Intimidation. Wooo.

[Palladiamorsdeus]

Not at all. My pet's all run ferocity and I only have to sacrifice one or two DPS talents in order to keep them alive most of the time. Course I also have four additional talent points, being BM, so I can afford that.

Side note: I MISS STAMPEDE! Flinging members of the opposing faction in all directions was awesome.

[Kalliope]

So in order to have my pet alive, I need to spec into what I consider useless, like Bullheaded, and run with a turtle?

Sorry, I just won't do that.

rofl...

You're just being stubborn at this point. If you're DEAD SET on having your pet live, run with a tenacity pet like a crab. Pin can get your pet out of jams as well. It's all in how you use what you have. I wouldn't run with a PvE specced tenacity pet either, though. You don't need talents that affect growl, for example.

[Saturo]

That wasn't how I meant it, but for me, the pet never stays alive in PvP. Almost never in PvE either. That's even when I'm in a BM spec. If I have to spec into more survival stuff than 2/2 Bloodthirsty and Heart of the Phoenix, I just can't do it properly.

[Kalliope]

If your pet's dying in PvE constantly, then you absolutely have to be doing something wrong. One point in bloodthirsty is fine. I don't even have to use mend pet.

I was looking more at PvP beforehand.

[Lilandre]

Might get tweaked yet.


we can still hope :c

[Mania]

*tap tap tap* *frown* Let's not be quite so judgmental about how others play, eh?

[Sarayana]

This is how it works for me, whether I"m BM, SV, or MM:

When soloing, I rarely go up against anything my pet can't live through with a quick Mend Pet or two. Heck, even Chillmaw can't kill my Croc with Mend Pet ticking.

When in 5-mans, I keep my pet on passive. I have a 'send pet + toss up Hunter's Mark' macro that I keybound to 1, with /petfollow (I believe that's the command, I'd have to double check) as ctrl-1 for easy recall. My pet dies in a few situations; like Kalli said, last boss of Gundrak kill it, and well... uhm... I can't recall, really. If it's a slow kill on Keri in Nexus it'll die to stacks sometimes... Anyway, it's got great survivability simply because I manage it.

In pvp, I don't even bother. I mean, I toss up Mend Pet, but if my opponents are worth their salt, it'll be dead in two shots. Fortunately, so will I, and the GY res automatically resses your pet too, so it works out great for me!

[Redith]

*tap tap tap* *frown* Let's not be quite so judgmental about how others play, eh?

Yha my feelings exactally

[Kalliope]

*tilts halo* Sorry, "yer doin' it wrong" is more of a WoW catchphrase than a serious judgement of playstyle. Honestly, though, in totally neutral terms, pets CAN live in PvE and PvP, so if any hunter is having trouble with it - regardless of spec - then something is up.

That's all I meant, really. I'm curious as to what's being done differently to cause such high pet mortality rates.

[Tahlian]

I have a couple of friends in the beta...they've agreed to give strongly yet politely worded feedback about Intimidation and our concerns. And to do so often as they can. So cross your fingers, folks.

[Palladiamorsdeus]

Not much else we can do, my friend.

[Saturo]

You can bet that if they let me in, they'd have some pretty loud opinions incoming. About pretty much the whole expansion.

They probably know that I'm not a kind tester...

[Kalliope]

Maybe if they changed how Rhumba worked, it'd be nicer for BM hunters. I like it in that it's a different sort of mechanic, but it doesn't seem FUN simply because it's a charged-up effect.

It kind of seems to me like Blizzard's out of ideas. Let's get constructive! What other sort of shot could BM hunters get that's different, but not ridiculously overpowered, that could potentially replace intimidation as the level 10 ability? Marks already has the physical bleed thing covered with piercing shots, nature damage is covered by serpent sting and most likely the venoms. Shadow damage is covered by black arrow and holy doesn't seem appropriate. Flaming arrows already exist in explosive shot....maybe something icy?

The most appropriate sort of choice, IMO, would be another animal-themed shot, but I have no idea what sort of new functionality a new shot of any kind could have that we don't already have.

[Saturo]

[Wounding Shot]
You fire a wounding arrow into the enemy, causing (number) bleed damage over 15 seconds. Each basic attack from your pet will also cause (number) bleed damage over 5 seconds. The pet effect stacks to 5.

My idea for this would be a relatively weak bleed from the hunter, with the pet bleed causing about 25% more when fully stacked. It would have a fifteen second duration and a fifteen second cooldown. The MM bleed is a weak, automatic bleed. This would be an activated one that includes the pet.

[Kalliope]

Hmm, so a more controlled version of piercing shots. How about adding either a mangle-type effect to it or another talent that ups bleed damage? Given, this would push BM hunters more into the physical realm, but HEY, BM has PETS with CLAWS and stuff. It makes SENSE, really. xD

Would there be a cd on this shot? And if so, how long?

Edit to note that rogues have multiple sorts of bleeds, so why can't hunters?

[Sarayana]

Oh I like that idea. It'd definitely be more interactive, since it's triggered by the hunter but you need your pet to be attacking to charge it up. I'd totally go for that!

[Kalliope]

It's kinda along the lines of frenzy, but different. And the whole ramp up time helps balance it for PvP.

[Donoghan]

I'm also underwhelmed by "Intimidation" as the defining "special" for Beast-Masters. Personally, I hardly ever use it; and even if I did, it's on a long cool-down which limits its usefulness anyway. Especially compared to shots that increase our DPS.

Are they, once again, trying to dissuade people from going BM?

[Vephriel]

I think Intimidation is one of those abilities that I have tucked away on a side action bar that I practically never use.

[Donoghan]

I think Intimidation is one of those abilities that I have tucked away on a side action bar that I practically never use.

Yep, same here!