Changing my stables before Cataclysm

[Sarayana]

I know this has been discussed before, and mainly the reason I'm thinking about this is because of the discussions on these forums.

I love the stable changes come Cataclysm, but I'm terrified that I'll loose my chance to retame some of the rare beasties I've foregone for now due to the limited slots.

My stables as of now:

Rafa's my main guy. I don't ever really go anywhere without him. However, I realise it'd be easy to get him back in Cata.


I got Samsa for raiding and really don't need him. I have no attachment to him and I don't raid anymore, and Rafa's my go-to for 5mans. I don't mind abandoning Samsa for a vanilla rare.


Safira is my only spirit beast. I'm actually not a huge fan, I'd much prefer Loque or Skoll but both evade me. I'm planning to go back to Northrend and look for Skoll and Loque come Cataclysm. I suppose Safira could go, but I do like her. I just don't... love her, I guess.


This fella doesn't have a name yet. I got him because of the aoe, but I haven't had the need for a tanky pet since I tamed him. He's definitely not necessary to keep.


I love Atha. She's awesome, she fights with herself, she's fierce, she's great... she's also horribly bugged. Ever since the problem with the pet talent trees she hasn't been able to hold aggro. I see TS go off and I see growl hit the mob, but still I pull off her in two shots. However, I keep pulling her out every so often and fiddling with her in the hope she'll be fixed. She's staying.

So this is my conundrum: there are at least three rares I want from Azeroth.

I'm getting this lady, no doubt about it. I love her so very much, and I'm not risking her disappearance in Cataclysm!


I love the ghost saber. I had it for a while on my first test hunter on my husband's account (haha I just realised I used petopia before I even got my own account!!! ˆ-ˆ) and it's a gorgeous cat. I wish Gondria's texture was more like this and less like I-can-see-your-eyes-through-your-butt. I'm definitely considering whether to get it before Cata, since it'll wreak havoc with Darkshore.


I'm a huge fan of Rak'Shiri. I regret letting her go when I had her. She's gorgeous and probably the only riding tiger skin I like.

There are other rare pets I like and worry about come Cataclysm. For example, I'm debating whether or not Old Cliff Jumper is in danger.

I love his green eyes. <3
I also don't know whether the changes in Barrens will destroy our chances of finding Azzere...


So you see my dilemma... I'm pretty sure the wolf and the bear are going, and I'm definitely taming Clutchmother. Beyond that, I just don't know... Any advice?

My husband suggested letting go of Rafa as well and taming Cluthmother, Ghostsaber and Rak'Shiri, but it breaks my heart to think about letting Rafa go...

[Congafury]

Don't want to encourage you too early - but what if the stable changes come before Cata is released? This makes sense since this hunter class change is supposed to affect all players - regardless if they purchase xpack or not.. so maybe we'll all be able to save more then 5 rares befor Cata hits, uh?;)

[Sarayana]

I know that's most likely what'll happen. On the other hand, if patch 4.0 gives us bigger stables, it's most likely the same patch that updates all of old Azeroth, no? I just don't want to make any assumptions.

[Congafury]

Fair point Sarayana! i haven't thought of it... geez i only have 2 semi-free stable slots..:/

[Sarayana]

Yeah it's a bit tough. I'm on the fence about Safira... I do like her, and I'd like to keep her, but I'm not attached the way I am to Rafa and Atha. *sigh*

[Rhyela]

My opinion: scrap the wolf, Gondria (as much as I love her, I realize it's all a matter of personal taste), and the bear. Keep your raptor and Atha, since you have an attachment to them. Even if you could tame your raptor again, that's beside the point! I know sometimes releasing an animal only to retame it down the road sometimes destroys the attachment for some people, and I don't believe it's worth the risk.

Go forth and tame your Strider Clutchmother, your ghost saber, and maybe even Rak'shiri! Like you said, we don't know when the stable changes will come, whether before the patch or during, and it may not be worth the risk. Not only that, let's say the stable changes come before - that might mean that suddenly these rares become more sought-after and will then be harder to find!

I myself don't really want any of those vanilla rares besides the Clutchmother, I've always wanted her but never got her. I may release the owl I just tamed and go get her myself.

Good luck in your decision and happy hunting!

[Sarayana]

Thank you Rhyela. <3 I actually just picked up Clutchmother. Posting this totally spurred me into action, and as I came down the path, there she was. It was meant to be. xD <3

I named her Mizu, which is the romanised version of the Japanese word for water.

