Okay, I now have 2 pets: My wolf Russalka, and my vulture who I have yet to name.

Now, my wolf makes a good tank. He's got good stats and he does a fair amount of damage. He's also got Howl which is good in groups. However, I find that because of it's large focus cost I almost never turn it on. I don't even turn it on in groups much anymore just in case he's needed to rescue a priest or mage. Also, he's not the best at keeping agro when we solo.

My vulture also makes a good tank. He's got good stats and does a fair amount of damage. With Growl and his Screech ability he's like an agro magnet and he's got the hit points to survive multiple enemies. BUT! his wings can make it difficult to target around him so he might not make the best grouping pet.

So here's my problem: Should I keep the wolf or the vulture? There's no doubt in my mind which I prefer: the vulture. The only problem is, will this make it difficult for you guys when I group with you? I don't do PUG groups. I only group with VSers so your opinion is important to me.

Let me know what you think! Also, if any of you have any good ideas for a name for my vulture you can post them here.

Thanks muchly!

Pets are not generally expected to tank outside of the hunter soloing, so I don't think you should worry about that. I don't know as much about the bird class of pets, but I would expect that they are focused (like most pet classes) primarily on being extra dps. The only pets with tank-like abilities are bears (high AC, high stam) and turtles (shell shield), and even then, I think it would be unfair of people to expect them to hold any appreciable amount of aggro in a group.

That's all just to say that if you prefer your vulture, you should keep your vulture :D

Yeah, go with the pet you like. If you take a look at the differences between the tank pets, the dmg pets and whatnot there really isn't THAT much difference between their AC, Health and DMG. Personally, I like the wolf for the howl and the look.

The only pets with tank-like abilities are bears (high AC, high stam) and turtles (shell shield), and even then, I think it would be unfair of people to expect them to hold any appreciable amount of aggro in a group.


Bears are awesome at off-tanking, I've had my bear off-tanking two elites at the same time in scarlet Strath. So don't discount them yet.

Thank you all for your advice! I've decided to keep my vulture and I've named him Kehaar.

Thanks again!

In an instance I would reccomend the wolf pet. His special ability is a bit of welcome dps for the mele classes. Conversly I would avoid taking a flying pet to an instace.

Though they make for great pvp pets and with the special attack they hold agro like no ones buisness, they are annoying to people who manually select thier targets. Vultures have a large wingspan and they fly just at the head lvl of a dwarf or gnome, it can be a distraction.

So, which will you be doing more of, outdoor solo or indoor instace? The choice sort of depends on that.

ME

I think I'll be doing a little bit of both.

The thing about the wolf's Howl ability is that even in groups I find I keep it turned off. It uses too much focus. I often find myself using my pet to save cloth wearers, thus I try to make sure my pet has plenty of focus in case I have to turn Growl on. Inevitably, the instant I turn Howl on, someone gets agro and I have to switch it off again.

I do worry about my vulture's wings getting in the way. So far, I've been in a few groups and nobody's complained. Most likely, when my char turns 60, I'll get a second pet specifically geared for instances but right now I don't have the patience to level up 2 pets at once. I'll keep my wolf but I'm not sure how much I'll use him.