Random Pet Family Appreciation Thread 36: Wind Serpents!

[Wassa]

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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 - Raptors - Cats - Gorillas

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 36th family is the magical wind serpent family!


Image from WoW TCG.

Wind Serpent facts

~Tameable since Vanilla WoW.

~Wind Serpents have two models and 12 skin combinations to tame.

~Rares of the wind serpent family are Arash-ethis, Azzere the Skyblade, and Hayoc.

~Windserpentskinoutland2 (yellow) is a currently unused skin.

~Feralfen Serpent Spirit is a ghostly outland white serpent summoned by the quest named "A Spirit Ally?" These spirits are uncategorized, so they are not beasts and cannot be tamed.

~Back in Wrath, wind serpents were tamed by 1.0% of level 80 hunters. Placing them at number 16. (Source)

~Back in Wrath, windserpentskinoutland5 (white) was the most tamed skin at 28.8.7%. Windserpentskingreen was the least tamed skin at 2.5%. (Source)

~Lightning Breath used to cause a high amount of nature damage that scaled with the hunter's attack power but had a high focus cost of 50! Once a hunter reached 30% crit rating in Burning Crusade wind serpents became the highest dps pet with the talent Go for the Throat that gave pets focus on your crits, so wind serpents where commonly seen with raiding hunters in Black Temple/Sunwell gear.

~While no minipets match tameable wind serpent skins, three use the wind serpent model: Celestial Dragon, Soul of the Aspects and Spirit of Competition.

~Two wind serpent skins, windserpentskin and windserpentskinoarnge, are extremely similar. This animated gif shows the differences between the two skins. Most yellow wind serpents in game use the windserpentskin. Only Deviate Coiler Hatchling uses the misspelled windserpentskinoarnge.

~Arikara would be summoned in a poof of smoke back in Vanilla and BC. This animation was removed. The current Arikara is a different NPC and is not tameable.

~Many wind serpents had a bad rap in Vanilla and Burning Crusade. Most suffered from "caster stats" where they retained their high int but lower melee dps after taming. Those that did not have caster stats where rares, found in dungeons, or high level outland serpents, making them difficult to get.

[Wassa]

Ah wind serpents.


Wassa's loyal wind serpent is Kianga.

Kianga was originally named Strawberry as a joke in my guild, as I was nicknamed Waffles, so we became the duo Strawberry Waffles. I reached 30% crit just before Sunwell so tamed her as my raiding pet. I went with the red skin since the other two hunters in the guild had the blue outland and green outland skins, so I would finish off the trio of outland skins available at the time. Turns out she just matched perfectly with my t6. I had to let her go in Wrath, but she was my first retame when we got 25 stable slots.

I picked the new name of Kianga, an African name meaning "sunshine; sunbeams," because I always see her as my pet from the Sunwell. Kianga is a calm wind serpent that likes to wrap her long snake-like body around Wassa, only taking to flight during battle.


Ptaysanwee and her wind serpent, Namida, go star gazing. It's a favorite past time of the two. It's how Namida got her name, which means "star dancer" in Chippewa.

I guess I just always see wind serpents as calm, intelligent creatures, because Namida has a similar personality as Kianga; she is calm and watchful. Unlike Kianga I don't see Namida wrapping herself around Ptay. Namida would be flying up in the sky, dancing with the stars.

[starkittens]

YES!!!
NOW i CAN SHOW MY MY PRETTY!!!

This is Sunset:

She was a random tame, but, now I'm loving her!
...Ok, I'm kind of sad now. I don't have any pictures of her and my hunter....

[Lupis]

That TCG windserpent has the facial structure of a dog. c.c It's weirding me out…

Anyway, wind serpents! Daphine has a blue one named Shiver that she tamed at level 20 or so. I have good memories of my friend's worgen warrior escorting Daph all the way out to Wailing Caverns and leading her to a blue wind serpent- there was only one in the instance that time, and it was right next to the boss. It was very fun, and Shiver stuck by her as one of her favorites for a long time. While he doesn't get as much use as Genghis or Kamar, he's still got a permanent place in her stables- I love his animations and his feathery head.

[Kalliope]

Oh Medusa. She's actually one of my earliest pets (pre-Orpheus early; she was actually my original third pet back in BC after all the skill training) who took a looooong break, then returned in a new color.

Bossy little thing, but I just can't seem to part from her for good.

[Vephriel]

My first wind serpent bond was when the white Outland model was finally made tameable. I'd had my eye on it back when they were untameable, so I was very excited when they became flagged.

I saw the model as a vampire. The pale white skin, blood red eyes, and long fangs gave the irresistible impression to me. Eventually I settled on the name Shiki, which is 'corpse demon' in Japanese, and also the title of a vampire series. It clicked immediately and from then on Shiki was one of the pets that I could never let go.



