Shadowclaw

[Pwncess]

While working on a fishing achievement that lead me to Darkshore, I decided to see what Shadowclaw looks like now since he developed the new mount model.

Well, he was up and trying to hide from me in his prowl stance.
I decided to tame him out of boredom (if I have a free spot available with me then I usually tame temporary pets just cause I can...)
And when he started towards me, I instantly realized


HE'S BEAUTIFUL. I'm in love.
I haven't felt this strongly for a pet after a tame since my Humar when I was level 23. I mean, there's been other pets I love the look of and had to have, but haven't felt so connected to a pet. I don't know if anyone else has ever had this kind of experience before.

I just had to share mine.

Have you ever had an instant connection to a pet while or after taming?
Did you mean to tame it?

*edit: I've named him Pwncake. Heh.*

[Samarachan]

Not a fan of his skin, but I'm glad you love it, it's always great when instant connections happen

I had mine with Gosh-Haldir, never knew I could love a croc that much. Had her since I was first able to tame her, and she's still with me She was also the first rare I tamed on that hunter, so yay.

[Rhyela]

I actually had an instant connection to King Krush. I hadn't even hit the tame button yet and I was smitten. Just the way he stomped around like he owned the place, he seemed to have this very strong personality and I just loved him. It really was love at first sight. :3

One that I didn't mean to tame was actually my black Madexx!!! I had intended to give him to someone else. I was pressing tame (mock-taming) just to try to deter people from killing it. But in a moment of absent-mindedness, I actually...well...tamed him. I really didn't want him. I threw him in the stable right away but the next time I got him out, I just really bonded strongly with him. It was very strange to go from not wanting him at all to being one of my favorite pets ever. <3

I actually think Shadowclaw is lovely. Those stripes are almost like silver or something, very pretty. Grats on your kitteh!!!

(Edited for typos!)

[Gimlion]

My diseased Wolf, Lupin. I did mean to tame him, as It was during the Wolf or GTFO era. I conformed, but only enough to get by, I wasn't gunna run around with one of those ugly starved hounds they call worgs.

I tried many dif. wolves, from the Red Runed hound, to the armored dire wolf, to Ironjaw from Terrokar, but everytime I would, it seemed like they became the popular wolf only days afterwords. I was determined however, to be unique among a sea of Cookie-cutters, and with one last unique model in mind, I went out and tamed Lupin. He instantly became my favorite pet, and has been since.

I'm very fond of my Jormungar, Echidna as well. This pet, I tamed b/c I thought he looked cool, and quickly fell in love with his tanking capabilities, particularly back when he had the major armor debuff.

And my Purple Shale Spider, Jazz (named after the Transformer... ) Who I picked up the second I hit 83. It was a very similar bonding that me and Lupin had, and he is now my 2nd favorite pet, but don't tell Echidna that.

[Redith]

Definatly fell for Shangos new skin. I saw him in Sholazar and was like OMFG I MUST TAME YOU NEAWWW!!

[Pwncess]

@ Samarachan: She's beautiful. (: I have the purple croc skin. I wanted a more rare version of the new croc models and the only way to get it was to have someone summon it for their quest and let me tame it. I didn't get the chance to do it for my own quest. I like the new crocs and colors very much. Green and blue go very well together.

@ Rhyela: I loooove my KK. I wanted him from the day I became a hunter and worked my little butt off to be able to tame him. I've only ever seen him alive twice, the first time I was too late and he was murdered right before my eyes. I most definitely have a connection with all the pets I've tamed, but only few have felt like this. Humar, Loque'nahak, King Krush, and now Shadowclaw are like my best friends. I always keep the first 3 with me. Now I may have to make room to keep SC with me. I can't imagine being a hunter, spending so much time with your pet and not have a connection with it. I know most hunters tame pets just for the look or it's rare or whatever, but I am constantly looking for pets I can connect with. I admit I have tamed pets just for the fact that they're rare and I've wanted them, but the connection is what makes being a hunter the most grand.

