Random Pet Challenge Mk II

[Acherontia]

Pet of the Day:

http://www.wow-petopia.com/look/worgwhite.html

Heya! Perhaps you people know of the raving success (rolling completely out of control) of my Random Pet Challenge!

This is the new version! Every day, I'm going to roll a new pet here. I'll edit the post to include a new pet. We all know that there's lots of hunters out there roaming around looking for their perfect pet. But how many pets are out there that you, yourself, would never even notice?

I challenge those of you who have a free stable slot to join this review.

Anyone wishing to participate merely has to go out and tame the daily pet. The restrictions of course will be that when I roll Exotics, or a pet too high-level for some players, not everyone will be able to review. The other thread will still be open for that purpose! I'm going to post a Review Form below. Then, I'll post results in the Results post (the first reply after this thread, with any luck!)

Review Form:

Pet Model (1-10):
Pet Skin (1-10):
Pet Sounds (1-10):
Pet Animations (1-10):
Pet Ability/Utility (1-10):
Overall (1-10):

Feel free to add screenshots, personal observations, stories and so forth after the form!

What I will do is TALLY THE NUMERICAL RESULTS after each set of reviews, and then post the pet, with the total results, in the Results post. This way, anyone who looks at the thread will see the Pet of the Day, with the Finished Reviews down below. Eventually perhaps we'll clear ALL of the pets in WoW

(Form Explanation)

Rate each of the following from 1 (Terrible) to 10 (Amazing).
Pet Model: This is the form and shape of the pet.
Pet Skin: This is the coloration and shading of the pet.
Pet Sounds: The combat, idle and running sounds the pet makes.
Pet Animations: The combat, idle and movement animations of the pet. Feel free to also check swim and Levitate animations.
Pet Ability/Utility: For the pet's PURPOSE (i.e. Ferocity = dps, Tenacity = tank, Cunning = PvP), how useful/reliable did you find this pet?
Overall: NOT AN AVERAGE. Rather, your overall opinion on the pet. Did you click with it? Did you like the overall package regardless of little flaws, or dislike it despite it being perfect?

Post questions and reviews below. Hopefully this will be easier to sort and manage than the old thread, and provide an outlet for those wanting something to do asap--as well as an easily-browsed list of other players' opinions on each pet.

Enjoy!

[Acherontia]

Results


White Turtle

Pet Model: 6
Pet Skin: 5.5
Pet Sounds: 3
Pet Animations: 5.5
Pet Ability/Utility: 9.5
Overall: 5.5


Orange & Red Dragonhawk

Pet Model (1-10): 7.5
Pet Skin (1-10): 7.5
Pet Sounds (1-10): 5
Pet Animations (1-10): 5
Pet Ability/Utility (1-10): 5
Overall (1-10): 7


Blue Sporebat

Pet Model: 6.3
Pet Skin: 7.6
Pet Sounds: 9
Pet Animations: 6
Pet Ability/Utility: 4.3
Overall: 5


Blue-green Silithid

Pet Model: 8
Pet Skin: 6.5
Pet Sounds: 7.25
Pet Animations: 9.5
Pet Ability/Utility: 8.75
Overall: 8.33


Diseased Grizzly

Pet Model: 4.6
Pet Skin: 6.3
Pet Sounds: 5.6
Pet Animations: 7.3
Pet Ability/Utility: 6.6
Overall: 5.6


Green Tarantula

Pet Model: 6
Pet Skin: 5.5
Pet Sounds: 6
Pet Animations: 5.5
Pet Ability/Utility: 7
Overall: 5.5


Light Pink Scorpion

Pet Model: 8.5
Pet Skin: 6.5
Pet Sounds: 7.3
Pet Animations: 7.75
Pet Ability/Utility: 5.75
Overall: 6.75


Red Bat

Pet Model: 6.5
Pet Skin: 7.5
Pet Sounds: 7
Pet Animations: 4.5
Pet Ability/Utility: 7
Overall: 7.5

[Acherontia]

(Reserved for Reviews)

[Acherontia]

(Reserved for Reviews)

[Acherontia]

White Turtle Review:


Pet Model (1-10): 6
Pet Skin (1-10): 5
Pet Sounds (1-10): 4
Pet Animations (1-10): 4
Pet Ability/Utility (1-10): 10
Overall (1-10): 5


Model got 6; nothing special, but no real screwups. Lower jaw is funky, hangs strangely. Shell has a nice, natural, carved appearance, although there's a piece on the top that looks like a badly-fit cork.

