World of Warcraft Hunter Guide, Reviewed

Since content is what's important I'll save the comments about the professional appearance of the guide for later.

Like most classes there are a lot of things to consider while building the ultimate hunter. Which pet to pick? Which talents to pursue? Which gear to get? And that all-important question: How do I kill a (class type) in PvP?

You can get most of that, along with many flames, rants, nonsensical posts, and conflicting opinions by spending a few hours browsing the WoW forums. If you want just one piece of info you can probably google it and find an answer quickly.

Or if youi need more info you can save yourself a ton of time, and the effort of wadding through forum rants, and pick up a guide that has everything in one place.

This guide is called the World of Warcraft Hunter Guide, by the Killer Guides people. It's over 160 pages of just about everything you might want to know about making the best hunter possible. It's not 100% perfect, but it will greatly improve your Hunter, get your leveled faster, and make your character's "wallet" fatter.

At over 160 pages you'll find that this guide covers just about every aspect of Hunter play. You'll find everything from the basics, such as what type of server to play on, to detailed talent builds to PvP (all types) and much more. The first section of the book covers the basics, much of which is not Hunter specific:

• Server types: Do you like to roleplay? PvP? Or just work through the quests without worrying about being ganked by rampaging 70s? Pros and Cons of each are here. Of course, most people have probably already made their decision regarding server, but it's a good addition for brand new players.
  
  
• Which race should you be? Many people have their ideas about which race is best and this guide offers up it's own suggestions and offers a detailed discussion as to why. Some people's opinions will differ, for example: the author doesn't consider the Night Elf's meld ability to be significant, but our local PvP expert strongly disagrees. And if you have to be sexy, well, an Orc really is your only choice ;). It won't make a big difference in the long run, so play what you like.
  
  And if you just have to eat your opponent after ganking him (PvP,) well, there really is only one race to play, but since Undead can't be Hunters you'll have to play a Rogue or somesuch.
  
  
• Stats. We all like our stats and Hunters like their agility and stamina, and having some Int isn't a bad idea. You'll get a complete breakdown of stats and how your Hunter uses them. The book shines here, but it may be a little to much for many of us. Still, you'll come away with a much better better understanding of what gear works best for your Hunter.
  
  
• Combat mechanics - included is a breakdown of the WoW combat mechanics and how all your attributes tie together. This section covers armor, defense, parry, attack power, % to hit and crits. This is important stuff for the newer player and even the experienced player will find some useful info in this section.

Of course, the reason most of us play hunters is for their speed of leveling and ease of play and the coolness of traveling around town with a big kitty or exotic critter (big, icky spider anyone?)

No hunter is complete without his pet and you'll find extensive detail on working with your pet, including pet tanking and DPSing, the care and feeding of your pet, and building that important 'loyalty rating.'

The WoW Hunter Guide covers using, maintaining, and training your pet before it discusses various pet types. I assume this is because the author feels that if you understand the basics then you'll make an intelligent pet choice that best suits your own style.

Since not all of us want to have a cat as a pet (not that cats aren't cool, it's just that everyone has one) there is a discussion of strong and weak points for various groups of pets and which ones to avoid (such as pets with 'caster stats or those that don't fit your particular style.)

I would have like to read some discussion of the various rare beasts that can be tamed, such as that bright red Washte Pawne in the south barrens, but for those you'll have to explore or look elsewhere.

Here's what's covered:

• Pet tanking - You want your pet to be receiving all the opponent's attention, not you.
  
• Pet damage - While you'll be doing most of the damage, your pet will contribute significantly. This is a pretty good discussion on how to manage your pet's damage (DPS.)
  
• The care and feeding of your pet - keep him happy and well fed. An important point to understand.
  
• One of the questions asked a lot by new Hunters is regarding pet training and this detail is covered very nicely in the guide.
  
• Choosing your pet - This section is quite nice and covers a number of pets and how they fare for tanking, DPS, etc. Which pet is best depends on your own personal style. Some say boars, some cats, some bears, etc.

Pick the pet that best suits you. If you don't like it then release it and get another. If you like more than one then park one in the stable and switch them from time to time.

Now that the beasts are covered the guide should be finished, right? Nope. Every now and then a hunter has to actually shoot something. Ok, more like "all the time." So naturally the Hunter Guide also includes how to fight as a Hunter.

• Shots, stings, other ranged attacks, and even threat management are covered as are the important skills of "kiting" and "pulling."
  
  
• Pulling is a very important skill to have at any point in the game, but especially in groups.
  
  
• Kiting is a fun skill because people who are good at it can kill things that would otherwise be way over their heads. Such as level 13 hunters kiting level 21 elites (by a very skilled player.)
  
  
• Traps are a very useful hunter power and the when and why of each type of trap is covered in detail.
  
