Questions for the Hunters here.

[Sasrei]

alrighty lets see

1- Why is it that hunters develop an emotional bond with their in-game-pets?(im not here to make the argument that they are just bits of code, I dont think you guys are stupid). Im just wondering if it stems from a RL experience with a lost pet, and wow has helped you coupe with the emotion.

Reality? Some of us spend more time with our ingame pets then our family and if you think of, hunters need pets for progression, some of these said pets have saved raids, and said hunter from becoming permantly FD'D

2- Why is my quest to get an achievement assumed to be less important than you taming the pet. In my eyes they are the same.(Only because current content does not require a specific(rare pet) to max your DPS. If it did than obviously it would make more sense.

Because you kill and then go on to the next one, I tame said pet and he can stay around for the rest of my wow gaming experience. It may have been a mark off your achievement, but to me that King Krush was my raiding buddy who was well known to my guildies.

The thing is I spend days/weeks/months to make a possible new raiding/questing/pvping buddy but I love the skin and you spend that time for a little check mark which with other chermarks gives you one achievement point. My achievement point is when King Krush goes and tanks Litch King, or when Loque saves me with his heals in pvp.. so thats my take on the difference

[Spiritbeests]

I don't know if you've ever played Portal, Rogue, but fans of the game have an attachment to the Companion Cube for what I consider to be similar reasons. These bunches of pixels are our companions through adventures. That both are virtual and don't exist in the real world is irrelevant.

I don't speak for all hunters here, of course, but you're as entitled to a virtual achievement as we are to tame our virtual companions. Both are equally meaningless to those who might not understand the accomplishment of either.

I actually cried when I had to destroy the Companion Cube. I tried for hours on a cheat someone had posted on Youtube to bring him back to life but I could never make it work! Damn you GLaDoS!!!

[Araela]

1) For me, it is not so much an emotional response tied to real life, as it is an emotional response tied to the customization of the hunter class. We are the only class that can truly customize a huge aspect of ourselves - the pet we run with, the name, etc. I will say that the one pet I had a truly unexpected bond with was Snarler -a black wolf in Feralas- and that's because he does remind me of Roscoe, my real life dog. Still, I believe the attachment comes with the fact that we see our pets as an equal- a part of our toon that is to be an active part of our daily WoW lives.

2) I don't know if I will get flamed for saying this, but in my opinion, whoever gets there first gets the kill or the tame. People camp to tame for the pet, or to kill for the achievement. I can't say as a hunter that other non-hunters should not camp, say, the Sholazar Basin rares. But I will say the reason that you get so much QQing about it goes back to my response to number one - the pets are an equal to our toons, and a true component of what makes our hunter not only personal, but special to us.

[Lisaara]

I too enjoy the thrill of the hunt and completing the achievements like Bloody Rare and Frostbitten. For me it's not even for bragging rights so much as just a sense of completion. When I have a list of things I can achieve it just feels nice to check them off as I gain them. The 'worth' of a rare mob is going to be unique to each individual person, and it's impossible to rank that worth in an all-encompassing fashion. A non-hunter will most likely find more gain in killing a rare for either an achievement or for loot/experience, and I see no problem with that. Rares are out there for everyone. They respawn, everyone can have a chance at finding one and doing what they choose to it.

As others have already been stating, the only irksome factor is when someone deliberately sabotages a taming attempt or griefs with someone's rare in some way. First come first serve is the general rule of common sense. Just as a player should not rush in and kill a rare in the process of being tamed by a hunter, a hunter should not cause a fuss if they come upon another player killing a rare if they were there first.

The emotional bond is something hard to describe or explain to someone who doesn't have the same feelings towards a virtual creature. My hunter's pets do not stem from any real world ties, but I have always been very fond of the notion of a companion/guardian/friend pet within games like this. They may be just pixels, yes, but if you have even the slightest mentality of roleplaying or immersion in your character you can find how every pet has their own personality and identity. This creature will fight by your side and stay with you as you venture through the game world. Naming it and seeing the subtle hints of character within that pet is something that really broadens the enjoyment of the hunter class and brings a little more life to it. Not every hunter feels this way of course, but this community of pet lovers in particular has a large amount of likeminded folk for that point of view.

