More on the Most Popular Pets

Ask and you shall receive! Zardoz, Armor Data Mining expert extraordinaire, has another wonderful report on how we hunters like our pets.

Like his last report on pet popularity, this one is based on the Armory data of almost 10,000 level 80 hunters. Unlike the last one, this report gives us full data on the occurrence of each pet appearance (aka skin) within each family.

If you are looking for the least commonly tamed color of worm, this report can tell you! (The answer, by the way, appears to be wormskinblue, which doesn’t even appear on the normal chart since it can only be tamed via the color-changing Deep Borer.)

And yes, this report even includes the occurence of color-changing pets and other pets with unique properties. How is that for full-service?

I’m especially pleased to note that Zardoz credits us here at Arcania for helping him realize how weird we hunters can be about our pets. *grin* And special thanks go to Wain for putting together the skin list Zardon used to correlate everything.

56 Comments

  1. Volcan - July 25th, 2009 @ 6:54 am UTC

    Aaah, so my wolf is one of only 2% of all the wolves out there. Cool!

    Though, my Snappah belongs to the 60% of the pink tallstriders :P

  2. Kayb - July 25th, 2009 @ 7:51 am UTC

    all this does is encourage me to tame the unloved!

  3. Arcagos - July 25th, 2009 @ 9:25 am UTC

    The list doesn’t include the Cursed Offspring of Har’koa skin.

    Other than that it’s great! Always good to know how many other hunters like the same kind of pets you do.

  4. Arcagos - July 25th, 2009 @ 9:33 am UTC

    Ah. Nevermind. I found it.

    Helps when you’re looking on the right page. =^^=

  5. Stephf - July 25th, 2009 @ 9:45 am UTC

    Hmm… Prairie Wolf’s bark? I tested this (With every thing enabled on the audio/sound interface) and he still doesn’t bark. Not even when I dismiss and re-summon him.

  6. Wain - July 25th, 2009 @ 10:00 am UTC

    The Prairie Wolf most certainly does still bark. I just tested it right then :) Are you sure you didn’t tame a “Prairie Wolf Alpha” or a “Prairie Stalker” instead? For me, the bark is the clincher. A pet feels so much more alive when it makes a sound in response to you clicking on it or feeding it.

  7. Rykka - July 25th, 2009 @ 10:46 am UTC

    Down at the bottom he doesnt have the Shardhorn Rhino from Sholazar Basin as a colour change pet. He changes between blue and brown when I summon him. Kinda annoying cause i wanted a blue one and he tends to shift to brown more often.

  8. Wain - July 25th, 2009 @ 11:44 am UTC

    Ah, I wasn’t aware of the colour-changing rhinos. I went by everything listed in Petopia’s page on “Pets with special behaviors” which lists the colour changers, but has no mention of the rhinos.

  9. Rikaku - July 25th, 2009 @ 12:15 pm UTC

    Heh, good to know all my pets are in the relatively 0.5% (Old Cliff Jumper) to the 1.5% max (Ghost wolf). I like having unusual pets. Only one I have that’s above that is Loque’nahak.

  10. Mania - July 25th, 2009 @ 12:29 pm UTC

    Sorry, Wain — sometimes I miss things. :>

  11. Arcagos - July 25th, 2009 @ 12:40 pm UTC

    All of my pets are popular ones…

    But I guess that’s what you get when you go around trying to find the flashiest pets to name after giant alien robots. ><

    I need a life lol.

  12. Ge - July 25th, 2009 @ 1:19 pm UTC

    Prairie Wolf does still bark, just tamed one within the hour.

  13. Tarjin - July 25th, 2009 @ 2:11 pm UTC

    Interesting data. My crab is the most popular skin, although I gather that is only since WotLK came out since most of them are that giant Kili’ua (and 43% of 2.1% isn’t exactly popular). But my moth is pretty rare, and my tauren hunter’s tallstrider is dead last. Yay me, I guess.

  14. Narasa - July 25th, 2009 @ 2:56 pm UTC

    Always wanted to know just how rare Araga is, and now I do. Never seen one other than mine.

