As I type, Patch 5.2 – The Thunder King – is up on the Public Test Realms. The initial patch notes talk about some interesting stuff, but for pet hunters there is really only one note worth reading:
Dire Horns have been added as a tamable species for Hunters that have learned the required skill. Aspiring Dire Horn owners should seek out clues regarding these auspicious beasts.
Petopia is theoretically updated for Patch 5.0.4 now, although I am already aware of a whole bunch of fiddling little issues I need to fix. Still, it should cover the basics. At least long enough for me to log in and tame a fen strider …
(If you see an error, please post a comment in the Corrections thread on the forums.)
Sadly, Warcraft Mounts is not updated yet. That’s next on my list.
And may I say again that I owe a huge debt to the entire Petopia community for gathering and organizing so much data! And especially to Wain for making sure I actually did something with all that data, even if he had to do it for me. <grin>
During the Class Talent panel at BlizzCon today, Blizzard revealed that in the next expansion (Mists of Pandaria, aka MoP) hunters will be able to choose the pet talent tree – Cunning, Ferocity, or Tenacity – for each pet. In other words, you can have a Ferocity Bear or a Cunning Cat or … well, whatever else you like.
Now this came up as an aside while they were discussing the changes to the hunter talents and it’s not entirely clear how this is going to work out exactly. But I guess we’ll find out!
I present for your consideration the Time-Twisted Nightsaber, a new level 85 non-elite cat that occurs in the Patch 4.3 End Time dungeon.
This cat actually represents not one but two new tameable pet looks: white with stripes and white with spots, and both of them are shiny with glowing red eyes, much like the Cursed Offspring of Har’koa.
This cat occurs in two different colors and does not switch between them. In other words, if you tame one with stripes you will always have one with stripes. The spotted and striped versions are technically different creatures (different IDs), they just happen to have the same name.