The most annoying part isn’t just that they removed the ability to change pet specs; a feature that existed for 8 years with no visible downsides. It’s that they didn’t respect the players enough to even bother explain why they removed it.
Almost 5 years later and here we are still talking about it.
Oh they claimed it was a pvp issue. But honestly I can’t see how it mattered that much.
(but then I’m not a hard core pvper)
I can’t see how people would change their actions that much no matter what spec it was in. Their options are the same aren’t they? Kill it or CC it.
Some say it was for pvp that way other players could know if it was a bear, wolf, or eagle they would know the spec of the pet. Guess each requires a different play-style.
Others it was too many abilities for each of the pet families, and Blizzard wanted to cut it down to three specs with all the same abilities. Then limited each family to a spec.
Then it was so picking pets was important again cause you could not just choose one pet for all situations.
I swear this is a purely Blizzard issue. I’ve literally never seen a player complain about this.
Although I don’t remember Blizzard saying anything at all about removing pet respeccing for Hunters.
I don’t think Blizzard has ever explained their reasons. These are just theories from others on the forums. Someone said they heard it from a Blizzard source, and another posters says no they heard this.
in relation to the inability to respec pets because of pvp, it’s down to a comment Nimox made almost a year ago in response to Watermist’s post on the community council:
If people want to go further back, the initial post they gave us during the alpha stages of BfA(it was originally posted on the alpha/beta sub-forum for that expansion so I don’t think you can link to the post itself anymore, as that sub-forum no longer exists. Maybe it can be found in archive sites somewhere):
Originally Posted by Solanis (Official Post)
As we’ve kicked off the Battle for Azeroth Alpha, we’ve seen a lot of discussion about the new way Hunter pets work. While we’re by no means finished, we have reached a place where we want to share some insight into our plans and explain some of what you might see in development as Alpha continues.
Our primary thoughts on pets going forward:
- Move past the idea of a DPS/Tank pet specialization
In Battle for Azeroth, all pets will have equal damage, health, and armor. All can tank or DPS equally. Choosing to put a particular pet into “Tank spec” feels outdated, so we’re going to shift all pets to a setup that will work as though they’re specced into both Ferocity and Tenacity (in Legion terms). All offensive and defensive passive abilities such as Blood of the Rhino and Combat Training will be rolled into every pet by default. Charge will be removed, and all pets will have Growl and Dash/Swoop. Some spec-specific actives will be redistributed where appropriate. We are keeping the names Ferocity, Tenacity, and Cunning as the broad groups that all families fall into. They are no longer changeable, and each has a new passive and active ability that are useful in almost any situation.
- Maintain and/or reinstate pet family uniqueness
Pet family flavor is part of what makes selecting a companion unique and special, and want to emphasize that even more. A special ability has been added to all pet families that were missing one. Exotic Pets still have their unique ability (like Surface Trot) in addition to a new ability. Pure flavor abilities that many pets have are also staying like Trick and Rest.
- Expanding access to Bloodlust, and the removal of Battle Res from pets
In Legion, all Hunters have access to Bloodlust and Battle Res, but they only exist among a handful of families, which leads to very narrow options. To that end, Bloodlust will be available on roughly a third of the tamable pet families rather than just two. In a world where we are proliferating abilities to many families, our first inclination was to add Battle Res to a separate third of those families. After seeing that landscape, it felt odd to fully embrace Resurrection as part of the Hunter kit. Further, moving into Battle for Azeroth, we are solidifying Bloodlust and Battle Res as the strong shared cooldowns that a group can bring – one offense, one defense. In that world, Hunters having access to both of the super powerful group benefits didn’t feel appropriate.
- A variety of pet ability packages
It’s important to acknowledge that some hunters want to maximize their impact with their pet, while others are collectors who want a pet for every occasion. There should be opportunities to cleverly swap from one pet to another in a given situation and reap the benefit. At the same time, the Hunter who has grown attached to their spider named Fluffy should feel effective across the game. We’re going to try to ensure that every pet package is attractive, with a unique combination of benefits that work in many situations.
