HUNTER PETS TO NOW MATCH HUNTERS LVL PATCH 4.1!

[Saturo]

It's most likely just a bug, guys. It'll get fixed, trust me.

[Wark]

I admittedly enjoyed leveling my pets the last 3 levels-- I found it was long enough to feel like I was having quality time with the pet without having to spend hours fighting alongside something that couldn't even achieve "furry DoT" status. (The Firewing Warlocks still whisper my old hunter's name under their breaths-- boy was I happy when my Durotar scorpid got into the mid 60s and I could go fight something else....)

On the other hand lots of people don't have the time or inclination to baby their pets like that, and as much as I perversely enjoyed my "uncommon" skins that came from common-but-low-level mobs, no reason to penalize people with less patience or free time.

[Victorelle]

EPIC HAPPY FACE

[Razzy]

I like the idea of this! Will save us a lot of time in the long-run.

[Ana]

Wont it be harder to bond with a pet now? I mean i tame a skin because i like the look, but i keep(release them because i bond with them in dungeon runs while leveling the pet up...

[Chimera]

I remember having to befriend the pet, taming families for skills, lvling pets from whatever lvl they were tamed at... was very fun :3 i have always wondered why hunter pets had to lvl up and warlock pets insta lvled with you.... perhaps that system will be applied to hunter pets? would be nice..

[Kerafirewing]

I will have to be the one devil's advocate here. I actually don't like this idea. I don't always know if I will like a pet when I first tame it. I know prior to launch when the PTR was going on, I had my hunter over there taming everything she could get her hands on just so I could see what it played like. Being able to level up a pet for 3 levels (with the improvement over the 5 it was prior) meant by the time I had a level or maybe 2 at the most, I knew for sure if I wanted to keep that pet or not. I also knew for sure if I liked the look or maybe wanted to go after a new skin. Maybe it's just a knee jerk reaction but I don't like the pets just jumping to my level and then not knowing if I truly like the family or whatnot. Plus, I enjoyed levelling my pets. It made me feel like I was getting to know that creature. Some of my personal enjoyment or immersion there.

As for the warlock pets, they have always levelled with you since I've been playing (end of TBC). If it was different before that, then forgive me as I didn't play then. It is bad enough that you have to fight the demon you want to use and survive to show you can make it submit to your will. You would only be able to summon a demon that was at your current level. If you summoned one below you, it would be too weak for you to want to bother with and too high would be uncontrollable as it would see you as worthless. I remember my first voidwalker fight. I had no clue what to do and it actually killed me because of the damage it did at the time. I got him killed several times once I did bring him around to my way of thinking as payback.

Just my two cents worth. Although, anyone else see anything about hydra pets?

[Chimera]

I am leaning more and more to this new system cause when you lvl with a pet out, its like you both have gained an acheivment, you and your pet made it to the next season of adventure (RP lingo for lvl up) and i feel the pet should lvl at the same time rather then the feeling that its lagging behind.

One problem is though i like how you have to lvl the pets when you first tame them. If we could go back to the raising its happiness to level 6 for best damage and having it stick to its original lvl when you tame, id do that in a heartbeat.

Leveling pets do let you mingle with the pet and get to know its personality and potential but once it matches your lvl i say it should keep lvling up automatically when you ding. Game mechanics wouldnt work so well like that though i bet.. too complicated and easy to bug itself up (im no computer expert so im just guessing it'd be very improbable lol)

[Nachtwulf]

Bleah.

I don't understand people that are like 'OMG I WISH IT WAS LIKE BACK WHEN IT SUCKED'.

Like the days of three stable slots, one of which you had to keep clear for learning abilities. Like pets not catching up to you at all. Like pets with no special abilities whatsoever. Like WHY THE HELL DOES EVERYONE ON THE SERVER HAVE GODDAMN BROKENTOOTH I HATE THAT CAT SO MUCH. IT DOESN'T EVEN HAVE A BROKEN TOOTH. (He still doesn't. Grr.)

As someone who's been at this since the days of mid-vanilla, I welcome these changes with open arms and a big fat smile. Level has nothing to do with whether a pet clicks for me... I can tell if I want to keep one within a day or two of picking it up, regardless of what level it may be, and it's sure as hell easier to tell if I want it if I'm not spending days and days with it basically being a useless lump made of tissue paper. Even three levels can be rough to work with since one Explosive is usually enough to get something to eat my face.

About time, I say. Damn warlocks have had it easy all this time, and it's time we got ours too.
(Although, as a warlock player, I WOULD like to see some way to alter your demons' colors. I mean... c'mon, there's other skins in the game, why can't we use them?)

[Worba]

OMG I WISH IT WAS LIKE BACK WHEN IT SUCKED

Well I felt like someone had to say it...

In all seriousness, as someone whose played WoW from early classic, this feels... due. Many times I have enjoyed (mostly) leveling pets up, feeling like I earned something to get them caught up, feeling like I bonded with them and etc... but nowadays after having done this countless times it's getting kinda tiresome... plus, it's a little annoying that everytime I level a hunter, there's a moderate lag before I can go into a dungeon and actually get my full DPS for that level, due to pet making up the new level. Not a huge deal or anything, but it is a minor annoyance that no other class has to deal with.

On the other hand, I hope this doesn't cause my hunters to become like my warlock, e.g. cool in theory but pets so out-of-the-box-ready that they just feel... plasticky and boring...

[Cialbi]

Natchwulf, what you described is human nature. We have a bad habit of looking back on the past with rose-tinted glasses. It's called nostalgia. Heck, look at the deal with dungeon difficulty. People were complaining that WotLK was too easy, and that they wanted a challenge like what they had back in tBC. With Cata, wish granted... and observe the results for yourself. I'm not saying that, as a group, those who were pining for older-style dungeons are now complaining now over dungeon difficulty, but I'm sure that this would be true of many individuals.

