08-13-2007, 12:50 PM
Well, briefly (I have work soon) I'd have to say that the OP hit it right on the head. PLAYING a hunter is quite easy. You can autoshot your way to 70, if you really wanted to (I did it till 50, when I started wising up...). Playing a GOOD hunter gets quite a bit harder. And even good hunters can have off nights where no matter what they do, they trounce their dps by clipping autoshots, or not paying quite enough attention and having their pet killed, etc.
There is a lot going on being a hunter in every fight, even trash. You are doing a shot cycle that if you even screw up by .5 seconds, you start to lose dps. You may or may not be trapping. You are dealing with your pet. You settle into a decent rotation and oops, there goes a haste proc, change your cycle again. Haste cycle's done, and just as it finished a different one procs, so you change your cycle again. Oops, forgot to heal your pet, so it's almost dead, so break your cycle to heal, but wait...
"Why is your dps sucking, huntard?"
Yeah.
Don't forget that hunters also use an intense amount of mana, but seem to be the last when it comes to any thought of group synergy. I often get stuck in with a group of healers, so there goes my useful raid buff (which is kind of sad, considering it's +3% damage to any damage dealer. ANY one at all. But can I get put into a group with damage dealers? No...)
So it does amuse me when folks say hunters suck, considering all that's stacked against us. When we get a good group, or even a passable decent one (2 BM hunters together, for instance) we start to shine a little brighter. Toss a hunter or two an in combat mana regen effect like a shadow priest, and watch us soar. Remember, the only current way we have to regenerate mana in combat (that isn't a pot) costs us total dps (FD and Drink, which is a popular "Why don't you do this?" thing) or costs us a lot of RAP and potential haste effects (AotViper). While we can dps without mana, it's a very poor showing at best
I will admit that warlocks are also quite tricky to play, keeping all those DoT's managed, and ticking away. But consider doing that, with a pet that you HAVE to have out and in melee range of the mob you are attacking to do even remotely "acceptable" dps. Warlocks can put their pets away (or even better, sacrifice them for various personal buffs) and not have to worry about them anymore. If a hunter pet dies in midfight, their dps takes an immediate and noticable nosedive.
So I'll agree. Levelling a hunter is probably the fastest and easiest thing to do. PLAYING a hunter, and playing one well...is pretty damn hard.
There is a lot going on being a hunter in every fight, even trash. You are doing a shot cycle that if you even screw up by .5 seconds, you start to lose dps. You may or may not be trapping. You are dealing with your pet. You settle into a decent rotation and oops, there goes a haste proc, change your cycle again. Haste cycle's done, and just as it finished a different one procs, so you change your cycle again. Oops, forgot to heal your pet, so it's almost dead, so break your cycle to heal, but wait...
"Why is your dps sucking, huntard?"
Yeah.
Don't forget that hunters also use an intense amount of mana, but seem to be the last when it comes to any thought of group synergy. I often get stuck in with a group of healers, so there goes my useful raid buff (which is kind of sad, considering it's +3% damage to any damage dealer. ANY one at all. But can I get put into a group with damage dealers? No...)
So it does amuse me when folks say hunters suck, considering all that's stacked against us. When we get a good group, or even a passable decent one (2 BM hunters together, for instance) we start to shine a little brighter. Toss a hunter or two an in combat mana regen effect like a shadow priest, and watch us soar. Remember, the only current way we have to regenerate mana in combat (that isn't a pot) costs us total dps (FD and Drink, which is a popular "Why don't you do this?" thing) or costs us a lot of RAP and potential haste effects (AotViper). While we can dps without mana, it's a very poor showing at best
I will admit that warlocks are also quite tricky to play, keeping all those DoT's managed, and ticking away. But consider doing that, with a pet that you HAVE to have out and in melee range of the mob you are attacking to do even remotely "acceptable" dps. Warlocks can put their pets away (or even better, sacrifice them for various personal buffs) and not have to worry about them anymore. If a hunter pet dies in midfight, their dps takes an immediate and noticable nosedive.
So I'll agree. Levelling a hunter is probably the fastest and easiest thing to do. PLAYING a hunter, and playing one well...is pretty damn hard.
~Not all who wander are lost...~