Dilemma - Hyena vs. Boar vs. Rhino =/

[Angua]

One of the things I love about Hunters, especially Beast Mastery spec'd ones, is the ability to bring a buff or debuff to a group that they would otherwise miss out on. I've been playing a healer for so long, I guess it's just in me to try and be as useful as possible. So... one of my goals since I hit 85 is to flesh out my stable with pets to cover all of the raid buffs and debuffs. I've been pulling them out one by one from my Stable, bringing them along for my daily quests and heroic, and just making sure we get along. Some have had to be released and replaced, but overall it's been fine... until the hyena.

When I hit 70 and got my epic flying, I went out a bit of a taming spree and one of the critters I nabbed was Giggler from Desolace. I named him Ed, after the hyena from the Lion King who could not stop laughing or smiling, and tucked him away in my stable until later. Today was his turn to tag along and hopefully hit 85, but I found that I can't stand him. His movements are just so ugly and it just bothers me to even have him beside me... I doubt a color change would fix the way I feel. He's in the Ferocity family, though, and the only other two creatures for this particular debuff, are Tenacity.

My question is... is it worth living with the hyena for DPS reasons even if he's rubbing me the wrong way? I adore boars, they are so cute! I haven't tried a rhino, but glancing at the models they seem perfectly fine as well. Argh...

[Sasrei]

Keep what you like really, its not the most important debuff so I am sure itll be ok if you dont keep your hyena, you could always get one of the other pets with that buff, but really it goes to what you enjoy playing with! not what it can bring

[TygerDarkstorm]

Keep what you like really, its not the most important debuff so I am sure itll be ok if you dont keep your hyena, you could always get one of the other pets with that buff, but really it goes to what you enjoy playing with! not what it can bring

This is both true and untrue. For some people who are doing raiding and even dungeoning with guildies and what not on a regular basis, they need to bring the pet that's going to help themselves and the group even more. Not everyone sees hunter pets the way we do.

Hell, I love and cherish all of my pets, but still prefer to cover a buff/debuff that isn't being brought to help out the group.

To the OP: I wouldn't worry too much about a boar, hyena, or rhino. If you happen to bond with one and have the stable space, that's fantastic, however, the 30% bleed debuff is pretty much brought by all classes that already use bleed damage anyway. If you play as MM, they will buff Piercing Shots.

[Fafnir]

If you are raiding at all, you need to be using cunning/ferocity pets unless there is some really bizarre situation that calls for tenacity. Bizarre being like... doing Chogall with no melee to interrupt other than tanks and needing to be SV for traps/aoe, and using a gorilla to assist interrupting the adds (don't ask -_-). It's pretty important to maximize damage in these Cataclysm raids, might as well do your part.

I wouldn't recommend only having an exotic for a fairly rare raid debuff - what if the raid required you to be MM/SV? I don't believe there are any lv85 boars or hyenas readily available.

That being said, I dunno, I think Hyenas are cute, they share the same animation and body style as wolves and foxes, and the stubby tail is funny. It took me forever to find one I liked though, since most of the color variations are very washed out in normal light, and it was a plain ol' yellow fellow from Durotar (named Hogger :p)

The Mangle debuff is only brought by feral druids otherwise, btw. If you have an Arms warrior or Sub rogue in your raid, then tenacity or ferocity is a lesser issue.

[Acherontia]

I don't see it mentioned, so here goes--apologies if it was.

Bosses are currently immune to the hyena's debuff.

It's probably due to the hyena's Tendon Rip previously being a snare, and the immunity carrying over.

Because of this, I wouldn't bring a Mangle-debuffing pet -at all-.* Rhinos and Boars just do too little damage, and you have a score of other buffs you can bring to a group! I personally take along an emergency tank, an agi/str pet, an ArP raptor, BL corehound and 5% crit pet--but you can change it up however you like.

* As BM--if you're MM/Surv and love boars, go for it

[Angua]

Since Arms Warriors, Subtlety Rogues, and Feral Druids all provide the bleed debuff, what class (besides Marksman) has bleeds that would benefit from the debuff that doesn't provide it for themselves already?

I dunno, I still have Ed... maybe it's his color that bothers me. I'll go see if he looks nicer after a dye job, in the event Blizzard gets around to fixing the hyena debuff on bosses, and probably go tame a cute little boar or rhino while I'm at it, since I have a few stable slots to mess around with.

