[BUG] Hunter Call Pet not working

[JamminL]

1. Current Behavior

1.1. Description

Hunter different call pets (1-5) are summoning the same pet and you're not able to set different pets to it. The reason for this is probably because the stable hasn't been updated to cata, it's still using the wotlk stable.

1.2. How to Reproduce

       1. Try to call pet 1, 2, 3, 4,5  and notice how it all summons the same pet
       2. Try going into the stable master to put different pets in other slots, notice how you only have 1 active slot and the UI is wotlk.

1.3 Source Material

2. Expected Behavior

2.1. Description

The pet stable should have 5 active pet slots, and the gossip for the stable master should be different as well. Then, call pet will call the pet assigned to those slots.

2.2 Source Material

[Kenniflopper]

This is still bugged, stables are like Wrath and can only have 1 active pet

[EDP445SupporterAlsoTrump2024]

I tested it today and its still bugged. Hunter is supposed to have Call pet 1, Call pet 2, Call pet 3, Call pet 4 and Call pet 5 (5 Seperate abilities to call pet because hunter is supposed to have 5 active pets and 10 on stables.

@CharWS This should be priority

[Artemishowl]

We have a partial fix to Band-Aid this problem in the meantime -- which will disable the ability to call pets 2 -> 5 out until we can completely address this problem cleaner.

[Kenniflopper]

We have a partial fix to Band-Aid this problem in the meantime -- which will disable the ability to call pets 2 -> 5 out until we can completely address this problem cleaner.

Not having Call Pet 1-5 is kind of a massive nerf to Hunters, i hope this issue will be adressed quickly.

[EDP445SupporterAlsoTrump2024]

@Artemishowl Thank you for the update 😍

I want to remind you how significant impact hunters had back in og cataclysm in terms of PvP, you would be seeing hunters left and right competing in tournaments. They would have not been able to get there without call pet 1-5. This is what makes hunter what they are.

We want classic hunter experience, and i hope the fix is going to be sooner than later 👍

Here are some tournament videos, mostly dominated by hunters

https://youtu.be/CaYHkdYeEbE?t=288

1. https://youtu.be/Vf45oASIDe0?t=2568
2. https://youtu.be/XOCub33OE9E?t=24
3. https://youtu.be/OneeXld8UnM?t=216
4. https://youtu.be/2iiX-mZuxPA?t=64
5. https://youtu.be/hxJl2iCP3dI?t=151
6. (Both teams have hunter) https://youtu.be/CTPVmNCMFlE?t=33

[Vimashakk]

Hi! It might not be a place for the semi-casuals like me but I stumbled accross this issue and wanted to give my opinion on it because statements of the above doesn't reflect my experience in cataclysm. I have been playing on cataclysm private servers for a few years now and as much as I am not a top ladder player, I still improved quite a lot watching some of the R1 streamers play arenas. I'm unsure how this feature affects top ladder players but for us 'decently good' players, Hunters being able to resummon their monkeys to keep up roar of sacrifice at all times on the whole team while controlling everyone with bad manner has been the bane of my existence. Every game played into a hunter that abuses it felt unwinnable.

[EDP445SupporterAlsoTrump2024]

EDIT Comment above me joined 10mins ago on github

My comments are downvoted by Avizura, here is proof:

One of his accounts are https://github.com/DaveyGreen And his main github account is https://github.com/Avizurax7

Post from DaveyGreen -> https://github.com/JamminL/cata-classic-bugs/issues/947

Notice the border of the gear and the font, it's the exact same as avizuras. Here you can see clip from his stream -> https://streamable.com/1ku0zd

Why? Because it goes against his interest, he's willing do to everything in his power to achieve his goals, even if it means creating new github accounts to downvote: https://github.com/Franathyr (Joined 20mins ago) and disliked my comment

Thank you

[CharWS]

Let's keep things to the issue itself plz, can chat about other things elsewhere

[perpabc]

Hunters resummoning pets is one thing, but it's important to look at the bugs that existed, that Blizzard fixed. Please see below blue post.

https://www.bluetracker.gg/wow/topic/us-en/10859655954-dismiss-pet-nerf/

Hunters were unintentionally able to bypass pet cooldowns by dismissing/resummoning their pets in Cata. Other pet classes were fixed in 2011, with Hunters staying bugged - the blue post above confirms this, with Blizzard putting in a fix for it in 2012.

