Mid level Beastlord pets

J

Jame

Dalayan Beginner
I've found the Beastlord class to be an odd one. In the mid-levels, say 22-50, we seem to have these large power swings where we go from a strong power level (brand new pet) to a weak power level (the levels just before we get a new pet).

This power swing reminds of caster classes when they get new spells except I've found the difference in power between strong and weak in the beastlord class to be more pronounced. I believe this is due to how often we upgrade our pet.

Other pet classes get a new pet every 4-5 levels (in the 20-50ish level range). Beastlords on the other hand get a new pet at 22, 30, 39, and 49. That's a 8, 9, 10 level gap between pets. When you hit the last 3 levels or so of the old pet, the pet really begins to struggle and you have to choose your hunting area's very carefully and pick on mobs that are barely blue.

After level 50 it doesn't seem to be an issue as it looks like we get quite a few pet levels between 50-65.

I'd like to suggest tweaking the pets somewhat to give the class a more consistent performance as you level. (I'm not advocating an increase in overall power level).

Maybe add a pet spell at levels 26, 35, 45 perhaps? You wouldn't want to make it a big pet upgrade like the current ones are, but anything to help the beastlord get through the last few levels with a past their prime pet. This may require tweaking the existing pet spells at 22, 30, and 39 to compensate.

Another idea would be to make the pet level as you leveled, but that would take more work and definitely require some balancing.
 
My experience was very similar as I leveled too, but isn't it the same for any class that relies heavily on a pet? I'm sure mages and necros also find the level before their new pet spell tedious.

What I can tell you is, as you level, you get more powerful and (maybe) get better gear. I'd say as long as you are equipping yourself decently, you'll feel the pain a bit less. It's a bitter pill, I'm sure.

KAS
 
Kasreyn said:
My experience was very similar as I leveled too, but isn't it the same for any class that relies heavily on a pet? I'm sure mages and necros also find the level before their new pet spell tedious.
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I agree other pet classes probably feel the same thing. However, his point is that they would get a new pet at 4, 8 12, 16, 20, 24, 29, 34, 39, 44, 49 ... , and we as Beastlords get a new pet at 9, 15, 22, 30, 39, 49 ... the difference between 30 and 39 is huge compared to 29 to 34 and 34 to 39, let alone the 39 to 49 difference. Now one thing you can do to ease this is during your mid 30's when dogdog is starting to slack off is finish your Starfall quests and get the Companion Strength 3 range item to give him a boost until 39. At level 35 with the Spirit Stone my warder can tank 2 or 3 Ghosts in Kaladim fairly well. I know for a fact he can tank 2 better then I can tank one. I think the hard thing to swallow is that when you just get a brand new pet you can sick him on a yellow con and take it down np, then as you progress in levels yellows start to eat the pet alive, and you slow back down to blue cons, but you can't expect to fight only yellow cons.
 
I did the Starfall quests at around level 35 so my experience after that is with the Companion Strength 3 focus.

Tempus, as you level a bit more I think you will find that blue cons can become more and more of a challenge. At 44-45 ish I tried 4-5 different zones and hunting places where blue con's basically kicked my butt and I had to move on to a different spot. At 50 I have a farily fresh pet and I've ran into blue cons that although I killed them, the fight left me with no mana and both myself and my pet at low health. I don't even want to see what a yellow con would do to me, let alone fight a string of them. :D
 
you ever try agro kiting with your BST? I dont know how different they are on SoD from live, but on live, i learned to agro kite mobs that my pet couldnt tank. Just sow you and your pet, turn pet taunt off, and if the pet proc is an agro proc, do not buff that either. You can slow, incapacitate, and dot the mob, send pet, rince and repeat.
 
Chiming in to point out the problem isn't your flagging dps, but rather the mob's increasing beats-to-face output speed. Find ways to stop them from hitting you and you'll solve your problem.
 
Jame said:
I did the Starfall quests at around level 35 so my experience after that is with the Companion Strength 3 focus.

Tempus, as you level a bit more I think you will find that blue cons can become more and more of a challenge. At 44-45 ish I tried 4-5 different zones and hunting places where blue con's basically kicked my butt and I had to move on to a different spot. At 50 I have a farily fresh pet and I've ran into blue cons that although I killed them, the fight left me with no mana and both myself and my pet at low health. I don't even want to see what a yellow con would do to me, let alone fight a string of them. :D
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So at level 50 using /s 4 and slow, you can't keep the pet healed enough to fight blues consistently? Thats not something to look forward to if it is accurate. Are you fighting blues that were white at level 49 or blues that will go light blue at level 51? I mean I don't expect to be able even at level 36 to take down level 35 with the same consistency that i can take down level 30's. My original point was that between the 30 and 39 pet there was a boost you can get via the starfall which is very east at level 35. Now between level 40 and 49 may be a different story all together.
 
I know about aggro kiting, but in places like First Ruins or the planks in Yaralith it's really not a great option. It's also not really a favored tactic for me. (My bard does enough running around in circles already). I'm expecting (rightly or wrongly) that my pet will be able to tank for me (or we split tank) throughout my career.

I don't know how I can stop mobs from hitting me or my pet aside from aggro kiting. And dps is a little of the problem. As you level higher and higher you are forced to move on to higher level mobs. An old pet starts missing a lot more as well as losing his tanking ability on the higher level mobs.

At 50, hunting varies depending on the level of the blue cons (as you pretty much said). Low blue con Tidal Wave Hunters in Lake Starfall I can chew up and spit out. (some are starting to go light blue) High blue con Bats (not sure what level) in Spirit Valley I can kill but no way are they viable at this time to level off of.
 
Didn't beastlords on live have only one pet spell initially and the pet leveled up with them? That might have been one of the really cool ideas that Sony shouldn't have taken out.
 
jkeeses said:
Didn't beastlords on live have only one pet spell initially and the pet leveled up with them? That might have been one of the really cool ideas that Sony shouldn't have taken out.
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No. At level 9 they had a skill button that was "Summon Warder" which brought forth basically a level 9(i think?) pet and then every normal spell level 15, 22, 30, 39 ..... they got a pet "buff" that brought the pet up to the approprite level. THen thye also had other buffs they coudl cast on the pet as well. In the original design the pet would zone with you but when arrived in the new zone the "buff" would be gone and it would revert to its lowest level form and the you would have to re-buff it up to your level.

Someone correct me if I am wrong ... it has been a looooong time.
 
I never made it past the 30's with my live beastlord, but I think the major issue with the summon warder button was that it was more mana efficient to let your pet die and summon/re-level buff a new one as opposed to healing your existing pet. People would kill red con mobs easily simply by chain casting pets.
 
With mages it's not the pet, it's the pet heal. You get one around level 20, and then next one at level 40-42 or something. I remember my mage had to burn down mana on even mob to kill it fast cause heals weren't enough. But it felt great once I got that new heal.
 
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