The hidden formula behind pet loyalty
by Mike Schramm 
Aug 6th 2007 at 4:34PM
Mania's Arcania continues its look at pet loyalty and the mechanics of how it works. Last time, she found that tamed pets would stick around for 30 minutes no matter what you do, and this time around she went the other way-- up to loyalty level two, Unruly.Basically, using a newly tamed pet, a stopwatch, and a notepad, she determined that in order for a pet to go from loyalty level 1 (Rebellious) to level 2 (Unruly), the pet needs to gain 5% of the experience the Hunter needs for his next level. So a level 11 hunter needs 8800 experience to get to 12, which means a pet (of any level and family) needs to kill for 440 XP (5% of 8800) to go up a loyalty level with that Hunter.
Interesting. And the formula apparently works even when the pet isn't actually earning experience (ie when your pet is the same level as you are). However (and this is a big however), time is also playing a factor, and Mania's not exactly how it does-- she let her pet sit happy for a few hours, and then on the very next kill, the loyalty level went up. So it seems to be some combo of experience earned together and time (where more experience or more time can replace the other if necessary), but the exact numbers aren't there yet.
At any rate, good stuff, and Mania is being really thorough with it. If you're a Hunter who changes pets often, it's worth a read.
Filed under: Hunter, Analysis / Opinion, How-tos, Odds and ends, Leveling
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
For the Pie Aug 6th 2007 11:15PM
I have noticed that my pet will a lot of times loyalty up when I am not involved in combat. For example, I have had pets loyalty up while doing an AH scan.
Ahoni Aug 6th 2007 5:26PM
Time is definitely a factor, as is kills that are worth XP. I have had multiple pets "ding" a Loyalty level while at the bank or AH. I have also noticed that pets tend to need food more (ie go from Happy to Content) often right before they ding a loyalty level.
Paul Aug 6th 2007 5:59PM
They seem to need more food in general while they are in the process of moving up to the last loyalty level.
Also, different foods increase the pet's happiness different amounts. The best I've seen is when the food increases the pet's happiness 35 per tick of the feed pet effect (look at your combat log), I've also seen food give 17 per tick and 8 per tick, (which I guess would make the per tick increase 100%, 50% and 25% effective, respectively) . I assume this has something to do with the level of the food fed to the pet, but i'm not certain about that.
Paul Aug 6th 2007 6:01PM
re: my first paragraph in 2, i mean until they are at the highest loyalty level, they seem to need more food in general.
RogueJedi86 Aug 6th 2007 6:41PM
I'm not vary familiar with hunters(never played one), but how much do you have to get at 70? You don't have any xp to a next level at 70, so what's the 5% apply to at 70 for these loyalty levels?
Rob Aug 6th 2007 7:58PM
#2 the food issue is definitely related to the level of pet - level of food (the greater the difference, the less an effect of the food). Of this I'm positive. Also, you don't get any more feed pet effect from feeding multiple foods at once! Took me a while to figure that out. So just feed one food once in a while to keep em happy and dishing out damage.
ubu1968 Aug 6th 2007 8:59PM
How will this work when you are at 70? If your not getting any ep, then how does your pet get any? Or gain loyalty? I'm not close to that level yet, but expect to do this someday.
Brandon Tippy Aug 6th 2007 8:59PM
Hmm. Very interesting. My girlfriend spent a while contemplating how this works. I'll have to show it to her when she gets home :) Nice read.
Maahl Aug 6th 2007 10:48PM
@4&6: At 70, the Hunter's pet get experience just the same as if you *had* gotten experience. So technically a kill still "gives experience" in regards to the pet levelling/gaining loyalty, the experience simply is not displayed and does not affect the Hunter in any way.
RogueJedi86 Aug 6th 2007 11:02PM
So how do you calculate the 5% at 70 when there's no xp number to get a 5% from?
Narissa of Eldre Thalas Aug 7th 2007 1:41AM
actually there is experience for 71. You just can't gain it once your 70. so in a sense there is a cap on the "xp" part of the equation.
nobbie Aug 7th 2007 2:28AM
I’m currently playing with the level 70 tier-6 hunter on the 2.2 ptr, and tamed a red Blades Edge Mountains raptor at level 67 to test the new “dash” abilty on it. Since that raptor comes with no skills whatsoever, I’ll have to get it at least to “unruly” to gain some training points for “dash 3″.
5 hours have passed so far, plus 2 hours pet feeding without mob grinding, and the raptor ist still at loyality level 1 (rebellious). It was tamed at level 67 and is now 68.5. The mobs I’m grinding are the level 67-68 raptors, spiders and wind serpents in the Blades Edge Mountains, so it should have leveled by now. What’s going on here?
Warcraftonian Aug 7th 2007 5:19AM
This site has a pretty funny "feature" at the bottom about a hunter kiting C'thun. It says "most people would rather group with a drunk hitler than a night elf hunter".
www.makeyougoblind.com
Good stuff.
Warcraftonian Aug 7th 2007 5:21AM
Sorry - http://www.makeyougoblind.com
Zithe Aug 7th 2007 5:31AM
As other people have said, pets often times gain loyalty levels in towns when not gaining XP in any way. How did the researcher not take this into account? I think time may be the only factor and that the 5% exp could be a coincidence as to how long it took her to get the 5%.