Yesterday BRK forwarded me a fascinating screenshot from one of his readers.
Algörithm of Khaz’goroth snapped this shot of a gorgeous pet snoozing behind Andurg Slatechest, the Stable Master at Bouldercrag’s Refuge in the Storm Peaks.
Algörithm wrote:
I’m assuming it’s a Spirit beast based off the glowing eyes and the unique skin. I wonder how many Spirit beasts there will be when everything is fully released.
That’s an excellent question, especially considering that just a few days ago, Ghostcrawler responded to a post about the difficulty of taming Loque’nahak by saying:
We wanted to have a difficult to get pet for those hunters who enjoyed the challenge of it in the old days. We wanted to make sure the Spirit Beast was not absolutely the best pet for that reason.
We will probably add more over time.
Of course, “probably” and “over time” does not equal “for certain” or “anytime soon”, so we may have to wait awhile to see exactly what Blizzard has in store. But I’d love to have another Spirit Beast available — or two more, or six more — and I’d love to see something like Blackmaw on that list.
But for the moment, it’s unclear whether Blackmaw is really a spirit beast. If you use Beast Lore on Blackmaw, it says he cannot be tamed and gives his diet as .. well, everything. Which means that he is either a boar or a bear … or something entirely new. (Or, I suppose, that since he is never intended to be tamed he just has default data.)
On the other hand, some of you may recognize Blackmaw’s model as being the same as Soo-Holu, a god of the Oracles that you are transformed into during the Oracle daily quest “Will of the Titans”. Since Soo-Holu is a god much like Harkoa (and presumably Loque’nahak, as Harkoa’s consort, has some godlike qualities), that’s strong evidence of spirit-beast-hood.
On the third hand (we have lots of hands around here), the underlying model used by Blackmaw (and Soo-Holu) is the same as that used by the Cursed Offspring of Harkoa. And as gorgeous as those cats are, they are still classified as cats — despite their relationship to Harkoa.
So … Blackmaw’s family is unclear. But suffice it to say that no matter what he is, I’d love to tame him!
Hmmmm… Very beautiful creature….. I HOPE IT’S TAMEABLE!!! *gasp* *choke* *die*
EDIT: I hope it *becomes* tameable. :P
I honestly hope this is not the next Spirit Beast.
While I love the skin and do hope that it becomes tamable (as a cat), its still uses the poor/blocky old cat model. I have never been a fan of the basic cat model, and have only used the riding mount models (or lion models) for cats when I tame one.
If/when there is a next Sprit Beast I am sure it will be a re-skin of Loque’nahak. I am hopeing on a black one with red rosettes, eyes and effects.
I was lucky enough to get Loque’nahak the first week and love him, but can’t use him now due to raid spec. :(
“for those hunters who enjoyed the challenge of it in the old days”… riiiight Blizz, keep telling yourself that. I have camped SB for a looong time now, to the point I don’t feel like logging in, and i keep reading stories about “I went to SB to see and THERE HE WAS OMG”. It has nothing to do with a challenging camp and EVERYTHING to do with luck!! Frankly, I’m ****** off! I have tamed many rares because of the challenge, I duo’d black rock spire at 60 cause I wanted one of the worg patrols, but this is NOTHING like any of that. Flying in circles just to find out he spawned and got killed in the south, where I *just* was is not camping!
Sorry for the rant, but Blizz has REALLY let us down with this one.
Oh, Blackmaw a pretty skin and I *do* hope there’ll be more spirit beasts – but *sigh* Loque is so darn pretty. WANT! ;o)
dont cry i tamed it few days ago around 00.45 and it was worth 10 + days of camping :D btw there is otehr pet with glowing eyes in zul’drak near the harkoa and those are not spirit beast so …glowing eyes doesnt mean its a spirit beast
My addon says Blackmaw was a Bear. My hubby and I giggled at this because it is a Cat/Bear. The diet matches a bears diet.
In this screenshot you can see it saying it is a bear.
I am beginning to believe the way Sara puts it “It has nothing to do with a challenging camp and EVERYTHING to do with luck!!” with a lot of the animals. For example I have never seen Gunter, nor Deathmaw. I know they exist, for others have tamed them, but I have not. I haven’t even seen their lifeless bodies. I will put in the time to tame a rare – got Nuramoc and it took 3 days. Got Gut Ripper after a lot of tries, etc, etc, etc. But those others – well, they are the stuff of legends.
hang in there Sara, karma has a way of dealing with griefers and you will get SB.
I got my spirit beast, and it was worth the effort, but he’s not needed, so you really can’t complain that much. If they were as common as the dreadsaber in the basin, sure it would still look as cool, but EVERY hunter would have one, and then you wouldn’t want it so bad now would you?
