Random Pet Family Appreciation Thread 19: Sporebats!

Unread post by **Wassa** » Sat May 19, 2012 7:17 am

Former threads:
Moths - Warp Stalkers - Crocolisks - Monkeys - Wolves - Core Hounds - Wasps - Dragonhawks - Turtles - Boars - Carrion Birds - Bears - Serpents - Tallstriders - Worms - Dogs - Ravagers - Shale Spiders

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.

We are half-way through all the Cataclysm pet families. If your favorite family hasn't been rolled yet, don't worry. They will come up soon! I'll wait to do appreciation threads for new MoP families until after I've done all of the current families and the expansion has been out for a while.

Our 19th family is the whimsical sporebat family!

The best pet. For the DPS.

Sporebat facts

~Sporebats where introduced as a beast and tameable family in Burning Crusade.

~Sporebats have three skin colors.

~Sporebats have no rare members.

~Sporewing is a unique skinned named member of the family with a yellow skin.

~Back in Wrath, sporebats were tamed by 0.2% of level 80 hunters. Placing them at the bottom of the list, tied with nether rays. (Source)

~Back in Wrath, sporebatgreen was the most tamed skin at 47.9%. Sporebatyellow was the least tamed skin at 20.9%. (Source)

~Sporebats, back in Burning Crusade, only knew growl and cower. They were the only family without a basic attack ability such as bite or claw (smack wasn't added until Wrath).

~The Sporeggar faction sells Tiny Sporebat minipets to those with exalted standing with them.

~An undead looking sporebat skin exists in the MPQ files called map_sporebat_diff. Since this does not fit the normal skin naming conventions Blizzard usually uses, it's safe to say that this isn't a skin that it meant to be used in game.

~Sporebat is the best pet. It shoots fire from it's sphincter that incinerates rogues, and it's man parts hit bosses for a billion damage.

Unread post by **GormanGhaste** » Sat May 19, 2012 9:09 am

I've always loved sporebats; Zangarmarsh is one of my favorite zones. I was one of the few people who had a sporebat back in BC. Once I got to level cap and trained all the pet skills, I rewarded myself with a green one named Chanterelle, who I used to run guildie's alts through low level dungeons.

Youtube Channel (My Videos) · Unread post by **Neilaren** » Sat May 19, 2012 11:21 am

I had a cute little sporebat for a little bit. Sadly Carbuncle didn't survive all my stable cuts.

But since I think nether rays are the most adorable little guys (Poor nether rays being at the very bottom of the representation with sporebats!) and sporebats are a little similar, I like them too!

Dragon Cave! · Unread post by **Kyria** » Sat May 19, 2012 1:09 pm

Okay! I don't own a sporebat anymore, but I used to, and I feel like the special little guy deserves some appreciation.

This is Caldwell, the loneliest little sporebat.

Or, more accurately:

Caldwell is located on a tiny island just north of the Ango'rosh Stronghold. He's barely even on the map (here, if you're interested in paying a visit). I was merrily questing along, minding my own business, when I first saw him out of the corner of my eye, floating on his little island, totally alone and separated from the mainland by an army of ogres. Naturally, I had to rescue him, and, for a long while after that, he was one of my most precious pets. Sadly, the bond wound up fading over time, since I have difficulty maintaining a bond with any sporebat, and he and I eventually parted ways, but I'll always remember him fondly, and he'll be returning to me in MoP in the form of my Tiny Sporebat. <3 Of course, even better would be if he could find another loving home as a full hunter pet! If you're thinking of trying a sporebat, yourself, but don't know which one to go for, maybe give this one a chance?

Unread post by **GormanGhaste** » Sat May 19, 2012 1:21 pm

That's awesome, I didn't know about that spawn point! Love the first pic especially.

