Thursday, August 23, 2007

Required reading IMHO

This blog post describes what a Hunter's real purpose is in groups, rather than being primarily DPS as most people think. I'm fairly sure BRK links to it somewhere as well, but the link is very much worth reposting. Although BRK mentions his belief that we're a damage class, (and I'm not going to disagree with that entirely) as the above linked article says, more than any other single thing, Hunters in groups are pullers and tactical co-ordinators. CC can be used in conjunction with pulling for the primary purpose of ensuring that the rest of the group never gets more mobs than it can handle at any one time.

Hunters themselves aren't the only people who need to read it; people who play other classes and group with Hunters do too, especially Warriors...because more than any other class, in terms of pulling, tanks tend to insist on trying to do what is really our job, and then claim that we don't have a reason to exist at all.

"And these words shall be in your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates."
- Deutoronomy 6:6-9

3 comments:

Xizang said...

I recall having seen those plots of a hunter pulling a while ago, and I mean a real good while.
Although the conclusion that hunters are the pulling class has become reinforced by the pulling abilty as such: Misdirection!
Since misdirection has been introduced there is no doubt hunters shall pull just because they deliver a good load of aggro of up to three mobs straight to the tank. And the mobs will react just as if the tank had pulled himself.
And this can be conducted over a range further than anything else in the game. I think 141 yards in total (100 for misdirection, + up to 41 to shoot the mob from the opposite side).
On top of that we can do it instantly. I go cracy when I watch a warrior taking aim with his 3.6 pull weapon...

Mirshalak said...

Blizz should remove the Warrior's ability to use ranged weapons, IMHO. It would cause a lot of people to have to develop a better level of respect for Hunters if they did. People would start to feel as though they actually needed us.

Andrew said...

As a tank I much prefer to have a hunter pull the mobs to me than to do it myself. The insta-aggro is invaluable to mitigate any early-fight boomkin/rogue/mage crit-a-thons.