Are hunters completely useless.

[Deleted]

(I made a thread on reddit about it):

I was really interested in the autoshot + spell weaving system, the kiting, traps, cc, viper sting, rage dispell and so on in pvp and pve, and the fact that the class seems interesting in pve compared to all these 1 button spamming casters.

BUT, apparently they really suck in vanilla, and although I did play a few other classes on nostalrius, I never tried a hunter.

So, how is it at the end of the day? Is hunter just not worth it at all both in pvp and pve, or is there something that makes them worth playing?

Thanks a lot

[Pua]

Every class is useless, and good. That's not because of some weird Schrodinger anomaly, it's because all problems with a class exist between the chair and the screen.

Play what you enjoy. You'll make it work.

[ReVnX]

They are not useless, at least they have Tranq Shot

[Deleted]

Tranquilizing Shot, CC and the most mobile ranged DPS should be enough.

Should be. What's wrong with you if you can't make CC, utility and an unique niche work?

[Deleted]

Mana break while you send your pet in - the flow was intense
Here's a tip snipe those blinky mages, and keep ask for both water and cake. if the demand tips just set on ignore

[Atherions]

Hunters have it easy when it comes to leveling, farming gold and they have good utility in dungeons. In raids however they run out of mana fairly quickly and their damage is middle of the pack/low. In PVP they are pretty good, esp against casters, if you have a fast attacking pet. They are "balanced" in vanilla terms. Good at some aspects of the game, and bad at other aspects.

[Dairios]

Hunters in Vanilla had the problem of having a "Dead Zone" in which they could not attack. Ranged attacks, actually had a minimum range of 8 yards - so a target could actually be "Too Close" and you wouldn't be able to attack them with your primary means. So you had a couple melee attacks, and obviously your pet, to make up for this. But it was still a problem, as between your ranged attack distance, and your melee distance, there's this zone you literally cannot attack. And if your pet couldn't hold aggro, or there was more than one mob, fights got a little frustrating. PvP was something of a nightmare too, as I remember it. Given that Melee classes would just destroy you, because you lost all ability to fight back when they got within 8 yards.

[33kamous3]

God, everything is so extreme. Hunters are not 100/100 in all categories, so are therefore "completely useless" and not "worth playing"? Perhaps it would be helpful for the OP to clarify in more detail what criteria would make a class worth or not worth playing. From the sounds of it, I would guess the focus here is on progressive raiding and organized PvP.

Hunters have several qualities that make them fun (and one of the most-played classes throughout WoW's history). They are the only ranged physical/non-magical dps, the only true pet class (warlocks obviously, but it's not really the same). They have a wide range of tools, as the OP mentioned, including threat management, crowd control, and debuffs. They're a great casual and solo class, easy to level, and a great introduction to WoW's overall mechanics. They're easy to play but in the hands of a good player they can be very effective. They have a cool ethos/lore/fantasy that appeals to many players (not to mention Rhok'delar). They can be deadly in PvP, brokenly so in some brackets.

They do have some drawbacks. The dead zone is problematic at times, but its also one of those challenges that can set good players apart. The same can be said for mana management. Other classes may have higher dps potential, but good hunters do good damage. There is a significant stigma, as many players will assume any random hunter they meet is a poor player. But when your FD/defibrillate allows your group to recover from a wipe 2 hours deep into a vanilla megadungeon like BRD or ST, they're probably not going to be calling you useless.

Most of all, hunters are worth playing if you enjoy playing them. I've never raided vanilla Naxx, and I'm not a hardcore elite, so my opinions are not in any way valid, but I do have a decade-old 110 retail hunter alt and a 60 Nost hunter, and I think they're fun to play and therefore worth it.

[cparle87]

They are not useless, at least they have Tranq Shot

After their guild has killed the first boss in MC enough times that it's your turn to get the book. Can't beat second boss without enough hunters with it.

[Lahis]

Hunters are the best kiters (an actual niche in vanilla PvE) and are the only DPS class who don't need to worry about threat (Feign Death removes all of it).

[SinR]

Hunters are the best kiters (an actual niche in vanilla PvE) and are the only DPS class who don't need to worry about threat (Feign Death removes all of it).

and Rogues had Vanish.

but yeah, I learned how to kite on my hunter way back when. I was pretty good at taking Drak to The Beast's room back in UBRS.

[kamuimac]

(I made a thread on reddit about it):

I was really interested in the autoshot + spell weaving system, the kiting, traps, cc, viper sting, rage dispell and so on in pvp and pve, and the fact that the class seems interesting in pve compared to all these 1 button spamming casters.

BUT, apparently they really suck in vanilla, and although I did play a few other classes on nostalrius, I never tried a hunter.

So, how is it at the end of the day? Is hunter just not worth it at all both in pvp and pve, or is there something that makes them worth playing?

Thanks a lot

they suck but they have tranq shot so every raid will have at least 1 hunter only for this ability more then 1 will be just pointless when you can alternatively bring 1 more mage

[Dekkers]

Every class is useful in Vanilla.

[Daedius]

Hunters were the "hardest" class in Vanilla, supposedly.

[Everwake]

Good hunters were a nightmare in PvP. Especially Arathi Basin, where their pet could just sit on the flag (with a trap) while they chilled ten yards out.

[Lahis]

and Rogues had Vanish.

but yeah, I learned how to kite on my hunter way back when. I was pretty good at taking Drak to The Beast's room back in UBRS.

Vanish had 5 min CD. Feign Death had 30 seconds. Rogue might end up worrying about threath after first Vanish, hunters never had to think about it. Just hit FD on CD.

[gushDH]

Hunters are not completely useless. They are a very good class, just like any other.

[dwightyo39]

Iirc it was possible for a hunter to have two players frozen in traps at the same time in pvp. Wasn't there a survival talent that reduced trap cd?

[Mythruss]

I've leveled a hunter to 60 on vanilla servers before, and I can tell you that having a pet to take aggro is a blessing. On top of that, hunters are necessary is most raids and some dungeons for tranq shot or kiting.

[Roxyfoxy]

Hunters are a great class, altough they lack dps if you want to setup a optimal raid group.

For PvE raiding, you can get by with just two competent hunters for tranq shots, but if your hunters are lacking in that department, you can add another.

Excellent for leveling and solo queue pvp, with much utility.