No one wants him to be easier to tame, they just want the pet to be easy to tame for THEMSELVES, but no one else.
If they do more spirit beasts, I hope they don’t just do cats…that would be lame. Same model, modified skin, same ability would be lazy, and ruin the uniqueness of a very cool pet. The armor plated look af this cat caught my attention, and looks cool, but I doubt there will be a tameable version. Darkiron dwarves have a plated look, as do the earthen people, so the cat just fits the theme.
If they create more spirit beasts, I hope they give a little love to other classes of pets. A bear and an eagle or owl would be cool spirit beasts. A new skin, maybe a new model, with some kind of cool ability that matches their role.
Dave said: “No one wants him to be easier to tame, they just want the pet to be easy to tame for THEMSELVES, but no one else.”
Technically speaking, that’s not entirely true. I’d like it to be easier for everyone to tame. But I understand that I may be odd that way.
@Sara,
It is just like old times. Back when Brokentooth was king of pets with his godly attack speed, took me about 4-5 days to find him and there are still oldworld rares that I don’t think I have ever seen.
Only took me 2 days, about 6 hours each day constantly flying between Loque’nahak’s 5 spawn points to get him.
Also helps to have a target macro to spam so you don’t have to wait for things to load while flying past.
The best time to check for him is early morning, 6-10am ish.
I agree, Mania. I want everyone who wants him, and is willing to put in the effort to be able to tame him without having to rely on the lottery. There is a difference in ‘challenging’ and ‘luck based’. I think that is something Blizzard REALLY needs to try and understand better with the spirit beast.
I do see what you guys are saying, but like I said, I don’t mind the challenging camp. I’ve sat for hours waiting for a rare spawn, logged out in the same spot to log back in and check regularly… I guess I’d be ok with the random timer if I could at least say that he’s in a smaller area. Flying all the way to the northern rim, just to come back south 2 mins later and find him dead is *not* about persistence in the hunt. It’s about somebody else being luckier than me. Simple as that. And if your got him after 2*6 hours of camping, you’re luckier than me Glassdragon. I know he’ll be worth it in the end, but right now my leveling has stagnated, I’m not working on my professions, no income, simply cause I’m afraid to leave the basin. Maybe *this* time around, you know? That’s just nuts.
(changing channel on the tv)
well, the problem with SB is not only that timer, but that she is needed for a quest AND people these days are just total asphats that they will kill her just to grief a hunter (even while the hunter is taming). Sort of like eating cabbage and holding onto a butane lighter at a NC college frat house party…. while uttering the famous words – “Watch this…” (not sure what cabbage and a lighter and uttering those words has to do with this, it just sounds like it might.) Bless their little pea picking hearts.
Anyway, that’s a challenge if I ever seen one (SB, not the cabbage). Well, more coffee and onto the next computer problem at the school.
hi Palla – get back to work!
(ok turning over the control of your tv back to ya’ll)
dang, oops again – Blackmaw does not look like a bear, nor a bearmanpig nor a bearcatbearmanpig. Even though folks have been showing their screen shots with the little box and it does say “bear”. Probably one of those miss-print coding mistakes Blizz is famous for (everything can slip by, even me.. Look at the legs, paws and body shape.
unfortunately I doubt the next spirit will be as this guy, for a few reasons
a)soo’holu isn’t really a god he’s just considered one
b)the earthen,to which this cat is affiliated, have to be allied with all sides at all times because they are with brann.you go to war with them,you go to war with brann. which would screw up quest lines and dungeons
c) there are other troll gods that they can use first(akil’zon, quetz’lun, nalorakk),granted I play a troll so I’m biased in this area
Ok, I swear i saw this a few days ago, i was hearthing to dalaran and it was there, i waited a few secs and it was someones pet(forgot name, thought petopia would already know about this) so i guess its already tameable.
Pesonally, I think I’d rather have a wind-serpent-esque spirit beast version of the Hakkar model, if we were to continue down the road of that particular pet family looking much like the Drakkari pantheon… But that might just be me.
I think that any more spirit beasts that get added to the game need to keep the same skills and all that, but since “spirit beast” doesn’t invoke a particular shape, they have the unique opportunity to make them with whatever beast model they desire. Spirit Beast Shoveltusk! :)
I posted about this in the forums awhile back and nobody even gave it a second thought. I hope they make a cat like this tamable, dont care if its a spirit beast or just a cat i just want that skin
http://www.maniasarcania.com/forums/topic/blackmaw
link to forum post
Thanks for the link, Daegmund! Unfortunately I am about 400 posts behind on reading my own forums …
I would love to see any new spirit beasts! I have been hunting Loq now for 3 days and I just keep missing him as well as the others in the zone because of teh look alone. As soon as I saw em I fell in love, now I love this one too!
