Having trouble "bonding" with any pet...

[Helsinki]

I hope this is an appropriate topic for this forum. I've been forever obsessed with rares, convincing myself with each camping spree that THIS pet will be THE pet. I have 21 rares now and while I adore each of them, none is THE pet.

Thus, I thought I might ask or ideas. Maybe a simple common pet is what I would enjoy for everyday activities, or maybe I just haven't played enough with a certain pet. While the following portion of my topic might fit with a pre-existing topic, I thought I still might ask for a pet suggestion - what single pet should I tame next to BG with, travel with, quest with? Any ideas? Or similar woes, so I don't feel so weird? Haha. Thanks for any responses

[Sasrei]

Maybe it doesnt have to be a rare, why not try a common skin and see how it goes? Just because it has a longer spawn timer doesnt exactly mean its more special. Find something you enjoy no matter the spawn timer some common skins are my fave

[Kalliope]

Definitely try a common pet. Once you take off the pressure of rare-finding, you can find a real bond.

[Nightsights]

browse through the "gallery of pet looks" and see if any of the common skins catches your eye.

[Vephriel]

I find bonding is rarely something you can affect or foresee. Sometimes a pet you like happens to just click into place instantly, other times you'll be completely taken by surprise when a pet tames YOU, or you find yourself suddenly in love with an unexpected model.

I'd say don't necessarily box yourself in by thinking your main pet has to be rare or hard to get, that's actually rarely the case with many people. ^^ An old friend, or a whim acquisition can sneak their way into your heart without you realizing it. Take some time to go around and try out a few models, both ones that appeal to you and maybe even some that don't.

Best of luck in finding your pet soulmate!

[MajorThor]

Time to get all Freud up in this bitch.

"Tell me about your mother, OP."

[Shade]

I've had trouble bonding with some pets and have let them go. Then I would just start browsing around and taming random thing-go tame something you dont think you would ever use and give it a try. Are there any pet types that you have never played with?

I recently went back, got rid of a number of rares-Ghostcrawler, Maddex, etc-that I never clicked with to go tame common skinned pets-a blue rhino, a red lynx, one of the ZG color changing wasps, a white bear and the blue fox Ashtail. After all the hype of trying out some of the 'new' pets, I went back to some old, and new faves for awhile.

Nothing beats you saving the day in an instance with your huge-ass rhino that you pull out to hold aggro after the tank dies. That is a blast!

I'd say don't necessarily box yourself in by thinking your main pet has to be rare or hard to get, that's actually rarely the case with many people. ^^

And to that I whole-heartedly agree. My main pet, on all my hunters is this guy:

He was my only raid companion when I was doing WOTLK back when we could only have 5 pets. I had him to use for raids as my MM pet, and then my other four slots were exotics for when I ran around as a BM-Loque'nahak being my signature pet for when I was a BM. This black wolf though has always been with me, and I make a point as soon as my other hunters are a high enough level, to go get one, even when running to where the Blackrock Battle Worgs are is a massive pain on a level 16 hunter.

[Helsinki]

I've tamed so many pets by this point it's not even funny. It's not just the rares - I've tamed a bazillion common skin pets across several hunters. I just seem to get bored easily :\ I've found two possible candidates for future boredom though

As an aside though... just found Magria after a week of fruitless searching. I'm really enjoying her thus far in battlegrounds, so hopefully I've found my next partner in crime. ...If not, I have a list ready :b haha. Thanks for all the replies (and MajorThor - lol!)

In case anyone was wondering - the common skins I like are the Princess Huhuran wasp and the blue warp stalker. So well shall see I also would like to spend more time playing with some of the pets I already have, as many of them admittedly have seen little action. What are some of everyone else's favorites (rare or not)?

[Helsinki]

Shade - I was thinking about pets that I've never tamed, and I have never once tamed a warp stalker (I hated the white ones and Gezz was made untameable, so when I was last most active on my hunter, there were no good skins available). I would definitely like to give one a try, and may go get one tonight just to see.

[Thwip]

I have actually been having this issue for a while now myself. I joke about it with my friends and my 'pet of the week'. It's that last stable slot that is haunting me, wanting to be filled with something I just cannot let go of and I just cannot find it. I recently found Anthriss and changed out my tiny NotKirix for her instead. I adore her for no reason at all, even if there are a million yellow spiders running around the MF and Deth is keeping her company in the stable when I do dailies.

