Random PVP storytelling

So, I have to make an admission...I love Eye of the Storm.

"But Nomakk, you lose 70% of your matches!!"

This is true in our battle group actually. That is why I love it though. No expectation of victory. I kind of assume a loss and do my best to make things very hard on the horde. You know, like attacking their base that has 3 guys and killing all 3 only to be shortly decimated by 10 guys. It's ok, I always enjoy being able to have so many 1v1 and 1v2 encounters in one BG. Most other BG's are too small, thus help for the horde is usually a few small steps away.

By the way, who misses the epic battles that used to be AV. I lost the other day in 7 minutes. I remember a time when it took 7 minutes to do your first three quests. It used to mean something to get elite guards and air units and Ivus! It was fun and truly felt Epic. Back then, you could do 5 Av's in a row and they all would be completely different battles. Now, you could do 5 that are exactly the same. Hopefully we get some depth in our BG rotation in WotLK.

Is it just me....or does every class hate fighting warlocks? Maybe rogues and warriors don't hate it as much. Then again, how does it feel to own someone as a warrior and then sit with dot's and die shortly thereafter? Isn't it like the best moment when you realize you are fighting a "shadowmage" who is trying to shadow bolt you?! "This must be my lucky day!" It just seems that like no matter which character I am playing, be it hunter pally or druid...I hate fighting locks the most.

To my hunter friends, have you ever got the flag in Aspect of the Beast and found a nice safe location to hide? You would be shocked at how long it takes to find you. A couple WSG wars back I held the flag on the horde roof for about 15 minutes (while getting to shoot them downstairs when my guys invaded) and then 1 guy came up. After dispatching him the radar said "Wrath of the Horde incoming" so I broke out the second level. I will tell you, when your getting smashed by the opposing side, this is a great way to really slow things down and let everyone settle in. break that rhythm up that they have going. I suppose with the new flag system it won't work as well now :(

Speaking of fun, I have started doing more BG's on my 70 Holy Paladin (easily a shockadin most of the time). I love playing him because when my teammates ignore my heals (all the time) I just switch to being offensive and kill folks. I find that being such a offensive character for so long in the hunter, that I am compelled to kill Hordies as the healadin. Especially since it almost always catches them off guard. Holy shock for 2k+, seal for 2k+? Hammer of justice that heal? You have just been introduced to a healer who can kill joo! =D

Pvp may be a grind sometimes, but if you buy a flask get 20 Super healing potions and sell your left thumb for a healer friend...you will love each minute of that grind...or at least the 2 flask hours of it! :)

Arena Segment: Tips to fight the Healer + DPS Team

So, one of the more exciting and difficult challenges in your WoW life is when you enter an arena to discover a healer + dps team. These come in a variety of combinations, so we will just keep it general and not address each combination directly. Let us explore two different strategies:

#1) Your team is also Healer + DPS.

This is a difficult fight for a hunter for one main reason: Mana. Most HD (Healer/dps) teams have someone with limitless attacking capability. So, your time is limited in each encounter. Here are some general tips to try and follow:

A) Keep the mana sting up at all times. To avoid instant cleansing you can spec into imp sting (highly recommended for an HD team entering arena). Most matches it should be on the healers. The exceptions to me are when the other team has a mage or hunter. Those two mana pools can be drained and make the healers ability no longer important since they cannot kill you.

B) Use LOS against them! Healers will surely LOS you and this is so great if you use it correctly. Make sure when they LOS you that your healer is dragging their dps to a land far far away. Then when that healer starts to pursue, BAM! Hit em with your CC, rapid fire aimed shot, etc. Also, line of site their dps right back. Of course, vs a warlock this won't work. Against moonkins, mages, other hunters, elemental shamans and pretty much any melee this can work nicely. Drag them around a pole as your pet beats on them and your stings tick. The longer this lasts, the better for you.

Also, make sure those mana burning priests cannot get any burns on you. Stay near a pole and dance back and forth trying to land a shot or two and then avoid the burn. Priests can drain a hunter faster than should be allowed, so never try to stand and take the burns.

C) Be diligent on CC. Remember to fear beast when you can, sleep when you can and trap when you can. Try not to get away from this. Even after all the nerf's, crowd control is still boss. Most dps won't survive the full 10s without their healer. Especially if it is the fifth time you have done it to them! :)

D) Fight in Viper...ALWAYS. This cannot be stressed enough. Viper in arena. Smash it into your head.

