[RANT] Fueling the huntard stereotype

[bengtsson]

I would like to take a moment to talk about my experience with hunters, as a tank, in 15-80 instances. (note: I am aware that not all hunters behave like this)

I wasn't having problems with this until I got to the high-50's to low-80's, except a few huntards here and there. Soon enough almost every other instance I was going to, either DPS or healer thought it was a great idea to just solo the instance without me. Normally I just take the hint and start going faster. Now, note here that for MOST of them, they apologized if I didn't want them doing it, and I just let them do whatever they wanted to do because they were nice about it. This happened with paladins, mages, priests, and DK's. The only problems that I had were hunters.

Example: The other day when I was doing WOTLK dungeons, I just so happened to get a few very bad runs in a row, most of them with the same healer. This started with a particularly bad case. I was in The Nexus, getting aggro and killing mobs as I normally do, when I realize that the hunter has growl on. I politely tell him to turn it off and I get on with the instance. After a few pulls when he STILL has it on, and his pet is outaggroing me, I start to get a little impatient. I tell him to turn growl off, with no reply, growl still on, and his pet stealing all the aggro despite my attempts at getting threat. (I was a brewmaster monk, and even provoke wasn't working.) I had to say, "turn your fucking growl off, god damn" before anybody seemed to notice. Paladin replies, "lol why? his pet is a better tank than you anyway." Healer replies, "stop complaining, if you can't hold aggro then he has a right to tank for you." Hunter is still the silent douchebag in all of this. Eventually I say fuck it and stop trying to get threat. Then I get kicked.

Oh, and I just want to take the time to say that when the hunter was tanking, the instance was going MUCH slower, while when I tank and everybody does their job, everything goes smoothly and quickly.

That was probably the worst case, thought it certainly wasn't unique in the "hunter refusing to turn growl off and aggroing the whole instance with the healer behind all of his actions" area. What I'm trying to say is that, although hunters aren't the only class that pull, I haven't met a single hunter who isn't a complete asshole. Not ONE hunter I have had the pleasure of getting grouped with had the manners to not pull, even when it was his first time in the instance.

And you hunters wonder why you are always getting picked on.

[elrot]

I still think the best way to deal with that situation is to just leave...

[coldrain]

15-80 instances.

lol. stopped reading there

Then don't post

[Bluesftw]

you just let pet die and carry on, simple

[The Flavour Cat]

You're the one helping to fuel the stereotype. Just because some idiot hunters forget to remove their taunt spells from the pet doesn't mean you should generalise the hunter playerbase. Not everyone is like that. I always make sure to turn it off when I hit a dungeon or a raid. You just happen to have come into contact with some ignorant players who'd rather not say a word than do anything. We've all met people like that.
Oh, and if it bothers you, leave. Say why, though, as no-one likes people who jump ship and don't say why. Form a group from trade chat or a guild group! At least they're competent.

[Mirishka]

@Blue, a pet won't die in a leveling dungeon, at least not if the hunter casts Mend Pet. You can thank Blizzard and their easymode leveling dungeons for that one.

@OP, I feel your plight but this topic is ignorant for a number of reasons - for starters it singles out hunters when A: locks do the same thing ALL the time with their annoying Threatening Presence demon buff, and B: there are idiots (and thousands of them) in every class/role - including yours. For every idiot hunter/lock I've met, I've encountered an elitist douchenozzle of a tank who seems to forget that being an unstoppable badass ends when he, you know, logs off the game. Hell I have more tanks ignored on my toons (including my tanks' ignore lists) than any other role.

I've also met plenty of tanks that are simply bad at tanking. Using Battle Stance, Frost Presence/spec (yes, really), paladins who forget about RF, etc. Met a warrior tank less than a month ago who didn't even use Thunder Clap. A level 87 warrior, bitching about his AOE threat, not using TC.

And yet - I don't come here starting these kinds of topics. Why, you ask? Because I don't like generalizing and singling out one class/role when I've encountered pricks and 'not good' players across all of them.

My main is a hunter and I pride myself on being good at it, and not just at the 'lolmeters' part. For example I do things like MD adds in boss fights to tanks, and I never, ever rush off and pull - even when the run feels slower than what it should be. Growl is never on, and I always managed it even when Stampede pets could cast it. If I see so much as a glimpse of a threat warning, I FD. Long story short, even in a PuG dungeon or heroic scenario with people I don't know, I never place myself and my 'need to be leet' above respecting the group.

I find I make more friends that way.

You're going to encounter idiots (or sometimes nice people who simply need to improve) of every class, role and spec. Get used to it. Ignore list them (so you never get queued with them again) and move on.

[Deleted]

Get Badpet.

[zorkuus]

Yesterday I met a frost DK dps'ing in blood presence and refusing to switch because it gave him more health. He probably had an epic boner from having more hp than the tank.

[Deleted]

Those are good addons to have, especially in leveling dungeons, but even later on - there are plenty of lvl90 hunters who come to Flex pugs with their Growl on and have no idea how to turn it off.

I wish the default state of pet Growl would be off - I don't think most of these facerolling hunters actually know that their pet is taking the aggro or that they can control it. If they actively would have to turn it on, I'm guessing many of these problems would disappear.

