Why are Venos without Hercs considered useless?

X_aradia - Heavens Tear

its been stated many times. Hercs
are almost completely useless on Guarnob.
Please dont go waving your pity eldergoth
in our faces tweakz, because the only
person i know that uses one is you.
so, it has range. nobody cares. at least
a herc can take a hit sure it has more
damage out-put (the eldergoth), but no matter when it
cant hold agro. =P

Isala - Sanctuary

Untamedchaos - Sanctuary wrote: »

BARBS DONT DO LITTLE DAMAGE < Axe bm's are weaker than us >__>

And hercs aren't the best tanks in the game, Barbs are with a good cleric.

Absolutely. I'll take a Barb over a Banana Sumo anyday. And I know you guys don't do very little damage, it was more of a comment on the whole generalizations people make.

Foxx - Heavens Tear

tweakz wrote: »

Eldergoth Marksman - better for lure, and better for DD on Polearm and Gaurnob. -Why would you want a Herc for these?

because you can tank guarnob with a herc, and tank poleaxe for a short time if the barb dies.
With BH you dont always need poleaxe.

Who cares about marginally more damage from a pet anyway. Im not even sure an eldergoth does more, lets check that...

eldergoth: 3162*0.5=1581
herc:2672*0.8=2137
http://www.ecatomb.net/petstat.php

Looks to me like the herc does more damage, due to the slow attack speed of the eldergoth.
Of course I wold still recommend any veno to have a range pet... for pulling. I wouldnt bother levelling it though.

BladesFury - Heavens Tear

tweakz wrote: »

Eldergoth Marksman - better for lure, and better for DD on Polearm and Gaurnob. -Why would you want a Herc for these?

Would love to see a marksman tank Gaurnob... my hypothetical case was for a tank + lure all-in-one... read my case first please
like i've said, if we have a tank, i would gladly invite any veno regardless of their pets into my party

tweakz

Foxx - Heavens Tear wrote: »

eldergoth: 3162*0.5=1581
herc:2672*0.8=2137
http://www.ecatomb.net/petstat.php

Looks to me like the herc does more damage, due to the slow attack speed of the eldergoth.
Of course I wold still recommend any veno to have a range pet... for pulling. I wouldnt bother levelling it though.

When the herc requires more healing, you're doing less damage.

Zoe - Heavens Tear wrote: »

Not having to worry about leveling yet another pet, not having to try to find and pay even more for skills that the herc, who already has better hp and defense, comes with from the start. It's a heck of a lot less trouble for something that's all around better.

Herc's lack range.

http://www.pwdatabase.com/pwi/mob/19473

Physical Attack
17139 - 20567
Magic Attack
7234 - 8681

-Typical patk to matk ratio for world bosses. -Ranged pet doesn't get hit by the patk and matk requires channeling and casting so it's reliable slow and easy to heal for. An Eldergoth Marksman with Protect is much easier to obtain than a Herc with Blessing.

For luring, Herc would spend more time in aggro range, and if hit wouldn't be full HP when re-summoned during it's critical time w/o buffs.

Considering the dynamism of the ranged pets, I don't think they're such a pain to level or a waste of skills. If you're one of those who thinks CS, WQ, BH, etc are the way to play the game: trudge on.

BladesFury - Heavens Tear wrote: »

Would love to see a marksman tank Gaurnob... my hypothetical case was for a tank + lure all-in-one... read my case first please
like i've said, if we have a tank, i would gladly invite any veno regardless of their pets into my party

Maybe read this before acting like an idiot?: http://pwi-forum.perfectworld.com/showthread.php?t=323451

X_aradia - Heavens Tear wrote: »

its been stated many times. Hercs
are almost completely useless on Guarnob.

Herc's CAN tank Gaurnob.

Please dont go waving your pity eldergoth
in our faces tweakz, because the only
person i know that uses one is you.

