Pet Talk!

Blizzard designer Dave Maldonado took some time recently to answer questions about Hunter pets and some possibilities for Warlords of Draenor.

Sporebats have had an interesting history. They started out as one of the most worthless pets in the history of pets. They were crowned the “best pet for the dps” in Frostheim’s famous video, and then in Mists of Pandaria, they really did become the best pet for the DPS. I don’t know about you, but I take great pride in raiding with a Sporebat at my side, and I love the fact that they’re the only pet with the Spell Haste buff. Mine is named Kitteh!

 Okay, agree to disagree here. I think the elemental type pets such as Skarr and Karkin are some of the best in the game. I’d like to see more, not less of these.

I won’t argue that Shale spiders shouldn’t be classified as beasts, but I’d hate it if they were not tameable.  I like the idea of expanding Hunter pets beyond just “beasts”. We’ve been asking for mechanical pets for a long time now. Fel Reaver pet? DO WANT!

I get that decisions need to be based on achieving a level of immersion and “believability”, but those barriers have been stretched over the years. We can tame ghost pets, and other non-beast looking creatures, and I think there’s room to expand this further. Humanoids and oozes are a stretch, but the metallic worms or even pet versions of the mechanical chickens and squirrels are alright by me. Whelps are another pet I’d like to see, but I understand the grey area there.

When the goat family was introduced I thought for sure Talbuks would included. I would love to see this changed in Warlords of Draenor. Oh, and if you’re doing Talbuks how about throwing in Clefthoofs as well?

I agree with this one. I like getting something cool for hitting max level, but I feel like rotation and abilities should all be acquired prior to that. The With or Without You talent greatly alters how you will play a Hunter. I like the concept, but I wouldn’t mind seeing be available in the early 90’s.


2 Comments on “Pet Talk!”

  1. New Layout!!! I like it!

    Some of the labels when submitting a comment are black on dark brown though:
    Name
    E-mail
    URI
    Your Comment

    Also, the example HTML tags should probably be different colors: orange on white is a little hard to read.

    Cheers!

  2. Thanks for the feedback. You literally caught in the middle of my redesigning, but glad you like it so far. Can’t wait for Warlords!

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