WHAT THE HECK!!

[William099]

Just got done reading through the power changes on the cataclysm pets, is anybody else as upset as I am about how much weaker most of the powers are now? For crying out loud the moth power no longer heals, the Core Hound lava breath no longer does damage (since when does lava not cause damage!) and they got rid of the raptors bleed and the scorpions poison thats so dumb!!!

Of course maybe there is an upside that I am missing if anyone wants to enlighten me.

[Altheaus]

yes there is an upside...all pets do the same base damage now... you can play with your fav pet or you can bring a missing buff/debuff to the party/raid.. how ithis not good O_o

[Vephriel]

Instead of everyone being forced to keep a Wolf, all pet damage has been normalized, and they've been given useful buffs that bring utility to raiding and soloing. There's no longer that huge gap between one pet family and all the others, so as Altheaus said we have more choice in which pet to bring. ^^

[Mania]

I understand why they made these changes and I support them.

But I have to admit that as a solo quester who always hunted with whatever pet I wanted anyway (at least in Wrath) I do miss the idea that scorpids poison things and core hounds blast things with lava.

*shrug* Mathematically it works out and I think that's the more important consideration here. (And graphics, but they aren't touching that so far as I know.)

I definitely understand what you're saying, though.

[Kalliope]

At least core hounds do still put a lava debuff on their prey; scorpids don't actually poison anything anymore.

Although hey, you can always look at it from the perspective of "my scorpid poisons my opponent's hand, causing him to drop his weapon!"

[TygerDarkstorm]

Personally, I couldn't be happier with the changes.
There's nothing quite as cool as seeing more variety in the pets hunters are using for raids/heroics now, be they bringing a certain buff/debuff or it just being their favorite pet. I LOVE that for once, spirit beasts are finally more than show pets in Dal. These changes are nothing but good progress for the hunter community. ^_^

[Araniis]

In all honestly, I was worried that all the hunters would go right back to Cats, seeing as their buff that they give us is Horn of Winter (And seeing as we LIVE off of Agi, more of it is ALWAYS desired) and I was pleasenly surprised to see that that wasn't the case. Heck, for me and my guild, I almost NEVER bring out my Cat, simply because we nearly always have about 3 Death Knights in our raids. My first pet, my RAPTOR, is actually more desired because we nearly never have a Warrior or Offensive Druid. Same can be said for Core Hounds, another pet that people thought we were going to be seeing everywhere. It's more like 'Hey, I've got this option available to me!'

Yeah, it does kinda feel a bit weird that Scorpids don't poison things anymore (Though I'm kinda iffy with nearly ALL of the defensive pets getting PVP like abilities) but in general, we're better off now with our pets then we've ever been before. No more will we be forced to take a single pet over another just because it does the most DPS. Admittedly, this means that I'll probably NEVER use my Oil Covered wolf again other then to show him off, but I still enjoy being able to raid and what not with pets I NEVER thought would see the light of it.

[Artemisia]

I like the changes to the pets. I have a handful of pets that I love like the Fox, Owl, Bear and Scorpid, and now I have incentive to have them. I like that Exotics get two abilities (though I'm not a BM Hunter). This makes it possible for me to really love my Hunter where it use to be that I chose what worked best for groups and had the highest damage.

[Lisaara]

I'm actually with everyone else and am happy with the changes. :3 I like me wolves but I much prefer my spirit beasts and the new buffs/debuffs. It gives us variety and less of a chance of someone to dictate what pet you can and cannot use.

[FuzzyDolly]

Personally, after using the "new pets" for a little while, I would have been happier if they had gotten rid of ALL special pet skills. Then we would have been truly free to bring any pet we want. I've already been told to teleport out of a dungeon and go get a different pet. So, you see, nothing has truly changed. We STILL can't bring the pet WE want.

[Lisaara]

Personally, after using the "new pets" for a little while, I would have been happier if they had gotten rid of ALL special pet skills. Then we would have been truly free to bring any pet we want. I've already been told to teleport out of a dungeon and go get a different pet. So, you see, nothing has truly changed. We STILL can't bring the pet WE want.

Really? I would've told them 'deal with it unless you're gonna pay my subscription from now on.'

[Malazee]

Anyone trying to tell you that you need to bring a certain pet for a dungeon is insane. Unless I'm trying to do an achievement that requires specific coordination, there is no situation in which I would feel obligated to bring a pet other than the one I like most, nor would I put up with someone trying to tell me to do so.

Raids are (understandably) a different story. And even so, if all the buffs your pet can do are already covered, you still have the chance to bring whatever pet you want.

Overall it's a very nice system, and at the very least, it's a major improvement over the previous system.

[Lisaara]

Anyone trying to tell you that you need to bring a certain pet for a dungeon is insane. Unless you're trying to do an achievement that requires specific coordination, there is no situation in which I would feel obligated to bring a pet other than the one I like most, nor would I put up with someone trying to tell me to do so.

Raids are (understandably) a different story. And even so, if all the buffs your pet can do are already covered, you still have the chance to bring whatever pet you want.

Overall it's a very nice system, and at the very least, it's a major improvement over the previous system.

Exactly! You said it best.

[Novikova]

I don't want to get rid of special pet abilities. They make them unique. I do wish Aotona's pet family got some love though, since I <3 my birdie more than I could have imagined. It is nice that I'll be able to bring whatever I want. I just wish every other class's stuff didn't OVERWRITE mine. >_< Why can't mine override theirs? Sheesh.

[ummeiko]

Honestly, as a priest, I HATE that pet buffs seem to override fort (at least the lock's imp does, dunno about a silithid because I haven't been grouped).

To me, aura-based buffs should not overwrite casted ones. We were doing throne of the four winds, and for those that don't know, the raid is split up between three platforms, so I'd buff... then the lock would get his imp out, and everyone would lose fort. Then we'd split, and 2/3rds of the raid didn't have fort anymore.

[Malazee]

As I priest, I hate that as well... that's why I berated all of our regular warlocks until they learned to turn their imps' blood pact off. ^_^

[Kalliope]

Honestly, as a priest, I HATE that pet buffs seem to override fort (at least the lock's imp does, dunno about a silithid because I haven't been grouped).

To me, aura-based buffs should not overwrite casted ones. We were doing throne of the four winds, and for those that don't know, the raid is split up between three platforms, so I'd buff... then the lock would get his imp out, and everyone would lose fort. Then we'd split, and 2/3rds of the raid didn't have fort anymore.

This is when you tell the lock to either use a different pet or turn off fort. >_< Cause yeah, they can do that.

[Xota]

The only thing that really bothers me is that my Devilsaur no longer gets huge. Bringing a buff or function to a group is more important to me than upping my personal dps 5%.

[William099]

Hmmm thats all really interesting okay glad its not quite as bad as I thought. Devilsaurs no longer get huge? I was just outside Stormwind today and saw a devilsaur shrinking from huge back to normal size in a dual. Never had anybody try to dictate what pet I could/couldn't bring but I def would not take it either. They still took alot of damage abilities away from the pets though. So even though the powers don't do damage they are better because they balance the pets in comparision to others basically? Thats why its an improvment?

[Xota]

They still can still go big-red, but monstrous bite used to increase their size more. But yes, that's why it's an improvement. If your group is min-maxing, and is missing a buff/debuff, hunters are the adaptable class that can switch pets and fill the role. And if you're not min-maxing, you can bring whatever pet you think is the neatest.