Sat May 19, 2012 2:27 pm

Much like tallstriders, sporebats are another one of those families that I kept getting repeatedly rolled in the Pet Challenges. Originally, I hated sporebats and I hated that the system kept rolling them for me. And then my troll was rolled a blue sporebat. It certainly wasn't the first time I had been rolled one, though it was the first time I decided not to give one a bad pun named based on their inappropriate looking tail bits.

Suddenly this creature had developed a personality. Suddenly, sporebats were actually pretty cute. So it became a bit of a running joke that Squish had brainwashed me into loving him and other sporebats. He even got his very own sig.

And Squish went on to inspire me to want to RP Rosaliah with a sporebat pet. Rose's sporebat is a brown female named Serenity and I love her to pieces. She is this loving, dopey little creature that is curious about everything and everyone around her and her favorite pastime is to sleep on top of people's heads.

She was even part of a neat little bit of fanart of our RP courtesy of Moonlost:

Unread post by **Galaxy** » Sat May 19, 2012 2:59 pm

EDIT: Whoa! Sorry about the size!!! Resizing!!!!! (BBIAS!) FIXED!

YES!!!!!

SPOREBATS!!!!!!

There were two creatures that made me roll a hunter: sporebats and fen striders. I am absolutely hooked on anything that glows. In Zangarmarsh, even I glow! It was a heavenly zone!!! You can imagine my sadness when I found out fen striders weren't tame-able. (Fixed in MoP. I literally cried. OVER A GAME.

)

Sporebats are fabulous creatures, but there is ONE who always caught my eye: Dust. Well, ya'll know him as Sporewing. He seemed to radiate golden dust with every movement. My heart jumped a thousand miles from my chest.

Today, Dust isn't in my main stables. However, I do visit frequently. If he can tell I'm blue, he winds up following me everywhere until I feel better. The screen shot was during a restless, blonde phase in which many lavascale were needing caught for the guild. Dust stayed by my side, and left as soon as I cheered up.

I think he knows the way to another dimension that isn't war torn. *nods* He seems to have such an ubiquitous feel about him that transcends pixels. Well, to me, anyway. Maybe it was that initial attraction way back in the BC days that caused me to roll a hunter, which eventually became my main.

Unread post by **Mozag** » Sat May 19, 2012 7:10 pm

Edited.

Unread post by **cowmuflage** » Sat May 19, 2012 8:31 pm

If you ever need junk on your face get a sporebat. XD

Unread post by **Galaxy** » Sat May 19, 2012 8:34 pm

I...honestly never saw the dangly inappropriateness until this thread ^.^; I'm not 100% convinced, yet, though lol I mean yeah..in much the same way a kid is a goat. It is, but it isn't, all at once.

Unread post by **Melentari** » Sun May 20, 2012 3:01 pm

I love sporebats. I keep getting them but releasing them. I guess I like them more in the wild than I like them in my stables, but I always smile when I see them.

Unread post by **Aritria** » Tue May 22, 2012 1:56 am

I just created a post in my hunter blog about these little guys. I love them, and this time I think mine is here to stay.

Unread post by **Ana** » Tue May 22, 2012 3:20 am

I have tamed alot of sporebats but the dangly inappropriatness have just keept me for keeping them to long.. but they are cute

Had one for a short time on Tårnfalk named HughHeffnér

Though the fanart where serenity hugs her owners head is soo adorable.. maybe i will try to give them another go someday

Unread post by **Daranara** » Tue Jul 03, 2012 7:31 pm

Okay, so I'm late to the party, but I want to talk about sporebats, so here I am!

Once upon a time, back in Wrath, I had a blue sporebat named Solana. She was nice, and was kind of a mother figure to my other pets. A silent, squishy mother that would sometimes flop on your head. (Sporebat hats are apparently common, it seems). Over time, however, we drifted apart and she retired back to Zangarmarsh, never to answer an attempt to be called back.

One of my biggest problems, it turns out, is their eyes. I can't quite figure out how they are set up.

This way?

