WoW Petopia Community

So, I stopped playing WoW around March, but have just come back because a dirty jerk bought me a months worth of time, and I can't seem to stop playing again. I am giving Hunters a go this time around, and after being 25 levels into it, I honestly I have no idea what I am doing.

So Lets see where to start, I went 9 points into BM, randomly selecting what I thought looked good. respecced over to Survival, tried it out, and then respecced back over to MM, and now am back to BM.

Glyphs are all over the place for me as well.

I have a Bear, a Spider and a Cat for pets and am looking to go grab the named Scorpid south of Orgrimmar, and maybe Gamera out of BFD.

I have an Heirloom sword, Shoulders, Chest, Bow, and PVP gun. None are Enchanted, because I wasn't sure what to do with them. Also I have Herbalism and Skinning for professions because I like the cash!

I Warrior tanked and then jumped to DK tank from release until I stopped playing in March, so my play style is still somewhat like that. I was in a fairly hardcore Raid guild over on Lothar (Misanthropy), but they fell apart, and I dont' see myself doing much more than soloing or running 5 mans. Soloing will be the majority of my playtime though, with some PVP thrown in once I figure out how to play this class.

I have been reading up on this class pretty much all day, but honestly places like Elitist Jerks and Tankspot come close to breaking my brain nowadays, and I am just getting more confused.

So anyone willing to toss me a bone here and help a newb?

First of all, welcome to the noble ranks of the hunters. Pick up your name tag and complimentory "IWIN" button at the front table . Hunters are one of the best and most fun classes in the game, so give it a good run and you won't be disappointed.

Firstly, its your call what spec you take leveling up, but I prefered beastmastery because it made my pet a better tank and hit harder, meaning I spent less effort gunning things down. However, mana being gone now and us relying on focus it has shifted the playstyle to more like warlocks. You can let your pet tank and you whittle it down (beastmaster) or you can try to kill it or kite it down fast using your pet to keep the mob at range just long enough for you to unload your biggest shots at it (Marks/Surv). The difference in marks/surv is less given you are just leveling up, so it really falls to which shot rotation/skills you want to use more.

Secondly, Elitist Jerks and whatnot doesn't kick in until you are max level, so disregard them completely until then. By the time you get to that level, it'll be a whole new ballgame and they will have the gems, chants, spec and shot rotations down to a science... so you can check them out then to start getting more out of your dps. Its a personal preference how to roll with that, but either way, you're no where near to being in a place to use it.

Thirdly, your glyphs you want to probably get all of them since thats an achievement. As to which one you use while leveling up, it really is up to what makes life easier for you in playing the way you want to. Agi is your main stat, so avoid gear with int (enchance shammies gear) and avoid rogue gear (leather) to capitalize on the 5% increase of agi you get from wearing all mail. You can't really screw up leveling by doing something wrong unless your decked in caster gear and try to melee or something. Let your pet tank to get used to the playstyle of staying at range and you'll win more times than not. That's really all you need to level. Endgame is another ballpark, but there's the EJ site for that.

Finally, and this is just a personal recommendation, I'd hit what few achieves or gathering or preparing on your other classes you might want to do first and redo your hunter when the cataclysm happens in a couple weeks. It'll happen prior to the game being sold in stores and theres a lot of one time stuff thats going to be happening on the road to the breaking of the world. Your call, but its what I'm doin. Being a hunter only gets better when all the new quests and whatnot come out and it'll be a lot more fun to level it back up to where you are now.

Good hunting and stick around.

I was wondering about Cata and the affect it would have on Lowbies. I don't have allot I really want to do on my DK or Shaman, and I really dread the delete/ reroll shuffle, but if Cata will be worth it then I guess I can do that.

Well, head over to www.mmo-champion.com and start reading back for the last 6 months. Its some amazing stuff going on. They put in 3500 new quests for this expansion and most of them are 1-60. They are literally changing the way your leveling experience flows and reinvigorating the lower level quests. I don't think you'll be out much if you are just level 25 AND there will be new pets available for taming earlier on. If you want to stick it out on your level 25, your welcome to, but I'm personally VERY excited to roll a new character come the cataclysm. After more alts than is legally sane, it means a lot for someone like me to say that

Again, your call. Just be sure to have fun.

