HuntsmansLodge.com

WoW Hunter Guides, News, Resources and Musings

Choosing a Hunter Race

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WoW Hunter Races

Thinking about starting a hunter..? Maybe you’re considering a race change for an existing hunter?

Want to know which race is the best option for your hunter..?

Well, hopefully this guide will help you decide. 🙂

First off… I’ve never really considered myself much of a role-player type, but I think that a player’s choice of race should depend largely upon which race they ‘like’ best. I’m talking about the ‘feel’ of the class… the look, the emotes, the animations, the lore, etc… These are all very important, because after all… you’ll be the one playing this character for countless hours, so you may as well pick a race you’re fond of.

Obviously, faction is just as important as the choice of look and feel, if not more so. Do you want to fight for the Alliance or for the Horde..?

That said, if you’re just trying to decide which races are ‘the best’, then here’s a handy guide that can help you choose which race is best for your hunter, based upon which racial traits are going to help your hunter the most. To keep things simple, I’m mainly focusing on PvE and PvP. I figure anyone looking for ‘the best choice’ is doing so for raiding or PvP, however, if you are looking for the best ‘gathering’ hunters, then I can tell you that Worgen and Tauren are the best. 😉
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This is great!

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Worgen Starting Quests

After two nights of leveling a new toon and partaking of the whole Worgen experience, I must say… I’m having a blast. I’m making sure to soak in all of the sights and sounds along the way, but I’m clicking along at a pretty good pace. I went ahead and mailed over a half-dozen or so heirlooms to my new Rogue, making things a little smoother. 😉 I was thinking about going the more challenging route and using only quest gear, but nah… a lot of time, blood and sweat were spent acquiring those BoEs – might as well use ’em.

Needless to say, I’m pretty beastly now… [Read more…]

Oh, It’s On Now!

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After the wife and kid went to bed, and once I wrapped up the evening’s projects, it was time to experience some Cataclysm first hand.

Cataclysm Added to my Battle.net Account

Once the installation and account upgrade were all complete, it was go time. I logged in and played with the Worgen character creation screen for awhile, then I hopped over to the horde side and messed with the Goblin creation screen.

Then I went back to the Worgen. Now, I have yet to see a goblin in-game, so my opinion may change, but… there’s something unsettling about their features. They look like they’re wearing masks. Like I said, perhaps it’s different in-game, but at the log-in screen, their heads don’t seem to jive with their bodies too well.

I’d been leaning towards creating a Worgen anyway, since everything about them seems to appeal to me, so maybe I’m being a little bit biased. Plus, even though I dabble in the dark side, I’m pretty much an Alliance guy. 😉

After configuring an identity for my new Worgen, I sat there thinking… so why in the hell am I planning on leveling another hunter..? I have four already…

Garwulf, Level 80 NE Hunter

My main, of course, and my first WoW toon. With 209 days played and close to 100K honor kills, Garwulf is my baby.

Thorgren, Level 72 Dwarf Hunter

I rolled him way back in vanilla for a variety of reasons… I liked the dwarven racials, engineering seemed fun, I wanted a toon I could play anonymously (he’s remained unguilded and held in secerecy pretty much throughout – – until now..! doh!), and I wanted more pets! We were so limited back then, with only three stable slots. We also didn’t have dual specs in those days, so it was nice having a MM hunter available to play without having to re-talent. Garwulf was (and still is) my Beast Master.

Wrathchild, Level 19 NE Hunter

Wrathchild is my twink hunter. At one time, he was among the top twink hunters in my battlegroup. Wrath was a first team member of the top twink guild in Vengeance, and had a 5-0 run in 5 officially scheduled WSG premades vs the top horde guilds in our battlegroup. Those premades were some of the most exciting WoW events I’ve participated in, period. One of our raked pre-made battles lasted 2 1/2 hours!!! I was shaking afterward.

I’d consider Wrathchild my second main.

At one time, he actually had more honor kills than Garwulf. 😉

Cabrón, Level 49 Orc Hunter

Cabrón is my lone horde character. He resides on a different server (and a s**t server at that) from the rest of my clan. I made him in an effort to experience the game from the horde point of view, prior to Cataclysm. I’ve had immense fun playing this character. My initial plan was to level him all the way, but I ended up parking him at 49 once I found out we were getting regional battlegrounds. I thought it would be fun to unleash his fury upon the experience-off Alliance wussies in the 40-49 bracket once 4.0 hit. Unfortunately, this plan got completely f**ked after I discovered that my once uber gear was now vendor trash. 🙁

Cabrón shall resurface at some point.

