The Beastlord, a possible path to change.

[Umlat]

The Beastlord, a possible path to change.

In my opinion the beastlord class in Everquest has always suffered from a lack of definition that is unique to it. All the other classes have much more "depth" in terms of source material, which gives them an easily stated, commonly accepted role/definition. Ask players "What is a <class name>? List three well-known examples of one from history/mythology/popular culture/RPGs." for any other class in Everquest and you'll get answers that have a fair bit in common. Beastlords will tend to be a lot more hit and miss, as most "beastlords" outside of Everquest tend to be of the "<another class> with an animal companion" or "<another class> who specializes in animal magics" categories. This has left beastlords in a very unstable position, which has led to a lot of problems. It has made it far too easy for advocates of other classes to exclude beastlords from abilities they could or should get by using that instability to do a certain amount of redefinition and "stack the deck" in their favor. Similarly, the reverse has been possible, where redefinition has allowed things that gave a beastlord desirability for groups/raids to go from something that was somewhat exclusive to common availablility, leaving few to no areas in which a beastlord would be truly valuable. Over time, the rewriting of rules, the expansion of game mechanics to cover new concepts, the elimination of certain things that allowed exploits by others, changes in devs or even just a lack of inspiration has led to many of a beastlord's abilities becoming stagnant or superceded. While many other classes got abilities that evolved out of these situations or had some abilities updated as a consequence of them, much of the effect of these events on a beastlord's combat ability or utility have been overlooked or ignored. There are good points to the beastlord, otherwise I wouldn't be putting this much effort into trying to put that extra shine on it to try to make it better and not just in terms of stats and DPS and other game mechanics. I guess the best way to put it is that I'm trying to take the hours of fun I've had playing the game and the narrative from those hours I built with a little imagination based on what happened on screen and try to improve the beastlord and the game with it, in a way that (hopefully) keeps using any of this to a manageable amount of work (I'm sure I failed in some places. But I'd rather have it all here anyway,  since it's easy enough to remove it if necessary.). My goal is to make the beastlord a useful and desirable class in solo, group and raid situations, not to eclipse any or all other classes. Currently, there isn't an area of character ability where the beastlord cannot be superceded by one or more classes. I don't think there is another class in the game that is subordinate in every facet of ability - we can't even claim to be the best at dying - it's already been assigned to another class.

Beastlords are protectors and champions of animals and animal spirits. Unlike a shaman, who tend more towards aiding and interceding for humanoids in spiritual affairs, beastlords tend towards intervening on behalf of those animal spirits and their charges in the physical world. In exchange for the oath to serve, a beastlord is granted a familiar spirit, or warder, who aids, protects and to some degree guides his beastlord parnter. Other abilities are also granted to a beastlord, to aid him in fufilling said oath. Unlike other "pet" classes, a beastlord's relationship with his warder is more a partnership of equals than a master/servant one. A beastlord's other abilities are very much defined by where our power and learning come from. They are limited to "natural" armor, mainly leather, hide or fur and rarely chitin or shell, as their martial abilites have evolved from an emulation of the animals around us. Similarly, beastlords tend towards weapons that most closely do this as well, from small, fast weapons that mimic claw, fang and horn to slower, ponderous ones that crush like a trampling mammoth. Magical abilites are reminiscent of a shaman's, particularly those that are animalistic in nature, such as borrowing the attributes of an animal like its speed or strength. Damaging venoms and infections. The ability to hinder and weaken our foes, much like a wolf might hamstring its prey. Heightened senses, the ability to conceal onseself. The bitter cold of winter, a danger to many animals, is another tool. More unique magics, such as the ferocity of a predator or the ability to replenish mind and body with the energies of our surroundings are part of a beastlord's reprtoire. All so that they can stand in two worlds, maintain a "balance" between them and make sure that this balance is respected.

A beastlord's magic and fighting style are both influenced and defined by a number of viewpoints or concepts. These viewpoints and concepts have come to their present prominence at different rates and times. Many early abilities a beastlord receives are identical to those of other classes. This is a reflection of the scholar's tyranny, where civilized reasoning channeled abilites towards more well traveled paths in pursuit of the "science" of magic. The detrimental effects of this practise are on the decline as more suitable concepts take hold. The most important of these (in no particular order) are :

Instinct - Much of a beastlord's powers and abilities are based more on instinctive/intuitive sources and less on formal training than other professions/callings. Where a monk or warrior will spend days or months learning and perfecting combat techniques, or a wizard or mage will study mystic tomes in endless pursuit of arcane knowledge, much of a beastlord's learning process is either a) becoming aware of knowledge buried in the primitive recesses of one's own being and b) using attunement to assimilate knowledge from part of the beastlord's environment. The greatest and rarest of beastlords are those who discover new ways to do either of these things, which allows all beastlords to eventually command more diverse or more powerful magics, as many existing beastlord spells or abilities are "taught" by creating the appropriate state of mind or surroundings to allow another beastlord to trigger or experience that knowlegde in himself.(This explains why so many beastlord spells are named for either a particular beastlord or a particular person or creature. It was either that beastlord who first grasped that insight or was that person or creature who triggered the insight in a beastlord.)
    
The other area of beastlord magic where the concept of instinct is most noticed is in the act of casting/use of an ability. Other practitioners of magic use words like crude, primitive or inefficient to decribe beastlord spells. There is truth in those labels, but a beastlord's primary focus in spellcasting (particularly so for combat magics) is getting the desired magical effect in the way that least impacts on his overall combat abilities. While "mana" may be used less efficiently, a beastlord is able to cast his spells with minimal verbal/somatic components (such as a simple animal call/sound and some simple gesture(s) that both echoes the effect of the spell and integrates almost seamlessly into the fast paced blows of a beastlord in full frenzy) and take little or no time to cast. 

Duality - Duality is one of the core concepts of Beastlord magic, in that many of the spells and abilities unique to the beastlord reflect some sort of a dual nature. Man/beast (and also beastlord/warder), poison/disease, physical/mystical, solo/pack, offense/defense. This dualism is often expressed in the effects of their spells. Toxins and diseases that both damage and weaken, "bond" spells that aid both warder and beastlord, enhancement spells that affect the physical/spiritual or offensive/defensive nature of a target. Duality also manifests itself in the personality and behaviour of many beastlords. The difference between a beastlord and his warder at rest or play, drowsing in the sun or tussling in the wild and the same pair on the hunt or waiting for trouble is pronounced. Change from the one to the other can be abrupt and often without reason to an observer, as attunement and enhanced senses make beastlords difficult to take unawares.