With this bug, Hunters can have up to 5 pets, which are;

• Almost unkillable [mend pet/wall]
• Uncontrollable [pvp trinket]
• Able to CC on demand
• Able to use Roar of Sacrifice on demand, which halves the damage of most classes

If a pet's close to dying or has used cds, the Hunter can Dismiss Pet in 2 seconds, an uninterruptable cast and summon a new one, with all cds/health reset. There is no counterplay to this.

Blizz made clear that it wasn't intentional gameplay, for obvious reasons. The fix to Earthbind root in Wrath to give it Diminishing Returns more recently, and the fix to Shadowmeld in 2022 are great examples of unintentional bugs being thankfully smoothed out for Classic, and we'd argue this pet mechanic is more desperately in need of the fix it was given years ago.

References of other classes pets being resummoned and their cds not being reset after fixes: Mage: https://youtu.be/6vUDHgVTCA4?t=262 (Sept 2011, water ele freeze not reset on resummon) Mage 2: https://youtu.be/AaULqV0kMO0?t=140 (June 2012, water ele freeze not reset on resummon) Warlock: https://youtu.be/iX5XvCrC9Dw?t=410 (April 2012, Spell lock not reset on pet resummon with Soulburn) Warlock 2: https://youtu.be/cYNiMtU9MAY?t=410 (August 2012, Spell lock not reset with Demonic Rebirth talent either)

[Whiteshadovvropemaxxing]

The blue post is from a different expansion and hunter provided much more damage than hunter did back on cataclysm so having that much damage + dismiss pet mechanic to reset pet cooldowns made it a problem, linking a MoP blue post for a cataclysm patch just makes no sense. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vf45oASIDe0&ab_channel=Bloomengns the mechanic existed even on blizzcon finals back in Cataclysm the game was broadcasted to thousands, developers were watching and everybody that works on the game they were aware of the mechanic if it was game breaking they would have removed it on cataclysm like they did on MoP.

[Kenniflopper]

Hunters resummoning pets is one thing, but it's important to look at the bugs that existed, that Blizzard fixed. Please see below blue post.

https://www.bluetracker.gg/wow/topic/us-en/10859655954-dismiss-pet-nerf/

Hunters were unintentionally able to bypass pet cooldowns by dismissing/resummoning their pets in Cata. Other pet classes were fixed in 2011, with Hunters staying bugged - the blue post above confirms this, with Blizzard putting in a fix for it in 2012.

With this bug, Hunters can have up to 5 pets, which are;

• Almost unkillable [mend pet/wall]
• Uncontrollable [pvp trinket]
• Able to CC on demand
• Able to use Roar of Sacrifice on demand, which halves the damage of most classes

If a pet's close to dying or has used cds, the Hunter can Dismiss Pet in 2 seconds, an uninterruptable cast and summon a new one, with all cds/health reset. There is no counterplay to this.

Blizz made clear that it wasn't intentional gameplay, for obvious reasons. The fix to Earthbind root in Wrath to give it Diminishing Returns more recently, and the fix to Shadowmeld in 2022 are great examples of unintentional bugs being thankfully smoothed out for Classic, and we'd argue this pet mechanic is more desperately in need of the fix it was given years ago.

References of other classes pets being resummoned and their cds not being reset after fixes: Mage: https://youtu.be/6vUDHgVTCA4?t=262 (Sept 2011, water ele freeze not reset on resummon) Mage 2: https://youtu.be/AaULqV0kMO0?t=140 (June 2012, water ele freeze not reset on resummon) Warlock: https://youtu.be/iX5XvCrC9Dw?t=410 (April 2012, Spell lock not reset on pet resummon with Soulburn) Warlock 2: https://youtu.be/cYNiMtU9MAY?t=410 (August 2012, Spell lock not reset with Demonic Rebirth talent either)

Hunters could do this until end of season 14 of Mop (Patch 5.4.2) a WHOLE expansion later, almost 2 expansions infact. Blizzard is not ignorant and gullible. They know what they are doing. It was only fixed during the end of mop because they actually have damage there and doesnt need the extra added defensives.

https://wowpedia.fandom.com/wiki/Patch_5.4.2 https://wowpedia.fandom.com/wiki/Dismiss_Pet

People also asking for Dismiss Pet changing macros during cata aswell, as it was widely used and known. https://www.mmo-champion.com/threads/1165659-Hunter-macro-for-pet-changing?highlight=Monkey+pet+swap

