85 hunter with no pet!

[Hello]

Alright, so after leveling my first hunter to 70 in BC, I was crazy and decided to see if I could get to 70 on another hunter, without a pet. Then it continued to 80 in WotLK, and finally 85 in Cataclysm, and after a while I finally gathered myself up and finished it, and today I dinged 85. It was very interesting, and when I finally did get a pet today, which was actually Olm the Wise (I found him and couldn't resist), by that time I had learned so much more about kiting and fighting melee as a hunter than you'd imagine. I was Survival of course, and I used my traps much more frequently than other hunters I'd seen.
I really don't want to brag, but I think I can say that I'm really good at PvP as a hunter now after this. Maybe you could try this sometime when you're bored.

[Tsiya]

Sounds interesting! I can imagine you'd be a pro kiter by now.

[Kuraine]

Sounds like an interesting thing to do, especially seeing as it taught you something. Not something I'd want to try myself though, the urge to tame a pet after so long would kill me.

[Cerele]

yar.... if i saw a spirit beast ooooooo i would totally loose it
and you arent the only one how uses traps i keep them on cooldown in duneons i like the extra damage helps my 24-26k hehe....
beast mastery traps arent as good but they still make an impact if you place them before the pull
(example on a boss shoot your fire/snake traps inches in front of them.... if they a moving boss i just keep trap launcher up till tank pulls and then fire trap as is does more damage than snake trap)

[Miyon]

Now that actually sounds like a fun and Interesting challenge
Definitely something I could try with my still unplayed lvl 1 Phobia :d
Since main theme will be pets I can't stand, it should go ok delaying taming something until 85. So what do you do about the starter pet? Stable it as soon as possible? :p

[Dolias]

i had a friend who did the same back in BC
at 70 she still didn't even use a pet

she was pretty amazing at multi tasking

[Akyo]

sound very intresting but the urge to tame a pet would get to me pretty fast i would imagen

[Royi]

you could always still tame pets, and maybe pull them out to show when you're in the city, but then when you go off into a dungeon or quest or whatever, put them away

If you still come across Arcturis, flip to your BM taming spec, tame him, then dismiss. Easy as that.

Achievement for leveling without pets still granted

[Ashaine]

Sounds interesting! I can imagine you'd be a pro kiter by now.

A very curious experiment indeed! I'd be interested in hearing more about your experience. As in what you learned, what you liked most and least, etc.

[Shirubia]

This somehow reminded me to the ''nekkid troll project'', a troll hunter who leveled to 70... naked (save for bow and jewlery).
Still, grats on doing it. Im a sucker for pets so I would have lost it to the first cat I saw xD

[Litlemouse]

Ooh this looks fun I don't know if I could withstand taming pets though, so I think imma have a pet, but instead maybe fight melee that'd be interesting as well what say? ^_^

[Avari]

Ooh this looks fun I don't know if I could withstand taming pets though, so I think imma have a pet, but instead maybe fight melee that'd be interesting as well what say? ^_^

I conquer! I find this project intriguing!

[Hello]

A very curious experiment indeed! I'd be interested in hearing more about your experience. As in what you learned, what you liked most and least, etc.

Well, most of the time I kited with concussion shot etc of course, but there were those times when I back into a corner or there are other creatures all around and I don't want to aggro them, and at that point I melee. I normally use a raptor strike/wingclip macro I have and then run through them, repeat, drop traps, stuff like that. I also don't do many dungeons, at all. You'd actually probably be surprised how well I can melee at this point, I've got gear for it as well, but in dungeons it's always "What the fel hunter fighting melee (sometimes) with no pet?!" I've gotten more dungeon kicks than you'd expect, so I lay back on dungeons most of the time.
PvP is also very interesting, but in that respect it works out much better for me than dungeons do. I can do what I please, and only rarely will somebody comment, as they're usually getting smacked around by the rogue over there. Also it's hilarious when I go over to a mage and start fighting melee, sometimes they are confused, and often Frost Nova and run away a bit, but then I just say "Ok no melee, *shoot shoot shoot* *traps traps*" And now I finally got myself a pet, plus I have a bunch of honor points stacked up, I got some PvP gear and I'm doing ever better. I still suck in dungeons though, they usually resent the way I sometimes melee now and then when it arises. If they looked at their DPS chart they'd see I was actually doing pretty good. Not beating that rogue or warrior in melee DPS of course, but hey I'm not that terrible, not when I'm prepared for it.
So it was sort of like no pet/melee fighting combo, although yes I kited a lot in PvP, mostly if it was a melee class like paladin/warrior etc.

[Serendipity82]

Heh..I have a level 6 hunter on Nesingwary that I had rolled before all hunters started with a pet. She hasn't been given a pet either, so she'll have to wait til level 10. I'm seriously considering keeping her petless after reading this however >_>

[Litlemouse]

I made a belf hunter for the melee thing just now on Nesingwary... can invite to guild? ^_^
her name is Hordemouse >.> haha
EDIT: In

[Rhyela]

I have my pets picked out before my hunter is even created. There's no way I could go 10 levels without a pet, let alone 85.

[Quiv]

Correct me if I am wrong, I believe the challenge is to level without one out. I am sure you could tame pets along the ways, rares or w/e, but the challenge would remain the same if you simply did not use them. Seems win/win for those wanting to do the challenge yet be able to tame to

[Holgarr]

What you're describing, reminds me of one thing - the D&D Ranger. You've come as close as possible, I think, to that playstyle.

Nice work.

[Nick]

I'd be getting killed by critters if I tried this... I can't brag that my pet and my kiting has saved me (and sometimes, the entire group) from wiping in a dungeon because a lot of people have done so but this... this would shoot me in the kneecaps.
e-e

[Litlemouse]

Operation Melee-Hunter begins today! ^_^