Attunement - Beastlords are able to attune themselves to their surroundings, through a combination of enhanced senses (both mundane and mystical), instinct and training. They are able to use this attunement to provide several different benefits. The most basic innate ability is to draw on the energies around them to replenish minds and bodies through what is known as Paragon of spirits. Subtle disturbances in these energies allow a practised beastlord to sense and follow even the most well hidden of creatures. True adepts of these techniques can ignore blindness, and land effective attacks and ripostes anywhere around them. The more rudimentary abilities learned early on often require some small ritual to attain the necessary focus and so manifest as spells of various types from more metered forms of paragon, to spells of healing and curing.

Animism - At the core of a beastlord's magic is animism, the ability to call upon that part of the spirit world that is linked to the animal kingdom to produce magical effects (Shamans do this as well, but their ability is less specialized as they also deal with spirits that are more cognitive, if still primitive, in nature.). The first abilities to manifest are ones that channel things like the natural strength, stamina, dexterity or the protection/durability of a particular species into themselves or another being. As a beastlord grows in power, they gain other abilities that are reminiscent many different species' offensive or defensive adaptations. The ability to instill ferocity in themselves or others is another facet of animism. Particularly powerful beastlords can permanently infuse characteristics of different animals into themselves and their warders. (The creative scope available here is huge in terms of potential AAs and spells. It gives the beastlord an area in which both his utility and unique focus could really be highlighted.) The ability to fashion physical objects (totems) (from appropriate materials and "feral essence" via the research skill) that provide some special capability to the wielder with a limited number of uses becomes possible after receiving appropriate instruction upon attaining the rank of "elder". These totems can provide various benefits, from summoning a minor animal spirit to increase the wielder's ability in some manner, to the empowerment of small talismans to aid and protect one's warder in combat. Other abilities such as healing are possible as well. In general, totems can provide a beastlord some abilities he is unable to acquire intrinsically

The Bond - Unlike other classes than summon some form of companion for aid, beastlords instead bond to a specific companion spirit, known as a warder. Warders do more than simply fight for the beastlord. They are a beastlord's parnter and pack mate, providing an anchor for certain magics("bond" magics), fighting at his side, acting as intermediary with the spirit world, and occasionally as a conscience. A beastlord "cub" spends the latter part of his "training" out in the world, alone, a final test of his aptitude for attunement, survival ability and basic combat prowess. It is during this time that his thoughts and actions attract the attentions of one or more spirits with the potential to become a warder. The ceremony marking a cub's entrance into the Circle of Hunters is where the initial summoning of the spirit that has become the most attuned happens when the cub casts his first spirit summoning(8th level). The bond formed between beastlord and warder at this time is fairly strong, but still nascent. As a beastlord and his warder work in parntership, overcoming adversity and by completing tasks/overcoming foes related to the beastlord's purpose, this bond will strengthen as they learn to work first as a team and then as more. (Expression of bond strength in game terms would probably be done best through faction. Possibly by switching warder to start at the bottom of indifferent faction. Then, over time at certain points, like gaining lvl X, or AA x, a particular time played, some at random, and a set of "progression" tasks (ie task 1, do the newbie gear quests. Return to task npc for next task ...) beastlords receive tasks either via emote (you feel as though you are ready to complete your Blooding ritual.) or from your warder (<character name>, you are needed. Honor our pact and journey to <place>. The circle of <cubs/hunters/elders> will tell you of their need when we arrive...or Hail, <warder>. and some dialogue ensues.) completing these tasks increases your faction, so that over time it will get to max ally. Why do we do this? Roleplaying for one, but in terms of game mechanics, change our warders so they are summoned with one more piece of gear, a charm. Charm condition is "Increases in power as your warder's faction increases", so that as we gain faction and develop a deeper and stronger bond with our warder, it gets better. Other rewards in the form of AAs for certain achievements are also possible.(One that comes to mind is an AA that allows both partners in the bond to resist fear/charm effects if it can't or doesn't affect both. Others would allow warder to share some of the passive AAs of a Beastlord, like finishing blow.)

Pack - The concept of pack shows itself in a couple of ways. The simplest is in that a number of beneficial bestlord spells can affect a small, discrete group of targets. The more complex is that in many ways, a beastlord's "pack" loyalty will tend to displace other loyalties, such as those of race or religion, as a beastlord gains in power and experience. Those loyalties still exist, but tend to become secondary to a beastlord's role as agent/champion of the animal spirits and foe of those who would tend to harm/dominate them (such as the dark animists). There are also a couple of "bond" magics that can provide a benefit to a beastlord's pack (group) as a whole or that empower a beastlord and his warder variably, based on the numbers of the pack at casting time(or over time).

Specifics

Possible Spell mods, new spells, etc.

Poison DoTs 71 or 76+ (Diregriffon Bite , Falrazim's Gnashing , Ikaav Blood) add AC/AGI/STR debuff recourse (muscle spasms, nerve impulse interference).

Disease DoTs 71 or 76+ (Fever Surge, Fever Spike, Tsetseian Endemic) add spell fizzle % increase/DEX/STA debuff recourse (swollen joints, pain and palsy).

Pet DD/Stun Spell Line - 51+ or 71+ (?) add recourse effect that gives bonus damage (+skill damage like first spire?) to beastlord for same duration as spell. Or simply a DD proc.

Pet Heals - Standard Heals - adds a pure hp heal recourse for beastlord, base amount a % of pet heal amount.

       Promised/Minax - either no change or something like a 10% to 25% of triggered heal.

Pet Haste - Add a self only recourse haste to earlier versions of this. Either add a pet runspeed buff here or allow a pet bond to innate runspeed aa or even a recourse off of Pact of the Wurine (our own runspeed ability)

Pet Slow Buffs - Change so it will stick to a mob even if an enchanter or shaman has put a better slow on it, so the DoT component still functions. Make it not go off repeatedly on the same mob (ie it wont land or lose charges on an already affected mob until the previous one wears off) or better still remove the restriction of charges. Have snare buff reuse time lowered so you could move between them during the fight -- start out with slow buff and switch to snare buff when final mob gets close to running. Or simply put slows where they belong - with us the beastlord, where we can choose when to slow.


Ferocity Line - A reduction in refresh time of the spell and/or an increase in duration.
      71+ add an increased resistance to mez/charm/fear spells possibly. (optional)
      76+ Increase resist caps or change to heroic resist buffs.
      76+ Change STA buff to Heroic STA buff.
      76+ Provide an extra offensive benefit (ATK hard cap boost or +skill damage perhaps?)

      This spell line needs to be more than a glorified ATK buff again. Using the above suggestions is a good way to make this spell useful and desirable again, while maintaining the same "feel" as before since it mainly allows for further increase of the same areas as lower level versions. Reducing the refresh time is probably better than providing a group version of the spell or trying to make it an aura and a duration increase would reduce the considerable number of recasts we must endure because of so many short term duration spells and effects.