@ Gimlion: Lupin. I love it. My OCJ (WotLK raid partner ftw) is named Remus. I have gotten so many comments on his name. I always wanted a wolf named Remus since he's my favorite HP character, but I couldn't find the right wolf to fit until one day on Petopia I spotted OCJ and knew I had to have him. The color just stood out and the fact that he is so rare just made it even better. I do hope they never change his rarity. I've tamed so many wolves but I just didn't feel right until I tamed OCJ. When I saw him standing there amongst the other wolves, it was like this light beamed down upon him and he even turned to me and was staring at me. No exaggeration. It was amazing. I felt like he was there just for me, waiting to be mine.
I've never been a fan of the giant worms to be honest. D: Lol. I don't know why. The white and black ones are pretty cool looking though. If I had more stable slots I might have gotten the white one.
Jazz, that's awesome.

@ Redith: I tamed Shango before the patch went live when I heard about his upcoming skin change. Once the patch went live, his skin had updated in my stable. He's gorgeous. I wanted him so bad because he reminds me of how I farmed the Zulian tiger mount for 2 years with no luck. I was devastated to hear they were taking it away. When I heard that Shango was going to be the same model minus the riding gear, I knew I had to tame him. He's the only non-rare/non-summonable cat that I have in my stable. His name is Lolmount. If I can't ride it, I'll tame it!

[Varethyn]

I had mine with Gosh-Haldir, never knew I could love a croc that much. Had her since I was first able to tame her, and she's still with me She was also the first rare I tamed on that hunter, so yay.

Same here on my goblin. As soon as he hit lv15 Kwillix took the long trek to Loch Modan for the beauty and has only stabled her for taming purposes. On Varethyn I'm in love with Karoma. At first it was the usual "Rare/Spirit Beast must have" but she is gorgeous imo. I did try Shadowclaw, but Myst, my ghostsaber, already holds my "best cat slot" and I simply couldn't connect with the darkshore rare and wound up letting him go. Grats on the tame though, he is pretty

[Pwncess]

^_^ I like the name Myst. That's pretty.
When they came out with Karoma, I was ecstatic. When I started playing my hunter, the first beast I saw was the ghost wolf and was like "I will get that someday. That pet will never leave my side." I worked my butt off to get high enough to tame one and then they took it away. I have gone so long without one and then Cataclysm comes around and BOOM, new spirit beast in ghost wolf model. I didn't even have to camp her, she just spawned up for me while I was discovering TH.

[Shade]

He's one of my favorite cats too. Mine is named Slade.

My favorite skin in the game, after Loque'nahak, is the simple black wolf. Snarler is the rare version of this. Love that little black wolf. I got him on shade when she was leveling, and he was my most constant raiding companion. Went and tamed another for my littlest hunter and he's been her first pet slot pet since she's gotten him. I love the overall look of the smaller wolves, and the black one has always been one that clicks for me. Aside from Siam/Eechy, I don't have the same pet look on my big and little hunter-defeats the point of making a second hunter.

And I now have this little black wolf on both of them as well. Though Shade could use the space, I can't get rid of her little black wolf, and I love playing with him too much to get rid of him on Gypsi either, so I have him on both of my hunters.

[Mozag]

I had mine with Gosh-Haldir, never knew I could love a croc that much. Had her since I was first able to tame her, and she's still with me She was also the first rare I tamed on that hunter, so yay.

Same here on my goblin. As soon as he hit lv15 Kwillix took the long trek to Loch Modan for the beauty and has only stabled her for taming purposes. On Varethyn I'm in love with Karoma. At first it was the usual "Rare/Spirit Beast must have" but she is gorgeous imo. I did try Shadowclaw, but Myst, my ghostsaber, already holds my "best cat slot" and I simply couldn't connect with the darkshore rare and wound up letting him go. Grats on the tame though, he is pretty

Likewise for my Goblin. She ran down to Loch Modan, getting merrily ganked by guards and players on the way, but it was all worth it as soon as I set eyes on that croc. I had seen the pictures on petopia, but they just do not do her (him now, named after my lovely champ of a blue demon dog trash pet for the run to Loch Modan) justice. She is perfect. Lazuli (the Goblin) also has a very strong connection with her colour-changing monkey, probably since I was so happy to get rid of the horrible crab starter pet. Also, the pink tallstrider and the green runed demon dog surprised me with their great personalities.

