Newbie hunter 4.x pet question

[TygerDarkstorm]

Thing is, it was mostly rares who had all the special abilities back in Vanilla. It causes imbalance and leads to people using one type of pet and so Blizzard took it away.

[Ironale]

Should also add the differences between the 3 pet "specs".

Ferocity pets have an inherent +10% base damage boost. Tenacity pets have an inherent +10% base armor boost and Cunning pets have an inherent +5% base damage and +5% base armor boost.

That isnt taking into account talent trees, although talent trees are different. For example. There are many talents that increase damage (Shark attack for one) that are exclusive to Ferocity pets. Same goes for some talents that increase armor being Tenacity exclusive

Also make note that talent trees can flux even if a pet is the same spec. For example, Dogs are Ferocity and yet, cannot talent into Charge, but almost every other Ferocity pet can. Personally this makes Dogs really bad for me, since i adore Charge. There are instances of this with other talents, in the Cunning and Tenacity trees too.

[TygerDarkstorm]

Should also add the differences between the 3 pet "specs".

Ferocity pets have an inherent +10% base damage boost. Tenacity pets have an inherent +10% base armor boost and Cunning pets have an inherent +5% base damage and +5% base armor boost.

From my understanding all pets have been normalized with the Cataclysm, in other words, none of that is true anymore, and thus my original answer still stands.

ALL pets do the same base damage, only modified by level and talents. They all have the same base armor as well.

[Ironale]

Should also add the differences between the 3 pet "specs".

Ferocity pets have an inherent +10% base damage boost. Tenacity pets have an inherent +10% base armor boost and Cunning pets have an inherent +5% base damage and +5% base armor boost.

From my understanding all pets have been normalized with the Cataclysm, in other words, none of that is true anymore, and thus my original answer still stands.

ALL pets do the same base damage, only modified by level and talents. They all have the same base armor as well.

Ah, well its still better to get a Feroicty pet for DPS anyway since they have all of the damage talents. Cunning/Tenacity only have some of the damage talents.

[TygerDarkstorm]

As has been said earlier in this thread, Ferocity and Cunning both sim at about the same DPS; they are so close that it doesn't matter which one you use. Even a tenacity pet is NOT going to trash your DPS. This Wrath mindset that Ferocity is greater than all needs to kindly make its way out the door so we don't keep confusing people.

[Wark]

Ah, well its still better to get a Feroicty pet for DPS anyway since they have all of the damage talents. Cunning/Tenacity only have some of the damage talents.

This was true during Wrath. This is not true right now in Cataclysm.

Courtesy the BM summary thread over at ej:

Pets are a major source of damage for BM hunters. They inherit 100% of the hunter's hit, haste, and crit, and scale considerably from AP. All 3 pet types (Ferocity, Tenacity and Cunning) inherit the same AP scaling, so the only difference in the potential damage output is the pet talents. This means it is okay to bring a tenacity pet if the raidbuff it provides is needed, as you will only lose what the pet talents provide.

That being said, right now, Ferocity and Cunning pets are both close in theoretical damage and require more numbers before one becomes more preferable than the other. Ferocity has the advantage of Rabid and Call of the Wild, although the long cooldown and short duration of Call of the Wild lessen its value (though it is greater for BM than for the other 2 specs, thanks to Longevity). Cunning has decent talents in Feeding Frenzy, Roar of Recovery, and Owl's Focus, but Wolverine Bite is currently poor.

[Agruvona]

The only serious difference within pet families relates to cats, and specifically to Loque'Nahak, (the spirit beast), and the fact that his roar is as stupendously awesome as anything else in the entire game.

[Raederle]

but... but.... I thought that a sporebat was THE pet that would help me do the best DPS and pwn in PVP?

(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WhvvNGeHHME)

[Shade]

Different pets do different things, it really is a matter of your playing style, spec and if you play with others or not.

On my middle hunter I tend to run with my best friend who is currently playing a druid. Seeing as she is usually a bear or cat and holds aggro pretty well, I tend to use a ferocity or cunning pet depending on my mood. With my littlest hunter I run solo on her and tend to rotate out between a cat and a tank pet to keep things off of me while I am killing them.

Best advice anyone can give you is just start playing and try out each of the pet classes. Within those groups, it is a matter of preference which you choose, a black wolf and a brown wolf are the same except for how they look. *shrug*

I never thought I would like using a spider but I recently tried one on my mid hunter and now adore it.

*shrug*