How To: Tame Pets With Appearance Buffs

[Rhyela]

..... (someone had a screenshot of a "Hulk" buff on a boar, but never included details, so I've no idea what that was from).....

First thing that came to mind are the boars in Hellfire Peninsula. You have that quest to get boar blood, and do something-rather with it, then test it on another boar and it grows HUGE and attacks you. Aren't those "Hulking Helboars"? That might be what it was. Maybe.

[Cialbi]

..... (someone had a screenshot of a "Hulk" buff on a boar, but never included details, so I've no idea what that was from).....

First thing that came to mind are the boars in Hellfire Peninsula. You have that quest to get boar blood, and do something-rather with it, then test it on another boar and it grows HUGE and attacks you. Aren't those "Hulking Helboars"? That might be what it was. Maybe.

Isn't there a damage buff involved in that? Or does it simply turn into a NPC that innately hits harder (and thus will be unavoidably normalized)? Mouse over the buff before taming it

[Socks]

..... (someone had a screenshot of a "Hulk" buff on a boar, but never included details, so I've no idea what that was from).....

First thing that came to mind are the boars in Hellfire Peninsula. You have that quest to get boar blood, and do something-rather with it, then test it on another boar and it grows HUGE and attacks you. Aren't those "Hulking Helboars"? That might be what it was. Maybe.

Isn't there a damage buff involved in that? Or does it simply turn into a NPC that innately hits harder (and thus will be unavoidably normalized)? Mouse over the buff before taming it

But.. imagine how much bacon you could make!

[amrasillias]

It wasn't confirmed as of yet but the pig on fire you can tame has 2 ways of taming:

1. you lay down a frosttrap, throw the torch and start taming

2. don't use a frosttrap, let a friend throw the torch as you are halfway through taming it.

method 1 I tried on my horde hunter. Only a fire visual remained. No special abilities granted.

method 2 I tried with my alliance hunter with help from a friend. The fire visual remained, as did the speed at which it was running away. It doesn't show as a buff on the pig, but it sure is faster. Might be an exploit this way as well. I can see the (mis)use of this in PVP

[ummeiko]

Okay, so I just tried it (for SCIENCE!). The Hulking Helboars in Hellfire will get a 10% damage buff from just lowering their hp (outside of the Dreadtusk quest). I can stack twice to 20%. It does not initially appear to have a timer, and when you relog it seems like your pet still has the buff (still no timer counting down). BUT, a few seconds after you call him he goes back to normal helboar, sans buff. So not something I think we need to worry about.

[Rikaku]

If doing anything that cannot be done “under normal circumstances” is an exploit then I would like to get the following “exploits” removed from the game.

Kara Chains macro: Under normal circumstances most people can’t target the chains fast enough.
Vash Toss macro: Under normal circumstances you cannot open your bag and toss the core fast enough.
Bite Macro: Without perfect timing you cannot maximize your DPS and then bite someone.
Stopcast Macros: No amount of timing can help you stop cast.
Macros that activate abilities that are not on your UI: You need to open your spell book like everyone that does not use a macro.
NPC scanners: Roll a class that can track or visually track the pets just like other people that don’t use addons.

Macros are not inherently an exploit, and you're misunderstanding what some people are saying in this thread.

There *is* something unusual about a method of taming that involves taming a pet, abandoning it and <i>logging out of the game</i> to login and retain a buff. In my opinion, I think its the "logging out" part of some of these types of taming that pushes the line just a tad. In normal gameplay, sure logging out is normal, but when you're using it to basically "cut off" a command line so the system registers your pet as both wild with the buff and tamed with the buff it does cross a line of "not normal".

That is what those who have been against this method have been stating over and over. Use of normal quick macros that involve normal spells and abilities is perfectly acceptable. I just think many people, myself included, have found issue with that last line of "logging out" to login to a pet that was forcefully abandoned in order to obtain a visual buff.