For Mozag, the huge surprise was Septic, her brown Northrend worg. I have always HATED that model. I mean I found it repulsive and never even considered it for any hunter. But when Mozag was race-changed from a Tauren, I was looking for pets that would suit her theme, and went to tame out a bunch, many of whom I discarded later because I didn't like them after all. But the moment I landed and tamed the worg, something just went "click".

And finally, Alburga, my Worgen's great surprise companion is the brown scorpid. I chose it because I do not like repeating pets on hunters, and the perfect "themey" scorpid for her would have been one that Mozag already has. For some reason, I though that the drab, and somewhat ick (to me) colour of the scorpid would suit Alburga well, and so I ran to Durotar as a level 13 or whatever to tame this guy. Named him Voltaire, looked at him for a short while in disgust, and then suddenly I fell in love. I think it may have been his surprising turquoise colour-tones, which don't show well on the petopia picture, or perhaps it was the effort I put into getting him (though far less than many of her other pets from Tirisfal Glades and Silverpine Forest), or maybe even that I tend to love the old world scorpid model. Whatever it was, it was love at first sight, and Voltaire will never leave her side, that's for sure!

Ethelswitha, my lowbie Dwarf hasn't had any great loves yet, but she's only level 10, so time will tell, I suppose!

Grats on your surprise love, Pwncess! Those are the best ones out there. I've had that kitty on many hunters, because I want to own all the riding cat models, despite this being my least favourite one. But he never felt right with anyone. Yesterday, I ran to tame him on Alburga, and now I really like him. The two were made for each other. In fact, I just did a dungeon with my Marlowe in tow.

[Kurasu]

For Kurasu, my main love is presently for a few pets. Obviously Olm being one of them (gee, I wonder), but also his white serpent who's been around in one way or another since level 20, his seagull Dai, and of course Panzer, the turtle. They're all pets that I bonded powerfully with. I'm also finding a remarkable adoration and kinship with this new purple tallstrider I got.

On Aloicious, I'm really bonding hard with Sonja, the red lynx from the newbie Blood Elf lands. I'm not usually a cat person, but for some reason Aloicious has just been all over them. And Carmen the croc, who I've had in the beginning (as soon as I was level 10 I dumped the hound and picked her up), is another solid bond.

[Pawtrack]

I've had a few pet's that have instantly clicked with me as well. Grub, Pawtrack's Gorilla, who I really expected to hate, Padfoot, my diseased wolf, who, to my suprise, I fell in love with as well. Same with my white devilsaur, Bella, and my black lion, Shade (uber burst of luck, just found Humar lying there after thinking 'hey, I'll check for humar, eh? what's to lose?'). Then my brown boar, acorn, who suprised me as well. Wasn't expecting that I'd like him so much -- him being a boring old, old-world boar .

[Lupis]

My red devilsaur! He's nothing special, just a pet I tamed because I wanted to test out Devilsaurs.
I was in love by the time I hearthed back to Dalaran. He's beautiful. I love my dear Erik.

Also, Devious my Ghost Crawler. I didn't even want Ghost Crawler, but I wasn't having any luck finding Karoma so I just popped by. He wasn't up, but he was when I logged back in the next morning. I didn't think I'd want him, but when I took a look at him, I realized how pretty he was!

And another devilsaur, my KK. I always had a meh/meh relationship with that devilsaur. I liked the skin, sort of, but not enough for it to be worth the heartache. Still, I always looked around Sholizar for him if I passed by.
Took me until a few months into Cata. Teleported in via my Wormhole Generator, and he was patting directly below me.
I adore him! (Although he's a her now) His... her... skin is so beautiful, I never imagined I'd love it so much. Grace is now Erik's long awaited friend. :->

[Celi]

My beloved wolf Syaoran. I've had him on Taey since TBC. I'd had OCJ on my original vanilla troll hunter and loved him. But when Taey finally got to camp for him, it was love.