Please don't go waving your pathetic jealousy in our faces. X_aradia. No one really cares.

a herc can take a hit sure it has more
damage out-put (the eldergoth), but no matter when it
cant hold agro. =P

I steal aggro from my nix with flesh ream. Should I demand a refund? -lol

Isala - Sanctuary

Honestly, Tweakz? Even though it's a bit lower in HP, Attack, and Speed, I still prefer the Soft Cactopod for ranging purposes. At level 90 it'll be lower by about 600HP, but it has higher resists. It's extremely debatable, but I prefer higher resists than higher HP.

ravenza

I dont really Like a Herc nor am i planning 2 get 1.All the veno's got 1 these days.Besides its no what pet u got its how u micro/use the pet.Iv'e been in a squad with a veno with herc that failed.I prefer my golem tyvm b:thanks

vbarbie

They are not useless'' they are just less used.

TabbyKitty - Dreamweaver

ok basicly this is how i work. i myself never got a herc until i was 74 and even then i dont use it all the time. hercs are nice to have i admit but they are a pain to keep loyalty up and also they do not do that much acutal dmg. their agro holding ability comes from brambe effect which returns 70% of melee dmg only. so when it comes to magic mobs they cant hold agro for nothing. to me the best tank pet is a good old fashion magmite. yea it may not have the hp nor the base def of a herc. neither does it have the hercs skills to start with(strong,protect,reflect). however my magmite has proven itself in the past to be reliable for when i need it and i continue to to use it for a good bit of things(ie grinding; bodygurad when farming mats;etc etc). and as for skill wise if u trully want the herc skill do dragon temple. yes its only a 5% chance of getting one of the scrolls but it will save u money in the long run and u can actually turn a magmite into a mini herc with them. also another thing i see alot is "you NEED a herc to do RB mobs." HA thats the biggest bs i have ever heard. i did gamma for a long while and very rarely did my magmite die and when it did it was cause i wasnt paying attention. veno's def should not be disrgarded because they dont have a herc. i mean srsly tell me how things worked b4 they had hercs and nix's huh? i rally cant say much cause of the fact that i only joined the first week of dec and by then nix and hercs were out but i could imagine that veno's where just as good b4 hercs and nix as they are now. anyways enough of my ravings ill cyall ingame at some point

Josepf - Harshlands

Isala - Sanctuary wrote: »

So, I saw a World Chat shout the other day, screaming for anyone who could help do a boss to come and assist with it. I, also needing the boss, volunteered my services, and was asked if I had a Herc, when I informed him that no, I did not, I was promptly ignored. This is not the only time I have a seen Venos without Hercs being treated like ****. Everywhere I look, I see people shouting for "Veno with Herc!" What gives? I know, it's the best tank in the entire game, I know that it's capable of doing pretty much 99% of the bosses, but still, why the hell would you ignore anyone trying to help, regardless of if they have Herc or not?

Would you do the same for the other classes? "Oh, look, a Wizard without full TT, YUCK! Let's leave him alone", or "Ew... a Non Tiger-Form barb, let's ignore the crappy tanker.", or "A cleric without Charm, Do not WANT."

The sad part is, I know a few people already are guilty of doing these things. What the bloody Hell, people? Just because we don't play the game the way you think we should play it suddenly means that we aren't worth your time? If you're so God damned good at this game, why the Hell did you ask for help in the first place? If someone volunteers to help you after you've asked for help, don't pick apart what they have, or don't have. You don't know a damn thing about how they play. Obviously, if they offered to help you, they're probably a decent person, and since they're not QQing and whining for help, they're probably a decent player. Hell, I've seen things done better by players that defied the standards than the ones that are exactly the same as everyone else.

It just disgusts me how some you are so wrapped up in the "Standards of PW" that you ignore those who don't fit the molds. Veno doesn't mean Herc. Clerics are not just your healing slaves. Barbs aren't just there to have the **** beat out of them and do very little damage.

