Hunter's Instance Role...

[kandrathe]

Generally, you don't want to assist the tank, because the tank will likely have to switch targets multiple times to make sure to keep aggro on everything.  Most groups usually assign someone else to be the Main Assist or MA for short.  This is the person who decides what mob should be the next to die.  That's the person you should be assisting, and you should make a macro button that automatically assists that person.  Most commonly, the assist person is a rogue or spare warrior (in a raid situation), but the hunter him or herself can be an effective MA as well, since then all the other partymembers have to do is follow the bouncing arrow.
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MJ, you've been in every instance now I believe. Honestly, if you were building parties, in which instances would you exclude hunters? In your raids on MC, how many Hunters were included? Did you look for them, or were they grudgingly allowed to come along?

I've only been in the lower level instances, Stockades, BFD, RFC, WC, Gnomeregan with my Hunters. Of that list, Stockades I would say is not Hunter friendly, you have huge LOS(line of sight) issues with hallways and sunken rooms. Entering a room to get LOS often results in adds, and an errant pet only makes things worse. Now, if the party were cognizant of the LOS issues and pulled those closest to the door out into the hallway where the hunter can use his DPS ranged skills.

A hunter can be valuable in using tracking to let the party know about mobs, if they communicate that to their party. But I fear special tracking powers alone, with very little opportunity to participate in adding large DPS are not going to endear the Hunter to the higher level instances. Traps appear to be specially tailored for party play, but parties need to work with the hunter to make use of them. I've seen many hunters place traps for the puller to use, only to have the puller move forward of the trap and leaving it unused. Now that my NE hunter is 32, I have flare which might be helpful in revealing hidden enemies and *cough* find hidden *cough* which is mostly useless unless you trip over the hidden mob. Find Hidden is the third worst hunter skill, after Aspect Of The Beast, and of course Lacerate.

What would be nice is to have instance guides where each classes special talents might be mentioned.

I can offer some hunter party do's and don'ts;

1 - Do not pull mobs off the tank, either with massive aimed shot, or your pets growl. The tank expended time and effort to become the damage sponge, so let him. Pets are hard to target to heal, so often the pet will have the aggro on a mob, until it dies due to lack of heals, then the mob moves to #2 enemy, the priest. Communicate in advance with your party how you want to try to handle adds. That is, have the tank double team them, mage sheep them, or have your pet tank them.

2 - Do tether your pet (Passive), his pathing is AI based and so often his pathing choices will pull adds. Better that your pet stands idle next to you rather than do the wrong thing. Remember that your pets aggro radius is based on his level. If you are 24 and he is 16, all mobs in a one mile radius are going to be pulled by your pet.

3 - In instances I generally want my pet to wait until the tank has established aggro, I disable Growl on his pet bar, and then I sic kitty on the tanks target. Unless, the mob is too close to wandering patrols or potential adds. I prefer to use my ranged attack on mobs at the minimum ranged distance to keep the party close together. If I'm pulling with a ranged shot and kitty is tanking, then I will wait to sic kitty (with growl on now) on the mob until the mob has closed to my shortest range. I find pet pulling to be mostly useless in instances due to the number of close together, or linked mobs. But, if I'm using the pet to safely pull a wandering patrol I will have kitty take one swipe to get the mobs attention, then issue the Come! command to bring the mob back to the party.

4 - Keep your pets training maximized. When you are needed and asked to pull aggro off a priest, it would be nice for your pet to know more than Growl 2.

5 - Know how to navigate your pet over obstacles. I made this newb mistake in my first run into RFC, when the group jumped down trying to bypass some 20 mobs. I jumped down and my "best friend" in an effort to stay by my side ran around pulling 20 mobs in his wake. My newb hunter mistake, made once, which wiped the group. Reading post like this can help to avoid making these mistakes. Now, with my other characters I take the time to chat with the hunters about how they will navigate the obstacles, just to prevent them from learning the hard way, like I did.

6 - Practice your pulling skills in groups outside instances, including Feign Death. Find a party of friends, dismiss your pet, and try to act as puller for the party. Practice pulling mobs off the soft-shelled party members with distracting shot, and running the mob to the tank. One aspect of your utility in a group is that you and your pet are expendable, so it is good to learn how to save the priest by sacrificing yourself.

Edit: I had some stupid grammar and spelling errors. I wouldn't want to look like a moron. :)