Thursday, February 21, 2008

Tips for a new Hunter

Had a new Hunter on the forum asking what tips we wished we'd been given when we were starting out. These were mine.

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1. That solo farming instances of the appropriate level of difficulty is not purely as a source of income, but is much more valuable than merely the gold as a source of practice, experimentation, and the refinement of technique.

2. That the Blizzard default UI alone is not really sufficient to be a truly proficient Hunter, but that premade compilations can also be problematic. Learning about individual addons and discovering which are right for you as an individual is important. The websites www.curse.com and www.wowinterface.com can be invaluable here.

3. That all three Hunter talent trees are viable and useful, that each have their place and purpose, and that when it comes to damage or gameplay in general, someone else's mathematics can never take the place of your own intuition and instinct. It is therefore of critical importance that you use that of the three trees which you most strongly resonate with on an individual level, whichever of them it is.

4. That while discovering your native spec is important, periodically changing to a different one of the three trees for a brief time can be equally important and beneficial, and will make you a far more effective Hunter than you could be by only staying permanently as one. Take the time to learn which specs use slow and fast weapons, the different shot rotations for each, and the rationale behind them. Also try to really utilise the unique abilties of each spec during your temporary stay with it.

5. That usually we are called to one specific class in this game, and that in order to be truly effective with it, we have to love it. If you are not able to derive at least a minimal amount of joy merely from the act of practice, without necessarily having any greater objective in mind, the chances are high that you are playing the wrong class for you as an individual. The slogan, "What's your game?" is perhaps more deeply appropriate than Blizzard may realise.

There are many more, but those are the general ones. Most of the others are more specific.

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