Growl Line - When this spell was originally introduced, increase damage +x% all skills stacked. This was changed. (I used to be able to stack Bestial Alignment and Bestial Fury and get some critical hits with special attacks close to 10k, no longer tho). So the +20% damage bonus from growl NO LONGER STACKS with the bonus built into our pet haste spells like it was intended to. The % damage bonus from Growl line spells needs to scale upward now so that it provides the combat increase keeps pace with other beastlord spells. Same thing with Feralgia. This change need only be applied to the WARDER's % damage bonus, not necessarily to the recourse the beastlord gets. Increasing both would mean there would be no need to change dd/proc buff as suggested above.

Protective Coloration - An adaptation seen in animals (particularly insects, several frogs are notable as well) is that of bright coloration to signify "I taste bad!" or "I'm poisonous!" to potential predators looking for a meal, as well as actually being unpleasant and/or poisonous. Beastlords should have a spell that mimics this ability, that has a reduce spell/bash hate by x% component (reduce melee hate by x% possibly as well?) for the coloration and a defensive proc that reduces aggro significantly each time a mob hits them for the actual "tasting bad". Some damage could be inflicted by the defensive proc as well in upgraded versions of the spell (But the deaggro should be the main function of the spell. If adding damage will cause problems leave it out). Either self-only buff, or a single target buff.

Civet Strike - Small poison DD that also silences a target for a short period(You try to cast spells after a skunk hits you with its spray!)

Spider Step - Allows a beastlord to confers a spider's ability to move freely in its web onto himself or another in the form of snare/root reduction or immunity.

Pack Strength - A spell that boosts the combat abilities of a beastlord (and his companions?) based on the size of his "pack" (group size + pets of all kinds, up to a maximun of 10?) Could make for a good aura for the beastlord class, if appropriate effects can be added that don't duplicate existing auras.

Savage (Rending/Ravening/Riving/Ripping/Rapacity) Feral spirits swarm the target and attack it from the ether, attempting to tear it to pieces. This is meant to be a damage spell line, not a pet summoning spell. Causes the target to suffer a variety of physical attacks and possibly a poison or disease DoT from a chart based on a % chance for each possible outcome.

Cliknar Carapace - A reduce all skill damage amount buff for self and pet, similar to part of the CoA chest clicky.

Might of the Elders - An upgraded version of Frenzy(lvl 47) that adds AC, heroic Str, Dex and Agi instead of std stats, that might or might not affect our warder as well.

Ague - Disease based slow that debuffs  % chance to dbl atk, dodge, block/parry, riposte. Something along the lines of : slow target 55%, decrease ac by 55, decrease chance to dodge by 10%, decrease chance to block/parry by 10%, decrease chance to riposte 10%. Exact amounts/percentages would need to be decided on. (Was originally thought of as a replacement for animalistic intervention and had a recourse that hit increased the target's target's AC and chance to dodge & block/parry). And it NEEDS a resist mod on it, even a -10 or -15. Even with Focus of Animus, our 0 resist mod spells still land very poorly.

Some sort of "set-up" or "assist" attack/proc. Much as a pack of hunters will work together, launching feints and wounding attacks to leave their prey vulnerable to a killing strike, the beastlord's warder would attack a foe in this fashion, with a proc of this kind giving other attackers a possible opening to strike an extremely damaging or even fatal blow. The effect would probably have a min damage modifier, critical chance modifier and maximum damage modifier for 1 to 2 ticks and/or the chance to proc a telling blow effect (DD?/% total hp dmg? -- something that noticeably HURTS).

Salamander Skin Guard (Bastion of Calliav for nec/mag?) - an update of the pet blocking spells with a maximum number of blocks (say 8 to 10 for rks I to III) that regains its used up blocks up to its maximum number at a rate of 1 per tick?. The buff itself lasts the full duration of the spell with the counter going from 0 to max (8 to 10 based on rank). Having seen what even trash mobs are doing to pets in Underfoot, they need something IMO. A lesser version of 3 to 5 blocks maximum for enchanters, shaman and shadowknights would be something that could be added at the same time without a lot of fuss from others.

A buff that "anchors" someone to prevent a mob from summoning them. Whether its ablative (x number of times per cast), potential (has a chance to prevent an attempt and any attempts for a short time thereafter), and/or threshold based (mob is x level or lower) in its mechanics would be something to discuss, as would any side effects/consequences (ie Spirit of the Beaver - gives the target a 50% chance of resisting a summons and any other summons for the next 12 sec if the check succeeds. A successful resist results in 500 hp dmg plus 250/tick for 2 ticks). The beaver - An animal the Ancient Greeks believed would chew its own testicles off and throw them at you so that you'll let it live - is the inspiration for this example). I'm just so sick of all the many situations that end up being mostly guaranteed death or interminable fighting because of a bad pull or even a riposte on a summon at the slightest hit mob while running away. There are some extrinsic methods available to allow getaways, it is not always possible to get them or have them or that they are refreshed. It would be another buff give us something different. Also, with more and more classes being able to remove themselves from combat

(Many other possible spells based on the abilities of various animals)

Skill Specifics
Increased Dodge Cap - Dodge cap for beastlords should be higher than that of other hybrids. Our main defense is to not to be hit as opposed to relying on heavy armor and a shield to mitigate the effects of a hit, yet our dodge skill is capped at the same level as the other hybrids. Shield block AAs are available in some cases as well. At the very least, we should be able to boost our dodge skill cap via AAs. Other AAs to improve our relative evasion ability should be considered as well. If we're focused on avoidance as a defense, then our ability to avoid attacks should be better than that of classes that emphasize either a mitigating defense or one that is a balance of avoidance/mitigation.

Taunt - Spell Casting Subtlety is a mixed blessing. Helps us not reach the top of the hate list in raids/groups, but makes it harder to be the primary (or only) melee person in a group or to pull mobs off of your merc in a group/solo situation. Being able to get the taunt skill to some level could offset this. Should be easier to implement than suggestions for turning SCS on/off.

Special Tradeskill items (incl Pet gear) -- we have research skill now, which has an extremely high price in terms of AAs and monetary resources required compared to the limited scope of spells/tomes we can create (when looked at from a risk/effort vs reward point of view, I think it falls somewhat short of the norm). Once we complete our 2.0 we should be able to learn/research a spell : Summon Feral Essence (lvl 65). All it does is summon a no trade item called a feral essence (similar to the caster spells use to summon a component for damage scrolls). This would be used in a series of BST only recipes for research skill, allowing us to make class specific combines in our hybrid research kit - Totems. Something we learned as we completed our epic 2.0 - how to make a totem. Why shouldn't there be other totems we can make to help us channel the spirits of the wild to enhance our abilities? One that summons gear (7 armor+belt+2 weapons in one 10 slot bag), gear better suited to our warders, for only our warders (if possible). I'm sure there are a number of others we could come up with that would be useful to us and/or to other classes. A basic place to start would be charged ammo slot totems with different animal familiars, some all/all some restricted by class or race. These would be much like some of the questable (wolf)familiars and such that were in the TSS expansion.

