I am... A Hunter.

I've been playing a Hunter since I started WoW, not because it seemed to be the default option to start off with but because the hunter first appealed to me because of the pet. I liked being able to have someone, so to speak, with me while I was playing.

Right off the bat I could see the grumpy elf being born. No way to heal myself? What is with this crap. Oh well, I'll just take it slow I guess but this is not starting well I thought. I started just the same way all hunters do. Melee hunter FTW. Not like you start off with much of a choice.

Once I got my pet, a cat, I attempted to stay at a distance. Simple logic was that I can heal my kitty all day long, just can't heal myself. Figure that one out. The hunter is a veterinarian, can heal all the wounds of a pet with the wave of a hand but outside of a bandage he can not heal himself. Someone forgot to use even the smallest bit of logic when developing the hunter.

Not like that was much of a big deal really. I can live with that. It also helped me make the decision on what professions I would choose. Herbalism and alchemy. Not really the ideal professions for DPS potential but at that time I did not even know what DPS was. All I cared about was killing the creatures and living. The free heal over time from herbalism and the potions I could cheaply make appealed to me a great deal.

I basically wore anything I found that I could find that fit me. At first spirit seemed like a great idea to me, it helped with mana regeneration. So basically if I see a level 30 hunter running around with lots of spirit gear I give him the benefit of the doubt. At level 30 you basically take whatever you get and really do not know much better.

It was also at that point where I decided to do a little reading. I found Wowhead and that really helped me out. Fantastic site for information about the game and lots of helpful threads. Lots of trolls too, but this is the internet, trolls are a sign of success. If you have no one being a troll on your site, you have not "made" it yet. Once you have the trolls all over then you can say your site has "made" it.

By the time I made it to the world of mail, level 40, I had a solid understanding of what to do. I grew more and more into the hunter life. I really liked the breakdown of how things worked and the many tools at our disposal. It made me wonder why the term huntard was used so often and with so much of a huge blanket to cover all hunters. Of course after reading up on it and looking around myself, I can completely understand that term. However, I have noticed people that would fit that "tard" name in every class. Poor old hunters just got shafted by being the default character on the creation screen and so many people that have no clue what they are doing start with it.

There is one huge difference between a hunter and a huntard. A hunter takes the effort to learn their class. Maybe read some articles online or ask someone that has one that is good for some advice. Looking at other hunters gear helps too. And even at the very least, even if you are too lazy to read or ask anyone there is always the tier gear. Even a total huntard will at some point get to where he goes and buys some hunter tier gear. Just looking at the stats on the gear will tell you what you need to know. Hunters only get agility, stamina and intellect. So even if you never read one single thing you would know that strength and spirit are totally useless. Now if you reach that point and still do not get a clue, then you my friend, are a huntard.

So now I sit having been 80 for some time, totally geared for ICC25 and enjoying the game. The only problem I have is that I do not want to let go of the herbalism. It was great for what it did when I got it and filled the position I needed it to, as a spot heal here and there. I think for a new player that can not heal themselves that herbalism is perfect. But now I know all about DPS and I know that herbalism does nothing for my DPS and the small heal it gives is useless because there are always healers around. Not to mention, I try to stay out of the pretty balls of fire and ice and goo on the floor, so I do not need that much healing anyway.

So even though I consider myself a hunter... I am still a huntard when it comes to herbalism. Maybe one day when I level another character that can pick herbs I will lose it on my hunter and power level something more useful but until then I will continue to pick flowers while waiting for the raid to start.