Which of your pets is the most special to you?

[Tyrith]

I'll go first! (this will be a long read)

Its probably pretty obvious by my signature (and the artwork I posted a couple of months back), but of the 25 babies in my burgeoning stable, the most special of them is without doubt Pokee - a Silithid Creeper I tamed in March of 2006.

While on my old warrior Calladra, I saw a dwarf hunter run past in IF with a scorpid and thought... wow what a neat looking pet! It wasn't as... shudder-inducing as an actual scorpion (they give me the creeps in RL, even Madexx does a little) and at the time I hadn't seen anyone else with one. So naturally I looked up where I could tame one! After some online perusing, I decided I liked the teal/greenish blue colored one best and so, I took my then-baby hunter Tyrith to Barrens where I quickly tracked them down.

Funnily enough, the scorpid almost maimed me on the first tame attempt. I didn't have much HP at all at the time, and so I had to run away. When I came back I remembered... oh that's right, I can tame from far away and use traps (dur, inorite)! My second attempt was successful and sure enough, I had myself a bright teal scorpid at my side, who didn't like me much at the time. I named her Pokee, after a plush animal someone dear to me has, and went about feeding her to bring happiness up. For days my goal in WOW was getting her loyalty up and I remember being all sorts of happy when I finally saw that Pokee reached best friend status.

Thing is, it was really hard to be taken seriously as a hunter at that point in WoW. Like, really, really hard. Hunters were notorious, even then, for being one of the most mistake-prone classes in the game. Getting groups on Tyrith seemed impossible at the time. To make matters worse my warrior was my guild's main, and so I was often bombarded with 'hey can u log Cally, we need a tank for <insert dungeon/raid/etc here>' requests which infuriated me. I felt like my hunter was basically invisible, even to my friends. The lack of other tanks in our guild began to make me feel smothered, because I had finally found a class I loved as much as my warrior. And Pokee was a big part of that.

I spent the vast majority of Tyrith's first 55 levels soloing - as dumb as I risk sounding, I very much felt alone on that toon. As those levels came and went, I guess it was a natural reaction to become attached to the only companion I really had at the time, Pokee. That little (or huge, rather) scorpid was the one thing I could count on when playing my hunter - Tyrith's best friend. I stopped caring about dungeons, or my inability to run them. Instead I developed a new love of questing and of challenging myself - I discovered then, before soloing was 'cool', that my hunter could do things on her own that tore my warrior to pieces without a healer. That I could tackle many group quests no differently than simple ones. Eventually my guild caught wind of my endeavors and we started doing dungeons with Pokee as the tank. We successfully cleared many places this way, including Scholomance, Dire Maul and Stratholme, and in L/UBRS my pet offtanked (who remembers when UBRS was a legitimate raid?). When pets got talent trees in 3.0.8, I was super-excited - seeing my scorpid get many of the same abilities and spells as my warrior just made my week!

Eventually my guild, like myself, came to legitimately care about my pet - I would log on and find TONS of meat and food in my mail from guildies and friends. Often I would log on and people would greet my pet first, lol, followed by a 'oh, hey Tyrith' which cracked me up. Pokee the scorpid had become a real part of my guild and of my 'lore' as a player of WoW. To this day she is lavished with affection (and meals) by players in my guild, has even tanked a handful of 85 dungeon encounters (Ozruk in Heroic SC being the one I am most proud of!) and also saved a few boss fights that went south for some reason (dead tank/healer generally).

Call me sappy, call me dumb, but I love the heck out of that little scorpid. Pokee is absolutely the single biggest reason I stuck with my hunter when I felt like giving up on her. And thanks to the surprising resiliency of tenacity pets in Cataclysm (far more so than ever) there are always lots of opportunities to show off her mad tanking skills. Whether its soloing stuff like Tank and Problim, or pet-tanking Crucible of Carnage for guildies and friends, Pokee will be a part of my WoW 'self' for as long as I continue to play the game.

Thanks for reading, those of you who do.

*edits for grammar/pacing*

[Shade]

Snaler, (Hel on Shade and Abaddon on Gypsi) for sure. He was Shade's one non-SB pet when I hit 80 during WtoLK. I sometimes dropped him, but had to keep coming back to him again and again. Best wolf out of there, even if he looks plain, I adore him.

As soon as I could, I got him on Gypsi, and I'll get him on Kitsune too if I keep leveling her.

Loque (Fai on Shade) would be my second one-he's the reason I made myself a hunter in the first place and I plan on having him on all my hunters in the end too.

[Daranara]

Meet Kegan. He is my oldest and dearest pet. He isn't my first pet, but he is my favorite.

Once upon a time, there was a night elf hunter who was not particularly good at this game. She was roped into playing by her friends, and ended up settling on a hunter because it meant she could have pets. Three pets, at the time, was a HUGE amount, considering I had come from a game where you could have one. She didn't really WANT to play, but her friends insisted it'd be fun. So she rolled up a night elf, fiddled with her looks, then hit the random name button until she was kind of happy. she wasn't going to be playing long, right? What did it matter?

