*bug fix* Pets growl will no longer scale with pets APFollow

Yes, we are even more ******* oh goodie!

It is to nerf the really strong Charge > Growl combo on boars.
And i wouldnt care if growl would also scale with our crit%, but it doesnt... so the higher your crit the worse of a tank your pet will be.

Why don't they just give us one pet type with one set of abilities and be done with it? Its been moving toward that sort of standardization all along.

I can't believe they're 'fixing' something that has existed since beta.

I'm with Hitash on this...

It's going to make holding aggro on targets nearly impossible with crits of any significance. I'm already having a hard time staying below Morris in threat level when I'm out questing. I pull with really high crits and have to do the FD or disengage bit. This is going to make questing solo pretty dang hard.

Why Blizz is doing this? I have no idea. Maybe they don't like how easy Hunters are to level. This change won't impact instances, PvP or even raiding much (if at all). So they have to be targeting the solo hunter experience. Why, I don't know. Part of the allure of the Hunter class was how easy it was to learn to play the game with as a solo player.

On the plus side, it will reduce incoming unskilled players choosing to level a Hunter since they will HAVE to learn how to properly play a Hunter or take forever doing it.

A serious negative is that this may hurt MM spec'd hunters more since they require the pet to hold aggro against the burst damage when fighting tough mobs. I know I'll have to hold back even further at the start to let Morris get in a third or fourth growl before I can unload on a target if need be. I don't know how accurate that observation will be. I guess SV will lose out big as well since they stack AP (Edit: I'm referring to SV levelling here, not uber 70 SV like Mulgrin is referring to ^_^ ).

I think we need to let Blizzard know that this kind of crap needs some justification on their part.

Edited, Apr 23rd 2008 9:29am by sloshot

He's in Sunwell, though dont ask me if its 2,3 or 4/6 :P

And dont you agree that its stupid that hunters have to treat their pets as walking dots once your gear is decent?

I am expecting/guessing at 5-15% less threat from your pet. (way more if you use a boar)
And to be honest, intimidate is only once each minute and i pull aggro even in viper with steady/auto rotation as BM...

Blue has confirmed that Growl will now scale with your own AP instead...
Wich doesnt change anything for anyone who is crit heavy.

Well, sounds like it was just a phrasing problem then. Odd that it will scale with player AP and not the pet (which is affected by players AP right?)

I expect I'll still pull the hate with a sequence of crits but at least it won't be off "normal" damage shots, which is what I was dreading.

I'm hoping that the change will mean it will scale better. If they don't change the coefficient then it will scale insanely well. More likely they'll change it, but I wonder what too. I usually pull of my pet in two or less steady's, but by then it's pretty much dead anyway.

I go auto-steady-auto-steady-arcane-auto, and if it's not dead I winclip/raptor strike and do a spin multi. For hard mobs I just use MD and intimidate, but honestly there's not many of those.

TIGER BITE TIGER BITE TIGER BITE?!

I remember that, Best Post Ever! rofl

Edited, Apr 23rd 2008 5:40pm by Xsarus

... and it only serves to nerf BM hunters, while buffing MM.

Seriously, I'm putting a huge amount of my talents into my pet... should his growl be more ferocious than a MM's pet?

I imagine it will only be harder for BM pets to hold aggro now, while buffing MM slightly.

Edited, Apr 23rd 2008 7:42pm by baveux

ugh. I already have a really hard time keeping mobs on my pet. I have to switch out my ranged weapon and ammo just to HOPE that my pet can hold aggro.

Why do they have to nerf anything? Pets could hold aggro when we were level 70 and in greens. Why shouldn't pets be able to hold aggro when we are level 70 and in purples?

I have a proposal for a new hunter quest! The reward is a trinket that increases the threat generation of your pet by 10%! I'd gladly give up one of my trinkets if it means that my pet can hold aggro.

Edited, Apr 23rd 2008 9:06pm by ProjectMidnight

Um, understood but not quite agreeing with you. First there are several assumptions you are making that I'd be reluctant to make.

First: You can get great gear and stack AP as you level just doing the right quests and instances. You do not go from 1-70 overnight unless you are mainlining caffiene and decide that heart attacks are healthy. Casual players (8-16 hours a week) will take quite a while to level and may decide to go for decent gear and enjoy the leveling experience. Guild positive people (always helping out guildies) tend to level slower as well and may seek good gear for their level to help guildes.

Second: All things are relative. While leveling, +2 AP gear may seem low, it is just as potentially dangerous to an appropriate level hunter as +60AP gear would be to a lvl 70. Since +AP gear tends not to be seen until late 20's - 30's, that's about the time hunters might experience problems if scalable Growl was dropped completely (which it hasn't -thank God- reality now being the focus just changes to the toon, not the pet's AP)

Third: Currently BM rules the roost for DPS and this was not always the case and I wouldn't be willing to bet it may remain the case patch to patch. MM was the standard since I created my toon and I'm still in MM spec. I can pull aggro instantly with a heavy crit (which happens about 20% of the time) and I still need to grind for goods (and dailies) which would kill me if my pet had a fixed threat increase growl, unless they bumped the fixed threat increase. I stay MM because I'm doing PvP primary now and I'm comfortable with the spec but not to a point where I think I have it all figured out. Don't bet on someone levelling with just BM because people might like another spec better to play with. Not everybody has to get to 70 as a sprint. Some enjoy the ride.

Mazra, I fully realize that your position is pretty much reflected by most of the players of WoW: speed level, maximum efficiency, get to 70 and raid. There is nothing wrong with that position, but it is not everyone's take on the game and if Blizz did go to a flat threat formula for Growl, it would really take the 'fun' out of the game for those that chose not to go with that logic and tried to level other spec's than BM. I think it would even impact BM early on to some degree. It would certainly have some impact or they wouldn't make a change.