And just FYI? I party with Charmless Clerics all the time. The ones who don't carry charms are usually good enough to carry the powders to make up for it.

But it seems like some people wouldn't even give them the chance. And, yeah. I am not happy about that. I'm probably going to get flamed for this post, but at this point, if I can get even one person to stop and think about how they play, it'll all be worth it.

If they consistently ask for a Herc, they pretty much want the Boss for free.
They have bad/no tacts or strats, power pushers. Want all they can get - the easy way.

_malkavian_ - Dreamweaver

well at least for me ( and thats what it matters to me ) venos without herc arent useless some venos get it to make the game easiest others to help friends and guildies others to prove how powerful they are and how they can solo some bosses not all of em . is not the veno without herc that is useless is the gamer and its gameplay and strategy that is useless . My veno alt use a Jaden ( yeah the lvl 1 beetle ) and it does great and i wont trash it even now that i`m planning to get a herc for the simple reason that i`m not the kind of gamer that choose easy mode and use gamesharks to win i like challenge but i`m getting it to help others when barbs arent available . So venos with normals pets ( including rare ones ) know how to play , what to do and how to move in a battle cause they sweat to win instead of just click and drop snorlax from its pokeball to do the dirty job xP

Josepf - Harshlands

_malkavian_ - Dreamweaver wrote: »

well at least for me ( and thats what it matters to me ) venos without herc arent useless some venos get it to make the game easiest others to help friends and guildies others to prove how powerful they are and how they can solo some bosses not all of em . is not the veno without herc that is useless is the gamer and its gameplay and strategy that is useless . My veno alt use a Jaden ( yeah the lvl 1 beetle ) and it does great and i wont trash it even now that i`m planning to get a herc for the simple reason that i`m not the kind of gamer that choose easy mode and use gamesharks to win i like challenge but i`m getting it to help others when barbs arent available . So venos with normals pets ( including rare ones ) know how to play , what to do and how to move in a battle cause they sweat to win instead of just click and drop snorlax from its pokeball to do the dirty job xP

Sorry m8, I agree...cant teach if they'er diing b4 u can say "PULL!"

Foxx - Heavens Tear

tweakz wrote: »

When the herc requires more healing, you're doing less damage.


Herc's lack range.

Fair enough, thats a valid point.
I would argue however that you're still going to be doing more damage with the herc against those particular bosses, as the AOE's from those bosses do very little damage to a herc, and I can see having to do maybe 1 heal at most throughout the fight.
I will accept though that there are bosses where a ranged pet is probably a better choice. Unfortunately a lot of these bosses have fairly large aoe's which would exceed the range of the pet (eg soulbanisher, insularum shoveal)

CrashmanOl - Dreamweaver

i haven't seen a herc pet in action but honestly i really don't care. Veno's are a blast to have in party. specially when they pull a little more then they ment to but hey. o well that's life. that's the game. it was still a blast and the only person that died when that happened was someone that wasn't even in the party b:chuckle

PerfctOne - Dreamweaver

Ok before anyone says: She is only lev 28, she has no clue.. let me say, pls hear me out.

I am new.. only been on bout 3wks to a month, so I am still learning.

I stumbled on this thread cuz server update and read it thru and have a few opinions.

1 - No I don't have a Herc or Nix.

Not because I don't want to spend the money, but because for me getting one now would be like cheating. I know I still have lots to learn bout being a veno, and not being in a guild/faction and trying all this stuff on my own shows me I have even more to learn than I thought.

Herc/Nix would make things easy.... too easy for me and I personally would find that yeah, faster and easier money would be gr8; 1 hit kills would be awesome.... but for me personally at what expense?

I would have all that power at my disposal and no desire to really work at trying to see just what else my veno can do w/herself and her "normal" pets.


