Random Pet Challenge: Stepping Out of the Box!

[Rhyela]

This is long overdue, but I finally got around to testing out an ivory crab. I headed to the only place that I knew had them off the top of my head - Darkshore. I made my way there and after heading down the beach for a while, finally found a cute little guy. I tamed him easily (as I should, being nearly 70 levels higher than him), and named him Scuttle.

First, we headed to Icecrown where we fought not one, not two, but four level 81-82 elites (well, one at a time, anyway)! Being level 77, I'm actually surprised that Scuttle fared as well as he did. I even specced him for damage talents rather than survivability, and he still never went lower than about 25k hp. He's a tough little crab! In the meantime, I decided to check out his appearance in the dark. He looks rather bland.



However, when targeted or in brighter areas, he has a pretty shiny creamy white apperance.



I took him into a battleground, and it seemed one of the mages there liked him. He kept casting Blizzard over Scuttle. The Alliance won easily because a couple of goons used some kind of weird exploit. O.o But in the short amount of time that we fought, his Pin ability came in pretty handy! And since he is Tenacity, he was able to handle some lock's DoT's like a champ. A Mend Pet and he was good as new!



I then went to the Violet Hold in Dalaran to look at his swimming animation. It's kind of cute, he sort of paddles slowly with those big claws of his.



All in all, I'm not in love with this pet, but he surprised me with his hardiness and cute expressions. I won't release him at this time (couldn't quite bring myself to do it), but if I find myself needing space in Cataclysm, I probably won't have much trouble releasing him. One thing that irks me is that when idle, his feet and legs kind of shift about awkwardly. I think the night elf males' feet used to do the same thing, but were fixed. Hope they fix the crabs' slippy feet as well. That's really the only thing I don't like about them.

Also, it is said that this skin is the blandest of the crab models. I tried a bronze crab in the past and released it shortly after. It didn't seem to have as much personality as Scuttle does. And I actually really like the ivory skin color, I think it's rather pretty.

This was fun!!! Maybe I'll do this again soon. Right now, I'm taking a bit of a break to play some console games (esp. now that I got my raven mount! Woo!)

[Kyria]

Off-topic post here.

=O

Taizak, I didn't know you where on these forums! I see you in Dalaran all the time and have to do a double take because our characters are exactly the same except for the tusks.

I've noticed you a number of times, too. I knew you were on here, though not on my server, but I didn't want to seem creepy and say hi in the game. I did cheer at Hahadori once, because she's awesome, but I think you were out of range. XD Too bad I got rid of my Strider Clutchmother just before I saw you in favor of Mazzranache. It would have been REALLY trippy then. Well, anyway, hello! /wave

[Trinia]

I completely forgot I had signed up for this. Goes to show how good I am at remembering. <3

I still need to go get the netherray assigned to me. I kind of wish you had at least rolled for which SB it was, since I'm after Loque ANYWAY. xD; For my alt, no, she's Alliance, so this will be ~very~ fun. <3 Gonna have to find that "Do it yourself" one for newbie Hunter in the Petopians guild. c:

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Edit: I went and did the more challenging tame first, and will post about it more tomorrow when I wake up and have time to experiment. I also got a surprise tame added in, so I'll mention that as well. <:

[swordoath]

If you guys want a quick and dirty way to roll up pets for yourselves or others, just use /roll in-game. You can /roll 32 to figure out which family you're getting, then do it again with the number of skins available in that family. Easy.

[TygerDarkstorm]

If Ache doesn't mind/needs a break from it, I can start doling out hunter challenges for people (imo, it's more fun when someone else gives you the challenge. =P) since I'm usually lurking around these boards for the better part of the day until I start my new job.

[Vephriel]

Earlier tonight I was struck by an intense desire to go Rare seeking, so I thought I would make it a sort of modified version of the Random Pet Challenge. I didn't necessarily choose pets at random, but I did specifically want to go after Rares so I went and picked out a good handful of ones I've never tamed before. I believe there were around 20, or something to that extent, in total. Mentally planning a route across the Eastern Kingdoms and Kalimdor I set out to see who was up.

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My very first stop was The Hinterlands, with the intention to see Old Cliff Jumper. In all my years of playing I've actually never felt any sort of desire to tame this wolf. His colours didn't appeal to me in comparison to others, and overall I just had no interest. I've never even seen him in the wild. Tonight was different though. I had a strange urge to give him a chance, my tastes in pets having broadened considerably since joining this community.