    Lucky me :D

    What suprised me was the lack of popularity for the orange/red owl from Sethekk Halls, IMO the best looking Bird.

  15. Aleu - July 25th, 2009 @ 4:20 pm UTC

    Huh, Rune is part of the 0.6% of the wolf skins. I guess that means he’s semi-rare. XD

    Shadow, not surprising, is part of the 13.9% of cat skins.

    Miyako, being only one of two Spirit Beasts, is part 59.2%.

    Nita belongs to 56.9% of bear skins, she’s not very rare. X)

  16. Arcagos - July 25th, 2009 @ 5:12 pm UTC

    I’ve got:
    Howlback at 13% of cat skins,
    Screamer at 28% of chimaera skins,
    Jazz at 59% of Spirit Beast skins(big surprise there),
    Moonracer at the remaining percent of Spirit Beast skins(ditto).

    @Narasa: I used to have one of those Sethekk owls. Sunstorm. He was a great pet, and I really liked him. Unfortunately his screeching gave me headaches if I listened to it for too long.

  17. Wykea - July 25th, 2009 @ 5:27 pm UTC

    Very nice… Wykea’s precious Wetlands raptor Chrysoprase is one of the rarest, clocking in at only 1.6%. Always figured she was unique, but now I know for sure!

  18. Rayquaza7996 - July 25th, 2009 @ 6:37 pm UTC

    My wolf is the rarest skin :D-the Old Cliff Jumper at 0.5%
    My Wind Serpent is 2.7%
    My Stalker’s at 23.1%
    My Chimera’s 24.4%
    And my Rhino-a temporary pet until I can find that darn rare!-is at 25.8%…

    So, that’s me! Now come on, tameable hydras!

  19. Rayquaza7996 - July 25th, 2009 @ 6:48 pm UTC

    That also means-
    My wolf represents 0.074% of all pets.
    My Wind Serpent is 0.0351% of all.
    My ‘Stalker’s 0.3003%
    My Chimera’s 0.366%
    And my Rhino’s 0.516%

    I THINK. That was some faster math.

  20. Arcagos - July 25th, 2009 @ 6:55 pm UTC

    Wow. Lol.

  21. Rikaku - July 25th, 2009 @ 8:27 pm UTC

    Rayquaza:
    Yay for Old Cliff Jumper Hunters =D I found it very amusing OCJ is rarer than my ghost wolf XD Yay for Kamina ^^

  22. Ryai - July 25th, 2009 @ 9:24 pm UTC

    I was actually quite surprised at how many Sapphire Hive Queens are still around- tho sadly still far, far more than King Krush.

    infact there seems to be more of everything but poor Krush.

    Eeeh maybe I can get him when the next expack comes out and everyone rushes to malestorm.

  23. Rikaku - July 25th, 2009 @ 10:42 pm UTC

    Ryai:
    Probably due to the low population of BM Hunters tied in with the fact that there are alot of easier to obtain Devilsaurs. Not to mention that PITA fear Krush does @_@ I’d love to get him, but everytime I begin tame, I get a DK or a Rogue who says NO KRUSH FOR YOU!

  24. Gimlion - July 26th, 2009 @ 12:19 am UTC

    Ryai:
    Although I’d love the idea of Maelstrom being our next Expac, I’d rather have the expac be about the Emerald Dream… =D although Maelstrom is in 2nd place…

  25. Akussa - July 26th, 2009 @ 12:59 am UTC

    I’m curious how he can claim which skins are the most popular when that data is not available on the armory when you view the hunter’s pets. It just shows their talents, not what they look like or what beast was tamed.

  26. Rikaku - July 26th, 2009 @ 1:20 am UTC

    Akussa:
    He’s using the XML that’s why. Go to an armory page, go to glyphs and talents. Right click “View Page Source”. Close to the top it’ll say the pets a Hunter has, what family it is, and then lastly it’s original untamed natural name.

