Why can't hunter pets tank instances?

[Empanada]

Does anybody have a reason? Do you all think Blizzard has even considered it?


I remember in Vanilla I heard of hunter pets tanking MC bosses. It really wouldn't be that hard to pull off, would it?


I'm saying it right now, I don't play a hunter. I have a lvl 30ish one, but nothing serious. I feel like the pet skills are there though. They could just add a few talents to Beast Mastery to make it work.

Hunters would be kind of like Druids, in that one talent spec is actually two (feral dps/tanking). So you could have beast mastery dps/tanking. Although I would expect only certain pets would be able to tank (turtles/gorillas/etc..)


This would really cut down on dungeon queue times as well if another class could tank.



By the way, I couldn't find a thread about this, but I'm quite sure its been brought up before. So sorry about that, but what are your thoughts on this idea?

[Hoofshock]

in end game content it just wouldnt make sense, why bring the tank popping 5k if you can bring the hunter pet and have the hunter popping 10k? Yes, i am talking in terms of 5 mans(see what im saying there)

and yes, i did have my pet tank, in vanilla i soloed WC at lvl 20 as a hunter with a turtle pet :P, funtimes

[Herecius]

Short answer: they can. They don't have the same threat output as real tanks, however, especially on trash packs, but a hunter pet with a hunter w/glyphed mend pet, and a dedicated healer, can tank pretty much any heroic boss. Some bosses might be hectic, but it's more than doable.

As for making it possible for a hunter to queue as tank, I'm not on the ball with that. Unless they were to TOTALLY revamp how pet tanking works for hunters, then the versatility of a hunter tank compared to pretty much any actual tank is dramatic. The whole group, and especially the hunter, has to be smart and on the ball for it to work for an entire heroic instance.

[Anias]

Because about 90% of hunters can not control themselves much less another toon that would have to pick up adds off of the healer and/or the dps.

[Deleted]

No.

They would have to get a ton of new abilities to be good enough tanks. Blizzard quited on the semi-tank and semi-healer crap.

And even if they had those abilities they would never be a propper tank.

Besides, it wouldnt make much sense, would it?

[Empanada]

Hoofshock:in end game content it just wouldnt make sense, why bring the tank popping 5k if you can bring the hunter pet and have the hunter popping 10k? Yes, i am talking in terms of 5 mans(see what im saying there)

and yes, i did have my pet tank, in vanilla i soloed WC at lvl 20 as a hunter with a turtle pet :P, funtimes


Couldn't they just add a talent like "Makes your pet take 60% less damage, but your overall damage is decreased by 100%" or something like that?


Herecius

Short answer: they can. They don't have the same threat output as real tanks, however, especially on trash packs, but a hunter pet with a hunter w/glyphed mend pet, and a dedicated healer, can tank pretty much any heroic boss. Some bosses might be hectic, but it's more than doable.

As for making it possible for a hunter to queue as tank, I'm not on the ball with that. Unless they were to TOTALLY revamp how pet tanking works for hunters, then the versatility of a hunter tank compared to pretty much any actual tank is dramatic. The whole group, and especially the hunter, has to be smart and on the ball for it to work for an entire heroic instance.


Yea see I don't have a high level hunter so I'm not sure what skills they have at their disposal. I think the biggest difficulty would be designing boss fights to accompany a ranged tank. It would be hard for you to control yourself and your pet to move out of the fire or something.

[Asmodejjj]

Why can't rogues be healers?
Why can't priests tank?

Because each class has a role(s), and some have more than others. That's why huntards can't tank.

[Paulosio]

Hunter pets can very easily tank 5 man heroics. People in my guild were doing that in the 1st couple of weeks when there were a a lack of guild tanks for all the people wanting to do heroics. Much easier to heal than a tank due to the massive healing bonuses and 2 short cooldown shield walls they have. Threat is very high on a BM hunter pet and so as long as people single target on trash there are no issues.

You just need at least 1 class in the group who can que as "tank" such as a warrior, paladin, dk or druid.... they don't actually tank, the just que as tank so that you can get in with no tank other than the hunter pet.

