Hunters – we have a tardy reputation
Oh this is just another vague ‘oh look everyone still thinks the majority of hunters are huntards don’t they?’ and a ‘sometimes it’s a reputation well earned by various individuals I guess’ post.
So there I was flipping through an issue of PC Power Play (one of the main Australian gaming magazines) which had an article on Wrath of the Lich King in it, and the following quote caught my eye:
And I was all like – ‘L2P? oh come on that’s a little harsh’ … I mean okay there are a lot of hunters out there, what with the fact just about every horde race can take hunter, and both the new BC races can roll hunter, well it was bound to happen. And sure, sure, hunter is a good solo class so everyone and his gold farmer have a couple in their back pocket and may not have a clue how to group with them … but surely the other classes can be as bad? Surely!
Then that night on wow The Warlock was too busy dealing with ‘a rotten hunter’ and a quest she didn’t really need to speak to me, not just for 20mins but for a whole hour or so of game time o_O – so of course it came up in email the next day at work and basically the following wow-related conversation happened (pulled out of general email RL chit-chat).
… err oh yeah please ignore the huge generalisations like ‘warriors were the only tanks’ and bad grammar that conversation was all typed & fired off between actual moments of work related activity, hmmm and I’ll link The Warlocks post when she gets around to blogging about it.
Emailed Conversation: —————————————————FIGHT!
Me:
How be you this week? You have been quiet on wow so its hard to tell ^_^ (crazy huntards who are not me monopolizing you? :p)
The Warlock as TANKGIRL:
yeah omg I was playing with a hunter who was one level above me and would pull things off me with one shot – one freaking shot … so I spent combat running around and being able to do about two hits to anything – was totally pissing me off … so then I’d go and find something else to kill (sometimes a dangerous option becuase the hunter would just let me die … I should have just let him die a few more times). Not only that but I never got to charge anything (which helps build rage and makes me effective cause you know I can hit things) because the hunter would have already engaged combat before I could get there – gah! Fuck I hate people!!! You know that underground fortress of dwarves in southern barrens … well old mate hunter thought he could pull the level 30 guy down there (he has like 10 guys around him protecting him) and his ten guards and that we would be fine (a level 23 warrior and 24 hunter) … wtf? Of course I was a bit of an arsehole after that throwing in an “I told you so” after we both died …
Me:
Oh yeah baby huntard indeed – thinking of leveling up my paladin somewhat – just be shaman obsessed at the moment (its that close to 70 grind bah) – Hee that sounds like a real irritating partner to get stuck with
The Warlock as TANKGIRL:
who knows maybe I’m just a crappy warrior – I mean even his pet had better aggro than me …
Me:
Nah as a hunter I know that you are not meant to touch a warriors target until he has dropped at least 2 sunders on it – also you are meant to turn pet growl off else the warrior can’t get any rage (because the mobs won’t hit him) and he can’t keep aggro without rage … guy was either a noob or a tosser and doing it to you on purpose .. some hunters like to rub it in warriors faces how their pets can pull aggro and tank … its sorta where the ‘huntard’ term originated because in the old days warriors were the only tanks (druids and pallys are new really) heck in the old days no one would even let me group with them for wailing caverns because I was a hunter!
The Warlock as TANKGIRL:
oh wow – I thought it was just me being a bit of a cry-baby … nice to know that there were things he should have been doing to make my life a bit easier or at least make me a bit more useful- oh well … not that I said anything – I was too proud to utter a word – or stupid … need to go and write a blog post about it :p
Emailed Conversation: —————————————————OVER
Honestly I read back over that and it almost feels scripted, the two of us could have been acting out a workshop skit to ed-u-ma-cate the uneducated.
Now The Warlock is an interesting case really as she levelled 1-70 with constant interference from The Pally and myself (we both already had high level shamans on this server) and she started as a rather casual player to boot. So basically she would step foot outside of Undercity find her self shadowed by a couple of low level forsaken alts … usually something group appropriate like a tank and priest combo.
(Remember this guy? – he likes to grind the bones of the hordes young undead to make his bread. Well in anycase he is always jumping out of the bushes and ripping faces off of lowbies.)
If she was faced by the like of the Son of Arugal the gloves would come off and that NPC would probably cop a windfury wolf to the face… maybe two. Lol and you can bet your boots similar would happen to PVP grievers and the like. Now I’m not saying the Warlock didn’t actually like to do things solo or that she wasn’t well capable of looking after herself… only that it was probably bloody hard for her to escape two players, each with a level 60-70 toon and a half dozen alts apiece, who wanted to ‘gear-her-up’ like a dolly ^_^ (poor Warlock) and tended to get all social and touchy-feely over her brief online appearances.
Ha we should have created a guild rank ‘Queen Dead-Chick’ and popped her in it and made the escort RP offical … cept she would probably have canabalized our still living bodies.
So now The Warlock is playing solo and playing a class that really rather suits her (warriors usually getting a role that tends towards leadership in a group which is totally up her alley) and it is really ironic that one of her first real hunter PUG experiences as a tank should be the scenario above.
Damned ironic and kinda a shame.
*Greenhunter wanders off wondering if the Warlocks going to slap her with a raw fish for posting bits of emotionally ranty email on the interwebs*
Ouch, that magazine thing IS harsh… as I always say, so much to teach, so little time!
PC Power Play has never been a bastion of sound editorial content. While some folks still need help, its the player not the class that make for bad runs.
I see more than a few non-Hunters making stupid mistakes and comments too. Stand in Stormwind near the AH and watch the populace spew filth into the channels. Its depressing.
Having played a hunter as my main, I loathe the term and pride myself on not being a huntard. However, I can see where the term can be applicable.
I remember just after the expansion came out every was on equal footing again. Our server had these so-called awesome hunters that everyone looked up to. They were decked out in epics, they topped damage meters, and looked awesome to boot. I had the opportunity to group with some of these people and they were seriously some of the worst hunters that I have ever had the misfortune of meeting. They had gotten so locked into raiding that they had forgotten all about the basics of the class: controlling aggro, trapping, or even pet management.
I’d bring my hunter into groups sometimes with these people and preen in my crappy Tier 0.5 (I raided on the perky priestess since I couldn’t get my hunter into raids, bleh) as these Tier 2 or even Tier 3 hunters couldn’t manage to trap a single mob!
Love the blog. Another great post about the issues we face as hunters. What frustrates me is that it is hard for me to argue. I have, without a SHRED of doubt, met more foolish hunters than any other class. I think this is for two simple factors: There are more PEOPLE playing hunters than any other class, and it is very easy for the class to screw up (poor pet handling, multishot, etc).
It frustrates me to see this article, absolutely. However, to be completely honest, it is hard for me to hold it against the general population for thinking this. I too grow tired of seeing hunters left and right. I just hope players will gravitate to the death knight and allow it to become the ‘Deathtard’.
Like that? Made it up just now. hah!
@ Pike – Love the hunter guides!
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@ Andrew – sometimes when I miss barrens chat I hit a city too lol. Mmm PC power Play who needs em :p – actually they had a little note how they were sort of ‘forum-meeting’ on a particular wow server, ya know sign up and hang out, was thinking about it o_O but then I saw the hunter comment and thought bah (lol)
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@ Cynra yeah I can see how in the raid environment a player would sort of forget trapping skills and the like – I remember that some guilds used to have a ‘no pets allowed’ on raids rule when BM did bad dps
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@ Dave ahahahah oh yeah I bet deathknights are going to develop a really interesting rep eh ^_^ what with the fact its the only new hero class and everyone will at least try one.