BM/SVFollow

I've got the build I want for my hunter alt and I was wondering which tree to level up first. My build is 19/0/42 (yes it's a melee build, flame all you want). I was thinking maybe BM first for the utility, but SV would get me to the later talents faster.

What do you think?

I caught some of those posts, but they didnt answer my questions completely and I didnt want to bump them because I've seen some people get flamed for bumping old threads and I like being a "scholar" :P

I think you'll find most folks around here will be amused by the concept of a "melee build", as when it's combined with the class of Hunter it tends to become an oxymoron. Something like a "Ranged Build" for a Paladin.

Also, an SV/BM build is pretty rare. More common is the SV/MM build, at least from what I've seen.

So, I suppose my return question is, what exactly are you trying to accomplish. If you can quote some requirements of what you want to do, then folks can probably steer you in the right direction.

Each to their own. If it is fun for you playing a hunter melee oriented, please do so, but don't you where not warned beforehand :-)

From a coolest talents point of view SV has some nice things. Mainly the improved traps give you a lot of power when dealing with more mobs and you can get some oh **** buttons like deterrence, counter attack (though this one is rather weak on its own) and wyvern sting.
But those things won't allow for a greater change of playstyle. You'll still do a ton less damage when in melee range and you won't have many skills in melee range either. If you reduce a hunter to a melee class you are stuck at pressing raptor strike and waiting for your autoswing timer (perhaps add a wing clip now and then).
Yes, you can trap some mobs, you can fear beasts and you still have your pet as a tank, but you have those things playing ranged as well and you can do a lot more with all of those ranged attacks.

Well, without some specific definition of what 'fun' is for you, we are left to deduce that from what you've said. So, here's my best Sherlock Holmes job:

1. You like to be unique, not follow the crowd.
2. You like a challenge that others say is foolish or very difficult.
3. You don't mind not being in instance, BG or Raid groups.
4. You are a soloist who likes to play for the challenge of playing.

If I've gotten anything there right, there is totally nothing wrong with it at all. I'm a big fan of player preference over cookie cutter. Play to your skills.

I personally dread trying out SV spec as I'm not sure I have the skills to pull it off.

So, level and play as you will, no problem there. Don't worry if groups or folks pish-posh or toss you out, you are in it for the challenge. Others like yourself do exist and you might want to see if you can find a few of them and join into a guild. Then you can group as need be. It will be more work for everyone, but it can potentially be more rewarding when you are victorious.

So I totally understand if this is what you are looking for. I wish you major luck. I have no experience with that build so I can't even begin to tell you how it might play out. You'll probalby be finding issues all along the way. Let us know what workarounds you devise. I'm always interested in alternate tactics.

I am drunk, but if you EVER come on here saying melee hunter again, I will KILL you... until you DIE from it.

Seriously, if you want to melee rolla f*cking warrior. Or, GTFO. Your choice.

Actually, try this. Download a damage-meter. Record your DPS (even with your 'melee' build) doing melee and then doing ranged. I GUARANTEE you you'll do more damage auto-shotting than you will with your super-tastic huntard melee skills. It just doesn't work.

Sorry for the flame, but I am fiesty right now. You'll probably get an apology from me tomorrow.

Haha, zul, that was rich, a flame and an apology 2 minutes later. I'm not trying to make a "melee hunter", I'm just trying to make a balanced character.

I have a friend who is hindered greatly when his pet dies. His build is a BM/MM hybrid and when he has to melee he almost never makes it. So, I am aiming for a "when the sh*t hits the fan" build.

Gotcha. Yeah, I was a bit drunk and posting =P

Not to say that your friend needs to learn to play, but sometimes it's all about preparation. If he's taking on TOO many mobs at once because he wants to be ub4r l337, that might explain why his pet always dies.

Casting a mend pet at the right time (or the beginning of a fight) is often a good idea... and laying a trap before the right begins is also good. That way, if you pull aggro or your pet dies, voila! Escape button.

