Hunters are OP, but not EZ Mode

If you play a hunter, you know that most non-hunters think your class is easy. It's not, though. It's overpowered for soloing and leveling, sure (which balances the fact that if a warrior or rogue can get you in melee range in PVP, you might as well just not bother fighting because you're gonna die). Like warlocks, having your own personal tank makes leveling and soloing pretty damn easy.

But if it were really easy mode, would there be so many huntards out there? I say that if someone says the class is easy, they either don't play a hunter or don't play one well.

1. Stings. You have to know when to use them and know which one to use. For example, if you are in the habit of opening with serpent sting and are going to be running instances, break yourself of that habit ASAP so that you don't embarrass yourself by pulling a mob into your trap with it. (Thank God I did this with people who know I'm usually not an idiot.) Against casters, you might want to use viper sting (and silencing shot, if you have it). In PVP, you are going to want to use stings liberally on everyone but paladins — with them, it's a total waste of mana, since they'll just bubble and purify, the bastards.

2. Trapping. You need to know your traps. They are incredibly useful in PVP. Frost trap will slow down an Alliance group taking your flag in Warsong Gulch, while freezing trap will stop a single player. If you have two hunters in Arathi Basin, you can quite easily defend a flag if one drops frost trap and one drops either explosive or snake trap — this keeps the enemy from running out of the damage dealing trap so easily and lets you sit back and pick them off one by one. In PVE, a good hunter can take on several mobs at once or chain trap a single mob indefinitely even if they are not specced and geared for it.

3. Special shots. Did you know that arcane shot has a "purge" effect and using it will remove one magical buff on an enemy? Do you know how to time wingclip and concussive shot in PVP so that the warrior you're trying to shake uses his trinket right before concussive shot hits? Or to use it on the flag carrier in WSG and not some random dude? Did you know that if you're trying to trap a mob and the tank grabs aggro too soon, you can use distracting shot to herd out your marked mob?

4. Pet control. When do you use your pet and when do you hold him back at your side? When do you turn on growl, or put him on aggressive, defensive, or passive? If you can't answer those questions, then you need to do some reading. If you're BM-specced, you'd better be able to keep your pet alive because you lose a third of your DPS and can't use bestial wrath (and thus, the beast within) without him. And pet control goes beyond just situational stuff. You need to know how to spec your pet, what to train him in, and so on; that's part of pet control as well.

5. Other stuff. If you do get stuck in melee, do you know to spam raptor strike? For PVE, a lot of hunters go with two-hand weapons, but in PVP, I've found it's easier to spam raptor strike and wingclip if you do get stuck in melee (I HATE warriors and their hamstring) when you're dual-wielding. Slow weapons are not so good for PVP hunters. Do you know how and when to feign death? Do you know that a good portion of the talents in the hunter trees are largely useless (i.e. animal handler)? If you're BM, do you know to use bestial wrath/the beast within on Vann in Alterac Valley or when you get stunlocked by a rogue and your trinket is on cooldown? When do you use which type of tracking? Eyes of the beast? Eagle eye? Flares?

So yes, hunters are pretty "easy" to solo with in that you can spam steady shot and the occasional feign death and that's about it. But if you're doing PVP or high-level instances and you're still doing nothing but spamming steady shot, then you need to hit up Aspect of the Hare or BigRedKitty and do some hunter kindergarten instead of agreeing with whiners in Trade about how hunters are EZ Mode.