I got a few pets and some that were given to me that I can't use yet, but find something new and different about my charrie w/every battle we go thru. Yeah, I am using a Golem right now... not cuz of it stats (I will admit I am the lame and lazeh at that stuff) I like how it hits and hits hard when my magic is not the greatest yet. We compliment one another. But I have other pets that I use: a Wasp that works great, a wolf (yeah the starter one) that can catch a running wuss that we have knocked its hp down some, and a few others.

2 - I personally don't see that any one pet is better than the other. They all have their good points and their bad, it is up to the user to maximize that pet to its fullest - be it doing something solo or in a squad.


I know peeps will say: I don't have enuf exp yet to really even comment, but just because I am low level and still have tons to learn, I watch and see things.

Herc is a really gr8 thing....imo it/he is meant for high levels like 60 and up. Those peeps should know the ups/downs of being a veno and how best to work her.. which makes having a Herc a plus.


The power of a Herc is unreal, but..... and this is where I have my own thoughts.

Yes it is amazing, but having different pets that you have personally trained ( and no, I am still working w/the basic skills pets came with), personally used and learned how to get the max from them in a given situation should not be overlooked.

I game alot on here and read the chat and see just how often venos offer services. I also see how often peeps ask for specific things: veno w/herc or lv 60+ clerics or even lev 80+ wizzies.

I understand when you are leading a squad you want the best you can get, I mean irl who doesn't?

But to have the best, does that mean that other peeps are any less good?

If you can't find a veno w/herc... will you just not do the quest/challenge or whatever you were trying to do... or will you take a veno that is "herc"less?

If there is no cleric or wizzie or any other class available that you specifically requested, will you turn down someone that is ready and willing to help?


3 - The point of the game period for me is to have fun, learn stuff, meet peeps and see the different styles of play/how peeps do their thing.

If you limit yourself to just specifics all the time, then you miss out on some pretty incredible things.


*like I said.. this is just my opinion and I will probably get bashed for it, but I read all these posts and had to say something*b:surrender

Vitenka - Dreamweaver

Ok, from both sides of the coin here.

The herc is a wonderful pet, to either solo with or to tank some smaller bosses.

It aint a barb. It aint even a BM. If the squad wants a herc, then either they're doing something strange (have you tried a 6 veno party? It's FUNNY!) or they really REALLY are unable to find a barb. Or maybe a cleric. It's not a good sign.

Now, saying that - a veno with a herc can do things that a veno without a herc can't do. Tank those few bosses. So there's flexibility there.

But the herc SUCKS at dealing damage on most things. It really does. If the veno isn't being the main tank, (or, I guess, hitting things with huge AOE) then the veno should put away the damn yellow blob and take out something else. Really. I mean it.

There's times my herc is great. But I need to put it away frequently, and I want my squad to understand that.

So. is a veno without herc useless? Heck no. In most situations they are just as good (possibly better, if they've not gotten overly comfortable with the hercs safety net).
There's a few things that they can't really do. But a 'normal' rainbow squad, with a barb/cleric tank combination? The herc really doesn't add much. (Unless the barb bites the dust, but even then the herc is unlikely to pick up the aggro before the DDs)

BladesFury - Heavens Tear

[QUOTE=tweakz;4272512
Maybe read this before acting like an idiot?: http://pwi-forum.perfectworld.com/showthread.php?t=323451
[/QUOTE]

was going to go off this thread until i saw this.

who is the idiot here? look that link tells u WHY A MARKSMAN WOULD BE GOOD FOR A LURE OR A DD.
forgive me for my ignorance, or urs, that that thread talks about why marksman would make a better lure. it can never tank a boss like Gaurnob.

allow me to quote

"They hit slower, but harder than a Herc. Flesh Ream and Bash are both based on this harder hit so they are ramped up on these pets much more than on a Herc. Herc comes with buffs specifically for it's task of tanking bosses"

please. open ur eyes before shooting that mouth of urs, or hand of urs.
now read the post again, and tell me whos the idiot again?