E) E-bay - Buy yourself a warlock and then find a resto druid. This will make you forget you are playing a hunter/healer team and without gear or much skill you will make your way to 1700 in no time! Sorry, I am terribly bitter towards locks in arena and pvp :(

Ok, what if you have a DPS + DPS team? Forget support, brute force FTW! Here are some good tips for a double CC team...did I say double CC, I meant double DPS! :)

A) CC like mad - Especially if your partner has no ability to heal at all (rogue, warrior, etc.). Usually one or two timely crowd controls means someone dies. This is extremely difficult vs teams that can remove your traps. If possible, trap the person who can remove your cc to solve that issue.

B) Aimed shot - Usually I like to say only use Aimed shot under a rapid fire, BUT the exception to the rule lies here. An aimed shot can mean that you do indeed win via brute force. Force that healer to try and out-heal your dps with that reduction. I would NOT recommend any aimed shot if you are under attack unless you can do it without interruption. Let's just hope they focus your teammate!

C) Don't let them use LOS to beat you. Make them use LOS to lose to you. Let that healer hide, drag his dps away and burst him and when the healer pops back, CC them right away and burn that DPS down. This will be especially hard with resto-druids, so try other approaches on them. A lot of times you cand rag the dps over and when the druid comes to save him, immediately start your aimed shot on the druid. You accomplish two things, your debuff on him while he is healing his partner and catching him in leather armor. Now he has to decide who to heal and that choice could really sway things in your favor.

D) Pay attention and learn. Some teams will seem unbeatable to you at first. Especially warlock-resto druid. Try to pay attention to what works and try new stuff. Kill the locks pet a few times. Try to rapid fire down the lock. Whatever the case may be. Make sure you watch and learn. So, next time you can try again with something new until you find what works for your combination. Just because hunter A beats mages with LOS, doesn't make it fact. use what works for you through some trial and many many errors.

Being a hunter in arena is hard work. Do not expect easy success until you are geared well. Also, be patient. It is gonna be hard for most hunters in arena. Try to work with your spec and mold yourself for what you need help with. Sometimes, it is as easy as getting wyvern sting :) Go in to arena to have fun at first. After you get geared up and "seasoned" ...then go for the glory!

As always, ask any questions you may have! I will try to go into more specific combinations eventually, I swear!

Arena Hunger!

So, on the eve of season IV....what are your plans? Religious BG grind? Squeeze on more awesome week of arena out? Get out your Halberd of Smiting and solo raid Undercity?

Whatever the case may be, this is an exciting time! New games, new teams and new 1337 epix! Brutal Epix I could say! What will you do to inaugurate the new season? Start a petition against intercept? 500 games in 1 night? Try to drink a gallon of milk in 30 minutes? Good luck!


I know my plans...enjoy the good times. These are times when WoW is fun and exciting. AH prices sky rocket, enchanters go into hiding and everyone states "druids are OP" to the newly adorned champions of arena.

My plans for season IV are pretty exciting (to me anyway). I plan to buy so many purps that my pet bear smells schnozberries. I have been fortunate enough to be happy in my merciless gear (2 Vengeful pieces). I say that because it has allowed me to bank tons of honor and arena points. To be more specific 4700 arena points and 75k honor. You may be thinking "Nomakk plays too much WoW" and you may be correct. Let me just say....season 3 was long. Very long. Long enough to not need gear for most of the second half.


Let us all be honest, if you maintained a 10-game per week schedule, then you likely accumulated your gear quicker than half the season. This is now much harder to do (luckily IMO). I look forward to pursuing higher arena ratings and 'earning' the gear I would love to adorn. It is exciting to know that the gear will come with a bit more struggle. More heartache and pain to wear the purple gems of Azeroth.


This season's goals:
2v2 - Achieve Survival Hunter + Moonkin glory. Aiming for 1800 conservatively and 2050 aggressively. I am sure if we actually play more, we will surely get to a much higher rating.


Paladin - Build a shockadin team with my roommates magery ways. I would hope to hit 1700 here and to save myself any let down, I am going to say we won't make it (but we totally will/better).


3v3 and 5v5 - these deserve no goals because they get so little attention! (for now)

What about you? Going for 2200? Just want 10 games a week on your 13 alts? Let's hear it!

May your enemies remember you always.

Fresh start!

So, last night I released myself from my guild. In short, I was finally broken down to being completely empty on hope. Hope that they would be good people...friendly people. I guess I wanted so bad to be a part of one of those guilds that just loves to play together. A guild that doesn't mind laughing at a hilarious wipe or an accidental entire raid with your fishing pole on. If I wanted to be treated like I was in jail, then I could easily buy a ticket to visit the facilities!

