Learning a hunterFollow

I really want to take my hunter to 55 and beyond, and people tell me that I can enjoy it more by learning the class. What are some important things I need to know? Shot rotation and such, I am at level 24. Also, I was in a fight once, and I dont know if it was a glitch, but I was almost dead and used disengage, when I did, I disengaged and also laid down a trap. But whenever I use it now it doesnt automatically do that, was it a glitch? Finally, I am taking mining and eng for my professions, making a lot of money mining and getting decent headgear with goggles. But, I dont use guns much, should I continue with eng or take up something like jc? Thanks, comments are welcome.

only problem is I dont think ill make as much money skinning as i do mining lol and skinning and lw go together .

I would say there is not a real need for shot rotation at low level , for example if you have a decent weapon and the best ammo and your gear is reasonable if you use a sting your mob will be dead before it has done its full damage so you waste a little mana , i tend to use whatever special shot i have at a level that does the most damage or just use auto and heal my pet if needed , there is no real need to max your damage unless you are doing group stuff like instances anyway.

To learn about being a decent Hunter is to learn how to always stay at a distance so you max your damage which is done by feign death once you have it or by slowing the mob down with frost traps so you can kite mobs which takes a little time to learn but is not that difficult , saying that i am not that great at kiting but i usually manage to stay alive , that also works with my first comment as when you use special shots your threat goes up and can break the pets hold on the mobs .

After my last comment i would recommend getting a threat meter like " omen " which can tell you if you are doing more threat than your pet is , or if in a group will let you know who is about to get the mobs jump on them so you can help them ( usually a healer or anyone with very high DPS like a Mage for example ) i find it invaluable as an aid to my game.

I will say find a pet that works for your style of play , for example at level 33 i find the gorilla is now my pet of choice as it seems to be impossible to kill and usually holds on to multiple mobs with ease , for single targets i prefer a boar as it stuns when it hits mobs and of course will eat almost every food item that drops so keeps down the vendor trash in my bags , you may prefer a different pet and the way it is now all pets are a viable choice so try a few different ones as you change areas and find new choices of pet.

I would say engineering is not a real gold maker except for some items but saying that is a great deal of fun with all the bombs and other items and once you get the attack pets which are great at causing chaos and the extra damage they do is well worth it at times.

As for guns on my alt i either make them to upgrade my damage or i get a bow/crossbow , it all depends on what is available and what damage/stats they have , i look at it as if its better i will use it although i am not fond of all the bangs that guns make.

As a hunter i would say JC is not that special until you get to high level , far better to go Engineering for all the fun as you level.

As for the trap and disengage i have no idea unless you hit the trap just before you hit disengage , or it may have been a bug ?

Off-topic (and I apologize in advance), but you can just go back and grind lower-level mobs that would drop Light Leather instead of paying the AH premium. It'll take you some time, but it's a lot easier on the wallet. You can also combine that with grinding for something else, like questing for rep with the other racial factions (Exodar, Darkspear Trolls, etc.), or hunting for that rare pet you've always wanted, and you can AH the extra leather to take advantage of those "rip off" prices!

Back on-topic:

MasterOfElementals, probably the best things you can learn is how to CC with Freezing Trap, how to manage your threat, and how to control your pet. The first instance run I made with my old guild, the GL complimented me on my "awesome CCing", just because I paid attention and kept my CC target frozen...