I wasn't really expecting much considering how hard-to-find this wolf is, but sure enough as I approach his territory he's there waiting. I was a little stunned. I stood there for a moment admiring his patient traipsing through the rainy forest, and then promptly tamed him.

The weather was serenely stormy at the time, there were grey skies and downpour for the duration of my stay. It struck me how regal he looked standing there in the rain, and I was immediately aware of a connection. He seemed an old, noble soul; I could just imagine the texture of his bristly fur and the wisdom in his green eyes.

I named him Stormfang right there, it was a name that leapt at me as I looked at him. I normally don't even use compound names like that, but in this case it just seemed so fitting. In any case, I'm a little bewildered to find myself with this unexpected companion, but he certainly has potential to be something special.







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I won't go over the next stretch of my journey as it was rather uneventful. Hours passed as I went from one end of the world to the other. As I mentioned earlier I had a good selection of Rares on my list, yet out of all those I checked on none were spawned. This struck me as quite odd considering the late hour and the fact that they were all Old World spawns, some of which were extremely obscure. I'm used to those old rares being up constantly, especially in the middle of the night.

Now here's the odd thing. The very last creature I had on my list was Shadowclaw. So I ride up to Darkshore, and....yeah. He's there. I raise my eyebrow at the eerie coincidence that the first and last beasts on my list were the only ones that were up. Even more bizarre was that the name I chose for OCJ, Stormfang, complemented the similarly structured name Shadowclaw.

I tamed him and kept his original name, as I could think of none that could fit better. While I felt a certain appeal towards the cat, there was a distance there, or a sense of rebellion, that kept any sort of true bond from sparking. It was as if I was only borrowing him, and could never hope to own or possess this creature that would slip away into the shadows at any moment. It was a brief meeting that I could already feel would fade away.

The elusive Shadowclaw was an honor to behold in person, being another Rare I'd never seen for myself, but in the end it didn't feel right to keep him, so I released him there on the shore beneath the moon's light.

[Loethlin]

Could I have an assignment too, please?

Pralinka
Beast Master
lvl 80

I only really spent time with cats, wolves, bears, boars and spirit beasts, so it'd be awesome if I got something other than them...
Also, I'm arachnophobic, so if spider comes out, please be kind enough to reroll.

[Kittykat]

Finally, an update on my second assignment.

I went out and tamed the carrion bird with my Troll hunter right away, but I didn't do any of the other things because I was focused on getting Krush. After taming him and leveling him to 80, I returned to this challenge.

I don't have a picture of the tame. It went much better than when I tried to tame one of these at 60. Having been granted levels from mid-30s to level 60, I was still very unfamiliar with my class, and I didn't know what all my traps did. So, without using my freezing trap the carrion bird knockback interrupted the tame every time. D'oh! My initial impression was that this big flappy bird wasn't a good match, but I was determined to give him a chance.

So, I named him Beaky after the Warner Brothers buzzard.



I took him out to Storm Peaks to kill mammoths and level up. He did fine. But I still didn't feel he really "clicked."
We got a message, and group of heroes needed a hunter to help them battle the forces of the Lich King in Utgarde Keep. During the fight, Beaky reached level 78. He may have died once on a large group of Vrykul, but survived the boss fights.

Back in Storm Peaks, we decided to visit the inn for some candy.


I took Beaky along for a tour of Un'Goro to see if King Mosh might show himself. Nope.

Then we went rare turtle hunting, and had a swim.


The swimming animation looks like he's flying slowly under water.

Overall, he's a big goofy bird, and a nice fellow. But he's not Zippy's style, and he won't be staying with her long-term. Thanks for starting this fun topic, and giving my troll hunter an adventure to remember.

[Vephriel]

It never really occurred to me before, but those orange vultures really are quite Halloween looking! He looks awesome with all the decor there. If I had the room I'd tame one myself.

[TygerDarkstorm]

Edit: Nevermind; solved my own problem. XD

Okay, after much rolling/re-rolling, double-checking everyone's posts, I have the rolls for those who have been waiting.

Astratia:

http://cataclysm.wow-petopia.com/images ... skin01.jpg

Aweena:

http://cataclysm.wow-petopia.com/images ... nblood.jpg

Autumnshots:

http://cataclysm.wow-petopia.com/images ... vender.jpg

Autumn/Crayoneater:

http://cataclysm.wow-petopia.com/images ... kblack.jpg

Cerah:
It rolled you this:
However, if you don't want to hunt the clutchmother, try this:
http://cataclysm.wow-petopia.com/images ... nbrown.jpg

Toeph:

http://cataclysm.wow-petopia.com/images ... kinred.jpg
If that's too hard, try:

http://cataclysm.wow-petopia.com/images ... inblue.jpg

Leata:

http://cataclysm.wow-petopia.com/images ... seased.jpg

Pralinka:

http://cataclysm.wow-petopia.com/images ... purple.jpg


If I missed anyone, or you need a re-roll, give a holler.