Drama: So, I took a week off last week, I simply said "It's not fun, when did it become all business" and then this week after some discussion with some guildies, I figured "one more try". So, I sign up and here is the message I receive (no joke): "hey Nomakk, I saw you signed up this week. You have been replaced with a new hunter, so you likely won;t be able to raid with us anymore." So, I responded: "Lolligans! Are you kidding? I can't take 1 week off....our 'officer' hunter took 2 off and his spot was waiting for him...". Finally, the last line before my departure: "I assumed you were done raiding forever because it wasn't fun".

Yeah, how is that for gratitude? Let's ignore the fact that I spend 100g for my respec's each week. Let's forget that I spend hundreds of gold on consumables each week. At the very least, recognize that our 2 young hunters are as good as they are thanks to my help and guidance. These are young kids who were depressed with the wws report each week. I helped them build better spec's and re-gem and work on shot rotation. No one saw it, I just did it. They needed and wanted to be better, so I helped them get there.

I don't want to entirely rant. So, moving on!

I actually feel liberated, not sad by the change. I no longer am constricted by a guild of selfish and greedy individuals. Control freaks are painful to raid for. Now, I can finally search out a guild that wants to have fun. Build progression through good times and shenanigans. The search is on! I will find a home!! :) or maybe a home will find me?? (fingers crossed!)

I say to any of you being enslaved from the fun by your guild..."Damn the man!". Free yourself and find a new path! Hopefully a sarcastic laden one with crazy folks enjoying the GAME! Viva La Resistance!

Milestones

How much agility can a Survival Hunter reach?! Is 1,000 unbuffed agility possible? Unlikely, but maybe!

Last adventure in my raid I was fortunate enough to have a feral druid + Enhancement Shaman (dream come true? Yes!). Needless to say I benefited from it very nicely (as did my raid). So, here is the current status of my stats( for expose weakness dps increase, I used our 16 physical dps for the night:

Unbuffed:

Agility: 829

Ranged Attack Power: 2020

Ranged Critical Chance: 34.17%

Expose weakness debuff: Increases attack power by 207.25 or contributes about 14.8 dps.

Expose Weakness dps increase: 236.8


Raid buff without Shaman or Feral Druid:

Agility: 1030

Ranged Attack power: 2601

Ranged Critical Chance: 40.5%

Expose Weakness Debuff: 257.5 or about 18.39 dps (14 attack power = 1 dps is what I am using)
Expose Weakness dps increase: 294.29

Raid buffed with Shaman using grace of air and a feral druid:

Agility: 1142

Ranged Attack power: 2768

Ranged Critical Strike Chance: 46.3%

Expose Weakness Debuff: 285.5 or about 20.39 dps

Expose Weakness dps increase: 326.29

After we got our WWS last trip my dps was 1038. When you consider the expose weakness effect, I essentially contributed 1038 + 326.29 = 1,364.29 dps for the raid. I also managed to lead in damage, though coming second to the BM hunter in personal DPS (1075).

I have begun to wonder if I can get to crazier Agility totals. I mean, 829 with only a few pieces of gear beyond Kara and nothing beyond SSC outside of some badge rewards. It will be interesting to see if I can get to 900 unbuffed agility and 36 or 37% unbuffed critical strike rating.

How was my agility 1142? Here is the list of consumables with agility that I used:

- Grilled Mudfish: +20 agility

- Major Agility Elixir: +35 agility

- Scroll of Agility V - +20 agility

Sadie

As some of you may have realized, my first pet and spirit bound friend was Sadie. A level 8 Snow Leopard from the snows hills somewhere between Ironforge and Anvilmar. When I found her, I immediately knew she was meant to be with me for my trials, wars and quests. She was timid at first and took me to her den, where I had to convince her mother that she was meant to travel the world with me. Her mother was sad, but could see the connection.
Ever curious and always enjoying her travels, Sadie immediately became my friend and ally.

Even as a small kitten she was feisty and ready to take on the troubles of the world.

In time, she faded from her rebellious nature and grew stronger and closer to me. She started becoming loyal and grew into my best friend. Even in her sleepy adolescent years!

From the kitten would come the Saber. Just like a whisper of the snow storm, she would emerge grown and ready to explore the reaches of the world.

Through time Sadie would become powerful and capable of handling her own. She started to have a ferocity and a growl that tormented enemy after enemy. Her presence was one to be drawn to and enemies fought her in fear as she pulled them towards her. We became a deadly duo as we faced the perils of society and war.

