Should ALL BM pets get exotic abilities?

[pop]

In your opinion, should all tamed BM pets should get exotic ability, if the hunter has learned 'Exotic Beast'? 'Exotic Beast' skill would not just allow bm hunter to tame exotic beast with exotic skills, but once learned, it would unlock normal pets' exotic skills.

For example;

An MM or a Surv hunter's cat would only have 'Roar of Courage', but a BM hunter's cat that has learned 'Exotic Beast' will get a new exotic skill; 'Pounce; Your cat quickly pounce behind your target, giving it 50% evasion for 3 seconds. 20 yard range, 1 minute cd".

Boars and goats gets Head Charge; same as Rhino's Horn Toss, and Warp Stalker's exotic ability would be its old warp skill; teleport.

I also would love to see an aoe exotic skill for Nether Ray, Dragonhawk and Wind Serpent, that ar ejust actually a copy of chimeara's frost storm breath, with the exception of instead of arcane/frost damage, Nether Ray's will be shadow based aoe, Dragonhawk's aoe would be fire, while wind serpent's aoe would be nature.

And imagine if serpents can learn borrow, just like worms, or spore bat and moths get "Maddening Spore", and wolves get "Howl of the Hunter', which would be the same as Core Hound's ancient hysteria.

The more majestic creatures such as cranes, bird of prey would get their own version of BOK as their exotic skills named 'Majestic Presence', while bats, beetles and carrion birds can leech the lives of their targets.

Crabs Turtles can shoot out bubble beam, making its target float helplessly, and the spider's kiss will will fright you away.

[Quiv]

Just my opinion, I know this can become heated so don't want that.

This would make more sense to me from a gameplay and thematic standpoint. When I think of someone mastering something, it is unlocking its full potential. Why can't we master cats or wolves? A Beast Master isn't really a master if he only gets the same out of his cat as a Survival or Marksman (ability wise). I would think a Beast master could unlock something in his cat that a marksman couldn't.

Now I can understand the viewpoint that exotic beasts are harder to tame, but if I had to choose between some families being harder to tame (and therefore exclusive to BM) or all pets available to all specs and BM get master abilities (exotic abilities), I would choose the latter.

One of the reasons I don't like BM having exclusive families is BM isn't just a flavor. It is its own playstyle. In order to enjoy those pets, you have to adopt that playstyle. When we consider some that don't like that playstyle, or those with DPS concerns, it locks people out of potentially using pets they want. I don't personally see value in locking players out of pets they want over novelty.

Of course a line has to be drawn somewhere, so I don't think it'll happen.

[Tahlian]

I think it would be a far better use of Blizzard's resources to make sure all the pet abilities that currently exist are properly operational and balanced. Coming up with an "exotic" ability for every single pet family that works right, is balanced, and doesn't break the game or send it back into "Wrath wolf syndrome" would take a good amount of time that could be better used on other things. Beast masters are not "confined" to only using exotic pets. They have the option to use exotics, just like they can use any pet any other hunter can use. When I was using a cat in raid, nobody complained. I'm only using a spirit beast now because it takes a little pressure off our healers to have that smart heal going off while I'm DPSing. So no...I don't think that needs to be done in the slightest.

[Crotalus Horridus]

I know this isn't a suggestion thread to make up new ideas and such, but I think they should be this (And yes, I think they should get abilities):