Unfortunately one day when I left my laptop logged in while I was cooking, my now ex abandoned him as a joke. He hated hunters anyway (they stole his rogue's gear).

I spent ages trying to find OCJ again but never had any luck. And then one day I was leveling another toon and there he was! It was a mad scramble to get Taey from where she was floating around in Icecrown. But I got there and Syaoran was back. I think I clicked more with him the second time around. Probably because I was freaking out the whole trip.

[Tsiya]

When I rolled my second hunter I hustled her to 61 so she could get a sporebat. He was first to cap at all levels except 85, but he was her first cunning pet to hit 85. TypeTwo is her buddy. She's also inordinately fond of her Arcturis, named Mahkwa after my hubby. Surprise love? The little red dog from LBRC. Bloodrage will always have a home with me.

[Araela]

I originally felt this way with Old Cliff Jumper, when I first was leveling my draenei hunter. I later went and got him on my current main, my blood elf hunter. I just love his skin.

That being said, I recently had a surprise connection with a wolf. I truly was not expecting this, but I was going around and taming some old world rares just to do it, and I tamed Snarler. as soon as he was by my side, I knew I had to keep him. I just love this wolf. I generally only go for rare/unique pets, and while Snarler is a rare he isn't unique but I cannot let him go. I just love him!!!

[Pwncess]

Ahhh I can't keep up with replying to all these lol.

I know in a way I have a connection to all my pets, otherwise I wouldn't have tamed them,
but some just really stuck out and I wondered if anyone else had had this happen.
I'm pleased to see other hunters have had the connection I have.
I spent a good amount of time yesterday just sitting in Org next to him with my camera zoomed in
Just so I could watch him yawn and idle about. He's just beautiful.

[Calomel]

I never really expected to, but I've developed a very strong attachment to Shy-Rotam. A friend of mine was working on her Loremaster and asked if I wanted the blue cat, knowing my hunter's theme is blue. I thought sure, why not? And tamed him.

He's become one of my favorite pets, Frostbite is always one of my on-call buddies and one of the very few I have and enjoy that aren't insects.

[Feydakin]

Mine is also one of the new riding cat models. I knew from the start that I loved the model because I've always wanted them to make tamable cats using that model. I actually went so far as to log out in Swamp of Sorrows so I could grab him the second the patch went live. Duskfang has been my go to pet since then.

[isyris]

Funny story--my night elf hunter's been sitting around doing nothing since well before Cata hit. Last night I started to get her ready to move to an RP server, and went through her pets--there's a lot that just don't work with her, and a couple I want for her still (Olm will be mine someday!). I swung by Sholazar to check for Loque, and while he wasn't up, I fell in love with Shango. I wasn't feeling a connection, though--I could tell he had a great personality, but not one that really fit with my hunter. So I decided I wanted to tame a cat to match one of her riding sabers, and since the white cat skin isn't used on a riding model, it was going to have to be either the spotted or black and white striped one.

I flew out to Teldrassil, and found the spotted cat after a bit of searching. He didn't click with me at all after taming, though; there was just nothing there. I was all set to fly out to Winterspring and start hunting the striped one (I'm terrible with names, can you tell? =p), when... I remembered seeing this thread. So I stopped in Darkshore on the way, found Shadowclaw as soon as I landed, and well, I'm in love.

I've never, never liked that look for a cat, and though I have the mount just to count toward the achievements I never used it. (Icky yellow fangs!) But he just seems to....fit. The way he went right back into stealth after taming thanks to Prowl being on autocast just instantly gave him a ton of personality in my mind, and there's something old and dignified and experienced about his face. I'm still working on finding the perfect name for him, but I think a story is starting to form for him already.