I can’t remember where I read it, but I seemed to recall that the warlock talent tree was bringing back Sacrifice Demon. Those of us that have been around long enough remember a time in BC when there was a spell with such a name that would grant the warlock a power buff in lieu of having a demon. I remember using this on my warlock (Kittykat) during raids since it seemed the pets would die far too often. It was a nice change of pace. I could play my spell caster without the worry of pet positioning and management. It was nice.
If in Mists of Pandaria this ability is brought back and I can go without a demon pet, I’m guessing that there will be a spec that I pick up that allows me to do so. Demonology for when I want a pet and affliction or destruction for when I don’t. This adds a new element to game play for those warlocks that never want a pet.
Naturally this train of thought led me to the petless hunter concept…basically an archer. I’ll be the first to say that pets are great for having during leveling and running around in Azeroth, but when it comes to dungeons, I’d just as soon sacrifice my pet and play the role of the archer pew pewing from the back. Allowing survival and marksman hunters to drop the pet for a buff doesn’t seem game breaking if you’re going to do it for warlocks.
Now there will be the argument that the pet is what makes the hunter class. But this would introduce a new flavor to the hunter that isn’t available without making a Ranger or Archer class. Also it wouldn’t have to be a “Sacrifice Pet” like the warlock, but perhaps an Aspect of the Pet. Make it an aspect where your souls bind and you gain characteristics from your chosen pet. This would allow you to turn it on quickly like when a warlock sacrifices, but would also allow you to turn it back on by changing aspects and calling your pet again. Since the hunters have the system of aspects in place, it would be a nice way to weave this into the game. It could even be a buff simply by pet type not pet family; like a cunning, ferocity, and tenacity buff rather than a bear, wolf, or kitty buff. That way they don’t have to balance out so many buffs.
I know this is not going to happen in MoP, but given how we see Warlocks work without pets, I’d like to see them expand this to hunters too. I love some of my pets, but when it comes to a dungeon, I still feel pretty forced to certain pet families for buffs instead of the pets that I want (I heard this will be different in MoP too) but if I could just Aspect of the Pet with my ferocity pet and not worry about using the pet I should rather than the pet I want or for taking crap for using the pet I want rather than the pet I should, it would greatly improve the quality of my huntering.
Crits and Giggles 
May 1, 2012 at 7:10 pm
In BC, and it was a Demonology talent at that. The top DPS for warlocks was Destro with a Succy sacrifice. You got different buffs based on the minion. I think Succy was for shadow, I forgot who it was for firelock. But anyway, it wasn’t a matter of convenience – if your pet was alive, you were doing sub-par DPS if you were specced into Sacrifice.
I remember being a little sad when we lost that in WotLK, but got over it, realizing that Warlock is and always has been a pet class, and benefitting from not having a pet is just backwards, except for maybe Priests.
I haven’t looked at the lock talents for the XP yet. Guess I should.
May 1, 2012 at 10:38 pm
Grimoire of Sacrifice is my favourite thing about warlocks in MoP. I love everything about warlocks, except for pets. I don’t like their bad AI, I don’t like their bugs, I don’t like the idea that my character isn’t an effective fighter unless she’s cowering behind her felguard. First thing I did in beta was start merciless sacrificing all my demons.
I, too, would like to see a petless option for hunters. The archer is probably my favourite archetype (perhaps tied with wizard), but I’ve never been able to enjoy being a hunter. There are a number of reasons for this, but pets are one of the bigger ones.
Of course, in the long term, we really need another ranged weapons class and/or spec (fingers crossed for a ranged rogue spec one day). It’s ridiculous that we have so many options for melee weapons classes and ranged magic classes but only one for ranged weapons.
May 3, 2012 at 9:13 am
Never played a Warlock so I don’t know anything about them, but I like your idea of “Aspect of the Pet” for hunters.
Sometimes managing a pet all the time or being forced to pick this or that instead of what one wants to play gets tiresome. As long as it was an option, hunter players wouldn’t cry about it too much (yeah, I know but I like to be optimistic.)
I’m hoping to dust off my hunter for MoP since they are a fun class to play (yeah, she still has mana pots in her bags.) I know I could test out the beta but it’s such a lag-fest I’ll have to wait for release.
May 3, 2012 at 9:27 am
I came across a few hunter alts that still had mana pots in their bags too…or on their action bars anyways. Whoops! 😉