Pets in general, usefelness in T8

[delorre]

Playing a magician and been on a few raids made me wonder about a few things about the usage of pets in raids and sometimes also solo.
1 ) I heard that bosses in T8 need bane dmg to be killed but! Pets dont have bane dmg and even the T8 pet toys dont show any bane dmg - conclusion pets are worthless in T8 raids.
2) pets are never ever getting any heals in a raid, people just dont see it, big AOE effects kill them pretty fast.
3) While soloing with a pet u have to keep distance wich is not always easy in a dungeon, cause a mob will always choose the player and never the pet even when you are not participating in the fight.

Is there some way that something is going to be changed about any of these points?
Just worried that a pet class will completely be useless

Kind regards a tiny mage

[Vaion]

The T8 pet toys will be receiving bane damage for T8 here soon. Just need a few minutes time to get around to adding it =)

[delorre]

Uhm 1 more extra point, magician donor weapon pet buff just lasts 1.5 minutes ... :O

That seems to be a really short duration no?
Just wondering

[Grey]

Still beats out the necro

[Myrixo]

Necro > Mage

Mage's pet is the focus of a mage itself. Thus being, their pet is nothing but a wanna-be tank that does nothing very cool :p

Necro's get dots and their pet backstabs. 'Nuff said.

[Trilkin]

Necro's get dots and their pet backstabs. 'Nuff said.

Mage pets backstab too.

[Wrinkly]

2) pets are never ever getting any heals in a raid, people just dont see it, big AOE effects kill them pretty fast.

I thought the pet group buff AA was supposed to address this from the perspective that pets will receive group heals when cast if you have the AA....

[sr0415]

From what I have seen with that AA, the pet does not receive group heals but does recieve "all" group buffs I have cast. The only group heal the pet seems to get sometimes is the sk donor recourse heal, which does help considerably.

[PKinternet]

As long as you have the AA, pets will receive group heals. Without the AA they will not and have to be targeted by the healer. Only time my pet does not get the group heal is if its out of range.

The other thing to remember about group heals is the Pet typically has significantly more HP than your real tank. My mage T8 pet with true minion focus has over 40k HP. My war with some T6 gear is around 25k. So the group heal has less of an impact on the Pet than real tank.

[Nerva]

Some thoughts on pets...

The way I see it, there's basically five kinds of pet, and they're all different. Keep in mind this is all my own opinion.

Tank Pets
These pets keep the mobs from hitting you while you nuke them down. IMO, they should be tough enough, and be given enough hate/lifetap procs, that they can survive and hold aggro admirably against one or two tier-appropriate raid trash when properly focused, geared and buffed, but have little actual DPS, relying on their master for that. Using a tank pet forces you to sacrifice DPS for self-sufficiency & versatility - a tank pet can offtank adds so long as no melee DPS gets involved (since mobs target players preferentially to pets).

Examples:

• Mage Earth & Water pets
• Necromancer Skeleton pets
• Cleric Animated Weapons

DPS Pets
Essentially, half a rogue/wizard/berserker. These pets don't tank and should die if they try, but should be capable of surviving stray hits/ramps. They kick out damage comparable with their master's own. Pet + master should come close to the DPS output of a dedicated straight-DPS class.

Examples:

• Necromancer Spectre/Shade pets, plus Vampire & Zombie T8
• Mage Air & Fire pets
• Shaman spirit wolves

Swarm Pets
Basically a DoT that can be killed by AoEs and forces enemies to waste effort splatting them. IMO most swarm pets do not have a long enough duration. These guys are fire-and-forget and totally expendable. In a pinch, they can intercept a mob that's out of control, buying a few precious seconds for an actual tank or tank-pet to take up the mob.

Examples:

• Necromancer swarms from Soul Theft, Epic 2.0 clicky, and AAs
• Mage swarm AAs & Bolt of Flaming Stone proc.

Charm Pets
Expendable! Unlike a real pet, you don't need to support or take care of 'em. You charm 'em, you fight alongside 'em until they die or break free, and then you charm a replacement (which, if it broke free, might be the original mob). Other than their expendable nature, they're otherwise similar to a tank pet: perhaps charmers can be given a buff they can cast ONLY on charmed mobs, granting that mob some melee mitigation, hate generation, and a lifetap proc on melee attacks? Maybe even incorporate it into the charm itself? That way, no matter what mob you take over, he's guaranteed to at least hold aggro until he dies, and will die a bit slower than its uncharmed counterpart.

Examples:

• Anything an enchanter or bard charms.

Sidekicks
Assistants to another class. These pets are meant to fight alongside another class in melee, and so are generally like a DPS pet in general behavior (since mobs target players in preference to pets, these pets cannot tank so long as their master is in melee with the same enemy). The pets should be adjusted to support their master in some way, and vice versa; the two will be significantly weaker without one another's help. Perhaps a pet that procs/casts buffs on its master? Maybe a pet that sings bard-like songs for master and allies?

Examples:

• Beastlord animal warders, Shadowknight skeletons