Pet Gear; Where did it go?

Oddly, after our tank talk last Friday night, I was trolling tankadin, and someone had started a thread very similar to the question Hafrot have posed at the round table, “if you could switch classes and retain your current level of gear, which tanking class would you pick? Why?” The forum took an odd turn when I saw a response I never anticipated, and it mentioned the hunter tank.

The Hunter Tank

The basic idea of hunter tanking is to use a tenacity pet, preferably one with a tanking cooldown, to tank. The obvious choice would be a turtle because of shell shield. The default cooldown on shell shield is one minute, but a BM hunter (I’m guessing this idea would only work with BM tree) with longevity you can bring down the cool to a mere 42 seconds if my math isn’t shoddy. The idea isn’t really outrageous, though as a lock and someone who enjoys watching vids of ol’ blue tank; the minute the idea become viable, I am sure Blizzard will make efforts to correct such an injustice. The post on hunter tanking mentioned the need for very specific pieces like the beast-tamers shoulders, and it got the wheels in my head to start spinning a little.

Class Specific Loot

Once upon a time, I probably would have been one of the first people to start ranting about gear as specific as those beast-tamers cluttering up already ridiculously bloated loot tables. Stompalina has already insisted I attend this month’s DFW WoW Meetup since it will be around the corner from my place, and I am wondering if she made a “Spellpower Plate FTW” shirt just to get me riled up.

The beast-tamers are a great piece and they accent a very unique aspect of the game both for hunters and other classes, but they lack zero diversity. Either you are hunter, or they are useless to you. The game has a history of very similar items dating all the way back to vanilla. Back in Blackwing Lair Razorgore dropped the Black Book. Even if you weren’t on the cutting edge of vanilla raiding, a lock might be able to get Pimgib’s Collar from Dire Maul, I’m sure many TBC raiders remember the Void Star Talisman as well.

Each of those ol’ school drops allowed a class to specifically prop up their pets contributions. They were fun pieces, but Blizzard decided to move away from them in Wrath, mainly because of pricks like me who threaten to kick the devs in the nuts every time there is a class or spec specific drop like this in the loot tables. Class specific drops might be bad, but pet specific drops might not be such a bad idea.

Pet Specific Loot

When I say pet specific loot, I don’t necessarily mean loot dropping to prop up the warlock’s imp. I mean loot, most likely trinkets, designed to build on the synergy of a player and their pet. Hunters have pets, locks have demons, unholy deathknights have ghouls, and now with the awesome Glyph of Eternal Water on the PTR, Mages will have a permanent elemental.

3 lock builds, 3 hunter builds, the unholy Death Knight, and a frost Mage build means 8 specs of 30 who could use a trinket to boost pet output. With the simplification of stats in Wrath and even more simplification headed our way in Cataclysm, why not make give us some cool pet trinkets.

Since Veneretio reminded us all Friday night not to complain about game mechanics without some feasible solution, I will try and offer up a few. Trinkets with critical strike rating will probably be the easiest solution, but when haste gets overhauled in Cataclysm, it could also be a very viable stat. Imagine a trinket with a critical strike rating and any number of on use or chance procs.

Your critical strikes have a chance to increase your pets critical strike chance by x, stacking 5 times. This effect lasts until the pet lands a critical strike.
Your critical strikes increase your pet’s DMG by x% for y seconds, stacking 5 times. Think Majestic Dragon Figurine or Illustration of the Dragon Soul. I personally love the building stack trinkets for no other reason than they are cool, so I’d love to see trinkets where your damage builds up your pets damage.
Anytime you do damage, your pet has a chance to gain x critical strike rating for 20 seconds.
Anytime your pet uses a special ability, they have a chance to increase your intellect, agility, or strength by x. Your highest stat is always chosen. When Cataclysm launches and our Spellpower and attack power will be tied directly to our intellect, agility, or strength, this could be a trinket similar to the Darkmoon Card: Greatness.
Use: Causes your pets damaging abilities for the next x seconds to increase your spellpower or attack power by y. This effect last z seconds, stacking up to 5 times. (2 min cooldown)

Some specs will benefit more from some of the pet trinket ideas, but others aren’t quite as tied to the pets overall strength. Blizzard doesn’t want players passing on trinkets because they immediately get recognized as trash unless you are a demon lock or BM hunter. Some trinkets just require your pet be alive and active for its benefit and since pets are a defining mechanic for these classes, boosting DPS because the pet is alive should be attractive enough to keep these trinkets in high demand.

Blizzard has made great efforts to increase the synergy of masters and their pets with more on the way in 3.3. Rethinking the old school pet gear and reintroducing them as trinkets with simplified stats would be a positive step forward in rewarding the players who are able to intelligently manage their pets. Since my lock won’t ever get to enslave Illidan and Brigwyn isn’t going to train a druid anytime soon, maybe we can look forward to some cool trinkets for our pets in the future.

Time for an Ambien

Rhab