Pet
* Low Survivability
o Lion estimated to have 2,000 health at level 40. This generally boils down to 2-4 hits before lion perishes in a PvP setting.
o Lion has low armor, low toughness, low resists, low parry, low initiative, low dodge. Even with the appropriate training (Trained to Threaten) or tactics (Full Grown), the Lion is remarkably fragile, and dies even if it isn't explicitly targeted, with the amount of AoE around.
o Lion is difficult for healers to target in a group, should they be so inclined.
o No benefit from master's renown or equipment means pet stays the same as the collective T4 population rises in power. Survivability suffers as a result (enemy armor penetration, strength, ballistic skill, intelligence all rise, lion's toughness remains low).
o White Lion's pet heal is so weak as to be inconsequential.
o Lion gets no benefits from wards, and takes excessively high amounts of damage in endgame dungeons as a result.
* Speed and Movement
o Pet takes curious paths in charging a target (ie. Not a straight line), sometimes taking two to five times as long as it should to reach the foe.
o Pet cannot keep up if kited, making it unable to use attacks, skills or Fetch so long as the enemy player keeps moving. Speed Training tactic fixes this, implying a simple 10% innate speed boost would likely resolve the problem.
o Pet gets no benefit from Feline Grace, making it particularly vulnerable to roots and snares.
o Pet's channeled attack in Trained to Kill makes it stand still, which allows a PvP enemy to move away from it, easily gaining distance from the pet while avoiding the damage that should result.
* Attacks
o With the inability to rise in power as it's opponents get superior renown ranks & equipment, the pet's attacks falter. The pet gets parried and blocked an excessive amount, which makes it's utility and viability that much worse.
* Trainings
o Trained to Hunt
+ Training buffs to WL & Pet are satisfactory.
+ AoE autoattack debuff is rather ineffective.
+ AoE swipe is perhaps the only reason to have pet trained as such.
+ 'Bite' is bland and could use utility.
o Trained to Threaten -
+ Training buff is a little subpar, as the training makes the lion a tank, but doesn't give it the stats to handle the kind of damage that it will take in T3-4. The positional critical hit bonus is fairly unexciting.
+ Leg Tear is good, but due to movement problems listed above, doesn't work on a kiting opponent, which makes the skill ironically ineffective.
+ The armor debuff is okay, but could perhaps have damage added.
+ The threaten needs a PvP application.
o Trained to Kill
+ As with TTT, stat buffs from the training fail to make a notable difference to one's playstyle.
+ DoT and standard attack lack any utility.
+ Channeled pet attack roots pet in place, allowing enemies to move out of range & get a headstart on pet.
* Pet Use
o The Pet takes 2 seconds to summon. WL cannot move while summoning it's pet.
o Pet must be summoned after every dismounting, which leaves the WL especially vulnerable if attacked when mounted.
o Pet must also be summoned several times over the course of any serious battle. This can be as often as every 17 seconds, given the pet's low survivability. The class suffers for the time spent trying to maintain it's companion, and it's no small wonder people simply abandon the pet for Loner.
Effectiveness
* AP Exhaustion -- White Lion has the most expensive attacks in the game, for a melee combatant. We have no attack skills that cost less than 30 AP, where the larger body of other MDPS have regularly usable melee attacks that cost 25 AP.
* Damage Output -- The White Lion has less damage on every one of it's attacks as compared to it's mirror. Naturally, the pet is intended to compensate for this, but the issues under 'Pet' at the top of this post mitigate that.
* Utility
o As compared to Marauder's ~20 utility skills, the WL has 2 without pet --Snare & Shattering Blow's positional strength debuff-- and about 8 with: TTT's snare & armor debuff, TTH's Autoattack debuff, Echoing Roar's interrupt, Thin the Herd's healer debuff, Throat Bite, a tactic with disorient and Fetch. Half the amount.
o So long as our utility is mostly tied up in pet, our class suffers doubly for it's low survivability, see above.
* Redundant Skills
o Hack, Baiting Strike and Sundering Blow are all spammable attacks for 30-35 AP that do the same amount of damage.
o Coordinated Strike, Phantom Blade and 'Pack Assault' are simply 'big damage' skills that are largely outdated at level 37 when the WL gains Tearing Blade.
o Nearly 1/3rd of the WL skills simply do damage with no other benefit.
