Oh I wouldn't say that is 100% true, there are things I can do solo with a Sampire that I'd never consider doing with a tamer. Medusa is one example, while I can slap Gorgon lens' on myself I can't stick them on a pet.
There are like under 5 monsters in the entire game that I would never bring my tamer (who is basically my only character) to, which is why I said "pretty much everything" not just "everything". I wouldn't solo most bosses with my tamer, true, but that's just because I don't want to sit there and hit the bandage/gheal macro for 500 years or whatever. Sampires may be more effective overall (which I also insinuated) but they cost way more, have a much much much more restrictive template, and are in far more danger than the average tamer.
You're making my point here, they are an Easy Button.
What point? That is the topic at hand. If you want to look at the situation and weigh the effectiveness of a skill you need to look at its general usage. You called GD's "a joke" I disagree, they are clearly the best all around pet. If you don't
like that, thats another topic altogether, and one I would also agree on. But the fact of the matter is that the GD is the standard, no matter how sad it makes us.
Yes they can be used in just about any situation, but doesn't make them, as I was saying best for any situation. There are honestly situations where having 5 polar bears is preferable to a Greater Dragon, yet you see the same people always on foot with a Great Dragon in tow because they have no passion for the play style, or at least not enough of one to fully explore it's possibilities.
I never said they were the best for every situation. I said that there were
not the best for
every situation, but best on average. As for passion for the playstyle... first of all, its not for you to judge the "correct" way to play a tamer, nor is it for me. That's up to the individual, there is no right way or wrong way, other than in your opinion. Second of all "passion" for the playstyle has got nothing to do with the topic on hand that of what you get for the stats your put into the character.
Just as with any play style in UO it's just a reflection of society. While the real world is becoming increasingly populated by the "Precious Snowflakes" that appear to believe that life has to be fair and everything handed to them, all our MMO's are increasingly being populated by the same people who equate easy with successful, and that they deserve and should have every advantage handed to them.
I mean, its the same as it ever was and will be. This is nothing new. Not in games or life in general. There will always be a path of least resistance, this is impossible to stop. There will always be a "best" pet, or spell, or weapon no matter what you do. When people are trying to accomplish a specific goal they will often times follow that path. This is not explicitly a bad thing. Not everyone has the same capabilities to see all of the different angles or even if they do, not everyone has the same goals, and many peoples desires will fall outside of the norm.
In a video game, a product that is purely for your entertainment, a developer is best served to keep all of the different paths as similar in resistance as possible. That way people will have many choices to take and many ways to express themselves along their in game journey. When one class or role is blatantly imbalanced for good or bad it devalues the games as a whole.
But as I said before I don't think taming IS an example of that at this juncture. Its a good low player skill requirement, low (gold wise) cost, safe role to play. You can just skill up 3 skills, grab a GD and be on your merry way as a pretty powerful character fully able to contribute to nearly any hunt. I don't mean to insinuate that there isn't any depth beyond that, but there doesn't HAVE to be.
Sampires on the other hand are much more complicated (specifically gear wise) and require much much more set up to really work, but the pay off is they can do more, and have one of the highest damage outputs in the game. But that is balance, and that is good.