Random Pet Challenge [v3.0]

[Shade]

Merlynshade:
Color-Changing Monkey

Merlyn, could you do me a favor and try to get all four of those skins to spawn once you tame one of those monkeys? I couldn't get the gray skin w/ dark gray face to appear on my monkey (reported this on the appropriate thread already, but would like more confirmation on something that is so RNG-dependent).

I spent about 20 mins making him reappear and did not see the dark faced one. I'll keep him with me while I hunt Emberwing tonight and see if that changes.

EDIT: Review

I'll be honest, I despise these guys. I saw my roll and groaned. Bah my least favorite of the new pet families. So pardon me if I sound biased.



At 46, taming this guy was cake. They spawn randomly among the wilds of Northern Strangletorn Vale, with Track Beasts on run around till you see a yellow dot-that should be your monkey. Mine of course was in a group of about 20 red dots on my mini map, lol. Don't go after these guys until you have feign death or can clear a number of aggresive areas out of the way before you tame, or you might get hurt.

Looks:


Of the three skins shown here, I think the last is the only good one. The one in the middle looks possessed and the one at the start has no charm what so ever. Build wise, they are okay, but the shoulders seem way to big for me. On their animations, I HATE the way they run-this is the main reason that I cannot use them. They do this sideways run that makes it look like their front legs and back legs are going in two different directions. I can't get a decent screen shot of it sadly.

They are cunning, and I can see how bad manner would be useful thought I think more than 4 seconds would be better. And does this apply to players during pvp? Is the screen darkened out while the use that? I don't know an horde hunter who could use their monkey on me in pvp to test, but maybe someone else does.

Overall, not my fave pet and not one I can see myself using routinely. There are other cunning pets that I like a lot better then these guys.

Reroll. I'm at 46 now.

[Cialbi]

Thanks, Merlynshade. I can only stand mounting and dismounting for so long, after all

[Tydarus]

All right, so there's a ton of requests backed up, and Kormai hasn't posted all day, so without further ado, here are everyone's rolls (done by character name)

Can I get a new roll too please?? Tydarus, lvl 65. Thanks! Having a blast with this

[TygerDarkstorm]

Tydarus:
Green Crocolisk


Merlynshade:
Green Scorpid

[Lupis]

My report on the Black Warpstalker!

Model: The Warpstalker model is probably one of my top favorites. Strangely enough, though, only one character ever had one. The head is very appealing, with a short, toothy snout that has a ton of personality. The spikes and overall design seem creative and well made, more... "There" then other pets. I don't know how to describe it, they just seem more solid. I especially like the way the tail is held above the ground. Maybe my favorite part, though, is the head, as I mentioned. The mouth has well animated teeth, unlike almost every other pet in the game, and it even has one of those strips of skin on each side of the mouth where the lip ends farther back and the skin membrane shows.

Skin: My favorite skin by far. What looks like a dull black in Petopia is actually a dark but bright purple, and the stripes are a nice, shiny acid green. Her eyes are the same color, but glow - making her look like she's full of acid up to her eyes. Don't look at me like that - it's cool! All the colors on this model look really nice together. I can't really complain.

Sounds: Her sounds are fairly simple. A lot of hissing, but it's not terribly loud. Plus, most people I know play with the sound down, so it won't matter that much!

Animation: Walking is simple, but a nice reptilian walk. The running is also nice, although at first I used to hate it. It's a sort of very fast, sliding waddle. Very lizard. I've grown to really like it, seeing my pet slide like a stalking beast across the ground. It's quite nice, really. As for swimming, I think this is one animation they could have done better on. She uses her feet to swim, but she really should use her tail and body like a crocolisk. While idle in the water, though, she had an adorable hunched over stance.

Tanking: She was low level, so she took a bit more damage, but I didn't notice anything bad about her. She's a solid tank, even better being Tenacity. Keeps aggro very well. She's no turtle, though, and only has one damage mitigating skill. Still, she looks so nice that it makes up for it by a mile!

Dps: Not.. so great. Again, she's tenacity. I also specced her for surviving, not for DPS, so that didn't help. She really didn't seem to be doing that much damage, though, and her special skill doesn't help with that at all. No cat here.

