Random "Pet Theme" Challenge

[TygerDarkstorm]

/poke

WTB an Acherontia back.

[Miraga]

*makes a trail of cookies leading to the thread*



The new patch sure did bury everything!

[Varethyn]

Sorry this is late, I died and had to wait for the respawn timer got a job placement and have a lot less WoW-time

Yarr me hearties, me next theme be that o' the Pirate! ... Okay enough of that. For this theme I was challenged to find a grey monkey, a green-and-red parrot and a blue turtle.
I started with the turtle. I was bound to Astranaar in Ashenvale so I took a flight over to Forest Song and ran into Azshara. "Why Azshara?" some would ask. Well, I still have a thing for rare pets, So Scalebeard seemed appropriate

Yes I named him Salty. Thought I'd go for a better-fitting name theme for this challenge I kind of like this colouration, mid-blue scales and a yellow shell and claws and a white underbelly. Old-world turtles are quite cute in the way their flat faces give them a kind of "derp" expression. The scales are mostly apparent on the legs, but are rather low-res. The only thing I'm not certain about is the eyes; I've never really looked closely at old-world turtles' eyes before now: the eye is black and the iris corresponds to the turtle's shell rim colour, in this case pale yellow. They seem blank and, to me, creepy and hollow.

Action-wise turtles, and beetles, make excellent tanks. The shell shield ability mitigates a lot of damage, keeping the scaly beast, and more importantly YOU, alive for longer. They hold aggro well and can be used for both solo- and group-tanking. They are also fairly quiet when attacking.

Swift has considered a turtle, however, while this is a pretty skin, I feel it will more likely be Ghamoo-ra. She has pretty blue eyes.

Onwards and upwards as they say, or, in this case, downwards. Into the deadmines to find both my other challenges. Rather embaressingly it turns out Swiftrunner cannot solo DM without a pet yet, so I, reluctantly, headed topside and grabbed the first thing I found. A boar. I named him Landlubber but I didn't intend to keep him, so back down we went. Just after the first boss the walls are lined with monkeys that the Defias goblins enslaved to do their dirty work. Right in front of me, however, was the colour monkey I was tasked and so I quickly went about saving him.

Now mining monkeys, when first tamed, keep their mining animation. A quick dismiss and resummon works wonders for curing this ill-gained habit. At first glance the little guy's kind of cute, with his large brown eyes. His body-fur is a solid grey, a tad darker than Swift's, and has a white belly and border around his face, which is a pale peachy colour.

His idle animations bother me a little. His "chest pounding" looks more like he's thumping his belly and is over-all rather half-hearted in my eyes. And the butt-scratch with a mining pick is just... it starts off funny but also looks odd. He is rather sweet when he looks around though. Battle-wise monkeys aren't the best tanks; this one at least can't hold aggro and is squishy. And extremely noisy when fighting. The wooping and shrieking is near-constant and I highly advise hunters who prefer quiet pets to steer clear of them. At least it looks like he's actually fighting with his pick.

In the end I was forced to switch back to my tempBOARary tank to continue on. Monkeys never really appealed to me and fighting with one hasn't improved my view on them. I will take this little guy somewhere more appropriate than the mines and release him.

Finally we get to the boatyard and my last goal is in sight. There is only one Sunwing Squawker in the area. Made finding it easier.
All parrots are really pretty and this one is no different. Her main body is a mid-green and the wings are layered starting with green, then white, black and ending in a dull orange. She also has orange cheeks, a pink band around the eyes, black beak and grey feet.

Again though, the only thing that puts me off is the pure-black eyes, even if they fit the skin.

A really good-looking pet but not quite one for Swift. Besides, he already risked life and limb for a Daggercap Hawk who he simply adores. Okay, fine, my brother flew me there on his rocket, but hey, I got the bird!
Battle-wise the parrot, like the monkey, is a fair dps but poor tank, at least at lv30. They squawk intermittedly and not at an unbearable level, but not really fighting sounds.
Overall another no-go from this theme. I didn't get a fight scene for this one because my router was turned off and I had a brain-dead moment when I logged back on and released her immediately

While I'm eager for another challenge my job placement is eating all my WoW-time except for weekends. I do get evenings... but by then I'm practically dead on my feet . Secondly... I think its about time I levelled the poor wolf-man

[TygerDarkstorm]

In the end I was forced to switch back to my tempBOARary tank to continue on.