Pet Skin got 5. The coloring is very bland, imo; there's some kind of error with the eyes, which are red and white dots, and the toenails are very low-res and blurred. However, the cross-hatching on the underside, made to resemble pebbled reptilian skin, looks great--and the shading on the neck is rather pretty. The thick, shedding scales on the legs and the larger platelike ones on the sides of the head are nice touches, if a bit low-res. In the Barrens, he was noticeably affected by the light, giving him a nice contrasting golden-and-green hue.

The sounds are extremely quiet. I give them a 4 simply because all I can hear are very quiet grunts now and again; his cries of battle were indistinguishable from those of the water elementals. I would have rated it lower, but turtles don't make much noise, so I think 4 is fair. Some more variation in his grunts would be nice

As far as animations go, he gets a 4. His running and walking are average, nothing special, but underwater he's not what you'd expect from a reptile--his forelegs look like they're on backwards, for one thing, and he simply looks like he's running on a flat surface beneath the water. His tail waving back and forth is a nice touch, though.

Pet ability is great; this is where the pet scores very highly from me. Turtles in general, with their Shell Shield ability, are probably the best single-target pet tanks in game right now. He won't hold as much AoE aggro as a worm, but he won't die versus pretty much ANYTHING you can throw at him!

Overall, I give this pet a 5. As far as personal preference goes, he has some personality but turtles in general aren't my thing, and I find this color quite bland. However, if you like the color, he's a decently-designed pet with no major flaws--just nitpicking the little things, really--and he makes a very solid tank pet.

[TygerDarkstorm]

Pet Model (1-10): 6
Pet Skin (1-10): 6
Pet Sounds (1-10): 2
Pet Animations (1-10): 7
Pet Ability/Utility (1-10): 9
Overall (1-10): 6

Ache pretty much covered all of the basics. He's a turtle so I don't expect too much in terms of colors. The eyes on this model are a tad strange, as is the top piece of his shell. I've never been a very big fan of turtles, but I keep reading how they're great single target threat tank pets so I figured this "pet of the day" would be a good opportunity to test one out. As soon as I tamed this guy, the name Kramer came to me for some reason, so that's his name. I decided to go test him out in KZ.

I'm a little disappointed that he seems to make no noise whatsoever; however, anyone who hates noisy pets like Devilsaurs should love it. I do like his cute little animations, and those plus his ability to be an awesome single target tank (gotta say, I'm pretty won over on that ^_^) are reason enough for me to keep a turtle in my stable, but probably not in this color.

[Acherontia]

Thanks for the other review I'm tempted to leave the turtle up until more do it, but in the interests of... well, interest, it's a dragonhawk now ^^ Results updated with white turtle.

[Cryptography]

Damn! I was about to go grab a turtle to test!

Heh,. an excuse to do both!

White Turtle Review:


Pet Model (1-10): 5 Pretty nice but could use a refresh.
Pet Skin (1-10): 6 Plain but has some nice shading and textures. Would prefer another coulour probably.
Pet Sounds (1-10): 4 Very bland and quiet. This can be a good or bad thing!
Pet Animations (1-10): 6. Funny His walk is more a waddle but he has to walk very quickly to keep up with a hunter on the move. Swimming isnt his best animation either.
Pet Ability/Utility (1-10): 6. Hes very tough and holds aggro fairly well. Shell shield is great but too long on cooldown and too short duration. I think he'd do a lot better with thunderstomp later on for a bit of AOE ability.
Overall (1-10): 6. I had a good time with my turtle. I've kept him for the moment but may well trade him for a more pleasing colour later on.




