Re: Random Pet Challenge [v4.0]
Posted: Mon May 15, 2017 7:42 pm
Classes are done and I am back into WoW, and I am just SO happy that this thread is still active! Leveling Nhee with these pet challenges is honestly some of the most fun I've had in the game for a while, and oh boy it's good to be back.
So without further ado,
This is my overdue report on the White Turtle, which I used from level 50-60.
Just like last time, I didn't have to venture far to find one of these turtles. A quick run down to Thousand Needles, and soon enough I found a stranded sparkleshell on a rocky platform, looking helpless as ever. I can't even spend 5 minutes in the place without getting bitter over what Cataclysm did to it, so I cannot imagine what it must be like being stuck there on a rock for as long as him.
The rescue operation taming process was swift and uncomplicated, and soon enough he was mine!
Continuing my Stormlight Archieve naming theme, I called him Rock. In the books, Rock is a high-spirited pacifistic cook and somewhat of a gentle giant. All fitting for this poor old turtle.
My first impressions were a lot better than I thought they would be. The only turtle I've really used before has been the flashy Terrorpene, a near complete opposite to this plain and muted white turtle, so I wasn't expecting to form a bond quickly. Well, I was wrong! I immediately felt sympathy for the poor guy, what with being stranded in such an aggravating place and all, and his white colouring rather matched Nhee herself (if you were to ignore her ugly armor at least).
We quickly hearthed back to Orgrimmar where he could stretch his legs a bit, and headed off to Winterspring.
Unfortunately, this is where I took my break, so I cannot remember much from those five levels. So instead I will talk a bit about Rock's model and animations.
In my opinion, it holds up surprisingly well. It is a bit janky and boxy around the head and feet, but there is a great amount of detail in his shell spikes, and the scales on his feet. The only part of the model that I dislike is that his pupil and iris kind of blends together. This is a very small issue though, and I was level 58 before I even noticed it.
In addition to the model, the animations are great as well. When idle he will sniff the air and look around, and his run animation has a great sense of weight to it. It can look a bit silly when you're mounted and he's powerwalking to keep up, but I just found that to be endearing. When running and swimming his tail does a little wag behind him, which I thought was a great detail.
Back in the saddle again at level 55, I grabbed Rock and went down to Silithus to continue where we left off. Probably not the best place to bring a pacifist, since nearly all the quests are of the “kill 20 ____” variety, but Rock did his job with no complaint!
His colouring nearly matched the sands of Silithus, and made for some great camouflage as we went to town on nearby cultists, silithids and whatever else that got in our way.
All that fighting gave me time to get a closer look at Rock's combat prowess, animations and sounds.
Turtles have the Shell Shield ability, which reduces all damage by 50% for 12 seconds. Left on autocast, I found it to usually activate when he at 50-25% HP.
This ability, mixed with the tenacity spec, is just fantastic. I could pull far bigger groups than usually (keep in mind that I am not using heirlooms on Nhee), and elites were no problem at all. Rock did little damage otherwise, but he was an awesome tank, and allowed us to get through this combat-heavy zone with no issue.
In battle, he would snap and bite at enemies, using that big underbite of his. As far as sounds are concerned, he was a quiet pet, only making a few low growls when attacking.
Silithus came and went pretty fast, being a short zone with only a few quests. We mowed through scorpids and worms en masse, wished an Alliance hunter camping Acroniss /luck, got lost in the silithid caverns more times than I'm willing to admit, and danced on a crystal while waiting for quest mobs to respawn.
19 quests later and we were onwards to Blasted Steppes. This is not my favourite area to say the least, so I will admit that I was trying to rush through them as fast as possible. Still, Rock kept me in good company as I trudged through the Nethergarde Mines and demon-ridden swamplands, and saved my butt from some really bad pulls on multiple occasions. The mines in particular were a headache and a half, where I got lost and nearly died several times because I forgot about the boxes you could hide in.
Rock also looked absolutely great, his white scales in sharp contrast to the harsh sun and red sands. It was nice to see him in an environment like this, after two zones with similar colour schemes to his own.
And soon enough I hit 60, with the Dark Portal looming thematically in the background. We hearthed back to Orgrimmar, where Rock could get some food and a well deserved rest at the stables.
Overall, this was just a great pet, and once again I was really pleasantly surprised. This was previously my least favorite turtle skin, but he just grew on me a whole ton. As with some of my previous challenge tames, the moral of the story seems to be that a pet doesn't have to be flashy to be awesome.
Though he'll be taking a bit of a break for now, Rock is definitely a keeper on Nhee's team.
