Random Pet Challenge [v3.0]

[TygerDarkstorm]

*Squeals in delight at the Faron review*

[Vasken]

Hope it's alright to do the rare-review thinger only! While I've still got Avanji's to do (haven't yet been whisked away on a silly adventure with my plainstrider!), have had plenty of insane experiences with most of these rares.

Name: Vasken
Level: 85
Exotics: Ayus!
Restrictions: No pets that aren't listed below! Stables are full!
Rares I Have: Aotona, Arcturis, Chromaggus, Gondria, Ghostcrawler, Skoll, Loque, Karoma, Krush, Sambas (FLOOF), The Razza, Olm, Zaricotl.

[TygerDarkstorm]

And now, Ruffley's report on OCJ .

OCJ is a level 30 rare spawn that can be found in the Hinterlands, just east of Aerie Peak digging through trash. This little bugger used to be incredibly hard to find pre-Cata. When I passed him on Yzma, that was the first time I'd ever seen him in game. I've seen him each visit to the Hinterlands since so I'm going to assume his spawn timer is a lot shorter now.

Looks (I didn't have taming shots for this guy so the pic of him and Ruff together is included with his looks):

Cliff is a beautiful dark grey color with lighter gray on his feet and belly and gorgeous green eyes (top right). I don't usually like worgs, but I find this guy to be stunning next to Ruffley.

When viewing his face from the front, I still can't decide whether that's an expression of fierceness, or if it's a little derpy (bottom left). The next two photos are close ups showing off his beautiful eyes and then the low res looking teeth (bottom middle).

One of my favorite things about OCJ is that, for some reason, with his darker colored fur, he doesn't show the major flaws of the worg models as bad (bottom right). His fur doesn't get the weird outlining effect and looks far better than many of the other worg skins--and it doesn't put me off the model entirely making him a keeper.

Animations and Sounds:

I forgot to get pics of Cliff doing the worg idle, so I ninjaed the pics I took of a worg I had for the theme pet challenge. Worgs have two idle animations, one is the head shake (top left) and the other is the tail wag (top right).

When running, worgs look like they're limping from behind--something about the way their back right leg moves just makes them look gimpy (bottom left). Their swim isn't much better. It's a doggy paddle, but just the way their legs move seems odd (bottom right).

Combat:

When it comes to combat, worgs don't have much in the way of moves, they just do a basic bite animation. Being ferocity pets, these guys also put out a great deal of damage. The wolf special, Ferocious Howl, increases crit chance by 5%. This is a great buff to have on hand in case your other basics (kings, battle shout, etc) are already covered. Furious Howl is also shared with feral druids and subtley rogues. I wouldn't recommend using a wolf for PvP unless your teammates have agreed to it.

[Nubhorns]

Furious Howl is also shared with feral druids and subtley rogues. I wouldn't recommend using a wolf for PvP unless your teammates have agreed to it.

The crit buff is also shared by Fury warriors, as well. :) It took me a bit to notice, but if I have a feral druid in my group they override Rampage with Leader of the Pack and Furious Howl doesn't stick. I've also noticed Battle Shout shuts out my cat's roar, so even if you have a wolf with a backup cat you can't win with warriors anyway(unless you can convince your fury warrior to start with the stamina shout instead, I suppose, but PW:F overrides that). ;P

Nubhorns (Caboodle)
Red Fox


Nubhorns (Veeka)
I promise to not make you cry :)
White Vulture


:::OR:::

Colour-Changing Hyena

And thanks for the rolls, I'll get right to taming. Looove Zaricotl.<3

[TygerDarkstorm]

Warriors are sort of a lose-lose class to have around for hunters. They take away two of our best pet options...well, except SV, their second best pet is a wind serpent.

But thanks for mentioning fury warriors; I figured I was missing a class/spec that brought the 5% crit, I just didn't know which one it was.

[Nubhorns]

Warriors are sort of a lose-lose class to have around for hunters. They take away two of our best pet options...well, except SV, their second best pet is a wind serpent.

But thanks for mentioning fury warriors; I figured I was missing a class/spec that brought the 5% crit, I just didn't know which one it was.

Yeah, as much as I love my warrior I get the feeling that Blizz sorta dropped the ball when it comes to warriors and hunters playing nice. With our shouts as our primary rage-generators and Intercept with a rage cost, the shouts are almost constantly up and there isn't much point in letting a cat get off a roar since it'll just be overridden the next time I need to charge. D: If I could turn Rampage off and Heroic Leap everywhere I would though, believe me.

