Last updated: 2006-08-18 05:13:22

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I don't disagree. Couple of points though:

1. Pets in general will be available to most if not all classes, to varying degrees, and of different types, so our need for a pet-focused class diminished over development as this broader pet plan formed.

1a. Eventually (read: no promises by release, but this *is* the general plan and has been for some time) we'd like to see a variety of different pets with different attributes. A Paladin could summon a warhorse, for example. A sorcerer could have an owl as a familiar. Another class could summon transient pets from other planes (fire, earth, ice elemental, etc.). A ranger might befriend a wolf on a more permanent basis. There's really a lot from games, whether paper and pencil, or single player RPGs, or MMOGs, as well as from fantasy literature in general, to pull from and a lot of good precedence to draw from. The only question is to what extent we'll have the pet system fleshed out by release, making sure that various classes you can use it (and like I said, ideally they all will be able to, eventually, and to varying degrees), and then what will have to be left to live updates, expansions, etc. The good news is the core foundation is going in during beta upon which all of this will be built (various types of pets with different functionality, transient vs. persistent pets, etc.).

2. We already have a lot of classes, and then there are plans for more to be released post-launch. So even if the Necro turns out, at launch, to be the most potent pet using class, which isn't something I'd even commit to at this stage of beta, that fact likely wouldn't remain the case long term.

Yes. .

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Last updated: 2005-12-07 19:05:15

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Persistent extensions of your character (ships, horses, houses) will be named by the player, absolutely (under hopefully the same naming restrictions that are applied to the character itself).

Keep in mind that a transient pet (say, you summon an elemental for a finite period of time) will likely already have a name -- this is just for persistent pets.

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Last updated: 2005-12-07 19:05:15

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We do not currently have any plans for advanced "familiars". While its a cool idea, development time needs to go to other things at the moment

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Last updated: 2005-12-07 19:05:15

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Most likely yes -- that will be part of the 'henchmen' system, which is an extension of the greater pet system (you have transient pets, permanent pets that stay with you, ones you can assign to locations, etc.)

[W]here you can place your hirelings will be limited.

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