Bristlenose wrote:I'm still iterating on this trying to find a good balance of practicality versus abusability.
A new exotic ability exclusive to Beast Mastery that allows your pet to resurrect you if you die much like the Shaman's self-resurrection. Call it "Undying Loyalty" for example since it ties into the close bond Beast Mastery hunters have with their pets. 20 minute cooldown, restores 33% health and maybe shares a cooldown/limitation with the battle rez from Quilen or other similar resurrections. That way it won't be so prone to abuse but also won't be entirely useless in raids and could free up a battle rez during boss fights. It is pinching a bit from Shaman but theirs is more powerful and not reliant on a pet to bring them back.
Probably won't happen but I think it fits good with Beast Mastery's devotion theme.
Perhaps stretching the possibilities even further... maybe not a self b-rez, but perhaps something similar to the "Raise Ally" that death knights of old had? If no one remembers or wasn't around, DKs that used Raise Ally on a dead player would actually bring them back as a ghoul that had a small set of limited abilities at its disposal, including a self-detonation. You could make it so that when a BM hunter dies, the pet remains... and the hunter gains control of it. With the hunter dead, the pet wouldn't have access to, say, kill command, so it wouldn't be fantastically OP, but a buff/effect could be added to make it more vulnerable to AoE so that it isn't completely immune to certain raid-wide damage, and perhaps increase its damage done by 20%. They could bring back Eyes of the Beast for fun and to also act as a way to set up the pet's action bar for when this occurs, so that you aren't stuck with the tiny, limited bar that pets have these days. The pet could despawn as usual if it gets too far from the hunter or maybe after a certain time limit if it isn't killed (a time limit that could be ended early).
It's really wishful thinking, considering how weird it could be to program for something like questing.
I'd really enjoy a survival hunter-exclusive ability to transmog their melee weapon into a ranged weapon (so many of my troll's guns have bayonets and other nasty bits on them - and not a melee ability for miles around). There's already goofy and absurd transmogs that people can pull, why not let hunters stab things with unnecessarily sharp bows or actually use the bayonets on their guns?
An edit: maybe not live on through the pet, but still keep it around and just give simple "attack this" commands to its AI for a short time after you die. I never really liked the idea of a pet/minion just DISAPPEARING when the summoner/master dies. For some, like warlocks, it makes a bit of sense for the demon to get banished back immediately but it'd still be a nice little touch if any pet-reliant class could have their pet go on for a small time after they die. Holy priests can turn into a spirit healer after death, so why not give a pet class (or several) something similar?
Another edit, by God my head is bursting with so many "gimme-gimme-I-wants," I don't want to be spammy: Guild Wars 2 had/has (haven't played in a while and I never got far anyway) pets that were mostly/entirely ranged, like poison-spitting spiders. Could some hunter pets in WoW be changed to being ranged attackers? Basilisks could shoot their cool spine things hydralisk-style, rylaks could spit flame and/or poison, wind serpents could get their old lightning breath back... the possibilities!
And you're right, the diets are a bit obsolete at this point and seem more of a remnant of the past than actual useful information. That spot could be far better used to show buffs.
But an actual ingame version that doesn't require to use an addon would be muchly appreciated.