I would definitely love to see some new Spirit Beasts out there. Though the current one is gorgeous but more options are always nice!
@Sigrdrífa That’s what’s so funny about it. It is a cat model, made to look like metal, that is classified as a bear. It is a Blizz goof but sadly not of the taming kind.
Well Autumnn, be glad it’s not tameable (yet)! Imagine trying to feed this thing, “food require – 12 stacks of Goblin Rocket Fuel”, lol. :)
*Salutes Sigrdrifa* Yes ma’am! *Laughs* I am a bit behind, but it’s nothing I can’t make up for, and my creativity is lagging today. Stupid lag.
I came off sounding like a jerk there, I’ll admit it.
Honestly though, how do you do challenging without luck?
Reduce the spawn timer to 1 hour? Reduce it to 1 location? Have a server wide alert to hunters when he spawns? Then everyone will have one, it’s not rare, it’s not unique, and it would make me want to stable mine. I use my spirit beast for raids (straight up dmg).
When doing dailies or heroics, I use a completely different pet. Even though it’s not an RP server, it’s for some RP reasons. The best part is, I’ve never seen another hunter with this pet…and I’ve been using this pet for years. He’s horribly common in the game, but no one else likes the look of him. My guild treats him as a mascot, my vent login is his name, and my guild is always happy to see him next to me, and always give him a bad time for not releasing me and taming a better hunter…
My pets all become important parts of my guild, and their uniqueness allows that. I have 5 pets right now (Loque, a common dino, and 3 common beasts that no one else seems to have tamed) and most of my guild could probably name most if not all of them. The other hunters in the guild have standard pets that you see a dozen of in any trip to Dalaran, and their pets get no special attention in the guild.
Loque has everybodies attention because of his rarity and the difficulty of his capture.
If the black and white lions in the barrens traveled in packs and were commonplace animals in the wild….would anyone one have cared about them? Sure, a few people, but you wouldn’t have been able to show him off as a badge of honor. By the time I tamed my black lion, he had become so common, that I ended up releasing him. That was a relatively hard pet to get, but he had 1 spawn location, wasn’t an achievement, and we knew much more about his habits….I know many other hunters have retired there black lions to the stables for the same reason (too easy to get now).
For those of us that love the hunter class because of the pet, our pets are a symbol of who we are. It’s a badge of honor to have a rare pet, something unique, but not always more powerful.
I know the apes are great tanks, OP as far as I’m concerned. But every hunter has one, and I think they are a little ugly. I’m proud to show off my carnival of freaks in Dalaran, and other hunters tend to give me positive feedback because of it.
Loque is awesome and cool because he is rare and hard to tame….to take that away, or implement other pets that look or behave just like him would take away all that is cool about Loque.
In my hunt for Loque, I got frustrated, spent hours of endless searching, got depressed and gave up…but I had some good friends that kept a lookout for him just in case. I was deep in a cave in Storm Peaks when he was spotted, and guildmates flocked to the basin to keep him safe from harm while I hearthed and flew and nervously twiched in fear he’d be taken before I arrived. Not only do I have an awesome rare pet, but a great story to go along with it, and guildmates that have given him nicknames….it wouldn’t be the same if he sat on the top of a mountain and instantly spawned after capture just to await the next hunter that wanted the pretty cat.
The luck, the searching, the unique skin, the unique power, the rare spawn, the multiple spawn points, the competition with the alliance, the race to beat the achievers all help to create the mystique around the pet that make him cool. And when you find him, after the ups and downs, it’s like Christmas morning for a 3 year old. It wouldn’t be the same if I just waited in line.
Unique is good, and it is what many hunters want. For once, I think Blizzard is finally giving our pets the attention they’ve been needing, and I like everything about it.
Just the ramblings of some ole hunter though. Take it or leave it, just an opinion.
Again though, new spirit beasts would be cool, and wouldn’t hurt Loque at all. Just add variety….4 spirit cats would make them all kind of lame. Give some love to the other pet trees, and to people who like animals other than cats!
Blizz has been favoring cats for a long time.
Dave: I didn’t think you sounded like a jerk. I know a lot of hunters do want a taming challenge, and a lot more would be pleased to have a more unique or unusual pet for the rarity value.
And I have to admit that I do like people asking me about my slime.
