Sporebats to be *gasp* useful?

[Maizou]

If this actually comes to be, I will be happy. I remember suggesting it a couple months ago on the official forums (and posting about it here as well in one of the buffs threads), as Sporebats never got love. Even if it wasn't from my suggestion, I'm so happy. xD

Question: 5% buff spell haste seems limited. 3 specs vs others @ 6+ (2 classes all specs) thoughts on widening coverage. 10 mans need it

Ghostcrawler: If your 10 has no hybrid casters, then there probably aren't many casters benefitting from the buff anyway. Also: Sporebats.

From Ghostcrawler's twitter.

As someone who has always loved Sporebats, but was never able to actually use one due to lack of stables, the fact it will bring a buff raids need (and very few specs actually bring) makes me a happy camper. I just wish I hadn't abandoned the one I had tamed right before 5.0.4 while I had a free stable slot. XD Now to hope they add some new sporebat skins. :3 Sporebats and Tallstriders are so unloved. Though this is the last pet that needed a new skill, at least to me. I enjoy Nether Rays with an interrupt, and such. xD Now every pet seems to have it's use. Whereas the spellcasting debuff was not really very useful when there's 3 other pets that can bring it, lol.

I searched the site for "Sporebats" to make sure this wasn't already posted, I -assumed- Pet Discussion was the appropriate place to post this. If it belonged in beta/general, please move it. (It's discussing a pet though, so I would assume it's in pet discussion xD)

EDIT: Apparently, it was a change either on the beta or on live that went through a day or two ago. Stealth buff. XD So Yayness.

[Neilaren]

Ah, sporebats...

me: Well, we have our moonkin, anyway, so I won't have to worry about finding a stable slot for a Sporebat.
moonkin: I don't know if I want to be my class in MoP.
me: asdfasdfasdfasdf.

I hope they don't *really* overshadow nether rays, though. Nether Rays are already the least represented pet ever. :[

[Lisaara]

I wish sporebats had more....variety. I might like them more.

[Maizou]

Just checked live.

They already have the +5% Spell Haste Buff AND they kept their Spellcasting Speed Slow.

However, the Spell Haste Buff is just a copy/paste of the Shadow Priest's buff (including the shadowform text, etc.) so they may lose the Spellcasting Debuff when the actual Spore Haste Buff is added.

I really. REALLY hope they add a new page to our stables before launch. Or at least in 5.1 I'm going to have mine bursting at the seams when Pandaria comes. I already don't have room for a Goat.

Have to ditch my Silithid for a Quilen as well. ._.

[Equeon]

What do you mean, to be useful?

They're already the best pet, for the DPS.

[Bonita]

Thats the one buff our raid doesnt have so this is awesome. Of course we have no clue what characters anyone wants to play in MoP so I may not need one now lol.

[Kalliope]

Sporebats were already important on one (gimmick) fight in Cata. No rule saying it won't happen again.

Also, the debuff that sporebats, foxes, and goats bring is AoE, whereas the others are not. Well, the DK debuff can be spread, as can the rogue one, but the aforementioned trio are all passively AoE without modifications. Useful in its own right.

[Maizou]

Sporebats were already important on one (gimmick) fight in Cata. No rule saying it won't happen again.

Also, the debuff that sporebats, foxes, and goats bring is AoE, whereas the others are not. Well, the DK debuff can be spread, as can the rogue one, but the aforementioned trio are all passively AoE without modifications. Useful in its own right.

Sporebats have always been a gimmick pet, is the point I was making.

And saying they were useful on one gimmick fight pretty much says that.

As I said, on live, they still have their spellcasting debuff as well as the spell haste. Maybe it will stay that way as an apology to sporebat fans since BC? XD

[GormanGhaste]

Oh, I hope the sporebats get to keep their AoE debuff. If they don't, I may swap my turtle for a goat. I've been looking for an excuse to tame a goat!

[Kalliope]

Sporebats were already important on one (gimmick) fight in Cata. No rule saying it won't happen again.

Also, the debuff that sporebats, foxes, and goats bring is AoE, whereas the others are not. Well, the DK debuff can be spread, as can the rogue one, but the aforementioned trio are all passively AoE without modifications. Useful in its own right.

Sporebats have always been a gimmick pet, is the point I was making.

And saying they were useful on one gimmick fight pretty much says that.

As I said, on live, they still have their spellcasting debuff as well as the spell haste. Maybe it will stay that way as an apology to sporebat fans since BC? XD

My point is that gimmick fight or not, they were the most efficient pet at the time.

