Thrallito, a hunter from the Uldum server, and his pet SpecialNeeds wrote in to me this morning to ask about creatures that are already pets of NPCs:
If a Grishna Raven is examined with Beast Lore, it is listed as tamable. The problem is that even if the Grishna Falconwing that keeps it as a pet is killed, the ownership persists, preventing the tame. … Are there other humanoid/animal pairs that can be broken up and tamed? How is it done? Could this be applied to the Grishna Raven? I’m hoping that the store of knowledge that exists amongst you and your readers will help to answer these questions.
I’m really hoping that my readers can help answer this question also, because honestly this is something I have struggled with for a while. I know that there are a number of creatures that Beast Lore says are tameable but which give you the message “Creature is already controlled” when you actually try to tame them. Killing the owner NPC doesn’t release the creature from that control or change that message, nor does anything else I have tried. I haven’t previously kept a list of these creatures, but I think I need to start. The ones I know off the top of my head are:
- Razormane Wolf in the Barrens
- Scarlet Hound in the Western Plaguelands
- Grishna Raven in Blade’s Edge Mountains
- Lashh’an Kaliri in Blade’s Edge Mountains
- Coilfang Ray in the Slave Pens (normal and Heroic)
(I know there are more, so if you can think of any please drop me a comment or an e-mail.)
Now, to the best of my knowledge, it’s just not possible to tame these creatures even though Beast Lore says they can be tamed. Except … apparently you can tame the Coilfang Ray. Is this nether ray different somehow? I got an e-mail a week or so ago letting me know that in order to tame the Coilfang Ray you have to CC both him and his Observer Master at the same time. No one else had mentioned this requirement to me, but that certainly seems like the sort of thing that might happen without anyone really thinking about it in a dungeon. So I went out and tested this method on a Razormane Wolf — but alas, I still got the message that “Creature is already controlled.” On the other hand, I only have hunter CC methods available to me — maybe it requires a sheep?
I also remember a minor hubbub after the Burning Crusade launched when some hunters said they had managed to tame a Lashh’an Kaliri. Unfortunately no one was able to reliably reproduce that tame and the topic eventually dropped out of sight. But I continue to wonder … is there some secret method to breaking the control between NPC master and pet?
One more for your list was on the screenshot I sent you by email a few weeks ago, that dragon turtle one.
(yes, Miya Mirage emailing you now and then is me *turns red*)
Sometimes I wish I could edit my posts, since I just realized, that the Dragon Turtle does not fit the list, since it says “not tamable” already *sighs*
Sorry ’bout that.
Heh! That’s okay, Tiiaa. I was terribly embarrassed that I had forgotten about the Dragon Turtle, and then you gave me an excellent excuse. :>
I read somewhere that you have to sheep the animal’s master to tame it. Perhaps sheeping both or sheep + hibernate would work as a better cc than traps for dropping ownership?
Nice topic Mania…it would be a nice spin to be able to tame an NPC masters pet but for it to be blocked at present means blizzard must have considered this in the first place & decided against it.
I think the original conceptual idea behind blocking anything that is xyz’s pet was brought up during WoW Alpha – I recall some time in alpha where I was able to tame other hunters’ pets in pvp as long as the pet had me in its target.
I spent a lot of time trying to tame an untamable scarlet hound in WPL, before I finally gave up and went back to leveling my young scarlet tracking hound. :) BTW, I’m pleased to say that my Bonesnapper finally hit 70 this weekend, and I gave him a whole clefthoof to eat as a reward. That boy has an appetite.
I’d also like to digress further to point up a peeve of mine: hyenas are not hounds, nor are they related to canines at all. They’re most closely related to civets and bearcats. I’m sure some idiot in the Scarlet Crusade dubbed them “scarlet tracking hounds” and the name stuck, but… they’re not dogs! End rant.
What if you brought a priest or a mind control cap and tried controlling the NPC and then while it is controlled, tame the pet. That may break the ownership, I’m not sure though…
These are good ideas! Unfortunately, I am not easily able to test them since I only play hunters and I have no friends. *grin* So if anyone else has an opportunity to test these things out, I’d love to hear about it.
I do have a priest, but unfortunatly mindcontrol doesn’t help.
It does attack it’s mindcontroled Master, but it’s still his pet.
Seems no CC on the pet nor it’s Master does affect the bound at all. :(
Thank you for testing that, Ai. I appreciate it.
I tamed the 70 Coilfang Ray a few weeks back. Everything went smoothly, so I didn’t need to test different methods. I wanted to make sure I kept her attention during the tame, so I did the initial pull on her with a distracting shot / freezing trap. I think we killed the Observer first, but I’m not positive. Anyway, after the 3 naga were dead, the mage sheeped her, and I tamed her normally while she was poly’d. Wish I had more data, but all I have is that one successful tame.
Cheers,
Bethany (Thanatasia – Dalaran)
Thanks for the data point, Bethany!
I know you’re looking for human/pet links, but I thought I’d mention that I’ve had the exact same experience with the female lions and their cubs that hang out near Ratchet. The cub is the lioness’s “pet,” and though beastlore says it’s tamable, the bond with the mother gets in the way.
Saphraa: Actually, I wasn’t specifically looking for human/pet links, and I had completely forgotten about the lionesses and cubs. Thanks for reminding me!
I believe the Moonstalker Matriarchs (correct name?) share a similar bond with their little ones in Darkshore.
The Kolkar Packhounds (hyenas) in the Barrens can behave oddly at times. Some or most of the Kolkar Hunters (or whatever they are called) have just one hound. I’ve never tried CCing them (no frost trap at level 13!), I just killed the hunter and tamed the hound quickly.
Howvever, as I recall, there is one Kolkar Hunter who circles the lake south of WC who has 2 or 3 Packhouds. I got an error message when I tried taming one after I killed the Hunter, was killed by the hounds and then rezzed. The surviving hounds seemed to stay where they were when their master died (i.e. didn’t continue patrolling and didn’t seem to agro normally after I rezzed), but then despawned after a minute or so.
Is it possible to solo tame a non-heroic Coilfang Ray or a Fen Ray at 70? I’ve been trying to get a group together for either Underbog or Slave Pens since I was 64 and practically NO ONE wants to do either instance. The closest I got was a SP group with Hunter, 2 Mages, Pally and Shammy. And the frost mage for some reason was pulling and “tanking.” We didn’t get very far…
Sounds like maybe those Packhounds are summoned by a spell (given that they despawn) instead of being spawned like normal creatures. I noticed something similar with Moonstalker Runts — there’s the normal creature who spawns by itself that can be tamed, and then there’s the Runt that’s attached to the Moonstalker Matriarch and can’t be tamed.
Re solo-taming the rays: I don’t know. I tried to get in there myself for the Coilfang but gave up quickly. If you do manage it, write me up a guide! *grin*
Post script: I got a group of guildies to help me get through Underbog as far as the nether rays (and completed two of the Sporeggar quests in the process). With potions/cloaking device/etc. it MIGHT be possible to get there solo, but they are a long way in to the instance. But I have my Fen Ray now!
Congrats, Goeben!