Hunter?

[RagingPanda]

Before anyone says anything, I did read the stickies, including: "Which class should I be?"

However, while they give you a good idea, I'd like to get a bit more specific, especially since this will be my first mmorpg ever. My friend is a mage, and he basically needs someone to cover his butt while he casts those long AoE and DoT spells.

I was not sure whether a pure tank class such as warrior or paladin would be better..or perhaps someone like a druid/hunter.

With a paladin you can get in close and tank, also do heals. To my understanding, druids can tank to a lesser extent, but get rooting abilities and all that.


My main question mostly lies with the hunter: Would he be good for that sort of scenario? I imagine with a pet I could essentially distract 2 monsters at once basically to give him breathing room, but are hunters really good at this...or is it something their class isn't really inclined to?

[prion]

yes, a pet is a good way to keep bad guys off you and your friend while you lay into them. there are different kinds of pets good for different situations, so you'd probably want a tanking pet.

however, the two of you getting into an instance group will be difficult as those classes are both pure DPS.

if you absolutely want to play a hunter then do it but a class that can tank would be a better pairing with your friend's mage.

[Erinion]

Druids can tank as well as Warriors and Pallies. I've run many 10 mans with druid tanks and there's never been an issue with them. We also use druid healers for their HOT's.

Go druid. You can then Tank, DPS or Heal as needed.

PS - I'm a hunter and I'm telling you to go druid :)

[mrzerath]

I'd say go a paladin, Hunter tank pets can keep aggro to an extent, but pally's can keep aggro on them at all times. Of course if you go prot, you can with ret also but its not the actual tank spec. And for a druid tank, if your good you can keep aggro, Me myself, ive always had a problem stealing aggro from them, Only had a few druid tanks that did well.

Prot warriors also keep aggro very well, And at 55 you can become a DK and there pretty good tanks also, even though i hate dk's with a passion.

[Aerath]

Truth be told, there won't be a lot of tanking needed and what you will need to tank when leveling, a Hunter's pet will be fine for.

Dual ranged makes sense - it's a hassle to run from mob to mob as melee while the Mage already has it on 50%.

[hunterloki]

I have a hunter and i know some tricks to tank. If all you want to do is tank and play in groups then do not go cat go bear. Might want to go Dwarf not Elf two. I have a Night Elf hunter with a Night Saber as my pet i can tank with my night Saber good if its something within my level and i am by my self but if i am in a group in a part of the game with higher levels then tankin with my pet is kinda hard. Bears have high hp so they can take more hits makeing them the pet you would tank with.

[Erinion]

The disadvantage of pairing a hunter with a mage is you've got 2 pure DPS classes playing together. There's no room to heal or tank (although a hunter pet can tank to a degree , I wouldn't class it as a geniune tank for partying and def not for instances).

[Wintrow]

I concur not mixing melee and ranged classes.

I was a druid leveling alongside a hunter and I spent more time running back and forth between a trigger-happy hunter and the mob than doing actual dmg.

A warlock might be good as well? But then you'd be fighting over cloth drops...

[WoWdizzle]

what about a blood elf hunter, do they level quicker cus ive heard they do

[Marlous]

what about a blood elf hunter, do they level quicker cus ive heard they do

No, that's not true. The thing that might've sparked this rumour, however, might be the way the Blood Elf starting area is set up - both Eversong Woods and Ghostlands have better quests, better xp, and better rewards. The same goes for the Alliance equivalent, the Draenei starting area. By choosing a BC race it might appear as though they level faster than, say, an Orc Hunter, but that's simply illusion.