Restore the Spirit of Diversity: Please, Reintroduce Unique Skills and Attributes in Beast Hunter Pets

My first class in vanilla WoW was a hunter. The Hunter class has always stood out to me for its bond with nature and the creatures it commands. Central to this identity are the Hunter’s faithful companions, their pets, which have long been an integral part of gameplay. However, in recent years, the diversity and uniqueness of these pets have diminished, leaving many players yearning for the days of customizable skills and attributes. It’s time to restore the spirit of diversity within the Hunter class by bringing back unique skills and attributes to hunter pets.

At its core, the Hunter class is defined by its connection to the wild and the diverse array of creatures it can call upon. Yet, in the current state of WoW, this essence has been overshadowed by a lack of variety in pet skills and attributes. By reintroducing unique skills and attributes, Blizzard Entertainment has the opportunity to preserve the essence of the Hunter class and reignite players’ passion for the game. Imagine commanding a pack of pets, each with its own distinct abilities and strengths, allowing hunters to adapt to any situation and playstyle. This return to diversity not only honors the legacy of the class but also revitalizes the gameplay that drew many of the old gamers to the class as well as lets the new gamers add another level of complexity to an otherwise easy class.

One of the hallmarks of WoW has always been its emphasis on strategic depth and player choice. However, the current homogenization of pet skills and attributes has limited the potential for meaningful customization within the Hunter class. By restoring unique skills and attributes, Blizzard can foster a greater sense of depth and complexity in gameplay. Hunters will once again face the exhilarating challenge of choosing the right pet for the right situation, considering factors such as utility, synergy with their own abilities, and the demands of different encounters. This level of customization not only enriches the gameplay experience but also encourages players to experiment and innovate, fostering a vibrant community of beast hunters who share their knowledge and strategies.

Beyond the realm of gameplay mechanics, unique skills and attributes in hunter pets also contribute to the rich tapestry of lore and immersion in WoW. Each pet is a reflection of the world from which it hails, with its own history, culture, and abilities. By reintroducing diversity in pet skills and attributes, Blizzard developers have the opportunity to enrich the world of Azeroth, offering players new insights into its vast and diverse ecosystems. Tamable pets in regions will no longer serve as placeholders.
The region should offer a unique selection of pets with skills and attributes that reflect their environment and inhabitants. This not only deepens players’ connection to the world but also opens up new avenues for storytelling and exploration.

In conclusion, the restoration of unique skills and attributes to hunter pets in World of Warcraft is not just a matter of gameplay mechanics; it’s about preserving the essence of the Hunter class, fostering strategic depth and customization, and enriching the world of Azeroth. By embracing diversity and embracing the unique strengths of each pet, Blizzard Entertainment can once again captivate players and reignite their passion for the game. Please, for the love of everything, bring back the skills, resists, traits, lore and uniqueness of what a hunter pet was supposed to be.

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restoring unique skills and attributes means any sort of player expression with pets is immediately removed and people will only use the optimal choices for their preferred content.

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NO! Does everyone forget that MM doesn’t use pets??? We don’t need more things on the buggy, antiquated ai, terrible pathing, pets. Everything useful needs to be on the HUNTER! That is the only fair design decision for ALL hunters.

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They do.

As for the OP, I agree with Nondriel. By making pets different you actually remove player decision making and freedom of choice.
I want to use an Owl because I like owls.
I want to use a Wolf because I like wolves.
That should be the decision.

Not… well I want to use an Owl but my Owls traits suck especially in group content so I guess I’ll summon my Turtle.

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By not having diversity in pets, it diminishes the class as a whole. The pet in classic was a choice, a tree, and could be set up for a variety of situations. It made you explore and hunt exotic pets to have different skills. That element of the hunter is gone now. Just so someone could run around with a cosmetic pet. Which again, I don’t care what you run around with.

But for things like raid bosses and pvp, a hunters pet should be diverse.

For raid or dungeons, maybe your 10 man doesn’t have things like death’s grip, a knockback circle, roar, lust, the elemental debuffs. A specialized pet could fill this gap. The possibilities are endless.

But for pvp, the attacking team should be able to recognize the opposing pet to know what ability, that way you keep a harmony between pve and pvp.

There is an entire element of lore and exploration that has devolved because of the decision to make pets universal.

no it doesn’t? if I want to use a raven because it’s cool to me, I can. if my friend likes a wolf, they can use that, etc.

sucks for markmanship hunters

sure, but it also meant you could only use the best pet for any given situation and immediately made all other pets useless. even back in legion when only cranes, stags, etc had a battle rez your options were mega limited and people hated it.

you say you’re against homogeny but in a situation like the one you’re proposing everyone would just use the same X pets for all situations

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More so then this, even at the moment this is true. The majority of pet families have no use in the content and cant be used.

