is understandable that some people find it frustrating to keep an eye on their character while at the same time an AI controlled NPC. Hunters get a lot of grief from others because their pet pulled a group and caused a wipe or suddenly ran off to go attack another mob that you never targeted.
My suggestion to this is creating a ranger class that is range like hunters but to not come along with pets. It would be similar but do not use traps or pets to keep their distance instead they would use old abilities that hunters use to have, like freezing arrow and maybe an updated form of volley. I know to a lot its blasphemy to think about hunters without their pets, but to some they love everything about hunters yet cannot get around having to maintain a separate entity.
My next topic is how a melee class could be made for hunters. The idea behind this comes from the Zalandari and how they merged with their loa gods to gain more power. Very simply the hunter would have a pet that is separate from them but when they need to fight the two would fuse as one to fight together. This melee hunter class would have three different specs, tanking, dps, and cunning. However, there would be limitations to the class as they would be given their pets and not tame them such as a bear for tanking, cat or wolf for dps, and spider for pvp. With the removal of hunters melee abilities the chances of this coming to light are zero to none, but this could be used as an idea for a new class.
These are just my two suggestions and not trying to stir up any bees and want to know what your opinions are but please do not turn this into a rage fest . Everyone has their own opinions and I have seen these topics turn ugly fast.

[Sukurachi]

honestly, I'd much rather Blizz simply worked on fixing the pet AI.
If I wanted to play a ranger, I'd go play Aion.

[Lisaara]

I think ridding of pets kinda defeats the purpose of a hunter. Even Guild Wars 2 'rangers' need pets. So I'd have to say nay to this again.

[Sesamee]

Nope! WoW hunters should have pets. They are inseparable IMO.

[Sukurachi]

the problem with a pure ranged class, especially if you suggest "no traps", is that it would be almost entirely impossible to solo with. It would be extremely situational. tight enclosed spaces would render the class almost useless.

sure, as part of a well-structured party it would work wonders (again, unless it's in tight enclosed spaces, or places with limited horizontal space like catwalks/narrow bridges (thinking of a few dungeons I've done recently).

It would in essence be a support class, which I think is something that Blizzard have been trying to avoid.

I'm not entirely against the suggestion. I imagine that it could be fun in a certain context. But I am extremely doubtful that Blizzard would move in that direction as far as new classes are concerned. But hey, who knows. No one thought Pandas would make it to Azeroth any time soon either.

[Ana]

Nope! WoW hunters should have pets. They are inseparable IMO.

agree

[swimgremlin]

Don't know if taboo to mention on this board, but a lot if other forums I read mention the "Demon Hunter". The most common things I've seen are melee evasion tank, melee dps, ranged dps for specs. I imagine the ranged would play out like a non pet hunter.

Again, it's a lot of "what if", but monks/demon hunters have been the most reoccurring class requests I've seen prior to MoP.

[Ana]

We got monks now all we need now are bards, enchanters and necromancers

[Royi]

I always thought of having a 4th spec (or just changing MM or SV to be like this) but without a pet and a bit more range damage to make up for a lack of pet. In raids its always troublesome for me to pay attention and take care of my pet (even though i'm a fan of the newer lynx rush). Much easier to just pew pew from afar

[Sukurachi]

We got monks now all we need now are bards, enchanters and necromancers

then they can add Tarutarus, Mithras and Summoners... and start removing exp from quests, and making all quests require a group, and making everything into a total grindfest.

[Tsuki]

Well, they could do what they did with druids, and add another hunter spec, one that focuses more on the aspect of traps, or even make it a melee spec?

[Boven]

Seems to me that a ranged DPS non-pet class already exists: shaman. Sure you don't get to use guns, bows or crossbows, but it fits the bill. No traps, but hex and using Frost Shock to freeze targets in place are close.

For melee, the roles described are pretty much already filled by warriors, monks, paladins, and DK's.

Paying attention to and controlling one's pet is an integral part of playing a hunter. While my dungeon experience in MoP has been somewhat limited, I've seen more issues with warlock and mage pets causing problems than hunter pets. Sure, now and then every hunter forgets to put their pet on passive or at least defensive before going into a dungeon or raid, but that's usually corrected pretty quickly.

[Redith]

I won't lie I have wanted to play a melee hunter, but I wanted to have a pet too. One of the best hunters in wow lore fights that way.

[Kalliope]

Seems to me that a ranged DPS non-pet class already exists: shaman.

And two of the three mage specs.

And balance druids.

And shadow priests, minus shadowfiend/mindbender.

[Royi]

I won't lie I have wanted to play a melee hunter, but I wanted to have a pet too. One of the best hunters in wow lore fights that way.

In BC one of my guildies insisted that he was a Melee hunter.

He was pretty funny, but also, very... very... bad

[Royi]

Seems to me that a ranged DPS non-pet class already exists: shaman.

And two of the three mage specs.

And balance druids.

And shadow priests, minus shadowfiend/mindbender.

And ret paladins who just sit back in PVP battles and wait for the opponent to drop below 20% health to try and steal killing blows with their Hammer throw

[Silivren]

I personally think that if a hunter didnt want to use their pet then yes a melee spec could work. Think of it more as a tracker, I mean when hunters/rangers/trackers existed do you think most of them ran around with beasts of all kinds beside them? Most were probably lucky to have a dog. I think that just because a lot of hunters are attached to their pets it doesnt mean everyone is and those who arent shouldnt be frowned upon. Maybe they just like playing because the class uses traps and a bow, who knows. Either way it couldnt hurt and it wouldnt affect hunters anymore than now. Simple as that - those who want to use pets can use them, those who dont, dont have to.