Thanks for raising this — makes a lot of sense for players who mostly revive / don't attack.

Proposed approach

• Defense & draws: Let the primary dog earn some Experience from successful defenses and from draws/stalemates (less than from winning an attack).
• Medic dog education: Add an Animal Handling course (working title: Paws of Life: Field Medic Companion Training) that requires finishing the dog handling track and unlocking Revive.
• With that course done and a primary dog set, successful revives would grant dog Experience, plus a small +2% Revive Reputation bonus when the dog is helping.

Attack wins would still be the fastest combat path. The idea is just to give defenders and revivers a fair way to progress Experience without trading dogs away.

Loyalty wouldn't change (still Feed / Train) — this is specifically about Experience.

Curious what people think of that direction.

Despite not being one, giving revivers a better chance in the game is a good idea IMO especially as vae has worked towards making it a viable 'build'. The dog grind(s) are the only ones in the game that feel excessively long (whether it's finding a decent one or levelling loyalty/exp).

As it currently stands I'm fairly sure that a dog gains no experience unless you win a fight (but happy to be corrected on that as I can't find the quote from Diablo).

The downside is that you can pay someone for defends to 'powerlevel' it but that's no different from what the OP said about trading it to someone else to do it for them really.

Despite not being one, giving revivers a better chance in the game is a good idea IMO especially as vae has worked towards making it a viable 'build'. The dog grind(s) are the only ones in the game that feel excessively long (whether it's finding a decent one or levelling loyalty/exp).

As it currently stands I'm fairly sure that a dog gains no experience unless you win a fight (but happy to be corrected on that as I can't find the quote from Diablo).

The downside is that you can pay someone for defends to 'powerlevel' it but that's no different from what the OP said about trading it to someone else to do it for them really.

KWYY - 31/07/2026, 20:19:08

Currently wins and stalemates do not give any dog experience.

With this change defensive wins would give half of what attacks give and stalemates would give a half of the defensive win amount.

Selling dog training like this could become a possible side hustle for passive players and that seems ok(my opinion).

I would like to insert my dog suggestions here!

Here and here

I would like to insert my dog suggestions here!

DAS_LOBOTOMIST - 31/07/2026, 20:46:26

Please use a separate post for new dog suggestions. I am trying to keep this one focused to Midnights suggestion/my proposed solution, really what I am looking for is anyone who opposes the proposal I have above or to see if it would be generally well received.

But Das if my proposal does somehow clash poorly with your suggestion I would be interested in reading it so i can look at it through the lense of that possible future state with this implementation. My ideal would be if you put a new post together and link it here. Otherwise the scope of the change gets muddy and your sub suggestion within a main suggestion gets lost.

I would like to insert my dog suggestions here!

Here and here

DAS_LOBOTOMIST - 31/07/2026, 20:46:26

Ah you added links, thats perfect, thanks!

I would like to insert my dog suggestions here!

DAS_LOBOTOMIST - 31/07/2026, 20:46:26

Please use a separate post for new dog suggestions. I am trying to keep this one focused to Midnights suggestion/my proposed solution, really what I am looking for is anyone who opposes the proposal I have above or to see if it would be generally well received.

But Das if my proposal does somehow clash poorly with your suggestion I would be interested in reading it so i can look at it through the lense of that possible future state with this implementation. My ideal would be if you put a new post together and link it here. Otherwise the scope of the change gets muddy and your sub suggestion within a main suggestion gets lost.

VAELINN - 31/07/2026, 20:48:26

Yeah I just think it would blend well. I didn't add experience gain for dogs in one of those but that could tie in nicely for the more passive players to be able to train their dogs.

With this change defensive wins would give half of what attacks give and stalemates would give a half of the defensive win amount.

VAELINN - 31/07/2026, 20:36:17

In that case, I think losses (offensive and defensive) should give a bit of exp as well (equal to or half of stalemates), just to simply secure that dogs will gain exp if they take part in a fight.

Currently wins and stalemates do not give any dog experience.

With this change defensive wins would give half of what attacks give and stalemates would give a half of the defensive win amount.

Selling dog training like this could become a possible side hustle for passive players and that seems ok(my opinion).

VAELINN - 31/07/2026, 20:36:17

I think the "no experience from stalemates" should be changed along with my suggestion, using the same logic I provided in this post.

Logic TLDR: IRL If I'm minding my own business and get attacked, and successfully run away avoiding injury, I'd count that as a win. 

There are zero downvotes or strong disapprovals in this thread so I am going to move it forward.

I am not including any changes to how stalemates become wins as that is unrelated to dog experience.

I am not including dog experience from losses as that would be too easy to game I think(inactives would all come back with full experienced dogs and that does not seem right).

If we do want to introduce those I am open to it in a new post.