This way? I wish I were joking when I say this is a make or break thing.[/center]

Anyway, when I got my sporebat assigned to me recently, I knew if I wanted a chance to bond, I was going to have to get over this, so I just decided that THIS sporebat was going to have teeny little eyes and big fake ones. Maybe that would help.

Enter Illianah.

yes this is Caldwell the loneliest sporebat. Or one of his buddies, I guess,since she's a girl.

The click was immediate. It was like Solana come back again, only a bit more playful. Solana wasn't interested in returning, so she sent someone else. Still a motherly floppy monsterbeast, but a bit less quiet this time.

Unread post by **Corpsebryde** » Thu Jul 05, 2012 2:39 pm

I just wanted to thank everyone who posts on these Pet Family Appreciation threads. Your wonderful stories have inspired me to try quite a few pets that I never would have thought I would bond with. One such pet is the sporebat.

I can not tell you how much I ignored and avoided the sporebat since BC. I disliked everything about them; their artwork, their animations, everything. My best friend on Eredar adored them and tamed one even when they were a terrible pet to have due to their lack of abilities. Seeing her struggles to get into groups back then because of her beloved pet saddened me. After that I vowed to tame pets because I liked them and not because of other people's opinion on their "usefulness".

After reading the few stories about this pet, they piqued my curiosity and I set out to tame one to see if maybe I too could love these little guys. I trekked to Zangarmarsh and decided on Sporewing to match my transmog and stable theme. The bond was immediate!

Meet Ghostlight! I simply adore this pet. The colors are gorgeous and his idle animations are adorable. His goofy yet loving personality was apparent to me from the beginning and PetEmote confirmed it. He has quickly won his way to the top of my stables and now fights for attention with Cackle the tallstrider. Thank you sporebat lovers for sharing your stories and helping me find this wonderful pet.

Thu Jul 05, 2012 7:24 pm

Squish approves of the new sporebat convert.

Congratulations on making a new friend! ^_^

Unread post by **Wassa** » Sat Jul 07, 2012 1:31 am

Daranara wrote: One of my biggest problems, it turns out, is their eyes. I can't quite figure out how they are set up.

This way?

This way? I wish I were joking when I say this is a make or break thing.

I see it as small eyes. If you look at the map_sporebat_diff skin in the facts section you can see the swirly eyes with nothing on the top of the head. I'm guessing on the top of the head above the eyes is bioluminescent orbs used to communicate with other sporebats or to help the sporebat see in the gloomy haze of Zangarmarsh.

Unread post by **Daranara** » Sat Jul 07, 2012 3:44 pm

Wassa wrote:*stuff about map_sporebat_diff skin*

My stars if that isn't the most zombie sporebat ever.

Also yay someone else who sees the bitty eyeballs. I know it's not that big a deal, but I just -have- to know how their features are arranged before I am comfortable with pets :B (I even looked at them enough I found eyes on the jormungar worms, oops)

But regardless, woo sporebats, and yay for teeny tiny eyes.

Unread post by **Slapperfish** » Wed Jul 25, 2012 12:04 pm

(deleted)

My Scroll! · Unread post by **Nimae** » Thu Aug 30, 2012 11:40 am

Daranara wrote: One of my biggest problems, it turns out, is their eyes. I can't quite figure out how they are set up.

This way?

This way? I wish I were joking when I say this is a make or break thing.[/center]

Holy mother of... If only I'd seen the second version before, I would have given Sporebats a better chance! I'd tried one awhile ago, but thought the eyes were the big glowy things and honestly...seemed a bit derpy to me. I'm a fan of the lower-placed predatory style eye (versus the higher-placed prey sort of eye, if that makes sense). But now that you've pointed out the eyes could also be the little swirly paisley design, and with a closer look I do think it truly is the eye... Sporebats are freakin' adorable to me now!

Must. Tame.

And, Wassa, this whole thread series idea is fabulous--kudos, and thank you for doing this. I've been away for a few months, and your reviews and the stories of players are rekindling my appreciation for so many different pet families. MoP can't come soon enough!

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