Random Pet Family Appreciation Thread 29: Hyenas!

[Wassa]

Former threads:
Moths - Warp Stalkers - Crocolisks - Monkeys - Wolves - Core Hounds - Wasps - Dragonhawks - Turtles - Boars - Carrion Birds - Bears - Serpents - Tallstriders - Worms - Dogs - Ravagers - Shale Spiders - Sporebats - Spirit Beasts - Birds of Prey - Scorpids - Chimaeras - Bats - Crabs - Foxes - Devilsaurs - Rhinos

Random pet family appreciation thread is where I roll a random pet family every week for everyone to share their pictures, their stories, their love for that pet family. Please no hate or rants. This is an appreciation thread. If you dislike the family, don't post! Hopefully with some love we can get some hunters to try out new pets they never would have thought to tame before.

Our 29th family is the cackling hyena family!


Image from WoW TCG.

Hyena facts

~Hyenas have been tameable since Vanilla WoW.

~Hyena have seven skin colors.

~Hyenas have four rares: Giggler, Ravage, Slaverjaw, and Snort the Heckler.

~Galak Packhounds are another rare of the hyena family, but do not have a silver dragon portrait. They only appear with the rare Achellios the Banished.

~Murderous Blisterpaw is a former rare of the family. It seems he passed away during the Shattering.

~A few hyenas were changed to mastiff models and moved to the dog family in Cataclysm. Dragonflayer Hunting Hound and Onslaught Bloodhound where formerly black hyenas and Scarlet Tracking Hound was a red hyena.

~Hyenas have one color changer.

~Back in Wrath, hyenas were tamed by 0.4% of level 80 hunters. Placing them near the bottom at number 19 on the list, tied with carrion birds, silithids, and tallstriders. (Source)

~Back in Wrath, hyenaskinblack was the most tamed skin at 33.1%. Hyenaskinyellow was the least tamed skin at 12.3%. (Source)

~Tendon Rip, the hyena's special ability, used to cause damage and reduce the movement speed of the target. Hyenas were popular with low level twink hunters back in Wrath for this move.

~Skarf is used as a mount by an NPC in game. However, no hyena mounts are available to players.

~Hyenas used to have a head up idle posture, as seen on the petopia page for hyenaskinblack.

~Blisterpaw Hyena is the only hyena that uses hyenaskin. While this is unique, it's so hard to tell this skin from the very similar hyenaskinoarnge. The differences between these skins, while subtle, can be seen here with this gif image. Yus, hyenaskinoarnge does misspell orange like that in the MPQ files.

~Three hyenas had fast attack speeds in Vanilla WoW. These where Galak Packhound (1.5), Scarlet Tracking Hound (1.5) and Ravage (1.3).

[Wassa]

My first hyena love started with a Galak Packhound named Ashmane on my old tauren hunter back in Vanilla. These packhounds, even today, are still unknown to many hunters. I found a pack of three running around without their rare. Someone must have killed the rare without aggroing or killing the hyenas. I had to tame one since I didn't even know about these hyenas back then and I was surprised when Ashmane came with a 1.5 attack speed.




Wassa's hyena is Kolmaya. Kolmaya is the name of the male Amur tiger at the zoo I used to work at. I liked the name and used it for my hyena. I still have no clue what this name means. Google search fails me.

Before the pet ability changes went in at the end of Wrath I tamed a hyena as my fifth pet as the bleed debuff was the only pet buff/debuff my raid would be missing. After the Shattering he was the pet I used for raiding as we finished up heroic ICC. Now I don't use him much as my raid will usually be missing a more important buff/debuff. Come MoP, Kolmaya will morph into an actual Amur tiger as my new cat.

He is a Blisterpaw Hyena, so he's the unique hyenaskin, but no one cares about that but me. xD



Around and around and around...

This little annoying fleabag is Ptaysanwee's hyena Mojag, Native American for "never silent." Mojag is a chatty hyena that is always giggling, whooping, growling, or whining. He's hyperactive and will circle around Ptay's legs for fun, which annoys her greatly. Mojag was originally Giggler in the wild. I leveled up with him often, but he sat in my stables for a long while at 85. I'll enjoy using him again with the haste buff hyenas are getting in MoP.

