Patch 3.0 is presumably almost upon us (although we’re still waiting for Blizzard’s confirmation) and like many hunters I am facing down a terrifying decision: what do I tame now? Extra stable space, tons of new pets, skills and talents … it’s too much for me!
Luckily I do have some basic guidelines in mind. I’m only really thinking about my two main characters right now — the horde of alts can wait. Mania (level 70 orc) and Kaet (level 70 dwarf) will both be using an exotic Beast Mastery spec, whether or not I tame any exotics. I want those extra pet talent points!
Now Mania will be keeping Cloud, her Twilight Runner, and Banshee, her Ghost Saber. (No way am I getting rid of either of them!) I’ll also be leaving at least one stable slot open for research taming, but that still means that I can pick up two more pets if I choose. Mania was never really tied to cats particularly — I just happen to have two of them — so the field is wide open.
My logical side says that I should grab one Cunning and one Tenacity pet, but my heart says I should save a spot for Loque’nahak the Spirit Beast, who is after all the most exotic cat in the game. On the other hand, it may be a long, long time before I can tame Loque, so perhaps I should start by playing around with other pets and seeing what feels best. But what pets?
Kaet has a different problem. Kaet has always been a crab hunter and nothing but a crab hunter. And with five pet slots she could conceivably keep one of each color crab, plus an open spot for research taming. (It’s important that I keep a spot open for research on both Horde and Alliance.)
But given that my whole ‘level with each pet to see how it plays’ is pretty well shot under the new system, does it really make sense to keep four crabs? Of course if I don’t keep Kaet’s crabs, I’ll have to figure out which to release: Frore (the blue crab), Tibri (the red crab), or Niffis (the white crab)? Or I could — goddess forbid! — release two of them.
Either way, we’re back to the same problem: Which new pets do I want to tame?
Actually, that’s the wrong question. Because I play on RP realms, the real question should be: Which new pets do my characters want to tame?
Luckily, Mania the character and Mania the player have very similar taste. So maybe a silithid and … maybe a worm? Or a dragonhawk and a bear … Or I did have a scorpid for awhile on Mania, so I could go back and grab Death Flayer again.
But Kaet … what does Kaet like? Kaet likes crabs. I have no idea what else she might like as a pet.
Sheesh, this is hard. Blizzard, why do you torture us this way?!
My hunter is definitely keeping her crab! She’s had him forever!
She will also be keeping her netherray, and adding a moth. I haven’t decided which other pets (if any) to get. Exotics are out because even though I’ve tried desperately to like it, BM spec is not my thing.
I have a 70 male Orc Hunter and a 20-something male Dwarf Hunter, who I plan on leveling all the way up.
My gameplan is as follows. I am only keeping two pets with my Orc and one with my Dwarf.
Orc:
Cat (Ferocity): This will be my existing cat, Araga. Yes, that Araga.
Gorilla (Tenacity): This will be my existing Gorilla, Ucha.
Rhino (Tenacity): Great fun for PvP! Try it!
Devilsaur (Ferocity)
Chimaera (Cunning)
Dwarf:
Bear (Tenacity)
Turtle (Tenacity)
Corehound (Ferocity)
Wind Serpent (Cunning)
Moth (Ferocity)
This will give me two Tenacity pets with each character, two Ferocity, and one Cunning for each. With all the tenacity pets, I’ll have tanks for many different kinds of tanking. Gorilla for AOE, Bear for cleaving with a short cooldown, Turtle for single targets and reduced damage… RHINO FOR BOWLING. And then I will have a nice well-rounded group of Exotic pets. Oh, and the Moth? I’ve been in love with them ever since BigRedKitty’s first video of them.
Happy Hunting, my animal-loving colleagues!
Well I’m keeping the 2 cats I currently have; Ember, my wonderful Durotar tiger whose been with me since I was level 11, and my recently tamed Humar (whose gonna get a nice level boost as soon as I take him out of stable). I’ll just spec them differently. As for the other 3 spots I’m planning on taming Blacksting and naming him Roguesbane, strictly for pvp; and then a tenacity and another cunning for the last 2. Probably a bear for tenacity until I can get a Jormungar and then maybe an owl or something, I’m gonna likely use the fifth spot to kinda play around and experiment for a while.
Ah, too many options! And I’m loving it!
I’ve also been pondering what pets to keep and what pets to newly acquire. There is certainly the nagging that I do not want to ‘release’ a pet I have been using from level 10 till level 70. On the other hand, two of my three level 70 hunters tamed a netherstorm lynx at level 69 as secondary pet, but never used them much. It is a good thing there are new stable slots, so the decision doesn’t need to come immediately.
Here is my current plan:
Yococo, level 70 orc:
- trusty old Snout – once a level 10 corrupted mottled boar
- Gonzalez, tamed when he was a level 30 turtle in hilsbrad. I didn’t level him up to 67, often deliberately holding down on questing so I could keep two pets up in level, only to abandon him now, can I?
- open
- open
Yoco, level 70 tauren:
- trusty old Tweetsie – once a level 9 mulgore swoop
- Sylvester is a netherstorm lynx, only tamed at level 69. I actually haven’t used him much…
- open
- open
Yocozoot, level 70 nightelf:
This was one of my earliest characters, but stopped playing her around level 40 for two years. When I started playing her again, I found the bear Fluffy at her side, not really an attractive pet, functionally speaking, in WoW version 2, so I set Fluffy free.
- Baldrick was tamed around level 40 – a black carrion bird from the badlands. He looks the same as Yoco’s Tweetsie.
- Sylvester. Yes, same name and origin as Yoco’s Sylvester. And the same fate may hang above him – though a cat may have some extra use for nightelves (prowl+shadowmeld)
- Fluffy – as said, fluffy was set free long ago. Maybe there is some hope of finding him again (bears are certainly more attractive pets now)
- Brimstone – Brimstone was at Yocozoot’s side in the PTR. I’m not sure I’m an overly big fan of those green core hounds as far as functionality goes, but they sure are an attention grabber – never got so many whispers of “where did you get that???”. Finding a few hunters with core hounds, all going eyes of the beast and making a train of core hounds running through Shattrath certainly was fun!
Fiep – level 35 dwarf
- Grond, tamed as a level 11 boar in dun morogh.
- open
- open
- open
As you can see, there are still quite a few open spots. And there are certainly a bunch of pets out there I would like to team up with. Gorillas, rhinos, various exotics. Apart from a bear for yocozoot, I do not have too many plans yet – I’ll let me surprise myself …