  27. Witrely - July 26th, 2009 @ 4:18 am UTC

    thanks a lot mania and Zardoz!
    this is really fun info to play with :D
    -wit

  28. Ryai - July 26th, 2009 @ 5:45 am UTC

    ‘Although I’d love the idea of Maelstrom being our next Expac, I’d rather have the expac be about the Emerald Dream… =D although Maelstrom is in 2nd place…’

    You should really check mmochampion sometime, the next EXpack, rumor has it is Maelstrom, especially with what Blizz has tried to trademark and what some people have datamined for Emerald Dream [it is lv 90+], and while there ARE strong hints that we will be going to Emerald Dream soon, I don’t think it’s the next expack.

    Rikaku: I know, that’s why I’m gonna hope for next expack + help of friend, Aria is leveling a shadow priest so hoping TBW + bubble + Fear prot buff, will help Rosa.

  29. Ryai - July 26th, 2009 @ 5:46 am UTC

    Edit: this is assuming WE CAN FIND KRUSH WHILE SHE’S ON X_x

  30. Rikaku - July 26th, 2009 @ 7:08 am UTC

    Ryai:
    “You should really check mmochampion sometime, the next EXpack, rumor has it is Maelstrom, especially with what Blizz has tried to trademark and what some people have datamined for Emerald Dream [it is lv 90+], and while there ARE strong hints that we will be going to Emerald Dream soon, I don’t think it’s the next expack.”

    I was thinking the Emerald Dream wouldn’t be part of the expansion, but if the raid zone is 90+ that would mean it would be for the 90 cap players right (which if cataclysm has another 10 levels, would be 90 cap)? I think it’d have to be because I remember Blizzard stating that they wouldn’t go above level 90 for a lvl cap because then the game would just seem too tedious.

    =O

    You know, that really makes me wonder. If say, the 4th expansion (hypothetical here) doesn’t include increasing the level cap from 90 to 100 (assuming Cataclysm is the 3rd expansion and increases the lvl 80 to 90), I wonder what will be the “new” experience system…

    DUN DUN DUN

    Good luck finding Krush btw. =D

  31. buffd.net - July 26th, 2009 @ 7:58 am UTC

    Mania’s Arcania » More on the Most Popular Pets…

    Report on how hunters like their pets….

  32. Wain - July 26th, 2009 @ 8:20 am UTC

    Mania,

    I hope I didn’t sound critical about the rhino data. I was just explaining why I missed it :)

    Is the Shardhorn Rhino the only colour-changer missing now? Or can anyone think of others? I’ll see if Zardoz can modify the data to take it into account.

  33. Wain - July 26th, 2009 @ 8:37 am UTC

    Something a little odd that came out of the data as well:

    There are two skins of wind serpent that are almost identical except for an extremely subtle change in shade (the skins are “windserpentskin” and “windserpentskinorange”), and also two hyenas that are the same (“hyenaskin” vs “hyenaskinorange”). In both cases, Petopia groups them together and probably still should, since you’d only ever notice a difference if they were right next to each other. But take a look at the links:
    Compare Blisterpaw Hyena with Kolkar Packhound.
    Compare Deviate Coiler Hatchling with Deviate Coiler.
    Open those Wowhead model links in different tabs and just flick back and forth between them while they’re in the same orientation. It should become obvious they are different shades, but only subtly so.

    Weird that Blizzard would go to the effort of making two skins of wind serpent and two of hyena that might as well be the same! :)

  34. Arcagos - July 26th, 2009 @ 9:47 am UTC

    That’s really cool. Kinda makes you wonder if there are any others that are like that…
    Hmmm…

  35. Gimlion - July 26th, 2009 @ 10:16 am UTC

    Yeah they are different, and it isnt too hard to tell… just gotta be looking for it…

  36. Iycan - July 26th, 2009 @ 2:46 pm UTC

    Great info! Also nice to see I’m not the only one that took the time to camp Rak’shiri, never really see anyone with him on my server.

  37. Ryai - July 26th, 2009 @ 7:39 pm UTC

    @ Rikaku: I forget what the datamined levels were, but Emerald Dream, from what I remember was 80/90+ zones, and it was all pretty much evident it’d be implimented after maelstrom, from what was datamined ofc. This is subject to change, but anyways.

