There were a train-load of bad hunters in vanilla, but it wasn’t the class that was bad. It was the idiots who made no effort to learn the class, learn the abilities, and learn to play the class at a level somewhat higher than incompetent. They didn’t bother to learn how, when, and why to use traps. They didn’t learn to take care of their pet so it didn’t run away from them. They didn’t learn how to properly control their pet when in a group.
On the other hand, there were some who took the time to study the class, learn the class, experiment with options other than the “cookie cutter” builds and adapt the build to their abilities and game play style. They learned how to be part of a group effort instead a “buckaroo” (see Capt Remus, Hunt for Red October, for that reference).
TL;DR – the class wasn’t good or bad; the player who chose that class was good or bad.
Another important factor to keep in mind is that back in vanilla almost everyone was very bad at the game. All you have to do is watch old vanilla pvp montages. You will see plenty of the following.
Back peddling
Clickers
More back peddling
Piss poor internet connections (why is that guy just running in place)
Key turning
And of course MORE BACK PEDDLING.
Seriously most hunters were called huntards because when you go in their “dead zone” they would concussive shot and back pedal instead of moving in the fashion you people see today (running and 360 no scoping their attacks at you) it was simpler times back then.
Hmm. Interesting. I suppose I didn’t consider this. Seems unusual that this would be more beneficial than putting in more effort to keep the tank alive. But I suppose it’s feasible.
I never stepped foot in Naxx during vanilla so I cannot say. But if this is coming from your private server experience I must give you shifty skeptical eyes.
Concussive Shot had an 8 yard minimum range. You used WC in 5 or less and great mages would hit that sweetspot within the blank area where Hunters could not do anything.
The problem with Hunters is because you can play it easily just leveling and doing quests, but it was hard to play it well with no real in between.
You keep saying tank like it’s going to be anything other than warriors tanking in high end raiding if it was any other class tanking then removing the buff would most likely be beneficial but warriors love being attacked faster to generate rage quicker which in turn helps build threat.
Druids didn’t main tank that fight though iirc. And in all fairness people have learned and grown more sense then so there’s a chance you may see more druids tanking this time around. But I don’t expect it personally. Ultimately we will see. Most people still won’t make it into naxx regardless. I hope I’m wrong though, I really want to see what all these years of theory crafting will bring to classic.
As others have mentioned, they don’t scale very well in the last raid but they aren’t bad up to it. They do fall behind a bit but they are fun in dungeons and especially PVP as long as no one gets in your face.
One thing to think about with hunters is how you come across to other players in groups while leveling.
Hunters got a bad reputation for “all loot is hunter loot”, so one thing is to be very aware of what is actually good loot for you - not just equippable.
Hunters got a bad reputation for not turning their pet’s growl on or off, for having Aspect of the Daze (Cheetah) on at inopportune times, and for showing up having forgotten to get ammo or without food for their pet. Players you group with will notice and remember when you’re not one of those hunters.
There are also little things that other players may notice you do that build up their desire to include you. As a healer, I knew warlocks and hunters quite well based on which managed their pet well - especially if they had the group and situational awareness to see heal aggro happen and send their pet to intercept when the tank couldn’t. Those players wound up on my friend list and grouping with me often, their pets got heals when the hunter heal wasn’t enough.
The reason I say so much about that is that getting into raids is immensely easier if you’re approaching people you’ve played with who respect how you play and ask you or recommend you to a guild. In fact, joining a guild while leveling makes getting a raid spot easier than applying to a guild that already has a couple hunters they know, but the same “rules” apply to showing you’re a hunter they want to have around.
I haven’t actually played classic private servers to know just because I don’t want to waste all that time and effort only to abandon it when classic releases.
Especially when were talking about how long it takes to level in vanilla. I can rush a toon 1-120 in a few days if I make time for it. Vanilla I think it took me something along the lines of six months to reach level cap?
And I’m pretty sure you run out of quest a like 56 or 58 and have to grind mobs the rest of the way? I’m gonna have to pick up a leveling guide for vanilla I think lol
Hunters were phenomenal in Vanilla. The main drawback was that there were SOOOO MANY HUNTERS. And competition for raid spots was heavy. Many hunters also caught the bad reputation of being “huntards” through poor pet control or gear hoarding or spraying AoE everywhere and pulling everything.
You had to be an even greater shining example of a good hunter to move up the ranks of other hunters to slide into those few coveted raid slots offered to you.
When it came to Solo play hunters did the best. Unbeatable farmers, Deadly in open world PvP, and a valuable asset in BGs.
In 5/10-man content a hunter was just as acceptable as any other DPS.
Possibly at release. But not by 1.12 (a lot of quests were added). I leveled 1-60 without doing anything but questing. Didn’t run a single dungeon. There’s plenty of quests.
I believe most people make an effort to play the game somewhat optimally.
It was not optimal to have more than 2 hunters in a raid once they got out scaled.
I know everyone likes to be warm and fuzzy when it comes to being optimistic and talking about casual and friendly play. Reality is hunters found themselves out paced because of harsh limits they couldn’t push past in the numbers realm.
You need to decide how important that is to you and what kind of content you want to do and the level of people you want to play with and not simply listen to the sunshine most of the people in this thread are seemingly trying to push.
1 - 120 … heirlooms, tokens for gold to buy big bags, ride @20, fast ride @40, fly @60, talents and abilities on the fly as you level up
1 - 60 … no heirlooms so you’re stuck with grays or greens (if you’re lucky) for quite a while, silver coins (if you’re lucky) and copper coins 'cause gold doesn’t come until late, small bags (if a mob drops one), ride @40 so you’re walking and running until then, talent points makes you decide where to put them as you get them, see and pay class trainer for new abilities, level weapons skills by fighting mobs
![:smirk:](https://d38bqls1q93fod.cloudfront.net/en/wow/images/emoji/twitter/smirk.png?v=6" ":smirk:")
if it was any other class tanking then removing the buff would most likely be beneficial but warriors love being attacked faster to generate rage quicker which in turn helps build threat.