/re-rails thread

[Lupis]

Yellow Windserpent review!

Now, I got the second Yellow Windserpent. That is, the one that only comes on one mob - the Deviate Coiler Hatchling. I took it upon myself to test the differences between the two yellows in this report.



Both yellows are right next to each other, luckily, and are easily accessible in the mouth of Wailing Caverns.



Windserpents have an appealing model, and they're one of the best built serpents out there. Most serpent-like creatures are clearly fragmented into pieces, but windserpents are quite nice and smooth. I really like the old model as they have a pretty feathered crest and nice scale/feathered wings.



Now, the color isn't something I like. I don't like yellow and I don't like orange. This pet is yellow/orange and a strange aqua. Now, the stripes are nice. He has darker brown stripes and light blue stripes, and his scales are very detailed, each one shaded.



His stomach is fairly pretty, the same aqua as his stripes. His face is a smooth yellow-orange and his eyes are also aqua. The feathers look really nice, too, yellow with a single aqua stripe at the tips.



Two problems. First, the crest is painfully 2d. Second, the wings have strange, dark triangles in the pits.



Now, the differences between the regular Coiler (Common yellow) and the Hatchling (Unusual yellow)!
They're sort of obvious, and sort of... not at all.

Hatchling


Regular


The hatchling is a slightly brighter orange, and the shading is less obvious on his scales. The regular one, in the meanwhile, is slightly more bronze, with more shading.

Hatchling


Regular


Not much difference here. The Hatchling is *Slightly* brighter.

Hatchling


Regular


Ahhh, here's the real show. First, the wings. The hatchling has clearly lighter wings with less shading, while the regular one has much darker, well shaded wings. Second, the face. The face of the hatchling is brighter.

OKAY! Enough hardly noticeable differences. On to animations. He doesn't have any idles, though his typical "Flap flap flap" is very active, tail lashing. He's loud, by the way. Flapflapflap.
As for attacks, he has two... and I could only get a good screenshot of one, sorry. The first animation for attacks is a typical bite, which was very fast and hard to capture. The other attack is an impressive tail whip.



When he uses Lightning Breath, his wings, not his mouth, glow.



His running animation was once described as "being sucked back by a vacuum" or something near that. I completely agree, although it's not that bad. He flaps forward, his tail lashing madly behind.



His swim really takes the cake, though. He's so, so cute, hovering in the water with his wings out, paddling.



When he swims forward, he tucks in his wings and uses his tail, like a real snake would.



Now, combat.
He's cunning, which has never been my cup of tea. I much prefer Tenacity or Ferocity, because really, I can never choose what to spec my pet in Cunning. xD I always end up choosing DPS though.
He's pretty good as a DPS pet, as good as my Ferocity pets. He doesn't have Bloodthirsty though, which bothers me a bit.
As a tank, well, he's as good as any Ferocity pet, though he could be specced to be almost as good as a tenacity pet. What he's missing is key, though - Thunderstomp. He's got absolutely no AoE except his breath attack, which he can use on mobs he isn't attacking.

His attack, an extra 8% magical damage to the enemy, is amazing for Survival hunters and magic-heavy groups. However, as BM, it's not quite as nice.

Overall, he's not my pet. I really dislike the color, and it still doesn't match Vallrok at all. That color. Ew.

Another? Feel free to roll me one of the rares I have, or anything.

Vallrok
82 BM
Exotics? Sure
Restrictions? No monkeys! Gorillas are okay.
Rares I Have: Loque'nahak, Skoll, Arcturis, Gondria, Aotona, Pogeyan, Rak'shiri, Duskstalkers, Shadowclaw

((Two edits. I had one pair of pictures reversed!))

[TygerDarkstorm]

Lupis(Vallrok):
Dark Grey Bonespider

[TygerDarkstorm]

Hurray Sambas report!
Sambas is a level 85 rare spawn in Twilight Highlands.

Looks:

I was sort of surprised with how enamored I became with Twinkie. I went from thinking Sambas looked ridiculous, to really loving him. He's a beautiful golden color with cream on his muzzle and the backs of his hocks, his mane is golden brown and he has brown on his tail (top right). For me, Twinkie is everything a lion should be. One of my favorite things about him is that he doesn't have the same wonky legs as the older cats.

One of Sambas' biggest problems (which is sad to say since he's a new model) is that his mane clips through his left leg pretty badly (bottom left). If they trimmed the mane back a little bit it probably wouldn't be so bad.

He also has a really strange dark brown stripe at the base of his tail and the back of his hocks have splashes of cream on them (bottom middle).

