heya, new player and I've got a few questions bout the pet system. I guess the main question is, What the hell is the point of the pet system? I get a wolf at 15. It dies in 2 hits, does no damage, and loses like 30% xp when it dies. So I get rid of it. I get a kookaburra at lvl 25, it dies in 2 hits, does no dmg, heals for 26hp, and loses 30%xp when it dies. I cant even use these things while hunting. I tried to park the bird away from me and let it leech xp, and the stupid thing came running in to heal me and the moment the heal hit me one of the 4 mobs im on aggros it and kills it. Do i EVER get a freakin useful pet or just ones that are gonna cost me 500,000 adena then be totaly and completely useless?
The thing is, *some* pets deal descent (hatchlings) or great (wolves) damage. You have to sell/donate to a lung and a liver to give em good equipment. Also buy Food and Pet SS and their damage will be good.
You are NOT supposed to let your pets take HITS. Every one of them will die if a mob SPITS at em, let alone take hits.
The new pet that came with C4 and cost you 500k, well those are Novelty items. They are not supposed to fight, just run around behind healing you and leeching 10% of your xp. Also these new pets show others that you have the Adena to throw away, however I do like the new pets even when the cougar only heals me for 26 hp's. A heal here and a heal there, saves you money from buying HP pots at times.
Pets are a huge investment. You gotta have lots of adena to invest in a Damage Dealing Pet. Hower if you're relatively new to the game, you might wanna hold off on the pets entirely for a while.
i could care less about a damage dealing pet, I was wanting to level mine to heal, if a pet does indeed deal damage, he's gonna get "spit" at eventualy. And I dont know about you but I rarely find myself fighting one mob at a time, guess if by huge investment you mean "Slow waste of time".... I get the stupid thing 1% xp and the wind blows and it dies. Meh, I'll sell it =P.
Certain classes excell at leveling their pets and maintaining them alive. Also you can buy Blessed Rez scrolls from Priests relatively cheap (6,000 aa and 750a).
Classes that'll work very well with a pet are mostly melee classes, especially tanks.
Pets are not useless. Wolves are very good damage dealers. But as you said you're not looking for damage. Yes right now the new pets die too easily and are pretty much useless. I did find an effective way to level them though. It requires a nuker, a tank, and an healer. There is also speculation that in future chronicles they will evolve to adults. If you hunt in the Beast Farm you can tame the adult versions of these new baby pets and these adults will give you buffs and heal you if you're a fighter and recharge your MP if you're a mage. But plain an simple, right now they do just about nothing useful.
the baby pets become decent healers in higher levels, considering thier npcs who cant be controlled too well... a pet wolf can become an alright DD if you put enough money into it, hatchlings can become striders at level 55 with a quest, you can ride those :P very speedy.. and if you happen to be a clan leader who owns a castle or clan hall you can fly on them ^^
i also used to have a pet star hatchling with low-end armor who tanked for my lowbie alt, worked pretty well, just depends on how you play, where you play, and your babysitting skills (i wouldnt suggest letting a hatchling tank for anything above level 15 or too many at once.. unless you have one of a godly level)