In regards to pet gear, being able to provide our own is not unreasonable. Pet life expecancy is very low these days, as a pet disappears when its summoner is killed as well. Getting to and from places can be difficult and all too often the only way to go where you are expected is to have someone drag your corpse past the myriad obstacles present, meaning your pets equipped gear goes away. Finding mage summoned gear is becoming more and more difficult, as it isn't seen in the bazaar as much now. Many mages won't or don't make it available, whether it involves summoning it in the field, the Lobby or during a raid. If our pet's comparative ability is going to be decided based on the assumption that they will have mage summoned gear equipped(as seems to be the case, since a warder with summoned gear is often equated with a mage's Air pet, at least defensively), then being able to access some reasonable equivalent at all times needs to be allowed. Many other abilities that were once the exclusive province of a particular class are now available in purchaseable, portable form that can be called upon as needed, whether from NPCs or, via tradeskills, PCs. Pet gear should not somehow be exempt from this trend, especially when it has become increasingly difficult to obtain from its source and increasingly difficult to maintain, since (most noticeably in the case of beastlords) any mistake(no matter how small) or even just a little bad luck almost assuredly means that you are in a no-win situation. Being in a group can often make this worse, not better, since the proliferation of "getaway" skills often means a beastlord is the only person who can't flop, fade or flee combat by some method and therefore ends up being the only target left for mobs and then suffers a persistent reduction in capability that can't be partially remedied with a portable substitute. Totem summoned pet gear should not be able to provide the completeness and variety of what a magician can summon, but it should be able to provide a basic substitute, much like a potion can substitute for a buff.

Specifics for AAs

Predator skillset AAs - allows for 50 sneak 50 hide 50 safe fall 100 tracking to be added to skill caps at MINIMUM. We should have gotten all of these skills (and forage) as regular skills from the beginning. In my mind, our ability to find and stalk prey naturally over even rough terrain, or scavenge food/materials from the environment should actually be BETTER than that of some traveling musician banging around in plate mail armor in particular, and a lot closer (at least) to those of a nature priest and a class of pre-eminent (humanoid) hunters and trackers. Being denied abilities that make sense for us to have because other classes feel those abilities should be theirs is dumb. No class has an absolute monopoly on these particular skills and while I think our skills should have higher caps than above minimums, accepting these lower caps is a concession to EQ politics that is acceptable.

Feral Combat - Heightened senses and martial arts abilities allow a beastlord the ability to attack/riposte and dodge/block in a full 360 degree arc.

Bestial Frenzy - A parallel ability to Bestial Frenzy that provides the same 3% bonus per rank, but for triple attack skill.

Burst of Might - A parallel ability to Burst of Power that adds 5 to double attack cap per level, so that double attack skill will remain ahead of triple attack.

Feral Grace - Each rank adds 5 to Dodge skill cap. Our best defense is to not get hit since we don't wear heavy armor, yet our dodge skill caps at the same point as other hybrids. That doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me. We should be able to run circles around someone in plate or chain mail.

Taste of Blood - change the blood frenzy affect to +x skill dmg (same mechanic as bst 1st spire) and change the condition from a check on kill shot to a check when warder scores a critical. Possibly shorten duration of the proc effect, but have it refresh duration if it procs again before 1st one fades.

Pact of the Phoenix - A new AA, this passive ability allows a beastlord's warder's current physical form to survive the death/resurrection of his beastlord partner and reincarnate intact at his side without penalty (ie. retains all gear, buffs, etc. - even negative ones - if the warder would only "die" because the beastlord did, as opposed to being killed in and of itself.)

Fizzle Rate - Because of the way the casting system was originally designed, no provision was ever made for reducing the fizzle rate of spells for Hybrids. This was somewhat dealt with with AAs, but Mastery of the Past only provides for no fizzles for older spells. Since we don't get the specialization skills for casting, we need a way to reduce the fizzle rate on our current spells. Deft Casting(?) would reduce the fizzle rate by the usual progression track of 10%/25%/50% for levels 71/76/81, with Mastery of the Past ranks as a prerequisite. This would allow us to cast more reliably without extending specialization skills even further (keeping the mana preservation portion and the specialization +% bonuses from augs/items for caster/priest classes only).

Flurry - Beastlords should get this AA as well, since it seems to be something available to EVERY OTHER melee or hybrid class. This tendency to exclude beastlords from getting access to abilites that have become common to a number of other classes, especially when beastlords should meet the criteria to have access to it, needs to STOP. It took until SoD for us to get a relatively reliable form of invisibility for instance, when other classes with invisibility spells were upgraded  years before in many cases. Resist mods for spells is another instance where this kind of exclusion seems to have happened. For a third, we were the only healer/wis based class that didn't have remove curse ability until Underfoot, and what we got is self/warder only vs the targetable remove curse of everyone else. Special abilities limited to one or two classes are one thing, abilities that reach broad availability are another.

Protection of the warder - Boost mitigation from 5% to 10% to keep Vie line of cleric spells from overwriting (mercs are stupid).

A group buff AA - Similar to MGB, allows you to turn a single target buff into a group buff. Less mana efficient than specifically designed group spells (triple mana cost), high AA cost (12 at least), a fairly long refresh rate (36 to 72 min base, with hastened AA line available) and incompatible with MGB (no single target spell MGBs possible by stacking GB and MGB). Would allow for some "group buffs" without having to add specific spells for them, in a limited fashion. Should be available to any class with MGB.

Additional ranks of our bestial attacks, increasing damage/duration. Make the raven(a bit more damage and more duration on debuff) and gorilla(more damage longer/higher lvl stun) ones more on par with asp so they are worth using. An AA that lets us use 2 different attacks per cycle. (ie Asp, wait 1/2 of refresh time, then can use gorilla or raven, wait half of refresh time can use asp or (raven or gorilla, depending on what was used a 1/2 cycle back), etc.

An AA ability that allows the beastlord to control the positioning of his target to some degree, to keep the push from pets under better control, possibly by incorporating this ability to pull target closer into the Gorilla Smash attack or by adding one called Bear Hug/Maul that does dmg plus pulling target closer. While pets don't seem to move mobs as much as before, it still happens and can often have deadly consequences.    

Attunement Mastery(multiple ranks) - Increase PoS and FPoS by x% per AA rank.
Critical Attunement(multiple ranks) - Gives a chance for each tick of Paragon/focused paragon to have double the effect.

Adding one or both of these AA lines would allow modification of the amount paragon regens hp/mana semi independently of the base AA and allow further improvement of paragon without having to fit in additional ranks of the base AA. Basically, The quivalent of Healing AAs for paragon.
   
