Optional feeding would be a step in the right direction, a skill reset possibility if you possess the pertinent guild skill would be nice too.

Agreed. This is almost making me want to guildhop.

These are actual beasts. You still must feed them. There are pros and cons to this change. I understand you can view this as both a downgrade and upgrade. However, you cannot argue that they are completely different than what they were so trying to make them work as they did before (i.e., easily summonable, etc.) just won't fly. If you choose to keep one of these summoned beasts, you must upkeep them, train them, level them, etc. Yes, it makes this a guild skill that requires work and time and gold, but I do not think this is unfair for the value they represent. Yes, it makes it different than other guild skills -- but so what? Not everything needs be equal. (BTW, they can now be collared.)

This was a nice change that makes a flavorful ability more consistent with the rest of the game world. It's more interesting to me to have mages/druids using their unique pets as "beasts", rather than having a horse or some such. Think about it, isn't a black talon with a crow "battle beast" a neat concept?

In addition, your tutle/wyrm/crow/stag can now learn the neat things available to them in beastmastery.

Does it add cost to a guild skill to reach maximum potential? Yes. But really that cost was already there for the most part with the introduction of the beastmastery skill/system. You can stay at 0% beastmastery and still ride it, still have the inherent power.

And to top it off? Now you can collar the things if you really want to!

Regarding the retraining option, it seems like a good idea, since they can only have one of these at a time. However, remember that this would have to be quite costly (in terms of power/gold/whatever), as that is one of the draws (in fact, I'd argue THE draw) of custom made credit pets/beasts, which are themselves very expensive toys.

On the other hand, it's not as if mages/druids couldn't have a horse/wyvern/whatever at the same time to fill roles the archetype beast lacks, so perhaps its not that big a deal.

Edit @ Shuri- isn't that a little bit extreme? Was riding a 1p wyrm around that you never had to feed that integral to your RP/enjoyment that having to stable/feed an ultimately optional pet makes you want to incur the hassle and quite substantial cost of swapping guilds?


Edit 2: It would be neat to see tracking dogs get options like this! Except, you know, I can't imagine riding a golden retriever or bloodhound around. And they'd probably need a slew of inherents or something. And the logical extention is ecology familiars, which is even more odd.

...mostly I think that if I ever had a bout of insanity and went tracker, I'd at least want a puppy.

Considering druid skills actually it's not that different as we already have to spend time working to maintain defense and our abilities (totems, saplings, runes/motes/fetishes if you are an active combatant, though fetishes may not be as bad) even without bashing, so this is just another thing about the guilds that requires time... and I'm especially not looking forward to the bashing I'm going to have to do to get this fawn up its levels and get the money required to keep it alive so that if I try to use it I actually can.

I just have to say, I haven't always been on board with your choices, but I love the guild beasts!

It takes all of a couple hours to level a beast and 5400 gold every 36 days is nothing. Feed is cheap and if you had any other beast you would be paying for feed anyways.

Doooo eeeet, *twinkle*


This is just awesomesauce. Now I don't have to buy a beast. Way cool. Kudos, admins!

Yes, a couple of hours of something I despise so that I can participate in combat and this is a couple of hours where? I think I spent an hour once influencing in etherwilde and got my horse to level 2 from that. If xp was constant that could be my play time for almost two weeks

Uh..huh. I influence guards and can easily get my ponies up to the max 12 from just that alone in a day. Seriously, beast levelling isn't that challenging. :|

One hour in Muud will zip your beast right from 1 to 12.

Actual time investment?

Don't get me wrong, I like the whole guild beast 'n' all but at the same time it's just another activity you _have_ to participate in as a druid.

If it takes you 1 hour to get to level 2, you're doing it wrong.

I usually can level my beasts to about 4 or 5 after influencing 20 or so guards -- that's ~30 seconds per guard, that's 10 minutes of my time.

Which reminds me, I still need to level my mammoth...

Ask your son-in-law to take you around a little. I bet you'd get your stag to level 12 in a few hours without lifting a finger, and then you won't ever have to do it again.

Which is odd to me because I would have had all normal defenses and the horse had the influence empowering thing. And aren't ladies worth more than guards?

Monk guards are worth more. No, it's not a bug, before anyone asked. I bugged it, they said it wasn't, so.

Usually I also have a harmony blessing, if that affects my beasts getting levels.


Edit: fixed the name of the blessing.

Yep. Doing it wrong.

Hint: I never influenced Moon Ladies or frost hags.

cool.

Now I wanna see what it looks like when someone gets a crow/turtle/fawn.