Friday, September 21, 2007

Forum question - Staying SV or going to BM?

Another question that just came up on the forum.

Ok I have been Survival for the longest time, I love the spec. I only went Bm to lvl from 60-70. My question is other than getting KZ gear is there anything i could change to be better. I might respec to BM, but i really like Suv.

Flame on or what ever, just some help is needed.

thanks

- Diz


You need to do that which you love, and that which you lean towards instinctively/intuitively when you're in combat with something. Does your hand instinctively go to Wyvern Sting or one of your traps, or does it go to Intimidation or Bestial Wrath? Do you think of a fight primarily in terms of straight damage, or more from the perspective of problem solving?

Go out into Nagrand (or wherever) and solo a few mobs. Observe yourself killing them, and the manner in which you do it. Do you go more for Serpent Sting, traps, and kiting, or sending the pet and then Steady, Auto?

Watching your own playstyle, and determining which of the two specs it most resonates with, will give you your answer. Nobody here really can; the answer to which is the right spec for you, is the answer for you alone.

This is something that I've just realised myself only recently; my own experimentation with Beast Mastery was intended to please other people. BM in its' own ways is a wonderful, wonderful tree, and I'm not saying it isn't. However, as I'm writing here, I finally realise that the most important thing is to go with whatever resonates most closely with your instinct. For me as a single individual, that's Survival. For someone else, it might be Beast Mastery. For another person, it's another class entirely.

I read the first book in the War of the Ancients trilogy, recently. It's a series of books by Robert Knaak based on WoW. In it however there's a point where the demigod Cenarius creates an axe, for an Orc, Broxigar, and gives it to him. Brox is in awe, and exclaims that the axe, "feels like part of my arm."

I'm realising that in this game, that is how whichever class or spec a person plays needs to be for them. My first character, as in BRK's case, was a Mage. I still have the character, and occasionally I still play him. The Mage is a fun class to play for a change once in a while. However, whenever I play him or visit the Mage class, I'm always very conscious of the feeling that I'm there as a guest; a visitor. In my heart, I myself am not really one of them, and that is not intended as an attack on them, either.

As pathetic and absurd as this may sound, I can honestly say that there have been very few other things that have given my life more meaning than the Hunter I play in this game. There also hasn't been much that I've done that I've loved more, either. I feel that WoW has taught me about two particular forms of love that I had never previously experienced directly, before. Patriotism, or the love of one's group or tribe; (in my character's case, the Horde) and the love of a sport.

I play a Hunter because I love it. I feel that if you don't love the class or spec you play, then any other reasons that someone else might suggest for staying with it are already moot.

5 comments:

Pike said...

I haven't commented here yet; I began reading your blog a week ago or so and have really enjoyed your writings so far =) /wave

I just wanted to say that I really know where you are coming from with how you feel like a "visitor" when you play another class, I feel that way too. My friends always think I'm crazy whenever I start a character on a new server and roll yet another hunter. It's because that's where I feel like I'm at home. I've tried multiple times to seriously play other classes and I just can't can't do it, playing other classes just seems to suck all the enjoyment and happiness out of the game for me. It sounds so dorky but I'm just a hunter at heart and that's become a big part of who I am both inside and outside of the game, and I can't change that.

But yes, your posts are very insightful and I love reading them! Cheers to you =D

Mirshalak said...

hi Pike :)
I'm glad you're enjoying the blog. :)

It is interesting though...the Hunter seems to be a class that a lot of people feel this way about.

Anonymous said...

My very first character (back in Dec 2004) was a hunter. And I have played hunters ever since. Currently my time in WoW is mostly split between two 70 hunters (one BM, one SV), with a little bit of time going to a level 8 hunter. I did play a Tauren druid for a serious chunk of time, and I leveled a warrior to 70 as an alt with friends, but I always go back to my hunters. My friends do shake their heads when they see I've rolled another hunter, but what can I say? It's the class that really resonates with me.

s4dfish said...

Very good post. I appreciate your presentation of the emotional (no, not like crying) attachment we get to a play style. I feel that way about my newly 70 Survival hunter. I also feel that way about my subtlety specced rogue. It's not the best build in a long stretch, but there is so much there that I'm tied to I can't imagine speccing something else.

Unknown said...

I'm an ex-SV hunter that's been BM for the past few months. Why? Damage... :'(

I loved being Survival - mainly for the huge agility (CC was easier too), but since my guild is doing Karazhan, I'm a lot more useful as a BM hunter, and I cannot ignore the dps increase (600 (me) + 220 (pet) dps on Aran), and the FI buff. Another reason is that we regular raid with only 3 melee max (including tanks), so my EW buff really wasn't doing a great deal. I wish it weren't so, but I won't be going back to SV until 25 man raids - I'm still focussing on collecting agility gear until then however - 660 agility atm, and ofc that's with no LR!