Twinkie's face is so handsome to look at, especially those bright blue eyes (bottom right). He's very strong, proud, and noble looking. I love him to pieces.

Animations and Sounds:

Since Twinkie is part of the cat family, he shares the same animations and sounds as they do. When he idles he looks from side to side (top left) and he stretches and yawns (top right). However, unlike other cats, Twinkie's yawn makes no noise.

Twinkie's run is beautiful and smooth--he just glides across the land (bottom left). His swim is the standard kitty paddle (bottom right).

Combat:

Twinkie has two attack animations, a left paw attack and roar (top) and a right paw and bite (bottom right). He's also a ferocity pet which means he'll put out great damage.

The cat special is Roar of Courage (hurray for that being the lame line on my panel XD) which increases strength and agility by 139 (scaling by level). This is arguably the best buff for hunters that our pets can provide, however, it's also a buff covered by shamans, warriors, and death knights. This buff performs best in PvE as you'll probably want a pet that can provide CC for PvP.

Let's have a go again, shall we?
Name: Venjin
Level: 81
Exotics: Yes
No monkeys or gorillas please
Rares I Have: Loque, Aotona, King Krush

Name: Ruffley
Level: 31 but feel free to roll ahead
Exotics: Not yet
No monkeys or gorillas please
Rares I have: OCJ, Mahamba

[Daranara]

Hi kids!

Who's that spirit beast?



It's GONDRIA!



Gondria is a member of the spirit beast family, of which every member is a rare spawn. Gondria lives in Northrend, in the Zul'Drak zone. She has five possible spawn points, which form a rough circle, making spawn point circling pretty simple.

I had hoped to find her in the wild for comparison purposes in this review, but she seems to know I don't actively need her anymore, so is in hiding. Without further ado, this is Mira, and she's my Gondria-kitten. Let's talk about her!



Gondria is a purple riding saber with black stripes and glowing green eyes. Oh yeah, and she's see-through. Which is pretty awesome. Except when it's not. Actually, it'd be perfectly fine to have her so see through, except for one little thing...



Pretty, right? Except you can see her eyes through her head. Actually, you can see her pretty green eyes from any angle, which can be a distraction. Or silly looking.



Her coloring (the purple on black) is unique among sabercats, as far as I'm aware. However, being unique and glowy does not mean she does not suffer from the biggest problem I see with this style of cat: the Saber-Hunch.



As you can see here, when she yawns her neck and shoulders bunch up quite a bit and it looks awkward. She also looks like she's firing a lazer.

But of course, there is no lazer left. Instead she, like all spirit beasts, has spirit mend! It's a hot they can cast on anyone who needs it! You, the tank, themselves, you name it! It's on a 30-ish second cooldown, and in my experience she's pretty smart about casting it on whoever needs in on her own.

Here's Mira, modeling it for you now.



Her other combat special is the cat's +strength and agility buff, which is never out of place. As a ferocity pet, they're good at tearing into things and iffy tanks. They'll try their best, but aren't the best.

IN REVIEW:

PROS:
- Pretty!
- Good special abilities!
- Good DPS!
- Spirit beast, with all the prestige that entails.

CONS:
- VERY see through.
- Can get lost in visually busy areas.
- Spirit beast, with all the frustrations that entails.
- funky model issues.

All in all, she's a good kitty. She's not my favorite spirit beast (that honor goes to Charlie), but we've bonded. Say goodbye to the nice people, Mira!


"goodbye! :3"

May I have another? :3

Daranara
level 85
exotics okee!
no restrictions!
Rares I Have: Loque, Skoll, Arcturis, Gondria, Karoma, Ghostcrawler, Krush, Sambas, Jadefang, Madexx (black), Olm, Lord Kri.

[Kormai]

It's late and I need to do my dailies!

Vasken
King Krush


Tyger (Venjin)
Green Runed Demon Dog


Tyger (Ruffley)
I don't remember if you'd done this one or not. It's also above your current level.
Undead Eagle


Daranara
Would you mind doing another rare report? If so I can roll again.
Madexx (black)

[TygerDarkstorm]

Tyger (Ruffley)
I don't remember if you'd done this one or not. It's also above your current level.
Undead Eagle

Yzma has this guy already so I'll use her to make the report.

