Lower Pet EXP at Max level is NOT INTENDED!

[Araniis]

As we all know, we've been talking about this for quite a while that our pets at maximum level weren't earning the experience needed to level up to 80. Turns out it was because of a change blizzard made to the way experience works lately, outside of the dungeons changes that they already made. Nethaera just posted this in the forums about half an hour ago.

We recently made a change to the way experience is calculated and wanted to take some time to explain this change in order to clear up some confusion some may be having in regard to their rate of progress. If you are currently at the maximum level that you can be for an expansion (or higher), killing creatures from that expansion will now grant 10% of normal experience.


Examples:

Level 60 or higher players get 10% normal experience for killing creatures in Azeroth (“Old world” content)
Level 70 or higher players get 10% of normal experience for killing Burning Crusade creatures.
Level 80 or higher players get 10% of normal experience for killing Lich King creatures.
Level 85 or higher players get 10% of normal experience for killing Cataclysm creatures.


What does this mean for those that have Cataclysm and are leveling up new characters? This means that you will gain normal experience through to level 60 and will then need to move on to The Burning Crusade zones until you reach level 70 and Wrath of the Lich King zones until you reach level 80. Once you reach 80, it is expected that you will be continuing your leveling adventures in the new Cataclysm zones and dungeons. We have made this change so that players will continue to progress through the appropriate content for their level versus grinding on quick re spawns in a less ideal location.

This change will also affect hunter pets and their leveling rate if the player is at max level, however, this is an unintended change that we will be addressing in the future.

So, yay! We'll be able to level our pets normally again soon!

Edit: For those who want the source of this info, go to http://us.battle.net/wow/en/forum/topic/1253376893

[Kikanu]

>addressing in the future
Where's the fix? Forget Cata, our pets are more important! lol

Good find. Now, how many Blizzard days will it take before it's fixed? By the time Deathwing is available to kill?

[Cialbi]

Is 'in the future' sooner than Soon?

[Araniis]

Is 'in the future' sooner than Soon?

My guess it will be at least a few weeks or so before we see a change to the hunter pets, partially because Blizz is going to have their plates full with the Launch tonight and all the bugs and stuff we're going to be seeing in the next few weeks. They'll get to it eventually, but the bigger game comes first and then stuff like our pets will come after that. So, I HIGHLY suggest making sure to level your pet along side you so it isn't trailing so far behind.

[Slickrock]

My guess is months. That type of language means something a ways off in Blizzspeak. Plus, with the launch, it won't be an issue for at least 2 or 3 days.

But yeah, your stable of 25 is kind of screwed until this is fixed. So when your RL wants a raptor for that buff in 3 months, tell him to write Blizz.

Pick the 4 pets you want most, and forget about the rest.

[Slickrock]

So here's a question...

Assuming they don't fix it in let's say 2 months (50/50 shot I'd say, due the the fact this is a major mechanic change), what happens if you are close to 85?.. You would be hosed again once you hit 85.

So how about you stop your XP gain just before 85, would your pets still get XP, or are they stuck too? If not, you could level all your pets, then turn your XP back on.

My guess for the fix? Pet leveling will go away, and they will instant-level with you. Why? For Blizz to fix the pets is a major mechanic change that only effects one class. Pet XP has always just been a percentage of hunter XP. So nerfing hunter XP means they need a new mechanic to level pets. It's far easier to just have them auto-level.

[Araniis]

So here's a question...

Assuming they don't fix it in let's say 2 months (50/50 shot I'd say, due the the fact this is a major mechanic change), what happens if you are close to 85?.. You would be hosed again once you hit 85.

So how about you stop your XP gain just before 85, would your pets still get XP, or are they stuck too? If not, you could level all your pets, then turn your XP back on.

My guess for the fix? Pet leveling will go away, and they will instant-level with you. Why? For Blizz to fix the pets is a major mechanic change that only effects one class. Pet XP has always just been a percentage of hunter XP. So nerfing hunter XP means they need a new mechanic to level pets. It's far easier to just have them auto-level.

In all honestly? I wouldn't cry myself to sleep if pet leveling DID go away. Yes, it's a rather unique thing that has always been part of hunters and something that separated Hunter pets from Warlock pets. But as you've said, it's kinda hard and a bit of a big work around for them to do all this stuff to make sure hunter pets can still level correctly at Lv Cap vs just making them be what ever level your hunter is.

This does have the added bonus of making your pet usable from the get go, but I'm not sure how the hunter community over all will take it.

[Cialbi]

Very thoughtful, Slickrock. I just can't believe I have to stop exp at level 74 just so that I can level all 24 pets up to level 74 before dying of old age!

