Pretty much every NPC I've come across that used to have a pet companion no longer does. I've been doing older content lately, not sure if that's a factor. It's been like this for the past year or two. Like Severilous, for example, used to have a shaman pet. No longer. NPC necro pets, shaman pets, enchanter pets, none to be seen these days. The poor NPCs are all alone. What's up with that?
I've been doing a lot of old hunter achievements lately, and I've noticed that trash/named mobs only summon their pets when you've engaged them. Maybe they changed it to try and cut down on server lag? Kinda makes no sense to have extra mobs up wandering zones when nobody is ever in those zones.
I'm not seeing those pets before or after engaging the mob. I've been doing some older hunter achievements like you.
I only have one datapoint currently as I haven't been paying attention to this specifically, but it matches what Velisaris_MS said. I was in the Grounds yesterday and the bixies would summon their pet when I engaged them. I kinda like it this way - easier to initially target/pull stuff from a big group of trash mobs that summon pets.
I remember seeing constant/consistent pets being summoned in GoD zones (Aneuk/snakes, Mastruq). Are those affected as well?
In this particular case, the bixies are wizards, and are summoning their battle only pets. Like the cleric hammer pets, these can only be cast at a target, and will unsummon themselves relatively quickly after combat ends. The OP, from what I gather, is talking about more traditional pets that stay up until killed, like mage elementals or necromancer skeletons.
There was a problem that became apparent when dealing with the Rotcap feeder's in Hills of Shade that prompted the removal of necro pets. They were summoning level 115 pets. Do you want to deal with pets that are many levels higher than you? https://forums.daybreakgames.com/eq...nreported-in-combat-spam.264159/#post-3882947 https://forums.daybreakgames.com/eq...15-chattering-bones-xxii.263636/#post-3875973 https://forums.daybreakgames.com/eq...ch-notes-and-discussions.263626/#post-3875868