I enjoy the company of my pets in game. Their presence is a steady source of companionship that bonds them to me and keeps me so absorbed with the hunter class. I wish I could elaborate on the topic and try to explain it better, but I'm afraid that sort of attachment is hard to relay.

^ You said it best.

[Nubhorns]

1- Why is it that hunters develop an emotional bond with their in-game-pets?(im not here to make the argument that they are just bits of code, I dont think you guys are stupid). Im just wondering if it stems from a RL experience with a lost pet, and wow has helped you coupe with the emotion.


A lot of the pets I'm close to are ones I've either had for a long time, or waited for a long time to get. Some I'm fond of just because of their skin, and others I'm close to because of what we've been through together. I can't honestly say I love my in-game pets over my real life ones, but it's the same kind of affection. I've got their back and they've got mine.

As much as I love my puppy, I don't think I'd ever eulogize her as a pet in WoW. She's very sweet and submissive generally, and...well, pets in WoW aren't.


2- Why is my quest to get an achievement assumed to be less important than you taming the pet. In my eyes they are the same.(Only because current content does not require a specific(rare pet) to max your DPS. If it did than obviously it would make more sense.

Killing for an achievement/loot is no less important or valid than taming a rare. I've killed Loque several times and I'm still out for his headcloak. I collect gray items and one day, do actually want a Tear. Maybe two. The fact that items tied to pixels stir up so much emotion is fascinating to me. Like most other people have said, it's first come, first served. You don't seem like the type to steal a kill mid-tame, so I think we'll be getting along just fine. ;P

[Acherontia]

I don't like Achievements in general--they're completely worthless numbers, and TERRIBLE for people like me with addictive personalities 8k+ and counting here

But with the "Frostbitten" pets etc, I'd like to point out that Blizzard made the Cataclysm rare tameables *not* part of any achievement, so the clash of hunter vs achievement hunter is definitely out there.

1. I get attached to my pets because they're my companions in-game. It's for the same reason that some of the quests in WoW have actually brought a tear to my eye, or the same reason I keep a bow I used for a full expansion after I get an upgrade in the next expac. Plus, pets have some weird coding, leading them to do some really unpredictable and sometimes lifesaving things, which can help give the impression of an individual personality. They become part of your character, and hell, I love my character too. They are also coded to look and somewhat act like animals, and lots of animal lovers will fall for that, the same way we go AWWWW at a stuffed bunny or something.

2. I don't think it's MORE important than your achievement. I wouldn't knock someone doing it. That said, I hate the achievement in the first place. A pet is something, especially those damn spirit beasts, that is extremely hard to get and has a LOT of personality. Sometimes they even have kind of a backstory, and what's worse, the WotLK Spirit Beasts are all neutral--THEY JUST WANT LOVE. Knowing that hunters camp them for months in order to get companionship for years to come, compared to an achievement-hunter who wants some worthless numbers, does suck sometimes--but in the end they ARE pixels, and though it is kind of irksome to see it killed (irksome toward the achievement, not the achievement hunter!!), I wouldn't freak out over it.

The only time I WOULD get angry is seeing someone tag and kill a rare that the hunter is taming, even if the hunter sloppily (due to excitement, in most cases) forgot to tag it himself.

I'd suggest that if you want to learn more about why some of us get attached to our pets, you go and read through some of the stories threads. For example, I recently tamed a scorpid because the huge rare version of it prevented a player I was fighting in PvP from escaping. I tamed him and have levelled him to 85 and am PvPing with him, because that's just plain awesome

[Tyuriwen]

I've always been a pet person, but I can't have any real pets of my own (not even a goldfish!) while I'm going to university. Playing games like WoW and Pokemon that allow me to collect virtual pets is a nice substitute. Plus, I have the thrill of taming something that's literally impossible to have as a pet in RL. What other game allows me to have a pet tyrannosaurus or velociraptor? Warcraft's hunter class is kind of a way to fulfil childhood fantasies of befriending cool, impossible animals. When I play as a Hunter, it's almost like being a kid again -- it's nostalgic and fun

^ This. I live in a very small house in London, and my mum has always hated the idea of 'having something else to clean up after' and strictly said no pets. I absolutely LOVE having so many virtual pets (I'm a massive fan of pet simulators too, like Nintendogs on the DS, or those cute little apps on the iPod), possibly to fill the gap of not having one of my own in real life (not yet anyway!). A pet dinosaur?! Awesome!