Now, while I think this is a clear exploit far different than Garwal taming or ghost wolf taming (which I previously elaborated on in pages back), I really don't think any players need to fear account bans other than those who are using this method to tame pets to do extra unintended damage. Also, I don't think any one player should feel as the root cause of all these tames. This method would've eventually been found; we've proven time and time again that the Hunter community is by far one of the most (and I'd argue THE MOST period) creative and genius ones at there: we see a pet we want, and we will try a million ways to get it before we throw in the towel. This chain of events was set in motion originally by the Garwal event, so I think it wouldn't be fair to place the entire cause and effect on one person ALTHOUGH I do also believe that the guide writers of these tames deserve credit for actually finding ways to pull such tames off (and I mean that sincerely, with no sarcasm. I think this was creative, even if it does push a personal borderline with me, and it doesn't change my opinion of those people who came up with these guides.

They saw a pet they wanted, and they never threw in the towel to obtain them.

Overall though, I do hope Blizzard responds to this matter in a much better way then the Ghost Wolf ("Yes you can keep taming them" "Hotfix:no longer tameable") and I do hope that the hunters do get to keep their altered pets.


PS:
Fiery boars are totally the coolest thing out of this. I'm just sayin, cmon. Why hasn't one named thiers "Dinner" yet? I totally would've =P

[Naiaara]

I honestly don't see anything wrong with this. In my opinion, finding hard to tame pets is the very epitome of a hunter. I tamed gezzerak the huntress when she had the summoning animation, the windserpent from the horde quest, and a few others. I like difficult tames. I don't want to go up, press tame, and be done with it. Farming for rare pets, such as the spirit beasts is hard, but I think that these sorts of tames are a lot more interesting.

[Cialbi]

It wasn't confirmed as of yet but the pig on fire you can tame has 2 ways of taming:

1. you lay down a frosttrap, throw the torch and start taming

2. don't use a frosttrap, let a friend throw the torch as you are halfway through taming it.

method 1 I tried on my horde hunter. Only a fire visual remained. No special abilities granted.

method 2 I tried with my alliance hunter with help from a friend. The fire visual remained, as did the speed at which it was running away. It doesn't show as a buff on the pig, but it sure is faster. Might be an exploit this way as well. I can see the (mis)use of this in PVP

Hmm, that's a new one. If you don't mind, could you try to figure out what can drop the speed boost? If your boar loses it upon dying, or merely despawning when you mount, then we don't have to worry. However, if it doesn't go away, then

[Nimrod]

It wasn't confirmed as of yet but the pig on fire you can tame has 2 ways of taming:

1. you lay down a frosttrap, throw the torch and start taming

2. don't use a frosttrap, let a friend throw the torch as you are halfway through taming it.

method 1 I tried on my horde hunter. Only a fire visual remained. No special abilities granted.

method 2 I tried with my alliance hunter with help from a friend. The fire visual remained, as did the speed at which it was running away. It doesn't show as a buff on the pig, but it sure is faster. Might be an exploit this way as well. I can see the (mis)use of this in PVP

Hmm, that's a new one. If you don't mind, could you try to figure out what can drop the speed boost? If your boar loses it upon dying, or merely despawning when you mount, then we don't have to worry. However, if it doesn't go away, then

Seems mine kept its speed boost after I tamed it. I started the tame, friend threw the torch and tame finished with the boar running around. Perhaps if the scripting isn't able to apply the speed buff to the boar when it is set on fire (trapped?) then it won't keep the effect?

[TygerDarkstorm]

I honestly don't see anything wrong with this. In my opinion, finding hard to tame pets is the very epitome of a hunter. I tamed gezzerak the huntress when she had the summoning animation, the windserpent from the horde quest, and a few others. I like difficult tames. I don't want to go up, press tame, and be done with it. Farming for rare pets, such as the spirit beasts is hard, but I think that these sorts of tames are a lot more interesting.

These aren't hard to find tameable pets nor are they technically hard tames; they just require a macro and a bit of timing. And as such, that macro is technically bypassing code in the game that would otherwise "cleanse" a pet, thus making it a type of exploit. Forcing the game to bypass a process that it shouldn't IS wrong no matter how you might want to look at it. These pets are pretty, and for the most part, aren't harming anyone (although I'm waiting for someone to stick the dog from EPL in an AH), but they are still doing something they shouldn't.

