Changes to Hunter Pet Families in 6.0

[Kalliope]

Okay, now I'm happy. I like that not only do families retain their personality, but certain families that lacked kick will be extremely useful. *eyes her nether ray happily* This addresses the concerns I had before nicely. ^^

[Shinryu Masaki]

This is awesome news! I was really hoping for the Battle Rez and Bloodlust/Heroism to be given to MM and SV Hunters too, and now they are!! Finally people won't be forced into BM to get those skills, cause the other classes that have those too have them for all 3 specs. I also didn't expect to see Dragonflies and Riverbeasts show up as tamable too. I guess it's time to celebrate!

[GormanGhaste]

Am I the only one who's glad to see we're getting Hook Wasps/Dragonflies? Can't wait to see their models.

No, you're not the only one! Here's my fainting couch:

[Miacoda]

*looks at the Devilsaur abilities*
*wheezes and grabs for her inhaler while completely missing her fainting couch*
*now waiting for Direhorns to get a much needed extra kick*
Though... I wish raptors didn't get the same buff as devilsaurs. I wish they could be put somewhere else like Mastery or whatever. Gotta spread the dinosaurs out some! :O

[Shade]

WAIT wait wait.

Exotic pets are supposed to have a number of abilitites-thats what makes them exotic in the first place and why they are BM only.

Now all of the exotic abilities are being given to the other specs as well, whats now special about being a BM? Those exotic only perks were the big selling factor for BM to start.

Am I missing something?

[Miacoda]

WAIT wait wait.

Exotic pets are supposed to have a number of abilitites-thats what makes them exotic in the first place and why they are BM only.

Now all of the exotic abilities are being given to the other specs as well, whats now special about being a BM? Those exotic only perks were the big selling factor for BM to start.

Am I missing something?

Looks like they're compensating by giving exotic beasts a third ability?
I mean, the problem with some pets being BM only is like, let's say you have no battle rez, but you have a hunter, but that hunter doesn't really anjoy playing BM or maybe they're not as good with the spec. By giving some non-BM pets these previously BM-only abilities no one is being forced into a spec they don't want to play.

[cowmuflage]

WAIT wait wait.

Exotic pets are supposed to have a number of abilitites-thats what makes them exotic in the first place and why they are BM only.

Now all of the exotic abilities are being given to the other specs as well, whats now special about being a BM? Those exotic only perks were the big selling factor for BM to start.

Am I missing something?

Looks like they're compensating by giving exotic beasts a third ability?
I mean, the problem with some pets being BM only is like, let's say you have no battle rez, but you have a hunter, but that hunter doesn't really anjoy playing BM or maybe they're not as good with the spec. By giving some non-BM pets these previously BM-only abilities no one is being forced into a spec they don't want to play.

I've been kicked from raids because people wanted a rez and I'm not BM XD So I'm kind of happy that everyone can get it :3

[Shade]

WAIT wait wait.

Exotic pets are supposed to have a number of abilitites-thats what makes them exotic in the first place and why they are BM only.

Now all of the exotic abilities are being given to the other specs as well, whats now special about being a BM? Those exotic only perks were the big selling factor for BM to start.

Am I missing something?

Looks like they're compensating by giving exotic beasts a third ability?
I mean, the problem with some pets being BM only is like, let's say you have no battle rez, but you have a hunter, but that hunter doesn't really anjoy playing BM or maybe they're not as good with the spec. By giving some non-BM pets these previously BM-only abilities no one is being forced into a spec they don't want to play.

I've been kicked from raids because people wanted a rez and I'm not BM XD So I'm kind of happy that everyone can get it :3

I can see that, but now I am really confused as to what is going to make BM worthwhile now. I love the BM spec, but if everybody now has those buffs and abilities, am I going to get screamed at for wanting to play BM when in a raid, when a MM has more attacks and all of the buffs my BM could have brought? I was literally kicked out of a guild in WOTLK because I wanted to play as a BM instead of a MM.

So what is going to differentiate BM from the other specs now? Is it just that they get pets with a third ability? There are spec specific attacks for SV and MM, what is going to be the BM only attacks now? I always thought of those exotic abilities and just an overall increase in pet attack strength as the only difference.

[Miacoda]

I can see that, but now I am really confused as to what is going to make BM worthwhile now. I love the BM spec, but if everybody now has those buffs and abilities, am I going to get screamed at for wanting to play BM when in a raid, when a MM has more attacks and all of the buffs my BM could have brought? I was literally kicked out of a guild in WOTLK because I wanted to play as a BM instead of a MM.

So what is going to differentiate BM from the other specs now? Is it just that they get pets with a third ability? There are spec specific attacks for SV and MM, what is going to be the BM only attacks now? I always thought of those exotic abilities and just an overall increase in pet attack strength as the only difference.

Well, first of all WOTLK was in the past and the problem with BM hunters then is no longer a problem now (though some people out there still have the mindset of "BM sucks" which if they do you need to rightfully tell them to stop living in the past), and if people are screaming at you for playing the spec you like, ignore them because they're not the type of people anyone should be taking crap from (seriously don't let people like that get to you I don't want anyone getting hurt for playing what they love People play games for entertainment and we're not entertained if we're not having fun, so please have fun and don't give rude people your precious time <3).
What makes a spec worthwhile... that's actually kind of difficult for me to answer because I only care about BM spec, and don't really pay attention to the others. But let's see... BM has more powerful pets so that's sort of a personality quirk, but I also imagine it'll still be great for soloing in most cases. They get to tame more pet classes than the other specs, so that's a big perk right there, and those pet classes have more abilities than the others, from what it looks like abilities that only those certain pets get, and though they're a little different, they're still unique.
I hope this cleared some things up, maybe? I dunno, I always think generally what makes a spec worthwhile is how much fun you have playing it and/or how well you play it. I suppose there are other factors but again I'm not too familiar with the other two specs.