I'm an achievement hunter myself, as well as an avid pet hunter, and I believe both are just as important as each other. I recently killed Aotona, solely because I have never wanted to tame her, for my Frostbitten achievement. I tamed King Krush the first time, but the next time I see him, I will probably kill him (or get my boyfriend to do it for me because I probably won't have the heart to ) as with Jadefang, I tamed her once, then killed her for the mini pet. I completely understand and agree that achievement hunters have every right to kill potential hunter pets, so long as it's done in a fair and just way, i.e if you've tagged and are killing it, hunters should not QQ because they didn't get it first, and if a hunter is taming, achievement hunters should not grief them by coming over and killing them midtame.

Best of luck with your Hunter, Rogue. I hope you'll understand what are compulsions are once you get to grips with them yourself! =3

[Peshooter]

1. I never thought I would get attached to my pets but I did because I am an animal person. Which is probably why most hunters get attached.

2. As far as I am concerned I feel that killing a rare for an achievement or taming a rare are on equal ground, as in first come first serve kinda deal. And I would even help someone find a rare to kill for an achievement.

But do not be a douchebage(which you do not sound like, you actually sound very helpful) and kill a rare you just found for a hunter when they are mid tame. Yes I had this happen with Skoll and some DA dk camping the TLPD. I was pissed but believe karma will come around and bite him in the arse. Sorry but had to vent.

And I feel you might actually like the hunter. I know this is my 4 toon I have actually leveled and he is gonna replace my main(pally), it is amazing how you think you really enjoy only a certain class then play another and love the play style more then your main.

I apologize i am typing on an IPad at work, hehe.

[Rogue]

1. I get attached to my pets because they're my companions in-game. It's for the same reason that some of the quests in WoW have actually brought a tear to my eye:

I can relate to this, not the crying part lol, but feeling emotionally attached to a quest. For example I remember a quest that starts near the portals in TB its a low level quest given by a female undead in a green hood. It has to do with returning a locket(or something like that) to her husbands grave in silverpine. Her husband died trying to destroy the plague that eventual killed her. If I wasn't at work right now, I would try and get the name of it. Anyways its been years since I did it.

[Acherontia]

I know the one you mean--it's probably gone now, but...

Her husband (some righteous paladin iirc) left her to fight the Scourge despite her pleading for him to stay. He went off and died, she became undead anyway and is now alone. She tells you to take a locket or something and leave it on his grave, because she is bitter about it all and wants nothing to do with it, iirc. You lay the locket on the grave and there's something about a cold wind blowing through the graveyard.

It's very sad Assuming this is the right one I'm remembering.

[Rogue]

I know the one you mean--it's probably gone now, but...

Her husband (some righteous paladin iirc) left her to fight the Scourge despite her pleading for him to stay. He went off and died, she became undead anyway and is now alone. She tells you to take a locket or something and leave it on his grave, because she is bitter about it all and wants nothing to do with it, iirc. You lay the locket on the grave and there's something about a cold wind blowing through the graveyard.

It's very sad Assuming this is the right one I'm remembering.

Yup thats the one, I don't know why, Maybe it was the insanely long run at that level to complete it.

[Royi]

I know the one you mean--it's probably gone now, but...

Her husband (some righteous paladin iirc) left her to fight the Scourge despite her pleading for him to stay. He went off and died, she became undead anyway and is now alone. She tells you to take a locket or something and leave it on his grave, because she is bitter about it all and wants nothing to do with it, iirc. You lay the locket on the grave and there's something about a cold wind blowing through the graveyard.

It's very sad Assuming this is the right one I'm remembering.

I also remember a quest in Theramore, Alliance side back in Vanilla (dont know if its still around) dealing with the Shady Rest Inn and how a family was killed. Ugh that was a tough one for me being a parent.

I also had a hard time putting Jadefang to "sleep" in order to get the mini-pet. I basically sent in my Jadefang pet to "play" with him, and didnt look at the screen while it was happening. Jadefang is my favorite pet of all time so it was a bit hard to do this action.