Right now, I'm looking for Ankha, she'd be my last stable slot, but I keep constantly asking myself, 'Do I really want another spirit cat? WHY do I keep coming out here?' I love my Gondria and she is one of my higher list pets, I use her constantly, but I also change out my SBs on a weekly basis so that they all get time out of the stable. I told myself I didn't want this cat when they came out, but yet now I'm finding myself going out there everyday. I dunno if it's the rare hunt or the feeling that she might be what I've been looking for.

People over on Nesingwary have been hearing me lament for a good week now about having the "click" issue. I don't understand it either. I don't have this problem with my little lvl30 hunter over there. All her pets have just clicked, rare or not....but with my Main, I'm just having the hardest time ever finding THAT PET. That one pet that makes me never want to let it go, just like all my others. [Or well....most of them. I have a few pets for kicks.]

[Shade]

Shade - I was thinking about pets that I've never tamed, and I have never once tamed a warp stalker (I hated the white ones and Gezz was made untameable, so when I was last most active on my hunter, there were no good skins available). I would definitely like to give one a try, and may go get one tonight just to see.

Oh I hope you enjoy them, they are adorable. I have a bit of a love/hate relationship with them. I love their look, animations and just about everything about them-except they are not my fave tanking pets-Shale spider and Rhino win that in my book. So whenever I am in my stables trying to find a pet to get rid of, they are usually one of my first choices. I do keep them on my alts, as my main has 6 tanks pets already and, seeing as how rarely I actually need/want a tanking pet with me, 6 is more then I planned on having, so I don't want any more.

Another thing I'll suggest for that one pet slot that you cannot find the right pet for you are Color Changing Pets !

I just recently went and got:

out of Zul'Gurub, and named her Moody-as in a mood ring? My best friend is irritated at me because she thinks of Moody from Harry Potter but oh well. Aside from having fun irritating my friend with her, I'm having a blast with my 4-in-1 pet here. A color changer, if you want something a little different, can be a lot of fun. And if you go for one, I used to have the two-color changing fox and found Gemini to be a good name for him.

[Aeladrine]

You asked what our favourite pets are.(: That's sweet!

On my main, Gwyn, a ghost saber, and Eirwyn, a common blueish white fox, take the cake. Out of all my pets on any of my characters, Gwyn is my favourite. He's bene with me since I started playing and I've been playing for, what, five years now? Fo some reason I was saying six a few days ago-- that TLPD camp just took my brains and smashed them into a pulp. But Gwyn's been with me for five years. He wasn't my first pet (that goes to a gorgeous bear named Shiota), he wasn't my second, heck, I don't even think he was my third! But for the entire time I played, he was the one I had out. My other four pets never really got to see any action. And even though he's just a bunch of pixels on a screen, I love Gwyn to death.

Now on Aela, the two pets I have with me at any given time are Cayenne, a common red fox, and Ginger, a red lynx. Cayenne is quickly becoming Aela's Gwyn.(:

Can you tell I have a thing for foxes and cats?

[Vephriel]

Vephriel's 'pet soulmate' would be Skorn, her black devilsaur. Though he of course didn't come around until Wrath of the Lich King, I knew right away there was something there. He was just waiting for her all that time until they could be made tamable. Once I named him Skorn everything was perfect, and he'll always be her number one pet. I always feel at a loss for words when I try to explain the bond I have with Skorn. I wish I could describe it in a way that would encompass it properly, but...he's just the one.

[Finduilas]

My special pets are not really rare pets, but I love them.
My orc Morga's pet is his tiger Arod. He tamed him with level 10 in Durotar on the islands as his first pet over three years ago. I never ever was able to abandon him, even when rares at this time still had special abilities and Arod had not. I still have him and love him. He does pve regularely with Morga.
Finduilas has two very special cats. One is Freya (even in my signature) the ghostsaber, I tamed her when Findu was on her way to 80 and I first started reading Petopia and search for pets there. She is my first "Petopia-pet" and I use her for Pve. Then there is her counterpart Hönir. He is the black lion from the Barrens, Humar. I tamed him, when Findu was his level (18) and he killed me twice. Back then he was unique (no Pitch yet) and he was Findu's companion all the way to 80. I still have him and love to take him to bgs with me.