[Cerah]

Seriously, what is with rolling plainstriders for Cerah? I got the white one for her last pet challenge, and frankly, it sucked. No. more. plainstriders.

The turtle looks good for Toeph - I wanted to go on a BFD run anyway.

But Leata already has a wolf, and a much prettier one at that, so that diseased one's a no-go for her.

[Novikova]

Hmm. I'll give this a try!

My hunter is:

Novikova Level 80 Draenei Hunter, BM primary.

[Loethlin]

Fantastic, I wanted to try a wasp for a long time. And purple is my favourite colour, too! Off to Zangarmarsh I go...

[TygerDarkstorm]

No offense Cerah, with so many posts and everything, and the fact that you refuse to tame anything you have, plus your huge stable, you nearly make it more challenge to roll your 80 a pet than the low level hunters. I'll give you a reroll when my mouse on my desktop decides to quit bugging out.

When I first read about this challenge, I took it as something that we would use as a sort of guide to present other hunters out there with as a way to see different pets in a way you thought you might not have, and if you make a new friend out of it, great! Be it a different skin or a new family. But maybe that's just my view. I've tamed two different wasps, and if I was rolled an animal I've already tamed, I made my report on it. Like I said, that's the way I read the challenge and the way I view it. I'll have your rerolls and fresh rolls ready when my computer decides to quit being lame. Not trying to be mean or anything, but I'm tired and your post came off slightly offensive.

Edit: Cerah:

http://cataclysm.wow-petopia.com/images ... undead.jpg

Leata:

http://cataclysm.wow-petopia.com/images ... ellowt.jpg
If you don't want to go to a horde zone try:

http://cataclysm.wow-petopia.com/images ... let01t.jpg

Novikova:

http://cataclysm.wow-petopia.com/images ... urplet.jpg

If anyone needs a reroll, let me know. Cerah, with yours, I'm going off the pics you provided on the last page, but your rolls are getting harder and harder to do.

[Golden]

I agree with you completely, Tyger. This challenge is more about stepping out of your comfort zone than finding THE perfect pet for you - if your challenge pet becomes your best friend, it's a big plus, but it's not required.

[TygerDarkstorm]

I agree with you completely, Tyger. This challenge is more about stepping out of your comfort zone than finding THE perfect pet for you - if your challenge pet becomes your best friend, it's a big plus, but it's not required.

Thank you. I'm glad I made sense. ^_^

When someone comes in with a big list of "This is what I have, this is what I've had in the past and I refuse any of this type" it makes the rolls a tad limiting, and the time process doing these is a bit consuming so I apologize if my post was a bit harsh. If it's a pet you have or have had, please make a report on it; I've done it with one or two of the pets I was rolled.

I understand if you have a legitimate real life fear about a certain animal and don't want to tame it (spiders are pretty damn creepy >_<). I just saw this challenge as a great way to provide feedback to the hunter community about the different pets and their skins. While one of us may not like the skin we're assigned, another hunter reading this might want to try it, and decide to go for it after reading the report. ^_^


That's what I hope anyway. >_>

[Novikova]

oh boo. I have a purple snake at 80 named Solid. I hope I'm not being mean. I got bored one day camping in the basin and tamed a serpent. The only thing I might have some reservations on is a spider...

[TygerDarkstorm]

oh boo. I have a purple snake at 80 named Solid. I hope I'm not being mean. I got bored one day camping in the basin and tamed a serpent. The only thing I might have some reservations on is a spider...

It's not being mean. You didn't list what your current stables were so I just rolled. If you'd like, you can make the report on the snake you already have. If you don't wish to do that, I'll reroll for you. Up to you.

[Cryptography]

Perhaps those of you who get assigned a pet you already have/have tried can report on that. Either why you love it, or why it didnt click.

(And yes I still havent finished the ones I was given ages ago!)

[Acherontia]

Indeed, rolling the pets is quite time-consuming indeed, and can be frustrating when people don't list their pets or have already tamed tons of stuff. But, I wouldn't offer if I wasn't willing--it just means I often have to take a break of a day or two and do them 'in bulk' (which sometimes takes an hour!).

In any case, I don't mind anyone rolling pets for the rest, as TygerDarkstorm's doing--it's a nice way to keep the thread rolling