Wednesday 14 January 2009

Insider

Some of the responses from the wowinsider article have got me thinking.
There're a couple of things:
  • Presumably hunters are weighted so the hunter+pet combination is approx equivalent to a character of another class. Do people really think hunters are 'easy mode' and if so, have they played them past level 20? I can't really say what the other classes are like to play but trying to coordinate the pet, traps, aggro, staying at range, healing the pet and also bringing the dps is pretty tricky, never mind getting out of melee when it goes wrong. Yeah you can probably get the pet to do most of the work but you'll never do very well you'll just kind of get by.
  • I'm proposing a period of petlessness, just to try it for a while, see how it goes. It'd slow levelling down like crazy as I'd be missing the extra dps but mainly because I'd have to kite absolutely everything. I'm not going to even try melee, I haven't the gear and I can't take the hits, kudos to Gweryc for doing so. Tonight, fighting the 61-elite Fen Strider in Zangar I lost my pet half way through - despite constant healing - and my traps were resisted every time so I had no choice but to run. But I don't like to waste a half-gone mob HP bar, so I took him with me. I was out of mana, always switching to AoV long enough to get some and then switch back to 'Ar'cane him. Of course I took him down, and it reminded me how much I love kiting. I'm now pining for Frost Trap combined with Lock and Load and Entrapment - that equals 3 Arcane/Explosive Shots in as many seconds for the price of one Shot, and a slow mob with a good chance of being immobilised for 4 or more seconds.
It's all made me recognise some of why I like to play hunter - I like the complexity of coordinating it all, and the art of the pull. There's something satisfying about executing a particularly tricky pull, I think it's knowing that you just made the kill add free.

I may have more on this later but right now I need sleep.

P.S. You know, I'm actually starting to miss my talents, though not because I'm feeling it's too hard - it's the procs I'm not getting and the skills I don't have.

Level: 61
/played: 6 days, 7 hours, 8 minutes
Location: Zangar Marsh
Theme: Frank Zappa - Trouble Every Day

8 comments:

Travis said...

I just saw the article, I think it is really cool what you are doing. My questions is though: is not having talents really make a massive difference? Obviously it is a little slower to kill things, but other than that?

mysql> exit said...

I'm so happy that you got commented on and interevied, and woot, even have poeple contacting you via the blog about the article! <3 You're a wicked guy, and deserve it.

Sounds like you have the hunter bug again. :D Most hunters I know love, are all about kiting and only when they get bored do they start putting other shots into their rotation. I know a hunter in my guild who only uses autoshot >.>

You got me curious about something to. Outland is known for being the best place to get money when questing while leveling.. its the most paid out 10 levels. Are you getting suppa rich? :O And if so .. can hubby and I take you out to dinner! *wink* hehe.

I have more goodies for you btw, so remind me. :D And rocking job love.


PS, How's Archie?

Lithiumflowr said...

Hi Travis, thanks for posting :)

Not having talents isn't making anywhere near as much difference as I expected; I thought I'd be struggling by level 30-something.
I expect it will become more tricky as it goes on - at 30 you're only 21 points disadvantaged, by 80 you're 71 points, 6 glyphs and 16 pet talent-points out.

I'm going to try the recount idea (yet another thing to log in yet again for when I forget at the end of every session :)
That might be a useful guide.

Lithiumflowr said...

Hey mysql, how's it going? :)

Thanks for the support as always :)

I did once spend a couple of pet-free hours kiting demons at Forge Base in Netherstorm for fun, and it was.
It's just not very efficient :)

I'd love to kite Durn but I tried a few times and he runs way too fast even with AoC (this was as a 70).

Not really getting rich, no, but then I've only got one level in Outlands so far :)
I had a couple of hundred and had to send myself money to buy my mount!
So you're paying for dinner :)

Ooh, goodies!

Archie's good. In Zangar I was so tempted to get a wasp but I couldn't stable Archie.

Brian Westley said...

Noor the pacifist here; Meleeonly might be inactive (still level 70), and I'm not sure if he just re-specced to no talent points, but he's a melee-only hunter.

Lithiumflowr said...

Brian!

I'm Honoured, you've been an inspiration.
I hope your 80 ding goes well in a couple of weeks, should be quite an event :)

Cheers,

Tom

the one and only... said...

hi, i just found out about what you're doing. i play a hunter also and love it. i know what you mean about the love of kiting, and my favorite kiting moment was killing that death knight in AB. i was the only player on my team at the GM, saw the DK comin and put out the warning in /bg chat. by this time he was in range and death gripped me, disengaged, dropped ice trap (by this time the obligatory snake trap by the flag for would-be cappers had gone off), and started firing as i backed a circle around the flag pole. somehow i kept him at just over that 5 yd minimum 'til the final kill shot. by the time it was over, someone in the /bg channel had entered he was on his way. i reveled in the feeling of being able to reply, "I GOT HIM!!"

Lithiumflowr said...

Thanks toao, sounds like the DK kiting went well, thanks for the support :)