I see what you did thar.

[Lehana]

The theme for me this time was gray pets. I tend to think of gray pets as being a little bland, so let’s see if that’s the case.

First off I headed down to STV to pick up a gray gorilla. Ok I’ll admit I wasn’t initially there for a gorilla I was there for a cat. And a crocolisk, And a different gorilla. But once I got all those rares out of the way I got to work with what I should have been doing.

I have never been fond of gorillas. They aren’t bad, but I just never connected with any. I have gorillas on both my hunters, but I really haven’t used them much. So, let’s see if this guy is any different.

I like the attack animations. The animation of the gorillas in general seem very decent. And the sounds fit him very well. He doesn’t keep still, when idle he’ll beat his chest. It made getting screenshots interesting.

Look at his eyes, they are gorgeous. Such a pretty green. That is one thing I really like about him. He has a very nice face.

One thing about him, is that he’s very big. As big as, if not bigger than, a bear. I think I’d prefer gorillas if they were a little smaller, but it isn’t a deal-breaker. And I’ll be honest, sometimes you just want a huge pet.

Overall, I like the gorilla. The sounds they make aren’t too bad. I could see myself with a gorilla, I’m just not sure this would be the one I’d keep. I have the white gorilla and I’m not sure I have the room for another. I will admit, I liked this pet more than I thought I would, and I think they eyes have something to do with it. They are just a really striking green.

I took my gorilla with me into deadmines on the hunt for the elusive mining monkey. It didn’t take me long to find one.

Hello there little fella! Want to come with me? You do? Good. You don’t have any choice. Unfortunately he dropped his mining axe when I tamed him, I kept on pointing at it and telling him to pick it up, but he just wouldn’t listen.

We stopped in front of the boat so he could say goodbye to the mines(and so I could look for rare birds). Like his bigger cousin he too beats his chest. He’s kinda cute actually. His running animations are rather odd though. Not sure I like them much.

Look at that face. How could you not love it? Why haven’t I picked up one of these guys before? So cute.

Attack that wolf! Uh. You can uh, stop making noise now. Really. You can. Please. Stop. Ok, this isn’t going to work. Sorry little fella but I think you’ll now have a new home here. In the middle of these wolf infested woods.

Overall, Monkeys are noisy. VERY noisy. I don’t mind loud pets most of the time, but this guy got on my nerves. While he looked decent, I won’t be keeping him. The one thing that was neat about him, was that he carried a mining pick, but that was changed in the last patch so he no longer has one. I imagine this guy would be a great pvp pet with his stun, but since I don’t pvp I have no reason to keep him.

After tearfully leaving the monkey in the woods I decided to hunt the next pet on my list, the gray bear. I did a bear last time, but maybe this bear will connect better. I headed over to Southshore to find one.

He wasn’t very hard to find, he found me. I was stuck by his red eyes. I’m not sure I like them. But they are very striking.

It’s rather odd, if I stand somewhere he’ll look behind me. I don’t know why he does that. Guess he’s guarding my back.

My next pet is a spider, but I’m putting that off as long as I can. I don’t like spiders much. So we visited Big Samras. I grew very sleepy watching them, but decided we must move on.

Riley played with the kittens for a little bit, Araga didn’t seem to mind. She was quite busy looking off into the distance at something. I’ll visit that next.

Overall I liked this bear. I think I’ll keep him. If you couldn’t tell, I love the sleep emote he could do. And the eyes are actually rather pretty. Bears make decent tanks, and have a nice debuff. Not a great group pet, but a solid solo pet.

So what was Araga looking at. Let’s find out.

*insert high pitched scream here*

This thing is bigger than a house. I can’t believe I’m taming this. Get it off! Get it off! Help! Help!

Whew. Tamed. Much reasonable size. See. That rabbit is almost as large as it is. NOOO don’t eat the bunny. Stop it! I command you!

