This publish brought about many positive changes to the Taming profession, as well as much needed twink discouragement.
Tamers can now bond with their much cherished pets, giving them the opportunity to finally resurrect them with veterinary. Bonded pets can also recall with its owner, even if the bonded pet is dead.
The number of pets one can control at any given time is determined by control slots. Each pet takes up 1-3 control slots (elemental summons take up 2-4 slots, summoned daemons take 5 slots, golems take 3 slots, and ethereal mounts take 1 slot). Each player is allowed 5 slots total to be distributed between each pet or summon not in the stables.
Many pets received additional food preferences (fish for panther type pets, meat on frenzieds), and pets that could not eat before can now (snakes, aggressive rats).
Animal lore can now be used to determine exact stat and skill levels for pets, as well as their favorite food, any pack instincts, and their current loyalty rating. It comes on a special gump with 3 pages on it. At 99.9 or less skill, you can only see tamed pet's skills. At 100.0, you can see any tamable's skills, tame or not. At 110.0, you can see the skill levels of any creature in the game.
Some pets now have a special ability called "pack instinct". If these pets are combined with other pets that share the same pack classification, they receive an additional damage bonus to their attacks.
The control percentage on pets has been tweaked considerably. Low end pets are much easier to control for low end tamers than before. You must be within aproximately 5 points of being able to tame the creature to have just a 20% chance of controlling it (the actual formula is a little more complicated than that).
The guard command no longer produces a target cursor and automatically causes the pet to guard its owner. Unfortunately, this means that the guard command can no longer be used to make a pet move away. The guard command also has a control check now.
Friends of the pet can no longer give the pets commands other than movement commands. They can now use backpacks of pack animals they are friended to.
Retame orneriness is removed completely. The retame penalty is continuing to stay in place. (ie. a 3rd tamed nightmare will require 107.1 taming to retame, but still have the 95.1 orneriness). The retame penalty has been changed to a flat +6.0 difficulty for every time it has been tamed.
Nightmares now spawn in additional Felucca locations. They also are "angerable". Unicorns are now immune to poison. They now cure their rider once she is at critical levels. Drakes have a lower minimum taming requirement. They are no longer "angerable". Swamp dragons are now angerable. Imps can be healed with veterinary again. Unicorns and ki-rins can do their special abilities outside of Ilshenar now.
There is a new tamable mount called a "fire steed". You must aquire at least a 110 scroll of power for taming to be able to tame it.
By saying "claim list" to a stablehand or attempting to claim a pet that does not exist, it will give you a gump with a list that you can claim from of all of the pets that you have stabled there. This is especially helpful for claiming pets with spaces in its name.
Pets no longer cast mass curse.
Pets now gain the appropriate skills properly.
Pets will now only travel through moongates if their owner goes through one. This was done to prevent bonded pets from being lured away by players and then dying, potentially causing control slots to be used permanently until the pets are found.
Pets can no longer be trapped by locked down furniture in player homes.
Pets in fly mode can now be healed with veterinary.
Pets can now be mounted even while they are being attacked if a successful control check is made (control % - 25% = chance to mount).
Feeding a pet now only restores a portion of the pet's stamina if fed as a stack. More food in the stack restores more stamina.