Pet spell crits/Twinproc - for all procs/(promised)heals, with one or more lines of AAs.

Pack Leader - Each rank adds 1% or 2% to our chance to summon 4 werewolves via our "Moon" spells and Feralgia.

Additional ranks of Extended swarm.

Pack Master(Twinswarm) (3-12 aa, +1 aa per rank beyond 1) each rank gives a 3% chance that any swarm pet spell/aa will twincast.

Pact of the Wurine - Replace runspeed component with run8, to prevent various snares from overwriting the other benefits it provides. Add a recourse that gives pet a runspeed buff equal to run5/8.

We should have a series of AAs that give our warders some of the abilities we get from AAs. We are bonded to our warders in some fashion unlike any other pet class and unlike mages and necros we are much more melee oriented. AAs we pay the same cost as other hybrids (and melee in many cases) for have a noticably lower benefit for us because a significant portion of our DPS comes from our warders, not us. Things like Veteran's Wrath, Finishing Blow, Enhanced agression, Weapon affinity. They apply to 100% of their offensive potential in almost all cases. SKs get this in a much lesser fashion as well. Start throwing in newer abilities like twin proc or the spell crits from everyone's proc buffs (our extra procs are on warder) and it will keep on getting worse. If warder is 20% of our melee DPS total (as an example) and 200 AAs worth of abilities like those mentioned above give a 20% boost to the melee DPS total of say a ranger or paladin we only see a 16% total boost since 20% of our melee DPS doesn't see the bonuses. Critical heal AA for Promised spells is another example of where this kind of AA would help.

Things like Bonded(Vet Wrath) - where our pets crits get the same boost our crits do. Either as a one shot AA per ability or staggered 25%/50%/100% of benefit at same level rank 1 of the parent AA becomes available (level/level +(3/5)/level (5/10) in the 3 rank model).

Yes, pets give benefits the other classes don't get. We already pay a penalty for those benefits though, because we spend a lot of our AAs simply duplicating to a similar or lesser extent AAs we already have (look at what we pay for say pet crits and see what a non pet hybrid can buy with the same AAs). One can actually argue that this bonded aa proposal is paying yet more AAs to make sure our total melee DPS is getting the same total benfit other hybrids(and melee classes) already get from those AAs. I can live with that, if it means we can begin to fix the problem.

Ways of the <animal> - Beastlords, through their knowledge of animals and the ways of the spirits of the beasts, learn to mimic them in fighting technique and/or permanently take on some aspect or attribute of them. Some of these include :
      
      a) Ways of the Cobra - Boost maximum strikethrough cap by 1 per rank (5 ranks).
      b) Ways of the Bear - Boost max Stun resist cap by 1 per rank (5 ranks).
      c) Ways of the Tiger - Add a "Raking Strike" proc to kicking attacks.
      d) Ways of the Monkey - Increase melee attack range.
      e) Ways of the Mammoth - Reduces knockback from blow/effects.
      
General concepts

All Beastlord spells that affect the warder should be changed to eliminate retargeting to the pet. By including the concept of a "bond" between beastlord and warder, a beastlord should be able to channel all pet buffs/heals etc. through this bond to his warder by targeting himself (ie use yellow border spells). A lot of the recourses suggested above have merit in that they reflect the specific pet concept (vs random entity pet other classes use) AND the fact that beastlords have very little in the way of SELF only buffs as compared to other hybrid classes.

A number of beastlord spells should be looked at for casting time. The growl line is one of these, pet heals and yowl are others. Reducing the cast time of these spells in exchange for a reasonable increase in mana cost would better reflect the "primitive" aspect of beastlord casting techniques and be better suited to the conditions under which they will tend to be cast, ie close combat.

An effort has been made to expand the scope of abilities a beastlord can gain from his ability to attune himself to his surroundings as well as incorporate the concept that a beastlord's 5 basic senses are boosted to the levels of those of various animals. See/sense enhanced invisibility is one (disturbances in the energies drawn on for paragon combined with acute hearing and smell), blindness immunity (acute hearing to the degree of being able to "see" with echolocation similar to a bat), attack, block and riposte arcs of a full 360 degrees around the beastlord (through a combination of the same abilities that allow see SoS and a sense of touch acute enough to register changes in air pressure. ). The ability to track to some degree. Possibly the ability to avoid traps(but not the ability to detect them for others or disarm them.).

Another of the bond abilities is the ability to allow a beastlord's warder the ability to access certain melee AAs a beastlord gets. Unlike the other major pet classes, beastlords are MELEE oriented and thus get a number of AAs like finishing blow, veteran's wrath, weapon affinity or several others that lose out compared to other melee classes because a signifigant portion of our melee DPS isn't affected by them. Being able to buy individual or a line of AAs that allows a warder the same bonuses as the beastlord gets from for each ability (or rank) should compensate for this. This should only be done for AAs that a warder doesn't get AAs that modify this already (like Combat agility/stability) or something that a warder gets already (like double/triple attack). 

Animism AAs are another area where a beastlord could expand. The ability to increase various stat caps, whether things like STR/STA/AGI/DEX or the various mod stats or more basic things like melee attack range, by being able to permanently infuse his body with the spirit or essence of various animals. To be able to strike as fast as a viper or cobra, to be as tough as a rhino or immovable as a mammoth (higher max strikethrough, stun resist, reduce knockback).

I see a beastlord and warder pair fighting as a team, using tactics similar to those of some pack hunters, where a foe is kept off balance and worn down over time by a combination of sequenced and coordinated attacks. Multiple foes are split amongst the beastlord and warder when they are alone, with both partners switching between them to land snares, slows & debuffs on each foe.

The Froglok question - Any race that can be a shaman can also be a beastlord ... except for Guktans. Why? I'm not sure if this is actually explained anywhere or not, but my surmise would be that the Guktans are so concerned about "civilizing" that they are actively avoiding things like the beastlord class, which would be seen as a form of "regression" at this time. In years to come, when they are secure in their maturity as a "civilized" race(say when Gukta is its own zone with actual buildings, instead of some tents in the Rathe Mtns.) it is likely that one or more of them will travel to Shar Vahl to join the Khati Sha.

Being able to fit "a second pet" in the mercenaries slot is something else I would like to see. Nothing drastic, it's just as a beastlord, I'd rather enter into a pact with another animal spirit that takes the form of a wolf and does the exact same thing(s) a merc of similar archetype/type/tier/level can do. Paid for the same way, (or with tribute points, would make more sense than cash for a spirit you have bargained with).

