Random Pet Family Appreciation Thread 33: Raptors!

[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 - Hyenas - Beetles - Spiders - Nether Rays

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 33rd family is the clever raptor family!


Image from WoW TCG.

Raptor facts

~Raptors have been tameable since Vanilla WoW.

~Raptors have three tameable models and 14 skin colors.

~Raptors have four rares: Dart, Ravasaur Matriarch, Razormaw Matriarch and Takk the Leaper.

~Raptors have two color changers. Drakuru Raptor is a former color changer but now only spawns with the raptor_outlandblue skin.

~Back in Wrath, raptors where tamed by 2.3% of level 80 hunters. Placing them at number 9 on the list.(Source)

~Back in Wrath, the color changing Drakuru Raptor was the most tamed at 14.0% followed by the stable colored raptor_outlandblack at 12.6%. Raptorskinmottleddarkgreen was the least tamed skin at 1.8%. (Source)

~Raptors formerly had the move Savage Rend, which did damage and a bleed. If the move critically struck, it boosted the raptor's attack power.

~An array of raptor mounts are in game although most are horde only. Raptor mounts available to both factions are Armored Razzashi Raptor (ZG drop), Fossilized Raptor (undead skeleton raptor from archaeology), and Savage Raptor (TCG loot card). Swift Razzashi Raptor is a retired raptor mount from old ZG. A few mount style raptors exist as beasts in game, although they are currently not tameable one is tameable now with patch 5.0.4 which is Drakkari Raptor Mount. More will become tameable in MoP!

~Raptors have a variety of minipets to match every old world raptor skin. These are Darting Hatchling, Deviate Hatchling, Gundrak Hatchling, Leaping Hatchling, Obsidian Hatchling, Ravasaur Hatchling, Razormaw Hatchling, and Razzashi Hatchling. Special raptor minipets are Fossilized Hatchling and Lashtail Hatchling which has the title <[character name]'aka>.

~Raptors can interchange their skins with devilsaurs, as shown in game with the Savage Raptor mount which uses trexskinred.

~Raptorskinmottleddarkgreen is the only old world raptor skin that does not wear jewelery or feathers.

~Deviate Terrortooth was one of the two "fire pets." This was a permanent appearance buff from the quest Sowing the Solution which one of the quest item's outcome was the pet burst into flames, creating a very unique pet that was a patch of fire. Since hunters tame beasts and not fire, also because this pet was untargetable by clicking, this was hotfixed shortly afterwards and all fire pets returned to their normal raptor/tallstrider look.

~Takk the Leaper had a fast pursuit speed in Vanilla WoW and could chase down epic mounts. Takk now lives up to his name and leaps great distances around his patrol path.

[Wassa]

I have raptors on both of my hunters.


Here is an older screenshot back when I was doing the Lashtail Hatchling quest line. I had my raptor Hayawaza out at the time and I caught this little moment. Since then, Hayawaza has been the hatchling's adopted mother.

Hayawaza is Japanese for "quick work; clever feat." She is an intelligent raptor, probably the most intelligent beast from Wassa's stables. Hayawaza isn't much of a pet, but more of a partner. They work together as a team instead of Wassa commanding her what to do.

I based Hayawaza off of the main character from the book Raptor Red. Having lost her mate, she took to following Wassa and hunting together. She is curious and very attuned to her surroundings while being quick and ferocious in battle.

With tallstriders getting the same debuff as raptors come MoP, I'm finding it hard to keep Hayawaza as I know she will just sit in my stable. Trolls and raptors go together like peanut butter and jelly, but she can't even compare to my Hahadori. Maybe I'll RP her finding a mate and finally leaving Wassa, knowing she's happy being released.


I didn't plan to have a raptor on Ptaysanwee. As a Taunka, raptors would be pretty foreign to her unless she ran into the Drakkari trolls in Zul'drak which use them as mounts and pets. I tried a white serpent on Ptay at first to cover that debuff, but I didn't bond with it. Going a long while without the sunder armor debuff, I finally decided to try a raptor and went with one of the two raptors found in Northrend, the Gundrak Raptor. I did bond with him, but I found myself liking the blue skin over the black skin so much that I would dismiss him until I got the blue skin. While doing quests in Un'goro for the shoulders for my transmog set I tamed Lar'korwi so I could have a stable blue skin, although ICly he's a Gundrak Raptor that can stand the cold.