I do have many rares with my hunters. But there will not be a pet, that replaces my first pets, that grew up with my character. They really have a very special bond.
If you are looking for THE pet, think about what your first pet was. How did you like it? Do you miss it? Would you tame it again? Go through your screenshot folder (if you like to take screenshots) and look at the pets you had with you for the pics. In all my vanilla shots there are my beloved Arod with Morga and Hönir with Findu.
If you tame a pet again, don't name it yet, take it to do a variety of things with you and wait untill a name pops in your head and won't go away. Then it's THE name and for me normally a pet with THE name gets a pet I really bond with. If I already have trouble finding a name for the pet, it normally doesn't work out for me.

edit: Arod is my avatar <3

[Mozag]

None of my hunters who have complete stables have an uncommon rare as their special pet. Mozag's best buddy is Mortician, her red hyena. A skin I never enjoyed at all, despite liking hyenas. But when I decided to make her stable theme red, and wanted to honour my old hunter (I race changed him into Mozag), I remembered that one of his favourite leveling pets had been a common, yellow hyena. So, off I went to tame the red equivalent: Slaverjaw, with mild apprehensions, since I REALLY did not like that skin. But, for some reason they clicked. Together they went and conquered Vash'Jir, together they went to say hello to the other red hyenas in Uldum, and RP:wise, Mort and Mozag are inseparable.

Lazuli is a Goblin, and a character that I had planned for a long time, her whole RP story was based around her having a white fox, and while I really still love the white fox model, Pearl just didn't manage to become as beloved as Gem, her pink tallstrider. Gem was a complete "whim tame", while I was questing in S. Barrens and saw those sparkly pink birds. I thought, heck, why not? And they have been best buddies ever since. Though a good second place is her colour-changing monkey, Amber, who has been with her since she hit 10 and swam back to the starter shipwreck island, desperately hoping that those monkeys hadn't phased out.

Lomelinda's favourite is Sweet Pea, a white worg. At the time I was looking for a suitable wolf for her, and as I had a vaguely white theme going on for her stables, I decided to try this one out, since the worgs are my favourite model. I tamed Lupos and ran around with her for a bit, only to feel a bit "meh". She wasn't white enough, she didn't look as "Night Elfy" as I had hoped, I didn't like the run animation, etc. etc. So, I decided to release her: dumped her without a second thought and rode over to Dun Morogh to tame a white coyote model. The minute the tame completed and I named this new wolf Sweet Pea, I felt sick to the stomach. So, I released the impostor into the wild and flew back to Duskwood as fast as I could, and there...in the EXACT same place as the first time, was Lupos. She was waiting for me, and I actually felt close to tears when I tamed her again.

And finally, Alburga originally started with the dark, striped saber cat from Darkshore, called Marlowe, and together we did quite a lot of RP. But then I felt disconnected from him, and as I'd roleplayed him as a fairly old cat, I had him die of old age, which became an important catalyst in Alburga's story. Anyhow, I had another cat tucked away, who I hadn't really used though I liked the skin: the black saber cat. I took him with me to Gilneas for our next RP session and this cemented their grudging friendship. Byron is now Alburga's closest companion, and the one she takes everywhere with her (in RP) despite his rather belligerent personality.

So, as you can see, it's rarely the planned pet that becomes the closest companion. It can whim, or chance, or roleplay, or anything at all. Somewhere out there is your "forever pet". Don't give up.

[Zhuge]

I think that sometimes the 'rare' pets you spend ages hunting some how make you feel less bonded to them! I am terribley bitter towards TLPD for evading me, and I often tell the friendly campers I meet who do the full 24/7 camp that if I see him I will tag and /invite so they can come get him! I don't want anyone going through the sheer boredom I've done in SP

Pets wise, I've bonded really well with the accidental or on a whim tames! Liao my pink turtle is a common skin - I simply picked him up randomly one day to tank Kara. He's now tanked Kara a million times, the old ZG, Naxx and MC! I adore him, yet I told myself I wasn't going to keep him lol! It's the little neck stretching thing he does! If someone needs a tank, he's there - he's even tanked the Crucible of Carnage