Starting with the first pet on Petopia to the last:
Bats
Guano Power - Your bat poops a pile of Guano on the target, trapping them in it.
Birds of Prey
Eye Grip - Your Bird of Prey grabs sinks it's talons in the targets eye sockets and lifts them in the air, then drops them.
Dragonhawks
Dragon Rider - At low health, your dragonhawk carries you on it's back to safety.
Monkey
Monkey Fangs - Your monkey sinks it's sharp fangs into the target, making the target squeal and run away in terror.
Nether Ray
Magic Steal - Your Nether Ray steals a magic spell from the target, then uses it against it.
Ravager
Acid Blood - When your Ravager is hit while this spell is active, the attacker will take nature damage for every hit.
Serpent
Constrict - Your Serpent wraps around the target, trying to suffocate them. The target must attack your pet to become untangled or they will die.
Spiders
Army Spider Trap - Your Spider makes a web in a 10 yard radius. If someone steps in the web, they get slowed down until they walk out of it.
Spore Bats
Spore Spread - Your Spore Bat forms three mushrooms around the target. If you/the target/your pet attacks the mushrooms, they explode.
Wind Serpent
Storm Cloud - Your Wind Serpent forms a cloud around you/it, any attacks toward you or your pet will be evaded. Last for 20 seconds.

Carrion Bird
Vomit - Your Carrion Bird vomits on the target, blinding them for 4 seconds.
Cats
??? - ???
Dog
Terrifying Bark - Your Dog barks at the target, scaring them away for 10 seconds.
Fox
Raid the Coop - Your Fox raids the targets inventory and takes an item, it then beats the target with said item.
Hyena
??? - ???
Moth
??? - ???
Raptor
Neck Slash - Your Raptor jumps on the target and slashes it's neck, instantly killing it. Not usable on players or dungeon/raid bosses.
Tallstriders
Head in the Ground - When you cast Feign Death, your Tallstrider hides it's head in the sand, clearing all aggro.
Wasp
Parasite - Your Wasp puts it's larvae in the target. After 1 minute, a large wasp emerges from the target, attacking them.
Wolf
??? - ???

Bears
??? - ???
Beetle
Dung Roll - Your Beetle rolls a ball of dung and hurls it at the target, causing the ball to roll over them, stunning them for 10 seconds.
Boars
Truffle Shuffle - Your Boar searches for truffles nearby, when it finds one, it gives it to you, healing you for 5% of your health.
Crab
Giant Enemy Crab - Your pet becomes invincible in every part of it's body except one, the attacker must attack the crab in that spot to damage it.
Crocolisk
??? - ???
Gorilla
??? - ???
Scorpid
??? - ???
Turtle
??? - ???
Warp Stalker
Teleport - Your Warp Stalker teleports to the target.
Worm
??? - ???

I really can't think of anything for Tenacity pets...

[Equeon]

I know this isn't a suggestion thread to make up new ideas and such, but I think they should be this (And yes, I think they should get abilities):


Bats
Guano Power - Your bat poops a pile of Guano on the target, trapping them in it.
Birds of Prey
Eye Grip - Your Bird of Prey grabs sinks it's talons in the targets eye sockets and lifts them in the air, then drops them.
Fox
Raid the Coop - Your Fox raids the targets inventory and takes an item, it then beats the target with said item.
Crab
Giant Enemy Crab - Your pet becomes invincible in every part of it's body except one, the attacker must attack the crab in that spot to damage it.

I think I laughed a little too much at these descriptions. But an idea like this would be interesting...

[pop]

I think it would be a far better use of Blizzard's resources to make sure all the pet abilities that currently exist are properly operational and balanced.

You do know that exotic skills are just copies of other classes' skills right? And no, they don't have to be unique. Some pets could share the exotic skills.

[pop]

Beast masters are not "confined" to only using exotic pets. They have the option to use exotics, just like they can use any pet any other hunter can use. When I was using a cat in raid, nobody complained. I'm only using a spirit beast now because it takes a little pressure off our healers to have that smart heal going off while I'm DPSing. So no...I don't think that needs to be done in the slightest.

See even sb is better than a cat, while devilsaur is better than a wolf. The stigma is still there, though the exotic skill seems to be trivial, the exotic pets that shares the same skills as it's normal counter part still is better because exotic pets still have the options of exotic skills.

[Ziarre]

I think it would be a far better use of Blizzard's resources to make sure all the pet abilities that currently exist are properly operational and balanced.

This this this this this. Work on what we've got before we throw even more abilities to balance into the mix.