But I would be happy if everyone could easily tame a slime, or Loque, or anything else. It’s one of my blind spots: I don’t play to be challenged, and the fact is that I don’t really understand people who do. (I suspect, though, that the feeling is often mutual. *grin*)
I hope if this model does become tameable, that he isn’t a rare. I got bored and quit after 15 minutes of Araga, even the golden worm model, which I love, couldn’t keep me camping for longer than that. Curse my quick boredom and impatience!
@ Dave
I totally understand what you’re saying, and I’m not asking for flocks of Loque to roam SB. All I’m asking is that it had more to do with enduring a long camp, a la Rak’Shiri, and less to do with me being in the exact right moment at the exact right time. I’ve read so many accounts of “I thought it’d be hard but I flew in and THERE HE WAS” and so many of “I checked down south, circled around to the north, came back south and found his corpse where I had just been”… I wouldn’t mind a longer spawn time if he was, say, always between the mosslight and lifeblood pillars.
On another note: most of the stories I hear are about 8-hour straight camps. I have a 6-month old, I don’t have that luxury. Am I to be excluded from having the pet I want because I can’t be logged into the game for such long periods of time?
The third hand is the gripping hand ;)
although thats a nice cat modle, and would make a pretty pet…I hope its not a hint at the next spirit beast. Sigh, cats are not even remotley one of my fav models or pets to play with.
As for the “Challange” of Taming the curent spirit beast…haveing a long respawn is not in anyway remotely intellegent…Give it immunity to sleep/stun/traps/fear etc and give it a nasty knockback ability and a fear cast, THAT is a challange for taming…that requires thought and planning on how to Tame it…but the whole respawn timer rare spawn, thats not a challange thats just a waste of time…
I have a life outside Wow, I work 8hrs a day and then theres still life, Wow is what I play when I drink my coffee in the morning, and when I drink my beer at night.
Doubt I’ll ever even get to see a wild Loque.
Very pretty :)
I just tamed King Mosh, the rare devilsaur from ungoro. I’m 80, he’s 60….but it took me 11 tries to tame him! He still hits like a truck, immune to Frost trap and fears you randomly (usualy at less than 5% from end taming, the bastard! :p ).
Was fun as hell…
Coming back to the topic, I found this SUPERB cat a few days ago while I was sightseeing. And tried to bribe, beg, threaten, buy, seduce his master to let me tame him. No way… for now :)))
But I will come back!
:)
I doubt that “Black Maw” is a so-called “Spirit Beast”. And it does use the same “skin” thing as Cursed Offspring.
Well, at least it might not be a one-of-a-kind beast anymore, which makes me a little bit happier. This guy looks much cooler then Loc, though… I never hated spirit beasts just the fact that everyone obsessed about one pet that to me wasn’t that interesting. If they add more, then Spirit beats might be seen throughout all of Azeroth, which would be the only downfall of it. But even I have to admit, this new guy looks AWESOME!
He doesn’t really look like a spirit beast… like you said, he just sort of looks like a cursed offspring of har’koa with metal skin. Idk, i’m all for new pets, but i don’t forsee a spirit beast of this one.
@ Dave
Well you’re just lucky you had so many people to flock there to make sure the thing didn’t get killed, but not everyone has a bunch of guildies to flock there to keep the beast alive, and i dunno about the other hunters here, but that doen’t seem very challenging to me, to me, it just sounds like cheating…… Ok, maybe thats a bit harsh, but it doen’t seem fair to me….but maybe thats cause theres only 3 people in my guild who are over lvl 70, including me, which would mean not many people to help me find a spirit beast hehe…….
Families that have rare, difficult tames are one thing. King Mosh and Gutripper come to mind for difficult tames, while Mosh is difficult AND rare. But that is a totally different thing from the spirit beast. The spirit beast is an ENTIRE FAMILY that is hard to tame. The ghost wolf was a hard tame where you bent the laws of physics to aquire, yet there were still plenty of other wolves. There are other birds of prey, there are other devilsaurs. There is only one spirit beast, and it is both highly sought after, and rare. That being said, it is NOT a difficult or challenging tame in the process. Once the stars align and you find it alive and unharassed, you hit tame beast, and that is that. I wouldn’t mind a different skinned, elite version of the spirit beast that was a bit more consistent, but was a harder tame, personally.
Another… freaking… cat…
@ Mitsuhide
And another freaking cat-hater……….Don’t you ever think that some of us hunters might actually like cats?!?, some hunters have had their cat since around lvl 10 (lvl 13 for me) and have had it all the way to lvl 70 (or 80). you don’t have to freak out about it just because it looks like a cat, its not a cat anyways!!!!!! i’m really getting tired of people saying they hate cats, or that cats suck, i wish they’d just stop freaking out and keep their feelings about cats to themselves.