[chrth]

They've basically eliminated BM having unique raid utility among the three specs. The exotic pets' utility is slanted towards solo/small group work now.

Blizzard has also gotten better at keeping the three dps specs "close", so I doubt you'll be kicked in WoD for going BM

[Shade]

Hmm reading over comments, I'm still going to be worried about the fate of BM till I see some more from the devs I guess. Pandaria was really the first expac that made me feel secure in my spec, when my previous history included getting kicked due to what spec I was playing.

I guess I shall say interesting to the new family changes, but I'm personally not thrilled with them until I see how these changes will affect BM in game. They finally feel useful in a raid now, to me, where as the other specs have historically and currently have higher DPS output on average compared to BM. I always felt our utility abilities were there for us because we were so behind on DPS normally. I'm just worried this is going to push BM further behind the other specs again, as we've lost that worthwhile usefulness. (I've always felt like I was the red-headed step child in my preference for BM. *shrug*)

If they did something like adding an extra buff or such to the non-BM pets for BM spec, that would be interesting (I'd finally get more use out of some of the pretty non-exotics I coveted, hunted down and tamed for myself).

Ah well, just need to keep telling myself it is an alpha and the betas always have a lot of changes in them.

[pop]

The only gripe I have with this change is that... Serpent is only would be useful if you're in a raid/party that do not have the buff and if you're not BM.

[Shinryu Masaki]

Shade, you can also look at it this way:

Shamans and Mages do not have to use one specific spec to Bloodlust/Heroism, but Hunters right now have to.
Druids, Warlocks and Death Knights do not have to use one specific spec to Battle Rez, but Hunters right now have to.

That is the big problem, and always has been ever since the Core Hounds and Quilens where given those raid utilities. I completely understand that you think it gives BM nice perks, I thought so too at first, but in the end I realized that it instead gave BM more hatred as players felt forced to spec into it when they didn't want to just to use raid utility skills that other classes can use without being forced into a specific spec.

As for BM dps, unless something changed recently, as far as I know right now BM and SV are pretty much at the top while MM is lacking a bit behind but not by much. And unless I'm mistaken, by the end of Cataclysm BM Hunters where doing very good too, unlike WotLK.

As for the new pet skills, I saw that the Monkey has the same one as the Fox while looking around on wowhead, but I have yet to see what Basilisk gets to replace Petrifying Gaze, and I think we're still missing Dog and Goat?

EDIT:

OMFG I found the Dog skill! HAHAHAAH I can't stop laughing!

Bark of the Wild

EDIT 2:

Found the Basilisk one, it's increase spell damage taken.

Baleful Gaze

[chrth]

Thanks Shinryu, I'll add them to the list.

EDIT: It looks like only Goats remain to be discovered. Hmmmmm...

[SpiritBinder]

Good to see them fleshing out the remaining options/skills among the families, though some seem a little odd (thematically). But I guess its more important that things end up even and spread out rather than feeling right/immersive.

[Shinryu Masaki]

I found another interesting pet skill called Flutter and it looks like a Slow Fall for Hunters through a pet. I'm guessing it's from the Dragonfly? It is Exotic so it could be one of its other skills.

[pop]

Is it a bad thing that I want all BM's pets regardless of their exoticness, will learn a second or a third skill, just like Exotic pets? for example, when a BM hunter reach level 69(exotic beast taming learned), a bm hunter's pet cat, bear or bird of prey helps the hunter to fish, increasing +50 to the hunter's fishing proficiency? And at level 69 too, BM's monkeys, goats and gorillas learn how to smash locks to open up boxes and chests.

[Nachtwulf]

Re: BM... remember we're in the scrapingly-early stages of alpha and nothing is even vaguely fleshed out yet. BUT. Blizzard has said they're trying to make the specs -feel- different, so taking stuff away from one and leaving it with another is very much in keeping with that idea. They obviously have only barely started filling in the holes made in the first pass, but when it's all done, their goal is to have three different-feeling specs with equal utility. A handful of pet abilities isn't what's going to be making the difference, I get the distinct feeling that they're working to make the rotations actually BE different instead of being basically the same rotation with an extra button or two.

[PorrasouxRex]

So very excited for the Devilsaur and Core Hound abilities. They sound awesome. Also, I'm happy about us getting those RiverBeasts and Dragonflies!

[PorrasouxRex]

Re: BM... remember we're in the scrapingly-early stages of alpha and nothing is even vaguely fleshed out yet. BUT. Blizzard has said they're trying to make the specs -feel- different, so taking stuff away from one and leaving it with another is very much in keeping with that idea. They obviously have only barely started filling in the holes made in the first pass, but when it's all done, their goal is to have three different-feeling specs with equal utility. A handful of pet abilities isn't what's going to be making the difference, I get the distinct feeling that they're working to make the rotations actually BE different instead of being basically the same rotation with an extra button or two.

The real challenge here, however:

Blizzard can make specs feel "different" and "unique" all they want. But can they be balanced, and not one-drastically better than the others?

Will Blizzard re-surface the horrible memory of "This pet is the only pet you should ever use" syndrome to an Exotic pet because they're getting three abilities now? Sure, some of them don't look gamebreaking on paper. However, when we get out there and play with it ourselves...only time will tell.