Anyway! So from the beginning I ran with cats because it made sense. I was an elf, there were cats everywhere! My first pet was Duskstalker, picked up because she had a name and a neat dragon around her picture. I had no concept of rare spawns just then. Then it was Humar the Pridelord, a beautiful black lion that was my first camp. I used them until I was almost 40.

Then one day in Ratchet, I met a blood elf. He was following me around, petting my lion. I noticed he had one too; this isn't uncommon, I know now, but at the time I was impressed! It had taken me three days to find mine, so surely this other hunter was patient too! We emoted over our cats, then he ran to the stable master and brought out a new pet. A white lion!

I had never seen this cat before, and I emoted my love of the pretty thing at the blood elf, who emoted that I should wait, then he logged out. A few minutes later, a baby dwarf whispered me, asking me if I wanted a white lion of my own. He told me the blood elf would take me to him, if I did. I agreed, and soon enough I had one of my very own. I named him Kegan, to match my other two cats, who were all named after a story of mine.

I had not, in my excitement to have a new pet, considered one fact. Kegan was 16, I was almost 40. If I wanted to use him, I was going to have to do something about this fact.

So I did. Slowly, painfully, I did. I endured the hours of watching my pet's damage numbers read 1.... miss.... miss... 1.... 3 (crit!)... as he tried in vain to be anything more than an annoying burden to me. I laughed to my friends, suggesting this little pathetic cat was living up to his namesake, being a whiny, hungry, underpowered thing.

But somewhere along the line, he caught up to me, and I got used to having him at my side. My guild got used to seeing him, my friends got used to seeing him. He was My Pet, who stuck with me in PVP, who did dungeons with me, who endured running around in baby dwarf land when I decided at level 55 I needed to get a ram as my epic land mount when I hit 60, a feat widely considered stupid by my friends, who urged me to just wait until I was 70 and go back for it later. But Kegan and I persevered.

He crossed the Dark Portal with me; he is the first of my pets to reach max level after me; he comes with me into every new bit of content I do, from dungeons to heroics to the very rare raid I can get roped into. He's the default RP pet I have with me; he was the best man at my character's IC wedding, even.

White lions are not rare pets, or even particularly flashy ones. Their model is old and kind of funky in places, but it is what it is. Kegan is my pet, regardless. If I had to only have one pet, he's the one. He's always in my active stable slots, and he will be the pet I have out when I log out for the last time. From here until the end, it's Dara and Kegan.

[Rhyela]

I'll *try* to keep it short.

My brother introduced me to WoW many, many moons ago. I had never tried an MMO before, so it was something totally new. My first character was a gnome rogue named Peppita, but I was pretty bad with her and didn't use her long. Then, I made a druid named Callalily (my favorite flower). Got her to oh...40 or so. Then, I'm not sure whether my brother asked me to or I wanted to, but we finally decided to make two night elf hunters together, and Nakoma and Verdantia were born. I vaguely remember taming a green tarantula named Prickles as my first true pet, but I didn't use it long. I honestly don't remember what level I was, couldn't have been very high, but I did eventually find out about lions and went to The Barrens to get one. I named a cute fellow and named him Regal. I kept him for maybe a level or so, because I had seen on Petopia the prettiest cat ever - a white lion. All I could find out at the time (whether I didn't research enough or the information wasn't widely known, who knows) was that he was in The Barrens. I found a map of where he'd appear, probably on allakhazam, and headed there. I thought he was a rare like some others I had run across. Wait long enough, and he'll spawn. So, I waited, and waited, and waited.....but the lion never showed. Finally, I dug around and found out he was a Horde-only quest spawn. Disappointed, I felt I'd have to give up. But, thankfully we were on a PvE server, so my brother offered to make a Horde character, level it up, and get the quest to summon it for me. So, I sat there on a hill by that skeleton and waited some more. Finally, an undead fellow arrived. "Ah, that must be my brother!," I thought. He summoned Echeyakee, emoted some /cheers and such, so I took it as my cue to go ahead and tame. Echeyakee was mine! I named him Tetsusaiga after a favorite show of mine. My brother signed back on his hunter, and if memory serves, I think I thanked him for helping. But, he told me that wasn't him that summoned him! Turns out, it was just some random Horde guy that must have known my intentions, so he summoned Echeyakee for me. What a cool guy!!!

Tetsusaiga went everywhere with me. He helped tank in ZF when mobs started getting out of control, he helped take down devilsaurs (which at the time was a huge deal), he was my constant partner. But then, I got married and my husband and I had to share an account, so sadly I got to play Nakoma less and less until finally, I decided that we needed our own accounts. Well, for reasons I can't remember, I offered to give my husband the old account, meaning Nakoma faded into obscurity. Several realm-hops and years later, I ended up on Ysera playing a warrior, then a druid. But, I found myself making new hunter alts to try to regain what I had lost. But no matter how much I made them look like Nakoma, or named them Nakoma, (and even tried to not duplicate her and just make a completely new character), it just didn't work. I missed my old hunter, Tetsusaiga, and the many memories attached to her. So finally, the time came where Blizzard implemented realm and account transfers. I knew I had to do it. I moved Nakoma from my husband's account on Lightbringer to my account on Ysera, and with a name change, Rhyela was here to stay. But sadly, the passage of time had eroded some of the closeness I once felt towards Tetsusaiga. Too much absence I guess can make the heart grow harder, so I tamed other pets. But, he never left my stable. Well, until one day. One day, I felt I needed to make room for rares that I thought would be going bye-bye come The Shattering, and so in a moment of stupidity, I released the one pet I had seen as my other half, and Tetsusaiga was released into Winterspring.