His name is Kesegowaase, an Algonquin name meaning "swift." He's still developing his personality. So far he was a runt that the trolls would not tame, so Ptay took him in. He's still shy and learning to hunt.

[Niabi]

Raptors, much like cats, t-rexs, and warpstalkers, are one of those types of beasts in the game I find very hard to dislike. There's just something about them I've always found myself attracted to. Once I rolled my troll huntress, Kadija, I knew someday, somehow, a raptor would make its way into her stable. It was inevitable. I mean, how could a Troll huntress not have a raptor for a companion? The pairing of the two were as perfect a match as peanut butter and jelly (Man, that sounds good right about now)!

Kadija's first and most important raptor companion is Senka.



Later, the idea of creating a themed line-up of raptors for the new Stampede ability in MoP influenced me to also tame these beauties.



Kadija's stable was originally themed to be very vibrant and colorful beforehand, so the new raptors were all easy and welcomed additions to the roster.
Their names are Shiraz (red), Kasiri (yellow), Rakia (green), Sauza (blue), and Alizé (violet).

Trolls and raptors go together like peanut butter and jelly

I didn't notice this til after I submitted my own post! I think I owe you a coke or something now

[Wassa]

Trolls and raptors go together like peanut butter and jelly

I didn't notice this til after I submitted my own post! I think I owe you a coke or something now

Hehe!

This thread is now about peanut butter and jelly.

Ok, maybe not. Need more people that like raptors!

[Miacoda]

I love raptors... I'm just in such a "meh" mood atm. Hopefully tonight I'll be in a better mood and ready to post about mine.

[GormanGhaste]

I used to have a Gundrak Raptor color-changer named Slate on my main, so I could matchy-match with TWO of my mini-pet raptors

[Mozag]

I can't wait to post about my raptors and all the other threads I missed out on. But I am currently away from my WoW, and can't take screenies, so will need to wait until next month.

I want to see more raptor love for sure!

[Holgarr]

Anyone who has seen me around these forums knows Kyra, my oldest pet, the featherless green raptor (now-vanished Mottled Scytheclaw from pre-Cata Wetlands).

She has never left her place as number one on my pet list.

[Lupis]

I've many times tried and failed to bond to raptors. It's not the model- I love their models, and I love their animations. But they just never clicked. They were never quite right. Finally, with the introduction of the tamable riding raptors, I think that's changed.



This is my new raptor. I love my new raptor. He's absolutely perfect for Daphine. They're literally in sync- as a raptor, he has the same sort of bouncy run that my worgen does, and because he's larger than the normal raptor, it's roughly at the same speed as my worgen's run. They look perfect together. I love how large he is, and how his blue stripes seem to glow. He's just… perfect!

[TygerDarkstorm]

I still don't really know how this happened. I went to the cave in Wetlands looking for one of the red raptors to tame on Tsara because the colors seemed so perfect for her. But, of course, the Razormaw Matriarch was there. And as soon as I looked at her, she told me her name was Lucy (short for Lucille). I looked at the red raptor by my side, then back up to Lucy and I said, "Ya know what, I'm going to go out of the box this time." Lucy is currently the first and only pet to ever break Tsara's typical color scheme and name scheme... and I already love her to pieces, especially with the matching hatchling. <3

[Lupis]

Wow, Lucy looks perfect with her, too! Tsara's skin color really brings out the blue in Lucy's stripes.

[TygerDarkstorm]

Yeah I've been noticing that the more I look at her. xD She's like one of those meant to be cases or something, I guess.

[Miacoda]

Raptors! Finally here are mine. XD

Mia's raptor is named Orrin. <3 It's an Irish name meaning Green. He's a fun little guy with lots of friendly fun personality. He's intelligent, like most raptors, but I wouldn't say he's the most intelligent. Other raptors have more smarts than him, but he can still get around and take advantage of situations with his brain.
Orrin is one of my top pets. <3






My Troll, Kilalan, has three raptors at the moment, but let's just talk about her two favorites.
The first is Takk. Takk pretty much leveled with Kilalan, and has been her main pet for quite a while. He's very intelligent, and can be a bit serious at times, but he loves Kilalan and would do anything for her. They understand each other very well, despite Takk not being able to speak any Languages Kilalan can. They can communicate easily without any thought to it. They're the perfect team.