It was also used in major tournaments such as NAO and Blizzcon Finals, and even just regular casual dueling people. https://youtu.be/XvORL45IXdc?si=diC9_o5N_MApdf-L&t=75

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CaYHkdYeEbE - Focus on bottom right cds you will see a bunch of roar of sacrifice cds and Hunter's cast bar for dismiss pet cast: GAME 1 = Sac used at 0:42 & Dismiss cast at 1:05 / New Sac used at 1:13 & Dismiss cast at 1:36 / New sac used at 1:39 GAME 2 = Sac used at 2:25 & Dismiss cast at 2:58 / Sac used 3:03 in middle of dismiss cast / Sac used at 3:15 & Dismiss cast at 3:33 / Sac used 4:04 GAME 3 = Sac used at 5:06 & Dismiss cast at 5:20 / Sac used at 5:29 & Dismiss cast at 5:31 / Sac used at 5:52 in middle of dismiss cast / Sac used at 6:11 & Dismiss cast at 6:27 / Sac used at 6:34 in middle of dismiss cast / Sac used at 6:43 in middle of dismiss cast / Sac used 6:51 in middle of dismiss cast / Sac used at 7:24 & Dismiss cast at 7:27 GAME 4 = Sac used at 8:45 & Dismiss cast at 9:15 / Sac used at 9:40 & Dismiss cast at 9:55 / Sac used at 10:05

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FWY9XkTVsek - Focus on bottom right cds you will see a bunch of roar of sacrifice cds and Hunter's cast bar for dismiss pet cast: GAME 1 = Sac used at 0:32 & Dismiss cast at 1:22 / Sac used at 1:26 & Dismiss cast at 1:56 / Sac used at 2:15 & Dismiss cast at 2:25 / Sac used at 2:31 at the end of dismiss cast / Sac used at 3:11 & Dismiss cast at 3:16 / Sac used at 3:41 & Dismiss cast at 3:52 / Sac used at 5:09 & dismiss cast at 5:29 / Sac used at 5:33 GAME 2 = Sac used at 6:40 & Dismiss cast at 7:27 / Sac used at 7:31 & Dismiss cast at 8:11 / Sac used at 8:17 & Dismiss cast at 8:36 / Sac used at 8:52 & Dismiss cast at 9:16 / Sac used at 9:22 & Dismiss cast at 9:55 / Sac used at 9:59 & dismiss cast at 10:47 / Sac used at 11:05 & Dismiss cast at 11:09 / Sac used at 12:01 & Dismiss cast at 12:19 / Sac used at 12:24 GAME 3 = Sac used at 13:50 & Dismiss cast at 14:25 / Sac used at 14:38 & Dismiss cast at 14:59 / Sac used at 15:05 & dismiss cast at 15:21 / Sac used at 15:25

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nboqopECe5I - Focus on bottom right cds you will see a bunch of roar of sacrifice cds and Hunter's cast bar for dismiss pet cast: GAME 1 = sac used at 0:26 & dismiss cast at 0:39 / sac used at 0:47 GAME 2 = sac used at 1:25 & dismiss cast at 1:50 / sac used at 2:00 & dismiss cast at 2:32 / sac used at 2:36 & dismiss cast at 2:36 / sac used at 2:49 & dismiss cast at 3:01 / sac used at 3:08 & dismiss cast at 3:32 / sac used at 4:01 & dismiss cast at 4:11 / sac used at 4:16 & dismiss cast at 4:24 / sac used at 5:24

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3jDr2QkDtfw - Focus on bottom left cds you will see a bunch of roar of sacrifice cds and Hunter's cast bar for dismiss pet cast: GAME 1 = sac used at 2:45 & dismiss cast at 2:47 / sac used at 2:56 & pet abandon at 3:25 / sac used at 3:28 & dismiss cast at 3:49

Even famous players back then was doing it and uploading pvp montages to their youtube channels such as Braindeadly and Tosan!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b1jk5nxa2nU - PLAYER POV: Notice when he cast dismiss pet and summons a different monkey the cooldowns are reset cause each monkey has their own cooldown timers Timestamps = 3:20 & 3:46 & 6:21 & 8:01 & 11:32 & 12:24 & 15:37

Having this Mechanic for Hunter's is absolutely crucial for Hunters in Cataclysm and is a core part of our Kit and how they work in PvP, and there is people out to custom nerf Hunters.

