New pet abilities

[Shinryu Masaki]

The graphics aren't the same. It's just beige rocks and some dusts around them. Nothing spectacular at all. Wish it was the Earthquake graphics though.

[Doth777]

Would love to check this out, but the latest beta build is MEGA buggy. I havent been able to log into my hunter anything more than one 5min stint since friday. There's tons of bugs from login crashes/freezes to zones having invisible walls, entrapping people in areas and hearthstones not working....

The Chimera/Worm damage abilties I doubt will stay because they are damaging moves. The Chimera one especially, since it's basically the same thing they already had, so it could be old data. I could see the rhino knockback staying if it isnt damaging, it's just another useful "effect" in our repertoire.

Now Spirit Beasts have the Battle Shout/Horn of Winter buff, that's a nice buff. I'm curious now if all the families will get a "trick" ability of some sort...

[Kalliope]

Battle Shout is different from the Horn of Winter buff. Battle Shout is straight attack power, like Blessing of Might. But agreed, it's a nice one.

And BOO, I want to steal the earthquake animation for worms! *pout*

[Doth777]

Not on Beta, BS is STR and Agi now, same as Horn

[Shinryu Masaki]

The Chimera/Worm damage abilties I doubt will stay because they are damaging moves. The Chimera one especially, since it's basically the same thing they already had, so it could be old data.

It's not. They still have their old breath, it just doesn't do damage. This new one isn't on Auto Cast, you have to click it manually. And it's an AoE too, hits everything within 35 yards of the pet. It also makes the pet stand still while it's channeling it. Graphics for it seems to be the same as the priest's Mind Flay.

Edit: Sorry it has a 35 yards range, but it hits everything inside a 7 yards range.

[Doth777]

Really? Odd, wish I could try it out but I'm still frozen I never used a Chimera before, so shows what I know lol. Maybe the Worm/Chimera abilities will stay then and serve as pet AoE spells /shrug. Makes sense if the damage is better for AoE packs and not so much for single target, gives the ability a more defined role and evens out the pets having a 'damage ability' if it's a dps loss on single targets.

[Kalliope]

Not on Beta, BS is STR and Agi now, same as Horn

Ohhhhh. My apologies! Didn't realize that was changed.

[Doth777]

No worries They've done a lot of buff consolidation like that, with BoK/MotW, Com Shout/Fort, etc. Main reason I've noticed it is because I play a Warrior and Druid in addition to the Hunter.

[Turgus]

Awesome!

Just The Idea of Rhino's getting their knockback...err Back is incredibly exciting to me.
So they take the damage component off of it, easy fix.

I do love the idea that they MIGHT give BM Exotic Pets the ability to do AoE damage to put BM on par with MM and SV.
Of course, I am not sure how this works with balancing things out DPS wise, so I will withhold judgment.

It does however really start to make me think Blizzard is really taking Hunter Pets serious for once.

[SpiritBinder]

Oh god, are they going to give worms earthquake???? AWESOME!

Oh I agree it would be awesome. The only thing they will have to be careful with is to make sure that all exotic Tenacity pets have a similar aoe ability, or we will be back at "The Best Pet" to for BM tanking. Or even Ferocity and Cunning for that matter due to the damageing component of it. I love the ideas, but slow and easy. Nothing worse than giving us something that's too good, then either "nerf it to the ground baby" it or take it away again.

Other questions like... Well if the worm is underground going all earthquake on your mobs, does that mean that it is untargetable, or will it still be there, just having a fancy "quake like" spell going off?... Hmmm really make me ponder

[Kalliope]

For the record, the new chimera ability looks like a really thin version of mind sear and also seems to damage the main target.

IT ALSO HURTS. A LOT. So many crits in a row....one use of it on myself almost killed me.

[Rikaku]

Why do the Worm and Chimera abilities do damage!? Those will be the best pets in a raid that already has all the buffs cowered! D:

I thought that too at first, but then again they're Cunning and Tenacity pets, so they will do lower damage than Ferocity pets in the first place. But still, that could make them ahead in damage of other pets in their respective tree.

Also, did anyone else notice that some pets had their tree changed? I see foxes and wolves with the Hunter Pet Cunning Marker icon on the wowhead list

Cunning is actually doing quite a bit of damage just because of that uhhh Feeding Frenzy talent (the under 35% or w/e talent, I don't know my cunning that well, sorry) according to some reports they're doing higher than ferocity. I have no personal proof however.

[Doth777]

Also with Owl's Focus procs (in conjunction with Wild Hunt), they can hit bigger attacks more often with some of them being free, letting Focus build up or hitting a big attack for free and allowing another faster.

I like that both trees are viable

[Worba]

Why do the Worm and Chimera abilities do damage!? Those will be the best pets in a raid that already has all the buffs cowered! D:

I thought that too at first, but then again they're Cunning and Tenacity pets, so they will do lower damage than Ferocity pets in the first place. But still, that could make them ahead in damage of other pets in their respective tree.

Actually someone was recently doing a DPS comparison and it looked like cunning was starting rival ferocity's DPS output.

[Worba]

Burrow Attack (Worm Exotic Ability)
The Worm burrows into the earth, shaking the ground above dealing (?) Nature damage over 8 sec.
30 focus cost, 30sec cooldown, instant, 30 yards range

This is one of the ones I suggested on the hunter forum - glad to see it happening. Now if only they would let us tame outland burrowers...

Froststorm Breath (Chimaera)
The Chimera channels a frozen breath attack, causing 2645 Spellstorm damage over 10 sec to to all enemies within the area.
20 focus cost, Channeled, 35 yards range

Finally a cunning pet with an AOE besides sporebats - I've wanted this since forever!

Horn Toss (Rhino Exotic Ability)
The Rhino punts the enemy with its mighty horn, knocking them back a great distance.
30 Focus, 1.5 min cooldown, Instant, Melee Range

More yes - now I have a reason to retame my rhino

Roar of Courage (Cats & Spirit Beasts)
The beast lets out a roar of courage, increasing the Strength and Agility of all party and raid members by 1395 within 100 yards.
45 sec cooldown, Instant

I knew they wouldn't screw cats and SB with just prowl as their special - and now SBs aren't just the "resto" pet either!

Trick (Birds of Prey Bonus Ability)
You command your Bird of Prey to do a trick. Larger birds may not be interested.

Rest (Boar & Bear Bonus Ability)
You command your Bear to take a rest, increasing its happiness by a small amount over time.

Err... okay, why not...

All in all some awesome changes here!