Outland let's go!
Name: Nhee
Level: 60
Exotics: No
Restrictions: lvl 50-60
Very excited to see what I'll get.
So without further ado,
This is my overdue report on the White Turtle, which I used from level 50-60.
Just like last time, I didn't have to venture far to find one of these turtles. A quick run down to Thousand Needles, and soon enough I found a stranded sparkleshell on a rocky platform, looking helpless as ever. I can't even spend 5 minutes in the place without getting bitter over what Cataclysm did to it, so I cannot imagine what it must be like being stuck there on a rock for as long as him.
The rescue operation taming process was swift and uncomplicated, and soon enough he was mine!
Continuing my Stormlight Archieve naming theme, I called him Rock. In the books, Rock is a high-spirited pacifistic cook and somewhat of a gentle giant. All fitting for this poor old turtle.
My first impressions were a lot better than I thought they would be. The only turtle I've really used before has been the flashy Terrorpene, a near complete opposite to this plain and muted white turtle, so I wasn't expecting to form a bond quickly. Well, I was wrong! I immediately felt sympathy for the poor guy, what with being stranded in such an aggravating place and all, and his white colouring rather matched Nhee herself (if you were to ignore her ugly armor at least).
We quickly hearthed back to Orgrimmar where he could stretch his legs a bit, and headed off to Winterspring.
Unfortunately, this is where I took my break, so I cannot remember much from those five levels. So instead I will talk a bit about Rock's model and animations.
In my opinion, it holds up surprisingly well. It is a bit janky and boxy around the head and feet, but there is a great amount of detail in his shell spikes, and the scales on his feet. The only part of the model that I dislike is that his pupil and iris kind of blends together. This is a very small issue though, and I was level 58 before I even noticed it.
In addition to the model, the animations are great as well. When idle he will sniff the air and look around, and his run animation has a great sense of weight to it. It can look a bit silly when you're mounted and he's powerwalking to keep up, but I just found that to be endearing. When running and swimming his tail does a little wag behind him, which I thought was a great detail.
Back in the saddle again at level 55, I grabbed Rock and went down to Silithus to continue where we left off. Probably not the best place to bring a pacifist, since nearly all the quests are of the “kill 20 ____” variety, but Rock did his job with no complaint!
His colouring nearly matched the sands of Silithus, and made for some great camouflage as we went to town on nearby cultists, silithids and whatever else that got in our way.
All that fighting gave me time to get a closer look at Rock's combat prowess, animations and sounds.
Turtles have the Shell Shield ability, which reduces all damage by 50% for 12 seconds. Left on autocast, I found it to usually activate when he at 50-25% HP.
This ability, mixed with the tenacity spec, is just fantastic. I could pull far bigger groups than usually (keep in mind that I am not using heirlooms on Nhee), and elites were no problem at all. Rock did little damage otherwise, but he was an awesome tank, and allowed us to get through this combat-heavy zone with no issue.
In battle, he would snap and bite at enemies, using that big underbite of his. As far as sounds are concerned, he was a quiet pet, only making a few low growls when attacking.
Silithus came and went pretty fast, being a short zone with only a few quests. We mowed through scorpids and worms en masse, wished an Alliance hunter camping Acroniss /luck, got lost in the silithid caverns more times than I'm willing to admit, and danced on a crystal while waiting for quest mobs to respawn.
19 quests later and we were onwards to Blasted Steppes. This is not my favourite area to say the least, so I will admit that I was trying to rush through them as fast as possible. Still, Rock kept me in good company as I trudged through the Nethergarde Mines and demon-ridden swamplands, and saved my butt from some really bad pulls on multiple occasions. The mines in particular were a headache and a half, where I got lost and nearly died several times because I forgot about the boxes you could hide in.
Rock also looked absolutely great, his white scales in sharp contrast to the harsh sun and red sands. It was nice to see him in an environment like this, after two zones with similar colour schemes to his own.
And soon enough I hit 60, with the Dark Portal looming thematically in the background. We hearthed back to Orgrimmar, where Rock could get some food and a well deserved rest at the stables.
Overall, this was just a great pet, and once again I was really pleasantly surprised. This was previously my least favorite turtle skin, but he just grew on me a whole ton. As with some of my previous challenge tames, the moral of the story seems to be that a pet doesn't have to be flashy to be awesome.
Though he'll be taking a bit of a break for now, Rock is definitely a keeper on Nhee's team.
Outland let's go!
Name: Nhee
Level: 60
Exotics: No
Restrictions: lvl 50-60
Very excited to see what I'll get.