I've touched on a number of things I've already posted to the beta boards here without necessarily repeating them. Some of those suggestions would be nice to see as well (some are over the top and I don't include those). Most of what I've suggested here and elsewhere isn't specifically "right now" sort of stuff. I realize that, but seeing some or much of this phased in over time and/or included for the next expansion after Underfoot. I've tried to not only suggest changes that I think would make the beastlord class "better" but to provide a framework to explain some of the hows and whys, so that we as beastlords have something to fall back on when we ask for something that another segment of the EQ community might object to.

As to how this all comes about, 5 (or 6-that froglok question) unknown beastlords compile scrolls on the cold of the north, the venins of the jungles, the infections of the swamps, ferocity and the ways of battle from the Zeks, spirit bonds and animism, who come together via portals into the Void and ask Zebuxoruk to pass the scrolls and the knowledge therein on to the one who will come to this place exploring. Zebuxoruk agrees (in one of his usual rambling long winded speeches) and the animists and their warders depart. Shortly afterwards, Khati Sha stumbles through a brief flare in one of the empty arches. He is given the scrolls by Zebuxoruk, who rambles on again, after which he directs the vah shir explorer through another arch and back to his proper time.

The Warder - its not just a pet.

Beastlords are unique among the pet using classes. We do not reanimate a nearby corpse or conjure and bind elemental constructs to our will. We don't animate weapons or dominate nearby creatures. We don't summon imps to help us channel and control magic energies. We are gifted with a totem spirit in recognition of our pact of service to the spirits. This spirit manifests as a particular animal based on our racial stock. It is guide, protector, companion and friend. We are a team, not master and servant. Sadly, this isn't much emphasized in the game, except by role playing. Some customization, both cosmetic and game mechanic based, would go a LONG way towards changing this. Many of these are things we've asked for for years.

   1) a Warder/Pet Tab on the Inventory Box - Basically a place to put an interface to do a lot of this stuff.
   2) Name field - where we can type and store the name of our warder that appears as <pet name> (<char name>'s warder) over warder.
   3) Type field - where the species of warder is listed.
   4) Skin field - allows choice of coloration/patterning based on type. Want a black wolf? Sick of having a tiger for a warder when you look like a siamese cat? Want your    ogre to have a panda bear? This would let you.
   5) Auto equip box for pet gear - Drop pet gear here to equip instead of trying to hand it to pet manually, with people running in the way, etc. (could even show up as    the skin pattern instead of having a class logo in it)
   6) Formation field - set where, relative to your character, your warder stands in non combat situations. IE, a step back and to the right, 2 steps to the left.    Basically, anywhere but on top of the object you are trying to use or loot, or between you and a quest NPC so they can intercept any hand-ins, which seems to be their       preferred spots (Feline warders should, of course continue to end up in the most inconvenient spot. :))
   7) Faction - Amiably. AMIABLY!?!? After all we've accomplished together, all the pain and hardship, all the victories and we're only AMIABLE! Sigh. Solution - switch    warder to start at the bottom of indifferent faction. Over time at certain points, like gaining lvl X, or AA x, a particular time played, some at random, and a set of    "progression" tasks (task 1, do the newbie gear quests. Return to task npc for next task ...) beastlords receive tasks either via emote (you feel as though you are ready    to complete your Blooding ritual.) or from your warder (<character name>, you are needed. Honor our pact and journey to <place>. The circle of < whelps/hunters/elders >       will tell you of their need when we arrive...or Hail, <warder>. and some dialogue ensues.) completing these tasks increases your faction, so that over time it will get       to max ally. Why do we do this? Roleplaying for one, but in terms of game mechanics, change our warders so they are summoned with one piece of gear, a charm. Charm       condition is "Increases in power as your warder's faction increases", so that as we gain faction and develop a deeper and stronger bond with our warder, it gets better.       Some tasks could also grant aa abilities to us (ie progression task complete your 2.0 has the reward of a scroll, focus feral essence (from above)). (I'm sure that       necros and mages would want their own versions of this, but it is a pet thing that WE should be the best at.)
   8) Pet Models - need to be updated. Use the updated feline model for vah shir, TSS bear model for ogres, the modern alligator model for trolls if the basilisk is    unpopular, the more realistic wolf skins for barbarians. As for the Iksar, I'd suggest polling to see if the scaled wolf with different skins is acceptable or if a       change of animal is desired. My thought is to use the SoD racnar model as the Iksar warder if a change is needed. It's classified as animal, from Kunark, has modern    graphics and has a few skin options already and it is a lot cooler looking, in my opinion. And please, regardless of final models, update warder appearance in existant    quests, like the circle of elders at the end of 2.0, bestial alignment models on non beastlords, a couple of the spirits in 1.0 and draz's warder, etc.
   9) The proliferation of pet procs has made it possible to end up with too many procs on the same attack(s) and putting them in competition with each other. Our main    procs are the DD/Stun buff, snare/slow, and epic. Others tend to be situational/short buff duration procs. Having things like pet proliferation, friendly pet, spire and    chest armor clicky act like the mana flare line of enchanter spells or the sympathetic spell procs from UF augs or resonant potions in that they can trigger when one of the main procs goes off might be a better system. Which procs end up in which category is up for debate. Exact numbers and such would need to be worked out but it some form of this should allow all the short duration/specialty procs to go off at reasonable rates without interfering with the long duration/almost always up procs.

Miscellany

Weapons and the off-hand are often an issue with beastlords. Many weapons look terrible in the off hand because little or no effort is made to make sure that they aren't equipped "backwards" or as is the case with many hand to hand weapons in the off hand, unable to adapt to the presence of Pact of the Wurine. It has gone so far now that in Underfoot we are seeing weapons that are being restricted to the primary hand because they wish to use particular graphics, limiting our use of the weapon and forcing suboptimal choices on us rather than using a more adaptable graphic. This needs to be addressed now, before we end up with our ability to choose which weapons we use together and in what hand we use them restricted. The other dual wielding classes did not see their equivalent weapon restriced to primary only. WE should not be penalized because somebody on the development team wants to use a particular graphic. If they want to use it so bad, then THEY should put in extra time (their own, off the clock time, if necessary) to allow the graphic's use, without impeding us - ie the consequences of this kind of decision should fall on the decision maker. Whether a secondary only equippable version was also made with the graphic mirrored properly for only the off hand as an alternative purchase, or the ability to "click" on it to change it from primary to secondary was added to it, or some other solution (asking the community at large through a general survey if we would prefer the graphic or the ability to use it in the off hand, for instance) was found, some way to give us a choice should have been implemented. This kind of thing highlights the need for at least one community representative to come from our ranks. Indeed, the lack of actual representation over the years, as opposed to proxy representation, is probably one of the main reasons why there are so many issues concerning beastlords unaddressed.   

Common arguments - the other side of the story.