-not meanting this to be a flame, but i was attacked first.

my case was... if there is a squad of 5 DD/healers with no tanks. Theres only a slot for both a lurer and a tank. Of cos herc would be most favoured here. read before u post please

BTW the post before this totally summerizes everything about this thread. Thanks for that As a veno you are not just having herc, but with a variety of pets for different instances. Venos are not just hercs, they have different roles and thus different pets to help this. This is... a veno, to mobilise different pets they have for different cases. Or maybe tweakz is just one of the few that thinks "ohh one pet suits all..."

FoxRunning - Heavens Tear

[im lv75, and more and more im gettig the impression that unless one my level has a herc, no one will squad me for anything at all, unless its by mistake. and that i wont be able to tank anything with my golems as i get higher in level, is that true? if so, what did players do last year/earlier this year, before everyone had hercs?

buying one is out of the question for me, for many reasons, so caught pets are my only options....are there venos around who can tell me what they used in instances at the highest levels? or do golems actually last that long?[/SIZE]

tweakz

Isala - Sanctuary wrote: »

Honestly, Tweakz? Even though it's a bit lower in HP, Attack, and Speed, I still prefer the Soft Cactopod for ranging purposes. At level 90 it'll be lower by about 600HP, but it has higher resists. It's extremely debatable, but I prefer higher resists than higher HP.

Higher def to hp ratio is nice especially for low mag venos. -no argument there. When I tried the Marksman on Shadow Puppet, I didn't notice any failures to fill the HP, and the extra atk and speed make a huge difference to me.

Foxx - Heavens Tear wrote: »

Fair enough, thats a valid point.
I would argue however that you're still going to be doing more damage with the herc against those particular bosses, as the AOE's from those bosses do very little damage to a herc, and I can see having to do maybe 1 heal at most throughout the fight.
I will accept though that there are bosses where a ranged pet is probably a better choice. Unfortunately a lot of these bosses have fairly large aoe's which would exceed the range of the pet (eg soulbanisher, insularum shoveal)

When you're Herc is higher level, the dmg does become less and the Herc becomes a better choice. -yes. I didn't suggest a ranged pet for long range aoe bosses, but they can place the veno out of range of some of these bosses for dmg free healing when soloing.

--
The irony of this thread is that venos with Hercs don't NEED squads for most things. It's most often a large waste of my time to help in TT and other things. A Hercless veno is more needy. I think the real problem is that venos are a despised class and not chosen for that reason. A Herc just gives more incentive for a party to use the despised veno.

TabbyKitty - Dreamweaver

FoxRunning - Heavens Tear wrote: »

[im lv75, and more and more im gettig the impression that unless one my level has a herc, no one will squad me for anything at all, unless its by mistake. and that i wont be able to tank anything with my golems as i get higher in level, is that true? if so, what did players do last year/earlier this year, before everyone had hercs?

buying one is out of the question for me, for many reasons, so caught pets are my only options....are there venos around who can tell me what they used in instances at the highest levels? or do golems actually last that long?[/SIZE]

well besides herc has a good tanking pet which as u said is out of the question, to me the best tanking pet for a veno is a volcanic magmite. i am a herc veno(though it was more of a present for my b.day from a group of friends) and ill admit too me herc kicks some ****. however even at 84 it still hits no where near the dmg my magmite can. the magmite i have currently is a volcanic magmite and though its not as good as a herc atm when it comes to tanking, it has proven its worth over and over again. it has nice dmg out put almost 50-70% more then my herc can do and it has been with me since the start of the server and i could never imagine giving away such an unbelievely reliabe pet. quite honestly a herc is not wat defines me, but instead it has been my magmite. it has been there for me since the dawn of the opening of dreamweaver and ill will always keep it with me till the day i finally quit pwi(which prob wont be for a long long long time). so to me the best tank pet u can get without dealing with hercs is a volcanic magmite. good stats great DD and they will prove themselves over and over again. well thx for listing to this rant hope u find it helpful mon ami.

tweakz

It could be that hercless venos are considered either poor/ under-equipped / inexperienced players. Some of the choices I've seen from high level Hercless venos is crazy. It's a good indicator of who got their xp the easy way / makes poor decisions and who either paid for equips with cash or has the experience from earning a Herc.