Sadie always kept her playful touch, no matter how hard things got!

There were tough times, times where we felt like we should stand down and stop pushing against the walls in front of us. The travels and battles always made Sadie look a bit different.

Sadie stayed strong, thus we were strong and we overcame adversity to conquer our missions and earn the respect of countless factions and cities. We became revered in some societies and our presence was honored in others. Whatever the case, her gaze seemed almost...somber and humble.

Sadie became my best friend, the second half of my journeys. She stood tall and prideful by my side. No fear in her eyes, even standing on the doorway to join the fight in Outland. Dirt on her face and a spirit in full supply, she was ready to be a part of what this new world would bring. Battled and bruised, dark with ash or freshly white from a swim, she is ready.

Through all our tribulations, we faced so much and have seen what most snow leopards and young night elves can only dream of. By my side, with me, I know she is ready.

We are ready to finally take the battle to her native soil. As our next journey takes us to the doorsteps of the Liche king. Sadie is ready to feel the snow under her paws and the cold wind whistling in her ears.
We step on the frozen lands of Northrend soon enough...and she will be more at home and my fierce ally, friend and warrior Saber. More dangerous than ever before...keep an eye on the snow.

When did it become all business?

Have you ever been with a group that is taking WoW a little too serious? A group that points out each raid members mistakes and lashes out at people for those mistakes. A group who leaves you out of a raid for showing up 3 minutes early instead of 10-30 minutes early? How about a group where only officers are praised and everyone else is treated like raid fodder?

As you may have guessed, I am talking about my current guild. It saddens me that my old guild chose to merge with a new guild that said they were "just like us". Well apparently they didn't know what that meant. We were friendly and nice to each other. We actually liked to play with one another. I mean, when does the game become all business?? Is it crazy to want to be in a guild where people are genuinely nice and friendly? People like both progression and sarcastic banter? It is almost as depressing as seeing this stance for the first time.

Our guild is the type that have a filter in Vent and ignore the 18 of us in there so they can talk only among officers (not just for strategy, but for the entire raid). That kind of guild. The kind of guild where, when you make a suggestion they say "please see your class officer to discuss that" when the issue has nothing to do with your class. Let me also say that I always bring my own stuff. I know this seems small, but when everyone else depends on consumables from the guild and I bring my own (even friggin scrolls) then I think that is saying something. 1337 dps and I am cheap to have around...what more could you need!? =D It more than my own ability though. It is a culture of controlling the raid fodder. That's all everyone is to the officers, cattle to fill out the flock.

Ok, I could go on for days, but I will stop there. My current dilemma is whether to keep raiding, quit raiding and do other things or just plain quit WoW. It has come to the point where I am sitting in a raid with my hand on my forehead like I am being told my dog needs a $20,000 surgery. I want to enjoy this game again, not feel like i am showing up to a 9-5 where I call people to do surveys about which soap they use (true story). I mean, I know I am not the guru of WoW, but I do my research and have a good understanding of my class and how a raid should be built. Noah wasn't the best carpenter, but he had a good idea how to get the job done. You wouldn't try to explain to him what a hammer was.

I am taking a first step tonight. A new guild has said I may join them for a trial raid run this week (maybe only one night). The idea is both intriguing and frustrating. I want to leave my guild, but I do not want to look like I am being a complete jerk. Oddly, I do enjoy some of the company of the guild (mostly people who came with me in the merger). It is just the core group is a real pain to do anything with and not be treated like I am primitive to their awesome advanced knowledge. So, should I just say "I am trying out a new raid/guild" or should I fluff in case it doesn't work out ("I am just helping a friend's guild out"). I guess it doesn't matter. I do not want to quit the game because I do not like my guild. I would rather quit for WoW2 or something equally as fun...like this!

Either way, hopefully the new guild likes a survival hunter and the old guildies that I get along nicely with won't be too upset (maybe they will leave too!). I do take solace in the fact that I am not alone, other guild members feel this way, but they are afraid to say anything for fear of persecution. It is time to take a stand (uprising?)! Sadly, talking will not help, tried that already with no results (actually I was told to not bother myself with officer concerns; apparently I do not have my shweet offishers badge).

By the way, who wouldn't want a survival hunter in their raid to expose the weakness! What would you do!?

Arena Segment: Hunter vs. Frost mage

This is a much harder fight for the Survival Hunter than both marksman and BM (Beastial Wrath and silence shot help a ton). With proper patience and quick fingers you will be able to really make the mage have a bad day. Let's explore some aspect of this fight.