[TygerDarkstorm]

Hyenas are one of those pets that's I've always wanted to be interested in, but have had a lot of trouble bonding with them and finding them useful. Randomly on a whim (and after reading about some of the pet buff changes coming for MoP), I decided to try out a hyena on Tsara. I spent like half a day sitting out in the Blasted Lands at level 56 waiting for Ravage to spawn. I even got to level 57 by killing the mobs that spawn around that area waiting for him to show up. xD

He did finally show, and even though I had tried this hyena color before and liked it, but never really stuck with it, there seemed to be something new about this guy.

He is named Lupinus (Lupin for short) after this poisonous plant.

Lupin is a bit of a fierce protector. He made Tsara wait so long before showing himself because he had spent the day stalking her, gauging her ability as a hunter, testing her mettle and her patience before gracing her with his presence and allowing her the gift of the bond. He likes to scout ahead of Tsara, forging the way, uttering a low cackle when he sights an enemy. Tsara scoffs at the idea of having a guard dog when her hyena, with his disturbing cackling and fierce glare, is more than capable of the job. These two are a perfect compliment for one another.

((I love how it looks like he's growling at the innkeeper or an unseen stranger in this shot. ^_^))

Surprisingly I've been enjoying this handsome boy a lot and since I do a lot of soloing he's been frequently accompanying Tsara on her adventures and I look forward to giving him even greater use in MoP.

[Vephriel]

Ooh, I've been waiting for Hyenas to come up, I have a recent acquisition who completely won me over.

It all started about a month ago when I decided to get back into Archaeology. I really wanted that Silithid mount, along with a few other rares I had yet to find, and I figured now was a good time to grind for them while I waited for Mists of Pandaria.

I began excavating all over Kalimdor in hopes of coaxing out Tol'vir dig sites in particular. One day I landed at the fossil field in Southern Barrens and found Snort the Heckler patrolling the site. I had plenty of extra stable slots at the time, since I had done some cleaning in preparation for new MoP pets, and I decided...why not. He could be my temporary archaeology buddy. It just seemed to fit.

I tamed him and for the rest of the day he was by my side while I traveled from dig site to dig site. I kept his name Snort since I felt like it was really him that I tamed with all of his character and persona.

I've always loved the personality that hyenas had, but for some reason none of the skins had ever clicked with Veph. The white and red were my two favourites, but neither had worked out with her. Though I love the colour purple, I was actually never fond of the purple hyena skin. It was just too...magenta/pink looking for my tastes. It never appealed to me.

Yet here I was with a purple hyena, the most iconic one really, and to my bewilderment he looked...good. Something seemed different, and I still can't put my finger on what it was. Seeing Snort beside Veph was a surprisingly nice match. They just suited one another.



The days went by and I felt myself growing more and more attached to Snort. He truly was my archaeology companion. He was constantly sniffing at the ground, digging in the dirt, and displaying an infectious eagerness for the task of uncovering artifacts. It's no wonder Snort's main turf was a fossil field, I think he's really cut out for this type of work.









His emotes were almost uncanny, they were so perfect, and that's part of the reason that I fell in love with him. He even has quirky little behaviours while I'm surveying - while I'm moving between points he often runs ahead of me slightly and then stops or turns around and I swear to god points in the direction that the artifact is. Also, if I'm standing idle in a city he starts getting antsy. He practically demands that we go out and get back to digging. It's hilarious. I simply can't do Archaeology without him now, he's dug himself a permanent home in my stables. Although I don't normally keep pets with their NPC names, Snort is definitely an exception. I can't think of him as anything else, and with the way he sniffs out dig sites the name fits in more ways than one.

[Jangalian]

Waaaaaaaaaaaay back in vanilla, I tamed a red hyena from SM. It was the first pet I was really looking forward too, but after I tamed it I found that it had a small issue. It was LAZY. And I don't mean I thought of it like that, I mean it literally didn't like to attack things. I called him a slacker so often that my guild told me to just name it that, and Slacker was born. When he attacked, he was awesome, but getting him to do that was...trying.