[Kalliope]

On the other hand, I hope this doesn't cause my hunters to become like my warlock, e.g. cool in theory but pets so out-of-the-box-ready that they just feel... plasticky and boring...

Look at it this way: it's like all pets out there are at the cap. Jadefang, Sambas, and other pets at the level cap are no less exciting than the ones who aren't max level - they just don't require time spent with them to get them prepared.

It's all personal preference, though. I lacked a deep bond with some of my max level pets, but I also lacked a deep bond with some of the pets that I'd leveled. That's because they weren't clicking, not because of their level.

You could always impose a trial period on new pets, where they have to survive a certain amount of time/heroics/whatever in order to stay. I know it's not the same thing, but it could work.

[Worba]

On the other hand, I hope this doesn't cause my hunters to become like my warlock, e.g. cool in theory but pets so out-of-the-box-ready that they just feel... plasticky and boring...

Look at it this way: it's like all pets out there are at the cap. Jadefang, Sambas, and other pets at the level cap are no less exciting than the ones who aren't max level - they just don't require time spent with them to get them prepared.

It's all personal preference, though. I lacked a deep bond with some of my max level pets, but I also lacked a deep bond with some of the pets that I'd leveled. That's because they weren't clicking, not because of their level.

You could always impose a trial period on new pets, where they have to survive a certain amount of time/heroics/whatever in order to stay. I know it's not the same thing, but it could work.

Yes I know there's an exception to every rule a la max lvl pets etc, that's why this was more of a general feeling; I'm cautiously optimistic about this change and trying to keep an open mind. It's like 80% looking forward to it and 20% hoping it doesn't make hunter pets feel like warlock pets*; I think there's enough else besides leveling about hunter pets to keep them feeling vibrant / alive / whatever it is that makes me like them, so we'll see...

*In re: warlocks, I want to enjoy playing them, but somehow I just ... don't. Whether that's all because of the prefab pets or something more, I don't know. All I know is, whatever it is that keeps me from digging on warlocks, I don't want it to ruin my love of hunters.

[Kalliope]

Oh, I understand totally about warlock pets. Without any possibility of customization, they all feel the same. Likewise, my dk's ghouls with their ever-changing names are hard to get into as well.

Only time will tell if this change makes things feel any different for hunters, of course. Hopefully, all will work out positively for you and most other hunters. ^_^ (I can't say all, because there will always be at least one who won't be able to get around a change, sadly.)

[Worba]

Oh, I understand totally about warlock pets. Without any possibility of customization, they all feel the same. Likewise, my dk's ghouls with their ever-changing names are hard to get into as well.

YES. Death knights. Once again a class I want to like... but can't seem to stay with. And of the two I play (frost and unholy), the unholy one is the only one I even kinda like - my frost DK just feels like a fury warrior who's trying really really hard to be "different"... lol.

Maybe I'll grow out of it. Hopefully.

[Arisia]

Bleah.
About time, I say. Damn warlocks have had it easy all this time, and it's time we got ours too.
(Although, as a warlock player, I WOULD like to see some way to alter your demons' colors. I mean... c'mon, there's other skins in the game, why can't we use them?)

Oh I would so KILL to make my snotty voidwalker PINK... or, for that matter *any* color that would offend his sense of dignity...

((man I RP *way* too much...))

[Tyuriwen]

I have very mixed feelings with this implementation, as I'm sure a load of hunters do.

Some pets I would absolutely LOVE to be 85 as soon as I tame them, so I can take them out to heroics/raids and see how they perform straight away.

Frëki, my wolf, who's been with me since The Burning Crusade, started as a level 4 Prairie Wolf. Level 4! It took HOURS just to level him, I did all my Netherwing dailies with him, and when he dinged 70, I was over the moon. There was this sense of accomplishment and of a bond I didn't have with any of my other pets, it was incredibly strong. Even to this day there is not a single pet I love more than him, and it's probably down to the whole levelling process. So yeah...not sure at all. =s

[Worba]

I have very mixed feelings with this implementation, as I'm sure a load of hunters do.

Some pets I would absolutely LOVE to be 85 as soon as I tame them, so I can take them out to heroics/raids and see how they perform straight away.

Frëki, my wolf, who's been with me since The Burning Crusade, started as a level 4 Prairie Wolf. Level 4! It took HOURS just to level him, I did all my Netherwing dailies with him, and when he dinged 70, I was over the moon. There was this sense of accomplishment and of a bond I didn't have with any of my other pets, it was incredibly strong. Even to this day there is not a single pet I love more than him, and it's probably down to the whole levelling process. So yeah...not sure at all. =s

Embrace the ambivalence! Power to the cause!

[Tyuriwen]

Embrace the ambivalence! Power to the cause!

Haha! I usually have strong views on absolutely everything, it feels weird.

[Cyone]

I liked the need to learn new abilities for your pets back in Classic. What I did'nt like with it was the need to go into a dungeon for it (the highest wolf ability was only learned from a wolf out of Blackrock).
So I'm glad that they ended this, because now you would probably be forced to go into some raid instance.

To level a pet all the way up from taming to 85 would take too much time. Back in Classic it was a torture, when i decided to get Mazzranache. It took ages to get hin up to 60. In that time I felt like a melee, it was not really playing hunter.

Now we have 21 to 25 possible pets. I'm just leveling up a new huntress, and she has already 10 pets with lvl 44. Since I'm doing all quests with her, I'm constantly doing grey quests. There is no way to level up her pets while playing. They all are always 3 lvl below her. With this new change I can finally take whatever pet I want.