Most players (especially tamers) rely on pets to some extent or other. Warriors require Horses to ride on, while Pack Horses and Giant Beetles are of great use to resource collectors and crafters.
When your pet dies, instead of taming or buying a new one, a player can bond with their pet. This allows the player to restore a dead pet to life.
In order to bond a pet, right-click the animal and select “Start Bonding”. It takes a total of 10 days to bond a creature. This can be reduced by ‘petting’ your pet once every 24 hours, down to a minimum of 5 days. A typical approach to bonding a first mount, for example, is to leave it in the stables during this bonding period, as non-bonded pets cannot be resurrected if they die.
Once bonded, a creature will display the title “(bonded)” under its name instead of “(tame)”.
Pets that do not eat (such as Skittering Hoppers, Golems and summoned creatures) cannot be bonded.
¶ Bonded Pet Death and Resurrection
A bonded pet, when killed, turns into a ghost that will accept non-combat based commands. It cannot target or be targeted while in this form, nor can it be stabled. A player with Veterinary skill is capable of resurrecting the creature. However, as a result the pet will lose 0.1 from any skills it had prior to death.
These skills can be trained back to 100 or whatever they were when the pet was first tamed (whichever value is higher). Pet deaths do not affect their stats or resistances.
Only a player with enough Veterinary skill may resurrect bonded creatures. The Resurrection spell and Wandering Healers cannot be used.
¶ Pet Abandonment
Pet abandonment occurs when a pet’s owner goes offline while the pet is not stabled. This system is designed to prevent the world from being cluttered with ownerless pets while giving players reasonable time to return and reclaim their companions.
¶ Abandonment Timeline
¶ Initial Abandonment (0-60 minutes)
- When a pet owner goes offline, pets that are not stabled will be marked as “abandoned”
- During the first hour, abandoned pets remain in an idle state and do not wander
- Pets will play fidget animations while waiting for their owner to return
¶ Wandering Phase (1 hour - 7 days)
- After 60 minutes of abandonment, pets begin actively wandering around looking for their owner
- Pets will periodically play fidget animations and may vocalize their distress
- Owner alerts: Players receive periodic notifications every 30 minutes when their pets are wandering, informing them of the pet’s location and current region
- After 7 days of total abandonment time, pets will be permanently released or destroyed
- Unbonded Pets: Reverted back to wild creatures temporarily, will decay after 15 minutes
- Bonded Pets: Destroyed immediately upon release
- Abandonment time is calculated using in-game time rather than real-world time
- This system helps protect against pet loss due to server restarts or extended downtime
- The abandonment timer only progresses while the game world is active
- Pets that are currently being ridden (mounted) do not follow normal abandonment rules, as they are using the pet as a mount
- However, if a player dismounts and then goes offline, the dismounted pet will begin the abandonment process
- Pets stored in stables are completely safe from abandonment
- Always stable your pets before logging off to prevent any risk of loss
- Always stable pets before logging out of the game
- Monitor your pets’ locations if you must leave them unstabled
- Return to the game within 7 days if you have abandoned pets
- Pay attention to abandonment alert notifications
- If you discover you have wandering pets, use Tracking to try to find them
- Stablemasters should also be able to assist in retrieving lost pets
- Check the region mentioned in abandonment alerts as soon as possible
- Abandoned pets are still subject to hunger mechanics
- Unbonded pets may be released early if they become too hungry (reaching maximum hunger)
- Bonded pets are protected from hunger-based release but will still be affected by the 7-day abandonment limit
- Players receive system notifications when pets become abandoned and start wandering
- Alerts include the pet’s name, current location, and regional information
- Notification frequency is designed to remind players without becoming spam
Pet abandonment can result in permanent loss of your companions. Unlike other game mechanics, there is typically no way to recover a pet once it has been released due to abandonment. The 7-day window is generous, but it is absolute—plan accordingly and always stable your pets when possible.