At first, my foolish decision didn't really affect me. For a few months I was able to carry on as normal. But with the addition of 20 more stable slots, I started to feel a very obvious void, someone important was missing. I missed Tetsusaiga. In a feeble attempt to get my friend back, I tamed another Echeyakee. But, it was NOT the same Tetsusaiga. He had no personality, he was just a cheap substitute of the real thing. In a panic, I opened a ticket and begged a GM to restore the REAL Tetsusaiga to me. After a few days, I got a response. Tetsusaiga was home!!! I was elated, overjoyed. It feels SOOOOO good to have my old friend back. Everything feels right again.

I will never make that mistake again. If they were to ever decrease our stable slots to one, I know who would stay.




(So much for a short post!)

[enylia]

Awwwwww, these stories made me smile.

Stuff like this is why I rolled my hunter, some people laugh it off and think its silly to have an attachment to pixels, but they just don't understand.

I'll post my favorite(s) soon, busy with some work atm!

Anyway, more stories please! I need more distractions, lol.

[Kurasu]

Back when I was just finding out about WoW and getting the itch to try it, I was introduced to the idea of hunters. Fascinated, I started to look through a list of pets. I think it may have even been Petopia. So many to choose from! And then I saw it: a brilliant white cobra pet. I knew I had to have it, and that one day, when I was the right level (19 at that time) I would get it.

I leveled and leveled, making my way through Dustwallow to The Barrens (because no one told me that there were *two* boats, or that one would bring me right smack to Ratchet) when I was the right level to set my hearthstone, and very nicely pleaded with my level 70 best friend to run me through Wailing Caverns. And oh, the horror of trying to find our way around that place. It was especially bad once they realized that the serpent I wanted didn't spawn until *all* the bosses were downed. Oh the wailing and gnashing of teeth. And the multiple times my beloved Booster got us both lost. But finally we got to the last boss, the serpents were summoned, and after a death caused by unexpectedly powerful mobs, I was able to tame my beloved Suresh.

I have never had, even to this day, so many people raving about my pet. A day couldn't pass (literally!) where I wasn't asked about where I got the pet, or complimenting me on the serpent. It was my absolute pride and joy.

Several months later, I was max level. Raiding was becoming important, and we only had three stable slots with which to have our pets. It was with a heavy heart that Suresh was released, so my stable could contain the effective pets. But I missed him quite a bit.

Then, the stable gained two more slots, and with great excitement I was able to reclaim my white cobra. This time I caught one of the ones from Outland, as it was simply easier to find. I didn't feel too bad about the fact it wasn't the same one. To me, it was as if my Suresh had never left home. And I swore to never get rid of him again.

.... until before Cata, when I thought that a couple creatures would go extinct, and I knew that when the stable got to be 25 slots, I could always recapture Suresh. And so I did.

Suresh is a permanent part of my stable. Panzer may be my special 'model' pet, but Suresh is the one I remember the most and adore the most.

[Furiku]

I'd have to say the most special pet to me out of all of mine is Rai. I love everyone else but she's been through thick and thin with me. She was the first I tamed, and even though she doesn't quite have the same look as she did when I first tamed her she's never going to stop being my partner.

I started out playing a druid on private servers, due to my friend playing wow on occasion then deciding 'heeey let's get Furi addicted'. Then I stopped for a while, as the private server I had the most fun on went down. This was about the middle of BC. Fast forward to maybe a week or so after Wrath launch. My friend and I go over to another friends house to have a sleep over and he brings his laptop with wow. Guess what we spent most of our time watchin'? During that time he literally convinced me to call my mom at 9 or so at night to pick me up and take me to go get not only the battle chest for WoW but Wrath as well. We set up my account that night and at the time I was sharing with my other friend because neither of us really expected to be playing it much honestly.

I want to say I started out playing a druid again, but honestly I don't remember. I probably tried out a few more classes until I found out that there was a class that could tame the nightsabers I loved in the nelf starting zone and that started me on my path of the hunter lol. I got to ten, tamed a nightsaber and just named her Rai. I hadn't thought of a name beforehand, it just came to me. I felt happy when I managed it. Here was a companion I could always turn to from then on, one who would be at my side unless I asked her to leave. From there, it just got better.

