Hunters report tamed pets with no Bite or Claw, and disagree over whether it's a bug or Classic-style training

Kawazaki opened a thread on the EU forums at 10:36 UTC on 6 November with a question for Blizzard: why are so many tamed pets missing their focus spender, an attack such as Claw or Bite? Their examples are Prideclaw, from the Highborne starting zone, and the rare spawn The Rake, both still without one at level 21. They say they have leveled four low-level pets so far, and none has gained an ability. The thread had 48 posts when we read it on 11 November, the last from 9 November, and no Blizzard poster has replied. We've read all of them, and we haven't tested any of this in the game.

What Blizzard published

Blizzard's Hunter and Druid deep dive from 30 September says every pet family "can now learn either Bite or Claw, sometimes both", and either Dive or Dash. Each family also has one ability of its own, such as Prowl for cats and Trickster's Dance for the new foxes. The post doesn't say how a pet learns these abilities, at what level or from whom, and it noted that class abilities could still change during the beta. Kawazaki pointed to it as proof that pet training had changed. aoses read the same lines as saying which families can learn which abilities, and nothing about how.

Two accounts of the beta

Kawazaki says Forever's beta had moved away from Classic: pets picked up their abilities as they leveled, some around level 14 to 16, and Prideclaw, after a change partway through, learned Claw rank 3 from the pet trainer at level 16. They are asking Blizzard whether that is staying. aoses, who says they played a Hunter through the whole beta, says nothing changed: as in the original game and The Burning Crusade, you tame a beast that already knows the rank you want, use it a few times, then teach it to your own pet. They pointed to beta forum posts from September that, they say, describe doing exactly that.

Nancy, who says they did it the old way in the beta, tested a forest spider: after it killed two mobs, the chat said they had learned Bite. The next day they described taming a crab on Zoram Strand in Ashenvale for Claw rank 3 and a wolf for Bite rank 3, then teaching both to their cat, and they say it worked again on a second Hunter. They add that not every pet can learn every spell: their cat can't learn Charge.

Pets that stay empty

Others say that isn't what is failing them. Tah tamed a rare cat and got "an empty shell", and puts it plainly: some pets are "completely empty when you tame them". DerFoda says every pet they have tamed, Echeyakee included, still has no abilities at level 20 and above. A day later they still couldn't learn any, "no matter for how long I play with em", though they accept it isn't happening to everyone.

Kailen reports the most specific case on 9 November. They say they have unlocked Bite ranks 1, 2 and 3, but no rank of Bite appears to teach The Rake, a cat that should be able to learn it. "Please give the kitten her fangs back." Theebay has learned the raptor's and hyena's family abilities, but no Bite or Claw on any pet they have tried. They wonder whether it is tied to playing a Skyborne, since an orc friend has no trouble.

Tah calls the taming route clumsy: you park your own pet in your one free stable slot just to tame a teacher. Several posters ask for more slots.

What the thread can't settle

Forty-eight posts from people who chose to post are not a count of Hunters, and each side is describing its own characters. The thread doesn't show whether the empty pets are a bug or a deliberate return to the old system, and no one from Blizzard has said. Nancy's route is one player's account, not a confirmed fix. What it does show is Hunters who have put levels into a pet finding it without the attack they expected, and no answer yet on which system Forever uses.