Uniformity or more diversity? The Hunter pets in WoW are being significantly adjusted in Battle for Azeroth.
With the upcoming expansion for World of Warcraft, the developers at Blizzard will overhaul or revise many game systems. In Battle for Azeroth, hunters can especially expect major changes to their companions.
The class designer Solanis has detailed how the hunters’ companions will change in Battle for Azeroth in the official forum.
We summarize the key adjustments for you here:
There will be no separate tank or DPS pets anymore. All hunter companions are supposed to be somewhat equally capable of tanking and dealing damage. To this end, all offensive and defensive passive abilities will be integrated into all animals. It will no longer be necessary to constantly swap out a pet when it needs to fulfill a certain role.
Each family will get a unique ability. Blizzard wants to emphasize the uniqueness of the different families more strongly. Thus, all families will receive a special ability if they previously did not have one. Exotic animals will also retain their unique ability (in addition to the new one). The purely “fluff” abilities, where animals perform special emotes, will continue to exist.
Berserker Rage will be expanded, Battle Res will be abolished. Many hunters had little real choice when it came to selecting their pets, as they had to choose an animal with “Berserker Rage” to gain the powerful effect. This limited the options to a few select animals. With Battle for Azeroth, nearly 1/3 of all animals will be able to use Bloodlust, making the ability more accessible and increasing pet selection.
At the same time, hunters will lose their access to resurrection in combat. Pets can no longer use this ability – it will be removed.
More diversity or more equality?
The underlying idea behind all these changes is that there are currently only a few truly good animals, and only about half of all pets have a meaningful ability. Blizzard aims to make all pets appealing so they can shine in certain situations.
Whether this will succeed, we will likely notice in the coming weeks and months when hunters leave their comments in the official forum.
What do you think of these changes to the hunter pets? A good decision? Or was it great that only a few pets had truly special abilities?
You can find all the updates concerning Battle for Azeroth in our comprehensive overview article.