We laughed, we fought, we died, we won. Rai and I did everything together. Then Fenrir joined the group, followed by Grimlock. (I literally did not leave Azeroth until I was level 60 and I could get that last point in BM to tame him. My friend who got me addicted to wow got my hunter from 57 to 60 as Silithus scared me <-was horribly afraid of bees and to some extent bugs at the time but is better now- and I stalked the devilsaur soon to be Grimlock on his druid all while my guild was asking 'why the hell aren't you in outland yet?')Then came everyone else as the game evolved. And still, Rai stuck with me.

I blazed through Outland and moved onto Northrend and the story sucked me in. I didn't play on a rp server then, and I still don't now. But I found myself roleplaying in my head, and during my adventures Rai and Fenrir got 'captured' by some messed up guy who was pissed off by all of what I was accomplishing through my questing and figured that the best way to get back at me was to get my pets as I seemed to care for them more then myself. Fenrir was mutated into a vargul plaugehound/black worg combo (but blue in my mind because I loved the blue runed demon dogs though the red look grew on me) and Rai ended up as Shy-Rotam, flung into Winterspring via portal once the guy was done experimenting on her. So I set out to track them down. Obviously Fen was easy to get back but Rai, Rai was a bit more challenging with her being summonable back then and me never seeing hide nor hair of Rak'shiri as I worked for the frostsaber meat. It was as if she was waiting for me to prove myself to her, to show her that I did care about her and if I had to I'd go through anything to get her back. And I did and she rejoined me, and I also went back eventually to pick up her mate she had hooked up with while I was off trying to get her back. (Haha sorry guys, I'm the reason Sian won't spawn anymore. -brick'd- I should not be typing things when I really need to be sleeping...)

And now she sits at my side, always there and ready to jump to my defense when I don't react fast enough. She's ready to rip into anyone who dares go for the squishy little nelf who's trying to help the healer stay alive when something goes wrong. But most of all, she's ready to stand by my side when the world crashes down around us and fight till the end. And I couldn't ask for anything more in a friend.

[Tyrith]

I'll *try* to keep it short.

After a few days, I got a response. Tetsusaiga was home!!! I was elated, overjoyed. It feels SOOOOO good to have my old friend back. Everything feels right again.

I will never make that mistake again. If they were to ever decrease our stable slots to one, I know who would stay.




(So much for a short post!)

I'm so happy you got your baby back.

When Blizz nerfed scorpids into the ground (you know, back when their poison stacked and ticked for obscene damage), I briefly thought about replacing her... fortunately it only took me a couple of seconds to remember what made Pokee special to me.

And I feel exactly the way you do. If we were told 'sorry only one pet as of patch blahblah' Pokee would be that pet hands down.

These posts are amazing. Exactly the sorts of replies I hoped for when I created the topic!

[Jäysee]

I would have to say the Grimtotem Spirit Guide.


It was the first pet I had ever "gone out of my way" for. I saw the topic on the official forums and before it was deleted I wrote down how someone had tamed it and set out to have me one. My first horde toon was a tauren hunter made shortly after my first ever character was created. I had leveled up a few times and was heading to the north of the capital there to complete a quest. That's where I first caught a glimpse of the "ghost wolf" and started to tame it only to be told by the game that I couldn't.

I went back to my warrior on the alliance side and got bored and decided to make a nelf hunter. By the time I got to the Ashenvale quests I tamed a Ghostwolf Alpha, but it wasn't really a ghost wolf. I moved on and went back and forth on my two alliance toons for a while until BC launched. It was then that I really started to like my hunter more and more as I lvl'ed to 70. He(named Akee at that time) became my main character. Right after they introduced the quest hubs and new mobs out in Dustwallow Marsh is when my hunt for my first "I Gotta Have It!" pet started.

Shaman, Priest,meta gem and a pvp helm /w a gem slot and on my 2nd try I had the coolest looking pet in the game! He is still in my stables and there will always be a place for him there. If it came down to it, I would get rid of any spirit beast I had to keep him in my stables!

[tactfullyArtisan]

This is not so much a story of companionship as it is the story of a long search for a fated friend.