Despite his lethargy, I kept him because I was enamored with his rusty red coat and gold spots, and he stayed with me for years. In fact, I only recently let him go because of the head change, and it just bothers me so much that I can look him in the eyes. Goodbye Slacker, I'll remember you fondly.

(Sorry, no pics. Use your imagination. )

[GormanGhaste]

Almost all of my hunter alts have hyenas. I love their vocalizations!

[Corpsebryde]

I've always loved hyenas since I started playing my first hunter, but could never bond with one. I just love their vocalizations and the way that they bound when they run. So when I made Corpsebryde I was determined to finally get a hyena. I tried the red which is my favorite of the skins, but it just didn't fit. Finally I sought out the black (it looks more brown/gray to me) to match her transmog set and it was an instant connection. Corpsebryde's hyena is named Pandora.



At the moment, Pandora doesn't see any action because Bryde is BM. However she will definitely be in my active stables when Mists releases and she has a more useful buff.

[Finduilas]

My Orc Morga has one hyena. She's called Nala, after my cat in RL. I tamed her after we got Nala from the shelter and my dad said she looked like a hyena with her coloration.
That's RL Nala

and ingame Nala


I hardly use her, but I love having her around for fun. I'm looking forward to the ability changes in mop so I can have her out more often. I also have Loque on a different hunter named Nala, because I can't decide on her game appearance

Today I tamed an other hyena on my Tauren Larkania. I named him Terry. I love the orange hyena skin. The look like teddy bears to me with the round ears and black shining eyes. I'm not sure about Terry yet, but I'll give him a chance to prove himself while grinding rep for Wyrmrest Accord.

[Mozag]

I adore the hyena family. Ever since my first hunter randomly selected the yellow one to be his companion for ten levels, I've had a soft spot for them. I no longer remember the name of that long-gone hyena, but he was the one I can thank for all the hyenas I now own.


Thank you to Sookie for the image!


And thank you to Ashaine for this one.


This gorgeous picture courtesy of PenguPuff.

When Ceredigion the Tauren became Mozag the Troll, his most beloved pets needed to be cleared out, as they no longer suited. I was working on a red stable theme for Mozag at the time, and decided to tame the red hyena because it suit colourwise, although I'd never actually liked this skin, due to how unrealistic it looked. I traipsed off to tame him, and camped for a few hours in Tanaris for Slaverjaw to pop up, as Moz wasn't yet high enough level to tame the non-rare hyenas in Uldum. I really, really don't know why I fell so in love with this guy. He never did anything special, he doesn't even have an extremely defined personality. I just knew that these two were for life. If I had to have only one hunter, it would be Mozag. If I could have only one pet, it would be Mort.

[Meggers]

http://forums.wow-petopia.com/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=18960

So, I didn't used to like the hyena models but IDK what happened but I had to have this guy. I think most of it had to do with what he happened to be doing to a 90 elite FP dragonhawk, Steve isn't so smart guys.



So I decided to bop him in the nose and tame him.



Snickers (My caramel outlands raptor) now has a new permanent friend!

No Steve no! "Why not?!"

[Rhyela]

I've never been able to bond with a hyena on any of my hunters, until now. My new baby hunter, Gazmon, has been pet-less since more or less the beginning. I used the raptor for a few levels, then it somehow got dismissed and I never called it back out until it was time to abandon it (released to go train more new recruits, that is). I tamed a white tortoise but couldn't quite click with him, and let him go. I tamed a monkey from Deadmines but let him go, too. So, I decided that I'd wait until a pet called to me before I tamed something. It was honestly fine, since Gaz is decked out in heirlooms and one-shots everything with Aimed Shot.

But anyway, I was headed to Stonetalon Mountains by way of The Barrens, and decided to go exploring a bit. I found myself on the border of Northern and Southern Barrens, and came upon some centaurs. One small group near the chasm's edge had a single Kolkar Packhound and his master. Gaz felt sorry for the poor thing, with its smelly master and less than ideal living conditions, so I sniped the centaur and began taming the hyena. However, mid-tame, it decided to reset and run away back to its original position. I once again began to tame it, and the hyena was mine!