[Tahlian]

Beast masters are not "confined" to only using exotic pets. They have the option to use exotics, just like they can use any pet any other hunter can use. When I was using a cat in raid, nobody complained. I'm only using a spirit beast now because it takes a little pressure off our healers to have that smart heal going off while I'm DPSing. So no...I don't think that needs to be done in the slightest.

See even sb is better than a cat, while devilsaur is better than a wolf. The stigma is still there, though the exotic skill seems to be trivial, the exotic pets that shares the same skills as it's normal counter part still is better because exotic pets still have the options of exotic skills.

I don't use my spirit beasts because they're "better"...I use them as a simple courtesy to my raid's healing team. If I wanted to, I could show up this week with Forge or any one of my normal cats, and while there might be a bit of grumbling, there wouldn't be any "OMFG must have an exotic NAAO!" going on. Just like I occasionally whip out my corehound for Bloodlust...as a courtesy.

There still don't need to be poorly shoehorned-in "exotic" abilities for all animals, in my opinion.

[Meggers]

As to what and how, idk. But it does make sense to me personally

[Worba]

I like the idea in theory. The problem is that if exotic skills become spec-based instead of creature-based (that is, every family has its own "exotic" ability, but only for BM spec), then it could be confusing to still call exotic families "exotic", e.g. my wolf and worm both have exotic abilities, but only my worm is actually "exotic", in the sense that I as a BM spec can tame it whilst Bob the MM hunter cannot.

Instead maybe keep the "exotic" tag so we know what families are restricted to just BM spec, and re-label exotic abilities as "Mastery Ability", and make THAT the thing that BM hunter's mastery stat feeds into.

[Acherontia]

I'd say just make the current exotic abilities tameable to various non-exotic types of pets--no need to make new ones. I still don't see the point of BM-only pets, and the whole "but exotics are what BM is all about!" argument just irks me. Played BM for ages and I don't still don't understand why locking us to particular pets is seen as a good thing.

I love my spirit beast, so it's not as big an issue for me, but if I loved my wolf instead I'd sure be annoyed that I could never use it properly. If Spirit Beasts, without Spirit Mend, were available to all, and instead I could (as a BM hunter) "unlock" Spirit Mend for cats, wolves, spirit beasts, and a few other families, I'd take that tradeoff in a heartbeat.

More options = always better, imo.

Example of what I mean (only BM would get to train these):

Monstrous Bite: Devilsaur, Hyena, Dog, Wolf, Ravage
Spirit Mend: Spirit Beast, Cat, Moth, Sporebat, Warp Stalker
Ancient Hysteria: Core Hound, Raptor
Qiraji Fortitude: Silithid, Beetle, Wasp
Burrow: Worm, Serpent

etc.

[Worba]

I like the idea of taking existing exotic abilities and making them "go farther", but I'm not with you on the "exotic families for all" thing - share out explosive shot and aimed shot with BM and we'd maybe have something to talk about, but otherwise that sort of thing has always seemed like a suspiciously one way street to me.

[Acherontia]

The class identities are all getting a bit muddled in MoP anyway. BM can have Silencing Shot & Readiness (unless they've changed that since last time I saw?), so I wouldn't mind sharing the pets!

[Worba]

I'm holdin' out for the other specs' "big guns" before I start sharin' mine.

Hmm, Chimaera Shot sounds nice!

[cowmuflage]

"but exotics are what BM is all about!"

That argument is always kinda odd as what was BM before exotics then?

[Worba]

What was *anyone* before L70?

[cowmuflage]

What was *anyone* before L70?

haha Still is always odd to say as exotics only came out in WOTLK and all

[Worba]

No I suppose it was more chilling than anything else...

But that's kind of my point - talking about Vanilla is kind of embarrassing specwise, like how people try to forget mullets and disco platform shoes...

[Kalliope]

"but exotics are what BM is all about!"

That argument is always kinda odd as what was BM before exotics then?

Beastial Wrath.