We want the Cataclysm experience to stay true to the core and having some people use their influence online to skewer the publics opinion towards their own agenda does not seem fair and right,

[perpabc]

That doesn't matter. The blue post is very clear. It was bugged during Cata for Hunters only; other pet classes could not resummon to bypass cooldowns as laid out in my post above.

"Dismiss Pet was frequently being used to bypass cooldowns on certain pet abilities, such as Roar of Sacrifice, or to swap out a dangerously wounded pet for one at full health. Neither of those were intended behavior. Furthermore, our design is that choosing your pet should feel similar to choosing a glyph or talent during pre-match preparation.

With this change, Hunters are able to switch pets during the pre-match preparation period, but unable to dismiss them once the match has begun."

[Kenniflopper]

That doesn't matter. The blue post is very clear. It was bugged during Cata for Hunters only; other pet classes could not resummon to bypass cooldowns as laid out in my post above.

"Dismiss Pet was frequently being used to bypass cooldowns on certain pet abilities, such as Roar of Sacrifice, or to swap out a dangerously wounded pet for one at full health. Neither of those were intended behavior. Furthermore, our design is that choosing your pet should feel similar to choosing a glyph or talent during pre-match preparation.

With this change, Hunters are able to switch pets during the pre-match preparation period, but unable to dismiss them once the match has begun."

Nowhere does it mention Cataclysm and that this was an issue in Cataclysm, ur stating ur facts based on speculation. You could Use dismiss pet in MoP up until patch 5.4.2 where they noticed it was becoming an issue and then "fixed" the issue.

[EDP445SupporterAlsoTrump2024]

This wasn't a "issue" in cata, that's why it was in the game in the first place. It only became a issue in MoP hence the change.

[Kenniflopper]

This wasn't a "issue" in cata, that's why it was in the game in the first place. It only became a issue in MoP hence the change.

This was never an issue in Cata, you just said it urself. It was changed in MoP cause it was an issue in MoP. MoP is Not Cata. I have provided plently of proof with timestamps showing dismiss pet being used very frequently in tournaments (sometimes up to 5 times within a minute), by casual dueling players and even in Blizzcon Finals. And Blizzard didnt touch it cause it was never an issue to be touched to begin with.

[perpabc]

Blizzard were very damning in their evaluation of how Hunter pets were working. It's just as much an opinion to suggest that they forgot about Hunters as it is to say it was intentional.

However, what we do have, is a blue post, and evidence of other classes not being able to do the same thing.

[Snipin]

The claim that CDs and health were reset upon calling a new pet is false. The pet you summon will have the same health you dismissed it with. The cooldown are not reset either, they are simply ticking down whether the pet is summoned or not.

Also, a mechanic that is acceptable in one expansion and not the next is perfectly normal especially considering class design change, damage profiles change, etc. Using a blue post from the next expansion is disingenuous.

[perpabc]

The claim that CDs and health were reset upon calling a new pet is false. The pet you summon will have the same health you dismissed it with. The cooldown are not reset either, they are simply ticking down whether the pet is summoned or not.

Also, a mechanic that is acceptable in one expansion and not the next is perfectly normal especially considering class design change, damage profiles change, etc. Using a blue post from the next expansion is disingenuous.

Wrong.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b1jk5nxa2nU&t=740s&ab_channel=Quick

Health reset.

CDs reset.

[Snipin]

Not how it works. If it did, why run 5 pets? Just one would suffice

[EDP445SupporterAlsoTrump2024]

Wrong.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b1jk5nxa2nU&t=740s&ab_channel=Quick

Health reset.

CDs reset.

This is false, in cataclysm you can rename your pets (His pet names are Obama) each pet has its own healthbar. So for example if your Pet 1,2,3,4 are at 50% hp but your 5th pet is at 100% hp, if you summon 5th pet obviously it will be full hp. In this video he summoned a different pet with the same name

[Kenniflopper]

Damn, the amount of new accounts made last few hours is unreal, the github is popping off, its not the agenda to custom nerfs hunters for sure.

[perpabc]

Kenni, our job here is to provide evidence, not speculate or make wild claims.

The evidence is as follows: a) A blue post explaining that they didn't intend for this mechanic to be in the game, b) Proof that the mechanic wasn't working on other classes during Cata.

If you'd like to make a suggestion so this mechanic remains bugged, there's a way to do that on this github.

[Kenniflopper]

Kenni, our job here is to provide evidence, not speculate or make wild claims.

