Breakfast Topic: Should Blizzard support Hunter pet diversity?
by Daniel Whitcomb 
Apr 18th 2008 at 8:00AM
While looking over the new "fake" pet skills page at Petopia earlier today, one of the biggest things that struck me is that the whole Thorns skill that the temporary Crab pets get for the lowbie Hunter taming quests would be a great thing for normal Crab pets to get. Right now, They're stuck learning nothing but Claw, placing them right near the bottom of the pet pantheon - very close to Sporebats, who can't learn any special abilities at all. My two high level Hunters tamed a Carrion Bird and a Boar, respectively, so I'm lucky enough to have a good selection of skills to use, but I think there should be more options for people who love their offbeat pets like Sporebats or Hyenas or Crocs. They can even use some of the old rumored alpha skills for pets that popped up around the time of Burning Crusade's alpha. I'm hoping that Blizzard shows more types of Hunter pets some love in WoTLK with a wide selection of new skills, be it thorny shells for Crabs, a Cannibalism-type skills for Raptors, or anything else that lets us see Hunters fighting alongside fewer Cats and Ravagers (or in the case of arenas, Scorpids).
What do you think? Should Blizzard focus a bit more on a wider variety of options for Hunter pets? Or should Hunters just take what they can get and be grateful for it? If the former, what types of new pet skills would you like to see?
Filed under: Hunter, Analysis / Opinion, Breakfast Topics
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 5)
Erika Apr 18th 2008 8:05AM
Pets are fine. Buff Shamans First.
unoefe Apr 19th 2008 12:30AM
I agree. My level hunter 70 is fine how he is but my Shaman is craving a little attention from Blizz.
goatee Apr 18th 2008 8:23AM
Totaly agree, where is our enhance kit!!
Jordrah Apr 18th 2008 10:11AM
this is not about shamans. at all.
aside from that, i think they need to add more skills, picking a pet should be a semi-difficult choice, and one based on what the pet can do not just how they look. take warlocks, they have 4 pets (5 with talents), the pet they use depends on their situation (lets not forget that they can switch them whenever they want give 10 sec to summon (less with talents). they dont choose their pets simply because one looks better than another, if they did we'd see succubus all over the place.
sure, there are differences amonst hunter pets, but not all that much, not the way warlocks have it with a different pet for completely different situations (tanking, anti-caster, cc/dps, support). i personally feel that growl and cower should be given for all pets without taking up any of their active skill slots and be given skills for the 4 slots they have now. crabs and turtles could get something having to do with their armor, bears and boars could get something that increases health momentarily, bears boars and ravagers could get a bleed, spiders a web that triggers when a mob runs away via the chat log, scorpions get different kinds of poisons, fliers get the swoop thats already in game, cats could get a pounce, hyenas a shout similar to wolves but with a debuff to the mob instead of a buff to party members, etc
so yea they should support hunter pet diversity :)
Jordrah Apr 18th 2008 10:13AM
edit: i read the rumored pet abilities thing and that covered alot of things i said lol
Hurode Apr 18th 2008 10:26AM
If they let Spiders web fleeing mobs, I'd roll a hunter right now.
Hurode Apr 18th 2008 10:29AM
If they let Spiders web fleeing mobs, I'd roll a hunter right now. I'd get to 20 and then track down Zarakh in Bloodmyst.
enkafiles Apr 18th 2008 12:30PM
If I went after a spider, it would be Lady Sathrah in Teldrassil - the only model I can look at without getting serious shudders. Not afraid of spiders, put them under glass and out of house in RL, but shoulder-height is a bit much.^^
Vendrill Apr 18th 2008 4:37PM
Agreed. Blizz needs to fix the Shaman!
Hunter pets? Yes, they poop a lot. Blizz needs to incorporate poopin-scoopin into WotLK.