Of course, we can probably still resort to flower-picking
I wish I was joking - I may just need to drop Skinning for Herbalism >.<

[Slickrock]

Very thoughtful, Slickrock. I just can't believe I have to stop exp at level 74 just so that I can level all 24 pets up to level 74 before dying of old age!

Of course, we can probably still resort to flower-picking
I wish I was joking - I may just need to drop Skinning for Herbalism >.<

Anyone have a 70-79 hunter we could try this with?...

[Sukurachi]

Well, with my level 80 hunter and his new level 77 Silithid baby, the pet was getting 100 exp per kill on level 79 mobs.

However, my pet got 3000 exp from picking a single Northrend plant.
So for the gatherers out there, it seems that for now, that is the way to level pets. For everyone else, well, sucks to be you (according to Blizzard).

[Nightsights]

sounds like a theme going on here "hunter and gatherer" lol

hope they fix it this week, plan on getting to 85 by thursday. but shouldnt be too bad, since we'll be doing tons of dailys for rep, and grinding the new 5 man dungeons for new gear and Justice Points.

[Sukurachi]

in the 20 or so minutes it took me to log on after posting the above, I flew around Sholazar and gained an entire level for my pet... from herbing.

I still don't have a good name for him, though. (the dark blue (or is it purple? I'm colourblind) Silithid from deep in that cave in Un'goro Crater. He is incredibly cute, even if he's being a royal pain in the oboe to level... and his constant "thump" sound can get annoying.

[Slickrock]

sounds like a theme going on here "hunter and gatherer" lol

hope they fix it this week, plan on getting to 85 by thursday. but shouldnt be too bad, since we'll be doing tons of dailys for rep, and grinding the new 5 man dungeons for new gear and Justice Points.

If you are leveling that fast, I have to say, it doesn't sound good. I think we are going to be stuck with a lot of lower level pets.

in the 20 or so minutes it took me to log on after posting the above, I flew around Sholazar and gained an entire level for my pet... from herbing.

So I need to drop engineering or mining to level my pets?.. damn you Blizz, damn you.

[Rawrg]

Do pets get a share of quest xp? Maybe as a bandage till they actually resolve the issue they could enable something like that if they don't, then you can just call out a pet that could use a jolt of xp when you do quests turn ins. Only place it won't help is if you're level capped. Not sure how tricky that would be to implement, but I don't see any real potential for it to be abused in an unfair way.

[Slickrock]

Do pets get a share of quest xp?

No they don't.

I posted on the official thread about this, but I doubt we'll see any further Blue response. There's too much QQ in the thread from whiners that wanted to level in Northrend.

But basically there are three things they can do.

1) Remove pet leveling and make them auto-level.
2) Remove the Cata restriction. (It's not like we are going to go past 85 anytime soon).
3) Really tweak that pet XP percentage. (Will screw up lowbie pet leveling, but oh well..)
4) Come up with a new mechanic for pet XP.

I do expect it will take them a month or more to make up their minds what they want to do. But I hope you like the 4-5 pets you level with you in Cata, they might be the only ones you have at 85 for a while.

If they do nothing, I'll probably ditch my hunters for my DK for a while. This is the kind of "oops we forgot about hunters" actions that really make me tired, and take all the excitement out the the expansion.

[Nightsights]

there's report of a few lvl 85's on the EU realms, one of them is rumored to have exploited

when you are lvling bring your top 5 pets and rotate them as they level. as for the other 20 stabled pets, we'll have to wait for blizz to implement a pet xp fix.

[Cozzene]

Not sure that's exploiting; I've lvl'd a few pets by questing with one til it dings, then swapping out.

[Slickrock]

when you are lvling bring your top 5 pets and rotate them as they level. as for the other 20 stabled pets, we'll have to wait for blizz to implement a pet xp fix.

Yep. Let's see...

1) A cat
2) Tenacity pet (was gonna be Terrorpene, now will be a Shale Spider)
3) CoreHound
4) Silithid
5) Devilsaur

We can cheat a little bit since there are lvl 85 Spirit Beasts, so I'll level a cat instead.

Sorry casters, no 8% Spell Damage for you!!!

The rest will sit until there's a fix, however long that is.

[Slickrock]

Not sure that's exploiting; I've lvl'd a few pets by questing with one til it dings, then swapping out.

when you were capped at 80? are you sure the pet was getting XP from the quest? Still, that's a slow way to level pets.

[Andine]

I was never a biggest fan of leveling your pet separately from you. It'll be much better and more useful than it was previously if pet is always the same level as you.