This time around I decided to also go down the Bear path, so once I hit level 24 or 25 I headed off to Hillsbrad and found me a Grey Bear - and called it Shirty (Australian players may get this reference - if they are over the age of 30). Shirty stuck with me until level 49 when I went to Hinterlands.
I had started in Tarren Mill and did a mining circuit. On my way I came across Big Samras. Named Bear? Must check it out. Unfortunately he shares skins with a bunch of other bears, so I avoided him and continued on to The Hinterlands.
I had read that Old Cliff Jumper is often spotted outside Aerie Peak so as Im riding through I type /tar old and guess what shows up?
So I hastily dump Shirty (sorry), and grab me my first rare pet. I had no other choice but to name him Huxtable (slightly easier reference so I suspect Im not the first to use this name). At this time ST procs (having been in LFD) so I head on it and by the end of it we are both at level 50. Once I finished with ST I headed to the Jintha, cleared the quests I had there, then went to the Horde village to hand in the quests. I noticed a Stable Master so I dropped off Huxtable and figured I'd go get me another Bear.
So I head back to Tarren Mill but cant for the life of me remember where I saw Big Samras. So Im riding around again when finally I come across him. 15-ish seconds later I have me a brand new Bear. Called Shirty. Thought about ShirtyII but I figure Im going to go through a few Bears as I level - assuming I find more rare pets to tame... so its easier to just name them all Shirty.
And there you have it. My first rare pet experience. All 8 seconds of it
Jaspar