    I thought Emerald Dream was going to be the next thing; but it could be like Arthas. Aka I still remember a Dev saying that facing Arthas would be an instant wipe, and there are probably people complaining that they took down old gods and yada yada why can’t they take down Arthas. If it stays true to what that dev said I mean. The Old Gods and etc that everyone has faced, aren’t truly dead AND were pre-defeated by Titans. From C’thun to Yogg-Saron who’s still imprisoned.

    Facing a weakened god is different from facing someone who has the power of a god imo. Which is probably why Emerald Dream is taking so long to come out, it’s hinted at the nightmares are getting worse. That it’s affected the emerald flight even more, and that, Ysra[?] herself, is becoming swamped by the dreams.

    We’ve already had to destroy one Aspect, I think Blizz is trying to tune things so we, if we must, can face Ysra but cleanse her of the taint that’s starting to grip her, as I don’t think the emerald flight would survive such trashing. It could also hint at how serious the Emerald Dream is, it could be on par with Arthas, as we had to go thru TBC and several patches to even start to get ready for him.

    The Emerald Dream may be on par with WotLK, and as such we have to tromp thru TBC like filler.

  38. Guthorm - July 26th, 2009 @ 8:19 pm UTC

    they said arthas would be like an instant wipe? we can 10 man the aspect of magic for crying out loud…lol

  39. Palladiamors - July 26th, 2009 @ 8:24 pm UTC

    I like to think they’ll do something different with Arthas. I like to think you’d actually have to be serious about the game in order to even have a shot at him. I don’t think they should do a ten and twenty five man version. Arthas needs to be a good, old fashioned fourty man romp. It won’t be, of course, but I can dream.

  40. Neilaren (Shu'Halo) - July 26th, 2009 @ 8:32 pm UTC

    One of the proud 3.2% of Warpstalker owners to have Gezzarak. x)

  41. Ryai - July 26th, 2009 @ 9:08 pm UTC

    ‘they said arthas would be like an instant wipe? we can 10 man the aspect of magic for crying out loud…lol’

    Because as I said, Arthas is on a different par than an insane dragon that you’ve been allowed to have a chance to take down, as Malygos didn’t want to do the sane approach and was basically going to tear all of Azeroth asunder to deal with all magi users.

    But Arthas is clearly not insane- arrogant yes. Insane? Well possibly but he, and the lich, are still together enough to be more than enough of a threat for anyone. And as Palla said, Arthas should deserve a 40 man stomp like C’thun.

    And didn’t you watch the Wrath cimatic? Arthas ripped out the soul of Saurfang the younger, with Frostmourne. If he could do that with SAURFANGS’S OWN SON- what could he do to anyone else?

    He can raise the dead an infanite amount of times to fight you, he’s rezzed dragons as frostwyrms, he’s attempting to rez the FIRST dragon that spawned ALL the aspects, he faced some old gods in Warcraft [which granted were probably spawn of Yogg-Saron or leftovers of C'thun from the battle with the titans]. Arthas isn’t something to shake a stick at and expect him to roll over. Speaking from a ‘if warcraft was real and all that yada crap’, I would rather face Yogg-Saron, than Arthas.

    I don’t like zombies.

    I like Zombies even less than monsters of a thousand mouths.

  42. Ryai - July 26th, 2009 @ 9:16 pm UTC

    Also Arthas is dangerously smart- he played his own Death Knights AND the Scarlet Crusade, and allowed boats to escape to Northrend, tainting key members along the way to their ‘escape’. Or the lich did, but it was still basically Arthas.

    He infiltrated the Argent Crusade’s turny, even if the knight was stupid, Arthas is not. Sofar it’s like he’s been 2/4 steps ahead of everyone else. I mean I laughed my way thru MGT [even tho we were lv 80], thru most of the other instances I’ve been in, in northrend, I’ve had fun. But Arthas? Everything about him screams he shouldn’t be an easy encounter.

  43. Wain - July 26th, 2009 @ 10:50 pm UTC

    Aha, I found the colour-changing pet thread in the archives, and found not only the rhino, but the two raptors that were missing from the list. Hopefully that’s all of them now. I mailed Zardoz the details.