I’d prefer to go back to being able to customize a pet. Currently there is no choice in being able to pick a pet you actually like and want to go with your character.

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agreed. my ideal pet system is I can take any model I want and teach it to have leech and mortal wounds, for example

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Yeah likewise currently in PvP the best pet is often an undead pet such as the raptors. This is very frustrating if you don’t like the specific aesthetic. Being able to have these as pets was a great addition, but I don’t like being forced into one choice for what feels like a big identity as a hunter player.

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They should just bring back pet talent trees and let the hunter decide what it wants its pet to do…, you know like train the pets to do certain things? - like hunters should, because of class fantasy right?

currently the pet selection is too limited to what is needed, i just want to use cat pets as Nelf for all content pve/pvp…

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We will agree to disagree. You are talking cosmetics, I am talking skillset, skill tree, a whole layer of gameplay that is missing.

Except a marksmanship hunter does not have to worry about the added complexity of the pet and COULD get extra damage or skills for not using it. Or have the option to take it out. Diversity.

My raid uses 10 people. We had a hard time getting knockback classes in group to do fryakk and his adds. The optimal class would have been 2 dks. An exotic pet or skill could fill that gap. When the decision to remove skills from pets was made, flex raiding and groups in general were not even imagined. Exotic pets or pets in general could carry mainstream needed abilities to fill gaps. There is entire ecosystems in every expansion with a plethora of pets. Hunters were charged with using beastlore to find out about creature abilities. That entire aspect of the game is gone. There was forums for hunters just to discuss pets.

Yeah it felt very silly when almost all of the new pets introduced in dragonflight aren’t useable in content.

This is even sadder when you realize the new Dragon family’s ability that reduces magic damage is similar to the cat family meaning the premier new pet family should never be picked.

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yes I am talking cosmetics, because player expression is obviously very important to the people who play the game.

you are going on and on about diversity but if we implemented your system there would be no diversity. everyone would just use the best pet.

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and this is why marksmen are marksmen. A pet should be a choice. But one with meaning.

To your point. I hate that all pets have categories. Just because you have a cat, it is ferocious. Why cant your cat be tenacious or cunning? Can pets not have identities? Why when you tame a pet can there not be a randomness to it’s demeanor.

As for diversity, again, we see diversity in two different ways. You see species, I see how diverse the skillsets should be.

Sadly if you give them strong utility it will no longer be a choice. You’d need to be able to have a hunter channel the pets unique skill. Other then that it needs to be flat numbers difference.

I mainly disagree with strong unique abilities for pets based on family because currently Im stuck using 1-2 pets. If we moved forward with that the 1-2 pets would change but remain the same.

A choice system that universally applies to any pet, while not as flavorful, is the best way to maintain actual player choice.

If you give a frog death grip with its tongue 100% every pvp’er is going to be using frogs in RBGS. Same goes for any other abilities. There will be a best ability, and we will all use it. You’ll probably get an even higher rate of “getting kicked” for the wrong pet. Thats just the environment we’re in.

The ability to choose and customize your pet is best.

I wouldn’t mind if you got those choice nodes by taming unique pets though.

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AGAIN, Is everyone willfully ignorant to the fact that 1 of the specs does not use a pet?
WE DO NOT NEED MORE PET DEVELOPMENT
WE NEED MORE CLASS DEVELOPMENT
WE NEED SYSTEMS WHICH APPLY TO ALL SPECS
MOVE THINGS TO THE HUNTER NOT THE PETS

A majority of the class flavor is the ability to tame a pet and people who choose to do so at the moment are being punished. I do support marksman not having to take a pet and adding mechanics to further that choice. Such as the ability to use a pets ability (lust etc) without having a pet out.

AGAIN MM Does use a pet, and if the Pet system was improved I’m sure MM Hunters would be more than happy to forgo Lone Wolf.

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Some Hunters take lone wolf because they want the class fantasy of being an archer sans the pet. I think that’s fine.

Both views should be supported.

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A good fix for the pet mess is just going back to pet talent trees

(class tree) overall specialization (Ferocity, Cunning, Tenacity)

(spec tree) allow us to some how pick a pets (unique) move from current unique moves, and if blizz is feeling special one day, add more new stuff…

Lone wolf MM would get a pet specialization trait (like they do now when dismissing a certain pet) AND they would get the unique utility move as well - put it into a sting or CD to easily implement this, or just have the MM forego pets as a damage output alternative to having utility, like it is now