Mining the armory for Hunter pet statistics
by Daniel Whitcomb 
Jul 18th 2009 at 4:00PM
With Hunter pet information recently added to the armory, Data Miner Zardoz has wasted no time getting his hands on the raw Hunter pet data and breaking it down. The data is only for level 80 Hunters, and only 10,000 of those at that, but it still gives a very interesting snapshot of what's going with the Hunter's best friends. It might not be too big a surprise that Cats are far and away the most popular pet at a count of around 9500, nearly doubling again the amount of Wolves, who come in just under 5000, which are in turn used in numbers over twice as much as the next popular choice, Gorillas, who are just above 2800 in number. Now mind you, this information does take into account pets that are in the stables as well, and there's certainly the possibility that a lot of them have just stayed in the stables for a long time.
Still, it's sort of crazy to see a handful of pets blow away all comers. If Cats and Wolves seem to insurmountably blow them all away, is it is a sign of overpoweredness, or just a sign that no matter what new skins and pet families you implement, people will always return to their old favorites? Or does it just mean that a bunch of old Hunters used Cats and Wolves back when they were one of a handful of pets available and just stuck them in a stable for old times sake rather than abandon them? One also wonders how Scorpids and Ravagers got so unpopular so fast. They used to dominate in Burning Crusade. Are we so fickle as Hunters that we just wanted to abandon their ugly faces as soon as we didn't need them?
Then there's the other question: Do the poor pet types at the bottom of the barrel deserve buffs, or are they a lost cause? Does Blizzard even care much about pet "skin" balancing, or do they just assume that no-one loves those ugly Sporebats? We do know they care about pet appearance to some degree, though, thanks to the Worgen debacle and the older slime debacle and the even older Ghost Wolf debacle.
Speaking of Slimes (and Hydras), Zardoz's data on the percentage of pets also includes a listing of what specific pet mobs are the most tamed for each family. For Crocolisks, it looks like far and away it's the now hot fixed to be untameable Hydra and Slime from the quest A Cleansing Song. Again, a lot of these "Crocolisks" are probably hidden away in stables now, but it at least suggests that people like awesome pet looks. You can see this in action with Boars as well, with the Rotting Ama'gar holding a commanding lead over all other comers, and even with the very popular wolves, where the demonic-looking Vargul Blighthound leads the pack.
Of course, other pet types, such as Hyenas and Cats, you'll actually find that the most popular pet mobs are the most high leveled ones. You'd think this would be less of a problem in the modern WoW game, since your pets automatically level to within 5 levels of you anyway when you first tame them, but it seems like people still like to take every slight advantage they can get.
One more interesting thing Zardoz points out is that just under half the pets in his sample have no spent talent points. Now, again, it could be these are just old pets in the stable that haven't been pulled out and talented ever, but there's also that whole weird thing where pets seem to lose their talents when their Hunter switches specs and all that gets a bit annoying. Maybe this kind of statistic will convince Blizzard they need to check into hammering out that pet spec switching stuff, though.
It's probably not completely safe to say too much about this data. It's pretty raw, and doesn't cover frequency of use or style of play for each pet, so we don't want to jump to conclusions too quickly, but at the least it should be fun to check it out and see how popular (or unique) your favorite pet really is.
Filed under: Hunter, Analysis / Opinion
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Karilyn Jul 18th 2009 4:10PM
Slather me in butter and call me atypical.
I've never owned a cat or a wolf on my Hunter.
My hunter has three pets a Deviate Serpent, a Green Ravenger from Squidface island, and a Blue Crab.
I like being different.
Karilyn Jul 18th 2009 4:19PM
Oh wow... I looked closer at that data.
Out of those 44861 pets he datamined...
0% Blue Crabs
0% Green Ravager (without red eyes)
Though there's approximately 138 Deviate Serpent skins (if you count the Sholazar Basin mobs)
Jeeze.
Molly Jul 18th 2009 6:34PM
Aww, those all sound like fun pets! My hunter ended up being a belf since I rolled it with a couple of friends, so I just couldn't let her have cute or cuddly pets. She's got the cobweb-legged spider from Icecrown, an orange worm from Desolace, and a pretty blue moth from the Draenei island. Plus her loyal cockroach that follows her everywhere :P
fatal Jul 18th 2009 4:11PM
Pretty much shows that we care very little about pets.
Cats were the strongest pet for a long time => popular
Wolves are currently the best pet => popular
Gorilla's were the best aoe tank pets => popular
The data is just inaccurate because of stabled pets. i still have a cat and a gorilla in my stable, and i use a wolf.
Urza Jul 18th 2009 11:12PM
Gorillas haven't been the best AoE pet in forever. Bears and Crocs beat them out now that all tank pets get thunderstomp. :P
TheFizz Jul 18th 2009 4:27PM
Cat-Rufus (First pet I ever tamed)
Raptor-EdLover (Had since level 24 Wetlands & he's wicked cool)
Wolf-JawsofClover (Tamed because they are the best DPS pet nowadays)
Hydra (Crocolisk)-PaulReubens (Had to pick me up one of these+needed a tank pet)
WInd Serpent-CoolCalmMerv (My PVP pet)
Aelysar Jul 18th 2009 4:33PM
imho, what this really shows is Blizz really needs to work on pet balancing some more. Nearly every raiding hunter brings a wolf now because it is, quite simply, The Best Raiding Pet. If they altered the buffs to be raid wide, buffed up other pets' buffs, and gave others some better boss debuffs, we'd see a little more variety. We heard the devs say for a long time that they didn't want a "best pet" but that's what we have now.