[Nimrod]

(although I'm waiting for someone to stick the dog from EPL in an AH)

What would that accomplish? It only does damage to neutral/enemy targets in melee range.

[Acherontia]

The login is actually just to make the pet show up in your stable--it's already with you. The exploit, if any, is in the Abandon macro "despawning" the pet before the server has a chance to wipe the buffs as with a normal tame.

At least, I think that's how it works

amrasillias -- I think that trying to tame the flaming boar in a trap won't work. Mine despawned even in a trap. I'm guessing yours actually wasn't on fire, unless they changed it since yesterday! I just hung around hoping someone would do the quest, but eventually begged a guildy to come.

The first lowbie who turned up, rather than doing the quest, instead followed me around staring blankly and then attacked every single one of the boars I tried to tame. And I'm pretty sure it wasn't an alt messing with me, but rather a truly clueless newbie, lol.

[Azunara]

I wholeheartedly agree with those that find things a bit skewed with these methods. In normal circumstances, the game will overwrite those buffs to get rid of them. What people are doing though is using lag to trick the server and make it so it doesn't wipe the buff, or at least I'm fairly sure that is what's going on.

These pets are not meant to have them. Forcing them to do so isn't really the most legit thing ever. It hasn't been tackled yet because there are bigger fish to fry and it is only effects...but what happens when we start taking pets that have damage buffs and using those to trick the game. Then we have pets with a buff doing extra damage, and then it gets serious.

Don't get me wrong, I have the Oil-Stained Wolf. But...something about all of this just makes me leery of it all. I don't think it's right. There are people who can say it better than I can, but I just don't see this ending well. Word gets out and people get bitter.

[TygerDarkstorm]

(although I'm waiting for someone to stick the dog from EPL in an AH)

What would that accomplish? It only does damage to neutral/enemy targets in melee range.

Was pretty sure I read that when someone tamed it, it was doing AoE damage to them and their pet. If that's true, then theoretically, you can take it in an AH and wipe everyone in there with it.

[Elhessar]

Someone already wrote about the speed buff on the burning boar, so that's what I did to prevent it:
- trap a boar near the quest target
- start taming
- after 5 seconds, your helper should set the quest target on fire qith the quest item

This is 100% safe, but if you wanna test it, just challenge your new boar in a run with the Move To: you will see the pet going a little bit faster than your hunter, but I doublechecked it and that's normal with every other pet.

[amrasillias]

Ok here are my methods in detail on taming that fire boar

1. without the speed buff: I used my troll hunter. Got the quest so then I:
- trapped a boar near the trough
- walked at the furthest taming distance with the boar between me and the trough
- popped Berserking for speeding up cast time
- threw a torch to the trough
- immediately started taming
- at 2 sec left spam macro

this allowed me to finish the tame and press the macro before the pig died. Voila, roasted pig without speed buff

2. with speed buff: I used my night elf hunter. A friend got the quest so then I:
- stood next to the boar
- no trap
- started the tame
- at 5 seconds left my friend threw the torch
- pig started running
- tame finished
- use macro

easy peasy, pigs on fire with a speed buff

haven't let the pig die as of yet to test whether the buff would stay or disappear.. i'll keep you guys posted.


EDIT: seems the speed buff is a one time only, when pet dies so does the speed buff. Flames remain though.

[Cialbi]

Much as I hate to say this, let the boar die. It won't clear the fire effect from your pet, so no worries there.

[amrasillias]

poor Sizzle, i'll sacrifice him to the bugs in AQ40 then...

[Acherontia]

Was pretty sure I read that when someone tamed it, it was doing AoE damage to them and their pet. If that's true, then theoretically, you can take it in an AH and wipe everyone in there with it.

When I tamed it at first, it was doing damage to critters. It was NOT doing damage to me. It cleared on death.

[amrasillias]

Sooo, Sizzle died, was reborn out of his own flames.... and lost his speed buff
Dunno whether to be sad or happy :/

But.. no exploit here other then some eye candy