The Current State of Hunters

[Myxir]

Well. The Hunter is a strong class. But what is a Hunter supposed to do? Guess what... maybe hunt? At least the available skills provide that.

It can't be something else since Hunters die very easily in big wars. Additionaly we don't deal sufficient damage for wars, imo. But the damage is not the problem. It's enough for 1on1 fights(or 1on2 fights depending on your setup).
The problem is:
It's quite impossible to play the hunter. There is nothing to kill. I don't waste my mana to kill very easy or even unchallenging persons to get 1 or 3 rp. I am not only reffering to rp but mostly to the challenge. It's simply boring. Small group fights somewhere in the fields as they happened very very very long ago were the ideal fights for us. But since the mobs were rearranged so that you can level your char inside the realm and everything was moved to make invasions interesting this smaller fights are not possible anymore. Now it seems like this... I meet some guy at pp or pp2 kill him. He returns with some fellows. During the time they are coming some Syrtis players are arriving as well. This goes on until there is a massive fight at the bridges. Simply impossible to play a hunter there. Okay, I can use Camo to sneak behind the enemy lines and kill 1 or 2 nearly dead people.

[ bit offtopic]
By the way: The attack bonus for Camo is one of the most ridiculous changes that were ever made to the game. Really... The bonus only seems to apply to normal hits. And 150... well. Guess what I am thinking about that number I never saw a Hunter leaving Camo with a normal hit, so the change can really be undone, I think it's useless the way it's implemented right now. I once suggested such a change but it should apply to spells as well. Or add a few extra seconds to ambush which is the spell most hunters use when leaving camo.
[/ot]

Again problems: How should I survive this? It's nearly impossible. There are SotW and Low Profile. I did this quite often now and mostly survive. But really, that's no war feeling.
Other problem (not for me, since i am not interested in it): RP! Risking your life to get ~5 rp for your action seems quite unattractive. But I don't care about rp. I want fun. And these actions are fun.

To sum it up:
The Hunter is not to weak. Really not. The only problem is: It's simply impossible to play this class efficient because the situations to play the class are not given...
The game developed and changed but not the hunter class.

[Comp]

I'd like to differ a bit on this only because of how I've figured out to play lately.

So the hunter is not exactly a team-player (to be one requires ALOT of coordination with everyone and lets face it...most locks are Terror happy and give you no time to prepare a rep shot) and the hunter has a hard time hunting alone now due to the large groups running about (on RA anyway). So what do we do??

Here's what I've been doing lately.

1) I still Hunt:
Yes, I hunt alone or with Wudy...but I still hunt. I avoid killing low level players but if that's all that is around...so be it. I usually do this until a fort war breaks out OR I get a distress chat from someone that enemy are near some bridge.

2) My involvement in fort wars:
Ok, so I don't do much at forts mainly because of lag. So to assist I usually go to the offenders bridge and keep reinforcements at bay. I may not kill everyone but I have more than my fair share of people chasing me. Enemies chasing me....means less enemies going to the fort to help. I honestly feel my tactic has turned the tide of fort wars many times recently.

3) My involvement in Skirmishes:
Ok...so hunters should NOT be on the top-list of people to heal for conjurers...they have bigger people to worry about (other conj, barbs, etc). The hunter can take care of themselves in most cases. So let me give you an example of a skirmish I get involved in daily....Trelle.

At trelle you have a large amount of really "iffy" syrtis players camping a medium amount of low-level players. So I take it upon myself to cause mayhem and draw fire from the syrtis group. In most cases my camo-attacks kill several players at a time (thanks to my furry pet) and I usually get away. My antics also seem to rally the troops on our side as they see me fighting in the midst of the enemy and they want some.

I'm having more fun now playing my hunter than I ever have. It's more of a challenge...and far more rewarding.

[gluffs]

Originally Posted by Solarus

I'm having more fun now playing my hunter than I ever have. It's more of a challenge...and far more rewarding.

Like Comp said "FUN" that is why i play my hunter so much and worked so
hard the latest days to get him to lvl50. Sure hunters might not be the
strongest class when it comes to fort fights but i feel we do have important
features to put in to it. For example a hunter can if timed right kill one off the
attacking forces conjurers and by that way weaken them significally. Since
everyone knows the importans off a good support conjurer. And ofc like
mentioned cutting off the reinforcements by bridge helps alot since they
fixed the "log out to get rdy ressurect" feature.

And i do wish there were more to hunt on Horus.... so iggies and syrts stop
grinding inner and go out in wz so i can come and disturb you

[WhateverUSMC]

The people who grind in realm are the people who are tired of being killed by hunters while attempting to level. In game, I know of very few things more frustrating than to be attacking a mob, my life down to half, than BAM!, killed by a hunter. Granted, that's what hunters do I suppose, but it's also called why people now level in realm instead. *

*Just the musings of a mage.

[gluffs]

Originally Posted by WhateverUSMC

The people who grind in realm are the people who are tired of being killed by hunters while attempting to level. In game, I know of very few things more frustrating than to be attacking a mob, my life down to half, than BAM!, killed by a hunter. Granted, that's what hunters do I suppose, but it's also called why people now level in realm instead. *

*Just the musings of a mage.

OFF TOPIC: well that is what we alisans is forced to do.. the only lvl 50 mobs
in our inner realm is Aquantis elite and there are way to few for them to be
efficient grind. So we dont really have an option even tho we are tired off
getting killed by hunters when we grind. Oh we have the dragon aswell but
not really good grind on him either

[Nachoz123]

I also hate what they've done to hunters T.T Offensive sucks, defense sucks even more. only thing they're good for is scouting now

[Nachoz123]

Originally Posted by WhateverUSMC

The people who grind in realm are the people who are tired of being killed by hunters while attempting to level. In game, I know of very few things more frustrating than to be attacking a mob, my life down to half, than BAM!, killed by a hunter. Granted, that's what hunters do I suppose, but it's also called why people now level in realm instead. *

*Just the musings of a mage.

Like gluffs said, Alsius especially has to do that. #1, we have very few people #2, Almpst all of them are lvl 30- . And hunters, when they grind, also often get killed by hunters higher lvl then them or by barbs that are hunter wanna-bes.

[Truewar]

My first alsius character was hunter. I was tired of quick deaths at fort war even on 40+ level. And then I created knight.

But now I am sure, I don`t want to play melee characters. And I never like mages.

But I didn`t decide yet what is better for me: marks or hunter.

Hunters not so useful at fort wars, but very useful in invasions.

I have two ways:
1 - teach my marks to be rogue or 2 - teach my hunter to be mighty archer.

IMO second way is easier. But in that way I will sacrifice my range ((( But I think it is possible to compensate it by speed.

So... Hunters strong if they are in strong /dev/hands =)