Cutting down on grind time for lowbie pets
by Mike Schramm 
Jul 10th 2007 at 1:33PM
Mania's Arcania, which is the new home of the Petopia blog, has a really interesting look at a frustrating problem for hunters-- leveling a lowbie pet with a high level character. Say you're 70 and you want a Ghost Saber. Because the Ghost Saber spawns at only 19 or 20, the only way to currently level it is to basically let the hunter tank (or kite, more likely), and simply bring the pet along for the ride.So how could we fix this? One of Mania's commenters has an interesting idea-- whenever a pet is tamed, it is automatically brought within a few levels of the hunter taming it. If you're 70 and taming a level 20, then when the little green ding flare rises up after taming, the pet suddenly becomes level 65, which is good enough to make the pet not so useless. It doesn't quite make sense (why would a pet be so much more powerful just because you tame it?), but it does take out the unnecessary pet grinding. Mania has other ideas that work well, too-- either make the pet experience relative to the pet (not the hunter, as it is now), or reduce the amount of experience needed anyway. Another idea mentioned is to make the latest rank of Growl open to any tamed pet of any level, but I don't see that working-- even if a level 20 could hold aggro against a level 60+ mob, it's not going to last very long.
The only other suggestion I'd have is just to implement a different way to level pets-- maybe a turnin or a special quest at pet trainers that cuts down on the grinding time and method. But no matter how you do it, there's no reason hunters should be forced to go through all this just to get the pet that has the look they want.
Filed under: Hunter, Analysis / Opinion, Tricks, Leveling
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Lokse Jul 10th 2007 1:43PM
As a longtime hunter (two max level hunters, been playing hunters at least 2/3 of my game time since I began 3 years ago,) I honestly consider this to be a non-issue; the kind of thing that separates a "casual" hunter from a "hardcore, dedicated" hunter.
Hunters are the most Pokémon-esque class, many hunters will spend days and weeks trying to track down a rare-spawn pet with a special skin model, gaining different skills for their pets, and levelling them up. Honestly, it only takes a few nights to bring a pet from level 10 to 70, if you play hard and know how to kite and kill mobs in a less-than-vanilla manner.
IMHO, bringing a pet up to the same level of the hunter would lend itself to even more lousy, sloppy, immature hunters than there already are. If you don't have the patience and dedication to find a SPECIAL pet and raise him as your own, then you can easily find a pet of your desired race-type within 10 levels of your toon, no matter what level you are.
The stories and memories of hunter who've camped their epic bow quest, or rarespawn pets with special abilities/skins, are some of the best reasons hunters continue to play their class. Travelling a Horde hunter to Darnassus at level 10 to train an Owl, then realizing your gear is broken and you are 1 level too low, and grinding mobs naked until you level, then returning home triumphant - is an example of one of the greatest factors why hunters love - and will always love, their class.
Atomickeg Jul 10th 2007 1:46PM
First time poster:
What if you could buy pets based on BG tokens or Arena points or instance drops from bosses. Personally I think that pets should be more treated like loot than anything else. It would be awesome to see more unique pets out and about in the world.
Vaharneim Jul 10th 2007 1:58PM
I'm amazed I've not seen this suggested, and is how I leveled Takk the Leaper http://www.wowhead.com/?npc=5842 back when he was worth the trouble, from 19-60:
Put pet on passive, and do instances. Let the group know the pet is only along for the ride, and won't be offtanking or contributing any damage whatsoever. It will leech the high-quality XP, and ding a few times in each instance.
Over the course of a couple weeks, pulling Takk out only for instances, otherwise running with my real pet, I was able to get him up to 50ish and then grind him the rest of the way with liberal use of mend-pet.
PyroAmos Jul 10th 2007 2:15PM
they might as well, they've already nerfed getting rare-spawn pets, making all of 1 bet type the same attack/movement speed.
idburns Jul 10th 2007 2:22PM
@1
"Honestly, it only takes a few nights to bring a pet from level 10 to 70, if you play hard and know how to kite and kill mobs in a less-than-vanilla manner."
What free server are you playing on? That's not patently inaccurate. Level a pet 60 levels in "a few nights"? Right...
idburns Jul 10th 2007 2:23PM
Christ I can't type today, that should have read, "That's patently inaccurate".