Akussa Apr 18th 2008 8:12AM
It would certainly be nice if there was more diversity to hunter pets than your standard bite, claw, gore, etc. It would give a unique flavor to the different pets and certainly offer some strategy on the part of the hunter if each pet type had its own unique pet abilities like warlock's demon pets can do. The strategy would come into play with the hunter where they would have to choose one and only one pet with which to run around while doing anything whereas warlocks have the ability to swap in and out at their leisure depending on the situation.
Culhag Apr 18th 2008 8:23AM
I'm no hunter but more choice is always a good thing, I guess.
Chais Apr 18th 2008 8:24AM
I play a 70 orc hunter, and I have a kitty from BM as my pet.It pretty much sucks alot.The only good thing about it is its sprint ability, but I think hunters are perfectly fine.lol.
Pets are just a perk for hunters unless you are Beast Mastery.I never even use my pet most of the times and gameplay is great.On the other hand I would like to see a hunter pet with Cyclone :D
Ahoni Apr 18th 2008 10:24AM
"I never even use my pet most of the times"
You sir, are not a hunter, but a moron with a bow.
Why would you not use a pet?
Is it too hard? Don't like having something tank for you? Don't like having an additional 10-30% damage done to your opponent?
Ktok Apr 18th 2008 10:32AM
Well he also said cats suck, and I've MTed instances with my cat in a pinch. Me thinks his *gear* sucks and thus, due to the pet sharing a % of your stats, his pet sucks.
Or maybe he doesn't know how to use it. I duno, all I can say is that when I see a Hunter bitch about cats, I know they're a Huntard.
"Claw sucks!" -Syrelil, Sentinels US
/facepalm
Manatank Apr 18th 2008 1:34PM
For all of the people out there who have this skewed idea that horde players are good and alliance players are bad, please take note of Chais. Clearly ineptitude is not limited by faction.
Vestras Apr 18th 2008 8:26AM
Diversity please!
I too am really sick of everyone using the same pets at endgame. I figure each pet can be made to be an immitation of an existing archetype as in those fake patch notes from pre-BC. Some bring another form of CC, some are anti Caster, etc. The only real disadvantage to diversification is that with a max of three possible pets and no way to hotswap them, we'd still see a lot of pets left on the wayside.
Dilunae Apr 18th 2008 8:36AM
Ok for the hunter who said he doesn't even use his pet: Use it. It's what's called "free dps" meaning: even if you're not spec'd BM your pet is still adding to a % of your dps. So use it or lose it. If you're fighting a boss with a lot of AOE, yeah sure keep it to your side, but if he can hit something without dying then it is worth it. Just a comment, not meant to be mean or anything.
Secondly, I posted a message on the forums yesterday about this. I got a lot of "lulz" and people against the idea. Yes, the spammable focus dump dps abilities are all a little different, but none of them are really spectacular. Adding some new and useful pet abilities would be good. Pets used to retain their abilities when tamed (if I heard that right) until they got nerfed and were all given lame counterparts. Warlock pets also buff their owner alot more than hunter pets do. Granted the BM tree enhances pets, but I still see clothies living through what my pet can do, but getting creamed by felguards. Does that seem right? Why not give raptors cleave, or owls a silence, bats a mini psychic scream, cats a rend abilitiy? It would make choosing a pet more interesting and add to hunter diversity.
jbodar Apr 18th 2008 2:22PM
Felguard is a 41 pt talent so it is only a fair comparison to a BM hunter's pet, since they've specced for it. You can't whine if you're MM and your pet isn't Felguard-caliber.
bendak Apr 18th 2008 8:39AM
i refuse to use a scorpid pet for this very reason... blizzard seems to want to pigeonhole us into certain things... get a scorpid or don't be competitive is the message they are sending. Well, I freakin hate scorpids. They are small, ugly, can't dash, and every other arena playing hunter has one.
I think they should add a pet collar as well in the expansion, and give it a bunch of gem sockets so we min/max stats as well. I know I'd definitely spend money on epic gems for my pet.
Sehvan Apr 18th 2008 7:52PM
A gem-slotted collar is a fantastic idea :)