Special Skill: Erm... I guess this could be useful for PvP. Her special skill slows the movement speed of her enemy by 50% for 6 seconds, which I can only see being useful in Warsong Gulch or another BG like that. In PvE, it's near useless.

Overall: While her special skill and low DPS output aren't great traits in a pet, this one makes up for it and then some with her looks. She's simply beautiful. I would recommend her to anyone who doesn't mind that much if their pet isn't the prime of the lot.

Anyway, I think my new warpstalker Valnara - named after a certain purple-adoring warlock - will be staying with me. I always wanted to tame Gezz, but never really got around to it. I had a red one, but its colors threw me off. Valnara's going to stay.

Working on my Scorpid report next! Er, can I get a new roll for Rassaa? *Puppy eyes*

Rassaa, Alliance
85
BM/Surv
Exotics? Sure!
Restrictions? None. Even rare rares.

[TygerDarkstorm]

Anyway, I think my new warpstalker Valnara - named after a certain purple-adoring warlock - will be staying with me. I always wanted to tame Gezz, but never really got around to it. I had a red one, but its colors threw me off. Valnara's going to stay.

Val would probably be ecstatic to know a hunter honored her with a pet name.

And now, on to my gorilla report.
I decided to go after .

As is my usual luck with lower level rares, after a quick flight from looking for a red Madexx casually up to Un'Goro, Uhk'loc was there awaiting in his cave. I forgot to screen shot the tame, but it went smoothly enough. Be careful if you're his level though as aggroing him for a tame aggroes the other gorillas around him. As my tame finished, he (or the other gorilla attacking me) punted me a ways away from him; luckily though, the tame had gone through so he punted me and then turned friendly.

I named this guy Kerchak and sat studying the model for a while. As someone else previously reported, these guys do their idle animation an awful lot; almost seems like a bug. It's kind of annoying but gives a good opportunity to see some of the model flaws.


The first thing I noticed right away with Kerchak is that as he reared to beat his chest, his hands sort of "pop out" from his wrist fur.

The other thing I dislike is that they have a big ol' beer belly, and it's super noticeable when they rear and do the chest beat. I know gorillas aren't the skinniest of creatures, but it makes their legs look tiny and awkward when they rear up.
Their toenails and fur are also pretty low res, but at least the colors on this guy are rather neat.

I haven't had a gorilla since they were THE go to tank pet. As soon as t-stomp was available to all tenacity pets, I quickly dumped mine as there's just something about the creatures that I'm not fond of. However, when I heard reports here saying that they knew how to smart cast their interrupt, I had been debating about whether to try one.

Turns out gorillas can smart cast pummel. Unlike other interrupt pets, they won't use pummel on every mob they come across, thereby wasting precious focus. Kind of a handy feature if you're like me and like to set it and forget about it. I even went and did my first 85 BG to test this guy out, knowing that in my shoddy gear I'd get steamrolled (eff you prot paladins). This guy was interrupting casters which was great, but he wasn't much help against the melee that were trying to eat my face off. I think once I get back into PvP, I'll start off with pets that can keep things away from me.

Overall, I kind of like Kerchak in that "ugly-cute" sort of way and I think I'll keep him around in my slowly filling stable to toy around with his interrupt ability more. If I learn to be a better PvPer/micro-manager, I may drop him for a more damaging capable pet.

[Kalhoun]

The first thing I noticed right away with Kerchak is that as he reared to beat his chest, his hands sort of "pop out" from his wrist fur.

I went out and tamed this guy the other day and noticed that about his wrists/hands as well. Unfortunately, it bothered me enough that I abandoned him. Glad to know it's not just my old, clunky laptop or settings.

[TygerDarkstorm]

The first thing I noticed right away with Kerchak is that as he reared to beat his chest, his hands sort of "pop out" from his wrist fur.

I went out and tamed this guy the other day and noticed that about his wrists/hands as well. Unfortunately, it bothered me enough that I abandoned him. Glad to know it's not just my old, clunky laptop or settings.

Yeah, it is really weird looking. I'll probably end up eventually abandoning this guy, but for now he'll stick around.

And because I forgot it in my report post; another please.