1) Beastlord pets don't need to do as much damage because beastlords have slow -- Well as slow no longers affects most mobs much higher than "partially", can take multiple casts to land due to poor resist mods and hasn't been given an upgrade since lvl 70, I'd have to say this argument has lost a lot of its weight. Also, our slows have no effect on double attack ratings or flurry ability. So we still see those massive quad or more hits hammering in for thousands of damage, even if there is a bit more time between each group. Me personally, I would prefer if "slow" as a class of spells was redefined so that they included simple % increases in the lower level spells and as the spells grew in level the % increase of slow went down, but % penalties to double & triple attacks and flurries were added in and increased. The goal would be to keep the DPS of a slowed mob about the same for "revamped" slows as "old" slows, but to try to spread out the damage over time as opposed to getting short, massive spikes of damage from several simultaneous hits.

2) Beastlords melee, so their pets don't need to tank like some other pets do -- might be true if we were able to split mobs with root or calm type spells or could Feign Death, etc. As it is, beastlords retain their major deficiencies -- inability to split mobs, inability to do AE damage and lack an intrinsic inability to get away (ie Gate, Feign Death, Evade, Divine Aura). While we can leave pet behind to "take it for the team" as it were, if it is a "paper tiger" (or wolf or bear, etc.) it can't last long enough for us to zone and we aren't exactly in a position to be supporting it and as soon as our warder dies, summoning mobs will drag us back to face them anyway. We also use our warders to "off tank" (note the word TANK in there) one or more of the mobs we can't split off on a pull. Continually tossing heals and blocks to keep it alive works at a cost of personal DPS and there is a large margin for error with fizzles, interrupts and stuns from being hit by the mobs you are meleeing.

3) Beastlords aren't as reliant as mages on their pets -- Of our 23 spells/discs from 81 to 85 (the fewest of any hybrid), 12 of our spells are warder related. That's over 50%. We get many AAs that are for our warder. Some of the abilities we rely upon require us to have an active warder. A dead warder often equals a dead beastlord shortly thereafter. We depend on our warders for many things.

4) Since warder gets an ability (ie flurry), the beastlord doesn't need it/shouldn't get it and vice Versa. -- This class of arguements makes absolutely no sense. Because x% of our total DPS gets flurry already, the rest of it shouldn't get it? Every other class with flurry gets it on 100% of their melee DPS. Even Shadow knights, who get flurry AAs for both themselves and for pet. It's probably safe to say that some CASTER classes have superior flurry abilities because their pets are better DPS than ours. Limiting our various combat abilities and AAs to just the beastlord or just the warder stacks the deck against us -- it denies us the the benefits of synergy those AAs/abilities provide when they are all present and able to work together. And when beastlords and warders do get the same ability (SKs do see this too with some AAs) there is a penalty -- most of these abilities will need to be purchased twice (ie critical hits, avoidance/mitigation). That extra cost in AAs is sufficent penalty in and of itself.

5) Generalist/Specialist and Hybrid/"pure" - The problem with Generalist/Specialist arguments is that depending on your point of view, these roles will often change when comparing classes. As an example let's look at the Necromancer, Magician and Beastlord classes. Necromancers specialize in "death" magic, Magicians specialize in "conjuration" magic and beastlords are about as generalist as you can get. Yet when you look at the "pet" aspect of each class, beastlords could be considered the "specialist" because they summon one pet - that is specifically tailored to complement/aid them, while necromancers and magicians have multiple pet types available that allow them to choose one best suited to the general situation. Also, contrary to many assertions, magicians are not "pet" specialists - they are "conjuration" or "summoning" specialists, of which summoning servants to aid them is one aspect. As for "pure" vs hybrid - this should be regarded as a descriptor of how a particular class goes about overcoming obstacles/challenges, whether by purely physical means, via mystical abilities or through some combination of the two, not as a means to relegate classes to some sort of lesser status. All classes should have parity with each other in overall terms, despite differences in specific areas of ability.

Final Note

I'd appreciate it if my fellow beastlords would look at this and comment. Try to be constructive. Try to stick to what's actually here.

Is the background material reasonable?

Specific spell changes or new spells you like/dislike.

Specifically, the % damage issue on growl line.

Specific AAs/AA changes you like/dislike.

Skill additions. Yes/No?

Researched Totems.

Pet faction and charm. Yes/No?

Other?


Hopefully, someone will pass this on to the appropriate devs as well. Being able to tell them what in it we put priority on with some numbers behind it might get us some attention.

[Inphared]

TLDR

I'd kill for some cliffnotes.

[Hzath]

You should break this into multiple posts for the different sections.  It will make it easier to read and if it stays like this the discussion responses are going to be on 12 different topics at once.

[nedoirah]

I think he was attempting to address nearly every major concern with our class. (which is fine) I know Umlat from the nameless back when he raided with my guild. He does have a good sense of the class but I agree w/ he shouldn't post all at once and in such huge detail.

The Good: addressing the major conerns of the class.

The Bad: long winded post

Listing every problem with bsts and posting the arguements at the same time tends to lose the interest of the reader like Inphared stated. (requesting cliff notes) It took me personally nearly 30 mins to read it and I skimmed the content.

Umlat you did raise a lot (I do mean LOT) of good points and issues. I agree that the mechanics of bsts needs to be addressed and the roleplay aspect should be looked into. Bst is my first class and I keep coming back despite having alts of nearly every other class.

As a solution to this problem we need a bst primarily playing dev to represent us. Someone who understands what we have as problems and strengths. Bsts are one of the more balanced classes I've seen. When I say balanced I mean we have multiple abilties that allow us to handle solo or group content better than most other classes. We heal, (w/ a priest parent class) melee dps, cast damaging spells, cast detrimental effect spells, and buff. BUT where are the abilities that truly define us. I.E. warriors are the best tanks, cleric the best healers, wizards the best nukers... etc.etc.etc.
Hybrids are the more difficult set of clases to define since we embody the best of 2 worlds. But some hybrids are better defined than others. Paladins are tanking clerics, shadowknights are tanking necromancers, bards are tanking enchanters and rangers are tanking druids.

What are we?

[Hzath]

Protective Coloration - An adaptation seen in animals (particularly insects, several frogs are notable as well) is that of bright coloration to signify "I taste bad!" or "I'm poisonous!" to potential predators looking for a meal, as well as actually being unpleasant and/or poisonous. Beastlords should have a spell that mimics this ability, that has a reduce spell/bash hate by x% component (reduce melee hate by x% possibly as well?) for the coloration and a defensive proc that reduces aggro significantly each time a mob hits them for the actual "tasting bad". Some damage could be inflicted by the defensive proc as well in upgraded versions of the spell (But the deaggro should be the main function of the spell. If adding damage will cause problems leave it out). Either self-only buff, or a single target buff.

I like this idea a lot.  You later mention taunt, I think a similar but opposite buff with a +agro mod would be a great beastlord option similar to the ranger _____ blades lines they get.  We could get one that has -x% agro modifier and possibly have a -deagro defensive proc.  Our "tanking" version could have a +x% agro mod, and the defensive proc could have a small dd+stun or something similar to give even more hate (low fire rate on this one of course).

