How would you change pet taming?

When it comes to rare hunter pets, what aspect of taming do you like the most? Ultra rare spawns like Wrath spirit beasts? Challenge tames from the Firelands patch? Hidden beasts which you need to track down with your flare in Mists? WoW Senior Game Designer Jeremy Feasel wants to hear from you on Twitter about what you think works and what doesn’t.

#Hunters of WoW, did you enjoy MoP’s rare tames? How about Cata? Tweet us your thoughts on what you want to see in Warlords!

— Jeremy Feasel (@Muffinus) March 8, 2014

The spirit beasts in Northrend (and some of the others, like King Krush) are very rare and highly camped. Both things are not necessarily the problem. The main problem with these is achievements like Frostbitten or the fact that they drop any loot at all. I think it’s a good thing that some pets are exceptionally hard to find as it makes finding them that much more exciting. It took me over 5 years of looking on and off to finally find King Krush alive and it felt good to finally tame that dino. When there is a benefit to killing the pet (even those grey vendor items), there will always be people who go out of their way to kill them.

The challenge tames in Cataclysm were nice (though some a little gimmicky like Magria and Ankha). It often prevented non-hunters from killing them which is always nice. The only real challenge in Mists was the spectral porcupines. I enjoyed those because it was an option to easily get a spirit beast on a new hunter.

A handful of pets in Mists required you to hunt for their tracks on the ground, but once you revealed them the tame was extremely simple. The track hunting mechanic by itself wasn’t particularly exciting. I mostly liked it because it prevented non-hunters from killing them out of spite. Every single time I went looking for one of these pets, they were up and available. Not exactly rare.

What I’d change

What I’d like to see is pets that combine elements from the 3 categories (rarity, challenge tames, and track hunting). I also have some other ideas that could potentially make taming  a better experience.

• Example: A beast which can only be found by tracking it with flare, but when you do find it, there is a challenge tame mechanic like Firelands patch rares.
• Example: A rare beast which can spawn in any zone in Draenor and can only be revealed with a flare. The challenge is simply finding it. Random patrol patterns ideally! Make it an actual hunt.
• More rare pets which instantly kill non-hunters. 😀 How about a fiery pet which has a pulsing fire aura that can only be negated if both beast and hunter are standing in an activated Ice Trap?
• More rare pets that can spawn in multiple colors like Portent.
• Another family of beasts which can only be tamed after “attuning” yourself like the Direhorns. Maybe Hydras?
• More rare pets with unique effects on them that remain after taming (like the flaming boar).
• Tame Beast “tags” the pet, making it immune to other player attacks (or other hunters trying to tame it) during the channel.
• A food item that hunters can make with cooking which can be placed on the ground to “bait” rare pets. Maybe if you are near one of the hidden pets then using the bait will make it come towards you. Or maybe every time you use the bait, there is a chance that a rare beast from that zone could spawn for you.
• Spectral Sporebat.

Darkbrew also had a post suggesting taming could become a phased event where each family of beast has a different taming mechanic and there are additional challenges to deal with inside a pet taming “arena.”

What would you like to see changed for pet taming? Be sure to tweet @Muffinus with what you want to see in Warlords. The devs do listen!

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