AHHH! No, don’t eat me!!!

Spiders and me don’t get along. I had thought that taming a rare one might make me like the spider more, since I have a rare obsession. I did not realize that the spider had been eating his wheaties. Seeing a spider fill the whole screen did not make me feel any better about him. This model of spider freaks me out the least of all the spiders. Being fuzzy makes it almost cute. The dripping fangs however, make it uncute. On a smaller model the dripping fangs aren't as noticeable, but on the house sized spider it's rather noticable. As a pvp pet I bet the web ability would be great. For solo or dpsing it has limited use. If you like spiders this might be an ok pet. But uh, I don’t. Sooo, yeah.

To get my mind off of spiders I decided to head to Teldrassil and get the gray spotted cat. I like cats a lot, so this should be fun.

Where’s the kitty?

There’s the kitty! I found you.

Cat’s have a very playful movement to them that I like. I really like their running animations. Here we are burning stuff. Yay!

Kitty face!

Unfortunately, I don’t think I’ll be keeping this one. I have a couple of cats already. And while there isn’t anything wrong with it, there is nothing about it that says keep me. I’ve never really liked this color of cats. The spots just seem rather off to me. Cat's in general are great though, I really like the buff that cats bring, it’s especially good for solo or groups without a DK or warrior.

So, of the pets, I think I will be keeping the bear. He appears to be a good luck charm. The spider I'm not keeping, rare or not he kinda freaks me out. I prefer the old spider I had, a red and black spiked spider. I was planning on keeping the gorilla but I saw Old Cliff Jumper and had to abandon a pet, and I wasn't done taking screenshots with the other pets on me. The cat is fine, but like I said, I already have a few I like and that color scheme never stuck me as one I must have. The monkey, while adorable, is too loud. Everything it does makes a noise and it got annoying real fast.

[TygerDarkstorm]

Lehana, I loved your review. ^_^

[Kalliope]

Heeeee, I *love* the pic with Big Samras! *melty*

[Lehana]

Heeeee, I *love* the pic with Big Samras! *melty*

Me too. In fact that picture and the picture with Araga are pretty much the reason why I'm keeping Riley, the bear. It gave him a personality that the other pets I tamed lacked.

Also, I just want to say, I have read everyone elses reviews, and I have loved them all. I always look forward to seeing what people have to say about their pets.

[Mozag]

Right. Many, many days and three hunters later, I have finally managed to complete my challenge. So sorry for the delay!
I also apologise for never commenting on sounds that the animals make, I play the game with the sounds off.

Sci-Fi pets, Acherontia said, and so I started with my now deceased Goblin Googie and her brown Outland Raptor Brad. The experience was good, and as I made my way to Bloodmyst Isle on Mozag, my red raptor Despair, in whom Brad's spirit still resides, joined me.

We came up to the group of Green Ravagers that were my challenge, but one little chap stood out. He was hanging out alone, away from the rest of the group, and constantly charging a bronze node. By this I took him to be of a mining persuasion, but having no hands, what could the poor guy do?



Being a miner myself, I realised that he was the one to come home with me. I sent Despair off to get herself some Blood Elf grub, and set to taming this green monster. I don't bother putting traps down when taming animals so much lower in level than myself, but the ravager had different ideas! He interrupted my tame twice, and so I was forced to use harsher measures. I felt bad that he didn't want to come with me, but secretly I was pleased with his feisty nature.



It was all false modesty, however,as my next screenie shows. He had a happy smile and a mad glint in his dull-coloured eyes, and the innocently wandering treant in the picture was soon wandering no longer. I became amused by his obvious personality and need to impress.



Now let it be known that I came to tame this green guy eagerly, since he is the very model Mozag's predecessor Ceredigion carted around for 10 levels, but I fully expected to dump him, since I already had a ravager who matched my red pets-theme. I have always found the ravagers to be strange, ugly brutes, with no sense whatsoever in their models, but since the buff is a tasty one, and I have no other pet choice, being MM, I had to have one. There was no way Autopsy would be welcoming this young brother into the fold.