Name: Vitani
Level: 85
Exotics: Yes
No Restrictions

[Tensky]

That's it.
I'm SICK of having nothing to do.
D=<

Name: Tensky
Level: 85
Exotics: Yes
Nothing can hold me back ! >:D

[TygerDarkstorm]

Rassaa:
Orange Deep Sea Crab


Vitani:
Red and Black Ravager


Tensky:
Grey Rhino

[Mustafah]

I want to roll for a pet.

Name: Mustafah
Level: 85
Exotics: No.
Not a dog/ravager, prefer ferocity/cunning pet.

[TygerDarkstorm]

Mustafah
Dark Striped Cat

[Tensky]

Ohhhhh, a rhino!
I'll get on that as soon as I stop blubbering like a baby.

[TygerDarkstorm]

Ravagers are one of those pets that I think looks cool, but I'm not sure about their new debuff so I just haven't gotten around to trying one.

So off to Hellfire I flew to nab one of these guys. Easy enough tame, they don't do anything special and they're pretty spread out from the other ravagers in the area so not too many worries of accidental aggro from other mobs.


For some reason the name Spartan came into my head for this guy, and that's what I decided to name him. For looks, the picture of these guys on Petopia does not do them justice. They are FAR from just a simple red and black and their eyes have this amazing, eerie red glow to them.




I love the ravagers' animations. ^_^ They don't do much while idling, great for pet owners who hate busy pets. Their run is funny, they sort of hunch their carapace over and scuttle.


Their swim is equally as amusing. They swim exactly like squid and octopi.


While fighting, when they cast their special debuff, they do a little flip. It's really awesome looking, and so fast that it's hard to get a screenshot of.


I could see this debuff being very useful in a physical DPS heavy group, and even in a BG (probably a rated one where you know your teammates and whatnot).

Overall, I'm pleasantly surprised and impressed by the ravager. Even though I specced him for pure damage dealing, he tanked everything in Tol Barad like a pro, even without misdirect. These guys do good damage, look great, and can provide a potentially useful debuff unlike some other pets (looking at you rhino). I'll definitely be keeping Spartan around and we'll see if he ends up growing into a different colored Carapace.


Another please.
Name: Vitani
Level: 85
Exotics: Yes
No Restrictions

Also as a side note, it just occurred to me that I accidentally tamed the wrong ravager because the names are similar. XD
Just so people know, the ravager I tamed is NOT the red and black model I was assigned. I ended up taming the purple extra spiky ravager because I can't read. I don't feel like doing the entire challenge again, but I will go and tame the ravager I was actually assigned just so the color difference can be seen.

Here's a screen of the ravager I was supposed to tame.

[Nubhorns]

Veeka:
White Wolf

Awesome, one of the classics. :)

A lot of the reports here start out with challenging tames and I...well there really isn't one for this gorgeous guy. There's Frostfang out in Storm Peaks, but he's friendly to everyone! Bah. I know I had seen some out in Ashenvale for sure, so I grabbed a taxi to Zoram'gar.


Trying to grab shots of these guys on the taxi flight in is like playing an especially cruel version of Pokemon Snap. They're a very striking shade of white, but...so are a lot of things in Ashenvale. I caught myself taking screenshots of furbolgs, moths, and lamp posts thinking they were blobby wolves. Oops.


Ran out and found one hiding in the bushes - holy crap these buggers are bright. When they're not targeted they pick up the lighting of the zone really nicely, but you mouseover and they're like "SUP. GONNA BLIND YOU.". PvP tactic? I think so.


It's worth noting that the mob I tamed goes through a transformation at about 50% HP or so. It's like getting subliminal messages about Karoma-camping. They do not keep the spectral wolf form if tamed, however, and I sort of wish they did. How cool would that be? You'd rarely see it if you're any good with mend pet spam, but still!


Tame was easy. Trap, tame, victory dance. Named him Samophlange, because all we know is that samophlanges are extremely dangerous. This guy looks dangerous. Dangerous to my eyes.


He runs beautifully, and I've always been partial to the run of the old world wolves. I even think his snarly face is cute.


Sam says WHEEEEEEE. He didn't want to be nice and show me his walk animation, but I can promise you it's just as good as the run. He tends to be a little fidgety and run to catch up, but that may have something to do with his size.


He dogpaddles like a pro.


"Hi mom!"


Popped my Area 52 transporter since I need to get my Heroic Magister's Terrace run down.