--

I began playing World of Warcraft just before Wrath of the Lich King was released. My brother convinced me to create a character on his account, and naturally I went for the first class that caught my eye - Hunters. I was an avid animal lover, and the thought of fighting alongside an animal piqued my interest. However, it wasn't long before I got my own account and that hunter was deleted because of my brother's need for toon space - but I never forgot my first class.
As I was playing on my new account, my baby Night Elf druid just happened to be hanging out in Stormwind a few weeks after Wrath dropped when something caught my eye - it was a gorgeous cat, easily the most beautiful mob I'd ever seen ingame, standing alongside a Hunter at the auction house. Out of sheer curiosity I whispered the Hunter, asking him where he'd managed to tame it. He replied that it was an extremely rare mob in Sholazar Basin, and that he'd been very lucky to find it.
Back then, at level 28, Sholazar Basin seemed like a far-off, mystical place that I would only ever hear about from seasoned players. Still, I kept the thought at the back of my mind, never really forgetting it.
By the time I had rolled around to 80, I'd almost completely forgotten about the cat. I raided on my Druid, any thoughts of hunter alts pushed onto the backburner as I sailed through endgame content. But when I came across a Hunter sitting in Dalaran a few weeks before Cataclysm came out, the beautiful creature by his side, I knew then that I had to make a hunter and, however long it would take, eventually tame that mob for myself.
And so Arson was born. I leveled her through a lot quicker than I had my druid - in a matter of a month or two after she was made, and after a faction change, Jettatura the Goblin Hunter was ready to head to Northrend.
I painstakingly ground through quest after quest in Northrend, my faithful aqua saber named Stardust by my side as I gained more and more ground towards getting the pet I had longed for for so long. And at last, I hit level 76 and immediately flew out to Sholazar Basin and began my questing there in hopes of catching it.
However, it was not as easy as I'd imagined. I spent two days questing in Sholazar Basin, seeing neither hide nor hair of any of the rares that patrolled the lush greenery of the zone. I stalled my questing at level 78, only occasionally going out to the Storm Peaks to do a few quests, yet I always found myself irresistibly drawn back to the Basin, doing tense circles around the edges, NPCScan remaining silent the entire time.
On the day I hit 80, I nearly gave up. I could come back to Northrend at a later date, look for it when I had the time - but now was the time for Cataclysm content. Saddened by my admittance of defeat, I decided to do one last lap of the zone that I had come to know like the back of my hand before heading out to Hyjal.
And suddenly, as I was approaching the waterfall to the west, the horns sounded and the drums beat deafeningly from my speakers - and there, in front of me, was the creature I had looked for for so long. My heart jumped into my throat as I landed, forgetting the sequence of buttons that I had rehearsed time and time again in my head as I flew circles over Sholazar - ice trap, Haste potion, Tame pet. However, all was forgotten as I frantically searched for the right button. Finally remembering my most important hotkey, I tapped the T button once and the ten-second eternity came and went - and at last, Loque'nahak was mine.

WoWScrnShot_011611_151515.jpg (121.99 KiB) Viewed 6339 times

Since then, my faithful companion Eskendal - named after a Paladin who went with me almost every step of my long camp in Sholazar Basin - has gone with me everywhere. He has a permanent spot in my Active Pets, and has been through the many trials and tribulations as I stumbled my way through Cataclysm content. If for some inane reason Blizzard reduced the stables to just one pet, I know that without a doubt it would be Eskendal that would stay.

[Tyrith]

@tact:

I know how you feel. I spent 4 days nonstop in Sholazar, 8+ hours at a time, hunting Loque... had one false alarm which was utterly depressing on the 3rd day. Then on the fourth... I found him in the southeast-most spawn point. My heart started RACING. For about 10 seconds I couldn't even think of how to dismount. Finally I landed and dropped an ice trap and started to tame. I was like AHHMAHGOD AHHMAHGOD AHHMAHGOD AHHMAHGOD the entire time. When finally he shrunk and dashed over to my side, I literally jumped out of my chair and screamed WOOOO!!!!! so loud that my neighbor heard me.

While I love Pokee first and foremost, Loque was definitely my most exciting tame. In my mind I visualized a dozen things going wrong, someone killing him, etc...

I named her (decided I didn't want a male kitty) Myrkoa, as I wanted something similar to Har'koa.

@Kron:

I was never able to tame the Dustwallow mob, the spirit guide. I know that they've added a new spirit beast in the game that is more or less the same thing but I haven't went after it yet. I may though!

[Tyrith]

And now she sits at my side, always there and ready to jump to my defense when I don't react fast enough. She's ready to rip into anyone who dares go for the squishy little nelf who's trying to help the healer stay alive when something goes wrong. But most of all, she's ready to stand by my side when the world crashes down around us and fight till the end. And I couldn't ask for anything more in a friend.

I know exactly how you feel. I once told a friend who asked about my attachment to Pokee "She fights to the death for me, never bitches about loot or causes drama, and all she asks in return is to be fed."

I've been posting on the official forums lately, proposing (as others no doubt have) that Blizz allow us to select our pet's talent trees. I'd love to be able to turn Pokee into a ferocity pet when the situation calls for it.

[Cialbi]

Tyrith, aren't you glad that you didn't tame a Silithid Swarmer - what an unpleasant shock it would have been to have woken up after the Shattering to find that your beloved Pokee had somehow mutated into a giant tan ant
_

My younger brother nagged me to try WoW a year or so ago until I finally caved (actually, it was more because I had run out of things to do in the game Oblivion ). So, I went with a hunter, because I personally love archery, and barebow archery at that (compound bows aren't really my thing). Well, unsurprisingly, I choose the one race that goes out of their way to not use bows but instead guns; yes, I rolled a dwarf. The random name generator, after going through several names, finally came up with a name that I liked: Cialbi.

So, Cialbi fights his way out of Coldridge Valley, becomes bitter enemies with the Frostmane trolls, and finds a frozen lake in western Dun Morogh. There were two islands poking out of the ice, right next to each other, and a wolf pack had taken residence. Cialbi tests its defenses. The sentries posted around the larger island would evade his shots, forcing him to attack with his axe. But, there were other wolves that patrolled the interior of the island, which made taking out sentries treacherous. Three wolves in particular patrolled together; two fierce level 9 wolves flanking a special level 10 wolf. That wolf looked larger and different than the other wolves, have a silver dragon around hos unitframe, and was called Timber. So began a long feud between Cialbi and Timber's wolf pack; Cialbi had yet to meet a single creature that he couldn;t defeat until he met Timber, and his stubborn streak quickly kicked in.

