Defensive pets a little more jumpy
by Mike Schramm 
Oct 17th 2008 at 2:00PM
A guildie of mine discovered this last night, and reader Theronis sent us a note today about it -- after patch 3.0.2, defensive pets act a little differently. Before the patch, they would only attack an enemy automatically if they attacked you first, which made things a little tough with casters -- pets in defensive mode wouldn't actually move to attack until the first spell actually hit you. But after the patch, pets are a little bit quicker: now, they'll move to attack as soon as you attack something, so you won't have to wait around until you get hit before your pet springs into action.However, this can be a drawback as well -- while Theronis says it's a good change and that his pets are smarter, my guildie had a problem: whenever he wanted to pull one mob out of a group, the pet would run in and pull them all. Anything you attack will get pounced on by your pet in defensive, and that might bring some unintended adds along for the ride.
Personally, I always keep my pets in passive -- it only takes a split second to hit CTRL-1 to send them attacking, and I can much better control, both soloing and in instances, what my pet is up to at any given moment. It can hurt my DPS a bit if I'm not careful (since I'm a BM Hunter, my pet is a big part of my DPS, so if I forget to send him, that's a bigger loss), but the tradeoff is that I can be careful about pulling adds and I have control of my pet all the time. If the "smarter" defensive works great for you, good, but if you find your pet springing in a little too early, you might try switching back to passive and just staying there most of the time.
Filed under: Hunter, Warlock, Patches, Analysis / Opinion, Wrath of the Lich King
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Hawthornn Oct 17th 2008 2:06PM
One other thing I have notice. My pet will start attacking a mob and if I pull aggro from say the 2nd add, my pet will come to my defensive and start attacking the mob i pulled.
Plastic Rat Oct 20th 2008 3:16AM
Wait are you SURE they do this? You mean they will actively keep track of threat/aggro and switch like a tank?
I'm having trouble believing this, and I can't say I've seen it with my pet. Would rock if it did though.
Means there are going to be a whole lot of Warriors standing at the job pole.
DJ Ritz Oct 17th 2008 2:07PM
Yeah... keep it on passive. Not that difficult. These changes are pretty sweet IMO, I like my pet staying and fighting on a pull in an instance instead of running back to my side every time a mob dies.
Jay Oct 17th 2008 2:10PM
Just make a hunter's mark/send pet macro... even throw in dive/dash if you're specced for it. That way you can keep your pet on passive, but he'll always be on whatever mob you are (assuming you mark all your targets).
Nick S Oct 17th 2008 7:09PM
Yep, that one's bound to "1"
I leave my pet on defensive a lot more now, even in raids. It get him out there and doing his job with a lot less thought, though I do have to remember to manage him more.
Julemand Oct 17th 2008 2:16PM
keep in mind if you have your pet on passive and you use the gorilla for some aoe farming he will run back to you after first mob is dead insted of attacking the next mob.
Leejin Oct 17th 2008 2:21PM
Also, I noticed when in an instance. I'll send my Devilsaur out to a group of mobs that our Tankadin has pulled, and my Dino will stay with that group and attack all the mobs and switch when one dies. It's the raddest. I can squeeze that little extra DPS out. I've always been good at micro managing my pet though. I can see how it would totally create havoc though.
Dotixi Oct 17th 2008 2:20PM
@Mike
Same goes for Warlock minions.
Just an fyi.
Lab Monkey Oct 17th 2008 3:40PM
I was just going to say I hadn't noticed my Felpuppy reacting this way at all.
Dotixi Oct 17th 2008 3:43PM
@Lab Monkey
I've only been playing Beta, not Live, and only using the Felguard...I guess I should have been specific. >.
Nhoji Oct 17th 2008 2:21PM
I always keep my pet on passive.
I then bind "attack" and "return" the my mouse buttons, and "stay" on shift-middlemouseclick.
absolute pet control.
G Oct 17th 2008 3:13PM
I do the same with Attack and Return bound to 0 and . on my numeric keypad for my hunter and warlock. It really does make control far easier.
I do like how the pet will now stay with a group of mobs and just switch targets on Defensive mode, but my gorilladin would rush everything I was trying to pull, too. Even hitting Return would only work for a half second before he was going back for more. So I'm thinking maybe my Attack and Return buttons will become Attack/Defensive and Return/Passive macros.
I also noticed that as I killed a mob and another player was fighting nearby, my gorilla would shoot over to help that other player. The mob wasn't even in aggro range. It's friendly and all, but that's got to be a bug.
shopshopshop Oct 17th 2008 2:30PM
I keep my pet passive and make a macro binding hunter's mark and pet attack on the same key, then just bind follow to a different key.
Falcio Oct 17th 2008 2:32PM
I found this out the hard way...well, actually, I personally didn't, but I saw it happen to another. As soon as I came into WoW that Tuesday, I was enlisted into Heroic Shattered Halls with some guildies, which included another Hunter. He had a Core Hound and I had a freshly minted Devilsaur.
We ended up dying twice on one pull because the Core Hound went to the other side of the room with the mobs there while we were pulling the others. No matter how uber we ended up being, we can't stop that from killing us...heh.
Doffencrag Oct 17th 2008 2:36PM
Always passive for PvE.
Defensive for PvP. :)
Ferador Oct 17th 2008 2:39PM
Hunter pets are really buggy for me at least. Sometimes they dont show up after dismounting, they dont get rezed in bg's, and when i turn off an auto cast spell like Growl, ill check later and it will be on autocast again
Wistin Oct 17th 2008 3:27PM
We told Blizzard about the auto cast resetting problem. We were told they couldn't duplicate it. I, too, notice it made it to live.
That is unfortunate because the very same problem existed in the Burning Crusade beta and they eventually fixed it.
cjgomez65 Oct 17th 2008 3:32PM
yeah. I noticed the same problem with Prowl autocast on my pet. I submitted a ticket but haven't heard back yet.
Mark Oct 20th 2008 12:03PM
I have the same problem. The cat keeps switching itself to prowl and slowly walking to the target, even when its switched off, it reswitches itself back on...its amazingly frustrating. Several people in oug guild complain about their bears walking towards the target almost as if they were on prowl
dentarthurdent Oct 17th 2008 3:07PM
I wonder if this new mechanic can be abused on PvP servers to get you killed by the guards. I have to remember to keep it on passive around IQD, because the 12 year olds like to hit you from long range and get your pet to attack them, thereby getting you killed by the guards (who have usually just ignored someone getting ganked right next to them).