The evidence is as follows: a) A blue post explaining that they didn't intend for this mechanic to be in the game, b) Proof that the mechanic wasn't working on other classes during Cata.

If you'd like to make a suggestion so this mechanic remains bugged, there's a way to do that on this github.

i already stated a reply to ur outrageous claims, dont need to prove anything else

[skinnay-dev]

References of other classes pets being resummoned and their cds not being reset after fixes: Mage: https://youtu.be/6vUDHgVTCA4?t=262 (Sept 2011, water ele freeze not reset on resummon)

This first reference shows freeze is resetting. Presumably the clip is earlier than the change?

Regarding this part of the linked blue post:

We'd considered doing something like that, but there's actually major technical hurdles with the way Dismiss Pet works that make it a much bigger task than it sounds. We'd have to make some pretty scary changes to the way pets work (in the underlying code, at least) to be able to implement a shared cooldown on pet abilities. We may end up revisiting the idea sometime in the future, but we simply did not have time for it in the 5.4.2 development cycle.

It should be noted that this custom change was implemented during the Classic WotLK beta to prevent hunters from pre-popping Call of the Wild and swapping pets in PvE content. However, this change did not apply inside arena, despite not being able to rotate to different pets hunters were able to reset CDs on the same pet by dismissing and resummoning only in arena.

[EDP445SupporterAlsoTrump2024]

We want blizzlike, and some people seem to be threatened to the point that they're making new accounts to spam downvotes because they want custom.

And fact of the matter is hunter should have 5 pet slots, each pet have their own talent tree and individual cooldowns, that's how the game used to be and thats how we remember it.

CataClassic 👍

CataCustom 👎

[Pozzelz]

The fact, that we are even debating this seems crazy to me. That was a crucial part of the Classic Cata Hunter experience. It gave hunter a very unique, high Skill seeling Playstyle, that draws people Into this Expansion. If we want to relive Cata the way it was ( which was the Goal of the while Classic Thing in the first place right?), this should or better has to be in it. People back then used it, it was known on the 4.3.4 Server even by Blizzard employees ( sadly No proof on that anymore). This is and Always will be what made hunter special and why i Fell in Love with this class 12 years ago.

[gekkuxz]

I find all of that very cheap considering you guys are liking each others comments and asked a handful of people to do the same, not to mention this being a "very unique, high Skill seeling Playstyle, that draws people Into this Expansion" when most remember cataclysm hunter as extremely obnoxious for reasons mentioned before

regardless this is a github for classic cata not a warzone so it's better to keep it at that unless actual mentions or footages are found, right now this looks like a mess

[MoreLikeX]

I think it's worth noting that the only people advocating for dismiss pet resetting pet cd's are either hunter players or players who play with hunters, and thus benefit from this unintended feature. Everyone else thinks this bug should've never been part of the game. You're right, the unintended feature which allows you to reset cd's upon dismissing your pet is Blizzlike, but as Blizzard has stated in the past, they're open to changes that make a better and healthier game for the players. This change would unarguably make a better game for everyone, not just the hunters. And the fact it's an unintended mechanic is a great argument as to why it should be removed from the game.

[Pozzelz]

Its Not about advocating. Its Just how it was 12 years ago. If you want to experience the gameplay from Back then, thats how it was. Yes i am a Hunter Player and would obviously be biased, But im Not stating anything that isnt true. I dont argue gamebalance or anything its Just a core mechanic of Hunter gameplay even Back then. I dont want any custom Changes to any gameplay. Gimma the og thimg

[MannySJH]

Arena balance regarding the nuances of this mechanic should be a completely separate #somechanges topic. Hunters calling a variety of pets on demand without having to physically visit a stable was a quality of life addition back then and should be fixed regardless.

[perpabc]

Wrong.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b1jk5nxa2nU&t=740s&ab_channel=Quick Health reset. CDs reset.

This is false, in cataclysm you can rename your pets (His pet names are Obama) each pet has its own healthbar. So for example if your Pet 1,2,3,4 are at 50% hp but your 5th pet is at 100% hp, if you summon 5th pet obviously it will be full hp. In this video he summoned a different pet with the same name

This is with Dismiss Pet.

However, if you used abandon pet -> call pet, you reset CDs.

https://youtu.be/E3Q3adzvO9U?t=90

https://youtu.be/6EC2RRC4xSg?t=102

https://youtu.be/x4rL6XpRLK0?t=81

[EDP445SupporterAlsoTrump2024]

This is with Dismiss Pet.