At lvl 80+ I would think it's fair to discriminate.

Brael - Dreamweaver

TabbyKitty - Dreamweaver wrote: »

well besides herc has a good tanking pet which as u said is out of the question, to me the best tanking pet for a veno is a volcanic magmite. i am a herc veno(though it was more of a present for my b.day from a group of friends) and ill admit too me herc kicks some ****. however even at 84 it still hits no where near the dmg my magmite can. the magmite i have currently is a volcanic magmite and though its not as good as a herc atm when it comes to tanking, it has proven its worth over and over again. it has nice dmg out put almost 50-70% more then my herc can do and it has been with me since the start of the server and i could never imagine giving away such an unbelievely reliabe pet. quite honestly a herc is not wat defines me, but instead it has been my magmite. it has been there for me since the dawn of the opening of dreamweaver and ill will always keep it with me till the day i finally quit pwi(which prob wont be for a long long long time). so to me the best tank pet u can get without dealing with hercs is a volcanic magmite. good stats great DD and they will prove themselves over and over again. well thx for listing to this rant hope u find it helpful mon ami.

The magmite doesn't hit as often. In pure auto attack a herc destroys a magmite. It's when you bring bashes/elemental bashes into the equation that a magmite pulls ahead (needs to use 3 to be in the lead). The only problem there is, it's a lot of aggro so no good on ? bosses that a barb or a herc is tanking.

BladesFury - Heavens Tear wrote: »

who is the idiot here? look that link tells u WHY A MARKSMAN WOULD BE GOOD FOR A LURE OR A DD.
forgive me for my ignorance, or urs, that that thread talks about why marksman would make a better lure. it can never tank a boss like Gaurnob.

Funny that you completely glanced over the part of his link that lists where an Eldergoth makes a great tank. Basically, if the boss chain casts when the tank is far away, you can use an Eldergoth, often to great effect. Not only do you get an extra 10 distance on your heals (that's the distance of the range attack they have) to keep you out of ae's on fights like Slitt/Slither/etc. But, a boss that chain casts can have significantly less dps than a boss that's using melee+casting. So at times, you can't keep a herc up but you can keep an Eldergoth up. Just to give one example, Qingzi has been done at a lower level using an Eldergoth than it's been done using a herc.

Brael - Dreamweaver

Edit: double post

GideonBG - Dreamweaver

Isn't this thread dead already? We all got the point - venoes without hercs are not useless and can be better than herc venoes.... -_-

Isala - Sanctuary

GideonBG - Dreamweaver wrote: »

Isn't this thread dead already? We all got the point - venoes without hercs are not useless and can be better than herc venoes.... -_-

Yeah. We know, but you gotta keep the incoming players educated. Today's newbie could be tomorrow's 1337, or tomorrow's Noob.

SajinX - Dreamweaver

Just because you're not be a barb with the tank build doesnt mean your not useful. Before I even knew what the tank build was and just winged it, I was useful. When your being chased in an FB and your low on health, who uses Roar and saves your ****(in some cases at the expense of their own life)? The barbs, regardless of the build.

If your gonna say that you have to play a certain way to be of any use to others, then kiss your good for nothing **** goodbye cuz that barb u turned down may have saved u had u given him a chance

MystiMonk - Sanctuary

tweakz wrote: »

It could be that hercless venos are considered either poor/ under-equipped / inexperienced players. Some of the choices .

I would disagree with you here as I was thinking about just saving up all my coin and forgoing eveything I need for my veno.This is includes new armour,weapons,skills.lvling up skills and CS.I would buy pet food and pots if I need them.I was thinking of just bank rolling my whole coins.