Skip forward to Cialbi reaching level 10, being given a stick, and instructed to temporarily tame different bests in the area; an ice claw bear, crag boar, and winter wolf. Then the stick was taken away from him, and he was told that he could now permanently tame a beast that he could call his own. Well, ice claw bears had a cool ability named Ice Claw when I tamed them with that stick. So, I go off to perma-tame one, only to find that I had been duped, for my new bear had no Ice Claw ability. So, bye-bye bear. I passed up retaming a boar, since I had yet to discover my love of boars in WoW. So, I go for a wolf, and name it Lupo. How clever.

Well, with the aid of Lupo, maybe I can tame the fearsome Timber! So, we set off along the now-familiar frozen river to reach the islands in the center of the frozen lake. Lupo ran up and took on sentries while I shot them, and then we picked off the patrols. Finally, the pack leadership happen upon us, and are none too pleased. In the ensuing bloody battle, Lupo and I barely manage to pick off the lieutenants. I then abandon Lupo; he does not need to kill any more of his kin this day. So, Timber is busy killing me (something that had happened more then once previously), but this time I tame him instead of fighting to the death. Despite my having killed members of his wolf pack, I finally am able to tame him before I die to his spearlike fangs. We then leave the bloody warzone behind us. I was pleased with the fact that Timber did not shrink as much as other wolves had when tamed. I honestly forget what I first named him.

I wasn't until much later that I learned what a Certificate of Ownership was, which meant that I retamed Timber more than a few times. My favorite name for him, in hindsight, was Silverfir, the name of a local coniferous tree that grows in the snowy Cascade Mountains. But, Timber effectively stayed with me until about level 70 or so. After some rather convoluted series of events, I wound up raiding with a Shattered Hand Warhound named Eranugarr. I still have Eranugarr, in fact. This didn't bother me, until Azeroth suffered the Shattering. After that, I discovered to my dismay that some nasty leper gnomes and their spider tanks had taken over the aforementioned islands from Timber's wolf pack. The wolf pack was gone, and with it was Timber. I felt a similar loss to what Rhyela describes with Tetsusaiga. But, I will patiently wait for Timber's return in 4.0.6, cut off Eranugarr's armor, and set the old warhound free while I welcome back Timber.

Cialbi now paces around the frozen lake, periodically flinging obscenities and/or explosive hunting traps at the offending gnomes. Somehow, he senses that Silverfir is still out there, after having left the old fellow at the Dark Portal. He has since journeyed through the shattered remnants of Draenor, teh frozen wastes of Northrend, the sunken reaches of Vashj'ir, and the choking sands of Uldum. But, Cialbi is drawn back here after all this time, waiting for his old companion to emerge form hibernation. He will doubtlessly be grieving the loss of his wolf pack, and needing a new home. Maybe, just maybe, he can forgive the stony-skinned dwarf and fight by his side to defend what remains of their shattered world. Silverfir, your old rival and former master wishes to see you; he is as broken and hurt as you are.

[Mozag]

I love reading these, they're making me smile so much. Touching tales of the animals we love.

My story isn't about any of the hunters I have now, though I have pets I love on them too. But since they do not have a history longer than Cataclysm, and some are not even past their 20s, I don't think their pets fall into this same "through thick and thin" mentality which is prevalent in the thread.

For me it was all about Hathor, Sekhmet and Nekhebet.

I started playing WoW just before the launch of WotLK, at the insistence of a very good friend of mine who had played since Vanilla. We had been playing together in Guild Wars, as I had tried to lure him away from WoW, but after some time, he managed to convince me that WoW was superior.

Being the way I am, I decided immediately to have a character of each race, and of each class and set about making the combinations. Eventually I ended up with a mish-mash of characters, most of whom I have since deleted, since I now know my likes and dislikes better. My friend's main is a Priest and he had come across some very bad hunters in his time, and this had coloured his opinion of the class. Not knowing anything about the game, my decisions were based on what he told me. I decided to create a male Tauren Hunter, since the Tauren were as low on my "to-do" list as were hunters. I named him Ceredigion, because the name Ceredig seemed too short for his massive, imposing self. In an interesting twist of fate, my brother now lives in the area of Wales called Ceredigion.

But I digress. As I knew very little about pets and hunters in general, not having any interest in dungeons or raids, and that sort for over a year, I leveled my Ceredigion with animals that I randomly chose from the Petopia site. I reasoned that I liked so many of them that I might as well try out the skills of as many as I could before I decided on my final five. It was a sort of "random pet challenge" of my own. I would use a number system I've had in my head since I was young, and use the pet I got for 10 levels. I ended up with animals I'd never have picked myself, but which funnily enough looked great on Cer.

