Spirit Mend

[Tulune]

Giving a ferocity pet a heal ability instead of a damaging ability is stupid no matter how you look at it.

I am really unhappy with what Blizz is doing with pets at the moment.

[Rikaku]

I just mean that while a handfull of pets got Crit buff, a lot got debuff abilities but ONE got healing? And not even that great of healing numbers? O_o just seems awkward.

Name another pet family that seems at all capable of healing, even by the furthest stretches of the imagination.

Again that falls under the justification of "because its a spirit", which I stated I don't accept because the justification of being a spirit would also allow Spirit Beasts to do things they still can't XD

If people like the ability, that's fantastic (and I'm not being sarcastic). However, nothing is going to convince me Spirit Mend is or ever will be a good option for Spirit Beasts. Spirit Beasts should've got at least a debuff ability like Spirit Rend or something, not healing.

To me, none of the pets should have a healing ability because it just strikes me as awkward.
"Blizzard: We don't want you all to use one pet for anything, but we're going to give on Exotic Family an extra heal" so essentially the optimal leveling would belong to a SB right? Sure you gotta spec/camp for it, but again that's just what's bothering me.

SB or not, pets should've been buffers/debuffers, not healers. But that's just my opinion.

[Sarayana]

Giving a ferocity pet a heal ability instead of a damaging ability is stupid no matter how you look at it.

I am really unhappy with what Blizz is doing with pets at the moment.

You're missing the point. None of the pet families will have damage-dealing family abilities. Some will have damage-boosting abilities (like the new furious howl, which is a crit buff), but none of the family skills in Cata will be directly damage-dealing abilities.

On top of that, the other exotics seem to have two family skills. So far we only see one for the spirit beasts. I'm 99% sure we'll see something more that'll make them feel right up there. The pet pass is clearly not finished, a lot of the families weren't addressed in this patch.

Once again, and with gusto: it's the beta.

[Saturo]

the optimal leveling would belong to a SB right? Sure you gotta spec/camp for it, but again that's just what's bothering me.

Actually, the optimal leveling would be with SV or MM, regardless of if the pet is a healer or not. BM doesn't have the same kind of burst as MM and SV, the kind of burst that let's you down a mob in two shots, that is. MM and SV also have much better kiting. BM would really only be better if you want to try soloing elites that are immune to CC, and we won't be doing that in Cata. No class will.

[Palladiamorsdeus]

Completely wrong come Cataclysm, Saturo. BM burst is on par with MM and SV at the VERY least, with the potential to be above it with the way pets are hitting.

[Rikaku]

the optimal leveling would belong to a SB right? Sure you gotta spec/camp for it, but again that's just what's bothering me.

Actually, the optimal leveling would be with SV or MM, regardless of if the pet is a healer or not. BM doesn't have the same kind of burst as MM and SV, the kind of burst that let's you down a mob in two shots, that is. MM and SV also have much better kiting. BM would really only be better if you want to try soloing elites that are immune to CC, and we won't be doing that in Cata. No class will.

I'm only talking about BM since BM are the only one given option to SB's and thus Spirit Mend. I'm saying my argument with BM only in mind.

[Saturo]

Completely wrong come Cataclysm, Saturo. BM burst is on par with MM and SV at the VERY least, with the potential to be above it with the way pets are hitting.

*Rips hair*
I don't want it to go back to the TBC way! Nooo! D:

the optimal leveling would belong to a SB right? Sure you gotta spec/camp for it, but again that's just what's bothering me.

Actually, the optimal leveling would be with SV or MM, regardless of if the pet is a healer or not. BM doesn't have the same kind of burst as MM and SV, the kind of burst that let's you down a mob in two shots, that is. MM and SV also have much better kiting. BM would really only be better if you want to try soloing elites that are immune to CC, and we won't be doing that in Cata. No class will.

I'm only talking about BM since BM are the only one given option to SB's and thus Spirit Mend. I'm saying my argument with BM only in mind.

Oh right. Sorry, me stupid.

[Rikaku]

XDD I don't think its stupid, I just needed to clarify. I can't speak on MM/SV stuff anyways, I don't pay much attention to those specs.

Is it wrong I LOVED TBC for that? XDD
Anyways seriously though, from my testing, MM/SV/BM are all seriously in close competition with each other. It seems to be more dependent on your gear and skill as a Hunter who does better, then what spec you are.

[Doth777]

On topic: Spirit Strike was an extremely weak attack, and it slowed your pet down from approaching the target, having to stop to cast it. I see absolutely nothing wrong with it's removal, as it was bad to begin with, and now with a fairly strong heal, Spirit Beasts, can be quite nice during leveling.

Slightly off topic: I think Raptors and Wind Serpents/Dragonhawks will be the big pets now, with Raptors able to apply a bigger ArP debuff than any class can currently, and Serpent/Hawk increasing magic dmg done to targets by 8%. I'd say the Serpent/Hawk pet immediately becomes the pet of choice for Surv, while MM would prefer Raptor and BM is a bit more flexible (atleast until more theorycrafting is done). With BM's damage a mix of magic (Arcane Shot, Serpent Sting, Cobra Shot, etc) and physical damage (Kill Command, Auto shots, pet Basic attacks), there's a bit more wiggle room for choice. And then of course in raids, you can bring a pet to fill a missing buff if desired with minimal loss of dps, if any. The main difference in dps now should be the Fero/Tena/Cunning tree difference, and even then that is only 5% or so.

[Palladiamorsdeus]

Alright, I am sorry but this is nothing NEAR a strong heal. People have upwards of fifty thousand hit points in Catacylsm, and mobs deal a TON of damage. This is a piddly heal at best.