This is a fascinating buff addition! It's clearly just a copy of the priest version of the haste buff; hopefully it'll be turned into a real one in time. I did a quick check on the beta; my goat only had the debuff, not the buff. It doesn't seem right that sporebats get two buffs as a non-exotic pet, no matter how maligned they were in the past. Either the spell haste/attack speed buff needs to become one (unlikely; they're clearly two separate entities) and given to all of the hunter pets that have the debuff or (more likely) sporebats need to have one or the other.....or they could become exotic, but that's just mean.

Aside from being unfair to other pets with similar debuffs, this is unfair to other "gimmick" pets. The pets with interrupts are far less useful now that everyone's got the option of silencing shot in conjunction with whatever other pet buffs.

inb4 sporebatsarethebestpet

[Maizou]

inb4 sporebatsarethebestpet

Resisting so hard not to link that video right now. xD

And honestly, I'd have no problem with removing the spellcasting debuff. As someone above said, it gives a reason to tame a Goat or Fox. (Corehounds also bring it, but that's exotic. ) Though that just brings me back to I'm out of stable slots. D:

[Kalliope]

inb4 sporebatsarethebestpet

Resisting so hard not to link that video right now. xD

And honestly, I'd have no problem with removing the spellcasting debuff. As someone above said, it gives a reason to tame a Goat or Fox. (Corehounds also bring it, but that's exotic. ) Though that just brings me back to I'm out of stable slots. D:

Sporebats are the best pet for the caster dps.

That sentence may or may not be cycling through my head repeatedly at the moment. >_<

And yup, that's the easy fix right there. I just do not for the life of me understand why the debuff is still on them.

Thought of a way to easily change the spell haste buff to be sporebat themed - just call it Energizing Spores (like the clouds the wild guys drop!). They can even keep their cloud animation and such.

[Maizou]

Yep. In my original thread I suggested it be called Invigorating Spores. xD

Great Minds think alike, eh? XD

[Dweezill]

I've played with my Sporebat Turd forever. My guildies used to "make" me bring Turd to battlegrounds because the AoE spell casting debuff was soooo amazing. If they lose the debuff,I would be kinda disappointed. The new buff is really great, and it makes sporebats more attractive for pve..... but I will myhaving my Turd be needed for my guildies' pvping.

[Banard]

5%? isnt it suppose to be 10%?

so it is not as strong as a boomkin or SP?

[Maizou]

5%? isnt it suppose to be 10%?

so it is not as strong as a boomkin or SP?

A lot of buffs were nerfed to 5% in 5.0.4.

[Kalliope]

Yep. In my original thread I suggested it be called Invigorating Spores. xD

Great Minds think alike, eh? XD

And now that you've mentioned that, I remember your post! Good call. ^_^

[Nachtwulf]

Yeah, I'm not thinking a nonexotic with both a buff and a debuff is intended, they just didn't take off the old skill. Still, though, it's a good option for the times when it's needed.

Also, I am totally using nether rays now that they aren't obligatorily CUNNING. (MOST USELESS SPEC EVER why no I don't pvp).

Mostly as tanks, since the interrupt is useful. I do have silencing shot, but if you get multiple mobs while soloing, two interrupts is always better than one.

[Neilaren]

Yeah, I'm not thinking a nonexotic with both a buff and a debuff is intended, they just didn't take off the old skill. Still, though, it's a good option for the times when it's needed.

Also, I am totally using nether rays now that they aren't obligatorily CUNNING. (MOST USELESS SPEC EVER why no I don't pvp).

Mostly as tanks, since the interrupt is useful. I do have silencing shot, but if you get multiple mobs while soloing, two interrupts is always better than one.

Yay nether rays!

I got myself little Carbuncle the spore bat (I had him for a little bit in Wrath, very cute!) for now, just in case our moonkin really does change class.
Though, I had only cleared out 2 stable spaces for a porcupine and quilen... Now I need to figure out who else to clean if I need to keep little Carby around. :[

[spirithunter]

My friend's brother's first hunter (and first character) used a Sporebat until max level during Lich King. He loved it so much....they'll always remind me that no matter how underpowered a pet is, people will still love them no matter what.

I'm happy to see the sporebat get some love, it makes me want to go tame one on principal. I'm currently leveling my 3rd hunter, when I get to outland I'll probably sport one for the fun of it