Pets Growling

[Cozzene]

In your opinion (aside from getting a mob off the healer or OMGTANKDIEDGOGOPET), is it ok to leave growl on in a standard tank-is-doing-fine dungeon?

--From personal experience, it's irresponsible. Growl is a lot more threaty than people realise, even really good tanks have issues with it.
--It's a GCD every 8 seconds. You are wasting that GCD on an unnecessary move when it could be going towards dps.

[Wulfwyn]

Leaving growl on when entering dungeons is quite irresponsible and defines... if I must say that nasty word... Huntard.

so my vote is for nay.

[Kurasu]

I honestly don't even know why this would be in question. Growl is good for holding threat, and eats up your pet's focus. In a dungeon, you neither want threat nor to use focus on things that aren't damage or special abilities. Honestly, this seems like a rather silly question to me!

[Minifig]

I ask the tank if he wants it on or off, then do the respectable wish. It's just something I've learned to do. I also ask if the tank is confident in his tanking skills before asking if they want it on or off.. so I'm completely ambivalent to the whole thing. Some want it on, some want it off. *shrug*

[Lisaara]

If you leave Growl on, thats a sure sign of a huntard. It's just as bad as Warlocks leaving their threat attacks on from voidwalkers and their felguards that means them Derplocks.

[Felidire]

I leave mine off during pulls unless the healer pulls aggro from trash mobs. I turn it on during boss fights after the boss has dropped down between 60-80% overall health, and ill use misdirect to my pet from then onwards; my aim being that I want the pet's threat to sit snug between the tank and the next-highest DPS class, it's a ferocity pet but you'd be surprised how many times he's saved the grp from a boss-wipe on lv.85 normal/heroic runs.

Only problem is that I do occasionally forget and leave Growl activated, but the [Pet Aggro] warning lets me know in a timely manner. <3

[Aweena]

i might forget the first pull or two but then i realise my pet takes dmg and erm admit fail from me also i always use md when i start dps tanks threat is the most important in the run and ofc the healers mana

i only re apply growl if
1. the tank dies and we only have a very few mobs left we might make it
2. boss is 1% hp and tank died and i might be able to make it (been last one standing in heroic stone core already due to this)
3. i see a healer get agro and want to pull the mob of her long enough for the tank to get it then remove it emediatly again
4. when i solo stuff alone its always on

honestly with all the bad hate we had in vanilla i try hard to do my best all the time and always admit it when i do something stupid or just fail like staying in blitz on the first boss in grim batol and with cata it seems hunters really need to find their skills again not nearly as much maybe but there are allot that need to learn to chain trap kite pet control and jump shot again i do not want to get back to the days where mm was the Spec and pets needed to be dismissed entire instances because of miss pulls and fail to keep them on passive

so i urge people to read WHU and get help also i get asked allot of questions and im by no means very good as a hunter im fairly okay but not the best and so i always point to frostheims site and to eletist jerks all thou the latter is what they call them selfs they do have some nice guides if you just keep from posting unless your and "elite" i got a slap for posting and i only posted once ^^

honestly im surprised at how many actually are in doubt with things and i have to admit until late tbc early wotlk i was a clicker i used my mouse im still not to good with hot keys but im doing better and i still got called a good hunter in most of my play time.

sorry wall of text there but its something i burn for had a lot of fights with people in vanilla about hunters and pets

[Davarra]

It's a very hard instinct to break...I mained a mage in EQ and pet taunt there was a necessity...even in groups, having my pet next up if ppl had the smarts to back out when TSHTF saved many, many nekkid runs. It seems entirely counterintuitive to the point of downright scary not to keep the pet as the first automated fallback, but pet mechanics in WoW are considerably different than EQ, at least as of when I quit.

I'll be honest, I've leveled with it on, only very rarely turned it off when I couldn't shout down a whiny tank, or was trying not to humiliate one who was nice, but new or not very good (and usually ended up dead for not having the pet as first fallback, then), or very experimentally since Cata. I'm simply not sure I like the results.

Now hard taunt I absolutely turn off, and manage manually, but even my dps spec'd tenacity have growl on...with only one rank of Guard Dog, to keep threat lower but happiness up. IMO, it's saved a lot more than it's cost me, but I realize this isn't going to be a very popular opinion around here.

I tend to mostly be a fairly hands off hunter, I prefer to think of my pet as a semi independent entity who generally makes fairly wise choices if allowed to do so.

[Ryno]

Depends on the group and level. Early on, can help. Later on, doesn't matter.

I always leave it off, one less thing for the tank to nerdrage about.

