Demon Hunters look neat, but the one class I’d be interested in playing if I returned to WoW is the Melee Hunter. Hunters have always been special to me. My first class in WoW was a Hunter. I was the first level 60 Hunter on my server, first with any set items, first with full hunter set items, and first with the Rhok’delar. I was all about the Hunter class! Throughout my tenure as a Hunter, I always wished for the ability to go Melee Spec (and be viable) like Rexxar.
When I saw the Eagle Spear artifact I was originally thinking Druids.  When they said Hunter I was a bit shocked. A spear? for a Hunter? Could this be the return of Keen to the Hunter class?
If WoW ultimately brings me back, I might have that chance. Here are the confirmed roles for Hunters in WoW’s Legion Expansion:
- Survival: Melee Spec (with pet)
- Beast Mastery: Ranged spec (with pet)
- Marksmanship: Ranged spec (no pet)
Thea idea of a hunter fighting alongside a pet is awesome to me. I’m a pet class fan. Most people play the pet class because it’s usually the solo friendly option. In EverQuest, I was a Necromancer as my main — the epitome of solo friendly. However, I grouped most of my time in-game. Why? I like being social, but at the same time I like having a companion. I like having my pet feel like an extension of my character. The more my class interacts with the pet, and synergizes with it, the more I enjoy playing.
Introducing a melee hunter as a legit way to play is quite a change. Hunters are known for their ranged DPS. I’m curious if Hunters will be given the same respect as melee characters and actually allowed to put out competitive DPS. I could actually see the spec being utility, though. Maybe buffs or… maybe become a tank class?
I hope that the hunter class with a pet offers more to a group. I’m a little skeptical since most of WoW has gone to way of pure DPS, pure Heals, or pure Tanking. There isn’t much left for strategic play or the need for support, but I still have hope for the class to be more than sending your pet in to attack and raptor striking non-stop.
I’d also love more of the game to revolve around the pets. Pets had really neat features and mechanics back in the early days of WoW. Catching a pet and finding the perfect one was a lot of fun. I hope the Hunter class hall has some neat activities centered around pets.
Anyone else as interested in a Melee Hunter? I fear asking the question might reveal I am once again interested in the most popular class/spec.
That does sound awesome. Not enough to get me to resub but I always wondered why you couldn’t spec a character to be like Rexxar. Now you can! The only thing that could slightly stem the inevitable flow of Illidan clones on Legion launch day is a flow of Rexxar clones 🙂
I am now kind of wondering why this hasn’t been an option all along.
I’m toying with the idea of starting with hunter in Legion, but not necessarily a survival hunter. I’m not especially married to any class right now so I’m waiting for more info before deciding.
Table says:
August 9, 2015 at 4:46 pm
Melee Hunter has me far more excited than it should.
Beat you to it!
But I 100% agree, I used to love the Hunter class because of its use of melee/focus on interesting pets. I would spend an afternoon camping a rare pet spawn just to have a cool pet. But you also got to see said pet more because melee played a viable part of the Hunters kit back in vanilla. Now a days you just send your pet in to fight a boss never to truely be able to see it again. But fighting right next to it would be really neat.
As far as playstyle goes… Im pretty much positive it will just be 100% dps, they dont have “hybrids” or support type specs anymore. Everyone brings some sort of buff, and if a spec does bring some sort of utility its usually one thing on a 3min Cooldown (Shadow priests). Gone are the days of paladin seals/shaman totems. Which has watered it down to me.
Oh Keen 😛
Your previous post mentions a very real hope that they will bring back class uniqueness, a de-homogenization if you will.
And then you go and get all giddy about Hunters becoming a possible melee option when their identity has always been that ranged pet class that isn’t magic 😛
Sounds like even more homogenization to me. And I saw you mention hunter tank in there, so I know you are secretly hoping for it too! Haha. They got you good, sir!
@Rawblin: How is taking a class that was always just ranged DPS and providing an option that is completely different even close to homogenization? And I’m hoping they not only make the melee option, but add in the ability to be supportive rather than 100% DPS (which I think is hoping in vain but still…).
@Table: Yeah, you’re right it’ll probably be 100% DPS. Hoping it’s a little unique, though.
@Krigare: If I returned I would probably do a DH and a Melee Hunter.
@Balthazaar: They toyed with it in Vanilla, but the implementation sucked. It should have always been an option.
@Gringar: Nooo don’t say that! Haha, I’m always one of the clones.
🙂
It depends how survival ends up playing but with the “bring the player not the class” mantra they’ve had I think the de-homogenization you’re looking for isn’t going to ever happen. I do think with the PvP talent system they’ll have an opportunity to bring back a lot of the class uniqueness in PvP that was lost due to PvE homogenization.
The problem with hunters has always been that they’ve always had 3 specs that more or less play the exact same way. That’s how Blizzard ends up saying they want Marks to be ranged without a pet, BM to be ranged with a pet, and Surv to be melee. There is still a spec for someone who wants a ranged pet class that isn’t magic, but now there will also be a spec for someone who wants a non-magic melee with a pet – something that doesn’t exist yet in the game.
Rogues have the same problem which is why a lot of people are asking for a dual pistol ranged spec.
@Steve: I see you smiling over there Steve. 😉 I hope you’re participating in the content story. WoW needs your help. After the last 2 expacs… whew.