[Kivrin]

Given what you've said above, I'd say get rid of the bear and the wolf first. You don't sound to have a great deal of attachment to either one. Probably the best ones to replace them with would be the Clutchmother and Ghost Saber. Given the disaster that Darkshore is supposed to become, those seem the most likely of your choices to go away. As far as Rak'Shiri vs. Gondria...well, I'd say that mostly just comes down to personal taste. Winterspring is not expected to go through massive change as I understand it, so both are likely more re-tameable post-changes than the Clutchmother and Ghost Saber. And if you get rid of Gondria, I don't suspect that the Northrend Spirit Beasts will have nearly the line waiting to tame them post Cataclysm as they do now.

I'm actually going through much the same debate myself at the moment. There are three different pets that I'm pretty sure are going away come Cataclysm (or be really hard to get), but I can only think of one pet for sure that I'd be willing to sacrifice for that slot. Otherwise, I've got two untouchables and two maybe pets, though I've an attachment to each of those.

Good luck either way!

[Sarayana]

Ah yes, the attachment makes it tough. It's like Rhyela said, I can retame Rafa any time, but I might loose the connection with him. I'm going to take your advice and get the ghost saber as well, and then I'll sleep on whether to abandon Safira to tame Rak'Shiri. It's good to hear Winterspring won't be changing much, I haven't heard either way about the zone. If nothing else, I suppose the quest to summon Shy'Rotam might still be there...

Best of luck to you too. I hadn't thought about the Silithid (I can't stand the jumpiness, though I do love them in theory), but yeah... with 1k Needles flooding he will probably disappear. I'd go for him if you have the room - or perhaps the ghost saber, I guess it depends which you like better of the two.

[The huntress]

Do you think Takk will be going away? I have him but was considering releasing him to catch Loque but dont want to not be able to get him again he is so cute.

Also what about the Core Hounds like The beast and Ancient Core Hounds think they will stick around?

[Sarayana]

Honestly, I've no idea. I would think Takk would possibly be going away since you'll be able to get the skin elsewhere, but the corehounds? I can't imagine they'd "discontinue" a whole pet look. I'm pretty sure (just based on what's being said about Blackrock Mountain) that The Beast will disappear though.

I got the ghost saber! Fifth figuring. Now to find a name...

Edit: She'll be named Tama, which is Japanese for Jade. Those green eyes just really struck me when I looked at her after the tame. xD

[zedxrgal]

Personally I don't think you can go wrong with the Clutchmother and glad to hear you picked her up. She's an impressive gorgeous girl as a small size let alone once she starts to hit a high level. Also for being a vanilla pet she's not common. She's grown with both my hunters from level 20. You're going to really love her if you don't already.

Glad you got the ghost saber to!!

Love their chosen names.

[Sarayana]

I know, she's a beauty, isn't she? I already have her on my Petopians hunter (same name xD) but Sara's my main girl after all.

I think Tama and Mizu have both found permanent homes with Sara.

[Akyo]

id say keep your raptor as hes your main and the hydra seeing as Ghost Hydras arent very likely to return to the game anytime soon.
Also shes bugged?! mine works perfectly.
the others you could let go. they all will be rather easy to reobtain.

i wouldnt worry about the red windserpent. there are others with the same skinn that are rather sure to stay.
the ghost sabre and clutchmother would be the ones that are in danger.
From what ive heard winterspring wont be changes much so your blue striped kitty are very likely to stick around.
Old cliff jumper...honestly i dont know about that guy. but he is the only one with that skin so might be an idea to pick him up.

[Sarayana]

Are they changing Hinterlands a lot?

[Saydeflower]

Due to this thread, I just went and tamed the ghostsaber for the first time ever with one of my hunters. It'd just be so sad to miss my chance if they went away!!

My hubby and I headed to Darkshore and started opening figurines. Finally I sighed and said, "I wish I had P. Dawg with me." So then I had to tell him the story about P. Dawg and just as I finished it, my husband said, "Here's a figurine! This looks like the right spot for it to come from." Opened it and sure enough, there he/she was!!

[Sarayana]

Haha! Grats on the tame, Sayde.

[The huntress]

I got ghost saber again. Thank god he spawned at the first figurine

[Sarayana]

Grats Huntress! I had to open five, which isn't bad except that I couldn't find the bloody things! Took me a good three-four minutes between each!!! *checks glasses* Hm, perhaps I need to visit the optician...

[Gimlion]

Blizzard has already stated that Azeroth is getting all blown up at once, it's going to be patch by patch in which blizzard changes Azeroth... Not only does this make it a bit more story-line-esque, and more exciting, but it makes sense data-wise.. Think about how big Azeroth is, all the game-changing data going into one patch would make the patch like 5 hours long.