RFC stands for ‘Request for Comments’. Basically, this is a post in which I ask you for your comments about a pet. I did some RFC’s in the past about the pros and cons of each pet family (although I stopped that series when the pace of pet changes made them obsolete). But the RFC I want to do today is rather different.
I want your opinion on which pet family is the weakest for leveling a new hunter. That is, if you were going to suggest a pet for a new hunter, something that would be a good choice for solo questing … which pet would you suggest last?
Now I should clarify that I firmly believe that all pet families are perfectly viable for leveling (and indeed for all other purposes!). So right off the bat I recognize that this question is fairly … nuanced: Any pet will work, but some pets will work slightly better than others. So which pets work slightly less well?
Also keep in mind that some pets aren’t available until relatively late — like nether rays, wasps, the exotics, etc. For this post, I am mostly interested in leveling and questing before level 40 (although I would love to hear your thoughts on higher levels as well). That’s pre-exotics, and also pre-Thunderstomp for the Tenacity pets.
Finally, I am asking specifically in terms of a pet for a new hunter, because I’d like you to assume that the hunter is not a particularly skillful player. Some pets can really shine when used well, but not so much when you just leave them to their own devices. Alternatively, you can assume that this question applies to a lackadaisical hunter like myself instead of a new hunter — the effect is the same.
So there is your assignment, should you choose to accept it: Tell me which pet you would recommend last for a new solo hunter under level 40!
Feel free to e-mail me or answer in the comments. And as always, thanks for all your help!
Grrrr sorry working on my laptop typing and typos lol
Personally, I feel that any pet that has a situational move (disarm, cast interrupt) on a long cooldown is pretty useless.
I know bears are probably fantastic, I just can’t get past their standing “animation”. The bottom jaw just looks too freaking weird and it irks the crap out of me. Pretty silly reason to not get a bear, I’m sure, but I just can’t help it.
I have always always always loved boars. One, I love pigs irl; secondly, I think for tenacity pets, they do a good deal of damage and I have never had a problem with my little boars holding aggro. Even at low levels, I think they make awesome pets. Plus, they eat anything, and have tons of different colors to choose from even at low levels. I’ve used boars for as long as I can remember, back in the day when we had to tame weird critters in the middle of nowhere just to learn the next level of bite, and back when I farmed Mist Howler for several hours because of his quick attack speed. :P
I also love my carrion bird. He does great damage which helps him keep aggro, and the AoE shriek is nice for picking up initial threat. The wings don’t really get in my way except for the other night when I was trying to pick up a quest item from the floor, but after a slight turn of the camera I got it. Just a tiny little annoyance in an otherwise fantastic pet.
So my personal top two picks are boars and carrion birds. I don’t even mess with the cunning tree.
Oh your missing out. Not quite so much in lower levels, but cunning pets can be a ton of fun. Wolverine bite and owls focus are two of the best pet talents anywhere. On the negative side though, carrion eater isn’t passive like the other two tree’s happiness restoration, and their up front damage can’t match ferocity, obviously.
Below 40, I’d have to say cunning and tenacity would lose, because you can stop feeding ferocity pets sooner. With all families having a focus dump and no regen talents dps output is pretty much the same since you only have a few talent points. In lower level instances flappy things would also lose, due to targeting issues and a lack of experience with tab and the assorted fun that comes with it.
I must say, as a Marksman spec’d hunter, I pull aggro off just about EVERY pet I’ve had lately. I still love my hydra/croc though I’m trying to level a boar as an alt tanking pet. Cannot STAND gorillas and spiders scare the crap outta me. I may drop my cat though cause it’s still far too common…even with so many people swapping for wolves as raiding pets. I like to try to be different, and I can level with just about any pet I chose to get. I will say most cunning pets seem to have more use in pvp than in soloing/questing. I don’t mind some of the abilities that use more focus because i have decent enough crit with Go for the Throat to regen it right back fairly quickly.
I have no good suggestions, as I played back before they overhauled the pet system.
I leveled with a caster dragonhawk, but then switched to Washte Pawne when I could. I loved using a Wind Serpent, because having a ranged attack meant my pet wasn’t likely to run around pulling everything in creation.
I remember when Wind Serpents were up there on the best raiding pets in BC. They were very comparale to raptors and cats. :)
I don’t like spiders, but that’s because I don’t like spiders… I guess I’d have to say to stay away from tallstriders at low levels, their ability probably isn’t the greatest. But it really does depend on preference in the end.
My choice of a pet is, brace yourself, a moth. I rarely see anyone use them though.
Off course they are ferocity, and with my favorite family skill other then thunder stomp. They got a HoT and att power buff ability, and I noticed that I don’t need to heal him as much as I did a cat or some other pet, which really adds up to the pets and my own survivability.
Second would be tallstriders, I just love them :3
Of the ferocity pets (only pet tree I do) I have to say tallstrider. But for new ppl I suggest u get a cat or a wolf I love my wolf the rare named Snarler i’m ganna get a new cat soon then Skoll Loqu’nahak then in patch 3.3 get the spirit bear. The new spirit beast :)
I know alot of you guys find these pets horible but I like dragonhwaks, birds of preys and moths alot. I also like wolves while I lvled (I’m lvl 80) The pet I hate the most is spider for there horrible sound they make. I also hate them in real life so that doesn’t help either.