hunter-ing ~ the basics

When I played World of Warcraft, I was a hunter. I chose the class because I like pets and melee was never my thing.


      The hunter class performs pulling, threat redirection, crowd control, and primarily ranged damage. Hunters have pets that add to their DPS and help manage aggro. They can also track, tame and train animals and beasts found in the wild. The well trained pet, on countless occasions, has saved a hunter's life. It has been said by many, and throughout history, that hunters consider their weapons and pets to be their only true friends. 


     In some other games, such as Everquest, the hunter is a ranged/melee hybrid that can rely on both, when the need arises. In World of Warcraft, this is simply not the case. The survival tree offers some enhancement to melee defense, but the class's damage mitigation is poor compared to any pure melee classes and its melee abilities are few. In fact, besides auto-attack, Raptor Strike and a few others is all a hunter has as far as melee. 


The hunter is a stalker in the wilds, living on his knowledge of survival and skill with a bow or rifle. He is deeply in tune with nature, and some of its mightiest beasts are his allies. Of Azeroth's many creatures, few can resist the hunter's call, and fewer can survive his fury. Hunters are as varied as the world's many climates, but they are universally renowned for their amazing abilities to find their prey and bring it down. They come from any race (players are restricted to eleven races, see below), though certain races naturally excel at the hunter's profession. Most hunters seek to aid the balance of nature along with their druidic allies.

an overview of the hunter class

Hunters tame the wild beasts of Kalimdor, Eastern Kingdoms, Outland and Northrend, training them to fight at their side.

• A hunter can NOT tame some neutral beasts such as a Kodo or Mammoth, but the limitation appears to be based on model size. If a neutral beast falls into one of the various pet types, it usually can be tamed.

•  Most elite beasts cannot be tamed, but a few can.

•  Hunters are one of five classes that can have controllable combat pets[1], however, they are the only ones that can name, feed, and assign talent points to their pets.

•  Hunters excel in outdoor survival skills, such as tracking and laying traps.

•  Hunters wear leather and cloth armor until level 40, at which they gain access to equipping mail armor. Hunters start with a two-handed axe and a gun, crossbow, or bow. They can use all other weapon skills except wands, maces, and two-handed maces. They are unable to use shields or plate armor.

Some information from Wikia.