Tinwhisker Jul 10th 2007 2:32PM
It took me about an hour and a half of grinding for leather from the hellboars in HFP to bring one of those "beat-up" wolves from 54 to 61.
Leveling a pet isn't that hard to do but it is a grind. Best bet is to bring it along into instances and/or kill everything in sight.
The best solution may be rested XP for pets though.
Preebs Jul 10th 2007 2:40PM
Aw come on. I guess my warrior who has a 6 in axe skill should bounce up to 300 or so when I equip one and I haven't before. I mean, it takes a long time to level that skill up and it's boring so I shouldn't have to do it.
It's a part of your character to train the pets, train them.
tdf Jul 10th 2007 2:46PM
Regardless of how long it takes to level a pet from 10 to 70, it's boring as hell, and the normal hunter combat mechanic of pet-tanks-hunter-shoots is completely broken as your lowbie pet can't hold aggro.
In a previous patch Blizzard increased the amount of experience low level pets get from you killing mobs. I was very happy when I saw this in the patch notices, but in practice the difference was hardly noticeable. In my opinion low level pets should get exponentially more XP from killing high level mobs, to the point where killing a level 70 mob with a level 10 pet active should give it practically a level per kill (reducing gradually down to normal amounts as the pet's level increases). This way there's still some pet levelling to be done but it'll be a lot less tedious.
BTW: currently the best way to level a pet is to take it on 5 man runs. In somewhere like Mech (non heroic), pets rarely need to tank so you can just stick them at the back of the group quietly lapping up the XP.
Anon Jul 10th 2007 3:08PM
Q freakin' Q. Are we seriously talking about what a hard time hunters have? The game is on easy mode for you as is, so I propose this: if you really want that level 10 boar, less talky more grindy.
Prauche Jul 10th 2007 3:41PM
@8 "I guess my warrior who has a 6 in axe skill should bounce up to 300 or so when I equip one and I haven't before. I mean, it takes a long time to level that skill up and it's boring so I shouldn't have to do it."
Yes, you're quite right. Oh, wait, you can equip that axe with level 6 skill while you're a level 70 tank-wannabe and go to The Barrens or like place where you will take ZERO damage and get that skill up pretty damn quickly can't you?
Meanwhile, a hunter has to have his pet with him killing mobs that WOULD GIVE THE HUNTER XP.
So, I have an idea: let's just make it so that in order for you holier-than-thou tank-wannabes to level up your new zomgphatlootz axe you must use said axe (with level 6 axe skill as you noted) on mobs that will give you xp for killing them. Let's see if you like THAT game mechanic.
Raging Epistaxis Jul 10th 2007 4:16PM
I don't think that Blizz should make it quite so easy to level a pet as some of the previous posters suggest, but I would like it to be a bit easier to find a level 65-70 version of all the major pet families.
Trophy pets like Ghost Saber? It should be a mark of accomplishment to have a lvl 70 Ghost Saber, not a sign that you took the time to find one and had it automagically levelled for you.
And one previous point that needs correction before someone is misled - pets do not gain rested xp. or quest xp. or exploration xp. Only when the hunter gains xp for a kill will the pet gain xp.
5-man instance runs with pet on passive FTW.
Prauche Jul 10th 2007 3:56PM
Not to mention that you don't have to level up that weapon skill each and every time you acquire a new weapon. Hunters have that issue (even if it's a high level pet, it has a loyalty rating that we have to grind up).
christina Jul 10th 2007 4:02PM
@7: "Leveling a pet isn't that hard to do but it is a grind. Best bet is to bring it along into instances and/or kill everything in sight.
The best solution may be rested XP for pets though."
If pets could get rested xp, I'd be happy with that - perhaps increase the xp gain more when they're stabled for longer periods of time. Either that, or implement quest reward xp.
As for those telling us to QQ: Pets only gain levels from mob kills. NO quest reward xp, and no rested xp. I tamed Trachela, the lv 65 white carrion bird in Terrokar Forest about three weeks ago, and even now, the bird will only reach lvl 70 tonight.
Now I'm going to do some number crunching, just to illustrate why we think the mechanic needs to be changed. These numbers are *extremely* guess-based. Anyways.