[Isaba]

1) I cant speak for others but as for myself I find the attachment is because in my head my toon is me [though she is a girl I see her as male..but..eww belf shoulders] so her tames are mine they have to click, and have personality for there to be any attachment, this ties in with the rares, waiting weeks on end for that one skin, the one skin who I click with, the one pet with the most personality and life in them

2) beacuse. Hunters use that pet constantly. that pet is part of there toon, it may just a be a 'skin' but it could be that one skin they like, of all the pets they like that one single skin, I'm that way with Sambas, lion models are icky, sambas is gourgious. so I camped him for 6 days, my loque camps was ten months, and yha you have every right to kill them, but you get 10 achievement points, and can brag you killed something. but that hunter, they will have that pet running along side them, that pet will have a name and an attachment to that hunter, I feel hunters have more right to rare tamable's . in my opinion, if there ISNT a hunter who wants it go for the kill, but if there is be nice that achievement is a one time thing with no real context, sure you can look at it and link it, but hey once you get it whats the point? when the next expansion hits why bother? but that hunter will have that pet beside them from the time they tame it and that attachment is more built up from the time they spent sitting alone in the woods waiting and praying that it would spawn, and praying that they wont have to experience the crushing of it being killed before there eyes

[Chimera]

Most of my pets are just there because they are beautiful or cute or evil and full of awesomeness but i tame the weird and awesome because i have a huge adoration for things that do not exist in the world and they many many times have inspired my art. I specifically for beasts based off real life animals love wolves and tigers because i grew up with an extrele obsession over both.

EEEEVERYTHING was tigers and wolves when i was little, i still have the same tiger blanket and wolf blanket from 7 or 8 years ago and i still use them for my bed because im still obsessed with them though foxes the past couple years have become my current OMGFOXESMUSTGETSOADORABLE fad xD Id have to say that the Aqua tigers and the White worgs are my absolute ultimate favorite pets in the entire game and i would never trade their colors for any other skin in the game. I would pass up that new FirelandsDruidSkin or whatever that is if it means i get to keep my Aqua kitties and White worgs <3

My cat (Real Life) is a buramese/ragdoll cross and ive never been closer to any of the real life pets ive ever owned before and hes 15 years old currently and sometimes i stay up at night and cry cause i know hes at the ripe age where he'll be leaving me at possibly, any day, any month, or even a year or two from now and i will most definitely be getting Siamese Cat's on all my characters to remember him by when he does go since none of the tameable cats in-game look remotely like him and oh mah he is extremely finicky about how he looks, completely obsessed with being neat and clean and fur laying properly down lol..

[Remedy]

1) A hunter pet is a companion and a friend for a different reason depending on the player. For me, I have been roleplaying Onei (mostly off-game...PvE server. Bah.) for quite a few years now, and I've come to understand him to the point where I know how he'd react and what he'd think of a lot of different things. To me, his pet is definitely a part of that. I can tell you my Vanagandr's sarcastic attitude makes up a good half the character. Onei would not be Onei without Skoll.

There's that, and how pets can surprise you. Some click without you even knowing. I hated Arcturis until I tamed him, I thought bears were ugly. I certainly don't think they are now, haha, my Garrus is the best <3

2) I find no problem with killing rares if it's on an achievement. I've had my beautiful green Madexx snatched out from under my nose by idiots several times now, and that makes me angry because Madexx drops greys and isn't part of an achiev. However, I understand wanting the achiev and from the point of view of someone who has no pet, it makes perfect sense. I, myself, will never get those achievs because I will never kill a rare and have, in fact, sat for hours just to re-home things like Loque and even the lower-level ones, but I get why people would kill them.

Most of that was probably already said and likely none of it made sense, but hey, it's input, right? I love to ramble.

[Solunerra]

Its part of my toons RP and for my I just like the attachment. I like adding back stories and personalities to them.
Its one of the resown why I like playing hunters over other class.

[Dvatori]

1- Why is it that hunters develop an emotional bond with their in-game-pets?(im not here to make the argument that they are just bits of code, I dont think you guys are stupid). Im just wondering if it stems from a RL experience with a lost pet, and wow has helped you coupe with the emotion.

I think the emotional bond is very similar to the way you feel about a character after you level it and have oh so many experiences with it. I also love my in-game pets because they help to make my toon more distinctive and more me, help it stand out from all the other hunters out there and help me to identify more with it. I started playing a hunter because I love the idea of working with a pet not because of losing one, but because of the great relationship I have with my current one.

