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The Best of Pet Classes
Urrelles
Member Posts: 574
I'm going to post a nice long rant about my second favorite class type designed for MMORPGs. The pet class. What's my #1 favorite? The hybrid healer. You know, that "jack of all trades" class that kind of sucks at all of his trades? Yeah! I love those guys.
Back on topic, pet classes are up on the list. I love this class due to the micromanagement. You have this extension of your character that you must use to its fullest in order win battles. This pet extension takes all of the risk for you, but you must take care of it or you will only be half complete.
Here are the top 5 pet classes I specifically love. These classes are not just favorites due to their abilities, they are also up here because of the way their system was implemented into the game.
#5 Diablo 2: Lord of Destruction Mercenaries
Odd choice huh. Here's why. Diablo 2 is the only game I know that allows me to give my mercenary pet equipment. I can give the merc a super duper rare item that blows stuff up and the item will work as intended on the merc. AWESOME.
#4 Anarchy Online - That dude with the pillows and floating manifestations
I can't remember the name of the class. All I know is this was the first class that I could give orders to the different pets to follow another player and heal that player. The command was glitchy, but when it worked, I was able to act as a minor healer in groups.
#3 Dark Age of Camelot - Hunter, Bonedancer, Spiritmaster
For me, DAoC paved the way to the pet classes we see today. This was my second experience to pet classes that had tons of options for tactical combat in PvP. The bonedancer was capable of setting up formations and spacing for his squad of 4 pets. The Spiritmaster had a few extremely powerful PvE abilities using his pet as a tank in Raid instance. (It was more of an exploit that got fixed but it was still great use of pet.) The hunter was an excellent use of tactical bait and decoy using the wolf.
These early pets had all of the good basic commands. Stay, attack, defend, aggro, follow, and best of all, move to target.
The hunter sticks out as the most useful because the hunter was an archer who could stealth. However his dog did not. so the player had to make the dog sit out of view, or in view to bait and lure other players into his traps. The dog was able to wait almost a half a mile away from the player. When the player was attacked the dog would literally run that half mile to defend the player. This was excellent when fighting stealthers because a stealther could dissapear before you and all you had to do was run to your wolf and it would find the stealther.
#2 WoW - Warlock
The warlock is overpowered due to poorly designed implementation of mechanics to provide player ease. This resulted in way too much ease for the player. However, the pet portion of this class delivers quite well.
The first noticable thing is the look of the pets. Each pet has the same amount of care and detail placed into them as in the player. (This opinion of "care" could be translated to "lack of care" by some people here.) the pets were given great voice acting and personality. Sadly the customization ends there.
The abilities of the pet are extremely important to the Warlock. If the warlock has the wrong pet out at the wrong time, it could easily cost him the battle. Each pet comes with 3 unique abilities with plenty of uses. Some of these abilities are so useful that it gives the Warlock a true sense purpose within a group, besides dealing damage.
What I personally like about the warlock are their pets uses in PvP. Sadly not many other players will use their pets to the fullest in WoW, due to the Warlocks arsenal of spells being so powerful. I can setup ambush zones by important markers by having my pet stealth on aggressive while I hide underwater. I can setup a decoy zone that will make me appear to have an invisible pet when in fact I have a different pet hidden around a corner. I can control exactly when a pet uses an ability.
#1 City of Heroes - Mastermind (MM)
Oddly enough this is the absolute best pet class I have ever played in any game. This class has everything I have dreamed of. Large customization, 6 pets, tons of controls, unique abilities on the character and the pets, PET EMOTES AND PET TALKING.
We all know that CoH has a lot of customization. The mastermind gets huge amounts of customization in and outside the box. First you get to choose the type of pets you desire. Zombies, Ninjas, Mercs, Robots, Thugs. They all have their own playstyle that works well for them. Next you choose what type of MM you want to be. You can be a single target debuffer, AE debuffer, healer, or defense buffer. As an added bonus you have your primary attack style ranging from guns, bows, and magic. The customization doesn't stop here though. Now we start going outside the box. With careful planning, you can make your character a melee fighter, damage dealer or a tank.
The final piece of customization comes through the games macro system. You can make a complex set of keybinds that will "practically" breath life into your pets. You can talk through your pets. You have 6 of them and you can individually make each one say a different line if you wanted. You can rename the pets to anything you want. Lastly the pets use the same rigging system as the main characters. Therefore they can perform any emote in the game that a player can do.
All of this put together has landed me 5 separate Masterminds that all play completely different from each other.