I would say it is reverse of what you are saying.I hope this is my last post in this long old thread.

Unknown

This content has been removed.

FoxRunning - Heavens Tear

@TabbyKitty

do you find that a golem can handle the mobs and bosses at your level? that is what i am most concerned about-i had a few other pets that i though would certainly stay the course, and couldnt because of lower HP, etc. someone suggested that i get an amoured bear to be the tank of my team once i hit 80, but i've heard it isnt as good stats wise as the little bear is....whats your experience with this? (or anyone else who has worked with them, for that matter! ^_^)

@ Gideion
ok, you have the point...? ok, lets see more people put that knowledge into effect, and start taking venos with wild caught pets into squads, instead of tossing them out soon as folks find out there isnt a herc in her bag.


@tweaks
nice of you to be so bigoted against the poor! did you ever stop to think *why* that person is? some cant spend as much time on the game for many reasons, and most cant spend money on the game. both are reasons for not having a herc or a nix. most families prefer to eat and be dressed in something other than rags, so that one family member can sit and play all day with a bunch of yellow pixles that cost over a weeks worth of food.

and i would LOVE to know where you got your 'easy exp'! i have no clue that there is any part of the game that is easy exp....perhaps thats how you got to your level, but i worked hard and alone for all of mine. and all my money goes into paying for my armor etc, food for pets, leveling my skills, and-when i can afford it- those of my pets. i suppose in your estimation that is a poor decision.

tweakz wrote: »

It could be that hercless venos are considered either poor/ under-equipped / inexperienced players. Some of the choices I've seen from high level Hercless venos is crazy. It's a good indicator of who got their xp the easy way / makes poor decisions and who either paid for equips with cash or has the experience from earning a Herc.

At lvl 80+ I would think it's fair to discriminate.

Brael - Dreamweaver

Easy exp: BH, wraith events, frost, double exp weekends, TT for oracle money (2 hours=855k of oracles, throw in the time to do the oracle kills... say 3 hours total, that's 300k/hour exp), wereraven magus, pirates in nightscream. There's easy exp for you... lots of it too. If you don't want to do any of that, goto OHT and kill the 150's for some easy exp. This game is nothing but easy exp, they've done so much to provide alternatives to greuling level grind sessions that it's absolutely insane, and even those aren't hard... they're just long.

nice of you to be so bigoted against the poor! did you ever stop to think *why* that person is? some cant spend as much time on the game for many reasons, and most cant spend money on the game. both are reasons for not having a herc or a nix. most families prefer to eat and be dressed in something other than rags, so that one family member can sit and play all day with a bunch of yellow pixles that cost over a weeks worth of food.

I don't mean this in a disrespectful way or anything but, did you ever stop to think that the only reason you can't get them isn't because you don't have the spare money in or out of the game, but instead is because you keep telling yourself that you can't? Rather than listen to ways you can get it (or figure some out on your own) you simply respond to them with "I can't get it", essentially you've shut yourself off to the possibility of having one no matter what.

I've posted for you several times how to make coin, with multiple suggestions each time, others have done the same. If you want to, you could get squads right now and make 2 mil coin a day on a playtime of 2 hours a day. If you played every day that's 60 million coin in a month. Take your husband or son along too (I forget which you said you play with) and take that share of drops too minus expenses and you're at 3.5 mil. That's 105 million in a month. At 400k gold that's 257 gold, which is enough to not only get a herc, but have you about 1/3 of the way to a nix. If gold is down after 6 weeks or so, you could be sitting on enough money to have both of them with some to spare on gear.

That's with 2 hours playtime, and using only the AH to sell things.

As for the Armored bear, it's equal to a cub that's 6 levels lower (much like your Valorian is about equal to a Crystaline that's 4 levels lower). Using it will get you higher level skills, but those skills don't offset the lower defense or lower damage. Leaving it overall weaker than a cub.