Golden Dragonhawk Review:


Pet Model (1-10): 6 Its a pretty skin, nicely shaded and fairly smooth all over - I just dont like it much personally.
Pet Skin (1-10): 7 Shiny, no particular glitches. I prefer other members of its family however.
Pet Sounds (1-10): 4 Its pretty quiet. doesnt sem to make any noise when idle and not much more in combat. Again this can be a good thing!
Pet Animations (1-10): 3 Flappy flappy flappy. Its well done, but annoys the hell out of me very quickly.
Pet Ability/Utility (1-10): 4 Its cunning tree and family skills may hold it back here. I only tested a level 32 pet but it wasnt anything special.
Overall (1-10): 5 It doesnt seem to suffer the stutter effect I noticed a few patches ago. Fire breath says 40 yrd range yet it seems to set it off only when close in for melee. I couldnt tell if the fire breath effect increases any of my hunter shots damage. I suspect not, which makes its family skill pretty useless for soloing. Will be good for me since I will pair my hunter with a warlock or mage for dualboxing! Again I quite liked this pet and have kept it for the moment.

Some pictures of "Bleachers" the turtle and "HotCilli" the Dragonhawk:

Clearing Trogs in RFC:

turtletrog.jpg (140.59 KiB) Viewed 1476 times

Taking out the first Boss in RFC.

turtletag.jpg (128.05 KiB) Viewed 1476 times

Clearing trash

dragonhawk1.jpg (218.13 KiB) Viewed 1476 times

About to clear trash with his little brother minipet:

dragonhawktwin.jpg (94.37 KiB) Viewed 1476 times

[snuzzle]

Please add a date to the top post so we know what day the pet is for (Ie, "Pet of the Day for November 4" or something).

That said, I'm on my way to work, but this sounds like such a fun thread. Probably a good thing I didn't notice it yesterday because I love turtles so much, I'd have skewed your results!

[TygerDarkstorm]

Ooooo, a dragonhawk. =D

I have the pink and silver one so I'll go get this one later to make a report. ^_^

[Acherontia]

Snuzzle, the pet will get changed daily

[TygerDarkstorm]

I went and did this "challenge" on my troll huntress since my orc huntress has the silver/red one. ^_^

Pet Model (1-10): 9
Pet Skin (1-10): 8
Pet Sounds (1-10): 6
Pet Animations (1-10): 8
Pet Ability/Utility (1-10): 7
Overall (1-10): 9

Dragonhawks were another one of those pets that I was never too sure about having, but after the changes to pets in 4.0.1, I decided that I would give one a fair shot since the debuff could come in handy; they ended up blowing me away.

Model: Overall, I think the model looks pretty good. There doesn't seem to be anything too strange about 'em that I can see. They're very noble looking creatures.

Skin: The bright gold and red colors are beautiful and reminiscent of a pheonix (and thus how he got his name, Pheonix =P). His hues seem to be best brought out in bright light, but in lower light settings, you can how his colors start sort of white at the base of the wings and then fan out into the yellows, oranges, and reds.

Sounds: This guy is another of the more quiet pets, however, he does have more battle noise than the turtle; it's this cute little chittering sound (I really don't know how to describe it XD) that's not too loud and not too quiet as to be non-existent.

Animations: They have a fairly basic idle that's similar to the motion wind serpents make (only I think dragonhawks look less ungainly >_>). They flap their wings and tails and move their head from side to side. Their fighting animations are kind of cute and I love the way they look when flying next to you. And a big plus to them is, unlike the chimaeras and sometimes birds, these don't have a wingspan that seems to get in the way.

Ability/Utility: I actually found myself getting a lot of use out of these guys in randoms. Anytime I grouped in a random with spellcasters, I popped my dragonhawk out to help boost them. They put out a decent amount of damage as well for a cunning pet, and you can always talent into Roar of Recovery as an added bonus if you're using this pet. ^_^

Overall: I really enjoy these guys as pets. They look great and they provide some nifty utility without sacrificing your dps. My orc huntress' dragonhawk, Thoth, even helped her take out a pesky ret paladin in WG. *huggles her Pheonix and Thoth*

[Rikaku]

This sounds really cool. I have a lot of free spots so definitely trying this. Though I'll start after dragonhawk, cause I didn't notice this til now and I'm uhh going to bed at the moment. XD

[Raydex-of-the-dawn]

Doing this one from my low-level, who already happens to have a hawk. I'll post a more detailed descrip. soon, though.