The implementation of this class is done flawlessly. I can order specific pets to attack different targets. They can be ordered to move to ground locations and create a zone. I can set some of my pets on aggro while others sit back on passive to heal or shield me. Each of my pets have at least 3 special abilities which they fire off on their own. (This is the only feature that I have no control over) These abilities can be buffed and their power is significant in battle when aiding my team or myself.
Along with good pet classes there are a few bad ones.
Age of Conan - Necromancer
Pets that don't hold aggro? Pets that do absolute utter piss poor damage? Pets who are given a ton of abilities and all those abilities do is inflict more weak ass damage? FAIL!
The Necro could have been a badass MMORPG version of the Diablo 2 necromancer. The character has up to 8 pets. There are (what seems to be) over 10 different types of pets. Many awesome abilities are present that spawn even more mini pets when the player kills his targets a certain way.
Sadly with an army of almost 15 pets, the necro will ALWAYS get all the aggro. Even when he uses his special command to pull the aggro onto one pet, he can easily pull it back off. You cannot give individual pets commands either. They all mob on 1 target or no target at all. The only time they will "sometimes" split their attack is when they are set on defense and the necro is attacked by multiple enemies.
Asian MMO pet classes - Lineage 2, Perfect world
It seems most Asian MMO games have pet classes that perform maybe one special move that means something. On top of that they don't even come with the standard aggro and defense ability. They player has to literally tell the pet when to attack all the time. I know why they do this though. It is to prevent farmers from using their pets to AFK grind for them.
Rappelz is the only game I have seen with a decent pet system. But it was still not enough to thrill me.
The future classes.
I look forward to yet another unique pet experience in Warhammer Online. The White Lion. Finally a melee pet class that is made to either tank, deal damage, or pet tank. I really hope Mythic makes the pet classes in this game simular to the ones in DAoC when it comes to commands and special abilities.
Comments
I'll agree on the Mastermind, best pet class with a lot of different pet options.
I couldn't agree more on the AoC necromancer class.
Yeah asian games just make your pet a dumb npc who might help sometimes or get killed fast. Rappelz is a rare game in that I haven't tried it, but from what I hear the pets aren't really all that useful in the end game.
I liked the look of the necromancer pets in Everquest.
Its total dps (pet + master) that is important, not just pet dps.
The downside of pets is that they can be useless if the game has poor pet pathing or poor aggro control.
How can you mention daoc pet classes without the animist and the theurgist.
I would say a theurgist was my favorite pet class ever, even tho it was more of a temp pet class.
also the necro, daoc hands down has the most interesting pet classes of any game.
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Achiever 20.00%, Explorer 86.67%, Killer 60.00%, Socializer 33.33%
EKSA
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Great read and fascinating information. I think everybody loves a good pet class. I might have to roll a Mastermind on CoV and check it out.
I like pets, but I hate that pets which feel like part of the ability of your class (e.g. hunter in WoW), pretty much like a fireball is part of the ability of a mage.
I like pets in UO in which it is an independent being.
MMO played (paid):
AION
DragonRaja
Dungeons & Dragons Online
Lineage
Lineage 2
Tibia
Ultima Online
Warhammer Online
World of Warcraft
MMO tried:
Atlantica Online
Darkfall
Dead Frontier
Dungeon Runners
EverQuest
Lord of the Rings Online
Monster Hunter Frontier Online
Ragnarok Online
Requiem
Runes of Magic
Runescape
The 4th Coming
and some other Chinese/Korean or beta MMOs
You lost all cedibiity when you said "classes"
classes are old school first gen static stuff.. Skill based is the only way to go.
God is a fucker send me to hell
I guess you never played Everquest. It had some of the best pet classes.
Necromancer:
They had a skeleton pet that would have the appearance of a reaper at higher levels. The class could drain large amounts of life as well as sacrifice their health for mana which would give the Necromancer the appearance of a lich. They also had feign death and the pet could feign death with AA abilities. You could give the pet weapons and armor to augment them though this was nerfed a bit later in the game and became more of Mage class ability.
Mage:
These guys could summon large Elementals to protect them from harm. They also could summon weapons and armor to enhance their pet. Basically they were a wizard with Pets. You could summon a Water, Fire, Eather, or Air elemental. They all had their strengths. I remember using the Water a lot as they were immune to poison and had fast heath regeneration. The Air pet could stun, the Earth pet had the best damage mitigation, and the Fire pet did the most damage. Overall a fun class to play.