Strangely, Ceredigion hit 80 first from all the characters I was leveling more or less simultaneously. At 80, I decided that it was time to finally pick the animals I wanted and spent many an hour on Petopia. The white condor model had caught my eye from the start, but as it was only available in Northrend at the time, I had had no need to deviate from my random pets while leveling. But as soon as I'd hit 70, I'd made the long trek from Howling Fjord (where I was leveling) to Borean Tundra, to tame one of these beauties. I named her Hathor, and we bonded right away. Hathor was the first pet to hit 80, and the one I more often than not took out in dungeons. I've never to this day had more whispers about a pet than I had of her. People said they'd never seen a hunter with one, asked me where to get one, complimented her stunning beauty. Hathor kept my dps up like a champ, and though she wasn't THE pet to have (wolf), I still loved her to bits, and took her out more than any other.

When questing in Dustwallow Marsh, Ceredigion had come across a beautiful white crocolisk, who he had to put down for the purposes of the quest. Still, I vowed that at 80, I'd come to tame her and make the croc a permanent fixture in my stables. Sekhmet joined me, and though I had two tanking pets (the other a warpie), it was always Sekhmet that I brought out when soloing, and sometimes in dungeons. If I was standing around doing nothing, or grinding lowbie quests, it was always Sekhmet that I had out.

Nekhebet was not the same as the other two. Ceredigion and her took a long time to bond. I had not wanted a wolf on him at all, but eventually decided that since it was the ultimate instance pet, I suppose I should tame one. I went to Silverpine for my black worg, and though my dps soared, and I thought the model pretty, we just didn't bond. I always preferred Hathor over Nekhebet, but since I had to level the worg, I took her out now and again. Eventually, during a rather normal Violet Hold Heroic, something just clicked. Nekhebet had done nothing out of the ordinary, nobody had said anything, I was dpsing as usual, and suddenly I looked at her and thought "I love her." After that, I had my regular arsenal of pets, and two stable slots that kept getting filled with a cat that changed skins many, many times, and an owl and a wind serpent changing places constantly.

Fast-forward to Cataclysm. I'd not been playing on Cer much, except for doing the world event things, and even that was put on the back-burner when I fell pregnant and had to stop playing WoW for some months since I felt too weak and sick to do anything upright. Once I returned, the nagging feeling of dislike for the massive Tauren form and the huge, tasteless armour, and the getting stuck in doorways had grown. What was worse though, was that his beloved Nekhebet had turned into one of those rotting wolves, and though I went to tame another black worg, it wasn't the same. I didn't want to play him any more, and it made me so sad, since he was dear to me in many ways, despite it all.

In December, the day before we were meant to fly to London to spend Christmas with my family, my son fell sick with a very bad cold, and had a high fever. We couldn't fly out on the day we were meant to, and both my mother and I were distraught at the thought that our Christmas tradition would be ruined. To cheer me up, my husband said he'd pay for a race or faction change if I wanted it. I realised that I'd be able to make the Troll huntress I had wanted for a long time, and be able to keep Ceredigion, albeit in a different form. I have no qualm with deleting high level characters and leveling up new ones, but Cer had been a part of my WoW life from the start, and I didn't want to just ditch him.

Unfortunately, when Mozag was born, I looked at Cer's old pets next to her, and realised that all but one (the cat I had finally stuck it out with) had to go. None of them worked for her. It was heart-breaking letting Hathor and Sekhmet go (Nekhebet was already gone, thanks to the skin change), but I have lessened the burden of sorrow by giving the same skins to other hunters. My dwarf has the white condor, named Breeze now. My Orc has the white crocolisk, now a male, called Ambiorix and finally, the black worg is now a male called Wordsworth, loved utterly by my Worgen.

Sorry for the long post, but it was good taking a walk down memory-lane!

[Vephriel]

I love when these threads pop up, I enjoy reading these types of stories so much!

I wish I had a long, involved tale to share about Skorn, but the truth is...I find myself drawing a blank whenever I go to write about him. He's not a pet that's been with me since the beginning, like many people. Devilsaurs didn't come around until Wrath of the Lich King, and I've been playing since Vanilla. His tame wasn't particularly memorable, special, or difficult. I went to Netherstorm to get Tyrantus, since I always like getting a named or rare mob if the skin has those options. It was a simple locate, trap, and tame.

Nonetheless, there was something about him...something that spoke out instantaneously, a bond that connected the two of us without question. He means so much to me that it's not something I can easily explain or even describe. He's just...my pet. I could try to go into the whole 'fate' or 'other half' thing, but even that doesn't cut it. Words don't do it justice? It's strange how difficult it is to relay that emotion. I could see myself with no other main pet. He's my constant companion, and he's been through everything with me so far, and he always will be.

I've mentioned this in the past, but I think the reason I never found that one true pet until so late in the game is because Skorn was out there waiting this whole time, and I just had to wait to meet him.