But the more I looked at the as-yet unnamed creature, the more I started to appreciate his elegance, compared to Autopsy's spikier, clunkier model. I still can't quite get over the silly teeth (though I accepted them better when I realised that they match my tusks...) and I am completely confused by the horrible "hip-bone-spike-thing". It's really ugly, but luckily something I can ignore most of the time. His colour is unremarkable in my eyes. A dull green and black, and his eyes don't have the demonic red that I like in the spikier version.





We ran around Bloodmyst Isle a little, getting a feel for the place that he had landed so violently in. I realised that his face while running is incredibly stupid, with the mouth open and those silly teeth sticking up. Also, the hip-bone-spike-thing was ugly. Still, the earnest moving forward, as if he were always ready for battle won me over. And of course, something that I couldn't capture, his tiny, occasional little "jumpy" movement as he attacks things. It's hard to explain but it almost looks like a little flip, but it's so fast I didn't really get a good look. Cute though.



Swimming animations were alright, with him kicking back his legs in a "spidery" motion. His idle I like, since he seems so jumpy, turning his head constantly and doing the little bounce.

Off we went to Orgrimmar to do our Love Fool dailies. I found out that even our ridiculous Warchief loves him.



He performed our dailies admirably. My DPS was the highest it had ever been on the seasonal bosses, though that may have been thanks to the atrocious damage out-put of the Shammy. The ravager worked hard, and though his aggro holding abilities aren't nearly as impressive as they were back when I first had him, we were able to murder our way through the Forsaken creeps with dignity.





Oh, and look at what he found for me!



That sealed the deal. I realised that Destroyer really wanted to stay with me. I don't really like the green Madexx much, but I noted that he had whispered a word in the green's ear, since he wanted to convince me that green pets were ok after all, despite my main colour-theme. He seemed to be saying "Gives us a chance! Look, Madexx even has the glowy red eyes you so like in the spikier version of me!" Could I have let him go after all that? Of course not.

So, Autopsy and I had a long talk, and I think that my red ravager was happy to be homed with my favourite Goblin stable master, in whose capable hands he had been spending far too much time anyhow.



Are they sci-fi? Most definitely. Probably the most outlandish looking creatures in the game.


Next up was the blue Cataclysm crab model. I was very excited about this tame, since I'd tamed him once previously, before figuring out Mozag's stable-theme. I'd been sorry to see him go, and now was my chance to reconnect.

When I'd let the original blue crab go, I'd tried out the orange version of the skin, but idling about in Orgrimmar for 10 minutes had convinced me that the colour was ugly, washed out, and not at all what I was looking for. I went and ogled the Goblin hunter trainer's red version of the skin, and was more impressed. Off to Vash'Jir, and the new crab was mine. My self-satisfaction lasted all of half an hour. I took him out to Uldum to quest, and realised, to my horror, that whatever-his-name-was, was incapable of holding any aggro. Not only did he use his pin ability immediately when left on auto-cast, but even with the use of thunderstomp and misdirections, it was a no go. I was feigning death constantly, and this was not what I was looking for in a tanking pet. He had to go. So, this was my chance to try again.

Destroyer helped me pick the crab out.



The taming went off without a hitch, despite the creature's occasional, petty little swipes at me. There was something about the submissiveness that didn't impress me.



Luckily, her colour was as delightful as ever. I love the model from the front and the top. The spikes are cute, the face is adorable, and the claws are very well made. Look at the lovely shading on her head!



Sadly, the fatal flaw with this model is what it looks like from behind. The massive gap and bendy legs just make it look weird.



Animations-wise, the idle is boring, but as such not annoying either. She occasionally turned her head, and really that was about it. Swimming was nice, I liked how she used her large claw to move forward. And running was the standard crab scuttle, which is perfectly adequate.

We went to do the daily (I'd done it with Destroyer the day before), with my crab, and I decided to throw her a Mend Pet, and send her scuttling towards three targets. By the time she got to her second, she was dead. Not good.



So, we tried one at a time. Keeping aggro without a Misdirect (which was working this time, at least), was a little so-and-so. Sometimes she managed it, others not. She would be perfectly fine if I let her establish aggro for a while, but I wasn't happy with what a LONG while that was. Certainly, my beetle is a far more capable tank than either my warpie, croc or scorpids, but all those don't take this long to establish themselves as tanks. Granted, she was better than my red crab had been, but I was still not certain at all. Besides, I have a much loved spider for those pinning down moments, and she takes a better beating than this crab.