Later on I was drawn to the black Outland model when they were finally added in game. The colours appealed to me, but I never thought I'd end up keeping one because I already had Shiki. To my intense surprise, I found out that I got the same vibe from this model, another vampiric presence, but in a slightly different tone. He received the name Satak, which is vampire in...a language that is escaping me right now.

Anyways, where Shiki seemed more of the feral bloodthirsty demon, Satak had the aristocratic personality who would charm his way into meals.



I've tried a few times to choose between them because it seems silly to have two of the same pet, with extremely similar personality traits, only in different colours, but I just can't. They're each individual and I think I'm stuck with both of them. They're my blood twins.

[Nick]

Oh dear, wind serpents. Now these are a family of pets that I absolutely adore, but can never seem to keep.
Except for one particular wind serpent of the green outland skin variety that charmed himself into my heart waaay back during BC.
What drew me was the more dragon-like look, but wind serpents as a whole still have a big chunk of my heart in their fangs.



Everyone, meet Sparta.
He ran away sometime during Wrath but I do have to say that I really missed the little brat while he was away in Blade's Edge. Now that I have him back, I think the only thing that would make me get rid of him is if wind serpents become completely useless as a pet class, which will never happen... hopefully.

[starkittens]

Tyger, the second wind serpent, that's the exact same one I have! XD
I love their little fangs. They're just too cute!!!!

[TygerDarkstorm]

Tyger, the second wind serpent, that's the exact same one I have! XD
I love their little fangs. They're just too cute!!!!

I think you have confused someone else with me as I have not posted in this thread til now.

[starkittens]

Tyger, the second wind serpent, that's the exact same one I have! XD
I love their little fangs. They're just too cute!!!!

I think you have confused someone else with me as I have not posted in this thread til now.

derp. I meant Veph. I have no idea where your name came from Tyger.

[Niabi]

Oh windserpents! I love them so! It's odd that I only have one among my hunters. Evrae's just so wonderful a pet; I suppose I haven't felt the need to acquire another one just yet.



Evrae resides with my Blood Elf, Auroryn, and was named after the guardian dragon of Bevelle in FFX.

I absolutely fell in love with the crimson and gold plumage found on only two windserpent models back in BC. The first, was a rare mob found in The Barrens named Azzere the Skyblade and the others were a few high level elites found only in the old Zul'Gurub instance, appropriately deemed the Sons of Hakkar. I was having no luck whatsoever finding Azerre despite my ritual check-ins at Camp Taurajo.

With my patience wearing thin, I gave up my search from time to time only to continue questing and give myself a break from The Barrens landscape and its general chat. Once Auroryn was ready for Outlands, and my windserpent was still MIA, I came to the realization that it probably wasn't meant to be and moved on to tame an Eclipsion Dragonhawk as my second pet.

When stables were later expanded to five slots, I was once again inspired to tame my elusive friend. This time however, I wanted a sure thing. Azerre had evaded me for so long that I felt simply too put out to try and relive the camping experience with him. I opted to go another route and tame one of the Sons of Hakkar instead. Having no prior experience with the instance and no idea where to find these windserpents, I needed to do some research to better know what I was getting myself into.

After watching a taming video on YouTube and enlisting the aid of a few well-geared buddies, I was ready! Evrae was surprisingly easy to tame once I knew what to expect. I was both relieved and ecstatic for now FINALLY having the windserpent I had been pining after for so long! Evrae will never, ever leave Auroryn's stable. He's become a beloved and unquestionable friend over the years and will perhaps someday, grandfather a love of future windserpents for any one of my other hunters!

[Wassa]

That TCG windserpent has the facial structure of a dog. c.c It's weirding me out…

I know. I think it looks weird too. There are a few other cards with wind serpents, but they either don't feature the wind serpent (they are in the background) or I cannot find any high quality images of the card, so I chose this one.

Also I forgot to talk about a wind serpent.

This one isn't mine, but my boyfriend's favorite hunter pet which was a black old school wind serpent he named Solazin. Solazin was role-played more as a magical beast. He was a dark spirit of Hakkar that could appear as a shadow, phasing in and out of reality. He was intelligent to the point of being able to speak, although he preferred to stay in the shadows and only spoke when needed. He was a cruel wind serpent that usually was the "kill first, ask questions later" type.

My boyfriend got some art drawn of his hunter and Solazin. He no longer plays WoW, but Solazin comes up when we talk about hunter pets.

[Melentari]

Back when you could tame Arikara for the puff of smoke effect, I did it on my belf. I've still got Arikara, named Shockwing, there, and I'll never get rid of him - even if he never gets the effects back.

