Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Hunters, Dungeon Finder

Hunter [predictably] hit 85, making it my sixth character to reach the level cap, and the second pure DPS class.

And there is no other DPS class like this. The main feature of a Hunter as I see it isn't the pet or the ranged attacks, it's the amazing control abilities. I've mentioned it before, but MD allowing for burst AoE on the pull still feels like cheating. And a 25sec-CD off-global aggro WIPE makes every other class' aggro dump ability look really, really shitty. And don't even get me started on the moving while DPSing...

I know Hunters are seen as a very noob-friendly class, and I don't disagree with that in the slightest, but what I discovered pretty early on is the high skill cap they allow for, and the ridiculous amount of fun the class is to play because of that.

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Of course I've done a few random Heroics using the Dungeon Finder...

Is this what you DPS classes have had to put with all expansion? Christ, no wonder you're all so jaded. No wonder you feel these retarded profiling bylaws are a good idea. No wonder you are so protective of your drops-- it might be days before you can even see this dungeon again let alone see it drop again. Now I feel like a douchebag.

Adding insult to injury, it also turns out that the success rate for random PUGs drops even lower when you can't lead the group as a tank or heal through stupid.

I remember considering levelling my Warlock at the beginning of the expansion, and the longer queues for randoms was a major factor in my decision not to, and while it's a small consolation to be vindicated in that decision, I'm incredibly disappointed in the the game for not having addressed this issue in any significant way.

Like everything else in the game, this can be easily blamed on nub DPS. I speak from a good deal of experience when I say that the only time tanking is truly unpleasant is when you feel like you're fighting your own party members as much as the mobs. For a new undergeared tank this is twenty times worse because if your DPS is that terrible, chances are they will then yell at you for not holding aggro, and call you a fail tank. DPS, this shit needs to stop. Do it for your own queue length if nothing else.

I used to yell at tanking classes posting than they need a tank for being part of the problem. I now think the problem is bigger than that. It's not just noobs, it's the system supporting them.

I personally think the solution needs to be something akin to affirmative action, we need to create weighted reward structures [outside of gear] that encourage people to take the more in-demand roles. And when people do decide to try tanking, we need to keep them from being scared off early on. There will always be terrible players in the game, we just need them to stop blaming the tank and encourage them to be the tank.

Unless your DPS is stupid [hah], tanking is not hard. 90% of the job is just standing in place and getting hit in the face, and I see far too many DPS demonstrate aptitude at this to think the tank shortage is anything we can't fix.

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