I've been exclusively Beast Mastery since I rolled my hunter and my performance in raid settings has been anything but poor. I have dual specialization purchased, but I haven't even filled out the second talent tree yet. I've yet to be beaten on any fight, even fights with AOE (Magmaw - my worm, Noodles, destroys the parasites) or fights where I should be at a huge disadvantage (Atramedes since he has multiple air phases when I can't Kill Command, and I was the one interrupting Searing Flames with the gong). I know that the other specs are higher damage and maybe the people I'm playing with aren't on top of their game, but... I like my pets, hehe. I'll get around to trying out one of the other specs eventually, but atm I bring 3% damage buff (at least on dual-tank fights) with the group I've been running with.

That said, I haven't picked up any Exotics as my sole form of a buff I can provide (I have a sporebat and a corehound, a wolf and a devilsaur, etc.). I know that some day I'll likely try out another spec, even though I'm thoroughly in love with Beast Mastery.

Now to take Ed to the barber!

[Acherontia]

Since Arms Warriors, Subtlety Rogues, and Feral Druids all provide the bleed debuff, what class (besides Marksman) has bleeds that would benefit from the debuff that doesn't provide it for themselves already?

The only use I find for it is non-subtletly rogues, tbh. I think it's one of the less-useful debuffs/buffs you can bring.

I love the idea of hyenas, and some of their colors--but the model's neck-hunch and boxface kind of bother me to this day. I've re-tamed my red Styx on and off since TBC (emotional attachment!), and yet I never keep him particularly long >.>

[TygerDarkstorm]

Hyenas are adorable, but I find the bleed debuff to be practically useless (it's one of the last things we should ever consider to bring if you're looking to fill missing gaps in buffs/debuffs with your pet). I also wish they'd give them the old posture back, or at least fix the way they look on the new posture. To me their neck doesn't look like much of a neck and makes the way the head fits on the body look awkward. The box muzzle doesn't bother me as much since quite a few of the old wow creatures suffer from it (wolves, cats, hyenas, etc).

[Fafnir]

Feral drood, MM hunters, all rogues, and all warriors, use bleeds. Of these, only Feral offers an innate Mangle that is raid-worthy.

I haven't actually needed to use my hyena in raid for awhile, but I just had him solo Attumen and Maiden of Virtue a bit ago and the debuff applied just fine, not even any DR. If it is any different for Cataclysm bosses for some reason, I can't say.

Anyway, I would say Mangle is the lowest priority of raid buffs to fill, so if you don't like hyenas, it's probably not worth using a tenacity pet for it either, especially as BM.

[Angua]

So, after a trip to the barber (tamed EVERY skin of hyena there was)... I've found a look for Ed that I like. Through this whole process, I've definitely felt a little pang in my heart for even considering getting rid of him. Right after he became this color, he got up and howled, something I'd never seen a hyena do, and my heart melted.



Edit: Probably still gonna tame a boar. =P

[Mozag]

That colour works beautifully with your Worgen, you're virtually the same.

In fact, I have this skin on my Worgen as well, and I'd never let my Chaucer go. Then again, I adore the hyenas in-game, despite all their model issues.

Well done for finding a suitable Ed!

[Kalhoun]

I like to have the majority of buffs covered in my stable, but I just couldn't bond with a bleed pet. I want to like hyenas, but ever since they had their posture changed in WoTLK, I can't really get into them (I used to use them a lot back in the day, when they held their heads higher. Well, up until they had that "inside-out butt" graphic bug). I figure that, as others have said, the classes that use bleeds already bring their own buff. It's not really a biggie if I skip it.

I've tried pigs and rhinos as well.... I think I'm still stuck in the old "Tenacity does not equal dps pet!" mind set. Perhaps I will grab an armored boar for old times sake anyways, because they *are* pretty cute.

However, I'm glad to see you found a hyena you like! That brown skin looks really nice with your worgen.

[Miraga]

gahh! I love the name/reference! Grats on your new hyena!

[Griffley]

but really it goes to what you enjoy playing with! not what it can bring

Thats what they tell infertile men too

awesome Hyena BTW!
love the reference, mine was named Hecklesworth, and obviously a hecklefang hyena

[Acherontia]

He does look great with you!

[GormanGhaste]

I have the color-changer hyena right now, but I think the brown one is gorgeous.

Edit: I may just switch to the brown skin now.