Mania’s Arcania

Final Name: Pigassus

Dragon, a Bloodelf hunter from the Thrall server, would like our help. Dragon writes:

This is my 3rd hunter, and I plan to get her to 70 just like the others. She is a Bloodelf MM hunter named Dragon and I play on Thrall server Horde side. For this character I’ve tamed Princess from Elwynn Forest for her beauty and I like to have pets that people will instantly remember when I explain where they came from. I just love the way she squeals when she uses Charge, and she makes me giggle when she uses Charge under water or around a tree.

For the life of me I can’t think of a name for her though. I’m trying to find something simple and that you don’t have to think about (like my name) and something that would kind of match my name too. I am nothing without her and she has saved my life countless times, so I think she deserves an awesome name.

I want to apologize for the lack of posts (and e-mail responses for those of you who have e-mailed me) this week. Apparently I have some sort of sinus infection and its kicking my butt. (I thought it was a dental thing, but the dentist pronounced me clean today; I am off to the doctor tomorrow. In the meantime I’m drugged to the gills on OTC pain relievers.) I’ll try to at least get another Name That Pet up this week, and possibly something more substantial. Thanks for your forbearance.

Everyone notices the thorns.

I get e-mail pretty regularly from young Draenei hunters who have recently completed the level 10 taming quests. They are alternatively excited and puzzled, but in either case they have noticed that the Barbed Crawler they had to tame for the very first part of the taming quest came with a special ability that doesn’t exist on any other pet: Thorns! And it casts it on itself as well as the hunter! How cool is that?!

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Final Name: Luceat

Mazeku of Bloodscalp (PVP) writes:

I’ve been trying to come up with a name for my newest hunters first pet. But to no avail. Thus, after reading several of the previous name pet topics I’ve come to your blog to see if I could find a good name for Mazeku’s Precious feline partner.

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Lienna of Lienna’s Log managed to hide a great little tip in a recent post about the Ice Barbed Spear.

In short, when you are trying to level up a new melee weapon skill (say polearms or staves), try spamming Wing Clip. It’s an instant melee attack so it gives you extra chances to skill up! And it doesn’t do a lot of damage, so you can keep your poor victim alive longer if that’s your goal. For example, if you put your pet on passive and attack an enemy well below your level with Wing Clip (Rank 1), you can wring quite a few skill-ups out of one enemy before it dies.

Alternatively, you can do what I’ve been doing: killing my normal enemies (in this case for my daily quests) in melee and spamming the highest level of Wing Clip while my pet tanks. If we start losing the fight, I just back up a step and slaughter the enemy the normal way.

Now why didn’t I think of that!

This article is part of a series for new hunters on choosing your first pet.

As I mentioned in the previous segment, we’re rounding out this series by taking a look at the newbie areas that don’t host hunter races but which can nevertheless be reached without any danger by a new hunter.

Today: Elwynn Forest, home of the human race. Humans cannot be hunters, unfortunately, but Elwynn Forest is easily accessible to dwarf hunters, who merely need to ride the Deeprun Tram from Ironforge to Stormwind. Once in Stormwind, Elywnn Forest lies just beyond the city gates.

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I don’t talk about it much, but one of the few things in WoW that almost comes close to my pet obsession is my obsession with the Auction House. It’s not that I’m very good at playing the market — I have a terrible habit of gambling on the wrong items and losing everything I’ve made — but there’s something about the whole system that gives me as much satisfaction (and gets my heart racing as much) as any instance.

At any rate, I recently ran across a blog that may, one day, help me actually make money at my second-favorite obsession: Og’s Ledger. I’ve been following this blog for a short while and I’m impressed with the quality of Og’s writing and the information he’s sharing. So I’ve added Og’s Ledger to the short list on my blogroll.

In an interesting confluence of information, I was catching up on my blog reading this evening when I noticed a post on Amava Knows Aggro that mentioned a handy add-on called Ackis Recipe List. This add-on scans your recipes and tells you which you haven’t yet learned. “That sounds really handy,” I thought to myself. “I should check that out.”

A little later, I was catching up on my e-mail when I came across a message from Ackis himself/herself, letting me know that Ackis Recipe List can also scan hunter pet skills and tell you which ones you don’t know. “I definitely have to check this out now!” I thought. So I did.

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Final Name: Shiraha

Thalestris, a night elf hunter from Bloodhoof PvE (US), has asked for our help naming her new Owl. I don’t need to add much of an introduction here — Thalestris is a very eloquent night elf!

She writes:

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This article is part of a series for new hunters on choosing your first pet.

When I started this series, I mentioned that I was targeting not just new hunter characters but new hunter players — people who may not be as familiar with Azeroth and who may not be quite ready to go gallivanting off across the world at level 10 in search of the perfect pet. For that reason, I’ve so far stuck to the newbie areas that host races who can be hunters.

But while a new hunter may not be ready for the run from Azuremyst to Eversong, there are some journeys that are reasonably accessible. A small safe trip like this can open up exciting new pet possibilities for new hunters.

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