Wesker , my Karoma was the same. Out hunting Sambas (who I had to camp for) and I just went for a random look, and there he was. I even checked my friends list and guild for someone else to tame him, and no one wanted him so I rehomed him Now I adore him and he's ALWAYS with me I love him more than Ezio, my Sambas

Have a go at the common skins! Head to an area, sit and look at the mobs. Someone will look at you, turn towards you or even attack you! But you will know, this is the one Browsing through the forums I saw Veph did this with Toast her lava spider - it made me smile

Go out to tame a friend, not a 'trophy', then you will find a soul-mate - also, give them a different name to the mob tag, that way he/she is yours, and not just a copy of the mob All my spirit beasts are video game bad guys (an unintentional theme!) whilst my 1 pet families are named after those close to me (family, real life pets!)

[Monica Gems]

When Mazzranache was the only pink tallstrider, way back in fourteen hundred... eleventy two... when Isle of QD was still in testing and ~2 months from hitting live, my then-boyfriend took me to get him. I named the bird after him, and with my first ever rare pet, I set about leveling. He did it all; he tanked every un-solo-able elite, he pulled me through orange mobs that came in groups of three. We hunted down Alliance. We raided at 70 and were never worse than 3rd. That bird was EVERYTHING to me.

Then the ManThing left. And he went into the stables. He's back out now, that was... goodness, four years ago =( But every time I use him, I end up just getting kind of sad. I do use other pets but as far being in love with a pet, no one will ever be as important to me as Gustiver. It helps if you get a pet, attach it to something, and use it for many tasks were perhaps you'd use a standard "Well when you need to do X you use X pet"

[Rhyela]

Tetsusaiga's been my main pet for years and years (I started playing in Vanilla). I had been searching for my pet, like you, and tamed a few things here and there. Finally I stumbled across Petopia and saw Echeyakee, an awesome white lion. Back then, there were a lot less people playing and I don't recall seeing that many hunters, so it was pretty rare back then to see someone with a pet from another continent or faction. I went to his "spawn" area and waited for him for quite a while, but he never appeared. Finally I did some researching and found out he was a Horde quest spawn. My brother played with me at the time and offered to make a Horde character, level it up, get the quest, and spawn him for me. But before he was high enough, some other random player came along, brought Echeyakee out, and let me tame him. He was my steady pet, he rarely left my side. I stopped playing my hunter for a couple years after my husband and I got married and he took our account for himself, and I had to create a new account for me. But finally Blizzard offered character transfers so I got Nakoma (now Rhyela) back. Time away from Tetsusaiga kind of lessened that bond I had with him. I was more interested in taming all kinds of new pets that came out in LK (I didn't play her all through BC). Eventually I needed stable space, so I released him. It didn't bother me much at the time, I figured I'd just go tame him again. But, some months passed, we got our 25 stable slots, and I really began missing Tetsusaiga. I tried to tame Echeyakee again, but it was not my Tetsusaiga. I petitioned a GM to restore my true pet, and they did! I'm never, ever letting him go again.

Apollyon (King Krush) is my next favorite. At first, I didn't really want him. I was just fine with my red devilsaur Deathclutch. But, after debating for a while, I finally decided I'd at least try to see KK in the wild. When I did see him a few hours after beginning my search, it was love at first sight. I knew I had to have him. It wasn't just that he was a unique rare, he just had this personality or character or.....something.....some indescribable something.....that drew me to him. He was killed the first time around but I finally got him a couple days later with help from my brother (again). His name came right to me, and he is my second favorite. It's actually almost a tie between Tetsusaiga and Apollyon, but there's just a lot more history with Tetsusaiga.

