I mentioned in my Petopia update this weekend that I’ve added warning color to pets that are too low-level for the skills they know. But what is that all about?
When you tame a pet, it may already know certain pet skills. But each pet skill also has a required level — and in some cases the required level is actually higher than the level of the pet that knows the skill.
For many hunters, taming a pet is a routine activity. Sure, there are some especially challenging tames out there, but for most run-of-the-mill creatures you plop down your Freezing Trap and you hit Tame Beast, and that’s that.
Of course, things are a little more interesting when you can’t just plop down a Freezing Trap — for instance, when you are under level 20 and don’t know Freezing Trap yet.
A hunter named Boarwood from Gorefiend let me know about the method he used to name his pet ravager, and I wanted to share it with everyone because I think it’s very clever.
In short, he changed his language (which you can do via the little quote bubble icon on your chat window) to his racial language (Troll, in his case), found someone of another race to help out, and then said (typed) the word “Ravager”. His helper, not knowing Troll, saw “Craaweh” — which is presumably the Troll word for ravager. And so Boarwood named his ravager Craaweh!
You needn’t confine yourself to the family name, of course, nor to your own race so long as you can find a friend to help out. The Darnassian word for “Little” might be the perfect name for your orc’s stolen owlet, for example.
Everyone notices the thorns.
I get e-mail pretty regularly from young Draenei hunters who have recently completed the level 10 taming quests. They are alternatively excited and puzzled, but in either case they have noticed that the Barbed Crawler they had to tame for the very first part of the taming quest came with a special ability that doesn’t exist on any other pet: Thorns! And it casts it on itself as well as the hunter! How cool is that?!
Lienna of Lienna’s Log managed to hide a great little tip in a recent post about the Ice Barbed Spear.
In short, when you are trying to level up a new melee weapon skill (say polearms or staves), try spamming Wing Clip. It’s an instant melee attack so it gives you extra chances to skill up! And it doesn’t do a lot of damage, so you can keep your poor victim alive longer if that’s your goal. For example, if you put your pet on passive and attack an enemy well below your level with Wing Clip (Rank 1), you can wring quite a few skill-ups out of one enemy before it dies.
Alternatively, you can do what I’ve been doing: killing my normal enemies (in this case for my daily quests) in melee and spamming the highest level of Wing Clip while my pet tanks. If we start losing the fight, I just back up a step and slaughter the enemy the normal way.
Now why didn’t I think of that!
This article is part of a series for new hunters on choosing your first pet.
As I mentioned in the previous segment, we’re rounding out this series by taking a look at the newbie areas that don’t host hunter races but which can nevertheless be reached without any danger by a new hunter.
Today: Elwynn Forest, home of the human race. Humans cannot be hunters, unfortunately, but Elwynn Forest is easily accessible to dwarf hunters, who merely need to ride the Deeprun Tram from Ironforge to Stormwind. Once in Stormwind, Elywnn Forest lies just beyond the city gates.
In an interesting confluence of information, I was catching up on my blog reading this evening when I noticed a post on Amava Knows Aggro that mentioned a handy add-on called Ackis Recipe List. This add-on scans your recipes and tells you which you haven’t yet learned. “That sounds really handy,” I thought to myself. “I should check that out.”
A little later, I was catching up on my e-mail when I came across a message from Ackis himself/herself, letting me know that Ackis Recipe List can also scan hunter pet skills and tell you which ones you don’t know. “I definitely have to check this out now!” I thought. So I did.
This article is part of a series for new hunters on choosing your first pet.
When I started this series, I mentioned that I was targeting not just new hunter characters but new hunter players — people who may not be as familiar with Azeroth and who may not be quite ready to go gallivanting off across the world at level 10 in search of the perfect pet. For that reason, I’ve so far stuck to the newbie areas that host races who can be hunters.
But while a new hunter may not be ready for the run from Azuremyst to Eversong, there are some journeys that are reasonably accessible. A small safe trip like this can open up exciting new pet possibilities for new hunters.
This article is part of a series for new hunters on choosing your first pet.
Azuremyst Isle is the homeland of the Draenei. It is only accessible to players who have purchased the Burning Crusade expansion. Bloodmyst Isle is the second island in the Draenei archipelago and also has a few creatures in the right level range. Bloodmyst Isle is directly north of Azuremyst Isle. Azuremyst (and therefore Bloodmyst also) is easily reached from Auberdine in Darkshore via boat, which makes both islands quite accessible to young Night Elves.
This article is part of a series for new hunters on choosing your first pet.
Eversong Woods is the homeland of the Blood Elves. It is also easily accessible to orc and troll hunters — just take the zeppelin from Durotar to Undercity, then use the handy teleporter to go to Silvermoon City in Eversong Woods. (Note, however, that in order to enter Eversong Woods you must have purchased the Burning Crusade expansion.) The Ghostlands, which is the second zone for young Blood Elves, also has several creatures in the right level range. Once you are in Eversong Woods, getting to the Ghostlands is relatively easy – just follow the road south!
