Thread: What makes a bad hunter when playing in a fellowship?

I'm fairly noob i suppose, I've only ever played the hunter past level 20s! So i just want to learn what makes a bad hunter in respect of other classes?

This was brought on by the fact that I thought my role was to get rid of all the adds, protect the healer and then dps on the boss [killing any respawning adds as they come]. Or so that's how i have been told to do since i started playing in fellowships!
I was in some instances yesturday where i was firstly moaned at to cure poison on tank and healer, which i did, they then i was moaned that i wasn't killing adds quick enough so that became my priority, i was then made RAT just so they could check on me!
The minstrel began running around to avoid spiders [i guess] and ended up pulling even more, our burg and captain were defeated, which meant my hunter was defeated after being surrounded by 5 spiders out of 8 [only 2 actually rooted]. I was then immediately dismissed from the fellowship. When i sent a tell asking why, the leader said 'hunters are sh..t learn to play your class or we get wiped'.

I'm usually pretty good at controling a mob when i play solo, i use my traps, daze, rooting and can wipe a mob pretty easily but for some reason when i play with other classes i just get moaned at.

Originally Posted by RachelSophia

I'm fairly noob i suppose, I've only ever played the hunter past level 20s! So i just want to learn what makes a bad hunter in respect of other classes?

This was brought on by the fact that I thought my role was to get rid of all the adds, protect the healer and then dps on the boss [killing any respawning adds as they come]. Or so that's how i have been told to do since i started playing in fellowships!
I was in some instances yesturday where i was firstly moaned at to cure poison on tank and healer, which i did, they then i was moaned that i wasn't killing adds quick enough so that became my priority, i was then made RAT just so they could check on me!
The minstrel began running around to avoid spiders [i guess] and ended up pulling even more, our burg and captain were defeated, which meant my hunter was defeated after being surrounded by 5 spiders out of 8 [only 2 actually rooted]. I was then immediately dismissed from the fellowship. When i sent a tell asking why, the leader said 'hunters are sh..t learn to play your class or we get wiped'.

I'm usually pretty good at controling a mob when i play solo, i use my traps, daze, rooting and can wipe a mob pretty easily but for some reason when i play with other classes i just get moaned at.

That one line means several things. It is very surprising to me that a player can be as rude as that to a low level class, but it is not surprising that he admitted hunters are s**t. From what your description states, you were doing fine, especially fine since you were at low level and should not have much responsibility. The player(s) that you were with were cruel and, well, devoted to winning, that is all I can give, not once in my years have I found someone that swore at me and dismissed me from the group for not knowing my class.
As a hunter, you are a DPS'er, nothing more, except perhaps to cure poisons. All you have to do to succeed is to hit an enemy until it is dead - that is the most basic description of a hunter.

First off, you didn't mention what class was tanking. It's not a hunter's job to hold aggro, and if your leader was a tank then perhaps it wasn't anything you did at all. It's true that in a lot of instances hunters need to remove poison and yes they're RAT so that the rest of the group is attacking YOUR target, but still that target needs to be held by the tank. Some tanks can't hold aggro, plain and simple; some minstrels don't use threat reducing instruments and skills; I can list bad traits all day but it comes down to this, shake it off, find a good kin with good people and run with them for a while until you feel more confident and be aware that there are always going to be bad groups out there. Maybe you were a noob but EVERYBODY is a noob at some point, no need to be rude about it imo.

Bear in mind, rooting can get things messy if things are spread out and the tank is trying to grab a bunch of mobs, so it might be best to just talk about it before doing it to make sure. If everything is bunched up this can make things MUCH easier though so it's a matter of situation. Keep at it, I'm sure you'll get it down.

Don't sweat it, you did just fine. At some point, in these kinds of situations some people tend to blame someone because of their own lack of skills. You just keep at it, and good luck.

What makes a bad hunter when playing in a fellowship?

Well, if based on that description, the answer is: worse fellowship and random scapegoating.


Out of curiosity: spiders & 6-man & 60-ish toon... Skumfil?

If yes, then it is sooooo easy to wipe on-level if someone "just" keeps running around, regardless of the class...

Don't worry about it. Sounds like you were doing just fine. PUGs can be problematic because many don't know thier roll and you don't know what to expect from the others. They just needed someone to blame for their mistakes and its easy to blame the hunter. We get it one way or another.

To answer your question, the main complaint from other classes in regards to Hunters is that some players pull all the aggro then run around like headless chickens.

After RoR, using "Improved" DF while in a Fellowship will make you a bad, bad Hunter.