I decided to mull it over for the next two hours while grinding for my husband's Valentine's Day gift.



That accomplished, I returned to discuss things over with my new "tank". I made an ultimatum, either she impress me in some way or another before my stables fill up, or she's out of there. She seemed to understand the gravity of the situation, and for once didn't look away with her "coudn't care less" expression. I named her Death, and am still hoping that I get a reason to keep her.



I swear, she looks evilly pleased with herself here. Perhaps there is some pizazz there, after all...



To be continued in a second post...

[Mozag]

"Get a green warp stalker!" Acherontia commanded me, and off I went to Winterspring. I knew for a fact that his one wouldn't be staying with me, and I had hardened my heart against any pleading, puppy-dog eyes. I absolutely refuse to have repeat pets on my hunters, and I've had my eye on this colour for my Worgen for a long while now. Besides, Mozag's red Warpie is her main girl, and like Autopsy, but more loved, she'd not be accepting an ugly, green impostor into her presence any time soon!

The cave in which the object of my search dwelled suited Mozag and Death beautifully. In fact, I was so impressed with my crab's lovely colours, that I snap-shotted us past my target.



At the end of the cave I rolled my eyes and ran back, to be greeted by three little birdies in a nest...or warp stalkers, in this case. Mouths wide open for noms.



Little did I realise that the noms was me, and in a classic fail hunter move, I started taming the middle one, but forgot to dismiss Death first. True to her name, she started dishing out the death to the three warpies, but for once, her incompetence was useful. She didn't manage to kill even one of them, and I dismissed her promptly and finished the tame. We ran out to look at my temporary acquisition in a brighter light.



I love warp stalkers. I can't think of a single thing I don't like about them. The size is nice, the tail is adorable, the face is cute, the side-profile impressive. I even like the silly, huge spikes on the back, and the two on the head. The colour combinations are exciting, and though the turquoise one leaves me cold as a cucumber, this one is pretty cool. It sure as heck doesn't suit Mozag, and I was pleased to see that I wouldn't be tempted. Until, of course...

What's that you smell, Lassie?



A rare, you say! Why do you look like...that...?



Oh...



I liked his attitude, but I was doubly certain that my insane Possessed would never welcome another homicidal maniac into the fold.

I was bored with Uldum, and so we made our way to Deepholm, where to my surprise, he seemed to fit.



The animations are non-intrusive, the idle a sniff of the air, and a turn of its' head. I love the running, since he looks so hunched up and I like that the spikes lower while the warpie moves. I enjoy little details like that. The swim is a doggy-paddle type of thing. Sometimes there's a glitch or something, which makes the warp stalker catch up with you quickly, and when it does that, the walk it makes is a sort of long-strided glide. I hope they never fix it, if it is a glitch.

While I wondered what challenge to take him on, we were ambushed by a...geode.



We took down some rock flayers, and, like Possessed, he needed time to establish aggro, or an instant Misdirect. Otherwise he was fine, but I knew our time was coming to an end, anyway. I thought I'd take him to solo UP for the mount, but the thought of going all the way there made me decide against it. So the brilliant idea of soloing Stoncore presented itself. And we flew up to face the challenge!

As I stood explaining tactics to him, he threw me an expression that clearly said "Listen lady, you're not geared, I'm 82, you're heart's not in it. You're sending me to my death in there." And I looked into his earnest face and knew it to be true.



He was clearly feeling at home in Deepholm though, so I asked a Shaman in the Temple of Earth to care for him. They both seemed happy about it, and I was able to leave with a lighter heart.



I'll miss him a little, I suppose. But I'll tip the Worgen off to his whereabouts, maybe she'll find him and take him home. So, to cheer myself up, here's a picture of my Possessed, lurking in the shallow waters of Orgrimmar, in search of foolish prey.