Pet Model (1-10): 7.5 - Pretty, but awkward
Pet Skin (1-10): 7.5 - Colorful, though the color scheme can be a bit TOO much sometimes. NEEDS MOAR GLOW.
Pet Sounds (1-10): ? (I play muted)
Pet Animations (1-10): 6 - pretty, but it just...doesn't do too much.
Pet Ability/Utility (1-10): 4 - wind serpent in disguise, I'm tellin ya!
Overall (1-10): 7

[snuzzle]

Snuzzle, the pet will get changed daily

Yeah but how do I know if I caught yesterday's pet before you changed it

[Cerah]

Cool, a sporebat today!

I might not get a chance to do this today -- I'm going on a two-hour drive back home to visit Mom for the weekend before Clusterf*** Month really kicks in at university (the affectionate name for the time when all final projects are due at once). You still accept "late" reviews, right?

[Acherontia]

Snuzzle, the pet will get changed daily

Yeah but how do I know if I caught yesterday's pet before you changed it

What do you mean? The pic & link will be different every day--if you aren't sure if it's changed yet today, just review the one that's up To answer both you and Cerah at once, I'll alter the averages for late reviews!

[Cerah]

Review for Blue Sporebat



Pet Model (1-10): 6.
Pet Skin (1-10): 7
Pet Sounds (1-10): N/A (couldn't really hear over my Mom's Farmville)
Pet Animations (1-10): 4
Pet Ability/Utility (1-10): 2
Overall (1-10): 4

I found the sporebat quite a pretty pet, especially the blue models, but I just wasn't clicking with it. Took him into the battlegrounds (Eye of the Storm to be exact), and while he wasn't doing too badly, he wasn't doing all that great either. After a while, I kind of gave up on him and brought back out my Silithid. Personally, for an anti-caster pet, my Nether Ray does far better, and while Nether Rays may not be as pretty as sporebats, they're cooler, IMO and offer far more utility.

I gave him a 4 overall for prettiness, but that's really about all this pet has to offer. I honestly think if you like sporebats that much, just grind the rep and get the companion pet, it's about as useful in battle.

[TygerDarkstorm]

Pet Model (1-10): 7
Pet Skin (1-10): 7
Pet Sounds (1-10): N/A (couldn't hear anything from it in WG so I'm assuming it's a fairly quiet pet)
Pet Animations (1-10): 6
Pet Ability/Utility (1-10): 5
Overall (1-10):6

I haven't gotten too much opportunity to test this guy, and this is another one of those pets that I've been wanting to try but haven't really gotten around to. It's skin and model aren't bad, there didn't seem to be any huge flaws other than they're sort of strange and alien looking. The blue skin is really pretty though, and I like the little pink ends on his tentacles (or whatever they are) and his eyes.

For the life of me, I couldn't come up with a better name for him than "Booger" so he remains nameless and may get released to go play in Zangar again as I'm not getting a connection vibe from this guy. The sporebat animations, however, are kinda cute, they don't have much of an idle, but I like the way they fly.

I've read that their ability is pretty good against casters, but that was for AoE and unfortunately WG's not the best place to test certain pet abilities. XD I may retame a more greenish colored one for my orc hunter and test the pet out in a PvE situation.

[Rikaku]

Gonna post all my results on one lil o post!

Results:

Model/Skin: Blue Sporebat (Specifically, Sporebat from Zangarmarsh)

Pet Model: 6
Pet Skin: 9
Pet Sounds: 9
Pet Animations: 8
Pet Ability/Utility: 6
Overall:
So off the bat, I'm a bit thrown off by two things: Not a Ferocity Pet & it's alien in nature. These tow things tend to biase me against a lot of pets, however, I had one of these guys at the beginning of TBC; it was fun to return to it.

However, the model itself? Looks really good. It's a quiet pet (which I like when it comes to idel animations). It has no real clunky manuevers or animations that block my screen or anything. As a Cunning Pet, it's familiy skill works great for PvP, however, I am not fond of PvP in the slightest. My only issue is that it isn't mammalian in nature XD My favorite perk? The dive ability makes this guy one FAST pursuer. I wish my spirit beast ran this fast.

Again, the only downside is that its sort of an awkward creature, and the ability is really only useful in PvP. =(