Also, FD works wonders.

The only thing to keep in mind is that the more you try to focus on melee, the more you will gimp your personal DPS. As an example, you can drop pathfinding and put some points into unleashed fury... and the points would be much better spent in improved wing clip than deflection, because ultimately the time you spend in melee will be small comparatively. And while deterrance is again great for those "Oh sh*t" situations, your use of counterattack will be rare at best (I know, you're thinking it's similar to riposte... but it's really not near as good).

Anyway, hope this helps. Sorry for the grumpy post last night, lol.

Untouchable. I believe the best balance that a hunter can achieve is knowing that nothing will make using a hunter in mele usable. A hunter in mele is alot like a cat in water, Sure it can be done but it looks so damn retarded.

The best bet for you is to stop worrying about making your mele viable and start using things like your wing clips,scatter shots, concussive shots, war stomps (if your a tauren), whyvern stings, intimidates, freezing traps, frost traps, scorpid stings, detterences, feign deaths, to get range..

No hunter should really have to say "i wanna improve my mele damage" or "i want to have mele damage capabilities" because really that would be like a warrior using a bow to do damage. it can be done. but its not worth it.

The hunter has been given the gift of kickass skills so he can use them to get range on the baddies and totally smoke there crippled *** before they can even touch them

Lol on a funny side note. I got scatter shotted in shattered halls last night. I was like "DAMN THATS ANNOYING!!! is that what i have been doing to people?"

Whatever theoretical **** and fan you are immagining is just that, some wierd *** thing you've come up with in your head to make you feel like you are going to accomplish what every other huntard (yes I mean the ones who have managed to label us all) thought they would do but still failed miserably at.

What makes you think you will "balance" a character by running in and doing some kind of melee crap? the only way you are going to make a hunter better at melee is to stack him up with stam/str/armor but you will be losing agility and subsequently dodge and armor by doing that so it begs the question, why? If you sufficiently gimp yourself at ranged so that you can melee better (oh if only I could convey myself rolling my eyes right now) then you will fail to kill whatever mob your pet is tanking fast enough so that you then have no choice but to melee it (you can sit there thinking "see I told you I do so have to melee" and you'll have shown the rest of us!). You will still die just as fast because hunters were never meant to melee.

Now I'm not saying I'm better than you. You might walk little old ladies across the street and give hand jobs to the bums in the park out of kindness for all I know but I will promise one thing. You will have earned the title "huntard" while the rest of us have it unfairly thrust upon them by people trying to do what you are doing.

I can't believe all the people who didn't flame this so far. I am dissapointed. I saw one person give a decent try but then apologize. He almost had it right.

Let my ratedowns flow and hooray for huntards!

Ok dude, I've gone down that path of trying to balence myself for melee because I'm alredy at good at range.
The truth is...IT SUCKS, leveling up was the most dreaded thing of my life. I probably spent around 48 hours of just sitting around in SW because leveling sucked so much. You kill stuff to slowly, you don't get that much more survivability in melee, and people break wyvren sting.

When I went BM at lvl 50 something (After being melee balanced since lvl 15)life became so much easier.

Trust me trust me trust me, don't do it, you can't balence it out and it's not worth it.

If you would like some tactics to deal with melee situations just ask and I/we will be glad to show you some.

And when I do melee huntering in BG's I've noticed that BM is better than SV talents at soloing and meleeing.

/sigh Ok, well since you guys wont listen to me, I will listen to you. I am open to any ideas on different specs. Please give me a non melee survival spec (more than 25 points)

I will gladly consider any input tat meets those requirements :)

Check my spec, I call it CC Comander.

It gives you pretty sweet traping control, two cc shots, and I can manage very descent DPS in karahzan with it using the shot macros in the Pre-Raid thread.

Soloing I'm not sure how well it works, I have had little solo XP due to not being on WoW much but boy you can kite and trap mobs like no other... Also scatter shot is the perfect tool for getting out of melee situations, so may wyvren sting once it's an instant cast.