[Golden]

Nanyana and Usva


Back when I was still a baby Night Elf Hunter with no idea of how the game exactly works, I stumbled upon Petopia - and instantly fell in love with the Ghost Saber standing at the top. I would stare at all of the pretty screenshots in awe, thinking to myself.. THAT I MUST have. Thus I leveled my Hunter to 19 just to get my hands on one. The moment I hit 19, I grabbed Savage - a common dark cat from Teldrassil - and ran to Northern Darkshore with Sonnie's Druid accompanying me.

It must've been at least 30 minutes, if not a full hour, before a beast finally spawned out of one of the statues, making me shriek in excitement. Stumbling in my shock, I managed to hit the Tame Beast button and proceeded to stare at the cast bar go down. Finally the pet I'd been dreaming of was mine.. On our way back to the town I named the cat Usva, meaning Mist in Finnish, and couldn't stop staring at the beauty and the way I could see Nanyana through her.

Usva was the only pet I used and bonded with throughout my levels - I would always make sure she had the best of the best skills, got her Prowl as soon as possible and would then use the Shadowmeld + Prowl combo really often. It was particularly useful in WSG, where I would usually stay in the base, stealthed in a corner with Usva, monitoring for any incoming Humanoids or Beasts and informing the other defenders should something show up on my minimap.

Even now, although I have two Spirit Beasts that are superior to a measly Cat, I take Usva with me when leveling, she's always my first pet to reach max level and if there's any epic quests or events, she's the pet to accompany me.

[Isaba]

wow this is a tough one for me ...so I'll start this way

my first wow toon, was a druid, she was on my brothers account, as I was trying the game for the first time and she was fun, up until I made my was into darn, the newb I was and was completely taken aback by the size. That is when I saw my first hunter, charging past me with a wolf at his side I was stunned, you see my brother had picked the druid class for me so I hadn't played much with seeing other classes. It wasn't long after that my brother moved out. a year past and I got a computer of my own, I begged my mum to get me wow for my birthday, and when my birthday came, there was vanilla and BC all wrapped up and pretty. After finnaly installing it I logged on. Picking a draenei for the simple fact they looked like deer when they ran, Isaba the hunter was born. I leveld slowly, takeing my time in getting in tune with my hunter. when I reached darkshore I saw the cat I wanted. The ghost saber I pushed myself leveling as fast as I could, and when I was finnaly high enough, I spent an hour fighting naga and hunting for statues till I tamed my Umbra. Umbra ran with me as I leveled, reaching winterspring all was normal, until I literally stumbled over Rak'shiri, The gourgious Aqua cat padded along silent, it was a hard choice, but knowing I could return for Umbra one day I let him free, as I didnt have but 2 stable slots at the time being broke and a bit of a newb still, guildless and such. I Tamed my Senloki. This cat and I fought our way though the rest of Azeroth makeing our way to outlands, and finnaly into Nagrand, it was here where I found him lacking slightly, by now I had my stable slots all open, and I needed something a bit...tougher.

Thats where I met Tama, my first Warpstalker. He was white with pretty blue and purple markings. Tama and I leveled togeather, he never found his way into the stable until I had hit 80, when I got a wolf as was the requirement. But Tama was always by my side as I went out, soloing group quests and helping me farm... then Cata came, and a very special warpstalker was made available to me. She was purple, with lime green markings and bright green eyes, I'm sure you all know who I mean.

soon as I could I Took off to outlands, got the quest and went after her. The tame when off perfectly, I heard many have trouble by mine went by in a few moments of heart racing excitement. Then She was mine, and I knew instantly she would take Tama's place. She turning her head and opened her mouth grinning up at me, then I though, Lizards molt, why not warpys, perhaps Tama was just an adolescent, with a bit of mistaken identity, he became she, and Tama didn't really fit this purple beauty, so she became Mirai. it may be odd to transfer affection from one warp to the other, but they act just the same for me, getting stuck where they shouldn't and helping me take on big tasks

[Jäysee]

@Kron:

I was never able to tame the Dustwallow mob, the spirit guide. I know that they've added a new spirit beast in the game that is more or less the same thing but I haven't went after it yet. I may though!

When I first found out here that Karoma would be the same model as my VERY rare wolf I was a bit PO'ed! But thought about it for a bit and relaxed. Nothing can take that tame away from me and one is a wolf and one is a spirit beast. I first saw Karoma tamed in SW and the hunter named it "OldSkool" and was camped out on the bank steps for over an hour showing off his new tame. I went to the stables and grabbed my buddy and went back to the bank steps and typed "/s This is old school! lol"

That made me feel better about the copied skin of my old friend, I will always have the original copy! hehe (got Karoma also though)

[Jäysee]

I've been posting on the official forums lately, proposing (as others no doubt have) that Blizz allow us to select our pet's talent trees. I'd love to be able to turn Pokee into a ferocity pet when the situation calls for it.

Duel spec pets!

[Worba]

Tough call... but if I had to choose just one, I'd have to say Boo the ghostsaber; he inspired me not only to roll my NE Velocity (so I'd have someone who looked good with that pet), but to level her all the way up to 70, back in TBC.

My other hunters all have pets I like (ofc), and many of which look "cooler" such as SBs et al, but none have had that sort of effect on my playing style.