Lethal Shots

I have a confession to make. My first character was not a hunter. I started playing WoW back in May 2007. I was browsing the net one day and saw that Blizzard was offering a 10-day free trial of WoW, so I decided to give the game a try.

Several hours worth of downloading later, I logged into my trial account and was faced with the choice of choosing a server. This was completely unexpected. I had no idea that you got to choose what server to play on. So I just told it to suggest a server and went with the suggestion. Not very exciting, but that is how I came to call Antonidas home.

Next came the character select screen, and being a brand new account, the only option was to click the button to make  new character. Now this was much more along the lines of what I expected. I then did probably the most boring thing I could have done. I made a Human Warrior. I had done no research into the game. I had only the vaguest ideas of what each class did, and didn’t have a clue about racial bonuses. I played that guy to level 11, and he never left Elwyn Forest.

I have a somewhat varied gaming background, which includes everything from 8-bit 2D platformers to the latest and greatest FPS. I always loved RPGs and have played every Final Fantasy up do date (excluding XI) and most other Square / Enix RPGs. So when I got started in WoW, I had all my old RPG experiences and habits in my head, and assumed that WoW would be very similar.

And I couldn’t have been any more wrong. I spent hours grinding Kobolds by Northshire Abbey trying to save up enough copper to purchase white items from the vendors there. I had no idea that the better gear came from quest, let alone that questing was the most efficient way to level. It took over a week to get him to level 11 and I was having next to no fun.

Instead of just giving up, I decided to try another class. I got smart and started to do some reading. After researching for a bit and trying a few other classes, I decided on a Hunter. I wasn’t sold on the class from the start, but I decided to hang on until level 10 to see if it got any better when I got a pet. And let me tell you, when I got my first pet was when I fell in love with the class. No other class I had tried could hold a candle to Hunters. And it got better as I leveled. By nature, I am a solo player. I prefer to do as much in game as I can solo, and the Hunter class has allowed that. Between having my own personal tank, being able to track mobs, and several abilities to help out with my survival in general, I was able to solo the vast majority of my way to 70.

Now don’t get me wrong, I spent most of the way to 60 as a Huntard, but with the help of some wonderful guildies, and the guidance from several Hunter bloggers, I feel I have become a true Hunter. And I will always be a Hunter. Don’t get me wrong, I have several alts that enjoy to play immensely, but I always find myself wishing I had one Hunter ability or another, and I always come back to my him. He will be the first character I level to 80, will always be my first choice of character to raid with, and will always be the character I have the most fun with.