So you see… I have quite a bit of experience in the realm of huntering. I absolutely love the class, so I don’t feel having four hunters is a waste at all. It’s all about what you enjoy.

However… last night I got to thinking… 5 may be a bit too many, especially when I have one or two I’d like to level at some point.

Also… if I’m only rolling a hunter so that I have something to cover on the site, that’s defeating the purpose of what I’m doing. I’m taking a step back from the game so that I can try and detach from the “work” aspect. Discussing my new lowbie hunter would be in a sense, me writing a new hunter leveling guide. Not to mention, BRK already covered that topic pretty well. There’s no need for me to go down that road.

I am a WoW hunter to the core, so there’s really no reason I can’t talk hunter stuff now and then, even if I am not actively playing one. You guys know where my heart is, so it’s not like you’re going to abandon me… right..? I’m still going to hopefully have a few writers covering hunter stuff on here, and I may talk about some pet stuff, or this and that, and maybe the other thing…

I mean, I’ll be back at it soon, so you guys will still be stopping by seeing what I’m up to, right..?

I have another question for you too… It’s… [Read more…]

Would you believe…

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I haven’t even upgraded my account yet.

No upgrade to Cataclysm

Truth be told… one reason things have been a little quiet around here lately is because I was planning on exiting for awhile. Trying to meet the demands of everyday life, along with the task of maintaining this website, as well as finding time to play the game used to fuel said website… well… it’s been a little too much for me these days. [Read more…]

Ghostcrawler Speaks and Other Hunter News

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During the class panel at today’s BlizzCon festivities, Ghostcrawler announced some of the major changes in store for Hunters with the next expansion, “World of Warcraft: Cataclysm”.

They are:

  • Mana will be gone. Hunters will now utilize focus.
  • Intellect will be a needless stat for Hunters.
  • Focus will regenerate at a rate of 6 focus per second.
  • Steady Shot improves the rate of focus regeneration to 12 focus per second.
  • Shots are estimated to cost between 30 and 60 focus.
  • Hunters will have fewer cooldowns on abilities.
  • Hunter ammo will be an item and no longer a consumable.
  • Ammo may possibly be purchasable via emblems or it could be a boss drop. This is undecided.
  • Human HuntersHumans, Undead, Goblins and Worgen will all have access to the Hunter class.

Other changes that affect Hunters:

  • Agility will now grant Hunters and Rogues 2 AP per point. AP will most likely not be an itemized stat any longer.
  • Armor penetration is going to be removed.
  • Haste will also increase the rate at which Hunters regain focus.
  • Shadowmourne, a 2H axe,  is the next legendary weapon that will be introduced. This will of course be available to Hunters. 😀

This is just a quick highlight of some of the more notable updates that will be affecting the Hunter class.

On a side note, the Worgen racials look amazing for PvP.

  • 70% movement speed increase for 6 seconds, on a 3 min cooldown.
  • They have a 1% passive damage bonus called Viciousness.
  • They have a passive ability called Abberation which reduces curse and disease durations by 15%.

The last racial is a +15 bonus to skinning which doesn’t really offer any benefits other than ease of leveling, but the fact that a skinning knife is not needed is pretty cool. Worgen skin their kills using their claws! That is pure win.

The Goblin racials are pretty great too.

  • Goblins will have a passive 1% increased attack speed with all spells and attacks called, “Time is Money”. lol

Goblins also have two rocket based racial abilities which share the same cooldown, so only one can be utilized every 2 minutes. They are:

  • A 20 yard Rocket Jump available every 2 minutes.
  • Fire a Rocket Barrage at any enemy within 30 yards, also on a 2 min cooldown.

Not to be left out of the profession bonuses, Goblins have a passive boost to Alchemy.

  • “Better Living Through Chemistry” gives Goblins a +15 bonus to Alchemy, along with a 15% bonus to health and mana regen from crafted potions.

The other Goblin racials are more for convenience and comic relief…

  • Goblins will receive the “Best Deals Anywhere” providing the best possible prices on goods and services regardless of reputation.
  • Goblins will have a personal servant called a “Pack Hobgoblin” which can be summoned every 30 minutes, and will offer bank access from anywhere in the world.

Well, that’s all I have for now… I’m watching a rebroadcast right now of the footage I missed earlier this afternoon.

There were a ton of exciting announcements made today, so if you were unable to attend the convention or view the pay per view event, head over to the new Cataclysm site that just launched today.

All I can say… HEROIC LEVEL 85 DEADMINES..! Woot!!!