Give Hunter pet actual speed to chase after people, and better damage (hitting someone for 20 damage is really really bad) Give hunter pet a disease proc like on live. Otherwise, hunter pet is really useless in melee. If you're not willing to give hunter pet a boost, consider increasing hunter spear/sword damage.
Hunters are the weakest archer in the entire game across all 3 realms. They sorely need a boost.
I've pointed out this hunter pet as being underwhelming on several other posts, and have highlighted your exact suggestions as well. The wolf moves as if it's running through molasses, never reaching the target and unable to keep up with a sprinting target. Wolves can run upwards of 40 MPH but the Hunter wolf seems to have arthritis in both knees and can't quite muster 10 MPH.
Patch notes below.. I think since new RA's were introduced, perhaps include the 1.85 buff to hunter pets (also below)
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Dark Age of Camelot
Version 1.56 Release Notes
Tuesday, December 3, 2002
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HUNTER CHANGES
We've decided to make Hunters more effective in Melee combat. These changes will help them greatly in both PvE as well as RvR:
- All Hunter melee skills base damages have been increased "behind the scenes". The specific melee skills involved are sword and spear. Hunters will now notice that they do more damage every time they attack an opponent with these weapon types. Hunters now do more base damage than the other two Archer classes, and will not need to do anything to take advantage of this change - it will happen automatically every time they hit with a weapon.
- Hunters have been given a new line of spells in their Beastcraft specialization that allows them to insta-cast a wolf pet. This can be done at any time, even in combat. These are shouts that cost 25% power and have a 2 minute recast time. Please note that if a Hunter is controlling a charmed pet, they cannot summon a wolf pet. Here's the list:
=================================== Dark Age of Camelot Test Version 1.85 Release Notes Quest System and Class Changes July 27, 2006 ==================================
Hunters
- Hunters have a new instant-cast pet at spec 40 and 50 in Beastcraft with the following details:
40: Hunter's Elder Protector - Spawns at 85% of the Hunter's level and has a chance to proc Disease (Rabies) as well as perform various melee styles on the target.
50: Hunter's Elder Avatar - Spawns at 90% of the Hunter's level and has a greater chance to proc Disease (Rabies) as well as perform various melee styles on the target.
standpoint of playing against a hunter (in duel) : the pet did 55dmg per hit to me (SB) - while that is "reasonable" damage, it also * allowed my heal & abla procs to go off * got dodged >50% of the time, because it's a bluecon, and i think counts like a mob so 50% hardcap doesnt apply - but i could be wrong about that
I never felt like the pet helped the hunter much in the duel, except the small damage it did - i let it hit my back so i couldnt evade, but even the procs were sometimes doing more wrong than right for him For me the skillpoints spent into BC don't seem worth it for a semi-useful af buff (slightly better? than af charge) a uselessl d/q buff (worse than d/q charge) and a timed speedburst that is situational at best. The pet should be the strongest thing in that line (hence why its called BC) yet it's kinda underwhelming
i also think the changes that were made on live could be an answer to make it a strong enough line to skill, another option could be to add things in the BC line to make it more appealing. Maybe stacking the d/q buff and af buff, adding instant cast buffs for the pet after summoning, to make the extra points spent worth it?
Yeah notice those levels.. 80% of level. So even if I can only cast 'Hunter's Ally' I should be getting a level 40 pet. On Phoenix, I was getting a Level 20 pet!
It is not wrong, there is just the information missing that the lower lvl spells have a max lvl for the pet, just like theurg pets.
Ot: i dont think that the pet needs garotte and desease imo that would make the hunter pretty much op in this server setting. Just make the pet buff insta and increase the value of the selfbuff, there is no reason to spec high BC for a buff that is significantly weaker that a charged buff.