Savage (Rending/Ravening/Riving/Ripping/Rapacity) Feral spirits swarm the target and attack it from the ether, attempting to tear it to pieces. This is meant to be a damage spell line, not a pet summoning spell. Causes the target to suffer a variety of physical attacks and possibly a poison or disease DoT from a chart based on a % chance for each possible outcome.

It sounds like you're describing something similar to the wizard "Malediction of Havoc" spell, where you always get the nuke and then have a % chance of certain recourses or bonus effects.  I've never personally liked the random effects I have no control over, but the % chance stuff would certainly be interesting.  Having a chance to pop a yowl pet, paragon recourse, extra DoT on the mob, a cripple effect, super slow (overslow), heal to ToTT.  Cool idea.


I like all of the defensive upgrade ideas.  +Dodge/Block caps and allowing defensive skills from the rear (at a reduced %) would definitely be nice.  Monks can certainly keep the advantage in these areas but I think both would be nice upgraes.

Attunement Mastery(multiple ranks) - Increase PoS and FPoS by x% per AA rank.
Critical Attunement(multiple ranks) - Gives a chance for each tick of Paragon/focused paragon to have double the effect.

Yes.  An idea I had that I have no idea would even be possible with coding would to be adding a focus effect for paragon.  The focus would be more like a bard song modifier, in that it's a constant +x% gain every time.  That way through itemization a raid geared beast would see similar hp/mana % returns of a group geared beast.  No idea if it's even possible for an AA to be modded by gear in such a way though. 

A number of beastlord spells should be looked at for casting time. The growl line is one of these, pet heals and yowl are others. Reducing the cast time of these spells in exchange for a reasonable increase in mana cost would better reflect the "primitive" aspect of beastlord casting techniques and be better suited to the conditions under which they will tend to be cast, ie close combat.

I agree, casting times are the devil.  I'd gladly trade efficiency for less cast time.


I didn't even touch on most of what you talked about, but those were the points that I felt most strongly about. 

[Zunar]

I agree on alot of the above. It's a massive post with alot of old issues regarding our class, with good arguements and ideas to improve them. I think a dev should take their time to read all of it  :-)

For example we get alot of crit/flurry AAs for the warder which don't help much when the warder's overall dps has been left to stagnate expansion after expansion..even with maxed on these AAs, it's still not any good dps, especially in Underfoot.

Yes slow has been left to stagnate too..

Our buffs haven't seen any real upgrades, except of the regular copy-paste % increases, while other classes have gotten extra atk mods/AC etc on theirs.

SE and paragon aren't as much a must anymore, especially in the group game, with OOC regen around. I find myself sometimes ignoring to use SE when soloing.

The ferocity buff sux as has been doing for years...

Our utility side has stagnated for years, and the "we have slow arguement" has kept our dps from geting gains toward other classes.

To be honest...a rogue has more utility than we currently do, with their ability to move undetected, evade from agro and use blur for pulling these days too....all the while they are at the top end of the dps ladder. And they wear chain. The general feeling is bsts suffer alot of dps for being a hybrid class, but has little to bring to the table to make up for that....I know, same old, same old.

Anyways I like alot of the suggestions to improve our utility through spells/AAs, and some of these have already been suggested:

Flurry - Beastlords should get this AA as well, since it seems to be something available to EVERY OTHER melee or hybrid class. This tendency to exclude beastlords from getting access to abilites that have become common to a number of other classes, especially when beastlords should meet the criteria to have access to it, needs to STOP

Attunement Mastery(multiple ranks) - Increase PoS and FPoS by x% per AA rank.
Critical Attunement(multiple ranks) - Gives a chance for each tick of Paragon/focused paragon to have double the effect.

Ways of the <animal> - Beastlords, through their knowledge of animals and the ways of the spirits of the beasts, learn to mimic them in fighting technique and/or permanently take on some aspect or attribute of them. Some of these include :
     
      a) Ways of the Cobra - Boost maximum strikethrough cap by 1 per rank (5 ranks).
      b) Ways of the Bear - Boost max Stun resist cap by 1 per rank (5 ranks).
      c) Ways of the Tiger - Add a "Raking Strike" proc to kicking attacks.
      d) Ways of the Monkey - Increase melee attack range.
      e) Ways of the Mammoth - Reduces knockback from blow/effects.

Ferocity Line - A reduction in refresh time of the spell and/or an increase in duration.
      71+ add an increased resistance to mez/charm/fear spells possibly. (optional)
      76+ Increase resist caps or change to heroic resist buffs.
      76+ Change STA buff to Heroic STA buff.
      76+ Provide an extra offensive benefit (ATK hard cap boost or +skill damage perhaps?)

Might of the Elders - An upgraded version of Frenzy(lvl 47) that adds AC, heroic Str, Dex and Agi instead of std stats, that might or might not affect our warder as well.

Ague - Disease based slow that debuffs  % chance to dbl atk, dodge, block/parry, riposte. Something along the lines of : slow target 55%, decrease ac by 55, decrease chance to dodge by 10%, decrease chance to block/parry by 10%, decrease chance to riposte 10%. Exact amounts/percentages would need to be decided on. (Was originally thought of as a replacement for animalistic intervention and had a recourse that hit increased the target's target's AC and chance to dodge & block/parry). And it NEEDS a resist mod on it, even a -10 or -15. Even with Focus of Animus, our 0 resist mod spells still land very poorly.

There was many more...but I won't go into all of them.
I also agree the beastlords bond with the warder, like a partnership, should be something more reflected in our abilities.

Instead of some of our spells affecting only warder, it should affect the bst too, for faster use of the abilities, like the pet heal...could recourse a heal on self too.
It simply often takes too much time and casting to maintain pet and self while both are in melee, and it becomes timewise inefficient, taking away our time from doing damage.

All our ways to dps are so widely spread already, it's alot to manage if you want to put out any decent damage.
In a raid you use growl, yowl, 4 nukes, 2+ dots, swipe, foray, roar, bite, AA pets, disc, AA disc, GBA, Spires, all the while positioning self and pet, and tossing the odd paragon to the needy healers...

Things like Mend companion should recourse to some extent to ourself too imo.

[Dilgartownguard]

I wouldn't want the scaled wolf to be changed to something else. I would however enjoy if it stopped freezing...

[Sikkem]

Instead of some of our spells affecting only warder, it should affect the bst too,

A reverse Pet Affinity AA would be very nice. That would give us our pets haste and proc damage at least.

Oh well I can dream  :roll:

[Old Keg]

I've always wished we could forgo the pet to use pet buffs/heals on ourselves.  Or at least on raids.