Now that the Wrath of the Lich King Friends & Family Alpha Test is underway, we’re beginning to see quantities of leaked alpha information, either from alpha participants who are edging around their NDAs or from non-participants who managed to get their hands on the client files.
Methodus, a mid-level Night Elf hunter from Vek’nilash (EU), wrote in to ask for some help naming the black lion previously known as Humar:
I just rolled a NE hunter and I took this one as soon as I leveled up to 23, which is the level of Humar the Pridelord. I’ve had him for a little while now and I like him a lot. The skin is quite rare and it looks cool with my character.
The only thing I couldn’t think of was a good name for him. I didn’t want to name him just anything since it’s not that easy to get another one. The name Pridelord came to mind since that would be an honor to the Humar himself but that wasn’t really what I was looking for.
What’s your take on this one?!
I don’t think we’ve taken on Humar before, but as popular as he is I know there must be some great suggestions out there.
In the past several weeks, I’ve gotten really wrapped up in the numbers behind Growl. Along with a bunch of other hunters, I’ve been doing extensive testing — not just on any putative changes to Growl scaling, but also on the basic mechanics of Growl. How do the ranks interact? What’s the threshold for scaling at low levels? (I should have answers to these questions for posting in the near future.)
But in my focus on numbers, I’ve lost the wider and arguably much more useful context: How does the state of pet aggro feel to hunters? What are the current and future effects on our normal gameplay? And since I’ve seen a lot of confusion about these matters both in-game and on forums and other blogs, I think it will be valuable to stop for an overview of the situation.
Final Name: Frankenswine
Korrupted, hunter and frequent visitor, writes:
I recently tamed one of the Undead Boar from Eastern Plaguelands (I love how they charge. It rocks.) … but my naming skill have apparently vanished for a while.
I always use names that have meanings. My 70 Aqua Tiger (rare spawn Rak’shiri) is Avalanche, due to the cold. I have a Crab (Rare spawn Crusty the Red Crab) is Cakes. I’ve had Leviathan the snake. But this one … is difficult.
If anyone can help me find a good name for this guy, I want to keep him! Anything that has to deal with him beind undead … or Mythology … anything Fantasy-ish. Here’s a picture!
After seeing this pop up on the forums a few times today, I flew out to Razorthorn Ridge to check for myself. And it is unfortunately true: Razorthorn Ravagers are can no longer be tamed.
The pic at left is from Beast Lore, of course, but I also stabled my cat and tried to tame one anyway, only to see: “Creature not tameable.”
Now, there are a few reported problems with these ravagers getting stuck in Evade mode right now, so perhaps we shouldn’t panic just yet. But the fact that Beast Lore says they cannot be tamed seems pretty indicative to me. It’s a pity: I’d rather see more pet choices at level 70 instead of fewer.
Nethaera has cleared up the confusion surrounding the 2.4.2 change to Scare Beast in a post on the WoW General forum. She says:
The change to the cast time was reverted to the 1.5 second cast time. The range is still 30 yards. Please note though that the tooltip still reads that it is instant cast, but this is a bug that will be fixed.
The patch notes for Patch 2.4.2 say that: “The pet ability Growl will no longer scale with pet Attack Power and now scales with the hunter’s Attack Power.”
The patch notes are wrong. Growl still scales with the pet’s Attack Power just as it did before.
It has to happen eventually: Patch 2.4.2 had made it off of the Public Test Realms and into our hearts! Or at least onto the live realms … As I type this, not all the live realms are back up yet, but I’m sure they will be soon.
As always, you can find complete patch notes on the WoW website. But here’s a quick round-up for hunters:
Hunters
Final Name: DoctorZaius
Today was have an extremely handsome gorilla to name!
My avatar is Dochalliday, a hunter on the Lightbringer server and while raiding has forced my hand when it comes to one of my pets (no pet will out damage a ravager in a raid setting), I continue to enjoy exploring the many pet options that my other two stable slots afford me.
Quite a bit of information about the upcoming Wrath of the Lich King expansion was released today. Unfortunately, my laptop is having difficulties and I haven’t been able to actually look at the info yet! You can check out MMO Champion and WoW Insider while I try to get my laptop straightened out. Feel free to let me know about interesting tidbits in the comments or via e-mail!