Kilalan, Takk, and little raptor Tikk.



Then there's the newest addition to Kilalan's family, Sunset!Sunset is very... well, she has a very warm personality, and she's an optomist that always looks to the bright side of things. She's smart, and she knows that if things are bad, they could always be worse! She's very caring and can sometimes be a bit motherly, she can get overprotective when things get dire (despite that optimism) and sometimes grooms Kilalan, which Kilalan finds a bit odd but whaaatever. Kilalan suspects she lost a nest and never quite let go. Either way, Sunset is glad to be out of Drak'theron Keep and in a much happier lifestyle.
And all of that story is subject to change because she's so new. XD

[Jurz]

Raptors need more love! I personally bond better with raptors than Devilsaurs. Unheard of, I know! But, it wasn't always like that. I have always loved raptors, but for a while, like Devilsaurs, I couldn't bond with one. That was until I whimsically tamed a grey raptor and named him Kazma. Kazma is a martial artist, anthropomorphic rabbit in the anime movie Summer Wars. My raptor was named after him because when my raptor would jump while attacking it reminded me of a bunny. But, he was a raptor! Raptors and bunnies are nothing alike! Except for Kazma. When I named him thus it became an instant bond. I've tried many times to morph him into a cooler raptor or a more unique raptor or a bigger raptor since Jurzee is a Tauren and bigger is better, but my bunny raptor refuses to change. That's OK though, I love him very much still

[Holgarr]

I can't be alone in thinking it would be awesome if the riding-raptor model (and the riding-wolf from HFP dungeons) could have some sort of stuffed doll or something we could put in their saddle?

[Mozag]

Raptors! Yay! Finally! I love raptors so much. I think they have oodles and oodles of personality and panache. Here are all mine.



Torch and Eadgyth are an unlikely partnership, but have ended up the firmest of friends. RP-wise, Eady found a left-over egg at an abandoned Ice Troll camp during a scouting mission, and unable to destroy it took it back home with her. After taking care of it, this strange raptor emerged, and he is deeply attached to his mistress. Eady doesn't know why the egg was at the camp, why it was left behind and why the raptor is such an alien looking one, but she doesn't care. I am always most content when I have Torch out while playing on Eady.



Lindy's Palantiri lives for food. He will do anything for it, steal it, kill for it, beg for it, do tricks... It doesn't matter what the produce is, he just wants it. Lindy tries to keep him fit and dangerous by exercising him lots, but sometimes the pounds will pile on despite her best efforts. Other than that, he doesn't seem very interested in anything else, and tends to view his mistress as a vending machine of goodies.

[TygerDarkstorm]

Another raptor has wormed its way into my heart. xD I've been having a lot of fun with my new Pandaren hunter, Nani Swiftarrow, and I've been finding that nice, bright pets really compliment her black and white fur.

This is Nani and Ink:


She is so named for the way the dark blue pattern sort of melts over her scales, especially when seen from this angle:


I love this raptor. <3 She's so happy and bouncy and full of life. Ink likes to chirrup when she finds something interesting and she's constantly wanting to share all of her new found wonders with her mistress, who is happy to experience them alongside her.

[Rhyela]

I think I've finally managed to find a raptor I could bond with, after all my years of playing WoW and trying raptor after raptor to no avail. This is Reaper (recently re-named). I had tamed a red version previously, named Reaver, but it just wasn't doing anything for me. It was pretty, to be sure, but I didn't really have any sort of attachment to it. Then, during a garrison stable/mount quest, I had to kill this blue raptor. It was so striking that I decided to tame it, too. I've been fond of him from the moment he trotted to my side. The color scheme isn't what I'd usually go for, but I think it's because of this incredibly cheery coloring that I love him. It gives him personality. I released my red one yesterday, and haven't had any regrets. Reaper is the raptor for me. ^.^