However, if you used abandon pet -> call pet, you reset CDs.

https://youtu.be/E3Q3adzvO9U?t=90

https://youtu.be/6EC2RRC4xSg?t=102

https://youtu.be/x4rL6XpRLK0?t=81

That's blizzlike, if you abandon (delete) the pet, you no longer have that pet anymore, and you call pet (different one), it has different set of cooldowns because each pet has its own talent tree. This is blizzlike and this is the way its supposed to be, we're all aware of this mechanic and so is blizzard, considering every developer was watching cata blizzcon finals when jungyup performed.

[dreschnuutest]

Not even sure if people back then where fully aware to the extent they are today. It's not like he is rotating dismisses every third GCD else it would've surely gotten deemed a not intented bug and would have been fixed (as it was later on). All he did was abandon one pet each game.

[Kenniflopper]

Not even sure if people back then where fully aware to the extent they are today. It's not like he is rotating dismisses every third GCD else it would've surely gotten deemed a not intented bug and would have been fixed (as it was later on). All he did was abandon one pet each game.

They were fully aware of it, as it was being done in major tournaments, as i provided plently of proof of in this post. :)

[diamondsprings]

Blizzcon final Bo5 everyone keeps referencing ad nauseam: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vf45oASIDe0

Game 1 0:38 1st RoS 1:40 2nd RoS 2:41 3rd RoS

Game 2 6:50 1st RoS 9:49 2nd RoS 11:02 3rd RoS 12:24 4th RoS 13:35 5th RoS 14:41 6th RoS

Game 3 20:56 1st RoS 21:48 2nd RoS (6 seconds ahead of cd) 22:55 3rd RoS

Game 4 27:11 1st RoS 28:29 2nd RoS 29:56 3rd RoS 31:22 4th RoS

Game 5 35:48 1st RoS 36:07 2nd RoS (41 seconds ahead of cd) 37:22 3rd RoS 38:06 4th RoS (16 seconds ahead of cd) 39:16 5th RoS 40:24 6th RoS 41:34 7th RoS 42:37 8th RoS

the casters, at least one of which is a rank 1 player and ex-tournament player, never mention pet resummoning in any context involving the hunter. if the casters don't know about or at least don't put any emphasis on pet resummoning, and the player himself is barely using it in the blizzcon final, what makes you think blizzard would even vaguely understand (if they even knew about it) how important of a mechanic this is at the time?

a total of 63 seconds saved on his RoS cd over 30 minutes of game time. any 1800 rated player exceeds this number 30 seconds into every single game the way it's used now. it's possible i missed one and i'm sure there are other tournaments where it was used more but the point remains, it's not the same game. if it was used the way jungyup used it in this final here nobody would complain

[skinnay-dev]

People keep speculating about what Blizzard would fix in a different universe 13 years ago if they had only known people would reset CDs. But we already know the precedent the devs have set in the most recent Classic expansion, while having that knowledge and the technical capability to implement shared cooldowns. No need to speculate.

[0msa]

Removed - reposted to right discussion.

[Kenniflopper]

Suggesting that hunter pets should function exactly the same in Cataclysm Classic as they did in original Cataclysm is a non serious argument made exclusively by hunter players for their own benefit, at the expense of the health of PVP as a whole. Pet functionality in original Cataclysm is that hunters had the ability to dismiss and summon unique pets 1-5 in arena combat, and, more importantly, each pet not sharing ability cooldowns. This functionality must be changed for three reasons: 1) this behavior is a bug, 2) this bug promotes degenerate and oppressive gameplay in arena, and 3) fixing this bug matches the precedent set by many other custom changes made by blizzard to improve arena gameplay in a modern context and is necessary for the health of arena.

First, dismissing and summoning pets in arena to bypass pet ability cooldowns is simply a bug. This functionality is unintuitive and does not match the behavior of similar units (i.e. mage and lock pet cooldowns). In Mists of Pandaria, Blizzard even stated this was a bug:

Dismiss Pet was frequently being used to bypass cooldowns on certain pet abilities, such as Roar of >Sacrifice, or to swap out a dangerously wounded pet for one at full health. Neither of those were >intended behavior. Furthermore, our design is that choosing your pet should feel similar to choosing a >glyph or talent during pre-match preparation. With this change, Hunters are able to switch pets during the pre-match preparation period, but unable to >dismiss them once the match has begun.

source

There is no logical reason why this would be unintended behavior in MoP, but intended behavior in Cataclysm.