@Krigare: Rogues will need some kind of help because right now why anyone would stick with a rogue when you can be a DH is beyond me.
exactly what krigare said…the problem is the “bring the player not the class” philosophy they have and I doubt this will change…we are not gonna see again unique classes in the sense of unique tools they bring to group…what Blizzard thinks of unique is the colour of spell effects..
@Keen From a gameplay standpoint you might be right but the way the meta currently is….
Step 1 – look up dps rankings
Step 2 – use this as a priority list for who you want in your group.
If rogues are top dogs in current parses and DH are dead last, people will play rogues. And vice versa.
Here’s to hoping the new Artifact system makes this a much harder thing to accomplish… I am all for alts, but switching classes every raid (and many times being expected to depending on the guild) is just the worst.
Thinking about things in terms of DPS charts makes my stomach tie itself up in knots. What an awful way to play games. I’m hoping there’s a huge change with artifacts.
It is.. but the MOBA mindset has taken over MMOs too, people expect you to play what is the “best” for the current time (patch) and anything else just annoys people.
Insanely frustrating and one of the glaring issues with the current day MMO (no fault to the MMO itself either).
Unless you’re on the cutting edge of progression, people don’t really care. You’ll either find a guild where they don’t care that your class is halfway down the sim charts as long as you can step out of the fire while doing your rotation or you’ll pug the raids and people don’t have the luxury of being so selective with classes.
People switch classes because they just want to be playing the best class at that role, but that’s their prerogative.
I agree there is probably a lot of that going around, but if you do 5 mans (mythic or otherwise) and BGs (rated or otherwise) with friends or even LFR you don’t have to deal with all of that BS. Even if you want to raid if you get into a guild with decent people you don’t either. I don’t raid except LFR. Mostly doing PvP/arena with friends and random BGs/Ashran or the occasional 5 man/LFR. I was looking forward to mythic difficulty 5 mans, but my friends and guild are mostly PvP oriented and have not wanted to dive into it on my own.
I’m absolutely uninterested in PvP in WoW. They would have to radically alter everything they’ve ever done with it to gain my interest.
PvE on the other hand could be fun. I haven’t read into Mythic difficulty 5 mans. Do they drop loot anywhere equivalent to raids? I guess deep down I’m a jealous person. I want cool gear too. I don’t want to walk around and see people in way better gear just because they’re part of a group of 25 people and I’m in a group of 5.
They said part of the class overhauls this time is really looking back at the original fantasy of classes and bringing back class identify.
I will miss metamorphosis on my demonology warlock, but they really want to refocus on the summoning and pet aspects of that spec and I’m willing to hear to what they are planning.
Demon Hunter looks like a ton of fun, but I have really been enjoying ranged classes as of late.
Mythic dungeons drop gear equal in power to LFR Hellfire Citadel with a chance to warforge to be equal with normal HFC gear
I played a hunter in beta and early vanilla – the survival tree was loaded with melee talents – buffs for raptor strike, mongoose bite, wing clip, counterattack, melee defensive buffs, etc. It wasn’t a viable spec (in pve), but it was there, and it was clear that Blizz had intended for there to be a melee spec. People who say all 3 specs always played the same started playing WoW during one of the expansion eras.
I’ve tried to go back to hunter a few times and I just can’t, most of what made it fun for me has been stripped out. Preparing food to feed your pet, making your own ammo, swapping between ranged/melee in pvp, taming pets and then fighting with them to learn their moves which you could then teach your favorite pet… all the unique flavor and especially unique pet stuff is gone.
I think if the hunter can tank it sort of wipes out all the good they are trying to do with class diversification. Hell, why not heal too?
Someone correct me if I am wrong, but a quick look at wowhead indicates that the mythic 5 mans drop 685 gear, with a chance to drop 705 gear from the last boss, which I believe is the same as the first mythic raid tier (Highmaul).
@Balthazar thats right but it might be easier to think of it as being equal to HFC LFR (675-685) with a chance of being the same as HFC normal (705).
Though it is possible to farm a full 695 set with apexis in Tanaan.
WoW’s gear system makes my head spin. For the layman, is that like saying it’s the second best gear you can get, or the third best gear, or the….?
Fill in the blank. If I did the current mythic 5-man’s and got myself a set of the best gear they can drop, I’d have the _____ best set currently in the game.
Feral druids, melee hunters, monks, demon hunter… they are all wannabe rogues at the end of the day. 🙂
@Keen: its definitely been made more complicated with the introduction of warforging and multiple raid difficulties. Plus there’s also a chance for an item to have a gem socket and/or tertiary stats (avoidance, leech, movespeed, and indestructible) without increasing the item level.
Looking at just the most recent raid, a full warforged mythic dungeon set will be 705 which is on par with Hellfire Citadel Normal mode (minus T18 set bonuses and crazy trinkets that drop off the last boss). There are 2 more modes above that, so you could say its the 3rd or 4th best set of gear. Better than raid finder and slightly worse than Normal. If you were 705 average you could probably pug the normal mode and maybe even heroic too.
Fun fact for everyone – a new ranged class has not been added since launch. Granted there’s only been 3 new classes but they’ve all been (or will be) melee, tank, and healer.