Vulkoor (black Madexx) and Naphthali (red spider) are next. I actually didn't want the black Madexx, I really wanted green. Green's my favorite color, so I just knew in my heart of hearts that I had to have him. Bronze came first and I kept it for a while, but I still wanted green. I camped and camped and camped, but no green. Finally, on a Saturday, I had started camping super-early in the morning, and early in the afternoon, NPC Scan went off. But, it was black Madexx. I wanted to hold him for a friend, but in my panic of actually finding a Madexx, and it being a busy Saturday, I typed her name in wrong. It didn't occur to me to just open my friend list, lol. I was a frantic mess. So, I didn't think she was on, and I didn't know anyone else to tame him. I started to tame, trying to deter any possible gankers, while looking for other random hunters online. But while I was looking for someone, I accidentally actually tamed him (I didn't want to). I was annoyed and frustrated, so I just threw him in the stable. I finally found the friend I was looking for and told her about the tame. I told her when I thought he might spawn next, and told her that I'd stay out of Uldum (remember I still wanted green, but I wanted her to have a shot at Madexx first). Wouldn't you know it, but GREEN Madexx spawned when I wasn't there! I was certain that the universe was having a great laugh at my expense. I was happy that she got Madexx, of course, and she admitted later that she wanted green the most, but I was still frustrated that the one I really wanted eluded me yet again. Another friend tamed a bronze Madexx a couple nights later, and my friend with her green Madexx and the friend with the bronze Madexx wanted pictures. I grabbed my black Madexx out of the stable just to take some pictures, but then, all of a sudden, this bond just formed. It was weird. He went from being a reminder of how the universe hated me, to suddenly having this feeling that he was mine. He spawned for me, and no one else. He wanted me to have him! Then, he had a personality of his own. While the other two Madexxes were happily flailing about, mine just kind of sat there, like ".......". He was almost "emo" or something, and paired with the black color, he was just too awesome to ever let go.

With the red spider, I had been raiding ICC and saw some little spider critters. One in particular caught my eye: a beautiful, vibrant red spider. I was pretty sure there'd be a tameable equivalent somewhere in the world, but regular spiders were pretty rare to see on my server. Most people had bone spiders or the crystal spider model. I looked here on Petopia (<3) and found the model. Keep in mind that most of the time, I will tame the rare version of a skin if available because that's just how I am. I saw that Naraxis was a rare red spider in Duskwood, so I went to her location. She wasn't there. The next closest place was ZG, back when it was still a raid. I figured I'd at least see how the skin looked, so I headed there and found the spider wing, and after a lot of effort (too much effort for a level 80 if you ask me, it was embarrassing ), I tamed a Razzashi Broodwidow. I named her Naphthali which is (I believe) Hebrew for "struggling," after the great struggle of taming her. Technically it's a male name, but I thought it sounded like a good female name, too. While I really liked her, deep down I still wanted the rare. A couple nights later I headed back to Naraxis' location and she was up. I put Naphthali on "Stay" at the entrance to the cave so I could go look at Naraxis close-up. I don't know why I did that. I don't know why I didn't just abandon Naphthali and tame Naraxis, and I don't know why I felt the need to look at Naraxis up close. They're the exact same model! But, my brain works in mysterious ways, so that's what happened. I looked at Naraxis, then panned my camera back to the entrance of the cave and there sat Naphthali, looking all lonely and sweet and loyal, and I just couldn't let her go. I preferred my non-rare raid critter over the rare one (which was pretty unusual for me), and she's been one of my favorites ever since.

Anyway, that was an enormous wall of text, but what I'm trying to say is that half of my favorites came from unexpected places and in unexpected ways, one is just a quest spawn that's been with me since the dawn of time; only one is a unique rare, but even then, there was a lot more to him than just the dragon around his portrait.



Try looking in places you wouldn't normally think to look, and keep an open mind. Your favorite pet may just come from the last place you expected.

Good luck!

[Helsinki]

Thank you all so much for the responses and stories! I really enjoyed reading about all of your pets

The first pet my hunter had was a tiger from Durotar. I kept that one only 3 levels until I could tame Dishu, whom I named after a friend (druid friend, of course). After that I went through a bazillion pets, and the only two that stuck out until 70 were Maurice (red crab) and Glenda (Naraxis). I loved them dearly and played with them exclusively for about 30 levels (which is a lot for me), and eventually let them go. Most of WoTLK leveling was spent with Duckfart, my clutchmother. I still have Duckfart and retamed Glenda, but released Glenda into the wild again because she just didn't click anymore.

I'm going to try out a few more tonight and tomorrow and hopefully I find one that works out! I'm enjoying my warpstalker a lot, but I am not convinced he's "the one" haha.

More stories of pet favorites, past and present, are always welcome!!

[Vephriel]

If you wanted to read about one of those out-of-the-blue tames that ended up as a special pet, here's my original thread of Azzam my Dreadsaber. It was quite the tame, and he's still one of my closest pets!
http://forums.wow-petopia.com/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=4011