[Cialbi]

With the worg limp, I consider the hind left leg to be culprit. The ankle joint (no, not the knee; knees don't face backwards) hardly moves during the run animation, which really limits the range of motion on that leg. It really does look like the leg is partially lame. Personally, I can live with Cialbi's Silverfir (Timber) having that limp, but I probably won't be taming a worg on another character; Silverfir is a special case.
_

To be honest, I forgot all about doing that report on Arcturis. So, I'll try to get that done tonight. EDIT: Err, I think I ought to get some sleep instead

[TygerDarkstorm]

Hm...I always thought it was the hind right leg. I'll take a closer look at the left one next time I use Cliff. Between that horrid run and the way they look with those graphic lines. Thankfully OCJ's darker color makes it so you don't notice the terrible outlines as bad.

And on a side note, I saw Oozeworm tonight on Roxíe snagging the Mudsprocket flight path.

[Lupis]

I had a dark grey bone spider to report on.

The dark grey color can be found in two places - low level in Tristfall glades, at very high level (85) at Tol Barad. I went after the Tristfall one. She, if you don't know, has the best way of 'hanging out' in her cave I've ever seen.



Anyway. Here's how she looks. I really like the bone spider model, and I really don't see any big problems with it. The skin is one of the more appealing Bone Spider skins, with bright purple eyes and dark grey and black body parts.



There's even a tinge of brownish red in there.

And from the side, so you can see those pretty pink webs better...



And, from the back. This is the only problem I have with the model, and I know some people actually love it - the back of her abdomen has a bunch of spikes on it, which don't really match her. They don't blend in to her abdomen well. Grrr.



Moving on! This pet is always in motion. When he's not doing an idle animation, which isn't very common, she's twitching her legs around and her feelers are always moving. She has two idles that she uses all the time, one to look around and the other to rub her front legs together.





Running is hard to get a picture of, because overall she doesn't move that much - though it's a very smooth running animation. Unlike most spiders, she doesn't move so fast that she looks jerky or ridiculous. It looks really nice.



Attacks!

Two attacks. One lunges forward, the other LEAPS at the target.



The leap makes me think she's going, "TAG! You're it!"



Her special skill, a web, isn't exactly flashy. We've all seen this before.



And, swimming. Her swim animation is a mix between adorable and just plain creepy. Idle, her legs hang down and it's really cute.



Swimming forward is where it gets creepy...



It looks ridiculously realistic, which is why it's so scary. Argh.
Lastly, from the back. Nothing too special here.



In combat, she's a pretty good pet. I've had spiders before, a magma spider on my main most specifically. They're a little squishy unless you spec them into the tanking side of the Cunning tree. I always spec them into DPS, so... squishy. Again, she has no AoE aggro abilities. Her dps is pretty high though.
Her special skill, web wrap, would be perfect in PvP and can be pretty nice in solo, too. I don't use it much, but I'm bad at using pet skills.

Overall: Again, not my pet. I'm very choosy! She's cute, and I really like her model and color. It gave me some respect for bone spiders at least.

Another? Rare or regular, don't care.

Vallrok
82 BM
Exotics? Sure
Restrictions? No monkeys, gorillas are okay.
Rares I have: Rak'shiri, Loque'nahak, Gondria, Arcturis, Skoll, Shadowclaw, Duskstalker, Pogeyan

[TygerDarkstorm]

o_o *Meep* The spider report creeped me out a bit. I remember the first time I saw her hanging in the cave there....I all but screamed. And those attack animations...wicked. Very cool, but at the same time *eek*.

[Kormai]

*muffled cry* mmmfpht! S-s-s-spider...... D: I have to endure this every time I got to Tol Barad...damn you Tol Barad!!! Oh and I don't quite understand how the spiders are skinnable but they do give me lots of skins because everyone is always killing them. One night my mom came in to water my plant while I was killing them and I told her to look because it was creepy and they are super realistic. She was creeped out too...and then commented "So you can kill them in game but not in real life?" I responded "Yes, because in game I have a pet who eats them!"

Lupis (Vallrok)
Shadowclaw


No more spiders for Lupis she makes the reviews too creepy.

[Lupis]

*Grins* I'm just a creepy person I guess.

Woo, Shadowclaw! By the by, I might just do a visual review for this one, because I've done a LOT of cat reviews. xD

[TygerDarkstorm]

*Grins* I'm just a creepy person I guess.

Woo, Shadowclaw! By the by, I might just do a visual review for this one, because I've done a LOT of cat reviews. xD

Copy/paste is your friend. I do it all the time for all the reviews of the same species. Or with some of my reports, like Sambas' I just leave those areas less detailed. It starts becoming routine with the information. XD

[Daranara]

We're back with another edition of....!