1) Do NOT let them get any shatter combo's on you. If you are unaware of what this means, let me tell you. If you are frozen in place you are at risk of taking burst damage. When frozen in place I immediately trinket and break the freeze. The shatter combo has a mana to damage ratio better than probably anything else a mage can do. So, if you are frozen in place do everything you can to get free. Feign death, scatter shot the mage (and don't hit him, let the scatter last the full duration), trinket out or sleep the mage. Just try to focus on not letting them get extremely (mana) cheap burst damage on you.

2) Mage + Healer - If they call their elemental then you no longer see the mage. The mage is dead to you until that pet is gone. The pet is too easy to dispatch for you to take his 800 damage water bolts. Three shots and hes gone. Mage + DPS - This is where you have a crucial decision. If you feel you won't live very long then you may want to try and burst the mage and ignore the pet. If you are well geared and can afford to kill the pet (this usually means you have a healer teammate). For me personally, I 95% of the time drop the pet. If I crit, it usually only takes 2 shots.

3) Which sting? Make it a rule of thumb to always use Viper Sting. Frost mages are great at mana management in PVE, but for arena they use very costly spells all in rapid succession (assuming you aren't letting them get shatter combinations on you). Two sting and their constant drain and they will quickly ice block or sheep you to get their mana back.If they have a healer, it is still phenomenal to drain their mana. Without mana, the healer + clothie combination without offense will fail miserably. So, either way the mana drain is best. Besides, serpent sting is not enough to help with burst anyway.

4) Your pet!? First and foremost she belongs on the healer. If there is no healer, then it is kind of up to you. If you are trying to take the mage down first then might want to toss the pet on the mage early to help with overall damage dealt. Mage versus hunter seems like it should favor the mage. Most good mages will make you feel like it does. Just know that shatters are what they will kill you with. If you are frozen in place, then do everything you can to get free or stop the mage from casting. Good mages will run right up to hunters and you should take the opportunity to wing clip and drop a trap.

Traps are your decision. Snakes are great for mind numbing and freezing is great for recovering from a flurry of ice damage. Also, when a mage gets in your face, a good strong raptor strike may get them to retreat. Whatever you do, keep the damage going. Don't turn your back and try to run, odds are if they are close to you, then you need to start thinking "How will I beat this mage in close quarters" instead of trying to get away. At least do something while you await a cooldown.

In the end, the fight belongs to the player who makes the best and quickest decisions. If the mage uses their pet and gets two shatters on you early, odds are they will win. If you can keep them ranged and keep using your crowd control on them, then you can occasionally win the fight without being touched. Be patient and aware and I promise you can frustrate even the best mage. I have watched a mage try to frost bolt me once (feign death), twice (scatter shot), three times (wyvern sting) and even on a rare occasion a fourth time...all while I am frozen in place.

Beware of mages in freezing traps! Clever mages will ice block while trapped and foil your plans for a big aimed shot. When an ice mage ice blocks, I simply pull my pet to me and feign death and then shadowmeld. Any character can abuse the mages ice block, simply bandage immediately no matter what health you have. odds are they will break the block early to stop you or you will simply gain X amount of health back!

Note: This is a unfriendly Survival hunter fight. You hit harder but if they can stay in close quarters they will beat you without taking much damage. if your having trouble then open with Viper sting, at least their mana will be gone shortly after you die! (good rule for battlegrounds)

BM short tips: Use the wrath and do everything in your power to kill them during this time. Luckily you can save your trinket and such for after the big red fades. I would suggest a wing clip and an intimidate to maintain line of site for your 18 second rampage. Also, mana drain them as well. They wont be able to kill you in those 18s, so make sure that when the 18s is over they have spent cooldowns and wasted a lot of mana.

Marks short tips: Marks has a great defense for the frost mage. As stated above, you can truly stop many casts. For you marks fellas, you have the ability to stop a shatter combo simply by doing 1 silence shot and as soon as the silence ends you can scatter trap them. Every time they freeze you in place you should silence shot them. If they get you faster than the cooldown then its time to burn the trinket. Also, save rapid fire for the moment the pet drops if at all possible. This will make you drop the pet and still get a scatter shot + aimed shot combo on those pesky mages who live for days.

Subtle reminder : Rain the arcane!!

Happy mage hunting!

My Best Friend II

So, a while back I blogged about my pet and my ideas for pets and their need for more depth (Here). I had so many ideas that I needed two entries to cover them! So, here is part two!

