Look at Warlocks. SOBs get their Pet as early as level 2 or 3 (depending on how keen you are and if you start as the Forsaken) so they learn how to play their Pet class, properly, almost right from the start.
Hunters. Poor bastiches start with Raptor Strike. A freaking MELEE special! Hunters! A ranged class, start the game with a freaking Melee-enhancing attack. Nice one, Blizzard. And when do they get their Pet? Not until level 10! What's one of the first Specials Hunters can train? Aspect of the Monkey, trainable at level 4! Aspect of the freaking Monkey! A buff that helps them Dodge! So they start with a Melee-enhancing special attack and get a Dodge Buff at Level 4, but don't get the quest to obtain their Pet until level 10! Their other Level 4 special is Serpent Sting, a DOT. So they have a DOT, a Dodge-enhancing Buff, and a Melee-enhancing Special. What does that imply about their combat style? Apply your DOT at Range, get off an Autoshot or two, then finish off the Mob in Melee.
Hunters can't even keep shooting when in Melee range. But why not? Why...the fuck...not?! Warlocks can cast Shadow Bolt even with a Mob smacking them in the face. Mages can get off their Frost Bolt, Druids can still cast Wrath, Priests can still cast Smite. Why can't Hunters Autoshot a Mob that's all up in their face? No reason, other than Blizzard hate the Hunter class.
So Hunters, right from the first level, are practically pigeon-holed into fighting Melee. And we wonder why Huntards have the reputation they do. Wonder no longer, dear readers, the truth is right in front of you. It's Blizzard's fault! Nice one, Blizzard. You bloody idiots!
See this? This is what a Hunter is supposed to do.
My Gun Skill is maxed out for my level (20@4) while my Axe & Unarmed Skills (at 1/20) suck. Why? Because I haven't engaged a single Mob in Melee! My Defense skill would have been 1 as well, except I got hit in Melee ONCE as I delivered the fatal shot. That's it. I've been Strafe-kiting Mobs as I shoot them to death AT RANGED because that's what a Hunter does. I haven't used Raptor Strike at all because I haven't needed to. I didn't bother learning Aspect of the Monkey because I'm not going to need it because I'm a Ranged DPS Class. The only time I plan to get hit is when I do my Tame Beast Quest, and later when I tame my Pet, and even then Monkey won't help me because you can't Dodge while channeling Tame Beast.Blizzard, you fucked Hunters over, just as you're planning to fuck over all of your loyal customers when you force everyone to switch to BNet later this year if they want to keep playing WoW, and as you'll do next year if they want to multiplay SC2 (No LAN for you!), and with D3 as well. Whoops. You haven't announced that yet, have you? Sorry to pre-empt you there, and Lord, I hope I'm wrong. I really hope I'm wrong. Because if Blizzard release D3 without LAN support they can put me down for two lost sales, and make one of those a Collector's Edition. I know, I know, I'm just a drop in the bucket. But I bet I won't be the only drop. In fact I bet there will be a lot of drops, many who will wait to see if the crackers can come through, like they did with Spore's DRM, and release LAN-enabled copies of SC2.
But even if cracked copies of SC2 and D3 are released, and prove hugely popular, Blizzard still won't listen. They want their legitimate players on BNet and they'll go that route, even if it turns some of their customers away, because just as many of us will refuse to buy a BNet-only copy of SC2 or D3, there will be a lot of sheep who'll flock to the stores on opening days to secure their copy. That's fine, that's their choice. Blizzard's game, Blizzard's rules. Pity their rules only apply if I choose to play.
Rant over.
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5 comments:
Its a long time since I played World of Warcraft but I still remember my frustration at not being able to use the bow if a mob got in close. The forums were full of endless advice about melee hunters and kiting using that cripple skill whose name I forget but I could never pull it off. If a mob ever got within melee range of me I was usually dead.
I had a discussion with a friend of mine and we came to the conclusion that as a whole hunters are an incomplete class. We, like hybrids, must spend talent points to define what we do. Every other pure comes with the tools they need to get a job done, and spend talent points to enhance those baseline abilities.
Part of the issue is that Hunters aren't really a hybrid class. They aren't exactly ranged DPS either. Rather, they are a self-contained miniature party (all of the holy trinity at once), at least once they get a pet tanking for them as they do the ranged DPS and occasional critter heal. They really can be almost completely self-sufficient if played correctly.
But yes, they should be taught this from day one. Waiting until level 10 to get a pet and start playing a Hunter "properly" is very poor design.
I have never played WoW, but quite a few other MMORPGs. From what I gathered leveling in WoW isn't that hard or slow. So what are we talking about? How long does it take to get from Lvl 4 to 10? 3 days, 4 days? I don't think that players are too stupid to change their playstyle after such a short period. Furthertmore it is quite common in any game for characters to change playstyles once he/she learns a certain ability.
Kyff
It better have Lan support or count me out as well.. As far as hunters go Blizzard can do whatever they like to them and they'll still be a super overplayed class I think..
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