  
• For the greatest damage generating potential you need to make the best use of your shot rotations and this guide has one: there's a good discussion of how all your attacks will fit into your shot rotations, how cooldowns and global cooldowns work into the rotation, and how to work your timing to get the most DPS out of your shot rotation.
  
  
• Threat management is a very important area for groups and raids and that topic is thoroughly covered. Experienced group players usually understand how threat management works, but others may need a primer. You don't want your hunter to be taking aggro off the tank and you'll get some good tips on how not to grab threat.
  
  
• Even melee fighting is covered, not that you want to be doing much of that as a Hunter.

PvP. Love it or hate it PvP is apart of the game. Even if you don't care for PvP you might want to rethink your position given the killer gear that can be obtained from that activity.

A Hunter can be a PvP monster with a few tips and this guide provides them.

• You'll get tips on how to deal with every class you'll encounter, such as that pesky Rogue or Warrior.
  
  
• Every battleground is covered in detail with specific strategies and so are all three arena configurations. Strategies against specific classes is covered in a previous section.
  
  
• Various "what if" situations are given good coverage and this guide should be very good start to the Hunter wanting to get into the PvP game.



• Example talent builds for PvP are also provided.

Probably one of the areas the generates the most discussion for Hunters, and any WoW class for that matter, is the proper talent build.

Talents are important for customizing your Hunter to your liking, but some talents are much more efficient than others and some of those others are pretty much worthless, for most applications.

Also, some talents rock for PvP, but are nearly useless for leveling and visa versa. If you spend all your time raiding you'll want different talents, as well.

You'll find a discussion of every single talent in all three trees, their strong and week points, and how useful each talent is for PvE, PvP, raids, and for soloing.

Which talent build do you want to use? That depends of whether you want to do PvP, PvE, etc. Three example builds are provided for each of the three talent trees.

• If you're going to go with a Beastmaster build you'll get a soloist, PvP, and a basic build.
  
  
• If you prefer the Marksman tree you're given example builds for a basic build, a "cookie cutter" PvE build, and a Survivalist PvP build as well.
  
  
• The survival tree is covered, as well, with example builds for small scale PvE, a "hinderer" PvP build, and a "trapmaster" build.

There are only a couple of minor rants here.

1. I would like to see a "How to Play Your Hunter" section broken down by level. For example: Part 1: Beginner,
   Part 2: now you have a pet
   Part 3: 20-30
   Part 4: you get the idea.
   
   Shot rotations are discussed, but the examples are for higher level players.



2. A section for the total beginner would be good to have. Those of use with one or more 70s will look at this guide differently than a person who's new to WoW. Some sections are nicely done from a beginner's point of view, others not so much.

Likes:

1. The game mechanics section is very useful for the beginner and covers details even more experienced player might not know.
   



2. In depth talent sections are always great and this one is particularly good, with ratings for PvP, PvE, etc., and with several example builds.
   
   You'll find this to be very valuable when experimenting with your own builds for your own play style.



3. PvP - there are some killer tips here (pun intended.)



4. The leveling and gold guides, while not being up to the level of the full-blown leveling and gold guides are more than good enough to point you in the right direction.
   
   These two, with the talent section, are worth the price of the guide right there.
   
   

Hunters, like most classes, have their own special quests and the WoW Hunter Guide provides a capsule walk-through of the level 10 quests (to get your pet) for each race as well as one for the level 52 Green Drake quest and its rewards.

Other tools that players of all classes like to use are Macros and Addons and both of these are discussed along with several recommendations.

While a Hunter isn't as gear dependent as other classes they can certainly make use of good armor and weapons and this Hunter Guide provides a recommended gear list along with links to more info about each piece of gear.

As mentioned above a basic leveling guide, for both Horde and Alliance, is also provided along with a Gold Making Guide, which goes well beyond the "get skinning and mining" advice, but which is not nearly as inclusive as a dedicated gold guide.

Of course, if the Killer Guides' WoW Hunter Guide contained complete, step-by-step leveling and gold making guides it would be 500 pages long and cost 80 bucks.

Coincidentally, that's about the price of their 18 guide package...

Overall Rating for the Unofficial World of Warcraft Hunter Guide, 9/10.

Definitely recommended. Get yours here.

Hunters in WoW really have it pretty easy. great ranged attacks plus that pet to keep the opposition well chewed.. Hunters can easily kill things that other classes have problems with and good Hunters can kill things well above their pay grade. GotWarcraft has several guides just for Hunters, all free, though not as in depth as the Killer guides' product mentioned above.

• Hunter class guide - an overview of WoW's Hunter class


• Hunter leveling guide - get to 80 (or whatever the level cap is) faster


• Hunter Marksman Guide - more detail on the Hunter's Marksman build


• Hunter Beast Master guide - more on the beastmastery build


• Hunter Survival guide - More on the other Hunter build, Survival