* Class Role - Very narrow in application. 75% of the class skills don't see regular use either because they're poor, they lack utility or because we have another skill that does the same thing better. Virtually every WL falls into the same Loner Axeman build due to a lack of options. Others (Guardian spec) can get by despite the pet, not because of it.
Core Skills
* Summon Lion - 2 second cast time. Excessive cost (1/5th of the class' AP) makes class AP exhaustion worse.
* Nature's Bond - Too little, too slowly, as heals go.
* Feline Grace - Skill does not affect lion, leaving it rooted and snared. Skill is bugged, and does not (reliably?) grant the 10s of immunity to the White Lion.
* Fetch - Strictly worse than TE in 1.2. This is because it has a prerequisite (Pet being alive) that requires a 2s time investment to be met. It's easier to counter, takes longer to activate and requires far more micromanagement (and arguably a tactic) for results.
Morale
* Level 4 Morales, all - Believed to be rather poor and unexciting as a whole.
Mastery Path: Hunter
* Hack - Standard attack skill. Redundant alongside Sundering Chop and Baiting Strike. AP cost too high?
* Coordinated Strike - Skill is bugged. Believed that pet's share of damage is not granted if pet has recently activated an ability. Skill is not particularly effective as a damage skill at high levels.
* Lion's Fury - Damage is fairly low considering cooldown and prerequisite. Skill is not particularly effective as a damage skill at high levels.
* Whirling Axe - Somewhat redundant and unexciting as a capstone ability for the White Lion's AoE tree.
* Tactic, Lionheart - Benefit too minor.
* Tactic, Hack and Slash - Benefit too minor. Perhaps an AP adjustment to all Path of the Hunter abilities?
Mastery Path: Axeman
* Overall
o Tree seems built around having lion drawing the enemy attention and the WL attacking. However, lion is incapable of tanking in tier 3 and onward, and plethora of positional attacks are baffling, to put it simply.
* Blindside - Damage leaves something to be desired. Positional requirement somewhat baffling, as skill doesn't offer anything to compensate for the drawback, as compared to similar skills.
* Shattering Blow
o Damage is rather low.
o Debuff is weak
o Positional requirement is perplexing.
o Tooltip fails to let player know when the strength debuff occurs.
* Primal Fury - Odd positional requirement, again, as skill doesn't offer anything to compensate for the drawback, as compared to similar skills.
* Thin the Herd - 50% less outgoing healing is strictly worse, as compared to 50% less healing recieved. Positional requirement seems unnecessary.
It's restricted to working on healers, but doesn't work on disciple melee heals (ergo: works on 2.5 classes out of 12)
* Tactic, Threatening Distraction - Has no PvP usage, and minimal use in PvE. Replace, please!
Mastery Path: Guardian
* Overall Concept - For a tree built around having an effective lion, the numerous pet issues are compounded (re: pet speed, pet being delayed while channeling attack, pet survivability, pet's chance to hit). Tree has perhaps the most interesting skills of the three mastery paths, but falls down in execution.
* Baiting Strike - No PvP application.
* Throat Bite - Pet often fails to use this ability in a timely manner (may be tied to mobility issues listed above).
* Force Opportunity - For ability with high cost (40 AP) and requirement (parry) the damage is low, buff is short & not terribly effective given pet's lack of burst.
* Leonine Frenzy - CC immunity of ability is nonexistent.
* Tactic, Stalker - No Pvp application, and unnecessary for PvE. Replace, please!
* Furious Mending - Benefit is so minimal as to be inconsequential.
Aesthetics
* Lack of detail on armor
* Lack of variation between armor in T2 and onward.
* Lack of 'kilts', as many believe the class should not wear robes via. IP.
* T4 mailcoat with straps crossing over breastplate does not dye completely, leaving sleeves blue.
* Distracting clipping issues with robes & legs.
* Distracting clipping issues with unhelmed WL of many hairstyles and most shouldergear.
* Distracting clipping issues with both unhelmed & helmed WL of many hairstyles & endgame shoulders. ('Lionhead' shoulders)
* Trophies and medals are flipped from top to bottom on endgame shoulders. ('Lionhead shoulders')
Updated in anticipation of 1.2. This thread has too much good information to fall by the wayside.