Pets with Special Behaviors: Spot and Arikara
Syrelil, a Level 45 Blood Elf Hunter from Sentinels, let me know yesterday that there is something special about the tan wolf Spot who hangs out on Theramore Isle. Well, I should say that there is something else special about Spot — the first special thing, of course, is that he is friendly to the Alliance and can only be tamed by the Horde (and only with some risk, since he’s inside the Alliance stronghold at Theramore Isle). But the second special thing: Spot barks when you click on him, even after he is tamed.
Syrelil sent me a link to a video of Spot (renamed Bullet) in action so you can hear what he sounds like. I checked it out with the help of a character on my husband’s account, and indeed other players can click on Spot and hear him bark. It’s really cute. (Like most of the click-voice bits, only the person who clicks hears the barking — which is probably good, since you don’t want people making your pet bark at you all day long.)
The only other pet that I can think of that has a special behavior like this is Arikara, the Horde-only quest-spawned windserpent of Thousand Needles. Arikara’s special behavior only happens when you call him — he appears in a whirlwind of smoke! (I think this also happens when you dismount and Arikara re-appears, but I was having trouble distinguishing that because he seems to always appear inside my character.) There’s a terrible picture (but it’s what I had available) to the left.
There used to be a third pet with a special behavior in this vein: Silithid Protectors are a Horde-only quest-spawned crab in the Barrens. (I see a trend with the Horde thing here.) They do a text emote when they spawn during the quest, and originally they would continue to emote this text when they were called after they were tamed. At some point, though, Blizzard fixed this behavior and now these guys are fairly normal crabs.
Are there any other pets with special behaviors that I am missing? If you can think of one, please let me know!
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Spiders that come out of the eggs in stone talon mountin pop out of an egg when you summon them.
I love my Arikara; she has been my main pet since about level 30 (now we’re both 70). I beleive the quest chain that leads to her specifies that Arikara is a she, but I can’t check that here at work. And yes, she does the smoke thing any time she is summoned, including when you dismount. I was sad, though, when they changed her summon sound. Before 2.0, it was sort of a whooshing explosion sound, now it’s more like a metallic clang.
steelriver: is that true?? i’m gonna have to get a spider if so! i’ve got ghost saber and arikara as pets. it was tough to find a horde nice enough to spawn arikara hehe. i’ve got a soft spot for pets that do cool stuff. sigh.. i sure wish we could tame spot.
i really wish we had more stable spots because i want that ravager that changes colors when i level up to 63.
I had no idea Spot barked! That’s so fun!
the spider thing didn’t work. all the way to stonetalon for nothing =(
Steelriver: Unfortunately I am not getting that effect from the spiders either. Did you tame yours awhile ago? They may have fixed it, and only old ones will still do the behavior.
The ghost saber, spawned by opening cat figurines in the ruins of Mathystra in Darkshore, remains semi-transparent after you tame it.
I tried to see if Kyle the Frenzied in Bloodhoof Village could be tamed by Alliance but no can do. I guess Horde just has it all :)
Nicora, only Alliance can tame the Den Mother in Blade’s Edge Mountains, a big black Horde-friendly wolf. So it’s a little more balanced than you’re implying.
There is also an animal in the Horde village “Mok’Nathal,” also in Blade’s Edge, that says “tameable”–a big ol’ bear. However, since I don’t have any Alliance characters, I have no way of knowing if he’s actually tameable for Alliance, or if he’s somehow bound to a handler that keeps him from being tameable.
Any high-level Alliance hunter care to go check?
Maahl, I think she meant that the creatures with cool weird behaviors are both Horde-only, not necessarily that there are no Alliance-only creatures.
On the PTR I took my level 70 dwarf out to Mok’Nathal. Only Dubu (the bear you mentioned) Beast Lore’s as tameable, but he’s friendly to me even though I am Alliance and I get “Invalid Target” when I try to tame him.
*Nod* Well that news got put up fast, yea, this is me, Syrelil.
Thou who tames Spot after is copying me! But its worth it, so I’d go for it anyways. Spot pet ftw. >:3
Good luck to the hunters out there. Very simple to get in and tame, send me an in-game tell and I’ll show you or just give an explaination of how to get in. If Blizzard removes this, I am quitting WoW. XD
Other pets with “specialities” are the Rip Blade Ravager from Blade’s Edge. It chooses one of 3 random skins each time it’s spawned. A good choice if you get bored of looking at the same pet all the time, and the Rak’Shiri/Shy Rotam cat skin has an audible yawn animation.
I hadn’t been thinking in terms of the Ghost Saber and the Rip-Blade Ravager, but you’re right — those probably belong on this list also. But I hadn’t heard about Rak’Shiri/Shy Rotam having an audible yawn. Do other cats not have that? How about the Frostsaber Pride Watcher?
I believe it works with all frostsaber skins, but I’ve never tamed a Pride Watcher before. I assume this because it’s the same yawn that a saber mount makes sometimes. It’s the same deal with a wolf pet, they howl every once in a while, while the frostsaber yawns every once in a while.
So the spiders don’t work - pity - I really was looking forward to taming an eggsquishy spider.
The frostsaber pride watcher does indeed do the audible yawn animation. I keep wanting to pet him and calm him down. Heh, that was the pet that made me want to have a hunter in the first place, the first time I saw them I was inspired to make a hunter so I could level him up to get one. Now he’s lvl 70 and goes to Kara and Gruul with me regularly.
The bear in mok nathal is misha. She was the summonable pet of the hero beast master in Warcraft 3 frozen throne and her owners name is Raxxar a Half orc half orge (Which is called a mok nathal) Just thought I would fill you in. Mania I love your blog!
I wonder if you have have an enemy mind control you then tame the pet, hmmmm
You cannot use any class abilities of mind controlled player characters. You can only move and (white) attack.
It’s not just Spot. If you tame the level 5-6 Prairie Wolves in Mulgore, you will have a pup that barks rather than howls, also.
When you click on it? That’s interesting — I’ll have to go check that out.
Egad! You’re right — Prairie Wolves in Mulgore also bark when you click on them! Now I’m going to have to test all the wolves. Thanks for the tip!
It should be noted however, that wolves does not bark.
They bark as pups, but quickly stops it.
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