“Hunter” gives a lot of different fantasy elements.
Weaponry - Bows, guns, crossbows, spears, swords, axes, daggers, glaives, poison tipped arrows, darts, traps. Stretch a little bit further and I can definitely see explosives, mortars, bombs, etc, especially in Warcraft.
Armor - Leather or Chainmail
Toolkit - Rugged survival skills, animal companions, partial stealth, simple engineering, simple forms of magic, and tracking.
Major Characters - Aragorn, Legolas, Lara Croft, Geralt, Van Helsing, Selene, Alice, Rambo, Jon Snow, Katniss, Trevor Belmont.
Major Characters from Warcraft - Rexxar, Tyrande, the Windrunner Sisters, Vol’jin, Rok’han, Lor’Themar, Nathanos, Nesingwary, Huln.
General Fantasy Classes - Hunter, Ranger, Scout, Beastmaster, Falconer, Bowman, Rifleman, Tracker, Trapper, Strider, Valewalker.
Warcraft Classes - Beastmaster, Warden, Dark Ranger, Headhunter, Huntress, Shadow Hunter, Mortar Team, Batrider, Wind Rider.
Sentinel and Dark Ranger have pretty specific meanings in Warcraft lore, which is why I’m surprised they’re going in that direction. They both definitely conjure images of elves for me.
A Ranger who uses death magic is a pretty niche theme, but I don’t hate it. Currently Marksman feels a lot like how I’d imagine this be if you ever spec into Wailing Arrow.
I think part of the idea behind hero talents, from the lore perspective, is that we, as characters in the game, are not “becoming” the Dark Ranger, we’re just taking a little bit from their teachings. That makes sense with Dark Rangers being a pretty major part of the story recently, but it doesn’t make me suddenly forget about the fantasy I actually want to fulfill with my character, whether that be Headhunter, Ranger, or Rifleman, or whatever.
I’d be a lot more ok with these choices if they confirmed that they planned to add more later on, like maybe in Midnight we get Demolitionist or Headhunter, for example.