Beastlord:
This class was added in later expansions. They were a melee/pet hybrid. The pet did most of the tanking while the Beastlord would melee DPS and heal the pet. This class was very strong as it had slow spells to slow the attack speed of their opponent down. I never played it that much though as I wasn't into melee classes.
Enchanter:
This wasn't really a pet class, but it had arguable the most powerful pets. Enchanters could charm powerful mobs for a short amount of time. It was dangerous, but when they got the mob charmed they could do a lot of damage quickly. I believe this was nerfed a bit at some point.
I've never played DAOC so I can't really state an opinion with regards to it's pet classes. The Diablo pet classes were all right. I agree that the pet classes in AoC are pretty sad. Especially the necromancer.
My #1 definitely have to go to Everquest Necromancers before Verant/SOE started nerfing them.
2) CoX Mastermind
3) DAOC Bonedancer
4) DAOC Sorcerer (Pre-Nerf)
5) EQ Mage (With AA's from the various expansions)
In War - Victory.
In Peace - Vigilance.
In Death - Sacrifice.
Nice that you completely ignored the old SWG class of Creature Handler. Sorry no pet class in any MMO has even come close to that class.
EQs Necro + Beastlord
WoW's Hunter
So far the best pet class for me is the Beastmaster in WYD . BM is a good to AFK grind characters in the game so far... imagine AFK'ing with a party of your pets not to mention that they can even transform to a beast so that they can even become the pet themselves lol.
Initiating my Divine Intervention since time immemorial..
Mythos is great for pet lovers because it allows each of its classes to create a pet-centric build through skill selection. For those who like micromanaging, the Gadgeteer is probably the best class, because you can create different kinds of pets for slowing, zapping, or enslaving your enemies depending on the situation. I sure hope Mythos survives the rumored collapse of Flagship; this lovely little game deserves to live.
In Eve Online, there are no classes, but anyone can be a pet owner by using drones. With the appropriate ship and skills, you can control up to 5 drones at once in PvE mission-running ships--the kind I fly. You can give your drones individual or group orders, or let them choose and attack their own choice of targets. You can also order them to always focus their attacks on a single target, which is a good idea. It's also possible to fly drones that perform other tasks such as sniping or electronic countermeasures. The only thing I miss in my Eve Online pets is that they can't tank. If they gain aggro, they die.
I agree with the points about the Diablo II mercs--I love them too!--and furthermore my favorite class of all time in any game is the Necromancer, due to his army of skeletons and golem. There's no micromanaging the little guys, but it's still a ton of fun walking around with an army of tanks. And combine the Necro with an Insight-runeword-polearm-wielding desert hireling, and you have a Corpse Explosion dynamo! My second favorite is the Druid, with his pack of wolves, but unfortunately summoner Druids are weak in the endgame.
Good comments by others on the EverQuest pet classes. I should add that pets in EQ can wear almost as much equipment as player characters. I knew a Beastlord who soloed a lot, and he would spend gobs of plat gearing up his pet with items from the Bazaar. That was fun while it lasted, but he quit the game when a server crash deleted his pet and the GMs accused him of lying when he asked for reimbursal of his pet gear. Way to go, SOE!
On the downside, Guild Wars Ranger pets always seemed to me more a liability than an asset. They were weaker than player characters and thus put a lot of strain on the Ranger or other healers to keep them alive. And Necromancer pets were an incredible pain to use because of their rapid health degeneration. I was always telling my friends, "Wait, I need to make more pets" or "Hurry up, my pets are dying!" No thanks!
And a trend I absolutely despise in MMORPGs is these stupid "mini pets" that just follow the player around and look cute. Blast it, I want something that'll fight for me!!!
Best pet class? I don't play many pet classes but hunter in WoW I liked for being able to select any pet(maybe it was a restricted a little bit I can't remember) and each would have their own different abilities. Also I do recall a temporary stint as a mage in Everquest that I liked due to having four distinct and desirable pets.(Air,Water,Fire and Earth)
my favorite as well. This class was awesome
Wasn't a class.. it was a profession!!
I liked CH but my favorite thing in SWG was being a Bio Engineer.
But I've been a pet person for quite a while.. I mean I had a tamer in Ultima Online (btw to the person that said classes are from first gen game.. UO was skill based in 1997.. *.* wtf).
Tamer in UO was pretty awesome and your best got more powerful as it fought. I had a Nightmare that was pretty kick butt when I finally left the game. Also combining tamer skills with bard skills back in the day was pretty crazy.
