Back in vanilla, tbc, and wotlk I mained hunter (still my main on retail til this day). My class went thru numerous changes over the years, but in general I think that hunter is one of the very few classes that is actually more enjoyable in retail than in classic. Using mana as a hunter sucks, I enjoy the focus system much more. I also love the mobility of bm, playing hunter in wrath just feels so slow and terrible in comparison.
My hunter alt is only 62 so idc about pumping numbers. I just want a more mobile and fun spec. I like explosive shot, but I don’t enjoy trap and aspect weaving. Tried bm in wotlk but it’s really garbage especially since I need to have my pet attack manually (since pet assist isn’t a thing yet).
The only spec I haven’t tried yet is marksmanship. How does it fare in wotlk in terms of gameplay and fun? At this stage idc about pumping and playing the meta, I just want a fun spec for the class I once enjoyed most.
You can play either really as they compete with each other throughout the expansion. Sims show that even later when marksman outscales survival that it isn’t a huge enough margin to matter.
So yes marksman is competitive and even better once you get your new crossbow come ulduar, as discussed by the hunter discord.
After playing a good bit of both I think marksman is more fun and that’s only because of the reset all cds talent ability readiness as well as chimera shot being a fun spell.
Also the reason you don’t like mana management as hunter is because the devs actually wanted to make hunter a manaless class like in retail during wrath but decided against it and released it later on instead.
Hunter makes more sense this way, while the aspect weaving feels skillful it is in the end a bit tedious considering you have to put a lot of effort in that other classes don’t have to just to compete in chain pulling.
Trap weaving is a huge part of your overall damage, less important for marksman than survival but still very important. If you don’t like doing it then maybe hunter isn’t for you in wotlk.
This is how hunter is from vanilla to retail in probably over 75% of the patches, and I think that’s one appealing thing about them. Easy to play, difficult to master
I don’t think so, I’d say the only specs that put in more effort than hunter would be like… enhance shaman, unholy dk when you’re new to it, and affliction warlock at the highest levels of parses.
Most classes can put in barely any effort and out due a low effort Hunter very easily (dk,mage, rogue, warrior/Ret in later phases very easy to play)
The momentum and skill to play hunter is a very real thing and I don’t even main hunter. Play hunter and try to min max every drop of dps and top speed you can and you’ll quickly see the class requires a certain type of commitment to play.