Poor thing took a bit of extra coaxing to trust a new master, but I think Gazmon and Biscuit will get along just fine. Biscuit's a willful little guy, but fond of Gaz for freeing him from the dusty Barrens and harsh centaur masters. I foresee Biscuit being Gaz's go-to pet for a long, long time. <3

[Karathyriel]

I always love my Troll Hunter to go with hyenas.
My inspiration came from this: Hyena Men
(Not from this post but from this source.)

Bhando joined a Troll Tribe guild and they take the religion and Loa quite serious, so I decided to go for the Loa An'chras, The Hunter, depicted by a raptor.
So I retired my hyena with some tears in my eyes and took this one as new pet:

Click for Petopia link!
I called him Rapashi and that is why I wear Dreadrunner Helm now, too!

[sXe Angel]

I'd tried a bunch of the different hyena skins on my NE hunter, but never saw one I really liked much... Until I spotted the red ones in SM. Those were so unique and visually appealing to me that I waited until I had lvl'd enough to run into the dungeon on my own to tame one. The vocalizations were cool, and the red skin really 'pop'd for me. I was doing a pro wrestling themed stable, and that hyena reminded me a lot of noted RoH manager Truth Martini. So that's what his name ended up being. Truth was a regular companion with me doing pre-Cata raiding, as he filled a buff that we were oftentimes missing in our casual raiding groups on the weekends.

Then Cata dropped. I logged in that morning to find some strange dog where my beloved hyena had once been. Much crying in guild chat happened that day, as I mourned the loss of my beloved hyena. No matter how much I tried, I just couldn't help but feel like the dog was a traitor, usurping the place of my beloved pet. There was no bonding with the doggie, as I released it quickly and started to search wowhead for any info on if the red hyena skin had been placed anyplace else in the game. Took a bit to find it, but when I heard of the new rare off in Tanaris, I rushed right out and waited for it. Determined to get my Truth Martini back. I stopped my Cata questing, and camped until I got my pet. Yes, having that red hyena was worth pushing back my loremaster of cata for by a couple days. Was worth taking a break from leveling my hunter for a couple of days.

I'd grown attached to the outrageous red skin, to the vocalizations, to seeing the hyena running at my side through the world and being fearless during raids and dungeons.

[Makoes]

I felt the same way sXe, but I had known about the model being changed, and had already located Slaverjaw's spawn point and made preparations for that camp. However, after Taming him and re-naming him "Nanaki" after my SM hyena...I just couldn't click with him, he wasn't "MY" Nanaki...not the one I tamed way back in BC when my baby hunter was just high enough to tame one...
But I kept trying and trying and then one day, in Heroic SFK, the tank lagged out just as we ran into the bosses room...I turned growl on and hoped for the best, and there was Nanaki, tanking the boss like a pro, like my buddy. The healer kept him up and we downed the boss. Nanaki came running back to me, sat down and scratched his face and then howled...I can't remember just how many times "MY" Nanaki had defeated something particularly challenging and come back to my side and proudly scratch himself and howl for a job well done...It was at THAT moment that "MY" Nanaki was finally back!

We haven't been separated since. WoD, dungeons, raids, questing, anything really and Nanaki is always at my side. For me, all pet slots and stables could disappear, and I would be fine with just one slot, if Nanaki was the one by my side.

[twistedmjc]

Sorry to Necro this old thread but I just found it and had to say, I Love Hyena's.. I was really disappointed when I came back to play wow and found out everything about all pets had been normalized and most pet specific abilities had been removed. Back in the old days, I remember playing in the plaguelands and coming across Nathanos Blightcaller with his two faithful Hyena's and fell in love.. I was soo disappointed to learn that Undead couldnt BE hunters! I recently came back to wow to discover they now COULD! I paid for a Race change and my hunter became UD.. first thing I did was run out and tame a hyena! Now thanks to the hati transmog I can have 2 just like him! I love my Hyena's and love there animations and vocalizations! They are easily the least used pets, but have the most personality of anything tamable out there..

[Dewclaw]

Love my hyena, but they reallllly need a graphic update. Give them some love blizz.