My apologies on being a tad late with this news, but after staying up way too late adding a list of stable masters to Petopia (betcha hadn’t even noticed that yet!), I ended up sleeping until 4 pm.
But last night Ghostcrawler posted a rather interesting announcement about exotic pets (and Aspect of the Viper too):
Two changes coming up:
We aren’t happy with how Aspect of the Viper is working in PvP, but it seems fine in PvE. We’re going to try changing it so that 50% of its current regen is passive, leaving the remaining 50% active. That should give hunters some more mana in Arenas in particular when dealing with opponents who manage to get out of LOS a lot. Yet, in PvE where hunter dps is very high, the difference in regen shouldn’t be very noticable. We are also going to let Viper return mana from melee attacks for those cases where a melee opponent is too close for comfort.
The second change is to some of the numbers on the special attacks of exotic pets to make sure the pets are around a 10% increase from normal pets. This should make exotic pets a reasonable benefit for the talent point (especially when you also count the bonus pet talents) without making every BM hunter feel like they are limited to just those pets.
A 10% increase feels like a lot to me, but then I’m the sort of hunter that would give up extra damage (or bunches of talent points, or shoot, even levels) to be able to tame more types of pets. So perhaps I’m not the best judge.
you know, i spent a lot of time yesterday just roaming around (trying to explore azeroth fully) and along the way i tamed quite a few pets, and i must say, i’m really liking cunning pets for PvE. I thought i’d be ferocity through and through but i was more impressed by the spider i picked up in silithus than the firefly i’d been waiting the whole time to get. I think the way it’s gonna work out for me is that i’ll use a cunning pet for solo PvE, ferocity for PvP and most instances, and tenacity for whenever i need a partial tank. my only complaint about the 10% bonusis that the two exotic cunning pets are my least favorites, silithid (or as i call it, ITS for Insane Twitchy Scarab) and chimaeras which are just too ratty for my taste. Oh well, maybe i’ll get a serpent or a windserpent or a dragonhawk, i wouldn’t mind any of them, even without the 10% buff.
I’m glad that Ghost Crawler is gonna update all Exotics so that they are at/near the top. Woot! I’m glad that Epic Exotics, like Devilsaurs, are gonna get a 10% increase. I’m glad that Exotics are gonna finally get some special treatment. It was not fair at all, how dang Marks”man” and Survival Hunters got their special Talents. And I don’t see how a 10% increase is in any way, shape or form somehow “overpowered”.
I am glad the exotics are being updated with a little more omph, I just hope Bliz updates the attack movment as well. I have had a heck of a time hunting with my laggy corehound.
The fact that only BM hunters can tame exotics does not make them “better” just different, Blizzard is showing us they are better by the 10% buff that is all. Seriously if they are going to be better just because only BM can tame them, lets change them from exotics to Superiors. That way can just say take these because they are better.
To those of you who aren’t forced to take certian pets, good for you. Many raiders however like to do what is best for their raid team and for a hunter that mean DPS in raids. Except MAYBE a survival hunter that is there for some CC but then exotics aren’t an issue for them.
You can all just have your Superior pets and watch others be forced into roles they don’t want.
It’s not an issue for my hunter as he is MM and will stay that way, But I know hunters it will be an issue for and I feel sorry that once again they will be forced into pets again. A friend of mine is already been told by his guild to pick up a Devilsaur and to hold a slot for Spirit Beast incase they take a better DPS slot. If he tells them no he is off the raid team and he knows it. Sure you can tell him he’s better off to go find other raiders.. but that’s 2 years of online friendships he’s giving up and he waited 6 months to get on the raid team. Pretty lousy options and Blizzard is forcing it. But hey for people who’s guild isn’t going to force you, it’s all good for you.
I’m done commenting on this said my bit.
About raiders ‘forcing you’ to use ravagers… this just shows how ignorant most non-hunters are about hunter pets. I raid, and I bring a cat. Why? I dunno, it’s a ‘high dps’ critter and I liked how she looked. I also manage to crest dps charts, (at least aside from our T5-6 geared splody-locks anyway). The difference between any high-dmg pet before this patch was so small as to be completely unimportant and if your raid leaders are that much of a bunch of jerknuts that parrot things someone just randomly told them… you should probably find a healthier guild.
That said, I haven’t been into a raid since the patch, mostly because the instability of the realms have made everyone I raid with go ‘um, let’s wait until we’re sure it’s not gonna die on us in mid-battle’. I do think a blanket 10% dps increase is kind of a mis-aim. Giving them a 5% overall improvement on health/armor/dps would be better imo.
Agreed, Nachtwulf. Right now the differences in DPS isn’t all that great. Really, its a lot less then what it was. With the homogenization of buffs and debuffs, there really isn’t anything pets can do that players can’t do better. They are good for filling in holes, but not a must have. As for DPS, I’m not sold on the devilsaur being overall ‘better’. A little better, sure, and about to get a little better again… but I never see it being the be all end all of DPS pets. Just….. a bit better.
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Mania, thank you for the stable masters list! It’s great to have a resource to send young hunters to! :)
RE: exotics…. A bunch of them already have “buffed” versions of non-exotic pet family abilities, plus they get the benefit of the extra points (which is a HUGE difference, at least at 70). I don’t really think the damage boost is needed.
I have no plans on taking an exotic pet. I tried a few of them and wasn’t really impressed. Come to think of it. I am considering getting rid of my beloved Zarakh spider because of how far downhill it’s performance has been. I would have to say that my Gorilla is by far the best pet I have used after the patch. Multiple crit hits with one Thunderstomp that go for more than 800 points…. I oike that. And that was at level 62 fighting mobs a few levels higher. So, I am gonna keep the 4 extra points in the talent tree, but not get any exotic pets.