Furthermore, the only reason abilities did not share cooldowns across pets was a technical limitation, not an intentional design choice. When asked why RoS did not share a cooldown across pets, Blizzard responded:

We'd considered doing something like that, but there's actually major technical hurdles with the way >Dismiss Pet works that make it a much bigger task than it sounds. We'd have to make some pretty scary >changes to the way pets work (in the underlying code, at least) to be able to implement a shared >cooldown on pet abilities. We may end up revisiting the idea sometime in the future, but we simply did >not have time for it in the 5.4.2 development cycle.

source

Logically, and by blizzard’s own admission, this functionality of hunter pets in original Cataclysm was bugged. It should be fixed for that reason alone.

Second, the ability to summon 5 separate pets that do not share ability cooldowns causes unhealthy and imbalanced gameplay. Two pet abilities are particularly relevant in the context of arena.

Roar of Sacrifice (RoS) - Protects a friendly target from critical strikes, making attacks against that target unable to be critical strikes, but 20% of all damage taken by that target is also taken by the pet. Lasts 12 sec.

Bad Manner - Hurls a handful of something special at the target, blinding them for 4 sec. Rude.

These two abilities are extremely powerful, providing significant defensive (RoS) and crowd control capabilities (Bad Manner). The functionality of dismissing and summoning multiple pets to bypass the cooldowns on these abilities results in hunters having an disproportionate amount of defensives and CC relative to other classes.

This is not only imbalanced in an arena context, but also unintuitive and unhealthy gameplay for the hunter. Spending a nontrivial amount of time casting Dismiss Pet and Call Pet 1-5 during PVP combat is likely not an intended gameplay style. Skilled pet management is certainly a cornerstone of hunter gameplay, but this falls far beyond what is reasonable. There are other examples of this type of degenerate and/or unbalanced gameplay emerging in classic versions of TBC and Wotlk and subsequently being fixed, such as Bearweaving feral druids, spell criticals causing Warrior Deep Wounds, Death Knight Gargoyle snapshotting, and many more.

Third, this pet functionality fits the precedent of changes Blizzard has made to improve the health of the game, given it is not only unbalanced but also promotes clunky and unhealthy gameplay. It is clear that the design philosophy has shifted from #NoChanges in Classic to #SomeChanges in TBC and beyond to improve the health of the game.

Preserving the exact functionality of mechanics is not a design goal, but rather making changes to improve the health of the game in reaction to emergent gameplay. There are far too many changes that fit under this category that Blizzard has made to list them all. Here are some examples of changes that were made specifically to improve the state of arena:

• Starting with Season 3, the following items won’t be allowed inside Arenas: Nigh-Invulnerability Belt, Net-o-Matic Projector, Dazzling Longsword, Silent Fang, Skull of Impending Doom source
• Mind Quickening Gem is no longer usable in Arenas. source
• Meta gems are no longer swappable in combat or in Arena matches. (and all gems) source
• Shaman - Fixed an issue that caused the Earthgrab effect from the Shaman talent Storm, Earth, and Fire to not respect diminishing returns. source
• Fixed an issue that caused spells with Equipped Item requirements to not be removed when the player no longer meets the requirements of the spell. A notable example of this is a warrior swapping to a shield to cast Spell Reflection, and then immediately unequipping the shield. With this fix the spell reflection aura is removed after the shield is removed. (and “2H Wall”) source
• Dalaran Sewers jump fix.
• Changing how zones are displayed on the friends list.

Many of these changes modify the functionality of items, abilities, maps, or game systems in reaction to emergent gameplay, despite this functionality existing in the original versions of these games. These changes are necessary given the significant differences in meta gameplay between the original and classic versions of the game. Abusable mechanics (bugged or intended) in the classic versions of the game are used in far greater numbers than in the original version of the game, often causing significant disruptions to the original intention of game designers. The functionality of hunters being able to dismiss and summon pets 1-5 that do not share cooldowns in Cataclysm certainly falls under this category, and must not be preserved in Cataclysm Classic.

this is already being discussed in another thread, this post is for call pet :) https://github.com/JamminL/cata-classic-bugs/issues/1076#issuecomment-2086856815

[0msa]

this is already being discussed in another thread, this post is for call pet :) #1076 (comment)

Reposted in correct thread link