I am raising a hatchling. I am currently levelling him with a same-level Destroyer with a 58 Prophet buffing and healing outside.
I have a few questions:
1. What is the SP that the hatchling is accumulating used for?
2. Anybody else notice certain mobs have an affinity for the hatchling? Archers of Greed, near Cemetary, for one. They will lock on the lil one and I cannot get agro. I even start out with my big hitter w/Soulshot and still they plunk away at the hatchling. Not all of them mind you, only sometimes this will happen and my son, who's running the Prophet, will have to spam heals on the hatchling.
3. Does anybody else hate the 10% death penalty the hatchling gets? I mean, really 10%, what is that for? To deter people from the already gross cost of levelling one of these?
I feel your pain. The game doesn't seem geared to make people raise pets. Save up for the Pet BRez that's all advice I can give.
I got a HotW up to lvl 47 before I lost the pet (bad story, don't want to relive it). If I can as what lvl is your pet?
The best place I was at with my pet was Outlaw Forrest, I have an OL that I was running with him, bad choice of toon. The amount of aggro that would key in on my pet was very few and when they did I was able to handle it. I clocked the least amout of deaths in that region also. If you have a buffer you'll probally do real well there.
Well.. He was level 40 until he ran away from a mob and got stuck where we could not see to rez. I am waiting on a petition cause this is crap. He was able to run somewhere where I could not.
get some pet Brez from the dawn/dusk priests when you can, they help a LOT and are pretty cheap - 6k AA and 750adena on my server it's about 25k per scroll that way. depending on the hatchling's level and its gear that can be quite a bit less than the shots/food/potions to regain the ****ed 10%
Edit - and as far as i know, there is no use for the SP. it just sits there :p
They are supposed to be adding skills to pets in upcoming thronicles. No word on when, but I would assume sometime in the next 20 years. It could be longer tho.
Anyways, most pets will pull aggro. And they almost always pull aggro when running through aggro mobs, not just when hitting them.
I use my SK to level hatchlings, as he takes very little damage from most mobs in the level range of my hatchlings, and he can keep hate on them for quite some time. Hex seems to work onders on lower level mobs as well.
Do ya wanne the lil one just for fun or to get a strider for use/sell? If ya wanne get a strider, I suggest ya take a bishop along, they got hold undead for a reason ^.^ Also buy him a good weapon (not sure whats the best, but I recommend the one for about 10m)and shots. To lvl a hatchling efficient, you need at last 2 hatchlings (not sure on this, but before it was set that the hatchling will only get 50% exp, even if he does 100% damage). Pet brez cost nothing, use them.
Bishop, or necro for anchor.
If you have star hatch, SE works good because it has empower and root - your hatch casts from distance. Unfortunately the moment you release skill key, it runs to mob and chops it - ideal for lags...
3. Does anybody else hate the 10% death penalty the hatchling gets? I mean, really 10%, what is that for? To deter people from the already gross cost of levelling one of these?
Hey, don't complain, that's a MASSIVE improvement from when they first introduced the hatchlings. I got mine, had it at about 3% into 35 and someone pked it, *POOF*, lvl 34 at about 46% or something close to that. This was way back in c1 though, and then they reduced the death penalty by about 70-75% if I remember correctly in one of the patches. It's still a bit much at 10% though, but hey it's better then 50% or more. :D
Bishop, or necro for anchor.
If you have star hatch, SE works good because it has empower and root - your hatch casts from distance. Unfortunately the moment you release skill key, it runs to mob and chops it - ideal for lags...
I'm leveling a Star right now. Started in C3, but was completely miffed at how long it took, so shelved him. Now he's back out and its a much improved situation (magic skills FTW!). With a Pally, its also much easier to keep aggro, etc.
I did a bunch of lvling outside hunters village, then when he hit 45, I moved to FP and worked the Shamans out there. I'm just shy of 51 now (and the leveling has been quite fast).
I think the long and short is there are probably as many ways to lvl a pet as there are people playing the game. And no, the SP is worthless... now. As noted above, there are plans (supposedly) to give skills, but we have yet to see what those plans are.