I have something of a revolving door of a windserpent on my Draenei, though. I tamed him for the Surv damage buff and never bonded with him, so I just kept transferring the name to the new windserpent I'd tame to match my transmog.

[Sesamee]

My windsperent is Armida. One day while browsing Petopia I saw her model and instantly wondered why I didn't have one! I went out to Netherstorm, one of my favorite zones, and tamed her right away. She's been one of my favorites ever since.

You know how some tames just feel right from the start? That's how it was with her. It was an instant bond and it's only gotten stronger. Her personality to me is short tempered yet fair. She is quick to fight but just as quick to show affection.

Her name means "little armored one" in Spanish. She got that name because of the scales down her belly. They look like armor to me so I thought it fit. I think she is gorgeous, one of the most stunning pets in my stable, and everytime I look at her it's like the first time I'm seeing her.

[Miacoda]

I haaaaaaave two wind serpents!
The first is Lucas, and he's with Mia. Lucas is a shy little guy, and he's super friendly and nice and helpful and he just wants the world to be happy rainbow sunshines. But yeah, I tamed him and he instantly gave me the "shy" vibe so I asked for name suggestions and Cae was like "Lucas. Lucas is the token shy boy name." and... thus he was named. XD
I tamed Lucas around the time when I was heavy-duty hunting camel figurines, and I found out that he has this special talent of being able to detect when figurines are up. XD But he also just... really seems to be super comfortable whenever I'm in Uldum. He totally loves the zone, hehehe. And I can totally imagine why! Being a reptile he must love the hot weather and also the zone seems to be so windy! Fun to fly in I guess? XD
He'll do the "avidly investigating the area" emote and SO MANY TIMES after doing that emote I found a figurine. So he just... wanted to really help me. And it was the sweetest thing. <3 Lucas is one of my favorite pets. I just love his personality and he matches pretty damn well too! ^.^










My second wind serpent is with my troll, Kilalan. His name is Zap. He... likes to zap things. <_<
Don't swim with him. >_>

[Niabi]

All of the pics of these charcoal and ember colored windserpents from Outlands makes me want to get one for Synestra!

I've been contemplating whether or not to move her cobra, Satanas, over to Drakara's stable with a new name this past month and this would provide a very nice reason to back up that decision.

Yeah for more pets!!!

[Mozag]

The wind serpents are a big favourite of mine, although I have often had a hard time bonding with them for some reason. My first hunter had an orange/red wind serpent for ten levels, who I used to RP was a gift from the Elves to him for services rendered, and he was very intelligent, with the ability to transfer his thoughts and opinions to Ceredigion telepathically. He was one of my leveling pets that I really missed once I hit 80, but I didn't have space for him in the stables at the time.

[Finduilas]

There are two wind serpents that wiggled their way into my heart.
The first is Persephone. She's Morga's pretty pet. I tamed her someday during Cata while searching for Hemathion in Blade Edge mountains and she stayed. I never used her, she just sat in the stables looking good. Now that she can be ferocity I have her in my pet rotation for Morga and she can zap enemies in dungeons or while questing. I don't have any stories about her, but I really adore her green color and her animations.


The other wind serpent is Sheera. I got her assigned during a pet challenge when Nerdanel was still Nerdanel and lived on an English realm. After the guild broke apart I changed her back to a German server and she's now known as Emerwen (Nerdanel was taken by a lowbie MALE paladin... ). If you want to read my report in the pet challenge you might have to look for a while back to posts made in march. I released Sheera on Emerwen after the pet challenge. The reason I still write about her here, is that I plan on getting her back, but with my Tauren. Sheera was so comfortable being in Mulgore with Nerdy I always had to think about her as a Tauren's pet. She had tons of personality and I think she would fit perfectly with Larkania and her brown, earthen colored pets. The image was made for my pet challenge assignment.

[starkittens]

Got some pictures of my lovely Sunset!



Look at that face!!
/swoons
Sunset is playfull, and yet, filled to the brim with attitude! I loves her so much!!


Sunset wants a hug!!!


Look at how menacing this beauty is in combat!!!!


I just love this pic. Love love love.


How gracefully Sunset uses her tail!


Whipped the enemy with her tail, and cause the enemy to catch on fire! (actually, the enemy did something, but it's awesome timing for that pic. ))


Flaring her wings.


Enjoying some nice tea with me in a pretty place.

[Holgarr]

It just hit me... judging from the new rares in this family's "spiked" design, it seems that the body color and wing color are two separate items, rather than each look being a single thing...

So, really, there's plenty of other possible skins that might someday appear... Cool.