2- Why is my quest to get an achievement assumed to be less important than you taming the pet. In my eyes they are the same.(Only because current content does not require a specific(rare pet) to max your DPS. If it did than obviously it would make more sense.

It's honestly not. If you put in the same research, time, and effort to track down these guys it's your's to do with what you will. Obviously hunters feel anger about this because they are in direct competition with you for that pet. Also, many hunters, especially the ones who frequent this forum, tend to personify their pets and so prefer to see them 'alive' and tamed as opposed to slain. Either way, we have to be reminded sometimes it's not 'World of Huntercraft," you have the exact same right to that mob as we do. I think one factual mistake you may be making however, is that we're taming these pets solely for the functionality. I can't speak for all the forum-goers here, but most of us tame a certain pet because there's something about that pet we connect with or love, some way it perfectly compliments our character, that makes that specific pet a very important tame to us.

Hope I've aided your understanding. Good luck with the achieves and roll a hunter!

Edit:: Killing rares fairly for achievements is one thing, ganking them from a hunter mid-tame is an entirely different one. don't do that. You'll get yelled at and you'll have deserved it.

[Chimaera]

1- It's kind of like a teddy bear that kills things. When you're looking at having an attachment to something, thread and stuffing isn't that different from code.
It also depends, for me at least, how the pet was obtained and what I've done with the pet. I won't go into detail about specific stories, but you probably get the idea. Especially as an RPer, the pets you tame become a part of who your character is.
I'm not that emotionally close to my pets, though. I feel an attachment to a lot of them, but if somehow I lost them all I'd be more upset that all my time camping was wasted rather than not having the exact worm I've had for a while.

2- I don't find either more important than the other. I'm disappointed when I see a rare I've been camping dead, but in that case I just write down the time I found it and go do something else.
If a hunter has found a rare before you and is already taming it though, it's theirs. If it hasn't been tagged it's probably debatable, but it's still a dick move.
At the same time, if you have a mob tagged and are killing it, hunters shouldn't try to grab aggro and tame it or harass you for killing it. It's all about who gets there first.

[Paciphae]

Question 1)

1- It's kind of like a teddy bear that kills things. When you're looking at having an attachment to something, thread and stuffing isn't that different from code.

I think it could be compared to getting emotionally attached to any object; like a car or a musical instrument. Anything that you use a lot, or that you depend on; you have a tendency to attribute a personality to. How many people have nick names for their vehicles? Because a hunter has to have to pet, to survive and make it through the game, I very quickly found myself saying "C'mon, bear!", much like I encourage my car to start on cold mornings. From there it's not long til' that pet seems to be an actual friend, saving your butt when you really need it.

Sure, I know it's just some pixels and code, but in WoW, so is my character. How many of us call our characters "I"?

Question 2) I'm with the majority here. Unless there's a hunter in the process of taming it, it's fair game.

[Curumor]

Been a while since I've posted here, but it's a god question, so might as well ^^

1: Why do we become attached to our pets? Well, as some have pointed out, not all do. I know several hunters that'll only tame whatever is best for dps, for example. Personally, I'm not that attached to most of my pets. I've gotten rid of several just because I couldn't be bothered with them or to try out new ones. But a couple do stick. One of them is Veldrin, my black lion (Humar). I tamed him back in vanilla when I was low level. It took me 10 straight hours of waiting and getting ganked, and I was about 10 levels higher than him, so it took ages to get him to my level too. He's been with me ever since, and has saved instance groups several times (especially healers), tanked loads of bosses when the main tank has died and even tank a raid boss or two for a few secs. I also used to put him in prowl and use him to scout out places with Eyes of the Beast. And prowl+shadowmeld led to a lot of fun episodes. ^^
At one point, some bug even caused him to sniff out rogues and attack them (without being on aggressive or me doing anything O_o).
So I've grown pretty attached to him over the years. I'm just used to having him by my side and prefer to use him in groups.

Though he did look better with me when I was a nelf... (dorf now).

2: First come, first served. I do both achivement hunting and rare taming, so can see both sides there. But if you kill me or a rare mid tame, be prepared to be hunted down and killed while you're trying to do stuff yourself.