I can tell you what makes a bad hunter. (From Guard's pov)
1. Seeing 3 arrows fly past my shoulder as I am running in to start the fight.
2. Standing at 40m away and pulling my target then running around everywhere except twoward me. (I hate this!) In most instances, standing right behind the boss within 5m of the Guard allows WT to leach some threat and also allows our snap aggro skills to work better to get mobs back if you take them from us.
3. Arrow storm used too early or when mobs are cc'd. (LMs and burgs hate getting their mezzes broken)
4. You should most times be set up so the group should be targeting your target. If they aren't, call them on it.(politely) If you are not dps assist, follow dps assist target pls!
5. Follow the leader's directions. I don't know what is is with Hunters and Burgs but you guys are most likely to be doing your own thing instead of following the plan.

It sounds like you were not the issue. Also, it is not usually your job to protect anybody. If the healer gets aggro, a guard or a Champ is designed to pull them off much quicker than you are and they have the heavy armor to stay alive while they do it. Like it has been said already, if you get aggro, move toward your tank and call out to let them know what you are doing. Your mini should have done this. Finally, a piece of advice-Talk with your tank before you start the run. Ask him/her how much time he/she needs before you open up. Generally, a good tank in a pug will let everyone know when they are ready for you to open up, but if they aren't doing that, sugest that they let the group know. It will be helpful for everyone.

Djasi
A Guard

Being a hunter in a sub-level 75 group, especially a pug, might turn you into a scapegoat considering that a lot of the time underleveled people don't know their class and secondly, probably more importantly, have no idea what they're doing inside of instances because none of them have much grouping experience. It's easy to just blame the hunter and boot them because hunters get a lot of bad light as it is.

Don't forget that even though you have great DPS capability, that doesn't also mean that you have to use ALL of it, either. The hallmark of a bad hunter is one that consistently has the aggro on himself and pulls it off of the tank. Drawing threat and aggro to yourself is BAD. Hunters aren't meant to have anything on them, not even trash mobs, and especially not bosses in instances. You have a skill called "Beneath Notice" specifically to counter this if you somehow manage to draw aggro. Use it and then stop DPSing so you can lose some of the threat you previously generated and then begin lightly DPSing again when you feel secure to do so and the tank has the attention firmly back on himself.

Your job is also not to pull, the guardian/warden/champion will always doing the pulling to start fights, unless told otherwise to do so. You do not even begin to fight until the guardian or tank has rounded up the enemies that he needs, and then you may begin doing your thing. There's a bit of a double standard in the tank situation, also, because even if the tank DOES suck, you still have to adjust to his tanking ability or else you're only risking the group wiping. If the tank is that bad, then there's a good chance he's going to end up dying repeatedly and recognized as the issue in the group, but if you're pulling aggro off him constantly then they're going to blame you instead. Bad tanks will weed themselves out, but you as a hunter must still adjust to the tank you have to work with.

While grouping, as a hunter, your ONLY priorities are to, first and foremost, DPS whatever the DPS target assist is targeting. Yes, you are also there for poison removal, but if the rest of the group is good or prepared beforehand then they will have poison potions to remove them before you have to do it. There are many occasions where poisons stack and you may have to use your poison removal as well.

Also, remember that your leader may very well give you other assignments, though. Hunters have multiple ways to CC enemies, such as distracting shot, Bard's Arrow, Cry of the Predator (useful only against beast-type enemies), Rain of Thorns, and Dazing Blow. Use them all to your advantage if you're asked to maintain a CC on one or more mobs.

Lastly, another thing to keep in mind about your combat ability is that you are also capable of interrupts. Blindside will interrupt an enemy induction, such as a heal or one of the heavy attacks that bosses in instances can throw out. This is not a priority, but it is useful in many occasions, especially if your group leader wants an interrupt on something but there isn't a champion nearby to do it 'the right way'.

To summarise:

Be RAT or stick to it.

Know your tank - always give a warden at least 15 seconds to build aggro, while some guards need a bit less. If in doubt about the tank's ability, start in Endurance and spam Quick Shot to lower your threat relative to the tank's. Then shift to your normal DPS stance, which for me is Precision.

If the tank is tanking the boss and there are lots of adds, someone else, typically warden or champ, is on off-tank duty. Which means don't AOE too early (before tank/off-tank has aggro lock on the adds) or at all in some raids, where CCing adds is important. Rain of Arrows spam has killed many a hunter, which is a shame because it's SUCH FUN . That said, it can be great for wardens. I know two who love me for doing it when the adds are locked on them because it allows them to leech LOTS AND LOTS of aggro.

Know what CC to use if things go wrong. Preferably stuff that makes the mob move away from you and back towards the tank, e.g. Cry of the Predator and Bard's Arrow.

Stand a bit away from the healer, so that if you DO pull something nasty by mistake you're the only one that dies as a result.

Know when to stop DPS - especially if you need to hide in a corner and Press Onward.