BT lost after server crash, GMs will not give it back

[toolshed]

https://forum.nostalrius.org/viewtopic.php?f=45&t=33102

"as unfortunate as it is for you, our policy is very clear and very strict. We do not restore lost pets. If we made an exception for you, we would have to make one for everyone. We cannot make individual exceptions." - Pottu

Unbelievable to me that this is not one of the rare instances where people can get things back from a server roll back. BT is nearly impossible to get now, due to the high demand for the spawn; plus the time spent from leveling it up from 37 to 60 is an awful grind.

I have BT myself and seeing this makes me rethink about using it all the time. I'd rather walk around with the ZG serpent and use BT rarely than risk losing BT entirely. The server crashes multiple times per night; does that really mean that there's a chance I could lose BT on every server crasher?

Like the guy said in that thread, I would rather have my account hacked and all my items vendored than lose BT

Have you lost your pet from a server rollback? Is there any way to collectively push this issue like we did with the demon spawns for the leaf quest?

[Fatherben]

To be completely objective here, I do think it is worth the time to restore extremely rare, high-level pets, only if they are lost due to a server crash.

For people who might think we're crazy, here is why Broken Tooth is a Naxx-quality epic, and why losing him is a huge deal:

1) Pets do not scale with hunter stats in vanilla. The only way to upgrade your pet is to research the best one, tame it, and level it up.

2) Broken Tooth is irrefutably the best pet in pvp, and under most conditions the best pet in pve. There are multiple threads about this. BT is a pet that will last you from MC through Naxx, nothing replaces him up until BC. He is a Naxx-grade pet.

3) Broken Tooth is the most difficult pet to tame. He spawns every 7.5 hours and usually around 10 hunters are waiting for him, often times more, and some show up just to kill him.

4) BT starts at level 37 and takes weeks to level to 60, months if you do it casually. It really does take forever.

5) If you are a BM hunter, BT saves you 1-2 talent points. You don't need 5 points in Frenzy if your pet's attack speed is 1.0, compared to 1.5 of the lvl 60 Winterspring cats.

Based on the time it takes to tame and level BT, which is on par with Thunderfury, and since BT is irrefutably the best pet in pvp and pve all the way up until BC, and since BT can basically give you free talent points as BM, I have to conclude that BT is at least on par with a Naxx-quality epic. GMs restore BWL epics, which is actually really nice of them, but BWL epics will be replaced. AQ epics will be replaced. Broken Tooth will not. It is the best pet until BC.

toolshed has kindly gotten involved in this topic, and as he said he is afraid that his BT could disappear without any notice. I suspect that many other hunters feel the same. They shouldn't be afraid to use their BiS pet that they worked hard on to tame and level up. Also, if they want to invest time in taming/leveling a really good pet, they shouldn't have to weigh the risk of it randomly disappearing. They should be able to play their class. Here is another post of a hunter losing his pet during the same server crash as I did, though I assume it wasn't a rare one: https://forum.nostalrius.org/viewtopic.php?f=45&t=32963

The GM team concludes that restoring one pet means adopting a policy to restore all lost pets. I don't think that logically follows. There maybe 1-2 pets total which are worth restoring for hunters, and they may only be worth restoring if the pet has been significantly leveled up.

An example: as much as I hate racism in the game, which I write about a lot, I do not think that investing GM resources into sanctioning racists is more important than restoring a BiS pet. I can just /ignore racists, they don't impact my dps as a hunter nor cause me to waste weeks of my time on a pet that disappears from a server crash.

[Cornholi]

Without a doubt the best pet in PvP (if you're going for cast pushback and highest dps), in PvE he's just like any other cat though.

[Drain]

BIS pet? That's funny. Cats aren't even good vs wolves because of the group buff. Are you never grouped with any Rogues? Heh. In BGs you could have just used a Wind Serpent, which has a ranged magic dmg strike. I don't even own a cat on here, yet people are jerking it for one like it's something special. That attack speed boost barely changes anything(just pushback on players), and doesn't mean dick if you're not BM spec with Frenzy. Who the hell raids with BM spec, btw? Just go to Winterspring, tame a level 60 cat with 1.5 in 1 whole minute, and call it a day, huh? Weeks camping and leveling Brokentooth? LOL. HF.

"The GM team concludes that restoring one pet means adopting a policy to restore all lost pets. I don't think that logically follows. There maybe 1-2 pets total which are worth restoring for hunters, and they may only be worth restoring if the pet has been significantly leveled up."
It follows perfectly because you are not a special snowflake that gets something restored while the rest of us are shown the door. The time you needlessly wasted on it doesn't change anything. It's just another mob and pet. I'm not happy that you lost your work, but if you're getting restored, then we all need restores, for any pets. it is all or nothing, not just special treatment for rares you don't need to begin with. A crash is a risk for all of us, with every quest/item/pet, not just that cat...