Hey, Samophlange, buddy, you look bigger. Have you been working out? No, silly Veeka, your transporter malfunctioned again.


...except I got a text from my dungeon buddy saying she'd be home in time to run MGT with me soon. Oops. I took Sammy here to Tol Barad with me instead. This is my second day in Tol Barad because I thought you stayed flagged the entire time and I am a giant wuss. Cool! New dailies I haven't seen! Who's this Tank guy?

Look! A link to a screenshot of my terrible WIP UI! YAY.

Tried him out against a fox and had no aggro problems, even though he's only 82 and the fox in that screen shot appears to be biting his butt. I'm no huge 5 million DPS go go go! pro-type person though, so maybe he's not even trying to hold aggro and I'm just bad. I tried again with no misdirect, just to see.


Oh, crap.

Thankfully he pulled through and the fox eventually got tired of gnawing on my heels, and after the initial shift in aggro I actually had to work pretty hard to pull it back. He's no tenacity pet, but he's got some nice moves there. Must be the blinding white fur.

Okay so foxes are easymode! Let's go punch some zombies, Samophlange!

"Where my zombies at? ...oh."

Despite letting a zombie wolf chew on me for ten whole seconds(!), Sammy held aggro pretty well. I used to solo instances left and right with my wolf, and it's pretty clear that if I were a little more careful(hey, let's strafe into another zombie!) he could have this entire graveyard under his paw pretty easily.

He gave a little victory howl that I forgot to screenie(he keeps his sound effects! I thought they got rid of that, since my Northrend worg doesn't howl) before I fled the graveyard like a little girl.

"AAAHHH. ZOMBIE."

Overall, I quite like Mister Samophlange. His color doesn't match me in the least, but if I get into the habit of wearing sunglasses and not looking at him for too long, he might be a viable companion. He's quite a nice 'tank', as I've known wolves to be for ages now, and he's very very cute in general. I don't know if I'll be keeping him for sure just yet, but I've learned many things about him today that I did not know.



Another, please. :D

Veeka, 85
Exotics are fine.
No spirit beasts, warp stalkers, or wolves this time. :P I don't want to camp for anything either.

[TygerDarkstorm]

There actually is/was a trick to tame those guys in their ghost form, however, they become nothing more than a vanity pet because if they die or go in arena, they lose the buff. I'm not sure if they're still tamable that way, thought I saw people still taming them around in Ache's thread.

And that white color is indeed very bright.

[Cialbi]

@Tyger: FYI, the red-glowing eyes are exclusive to the 'extra-spiky' ravagers. Never seen that flip before, though - pretty neat!

@Nubhorns: I really liked that witty report! BTW, only the wolves with the same model as Samophlange will do the howling sound; riding-model wolves and Northrend worgs don't.

[Pawtrack]

My chalenge was the brown condor.

I ran out to loch modan to tame one, and stared at him for a while. I like the color a lot, and the model isn't that bad.

First, the bad news:

Huge feet and warty face

Glitchy run animation (though doesn't look as bad as on an eagle)

Now, the good news:

Nice colors

Fairly smooth animations

I played with him for a bit, killing this and that. Their sounds don't bother me much, they're actually kind of quiet creatures.

An okay pet IMO, though I don't think I will be keeping him. Anyway, I enjoyed the challenge (sorry for the short report, though ).

I'll do another!
Name: Velyana (Pawtrack on the forums)
Level:22, But I'll take anything up to 25.
Exotics: Too low
Restrictions: None!

[TygerDarkstorm]

@Tyger: FYI, the red-glowing eyes are exclusive to the 'extra-spiky' ravagers. Never seen that flip before, though - pretty neat!

I figured the eye thing out on my own, thanks though. When I realized I slipped up and tamed the wrong ravager I studied the models on Petopia and noticed the extra spiky ravagers get the awesome glow eyes. I love the utterly evil and devious look it gives them.

The flip is amusing. They only seem to do it when they cast Ravage. The other interesting thing of note with ravage is that it didn't lose its knockdown animation. When I was killing humanoids on Tol Barad, they were falling on their behinds when he cast ravage on them--a remnant from before it changed from the stun pre-4.0.1.

[TygerDarkstorm]

Veeka:
Blue-Green Serpent


Vitani:
White Chimaera


Velyana:
Blue Turtle