Let me start by saying I have 3 pets and a use for all 3, which is not necessary, I could easily use my cat for all 3. My cat is for PVP (stealthy with me), my wind serpent for raiding (lightning breath FTW) and my bear for instance solo runs (tank it for me!). That reminds me, I should make an "Instance progression" segment for my attempts to solo Outlands instances! All of that being said, I am sad that I can't simply have more depth to my pet experience. Why can I not do pet quests? Why is there not a quest for a rare pet, a quest that is hard and has a cooldown timer on re-trying it?

3) Pet Quests. This kind of carries part of Idea #2 in Part One. Simply, why can't I have a pet daily or pet quest that requires my pet to do something on her own. Like, she must solo Ragnaros and I get a Legendary bow!? Ok, that's just nuts, but just as likely as pets getting some love! Seriously though, is it so hard to have something for Sadie to do? Catch a fish, skin a clefthoof or even build a Gnomish-device of some sort? Clearly my bear could catch some fish and my cat could devour a clefthoof for its skin and meat. It could even fail sometimes "Soggy clefthoof meat" or "Torn Clefthoof leather" which would sell to the junk vendor.

Wouldn't it be amazing to have a quest where your pet had to get killing blows in PVP battlegrounds. Maybe the quest would just be for your pet to be a part of kills. "Nomakk, have your cat slay 20 enemies in the struggle with the horde" Vandaar said. Reward: 10 Sporeling snacks and 5 Scrolls of Strength V or something equally helpful to your pet. Maybe some other buff food like +2% dodge or "Chance on hit to increase haste by 100".

4) Pet armor - This is something that would have to be handled very carefully. We do not want pets to be too powerful. Which reminds me, shouldn't a Beast Master's pet be stronger than him? Is that not the idea? God I could rant here, but I will save it for another day. So, pet armor! :) I am thinking bracers, helmet, and chest plate are applicable and maybe a neck piece. Simple and possibly invisible? I say that because it scares me to think of silly pets with huge helm's on. I would want subtle armor. yeah, this idea would really need to be done carefully. Maybe we can all discuss this later...of all my ideas, this one worries me the most, so I will discuss it no further!

5) Pet sanctuaries - The best example I can think of here is Zul'aman. Locations that pets perform better. I mean, who knows how to attack a bear better than an opposing bear? If I tamed one, this is his fight to shine! Against the bear boss and mounts my bear has +10% chance to hit and chance on hit to receive a raid buff "Bear aggression" which increases each raid members chance to find weaknesses (get critical hits) by 3% for 15s. Something of that nature.

Then we fight the dragonhawk boss. Lets say you happen to have a dragonhawk stored away!? Grab him and throw him in the fight. He has +5% resistance to fire and enrages on the sight of other dragonhawks. His enrage increases his attack speed by 20% and gives the raid a buff of "Dragon's spirit" which increases fire resistance by 100 for 30s.

Did you tame a Lynx? For this one, perhaps any cat should work? Debatable. Regardless, the Lynx fight has cats getting an increase to focus regen by 50% and critical chance increased by 5%. Every time the Lynx hit full energy the raid is healed for 2% of their total health and every time he crits, the raid is replenished with 10 rage or energy and 100 mana.

I mean, we could go on all day as to how great ZA would work for this idea. I mean, it could even work negatively. Perhaps if you have a bear for the Dragonhawk boss they have a chance to be disoriented with bewilderment for 10s and become worthless. Maybe flying creatures fear the Lynx and have their chance to hit reduced by 30% as they get a debuff "attacking with fear".

What about a zone being a pet sanctuary? Snakes in Zangarmarsh have +20% hit points. Cats in Nagrand have +30% outdoor movement speed (oh yeah, it stacks with other movement enhancement buffs). Perhaps dragonhawks hate blades edge mountains (dead dragons on spikes anyone?). So, they get the "attacking in fear" debuff while they fight there.

This isn't an enhancement that would need to be a part of every instance or every zone. It simply would again create an incentive to having multiple pets with multiple uses. These zones could have roaming stable masters. Maybe the troll Instances and dungeons always are pet sanctuaries, makes sense. Maybe some places have a generic pet enhancement. In Hellfire Citadel all beasts have "Magtheridon's enraging presence" which increases their chance to crit with spells and physical attacks by 1% (this could include shifted druids). It would be amazing for planning and definitely create some more depth!

I could do this all day! =D Perhaps I will do a part II and IV and V and....well, let's see what you all think of part II first! Happy trails pet lovers! Thanks again to Pike for the inspiration!