[erwil]

Off I'd say. Bit irresponsible to have it on, but, I do pop it on sometimes if there's a wipe incoming. If the tank pet doesn't survive the incoming damage, I can hastily look for a safe spot to feign death in. xD

[Aquillian]

Nope, I've never had trouble activating it manually in emergencies. *shrug* Also I tank enough on my main that anything to make aggro/dungeoning a pain at the moment is no good, haha.

[Rower]

I never use Growl in dungeons (:

[Aeliel]

I leave it off.

On the other hand, I've been known to swap out a DPS pet and swap in a tanking pet (I always carry at least one with me, since I quest and farm between instance queues) if I see the healer or the tank (or both) are struggling. In which case I keep Growl on and make sure I'm prepared to push Taunt as soon as the tank bites the dust. Saved more than one group from a total wipe on a boss by doing that - the pet bought us enough time that the group could finish the boss off, or the tank could get battlerezzed.

[Mustafah]

I say yes, but it really depends on the case. If the tank is very good, no need to keep the growl on. But if the tank dies or get to low hp, I vote for putting on the growl and taking control.

[Tudyk]

I voted no (since off is my default setting), but I always ask the tank at the start of a run. Most tanks aren't having rage issues, and (once I've explained that I'm willing to take care of my pet) I've never had a tank OR healer complain about my critter taking a little of the heat for 'em. =D

[Cialbi]

I honestly don't even know why this would be in question. Growl is good for holding threat, and eats up your pet's focus. In a dungeon, you neither want threat nor to use focus on things that aren't damage or special abilities. Honestly, this seems like a rather silly question to me!

The focus cost was removed in 4.0.1 actually. That, and the 3 second CD on your pet's Basic Ability means that your pet can have Growl on autocast with minimal DPS loss.

That said, I don't see a need for Growl to be on in instances. I've been leveling a druid bear lately, and get very annoyed when a pet starts attacking and growling at a mob that's only being hit by my AoE abilities. In cases where the tank keeps on getting killed by boss fight mechanics (that golem boss in stonecore, namely), then a DPS-specced Tenacity pet (a worm or shale spider, usually) that has Taunt will suffice in picking up the slack if need be. Turn on Growl and Taunt at the same time, and your pet should be able to keep aggro if DPS are careful (assuming that your pet is at your level).

[Loffter]

It is an issue with dps loss since it activates GCD, but the loss isn't that substantial. I think leaving growl on is not a "Huntard" move. It depends on what you are trying to accomplish, and more importantly what kind of pet you have. I for instance run with a turtle. It's easier on the healer if my turtle takes aggro now and then because for about 15 seconds, hes indestructable. Not to mention if there is an emergency situation, his growl is on and and ready to go. Also on bosses, it's like someone else said.. if growl is on, and the tank drops for whatever reason, then you have a backup.

I don't really do this with ferocity or cunning pets, only tenacity, but I personaly think it IS a good idea. It all depends on your group comp and what you are accomplishing in the group. I personally have had 0 issues with leaving growl on. I can keep my pet up with mend pet, tank has to put forth minimal effort, and the healer says "Wow, that turtle is beast, I didnt even have to heal him". Everybody wins.

[Davarra]

Some feros and fero builds can take it pretty well. Spirit beast, cat, wolf...cunnings are definitely feeling too crunchy to get cocky tho and have for a while. Love my little Spike enough not to want to have to try and mend broken quills and such.

[Lisaara]

It is an issue with dps loss since it activates GCD, but the loss isn't that substantial. I think leaving growl on is not a "Huntard" move. It depends on what you are trying to accomplish, and more importantly what kind of pet you have. I for instance run with a turtle. It's easier on the healer if my turtle takes aggro now and then because for about 15 seconds, hes indestructable. Not to mention if there is an emergency situation, his growl is on and and ready to go. Also on bosses, it's like someone else said.. if growl is on, and the tank drops for whatever reason, then you have a backup.

I don't really do this with ferocity or cunning pets, only tenacity, but I personaly think it IS a good idea. It all depends on your group comp and what you are accomplishing in the group. I personally have had 0 issues with leaving growl on. I can keep my pet up with mend pet, tank has to put forth minimal effort, and the healer says "Wow, that turtle is beast, I didnt even have to heal him". Everybody wins.

Except most healers never heal pets anyway. Only some do. So they all can say that. Personally, it's your responsibility to not cause a wipe by leaving Growl on and keep your pet alive via Mend Pet. That's kinda what being a hunter is about -- Controlling Your Pet.

[Cialbi]

The only situation that I've found healers to be willing to heal my pet would be when the tank dies and my pet is able to snatch aggro.