Exotic beasts at any level for BM hunters?

[Vephriel]

If they're not going to give it to use as the spec's signature, then they should lower it back to 60 or lower. It's no longer the end-of-the-tree super skill, it doesn't need to be that high. Let us have the ability to get exotics before we go to Outland again.

*nod* It really should be put back to 58-60.

[Delphinie]

I would also like Exotic to go back to lvl 59 was well, like it was for BC.

[Meggers]

If they're not going to give it to use as the spec's signature, then they should lower it back to 60 or lower. It's no longer the end-of-the-tree super skill, it doesn't need to be that high. Let us have the ability to get exotics before we go to Outland again.

*nod* It really should be put back to 58-60.

Sounds fair to me.

[Worba]

58-60 would at least be better than 69, and wouldn't require any tweaking to lower lvl exotic placement*, so yeah at least as a course of least resistance, that has some merit...

But given a choice I'd still vastly prefer they make it a lvl 10 core passive, and make the BM lvl 69 top-tier talent a little more about function and less about aesthetics.

Also, no matter what lvl tame exotics is set to, spirit beasts still require lvl 74+, so there's always going to be something special reserved for the higher lvl toons.



*Like for example needing to add more low lvl corehounds so you saw something besides the Omen model on BM hunters below lvl 67, etc

[SylviaDragon]

mmm I don’t think I would want exotics at lvl 10. I don’t think there are that many exotic options anyway besides low lvl chimeras, omen and maybe a few worms. Not only that but low lvl exotics could really make hunters (even more) overpowered in both bgs and PVE because of the extra spells/buffs their pets would have. Even with a limited choice at low levels the pets you could get seem like they would be ahead of their level. (lvl 20 with hero? ) They would have to remove everything that makes the pet exotic untill a higher level just to keep things in balance.
On the other hand I am all for reducing exotics to a spell you gain somewhere in the 50s. I always felt bad for the vanilla twinks who had bm pets that they had to let go because they bumped up the ability to control them to a lvl 69 spell. The 50s is when you start seeing more taming options anyway. You could tame most chimera skins, all silithid models, devilsaurs and a handful of other higher level pets at that point.

[Worba]

I don’t think there are that many exotic options anyway besides low lvl chimeras, omen and maybe a few worms.

If they lowered min lvl on tame exotics, they'd have to also add some additional low lvl exotics (like I said above - it would be silly if every BM hunter under lvl 67 who wanted a corehound had to choose between Kurken or nothing, lol). This is really the only semi-valid impediment to doing this imo.

Not only that but low lvl exotics could really make hunters (even more) overpowered in both bgs and PVE because of the extra spells/buffs their pets would have. Even with a limited choice at low levels the pets you could get seem like they would be ahead of their level. (lvl 20 with hero? )

If they were to blindly hand things like AH over to lvl 20 pets as-is, then obviously yes there would be balancing issues. But no one is suggesting they do that - instead, it would make more sense for them to scale exotic abilities at lower lvls like they do with virtually any spell, possibly using a gradual curve that slopes more sharply once you make 60. So your lvl 20 death puppy might only give you a non-game-breaking 5% boost, etc. >.>

They would have to remove everything that makes the pet exotic untill a higher level just to keep things in balance.

They wouldn't, but it's kind of a moot point as most people who want tame exotics made a lvl 10 core passive are only interested in its aesthetic value, so locking the exotic abilities until 50, 60, 69 or whatever the "OP" crowd needs would be fine.

[Nachtwulf]

I'm going to chime in here and repeat the line.

Yes, I think exotics should be the baseline skill. You are Beast Mastery. Exotics are the 'thing' that makes you BM. It's also really frustrating to see low level exotics (Kurken? The Razza??) go past and be unable to do anything but stare at them.

Since there is already code in place to allow pets to 'learn' certain skills at certain levels (in live, all pets don't gain family skills until 20, and warlock pets have a staggered learning curve already in place up until higher levels where they pick up skills along the way), I think it's entirely practical to have the 'base' skill be standard below 69 (for Rhinos, for example, this would give them Gore and thus make them fundamentally identical to boars/hyenas), and their 'exotic' bonus skill popping up at the appropriate higher level. This lets the BM hunter at least HAVE his signature pets, even if they're not actually any better than basic ones.

What kind of cheeses me off, though, is that the -real- benefit to being BM (all those extra talent points) seems to have gone away. This makes the BM 69 ability feel really nerfed in comparison to the other two specs' abilities, since exotic pet skills are conditional and in 90% of cases, not a dps increase, whereas the other two specs see a sizable boost to their capabilities at 69. This is yet another reason why I don't feel that Exotics are a good 69 skill any more, since the actual functionality of the skill is lacking in comparison to other specs (and other classes!), totally regardless of the cool factor of neat pets. Cool factor isn't a game mechanic as much as we may like to focus on it. I'd really like to see a 69 BM ability with some actual teeth to it. No pun intended.

[Lisaara]

If they're not going to give it to use as the spec's signature, then they should lower it back to 60 or lower. It's no longer the end-of-the-tree super skill, it doesn't need to be that high. Let us have the ability to get exotics before we go to Outland again.

*nod* It really should be put back to 58-60.

Sounds fair to me.

Now this I can agree with. Lvl 10? No. But 58 or 60? Fine by me.

[Worba]

Seriously with all the lvl 85 flaming turtles / spiders / wombats, ghost cats and other crazy looking things cluttering up the cities these days (e.g. BM or otherwise), is it really going to take anything away from them to have lvl 20 BM hunters accompanied by a small, non-glowing chimera from Azshara or a worm from Ragefire Chasm?

[Ziarre]

Now this I can agree with. Lvl 10? No. But 58 or 60? Fine by me.

Yeah, this would be cool with me. You'd still be returning to Outland if you wanted, say, Nuramoc (since you'd likely be hopping to Northrend at 68), but you'd still have a lot of exotic options without anything extra needed to be placed into the game.

[MaximumOverdrive]

Seriously with all the lvl 85 flaming turtles / spiders / wombats, ghost cats and other crazy looking things cluttering up the cities these days (e.g. BM or otherwise), is it really going to take anything away from them to have lvl 20 BM hunters accompanied by a small, non-glowing chimera from Azshara or a worm from Ragefire Chasm?

Think about how small they would be too! We always see exotics at their full size cause pets stop growing at level 60.

And I still can't see why people go crazy over heroism at a low level...considering it increases your haste by a %...you'll have like...what? 10 haste at level 10? Woohoo, 13 haste during heroism! So OP! And it's not like the other exotics have SUPER abilities that can't scale. A lot of the exotics have % based abilities that non-exotics have. Devilsaur has mortal wound, big deal. Silithid has the stam buff, so what? Maybe Chimeras and Worms might be a lil more odd, cause they have damaging exotic abilities, but I bet it could easily be scaled. Not worried about Spirit Beasts, Rhinos and Shale spiders as they're all high level anyways (along with Quilin). Most of the exotic abilities aren't exactly game breaking to have a low levels.

But if it's such a big deal, then maybe have the pets learn the extra ability at 59 or 69. It already sucks having to wait so long before you can get your first exotic, especially after they increased it. Taming exotics seems like something that should be a passive ability when you pick your spec, especially when compared to the other spec's end choices. I'm not sure what to replace the last choice with, as the two things I would think would replace it are already in the game as a choice when you level (the stampede and call wild animal one).

[Worba]

Yep. The power level thing is pretty much a non-sequitur (like Nuramoc for example who is lvl 70 and so the question of when you get to tame exotics is meaningless in his case, etc).