"4) BT starts at level 37 and takes weeks to level to 60, months if you do it casually. It really does take forever."
None of the leveling has anything to do with the crash, and only would have cost you some XP off a few mobs. Your complaining about the actual taming here, which has to do with respawn time, which admittedly should be shortened like everything else due to our population.

[DeeMarie]

It's Nostalrius' blanket policy not to restore any items after a server crash that is really damaging here. Hunters just feel it more acutely when it's a rare, high level pet.

I'm not even sure why they have this policy. When guilds start raiding AQ and Naxx, it's going to be seriously problematic.

[Bravethestone]

I lost an almost fully leveled Humar the Pridelord to the stables dead pet swap bug when the server as first released and got no sympathy or assistance when I petitioned a GM about it. They wouldnt restore it. I even was lucky enough to re-tame a humar that same day without camping him and they wouldn't power level it for me. I deleted my character over this issue.

Unfortunately Corecraft server isn't done yet so I returned and re-leveled another hunter.

Frankly I dont think the GMs are that concerned about hunters. Just look at the drama with the Rhokdelar quest that has been allowed to persist since the server first Petrified Leaf dropped in Molten Core.

Recently I requested restoration of Giantstalker Boots from server crash and rollback and got no help even though I could provide all the information. Just didnt have screenshots because it was impossible to ascertain.

I think looking for empathy and help on this server is a lost cause.

[Fatherben]

BIS pet? That's funny. Cats aren't even good vs wolves because of the group buff. Are you never grouped with any Rogues? Heh. In BGs you could have just used a Wind Serpent, which has a ranged magic dmg strike. I don't even own a cat on here, yet people are jerking it for one like it's something special. That attack speed boost barely changes anything(just pushback on players), and doesn't mean dick if you're not BM spec with Frenzy. Who the hell raids with BM spec, btw? Just go to Winterspring, tame a level 60 cat with 1.5 in 1 whole minute, and call it a day, huh? Weeks camping and leveling Brokentooth? LOL. HF.

I appreciate your scrutiny, but it is misplaced. Wolves are good at raiding because they sit in the back and buff you. If they sit in the back, furious howl doesn't reach the rogues, as the distance is 15 yards. If cats are allowed to freely attack a boss they do the most dps by far. This is why I wrote "in most circumstances." It's not like I'm theorycrafting, people have already written about this here.

Pet attack speed does make a difference in pve. Good paladins will put judgement of light on a boss. Faster attack speed means more free heals, which means the pet stays alive longer without being mended. Therefore BT is the best raiding cat.

Of course the time that it takes the level a pet is relevant, when we're discussing whether the pet should be restored or not. It's not a "few mobs," it takes weeks.

I don't think that I am a precious snowflake. You are way off base here, my friend.

[Cornholi]

Guys, guys, just get deathmaw Problem solved.

[toolshed]

Due to shadowmeld, BT is the best pet for a NE hunter hands down.

Let's not derail this thread talking about the strength of BT please. This is a serious issue; hunters are a unique class with a peculiar mechanic. Losing our pet that we spent months obtaining and leveling due to a BUG is a problem for everyone

Everyone can be affected by this bug. This bug should be fixed. We need to highlight this problem to get the GMs to 1) fix the bug, and 2) restore past pets that have been lost by this bug

[Fatherben]

I agree with toolshed. I said that 1-2 pets are worth restoring only because we are introducing the concept of restoring pets, and I don't want to overwhelm GMs. Ideally the bug would be identified and fixed, and pets worth being restored should be.

I don't think the problem has to do entirely with hunters in the first place, the problem is that GMs are overwhelmed with trivial tasks because we, as a community, ultimately do not respect the server. Many players have developed a weird child-parent relationship with GMs, when really they are fellow enthusiasts who volunteer to help us out. If we were able to police ourselves then tasks such as restoring pets would never be an issue.

Like Bravethestone said, randomly losing a rare pet that you have really invested time into makes you want to quit the game. It's that bad. It sucks.

I sincerely ask that GMs rethink this policy. We are generally good people who want to help the server. This is Nostalrius, the key word being "nostalgia." The goal should be to enjoy vanilla WoW, which is a great game, and if your pets randomly disappear then the game is not enjoyable. Everything else should come second IMHO. The goal of policing racists, botters, afk bg'ers, is all to improve the vanilla WoW experience. But functional gameplay is top priority in enjoying vanilla WoW.