Since pets are such a huge part of the hunter as a class, it wouldn't be unheard of for the hunters in a raid to get together and decide who's bringing what family of pet. Heck when the wolf buff was still raid wide (even tho it didn't stack with might) one of us brought a wolf and the other a cat (for it's higher dps on it's own) to our 10 man runs.
Jack Spicer Jul 19th 2009 11:50AM
It would seem the easiest and perhaps best solution would be to change the wolf's special ability to something that did damage instead of buffed players.
Dreadskull Jul 18th 2009 4:35PM
Even though my hunter isn't level 80, I do have a cat and wolf >.>
Mainly because they're one of the more commonly found pets, and imo look pretty cool. Also it's just that when I think of a good damage dealing class that's stealthy, I think of cats. When I'm thinking of a strong pet that's good for lots of stuff, I think wolf. Though, when I think of a tank pet I go with turtle >.> That and I like to collect rare/elite pets, so right now I've got Timber for my wolf, Humar for my cat, and Kresh for my turtle.
I'll probably change some pets around once I get to a good level where I can actually tame some of the imo cooler looking pets (ravagers, exotic pets, etc.).
shaddam Jul 18th 2009 4:52PM
Zardoz?Like the movie with Sir Connery?
Turlagh Jul 18th 2009 10:13PM
Why don't they ever show "Zardoz" on TV anymore? ;)
Sleutel Jul 18th 2009 5:05PM
The fact that the information includes stabled pets, with nothing that gives you any kind of usage statistics, makes it next to useless. Many Hunters keep vanity pets with rare skins that they don't ever use to raid.
Sl0th Jul 18th 2009 5:08PM
It makes a lot of sense, over all, that the majority of active hunter pets would be of a select group. Even after homogenizing pet talents, some pets continue to stand above the rest. I've used a cat since I started my hunter in BC. My primary pet for most of my time playing WoW - save for when peer pressure/the increased damage made me tame a ravager - was a Grovestalker Lynx I tamed my first visit to Blade's Edge. I had used a Nightsaber from the NE starting zone, but I had fallen way behind in leveling it in Outland and ended up abandoning it for the lynx. This was back when leveling a pet was Hell. For a tanking pet, I have a gorilla I tamed after 3.0 who I haven't wanted to part with even after their racial became universal.
I think my other three slots are taken up by my old raiding ravager, a wolf in dire need of leveling and Cursed Offspring of Har'koa who I used to bring with me as a disposable pet to abandon if I ever finally stumble upon a spirit beast.
Lastgaurdian Jul 18th 2009 5:34PM
I say this is a mere ploy on your part to taunt Blizzard with Non-Worgen statistics.
Your attempt at Alluding away from the obvious Speculation has been flawed by your inability to comprehend the futility of distraction.=-Rather, you should be blunt honest, and make the Background of the website a Giant Middle Finger in front of the Blizzard Logo with the picture of the new masks as a taunt, a truth.
Babelicious Jul 18th 2009 5:41PM
The reason Cats, Wolves and Gorillas are all popular is very simple. Throughout late BC and early Wrath, Cats were the best DPS pet. Right now, Wolves are the best DPS pet. For a long time Gorillas were the only viable tank pet due to Thunderstomp.
Cats and Gorillas are both semi-useless now, but I still have both. Cat because I'm almost positive they'll be good sometime in the future, and Gorilla because I'm far too lazy to tame a Crocolisk or Turtle, who are now the best tank pets.
Steve Jul 18th 2009 5:47PM
I think the reason that many of us have cats is that they're the first pet we're sent to tame for the quest (at least for the Draenei in BC). I am quite attached to my cat Frank...I've used him to tank some easy stuff in some lower level instances (he tanked the headless horseman a few times last year, and then Ahune this year, along with Chillmaw for the tourney dailies). I really wish Figureprints would do some of the pets...I already have one for my character--I'd buy one of Frank too if they made it a possibility (and it wasn't too expensive).
Back before WotLK when we got the top BM talent I went and tamed a Devilsaur (named him Tiny), but could never get used to him following me...I always thought he was going to attack me (like I had drawn aggro or something). I also have a Wolf (named Gertrude), from when I was aspiring to be a SV hunter. Having found out that I don't enjoy that build, Gertrude stays in the stable.
Anaughtybear Jul 18th 2009 5:44PM
Most nelfs have cats because they are all closet RP players. That last part is my opinion, but you really do see most elf hunters with pretty little kitties.
fourwinds113 Jul 18th 2009 6:13PM
I'd say that's more because of cats being the easiest option as a night elf hunter. I mean, look at their zone, cats are all over the place.
norm Jul 19th 2009 1:28AM
not to mention prowl + shadow meld in arena = rogue at first glance (if they're not marksman)
Cowy Jul 18th 2009 6:33PM
I'm currently using a wolf, in the past though they havn't been my favorites. Its a relationship built on... well, wolves being awesome currently. Other than that I'm not a big fan of the Northrend skins.
I have my true-love Araga (the rare cat) who has been with me through thick and thin since WOW started (believe me, that cat is easier to get these days than back when I managed to tame it in Vanilla. The place it spawns was a PVP hotspot back then.) . I still love that kitty even though it no longer has its tailstripes. :(
I have my Gorilladin... (Uhk'loc from Ungoro of course) in storage waiting for next expansion or an un-nerf.
I have a Chimaera for my pvp spec. Not crazy about Chimeras either due to their lack of variety in color, but the graphic is really well done.
Then last, I have my Croc-o-Slime in the stable... waiting for a day when Crockolisks become better pets.
As a side note: I want more Stable Slots!!!