Here are some specifics of the Battle for Azeroth design for Hunter pets:
There are currently 51 pet families, and each family will be categorized as Ferocity, Tenacity, or Cunning. Each will have an active and a passive, and the active will be a Hunter class button that changes contextually with your active pet.
Ferocity
- Primal Rage (Active – Bloodlust)
- Predator’s Thirst (Passive – 3% Leech for you and your pet)
Tenacity
- Survival of the Fittest (Active – 20% damage reduction for the Hunter and Pet for 6 seconds with a 3 minute cooldown)
- Endurance Training (Passive – 10% max health for you and your pet)
Cunning
- Master’s Call (Active – a friendly target and your pet are immune to root and moment impairing effects for 4 seconds with a 45 second cooldown)
- Pathfinding (Passive – 8% movement speed for you and your pet)
Each pet family will get one of six different abilities, and each ability will have a unique name themed to the family. Precedented abilities such as Ankle Crack – 50% Snare, Monstrous Bite – Healing Reduction Debuff, Shell Shield – 50% Reduced Damage Taken, Agile Reflexes – 30% Dodge, and Thick Hide – Reduced Damage Taken at Low Health already exist in the game, and we’re exploring adding something similar to Tranquilizing Shot to the list.
While this does create a landscape where there may only be a handful of families that exactly fit the combination of tools you prefer, each family was chosen with variety as a premium. There are winged creatures, predators, grazers, and more represented across as many abilities as possible, while keeping them thematically appropriate.
For two specific examples: a Spirit Beast in Battle for Azeroth still has Spirit Mend and Spirit Walk, and will gain Endurance Training and Survival of the Fittest. They also have a new ability, Spirit Shock, that dispels magic and soothes enraged enemies. Cats, on the other hand, gain Catlike Reflexes – a 30% dodge cooldown – in addition to Primal Rage and Predator’s Thirst. Both are able to tank or DPS equally.
Nowadays, only about half of the pet families out there have a useful ability, and we want to improve on that. In Battle for Azeroth, Bloodlust will be much more prominent, so Hunters should no longer feel bound to Core Hounds and Nether Rays as their best options. Most importantly, these changes should result in a pet landscape where all pets can serve as dps or tank as well as they could in Legion.
Please remember that all of the above, especially the numbers, are subject to change as we test in the Battle for Azeroth Alpha. Feel free to discuss anything related to Hunter pets here. We really appreciate your feedback!
There’s pet buffs now, so that’s a non issue. It’s just laziness or apathy as an excuse for not allowing pet respec now…
That quote isn’t really about why we can’t respec pets but rather why pet families have different abilities. Respeccing a Turtle to ferocity won’t make it have Mortal Wounds.
Reading that whole post, I feel he evaded the respec issue entirely.
Was that really the reason, or was it just the reason they gave. Kind of like character silhouettes being such a crock of poo.
It doesn’t have to be this way. In Cata pets still had their unique trees and identity, and PvP was at an absolute peak during that expansion. 100x better pvp than Dragonflight or any of the last handful of expansions.
So the notion of this changing “in order to improve pvp” is just false.
Yet half the tanks in the game wear leather.
Seriously. That was a load of BS spin that completely avoided the real issue.
“Secret Mortal Wounds Turtles” weren’t a thing in the first place. Family abilities and specs were separate and unrelated.
This - there is no reason they cant still keep the family abilities exactly as they are if this was really the issue but even if secret mortal wounds turtles were a thing who cares - you have no idea how a player is specced either, why is knowing how the pet is specced suddenly game breaking?
I miss the unique pets, like Lupos who did shadow damage. Too bad the PvP whiners ruined them.
Unique pets = clearly better/worse pets = everyone ends up using the same pet.
Careful what you wish for.
Being able to spec your pets was amazing. Yet another thing killed by pvpers constant whining,as most things cool are in this game.
it truly does not have to be this complicated
let the pet families keep their mortal wounds or snares or whatever. just let you change your pet from tenacity to cunning to ferocity etc
Was it ever even something PvPers complained about?