From level 69 to 70, a pet requires approx 190k xp to level. The average amount of xp the pet will gain from a mob kill, depending on the level of the mob in question (remember that the mobs have to be green to the hunter, and remember my previous point that pets ONLY gain xp from mob kills) ranges from 300-600. Assuming an average of 450xp/kill, it will take a pet 422 mob kills to level to 70 from 69. Now, imagine such calculations scaled out over 50 levels.
I have no way of guessing how much xp it would take a level 20 pet to level up to 70, but suffice it to say that the time investment is HUGE. Hunters may be the "easiest" class to play (though the number of non-hunters ignorant about the mechanics of pet happiness and training points - extremely important mechanics - are legion) and may be masters of soloing, but even then, grinding up a pet for 50 levels is past the point of endurance.
One last point: whenever locks level up, their minions instantly level up with them. Minions don't require food, don't have happiness levels, and different minions can be dismissed and summoned depending upon the lock's circumstances. Hunters would KILL to have mechanics similar to those.
Anon Jul 10th 2007 4:22PM
For #11:
Wowwiki. Research the pet you'll need. Avoid the problem.
Rygel Jul 10th 2007 4:53PM
Because there are so many different and awesome pets, as I was coming up (because I WAS constantly researching new ones), I was always getting different pets and trying out new things. And in the higher levels 50-60+, I got Warlock envy and kept grabbing new animals that were within my level. Because dammit, I don't like having to level myself and a pet separately. It takes a long, long time -- many sessions of ONLY leveling a pet. And most groups wouldn't be too keen on your level 30 pet just hanging there, gaining XP.
So maybe I'm not a 'true' hunter because I didn't stick with the same pet from level 19 to level 70 (even with 3 pets), but there are many, many pets that I regret abandoning.
If there were a way to go back and get them again, without having to grind them for weeks, I would be all for it. I don't think that that would somehow turn hunters into more slobbering noobs like #1 suggests.
Also, comparing them to "Axe skill" is irrelevant, because you can level an entire weapon skill in just a couple hours. A pet is like leveling an actual character separately. So maybe I'm a crybaby, but yes, there are a couple pets that I wish I would've kept a year and half ago that are essentially impossible to get now.
Prauche Jul 10th 2007 5:29PM
@15 Please. I spend more than enough time researching stuff for this freaking game. That's precisely what I did though, so thankyouverymuch. And Wowwiki is NOT the best place by FAR to come up with information on what pet(s) would be most beneficial endgame. Lrn2researchnoob. =D
All I'm saying is that if you want to compare apples and oranges, let's compare them in like fashion. To say that leveling a weapon skill is like grinding a low level pet is complete idiocy.
Lokse Jul 10th 2007 6:07PM
@5: I guess I just play more than you, and possibly more efficiently.
having a pet is something that differentiates hunters from each other. You see a level 15 horde hutner with an owl, you know that player has cojones and dedication. You see a level 70 hunter with a racoon-eye boar, you know he's in it for the pvp. You see a hunter with the shost stalker cat, or a brokentooth, you know he put some effort into finding that pet, even though he could have easily found a high level pet.
If two hunters wanted to say, join my guild, as a class led a valid question would be "what pets do you have and what are their names? I mean what was the animal's original name."
One of them says "Ravager" and one of them says "Zarakh," I know which one of those players is going to be more likely to come to raids prepared, show up on time, and probably stick with the run rather than leave at the first wipe, QQ, and then /gquit.
Mike Jul 11th 2007 8:42AM
On my second hunter I deliberately picked a low level pet that I knew no high level players would have. If someone wants the same pet I'm glad it will take a lot of work because it's difficult to be unique in this game.
Wolfstalker Jul 11th 2007 8:43AM
"having a pet is something that differentiates hunters from each other. You see a level 15 horde hutner with an owl, you know that player has cojones and dedication."
What you guys don't seem to understand is that there is only one kind of pet that is in any way remotely useful to a level 70 solo hunter, and that is a boar.
As you level through outland and gear up, all other pets which could previously hold aggro on mobs lose that ability because your own damage increases so much.
So you get to level 70 and realise you need a boar to continue to solo.
But the highest level boar in the game is level 60, so you have to spend 2-3 weeks getting it to level 70 before you can grind again.
What other class has to do that? None.
This needs to be fixed. At the very least, there need to be level 69-70 tamable pets of EVERY PET TYPE put into the game. Presently if you want a wolf, boar or gorilla, you are simply so outta luck.