  44. Rikaku - July 27th, 2009 @ 12:35 am UTC

    Don’t forget that technically you’re aren’t single handedly bringing down Malygos. If it weren’t for the Red Dragonflight helping us (during that last phase), no mortal would defeat him.

    And I agree about the Lich King. I mean he’s going to be a complete badass since he really has no shred of humanity left (or so we are led to conclude in one of the key Icecrown quests where the Lich King destroys what remains of the human-Arthas).

    I kinda hope that the Lich King is hard to defeat. So hard that even Ensidia and all those other raid-hungry guilds have to wait months XD

  45. Palladiamors - July 27th, 2009 @ 1:34 am UTC

    Rikaku, I am not a big fan of Wrath, but that quest chain just rocked, hard core rocked.

  46. Rikaku - July 27th, 2009 @ 1:42 am UTC

    lol What got me was how despite everyone else being all secretive, I was able to sneak into the cult of the damned with just putting on a purple hood. I mean, nevermind my Spirit Beast, glowy gun and shoulders and armor that cannot possibly cover my vital organs. The hood trounces all that. XDDD

  47. Mr. Perfect - July 27th, 2009 @ 3:47 am UTC

    Hmm, so if I’m reading the two reports correctly, the rarest pet is Sporewing the sporebat. To Zangarmarsh!

  48. Narasa - July 27th, 2009 @ 7:58 am UTC

    In fact, if my maths are correct (take them with a pinch of salt), there would be in that sample approximately 4 Sporewings, but only 2 Nether Rays with netherwyrmskin.

    I used to have one when they were casters, and I saw one last week, so I am suprised they are so few.

  49. Ryai - July 27th, 2009 @ 10:48 pm UTC

    Narasa, it’s not really so much as them being former caster pets now, as Nether ray’s/skates being PVP pets, and cunning to boot :/ if they were pure dps pets I would get them, but as cunning? I’ve gotten used to NEVER really having to feed my pets unless I get bum rushed by 5 vykrul like just now [t_t fog vykrul are the worst] and my pet dies and or I die. But with cunning? LOOK PET A CORPSE. ‘There are no nearby corpses’ BUT I AM ON IT! ‘There are no nearby corpses’ BUT YOU ARE ON IT ‘there are no nearby corpses’ BUT I KILLED THIS ALLIANCE JUST FOR YOU.

    No offense allies.

    And Rikaku/Palla, I assume from what you’re talking about is the ally only chain :p Aria and her friend Tailcoy managed to see it in action for the last bit. But outside that the only quest afaik for horde concerning Arthas directly, is Wrath Gate.

    And yeah I assumed the red dragonflight granted you a boon or something to help kill Malygos, as well he’s trying to tear Azeroth asunder and we don’t really need another Nefarian >_>

    or Deathwing.

    Same thing.

  50. Palladiamors - July 27th, 2009 @ 11:21 pm UTC

    Nope, it’s both. Mania will probably have to unstick this for me, but http://www.wowhead.com/?quest=13258 . Do that quest chain, and enjoy.

  51. Ryai - July 27th, 2009 @ 11:35 pm UTC

    Hm I think Ryai might be able to do that quest as I’ve done all of shadow vault.

    Thanks Palla, I’ll give my friends the heads up too :)

  52. Wain - July 27th, 2009 @ 11:59 pm UTC

    Looks like Zardoz updated his report with the colour-changing raptors and rhino.

  53. Zardoz - July 28th, 2009 @ 5:39 am UTC

    Indeed I have. And a fresh sample of the hunter population too.

  54. Maree - July 29th, 2009 @ 5:54 am UTC

    Here’s what I have.
    Piggy, boar – 9.4%
    Pierre, chimera – 27.5%
    Theodore, coredawg – 9.6%
    Bamboozle, wolf – 1.8%

    Fair enough.

  55. Lilbits - July 29th, 2009 @ 10:38 am UTC

    Im off to get a moth! and its teh white one…. sorry i like having fun as horde and running deep into allie territory sounds good

  56. Azzrazzah - August 4th, 2009 @ 9:33 am UTC

    The next step is to find out which of the “Rare” or “Elite” skins are the most popular

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