I've been getting my tortoise out on Ozruk since the beginning of the expansion because at least half the time the tank gets gibbed by the shatter along with all the melee dps. Every time this happens the comment from healers is that "your pet is easier to heal than the tank". It's a lot more awkward to have to move stuff around with a pet tank but they can certainly take the damage, generate enough threat and are easy enough to heal.

[Swaggah]

Some guy has already had his pet tank Argaloth
without barely taking any raid damage concidering pet can tank the aoe damage

[Paulosio]

Why can't rogues be healers?
Why can't priests tank?

Because each class has a role(s), and some have more than others. That's why huntards can't tank.

Except that they can. 5 man normals and heroics. They could tank some normal mode raid boss too but many raid bosses often have abilities that could 1 shot hunter pets. This is never an issue in 5 mans though... my tank pet has more hps than many tanks i've had in heroics.

[Asmodejjj]

Except that they can. 5 man normals and heroics. They could tank some normal mode raid boss too but many raid bosses often have abilities that could 1 shot hunter pets. This is never an issue in 5 mans though... my tank pet has more hps than many tanks i've had in heroics.

If they want to tank normals, I'm fine with that. But heroics? Makes it sound like anything can be a tank, and being one myself, it hurts QQQQQ moar :P

[Strakha]

Maybe they can bring back Eyes of the Beast for next Expansion for BM talent

Eyes of the Beast
- Allows you to become your pet, in this mode you can only use pet abilities, your hunter becomes mounted on the pet when this ability is toggled.


Then you can tank as a gorilla while riding a gorilla, that's what I call a signature talent.

[Boley]

Does anybody have a reason? Do you all think Blizzard has even considered it?


I remember in Vanilla I heard of hunter pets tanking MC bosses. It really wouldn't be that hard to pull off, would it?

I remember in Vanilla shammies could tank... wait..

[Malekith]

15-20k kill command crits on a tenacity pet, + glyph of mend pet and glyph of misdirect, a good hunter could have his pet aoe tank and be putting out the same if not more threat than a tank, especially since growl seems to generate something rediculas like 50k threat according to my omen, and a 20k crit kill command likewise is awesome threat. coupled with (if ur using a turtle) two shield walls 1 is a 60 second cooldown the other is 45 seconds, pets are very sturdy tanks, 50% bonus healing (blood of the rhino and spirit bond) is awesome too .

after all that being said tho, and being a hunter myself, no i dont think we should be able to cue as tanks for heroics, even if we could have our pet tank them quiet easily, we have enough tanks that are bad as it is, the amount of hunters ive seen that are just plain horrible and do indeed give the rest of us the title "huntard" would just lead to even more heroics that cant make it past the 1st boss, or as it seems to be in stonecore, the 1st trash pull

[Apok101]

Because your pets don't have the mind of a player. Maybe in dungeons that are tank n spanks, but fights that require constant movement, adds to be picked up, or a mechanic like with patchwerks hateful strikes would require the hunter to Constantly be focusing on his pet which wouldn't be different than having a real tank who can probably hold threat better and has better utility.

[Malekith]

Maybe they can bring back Eyes of the Beast for next Expansion for BM talent

Eyes of the Beast
- Allows you to become your pet, in this mode you can only use pet abilities, your hunter becomes mounted on the pet when this ability is toggled.


Then you can tank as a gorilla while riding a gorilla, that's what I call a signature talent.

that would be an awesome talent, but if i may build on that for a moment, does anyone recall the picture in the background of the beastmastery tree? it seems to be something of a sabertooth tiger mixed with a bear, IMO the lvl 90 BM talent should be a fusion of the hunter and pet and you become something like that beast, THAT would be awesome :P (kinda like warlock demon form, but mabye a toggle on/off thing)

[Deleted]

As many other have said. Hunter pets (with a dedicated healer to help) can tank all 5 mans, most heroics and some normal raids. Especially since they gave all Tenacity pets "Thunderstomp" a while back.

However, does that mean we should be able to queue as a tank if we spec BM? No. Hunter pets make good emergency tanks or even off tanks, but letting it be a main tank for a heroic raid is just....risky