WHO'S THAT POKEMON?



It's..... MADEXX!



"Chrrchrrssktchrrrtrll!"

....*cough*

Anywho! Madexx is one of the new tameable rare spawns given to us by the Cataclysm. Madexx lives in the desert sands of Uldum, and is unique in two one ways! He USED to be unique in that he was the only scorpid that had his model (which is that of the horde guild scorpid mount! A bonus for those of you who like to match your mounts with your pets!), but with the addition of the venomscale spitters you now have an option for this model in brown.

What ACTUALLY makes Madexx unique is that he has five distinct colors that can spawn in any of his spawn points: black, blue, bronze, green, and red. For the purposes of this review, I am going to be telling you about the black version of Madexx.

Any talk of Madexx, however, must be prefaced with talk of the camp for Madexx. While you might get lucky, it's true, you must be prepared for the prospect of spending hours, days, even months looking for this beastie.

On my hunt for him, I spent my days communing with the avatar of P. Dawg...



...and my nights burning in Deathwing's flames. No fewer than twice!



It was not until I had the help of the tireless Furiku (from these forums!), without whom I may very well still be circling, that Madexx saw fit to show himself to us:



And that, gentle readers, brings us up to speed with Moonseeker, the black Madexx.



Let us discuss some specifics about his looks, shall we? Let's have a look in a better light!



As you can see here, "black" Madexx isn't so much black as he is a nice warm grey color, with deep red details. He is highlighted and has details in a dull gold color, making him much more varied in color than some may think.



From the side we get a good idea of how his various chitinous plates fit together, down his back and along his tail to his red stinger, tipped in a bright purple color.



From behind, we see no surprises or hidden colors, as the undersides of his plates are simply a dark grey. You can also see one of his idle animations from the back.

Speaking of, he has two of them. When standing still, he is either steadily going click, click, click with is claws while shifting his weight from side to side, or he is doing the now-famous scorpid "wheeee it's good to be alive!" claw wave, as pictured above.

Walking with Madexx shows his steady, slightly bouncing gait. His walking legs scurry along quickly, while his pincers and tail bob along rhythmically. It's pretty fitting, and I find it kind of cute.



When he idles while swimming, he allows his legs to dangle below him, kicking softly, while he waves his claws around steadily. His swimming is... smooth, at least. I'll admit, I'm not entirely certain what part of this motion would be great at propelling him along, but...

Here, just watch it.



As far as combat animations go, he has two: A left pinch and a right pinch.


"Take that!"


"and THAT!"

There is no evidence of using his stinger at all, which is kind of a shame.

As far as usefulness in combat, I think he's pretty good. He's a champion tank, as is expected of a tenacity pet. His special is a disarm, which I figure is probably more pvp-oriented, but it's fun when I go solo Skadi for his mount for lolwhirlwind fun.

OVERALL

PROS:
- well put together model!
- 4/5 unique colors!
- different than the other scorpids!
- non-exotic, so all our hunter friends can have one!

CONS:
- lives in a crowded area, so competition can be fierce.
- getting the color you want can be a pain.

Getting your very own Madexx is an exercise in frustration and patience, especially if you have your heart set on a certain color, and that particular color insists on being coy. If you're going for it, I suggest bringing friends. His area is kind of big, and with so many people swarming around it most of the time it is possible (if you are terribly unlucky) to have him spawn at the end of the area that you've just left, have someone pounce on him for taming, and be off again before you return. Bringing friends gives you more eyes on the area and a better chance that the one pouncing on your scorpid is... well, you.

Is he worth it? Well I, for one, was never attached to any of the other scorpid models/colors, so this one if best for me. With the introduction of the venomscale spitters, it's easier than ever to try to get a feel for the model before you commit to the hunt. If you're curious, I might suggest giving one a whirl, just to see.

In short: if you like scorpids, it's good. If you like tenacity pets, it's good. If you like disarming people, it's good. If you like the thrill of the hunt... well, may P. Dawg be merciful on your soul. By which I mean it can be good, if long and lonely.

It's time to say goodbye, Moonseeker!



I don't know which of these is more fun, doing the taming of the randoms, or being able to natter on about the babies I already have! That said, may I have another? The usual info applies, rare reviews are perfectly fine (with strikes being the ones I have already done):

Daranara
level 85
exotics okee!
no restrictions!
Rares I Have: Loque, Skoll, Arcturis, Gondria, Karoma, Ghostcrawler, Krush, Sambas, Jadefang, Madexx (black), Olm, Lord Kri