The 8-bit guide to WoW

[Carthrat]

http://www.nuklearpower.com/hunter.php

Well, actually, it's a guide to pulling as a hunter, and why he's better at it than anyone else.

As someone who has no idea what a hunter can do, except crank out ranged damage and get called overpowered on the WoW forums, I found this interesting!

[Brian]

That's a terrible article.  Most of his ideas are good, but it's surrounded in a thick layer of argumentation and whining ... and he considers another MMO (FFXI) to be 'canon' for the purposes of defining class roles in WoW?

Bleah!

It's also a bitter pill to swallow when he basically says, "Not having the hubris of a beta tester, I'm far more qualified to discuss this than they are."

I'll agree with his argument -- Hunters are good pullers.

But he comes across as needlessly agressive for what should be a guide, not a rant.

Edit: I said that before finishing reading the article, which I couldn't -- it was way too "in-your-face".  And the final bits I skimmed where he knocks warriors (an already spit upon class) just left me feeling sick.

While the technical information is undoubtedly fine, the wrapping of hate and bile makes it a bit difficult and unworth the effort for me.

[Music-chan]

Well, he's obviously a hunter who really feels put-upon. I mean, everyone is going to be biased no matter what.

[Rezantis]

Just 'cause he's biased doesn't mean he doesn't make a good point . . .

He's dead on with the perception of hunters, and he makes a compelling argument for the pulling.  I'd be interested to see that in action.

[Brian]

His argument is flawed insofar as higher-level instances make it so that enemies are linked -- it's not possible to separate one or two by pulling.

[Rezantis]

Ahhhhh.  Haven't seen that yet.

Scarlet Monastary Ahoy!

[kpjam]

I think the best point he makes is the sacrifice point.  If the hunter is willing.  If the huner is willing to sacrifice himself, the party rezzer can rez him, and him alone if the pull is bad or the group is unprepared or he pulls more than needed.  Of course, I've never seen a hunter or any other player act that way in game.


addidendum:  I did read in a rebuttle from the Blizzard team that even in high end instances they used their hunters effectively.  For what that's worth.

[Brian]

I think the best point he makes is the sacrifice point.  If the hunter is willing.  If the huner is willing to sacrifice himself, the party rezzer can rez him, and him alone if the pull is bad or the group is unprepared or he pulls more than needed.  Of course, I've never seen a hunter or any other player act that way in game.


addidendum:  I did read in a rebuttle from the Blizzard team that even in high end instances they used their hunters effectively.  For what that's worth.

Any player can let themselves die as a puller to take one for the team; the hunter has Feign Death, which makes it a little less damaging.  But Rogues have Vanish, too.  Not sure if that works in instances against instance foes, but....

As to the other point, I just take that to mean that any class CAN be effective in a higher level instance, which I don't find particularly surprising.  If anything, it just means high-level hunters should stop whining about being useless in groups.  The guide (minus the hate) might be a good start, especially if it included tips on how to handle linked pulls.

[Rezantis]

Vanish works perfectly; it's the five minute cooldown and reagent requirement that prevent us from using it as much as Feign Death.

On the other hand . . . Vanish? *Fail*?!

[Brian]

Yeah.  Feign Death can fail, but Hunters have backup abilities in those directions.  Two of them, from what I hear ... supposedly Feign Death works well, though.  If it can break apart linked enemies, then Hunters are the undisputed Kings of pulling.

[kpjam]

One of the things that I wonder about is exactly how mosters are linked.   Is there a diminishing radious of threat?  Say you have to monsters in proximity.  You hit them with ten hit points of damage and they both react. But you hit them with 1 hit point of damage and only the one hit reacts.  Are the linking only because no one draws them out with *little* enough force?

[Brian]

Aggro is generally binary, though you can have less than other players.  Any aggro at all will make a mob rush its target.  Rogues have the best chance (currently) of pulling since they can at least use Distract to some effect.

Linked mobs, however, are coded so that when one aggros, the rest do as well.  Feign Death might work so that a hunter can mark and then shoot a target from range, Feign Death when mob1 gets within melee range, and then when all the add-mobs go away, the hunter might be able to get back up and shoot at mob1 again.

This MAY defeat the linking, but I've never been into a high enough level instance to see the theory put to the test.

[Rezantis]

I've never seen linked mobs period, myself, I'll have to see if that's set in the monastary . . .

The trick works for the most part, btw, I can do it with vanish, and hunters can do it with Feign Death.  The timing is a bitch, but the trick is this:

(1) Do your aggro dropping when the mobs are coming for you.  They'll lose agro and turn around.

(2) Get back into view again.

(3) Aggro the mob you want the moment they return to their normal position.  Timing is critical, you MUST grab them fast enough that they're away from their friends that their friends won't aggro before their friends end their run back.

Tricky and requires pinpoint timing.  Landing a stun on a mob you want left behind before he starts his run back helps a lot.

Distract is worthless for pulling UNLESS you're using it to rip one mob away from a patrol group.  I do this all the time.

--

The key about this is that as a mob is running back / resetting . . . it's immune to EVERYTHING, and that includes aggro.  Wheeeee!

[Brian]

You need to be in a level 50+ instance to see linking, from what I've heard.

[CyMage]

Actually Gnome-place has some linked mobs.  The non-elite leper gnomes that usualy come with an elite chicken.  Pull one, you get them all.