My story begins last night, around 11pm server time. I had nothing else to do that night, so I figured I would go and camp that Elune-forsaken rock for a few hours and hope I got lucky. Less than an hour and a half later... I did! ...Or at least, I thought I did.
Around 12:30am server time, my NPC Scan suddenly chimes at me and oh my Elune, it's not a false alarm! It really is Skarr, sitting just a few ledges away! I immediately jump down and start attempting to tame him. Just as I'm halfway through the tame, from the corner of my eye, I see another hunter, a draenei, run up along the edge of the main Molten Front landmass. I'm very clearly in view, and very clearly in the process of taming; I assumed I'd be left in peace.
But no, suddenly I see an arrow fly from the direction of the newcomer, and suddenly Skarr has all his attention on her instead. Thus began a very ugly game between me, this newcomer, and another hunter (a guildmate of said newcomer) wherein we would try to tame, be interrupted, all of us would die, we would race back to rez, heal up, and try again. I attempted to whisper both people, asking them to back off, even offering to pay them, only to be ignored. I very quickly got tired of said game and decided to end it on my terms.
I killed him.
Judge me negatively if you like, but my reasoning was this: if one of the other hunters had legitimately been there first, had legitimately started to tame him first, I would have been sorely disappointed, but I would have left them to it. Hunter's courtesy, and all that. But instead, these two decided they'd prefer to play a nasty game to see who would give up first. So, as I said, I chose to end the game on my terms. I didn't feel like "rewarding" that kind of behavior, if you will.
I was immediately assaulted by the female draenei in whispers, a vitriolic rant about how I was pathetic, and a loser, and other epithets not suitable for polite company. I was told that what had just happened was part of "the hunter's game"... a game I guess I didn't know about until just then. Both other hunters then logged off, and I decided to do the same, seeing as it was very late, and I was now too tired and disheartened to wait another three or six or eight or however many hours for another spawn.
But! This tale does have a happy ending! And that ending is a pretty epic story in and of itself!
Earlier today, after finishing my Molten Front dailies, I headed back over to the Peak. Elune seemed to be with me again, because no one was there, not a single soul. So, as before, I parked myself near an updraft to grab Convalescence of Winds if and when the time came. Less than an hour later, once again my NPC Scan goes off, and once again it's no false alarm. There's Skarr, contentedly perched on the exact same ledge as last night.
In my excitement, I completely forget about the buff I'd so carefully positioned myself for and jump down to attempt to tame him. I failed two or three times (thankfully with no deaths, or this story might have a different ending!) before realizing that yes, since I lacked Silencing Shot, I probably really did need Convalescence of Winds.
As I turn to start bouncing back up ledges, I see another hunter -- an orc, this time -- run into view. Crap, I think, there goes my tame. But no! I'm incredibly lucky, as the orc dies in the attempt. So I grab my buff, leap onto the Peak itself, and head towards Skarr's ledge again...
And I FALL.
I'm convinced it's over right there. There's no way I'll make it back in time to rez and heal up before the orc tames him first.
Then I realize: I landed right on Skarr's ledge. (I think I used up my yearly quota of luck on this single tame!) Quickly I feign death, then jump up, cast Tame Beast to trigger Fieroclast Barrage, then mash my Deterrence/Tame Beast macro. It was over almost before I realized it had begun.
Skarr was finally mine.
His name is now Prime (after the unequalled awesomeness that is Optimus
) and I have a feeling I'll be letting my dear Khephren (formerly Sambas) take a rest while I let this new bad boy stretch his legs in quests, dungeons, and raids.And to the orc hunter who missed his own tame by literally a few seconds, my hunter's heart goes out to you. Good luck on your next attempt!
