Hunters in generalFollow

I will be the first to say to not worry about race. The thing about Night Elf huntards is just another stereotype that has no barring on the individual players ability.

The reason you see an abundant amount of NElf hunters is due to the fact that for alliance, there were only two races that could be hunters: Nelf and Dwarves.

There are many people who do not like the dwarves race looks, so the only choice left would be hunters. Of course this is true even for a dwarf female character. You wont find many of them around.

Basically as long as you can prove yourself a good hunter you wont be turned away from groups. Do your job and do it well, which is to dps and cc.

For pets, all pets are viable. Those with the highest dps are (in no particular order) cats, ravagers, wind serpent, and before a certain patch scorpids. Thus using a cat is a good choice for leveling and/or dps-ing.

Also you will find the same stereotypes against Nelf hunters and using a cat as a pet. Apparently there is an abundant amount of Nelf huntards using cats.

Pick the race you like and the pet you like. Play your class well and you should do fine. Also do not think for a second that a melee hunter can out dps a ranged hunter, thats where all the huntards are. Having fun as a melee hunter is a different story though.

Ryugan has the right of it here Aelus.

I have an over 2 year old NElf Hunter, and she's just about a half level away from dinging 70. In that time, I've gone through numerous patches, 'stabilization' of all classes and pets, etc.

All the things that tended to make one race, class or pet unique are GONE. This was done to quiet a bunch of complainers, now, they have a whole new bunch of complainers... like nobody could've predicted THAT.

I started with a cat because they were the easiest pet to tame in the starting area of the NElf's. This is a common choice for most players, especially first characters. I didn't choose a hunter because of Legolas ( I READ Lord of the Rings before some WoW players Parents were born!), I chose a hunter because they were the most versatile character two years ago when I started. Now, they have come full circle and are again the most versatile character. What a shock.

So, pick your race because it interests you. Your first toon should be what you think will be the most fun. Make a second or third toon be the optimum "perfect" whatever class/spec toon you have. I think you'll find yourself going back to that first toon often enough. This isn't true for everyone, some hate their first toon for being 'inefficient' and before they "Learned 2 Play", but me, Thal is my super heroine, she's been through more troubles, had more mistakes made and survived them all (and is still the most fun toon I have), this all despite her being a Night Elf with a cat. Nothing unique there.

Have fun, that's the point of the game, after all, you can never 'win' it.