When I say major changes I mean that more has changed than has stayed the same.  So many changes, in fact, that it’s going to be hard to do more than just hit the highlights in the space we have here.  But since we’ve had so many requests for info from the Beta, we can feel pretty comfortable publishing these since they seem about 95% locked in and will probably stay the same on release day.  So let’s get to it.

First, a LOT of the effort hunters used to have to put into pets is simply gone.  Training new pets and getting them up to speed is merely a matter of taming, and that’s about it.  Here’s a list of the things that just went “poof.”

  • Pet training points – these are gone, so you don’t have to worry about where to place those odd points that just don’t fit.
  • Pet Loyalty - axed for WotLK.  There may eventually be some sort of system to entice hunters to keep pets, but for now, it’s the equivalent of taming a pet with “Best Friend” status.  When training points disappeared, so did the need for loyalty.
  • Pet leveling – mostly gone.  Pets will still have to level to some degree, but it will be a lot more transparent than it is now.  A level 1 beast trained by a level 80 hunter will hop to level 70 instantly.  That way the pet isn’t completely useless while you try to work on levels.  So if you missed that ghost saber at level 22, it’s not such a big deal to go back and get one for the coolness factor.
  • Nearly everything associated with training points – you will no longer have to make hard choices (since training points are no more) between things like armor or resistances.  All pets now get base levels of resistance to all 5 schools of magic as they level, although you can still choose to increase these if you like through another method.
  • Learning new pet skills – completely gone.  Never again will you have to go train Bellygrub to get Gore 4.  Instead, all pets will know 3 basic abilities (and a number of talent skills, more on those later) and those skills are set in stone.
  • Having to keep an open slot at the Stable Master – all we can say is yeehaaw to this one.  Since you don’t have to train a trash pet to learn some skill or other, you will be able to put real pets in all your slots (the beta even shows an additional slot you can buy, which means you can have 5 pets).
  • Some of your Current Pet’s skills – sorry, but if your pet knows claw and bite, they are going to lose one for the reason mentioned above.  All pets will have a set number of things they can use, and they will not get more than one “Focus Dump” skill.
  • Crummy Pets – there is simply not a single pet in the game that will get you laughed at.  Up until now, there was a set of “caster” pets that had such awful stats that training points just couldn’t make up for how bad they were.  In WotLK if you can tame it, it will make a good pet.  There are even some pets that have surprisingly useful special abilities.  I mean, who would have ever guessed that they could make a moth a decent DPS pet?

That’s a good basic look at what’s gone, now let’s look at what those have been replaced with.  Personally, I like the new system a LOT more.  Pets will now be much more like your own character, and have a special talent point screen where you can select and customize that pet to be exactly what you want it to be.  This new system also has some wicked skills that don’t even exist now.  A level 70 pet in WotLK will be much better than a level 70 pet now.

  • Three Pet “Types” – All pets are now divided into three distinct “types.” Cunning, Ferocity, and Tenacity.  These types loosely correspond to Cunning pets normally having some sort of debuff or short duration Crowd Control, Ferocity pets have DPS skills that can buff themselves or even an entire party (or raid, we’re not sure with all the raid buff tweaks yet) and Tenacity pets generally have talents that will help it to tank well.  There is a LOT of mixing and matching in the special skills, so remember that these are merely generalizations.  Each type also gets a specific modifier % to Damage Armor and Health.
  • 31 Pet “Families” – All pets are further divided into 31 family groupings that determine the 1 “Special” skill that they will use.  Some of the special skills are simply incredible.  Rhinos get a skill called Stampede that knocks all enemies within 10 yards back 15 yards!  Warp Stalkers no longer warp toward their enemy, but they will instead warp the enemy away from them up to 30 yards.
  • Pet Talent Trees – there are so many awesome tricks in the talent trees you’re just going to have to browse through them for yourself.  But basically, not only can you have a decent tanking pet, but that tank pet will can also be given talents that will help it do good damage as well.  The talent trees as a replacement for training points is an incredibly awesome change.
  • ALL pets can now get a Speed increase skill – no longer will you be stuck with a pig to get charge.  All Tenacity pets can learn charge, and the other two pet types can all learn dash or dive.

It all boils down to a few really neat points.  Training pets is easier than ever, and you have a lot more control over what your pet can do.  There are more pet choices than ever, and more skills to choose from.  It is certainly going to lead to a lot more variety in the pets running around.  You will be able to customize your pet skills in a way that suits your needs, and do so with a lot less effort than ever.

All these changes will certainly make pets for MM and SV hunters more useful, but it may be even harder to leave BM behind when you see the simply wicked awesome firepower of a BM hunter with a core hound or devilsaur exotic ferocity pet.  The 51st talent point in the BM tree gives the hunter the ability to train pets from the 6 exotic pet families and 4 extra pet skill points to put into pet DPS skills, or other tanking skills for the rhino family.

Here are some convenient links to where you can dig a little deeper into the WotLK pet info for yourself.  But I warn you: don’t look at them if it’s going to make you ruin your keyboard drooling, you still have a rather long wait!

Pet Talent Trees:

Pet Talent Calculators:

Pet Types and Families

Extensive FaQ for nearly all Wotlk Pet changes