@Dave:
I don’t want Loque to be easier to tame. I want his FAMILY to be easier to tame. I think that’s what Blizzard should’ve done from the start. I think many hunters would agree with me.
See, I think Loque’nahak should be the “Old Cliff Jumper” of the Spirit Beast family. He should be a unique skin (maybe even model? But I wouldn’t go that far, but I digress)and there should be other more common different looking Spirit Beasts.
On another note. They didn’t want the spirit beast to be “the best pet”:
Blizzard doesn’t want there to be “that one pet”, but I personally believe they have still created that; Devilsaur. Until they try to balance some of the exotics more on par with Devilsaur, they have still re-created that one problem. I haven’t yet heard someone say “bring a devilsaur only” in my guild yet, but I haven’t started Wrath raiding yet to be honest. But with the Spirit Beast not even doing comparable damage to other exotics at the moment, I guess I have to wait and see first =)
Either way, the sooner they bring more spirit beasts out, the sooner there’ll be happier hunters.
I respectfully disagree, Rikaku. Devilsaurs are nice. but they aren’t the be all end all right now. Monstrous bite, while it does edge in 9% increased damage after three bites, isn’t absolutely miles ahead of rake, or even sting. Heck, furious howl is technically way ahead if you don’t have a warrior or paladin ((Har har at that last’un.)) The only pet way ahead right now are gorillas. Not trying to open up a new discussion on it, just stating a fact. In a trial run, I had a gorilla’s thunderstomp critical for 2,400 in beastial wrath. On two targers. My cunning pets can hit 2,000 fairly easy on a single target with with wolverines bite in wrath, and I’ve had my rhino’s stampede hit for 1,200 in wrath as well, by contrast. Stampede is a 40ish second cooldown for me, and wolverine bite is a seven second but with a stipulation of needing your target to dodge something. Gorillas may not be able to out DPS single target ferocity pets, but that doesn’t change that their family ability is far and away the most overpowered one we have so far, and is even more amazing when coupled with a good instance tank.
Other’n that, I agree with you. We need a none uber-rare spirit beast.
on two targets* Yay for tired typing.
I own a Spirit Beast and I have patrolled a lot….a *lot* for ten straight days to tame him. Just like I did to get Nuramoc, Rakshiri and Broken Tooth. Yes I get hurt too when peeps are lucky and find it in fifteen minutes. But I get hurt more when they pass the animal around to whoever wants it…like they did with Rak’Shiri which I still have to this day. It’s a thing for collectors and dedicated peeps.
Loque is quite special and they have done an awesome job on him.
The skin, the model, the sounds and the ability all have a unique feel to them and are all high quality design in my opinion.
I’d surely hope that Blizz wouldn’t dilute that strength by making a ton of Spirit Beasts like Loque.
Mind you, GCs comment “We will probably add more over time” is a very ambiguous statement (love him for that hehe). Does it mean we get more Spirit Beasts or more unique pets in general? I really like the idea of a “unique” god like beast. Of course it would be much more fun if the other “uniques” are in fact that. Other “family” to begin with, also a new model and a new skin and brand new sounds. Now THAT would continue the new pet-loving that Blizz has been showing from 3.0 forward. How awesome, a Spiritual Bear for example or a Spiritual Wolf…people would go bonkers over that, I’m sure.
Perhaps even a chance to make sure they all have their own specific DPS move, as opposed to giving them all Spirit Strike. although, I have to admit, Spirit Strike looks beautiful and is very hunter friendly to use in my opinion.
Anyway, my two cents
I’m 95% certain I’ve seen this pet tamed. Pretty certain I can even tell which hunter that’s got it on my server. It’s a hunter in the guild Shadow Ryders on The Maelstrom (EU).
A thought…
I noticed blackmaw myself a couple of days ago, not on a hunter, so couldn’t check taming-data.
But! Both I and the warrior with me noticed it for it’s unusual looks. We spend some time admiring it, and smiling at it’s huge kittenness… Kittenness? Yes, to us it sure didn’t look like “normal” cat models, with sideburns and that, but more like an overgrown kitten in the style of the companion pets.
And then there’s the part about it registering differently to different ppl…
Do we have a cat/bear/pet in flux here? Will go back and see if I can get a screenshot of the kitten-look.
I love this cat, I had meant to mail Mania myself with a screenshot of it to see if anyone knew of a tameable one. It is slightly different from the cursed offspring as its skin is metallic.
I would love to tame it so if anyone does come across a tameable one please let us all know.