Reading around and looking at things, espicially after trying to play my shaman and DK all day yesterday, I have decided to level my hunter as far as I can for now.

I just can't get excited or even develop any sort of rhythm with my shaman or DK, I didn't even try with my warrior as she is on another server.

Welcome to the exciting world of Hunters! Gotta catch 'em all! xD

As you've probably found out by now, Hunters are a great class to play for many reasons. They are limited in that they are a DPS-only class, but that's what alts are for, right?

PETS:
Hunters in WoW are the best pet class I've played in any game, online or not. It really appeals to those of us with "hoarding" mentalities or slight OCD, as you're able to tame and command such a wide variety of pets (even moreso now, with the huge Stables increase). Pets now all do the same base damage; Ferocity (DPS oriented) pets are going to do the same basic attack damage as a Tenacity (tank oriented) or Cunning (hybrid) pet. This gives us even more flexibility in pet choices, as former "Tank" pets can be viable in parties. Yes, you can bring your Worm or Turtle to your dungeon!
Exotic pets (which are tameable ONLY with the BM end tree talent) do come with some very nice perks, but with all the recent pet changes, you don't have to feel you're missing out if you're NOT BM specc'd. Your non-exotic pets will still have nice party-wide buffs and do decent damage. Exotic pets do have some extra perks, but the difference isn't so important that you should feel you need to go BM. I would, however, recommend grabbing "Dual Spec" talents at some point, as the cost to buy a secondary talent spec is only 100g now, which is easily obtained by the L40's or 50's (it's available at L40).

SPECS (for PvE):
*Marksmanship: I cannot say too much for MM spec; I have not tested it too much at L80 yet since the new patch, but I did try it on a raid boss and I was quite pleased with the simple rotation. MM spec is currently (until Cata releases) the only spec with an ability that refreshes our Serpent Sting; Surv and BM spec hunters will gain this refreshing ability once we hit L81 and get Cobra Shot (which will replace Steady Shot for those specs). Being able to refresh Serpent Sting is the bright shining star of this tree. It also has a very nice party-wide buff (+10% ap), which is always active. In terms of pure power, MM stands up at the lead with Survival.
*Survival: Survival plays very similar to how it was before the big patch. I've never been a terribly huge fan of Survival, but it has some impressive AoE abilities (such as Multi-shot infecting all it's targets with Serpent Sting). The dps is quite nice in parties, especially on big packs. It can also have some great single-target dps with Black Arrow and Explosive shot. I often see Surv Hunters at the top on raid bosses. Personally, though, I still feel that Survival, with all it's Trap-enhancing talents, is more of a hybrid / PvP tree.
*Beast Mastery: Wonderful solo'ing tree. This talent tree is all about giving up some of your Hunter's personal power, and granting it to your pet. If your pet dies, you're going to follow quickly- or at least, you will be crippled in terms of DPS output and survivability. This is, of course, a very pet dependent tree. I've played BM spec since WoW's original beta (back when BM sucked so miserably) because I feel this tree truly makes the Hunter class shine. Why? Because BM spec highlights what makes Hunters special: their pet. No other class can have such a varied and important pet choice. Many people do not like weakening their personal character and be dependent on another mechanic; I see their point, but personally I believe that's what makes this class truly unique.

PvP:
I can't speak much for Hunters in PvP, as I rarely PvP... And when I do, I just hide and take pot shots until a rogue two-shots me. I'm quite content to be the silent sniper until I get ganked- I'm terrible at 1v1 PvP.

Role in a Party:
This is my personal opinion, so please take what I say with a grain of salt.
With how Cata is going back to requiring crowd control, Hunters are going to return to their utility / hybrid role. You will be trapping, kiting, and saving the healer's butt from unexpected aggro. In original wow and BC, I was always proud to be what I called the "Guardian of the Party"; you should be watching who has threat, make sure the healer is safe, and kiting mobs that need to be occupied. You won't be topping dps charts anymore (unless it's basic tank n' spank fights), but you will be saving that mage who is topping Recount and bringing down the baddies! I see Hunters returning to a Support class, and I am VERY much for that.

Again, a re-welcoming to a returning player, and I hope you enjoy many years with your Hunter! This Petopian community is utterly amazing, and I do suggest you remain at least a lurker here, and get to know some of these crazy folks! You won't regret a single moment!