A Study Of N00bs

[Roane]

I'm still curious about the appeal of hunters.  What was the draw that made you roll one?
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I know you're not asking me, but... I played a Hunter in beta as soon as I could (then set her aside after making 20 so I wouldn't ruin live game surprises), have one hunter at 56 and another at 43. You could say I'm pretty into hunters.

The appeal for me is:

1) Soloability - I tend to solo or duo often and being able to solo efficiently and with less death risk makes me happy.
2) Pets - I like pet classes. I think it takes skill to effectively manage both my own skills and aggro, and that of another creature that is under my control. I discovered how much I liked this way back in EQ, playing my Magician (I think that was what the class was called. It's been a while.) who could summon elementals. I think you'll find many people who learn once to play a pet class well will keep coming back to them.
3) Range - I like fighting from range. It's purely an aesthetic/play style choice, I think, because I can't think of a logical reason for it. I've been playing Rangers of one type or another since I started playing RPGS, both CRPGs and tabletop ones.

I think that a lot of other people are attracted to hunters for the same reasons, regardless of their individual skills or play styles. They see and hear that they're an "easy" class to solo with. (I don't think they're easy -- just reliable and efficient -- but that's me.) They think having an animal follow them around is cool. (I get asked about my pet by new players even once in a while, if I run through Goldshire - "How do I get one of those?")

To my perception, the one big disadvantage is usefulness in groups. They don't have any skills that a group will think they need. I'm lucky in that I have a bunch of Lurkers to play with on Stormrage, and a great community that's not hung up on "optimal" groups on Cenarion Circle, so that it's never been a problem for me... but I sure have heard some interesting horror stories.

Edit: Missed a grammar error