Also, you can't get a spirit beast until at LEAST 74. Even if spirit beasts start cropping up in say, old Azeroth, you don't get Exotics until 69.

[Shandorei]

I think it really sucks if they are taking away the moonfire-looking spell : \ It kinda makes it to a spirit beast aswell... Sprit Mend would be "unique", but not in the same way : \


Grrr damn you blizzard destroying pet damage abilities!!!!


Edit: wait.. was this only an idea or has it been decided?

[Saturo]

What animation does spirit mend use, Palladia?

[Doth777]

Considering it comes from your pet, has no cost, and under 1min CD, and can heal for nearly 10k over it's duration, I would classify this as a strong heal. not to mention it scales with RAP so it will continue to get stronger.

I just used mine and was healed for nealy 14k over it's short duration. For a pet heal with no cost and a 28second cooldown, I'd say that is damn good.

[Tulune]

Giving a ferocity pet a heal ability instead of a damaging ability is stupid no matter how you look at it.

I am really unhappy with what Blizz is doing with pets at the moment.

You're missing the point. None of the pet families will have damage-dealing family abilities. Some will have damage-boosting abilities (like the new furious howl, which is a crit buff), but none of the family skills in Cata will be directly damage-dealing abilities.

On top of that, the other exotics seem to have two family skills. So far we only see one for the spirit beasts. I'm 99% sure we'll see something more that'll make them feel right up there. The pet pass is clearly not finished, a lot of the families weren't addressed in this patch.

Once again, and with gusto: it's the beta.

Not missing the point at all. I am not a fan of the direction that they are going with pets. And like I said, giving a pet a measly little heal is stupid no matter how you look at it.

[Worba]

Even if spirit beasts start cropping up in say, old Azeroth, you don't get Exotics until 69.

I posted about this on the forums a week or two back and was surprised at all the people who completely missed the point and assumed I was talking about having more exotics added to the game at levels 1-68...

It will be interesting to see the player community's reaction to that once the cata patch hits... especially once the expansion itself hits and everyone and their brother is leveling a baby goblin/worgen/undead hunter.

[Illahren]

Lol, Doth ty ty for being able to test what I was thinking. I must be one of the very few people who read the list earlier and was downright excited about the change to Spirit Beasts.

Maybe I missed it somewhere earlier in the conversation, but can this Spirit Mend ability target the pet itself or is it restricted only to party/raid members? If it can target itself, then Spirit Mend + Mend Pet + Lick Your Wounds makes spirit beasts the hands down favorite Ferocity pet for solo'ing in game. Probably not anywhere as good as a Tenacity pet properly setup, but still.

I'm hyped up at the moment about these changes.

* Worba, as a sidenote, are you aware if there has been any mention regarding any new exotics to be introduced in game in old Azeroth? Outside of a few new rares in Loch Modan and Thousand Needles, plus the hellboar'lookalike Grunter has become, there seems to not be alot of new models coming out not involved in regular new familes.

[Worba]

Worba, as a sidenote, are you aware if there has been any mention regarding any new exotics to be introduced in game in old Azeroth? Outside of a few new rares in Loch Modan and Thousand Needles, plus the hellboar'lookalike Grunter has become, there seems to not be alot of new models coming out not involved in regular new familes.

Not that I'm aware of... but in a way I'm actually glad - yes you heard me right; if they did have new exotics in old world, all we could do is stare at them longingly as we leveled up past them... then eventually once we're heading over to Northrend at 69, finally make a detour back to old world to tame it now that we finally have the ability to tame exotics.

Not going to get into it here as it was covered under a different thread but suffice to say I posted a suggestion on the hunter forums that they consider making tame exotics a core passive from lvl 10, so all the new goblin/worgen/undead BM hunters can actually include exotics as they play the new content...

[PorrasouxRex]

Completely wrong come Cataclysm, Saturo. BM burst is on par with MM and SV at the VERY least, with the potential to be above it with the way pets are hitting.

*Rips hair*
I don't want it to go back to the TBC way! Nooo! D:

TBC was a whole lot different than Wotlk/Cataclysm in alot of ways:
No Exotics.
No Family skills
No trees
Pet stats didn't stack 100% from ours.

I welcome BM becoming a better spec and being finally balanced with MM and Survival. Atleast I won't have an Asshole (Excuse me for my language) Belf Paladin that retired her/his/it's hunter because Paladins are so much better than hunters in his/her/it's worthless opinion, and call me a bad player for Dual specing BM. I want those jerks to get slapped in the face when we become one with the MM/Surv DPS ranges. "Oh, sorry dear..you're BM...you don't stand a chance against m- WHAT THE HELL? MY INTERNET EGO AND CONFIDENCE HAS BEEN BROKEN BY THIS PVP DUAL, I SHALL GO GROAN TO BLIZZARD OF HOW UNFAIR THIS IS."

[Bluemain]

I posted elsewhere so ill not rant too much (probably)

but spirit mend....to me, sucks and sucks worse than henry the hoover.

solo, mostly not needed, your pet takes the dmg, esp bm (aka spirit beasty), and u have mend pet,spirit bond ect
5/10/25 partys, you have healers. thats there job mine is to do as much single target high velocity super cool dps as possible not do a heal that compares with a bandage.

and again in my opinion, losing pet abilities that to dps is just devs taking the easy way out to balance pets.

sorry for the rant but im quite annoyed by these changes.

[Bellatryx]

I'm beginning to think people don't read the post at all.. they just skim over the first two and then write out their long reply.

I think like 3 people have had to state that no pets have damaging abilities anymore. Damage is baseline, you're going after the pet for the special buff/skin.. not the damage upper. I also think people are a little confused because they think that perhaps for some reason basic pet damage skills have gone too? I'm not sure..