Finally, it was time for the blue sporebat. I have one on Lomelinda, so decided against taming a new one on Mozag, who has had a very rocky relationship with both the green and the brown version. It was also the perfect excuse to dust Willow off and try her out. Since taming her, I'd not done anything with her.

We ran through Dalaran in search of a place to photograph her in a pretty light. I immediately found what I liked most about sporebats. The movement. So fluid, so pretty, so calming. To quote Archimedes from Disney's "The Sword in the Stone", it is "poetry of motion". The idle was very boring, a sort of occasional "blob" in the air. I really can't describe it better. I forgot to check swimming animations, but I imagine that they are similar to the flying ones.



Much has been discussed recently about the dangly bits of the sporebat looking something like the dangly bits of a man. It doesn't bother me in any way, but now that I've seen it, I can't unsee it. Oh well, at least they're a blazing pink. I can't make sense of the head. Are those shiny blobs the eyes? The colours are nice but the face is as ugly as sin.



I also found another questionable detail.



So, off we went to try her out in battle. I'm Survival, so didn't expect much in the aggro-holiding department, and I was right. I multi-shotted four shoveltusks, and aggroed a fifth one, and though Willow managed to get through it alive, it was all very messy indeed. I realised that she tried to slow the casting speed of mobs that did not cast. Clearly there wasn't much room for a brain in her flat, strange head.

We went in search of casters.



I sent her in, and what do we know? Yes, before the caster cast anything, she threw her special ability out there. By the time she was put to sleep, it had worn off and I was facing the mob alone. Yes, very well done, Willow. Things went better when I started micro-managing it, but the whole experience left a bad taste in my mouth. I don't think I'll ever like spore bats. I'm keeping Willow, in case she's ever needed in a heroic or a raid some day, but I do feel that my hand is being forced. The animal, for me, has no personality.

[TygerDarkstorm]

Mozag, the ravagers actually do do a flip in combat when they cast their special.
It is very hard to get a screen of, but I managed to nab one.

[Mozag]

Hahah! Oh that's a great one, Tyger!

Aww, so cute. I think I better go and play with Mozag and Destroyer for a bit again.

[TygerDarkstorm]

Spartan, my purple extra spiky ravager has become one of my new favorite pets. ^_^
I love those demon red eyes, and they shine through camo too!

[Cialbi]

I also found another questionable detail.

I think that's supposed to look like the underside of a fungal cap, with the division down the middle either being laziness or an attempt to give the impression of lateral symmetry (left side being a mirror image of right side). Odd result, for sure.


Mozag, did you try taking your crab's Pin ability off autocast? Since Pin is channeled, preventing the use of any other abilities for its duration, your crab spends 4 seconds creating 0 threat while you're firing up to four shots. That would explain your aggro issues

[Mozag]

Mozag, did you try taking your crab's Pin ability off autocast? Since Pin is channeled, preventing the use of any other abilities for its duration, your crab spends 4 seconds creating 0 threat while you're firing up to four shots. That would explain your aggro issues

No, I completely forgot that it's a channeled ability! I remember having these same issues with my demon doggie, but as he's a ferocity pet, I suppose I wasn't expecting much. Obviously micro-managing the ability would produce better results! *slaps forehead*

Still, my opinion stands. Since I don't PvP, I would consider a tanking pet whose ability I need to monitor myself constantly far more hassle than it's worth. I'm sure it would be useful situationally, but for simple soloing and quests where I usually don't need to think what I or my pet do, the crab definitely wasn't great.

[Acherontia]

Hai guise. I just wanted to let you all know that with the login issues, I couldn't get on for a few days; long, complicated story, involving manycomputers and stuffs. Anyways, I shall update this later today with rolls for everyone who asked, and look over the reviews (for luls and fun).

Sorry for the absence

[TygerDarkstorm]

I'm glad you're back. I was really worried that something bad had happened to you.

[Mozag]

Good to have you back! I was starting to get worried as well, since you're usually such a prolific member of the forums, and seeing no Ache posts was depressing! Welcome baaack!

[Acherontia]

Thanks guys Terribly sorry I worried you, and that is very sweet lol

I promise I'll update the thread today

[TygerDarkstorm]

Take your time. ^_^