[Avar ize]

who cares as long as the dungeon get done? its just leveling stuff anyways.

[coldrain]

no idea how to turn growl off? 99.9% of the time level 90 hunters have growl on is because they were out soloing on the mindless isle while waiting in queue and simply forgot to switch it off when shit finally popped.

the people you're experiencing that refuse to turn it off probably don't even speak english, perhaps try pasting your message in spanish or brazilian portuguese via google translate

[MerinPally]

you just let pet die and carry on, simple

Yeah because it's him, the angry tank, that is busy healing the pet yeah?

[Ragedaug]

Those are good addons to have, especially in leveling dungeons, but even later on - there are plenty of lvl90 hunters who come to Flex pugs with their Growl on and have no idea how to turn it off.

I wish the default state of pet Growl would be off - I don't think most of these facerolling hunters actually know that their pet is taking the aggro or that they can control it. If they actively would have to turn it on, I'm guessing many of these problems would disappear.

To me, this would help fix it. The reasons hunters get so much more hate from tanks than any other class is growl. Doesn't matter if other 4 party members pull, a tank can easily get threat back, unless hunters (and sometimes locks) have their pets tanking it, most without realizing it.

I finally got over the whole "the tank has to start every pull" thought process in leveling dungeons. One, it will only drive you mad, as you watch at least one dps pulling in front of the tank most dungeons, and two, because my priest can solo those leveling dungeons. In fact the last two leveling dungeons I did, Violet Hold and Azjol-Nerub, the tank in each dropped before the first pull and we finished both dungeons without skipping a beat while waiting for a new tank.

Saying that, having a good tank will make the dungeon go faster. I would just say, as a tank, let the small stuff roll off you and just do your thing. In the higher level dungeons you'll get to watch growling pets die, which is normally fun.

[Toiran]

Personally I don't see the problem in levelling dungeons.

From my experiences since TBC, it's always been close to a ratio of this, that I have met in dungeons: 80% Alts, 20% New players.

So, I assume an alt knows what to do, and usually in full heirlooms, you can solo the place, and whilst levelling, I for one, have done those dungeons a million times, the faster the run the better, so if I'm the tank, I'll gladly let the over-geared DPS pull the entire instance if he can handle it, just makes life easier for me, this isn't end-game.

As for my hunter, before I queue for anything I turn growl off and check my pet is the right spec as it's easy to forget, same goes for Spirit Bond or Aspect of the Iron Hawk, LFR? Spirit Bond, Flex+? Aspect. etc, it's amazingly easy to forget growl is on, but it's not hard to get into the habit of checking before queuing. - Also I have forgot about growl on the first pull of a dungeon once or twice then turned it on, but I've NEVER forgotten to turn it off during a raid, people generally concentrate far less on dungeons.

Honestly if they aren't making the group wipe, or straining the healer, who cares really? It's just making the dungeon faster for everyone, it's different if it's causing wipes, but that almost never happens, and then and only then would I have any sort of problem with it.

Huntards is a bad statement, because nearly every other class can do similar things that cause similar problems but people don't make topics about them.

I imagine since he was ignoring you, he had it on on purpose and was just trying to do the dungeon as fast as possible as he knew he could handle it, Hunters are amazing for solo'ing group content.

[Deleted]

Male dwarves and male draenei are idiots by default, put a bow in their hands and shit is gonna fly. I dunno what attracts idiots to play these race-gender combos.

[Elim Garak]

I really don't see what the fuss is about, so what if pet tanks a mob/boss? Big deal. Yes if there's a hunter in the party - tank is UNNECESSARY in a leveling dungeon. Is this the real root of the issue? I bet! Deal with it. Silently.

[aHeeRo]

I mean lets be real. Hunters don't get some giant thing on their screen once they hit a certain level saying this is growl it taunts stuff. Also 15-80 is where you also run into... Ill call them nice people, that are Rets with RF, Warriors saying Prot is a dps spec, Blood dks in frost presence "dpsing", Healer's who don't actually heal(not usually a problem at all) and prob some others like ninjas of loot. I mean i recently leveled another prot warrior dealt with the same shit you are. My main is a hunter and turning growl off isnt hard. Just most who play a hunter at low levels don't pay attention to it. Honestly you should just throw on some music and deal with it. Get your leveling done and call it a day. No reason to get tight over stupid players.

[prwraith]

Way I see it when I play my alt hunter in lowby dungeons. That pet has growl can tank just as well as a tank in low instances, and if it does happen to die I can rez it an unlimited number of times per fight while in combat.

This is a pure ego thing for tanks, it's less work for the healer, less work for the tank. In high end dungeons it doesn't even matter that much either, if it dies the hunter loses some dps and the mob reverts to #2 in threat the tank, I rez it and keep going.

[Museigen]

who cares as long as the dungeon get done? its just leveling stuff anyways.

Because after Leveling you start heroics and Raiding and IF you get any reply at all it'll be either "I pay to play how I want" or "nobody had a problem with it till now you must suck as a tank." As long as you remain polite about it it's best to stop it before it's irreversible.

[PetersenIII]

I still think the best way to deal with that situation is to just leave...

Never, ever leave. Getting kicked drives up their timer, and grants you kick protection in the future. There's pretty much no reason to ever leave a group; just go AFK and wait for them to kick you.