Any fool can criticize, condemn and complain and most fools do.
Benjamin Franklin
my favorite as well. This class was awesome
Wasn't a class.. it was a profession!!
I liked CH but my favorite thing in SWG was being a Bio Engineer.
But I've been a pet person for quite a while.. I mean I had a tamer in Ultima Online (btw to the person that said classes are from first gen game.. UO was skill based in 1997.. *.* wtf).
Tamer in UO was pretty awesome and your best got more powerful as it fought. I had a Nightmare that was pretty kick butt when I finally left the game. Also combining tamer skills with bard skills back in the day was pretty crazy.
Class, profession, what is the difference? None that I can percieve. The bio engineer was pretty good too since they developed the pets many of us used. I have played alot of MMO's and never found a better pet user than the Creature Handler.
You mean in the first month when a tamed Rancor could solo ANYTHING in the game. Ya that wasn't game breaking. There is a reason that got nerfed the hell and back.
I would have said the Necro in EQ topped this list until I played a Warlock in Wow.
Voidwalkers tanked well and sacrifice was a life saver. Imps with their steady DD and HP bonus and fire shields. Succubi with their CC abilities. Felhunters with 'silences' and mana eating abilities. Felguards were good too but they we're talented only. With the right talents each of these could get much better in their respective tasks. And no I'm not a fanboi. I quit WoW a year ago.
Although, here was nothing like shouting "TRAIN TO DOCKS! WHOOOO WHOOO" in the Oasis of Marr with a Spectre "chasing" you down. Just watch the people run straight into Dorn.
Eh Warlocks in WoW are fun to play, but they didn't measure up to Necromancers in Everquest. Their life drains weren't as good and they didn't have as wide a range of abilities. The Necro was an incredible solo class in EQ. They had just about every ability a class needs to make it on their own. They had the pet to tank, large life drains and also large damage over time, fear, long deration snares, invis to undead, invis to normal people, water breathing, levitation, feign death, pet feign death, and just about anything you could ask for. The class wasn't originally intended as a group class and said in it's description not many people liked Necros or wanted to group with them.
I
pet classes. I just want to sit back and watch the bodies fall. Although typically I played direct dmg dealers in MMO's I love anything with sentry guns, like the Engineers in TF2, Techs I think in Tabula Rasa, or heck trap assassins in D2 !!!
My favorite quote, from EQ when chanters could charm and haste mobs into meat grinders.
"Nothing cheats quite like an NPC"
Get yourself one !!!
"They essentially want to say 'Correlation proves Causation' when it's just not true." - Sovrath
I played a Necro for 3 or 4 years in EQ too and I aggree with everything you say. However all that has nothing to do with being a great pet class. When you soloed the pet was another DOT along the way. You rarely raided with your pet and it got eaten pretty quicky if it took a hit.
A necro was 95% effective without his pet in any solo situation.
Necromancer ability to create a temporary pet from a fallen foe, particularly a major boss was fun. I nearly fell out of my chair a few times when a necro caught me by surprise with that trick.
The AoC necro pets look very very good. But that class does suck.
I'm a long time CoV MM fan. I have played about every combo that you can. thug / traps is my favorite, even for pvp.
You mean in the first month when a tamed Rancor could solo ANYTHING in the game. Ya that wasn't game breaking. There is a reason that got nerfed the hell and back.
No, I believe he was talking about before the first drastic change in the entire Effing Game, when they figured out that a tamed rancor was over the top and they dumbed it down a bit, but not so much that it was still awesome. Then they killed the profession completely in favor of what SWG is today......___(Insert selected insult)____
I played a Necro for 3 or 4 years in EQ too and I aggree with everything you say. However all that has nothing to do with being a great pet class. When you soloed the pet was another DOT along the way. You rarely raided with your pet and it got eaten pretty quicky if it took a hit.
A necro was 95% effective without his pet in any solo situation.
This is true though I found the pet to be pretty useful myself. If you were fighting against undead you could cast a slow spell that worked only against undead and your pet would then be able to take the mobs if you healed in once in a while. The pet was esential in agro kiting at endgame as it was free damage. Free damage was very important when fighting against the mobs in Planes of power which were rediculously powerful compared to the players. A few hits and you were dead so you had to make sure to keep the mobs far away from you. The mobs had so much health efficiency and snare/root/speed enhancement was essentail for soloing mobs.
Star Wars Galaxies Creature Handler/Bio Engineer/Rifleman. It was pet-class heaven.
Next best is UO's taming. Amazing stuff.