Why hunter?

Ever since I jumped ship for TOR, I've been reflecting back on what I learned about myself as a player from being a hunter, since I learned very early that I liked the priest-type.

1. I like pets.  This seems like an obvious one, but prior to WoW, I hadn't known that I truly like the companion mechanic.  I'm not fond of having more than two companions, though; the third tends to get lost in the shuffle.  Mind you, this preference is not simply due to having a permanent companion at my side, though that's clearly part of it.  No, it goes deeper than that.  I like having a companion to take some of the direct fire off myself so I can think more clearly.  A bit of the healer in me surfaces here too; if my companion is tanking, then I am most likely responsible for keeping him healed.  Everything comes into sharper focus.
2. I prefer ranged classes.  There are some exceptions to this, but in an environment where there are other players, I definitely gravitate toward the ranged area.  And this makes sense for hunters; you get a great view of the battlefield and can truly see what's going on.  Once you're down and dirty in melee, you're a different kind of hunter with different priorities.
3. I like playing the loner.  This is sadly something that I could never get from a healing character and is pretty much unique to the gunslinger type.  I like the feeling that I can take off and strike out on my own doing whatever needs to be done at the drop of a hat.  Alone.  Why is that freedom important?  I haven't found an answer, since the healer in me wants to be bound to a group at all times.  And therein lies the contradiction of my personal preferences.

Everyone has their reasons for playing a hunter type.  These are the biggest draw for me.

Looking Ahead: Mists of Pandaria

Over the years I've been playing WoW, I've gotten more interested in looking at the design behind each expansion as they've come out.

I started playing during BC, so Wrath was my first new expansion.  I hadn't been all that concerned with the beta testing phase, since I didn't have access to anything until 3.0 hit the PTR.  I did, however, check that out.

When the Cataclysm beta testing was going on, I was much more curious about the forthcoming new world and the exploration thereof.  I did wish that I was there, especially since I had ideas about places to go and explore and things to test.

Pandaria will be different.  I already know that I'm in the beta, due to the one year commitment.  I go in with no expectations.  I've been refining my perspective over these past months, gaining greater understanding of a variety of genres.  Hopefully, these efforts will make my voice worth something.  This will be my big test and I'm still preparing for it.

Yes, that's a good part of why I haven't been around.  It was something I needed to do for myself.

My double life as a hunter (or: why I'm an internet secret agent)

My hunters have different vibes, and therefore, different personalities and pets.  The same is true for many die-hard hunters who couldn't contain their love of the class and/or pets to one character.  PetEmote enhances many of their collective bonds.  This is where my path differs from theirs.

Kalliope was born on a PvP server, where addons like PetEmote would be subject to ridicule, and users of said addons would be subject to worse.  With this sort of pre-established bias against PetEmote, I didn't find myself using it until the Petopia forums took off and Teigan created her "patches" for the addon.  Her style of writing and clever use of evocative descriptors threw PetEmote into a whole new light for me.  Indeed, I downloaded the addon myself and even helped pitch in a few emote suggestions afterwards.  Suddenly, I was able to appreciate the lengths Jorna (the creator of PetEmote) had gone to in order to make the mechanics of the addon work, now that the emotes were getting some much-needed window dressing.

So my alt hunters all had PetEmote.  But Kalliope still didn't use it.  I was ballsy enough to not care at one point and tried running with it, but I will never forget the Eye of the Storm where Orpheus and I were trying to take Fel Reaver Ruins....and he randomly emoted.  It wasn't even an appropriate sneaky sort of emote; it just didn't fit.  We were ever so thankfully alone at that point, but I was very disturbed.  What if he'd given us away? He would never do that to us willingly.  So I disabled the addon for her.

Not having PetEmote isn't the only difference between Kalliope and my alt hunters, but it is the biggest one.  I really feel like my personality is split in two, since the experiences are so different, just in terms of my own mentality and perceptions.  I almost feel like a secret agent sometimes, since I feel like I'm hiding parts of myself from both sides.  The thing is, I don't have a secret identity - I have two that trade places with each other.

The Lone Hunter

I've noticed in my years of playing WoW that hunters tend to lean more toward solitude than groups.  Part of this is due to our incredible soloing abilities as a class, but I wonder if part of this drive to wander off alone with our pets stems from our own personalities.

Don't get me wrong, I enjoy grouping with others - I doubt I could stand to play a healer otherwise.  But I go through bouts of wanderlust, where I just want to go off alone with my pets and just do quiet things, like fish or farm.  Since I can't gather on Kalliope anymore, I occasionally do this on gatherer alts, like my druid or rogue, but the habit started on Kalli.  I don't tend to sit around and stare into space in scenic areas on other classes either, even if I stay mounted and technically don't have my pet "with" me.  I'd say it was due to Kalli being my main, but my alt hunters get some of this sort of time as well.

The funny thing is that there are plenty of other classes that are self-sufficient, but plenty of hunters are just drawn to that class in particular.  Ease of play might be it for some.  Love of pets might drive others.  And for a small group of us, well....we just vant to be alone.