Random Pet Challenge [v4.0]

[Finduilas]

I'm sorry I haven't done my report yet. I was suffering from the flu, but expect it soon. I already had lots of fun with Sherry my new eagle in battlegrounds to distract me from my running nose

[TygerDarkstorm]

Aw, I'm sorry to hear you got sick, Findu. Please rest up and feel better; I'd rather you take care of yourself irl than make a report. Take your time and when you're ready, we'll be here eager to read your report. Glad your eagle was able to help you feel better as well.

[Talaridan]

I was given the Green Armored Chimera:

I headed out into Shadowmoon Valley and hunted around until I found a likely fellow.


He was a big fellow!


Once he was tamed, I named him "Jabberwocky" because he was an odd, but interesting looking 'monster'. He was absolutely huge and other than his odd, creepy looking heads, I loved his wings, body, and tail. If the faces were a bit more like the normal Chimeras, I would love it.








His fighting animations weren't too bad. He lunged, snapped with both heads and occasionally used his feet to claw at enemies. He has a lot of little details, such as mist/smoke breathing out and his roars and snarls were really quite nifty. I liked them a lot.




His two special abilities for being an exotic were very nifty looking. His Frost Breath and his Froststorm Breath both looked very cool.




Overall, I liked Jabberwocky. I wasn't fond of his creepy, eyeless heads, but everything else about him was appealing and I'm seriously considering getting a Chimera to keep.

Another please!

Name: Talaridan
Level: 85
Exotics: Yes
Restrictions: No diseased pets, please.
Already tested: Tan Bat, Blue Jormungar, Diseased Grey Bear, Black Vulture, Green Armored Chimera

[TygerDarkstorm]

Talaridan:
Brown Boar


::OR::

Tan Wolf

[Finduilas]

I'm back healthy so here is my report about the bald eagle.
I tamed Sherry the moment I had seen my roll, excited about this pet. I had hearthstone in Dalaran so the flight to Grizzly Hills wasn't long. I knew some points to catch an eagle there and was on my way. Frist thing after taming: the pet shrank, it wasn't big before but now it looked rather small next to my Tauren. But other than that: perfect match.



Appearance:
Sherry was an instant fit for Larkania. Most pets in her stable have brownish natural colors and Sherry has such pretty chocolate-brown feathers. Her white head makes a bright spot in all this brown. She has an intelligent look in her eyes and quite some facial expression depending on the angle. Sadly her whole body was a bit flat animated and rather blocky. I had expected more details from a pet of the Lichking expansion. It was already mentioned in different threads and pet reports: the wing-cracking. During her flapping animation she reaches a point where her wing makes two sharp angles that don't look natural. It didn't bother me much, but I can see people disliking this pet because of it.
Something that seemed to add to her small appearance was, that Sherry flies close to the ground. I'm used to my owls and parrots to keep their distance to the ground, but Sherry flew quite low, almost as if she was afraid of flying too high.

Animations and Sounds:
Sherry's idle animation is flapping around. I thought it was quite sad she wouldn't sit down after a while, like the eagles in the wild do. They fly around and then sit down on trees or rocks in Grizzly Hills.
The swimming animation really shocked me. She gets into the water with a few hectic wing beats and then she only floats with her wings stretched out. She doesn't do the majestic slow wing flapping like owls or parrots do. I was disappointed.

I also noticed something off about her idling. When I took a closer look for the screenshots I noticed Sherry moving her right leg in a strange way. While flapping she moves it from left to right like it has no sinews at all, it just seems to be dangling from her body. I tried to catch it in a screenshot, but to see the whole scary movement you have to tame an eagle and watch it ingame. I'm not sure if the other eagles do it as well, or if I tamed the only scary eagle out there. Her left leg is totally normal, moving but not in a scary way.

Sherry's sounds were nice, lots of chirping and tweeting when in a fight. She was a very talkative bird in fights, almost like she wanted to tell our enemies off.

Fighting:
I already said in an earlier post that I had lots of fun with Sherry. With her "Snatch"-Ability she disarms my enemy for 10 seconds. 10 Seconds without your main weapon often means you're dead. I did battlegrounds with Sherry to farm honorpoints for the pvp polearm and she proofed to be a very good pet. I always had her out when there were many pallys, dks, hunters and rogues in the enemy team. Sherry disarmed them all. Classes that don't have reduced disarm time (like hunters) died within seconds without having a chance to deal high damage to me. Some seemed very surprised standing on the battlefield with their bare fists.
I also made my fiance go on his rogue for a few duells so I could try out eagle vs spirit beast. Although Sherry didn't deal as much damage as my spirit beast her disarm made her a perfect weapon against sneaky rogues. They sneak up on me, hit me and want to do their nasty: stun-hit-dead game - not with Sherry! This pet saved my life more than once.
Her fighting animations also are surprisingly nice. She flutters up and then dives down on the target to attack it with beak and wings. Then she pulls back and starts again.


Conclusion:
I liked Sherry. But although her appearance matches Larkania's stable theme, she was a bit too small for my Tauren and I decided to keep my dark brown owl. Also her twitching right leg was something that made me like her less. What has been seen cannot be unseen

Next roll please (but might take some time, we have big birthday celebration of my mum on the weekend)
Name: Larkania
Level: 85
Exotics: yes
Restrictions: no diseased pets please. Tested out all rhinos already.

[TygerDarkstorm]

Finduilas(Larkania):
Brown Vulture

[Victorelle]

Name: Victorelle http://us.battle.net/wow/en/character/k ... t#17761662
Level: 85
Exotics: okzzzzz
Restrictions: Ferocity pets, most exotic pets. ANYTHING SPIDERY, Nothing Red

[Talaridan]

This go-round, I was given the tan wolf/coyote: . I could have done the brown boar, but since I had the armored version already (Jabali one of my favorite tanks), I went with the coyote.

I looked over the list and decided I wanted a 'special' version since the skin was so common. I decided one that barked when clicked would be fun, and that just a common one would not do! Nope! I decided to 'rescue' Spot from the Alliance in Theramore!

So, off I went to Dustwallow Marsh and did a few fly-bys to locate my intended pet. Spot is in a little dog-house, near the front of one of the castles in the area.


A little maneuvering to find a good place to let me see Spot, but not be right on top of a bunch of guards and I started the tame!

Spot was less than happy to see me, at first anyway.




I was pleased that I managed to hit the screenshot at the 'perfect' moment, just as the tame went off and as the gold flash was fading so Spot still had a name, but was my pet.


I took Spot, still named Spot and now firmly a 'her' in my mind, to the training dummies to get a look at fighting animations. They were nothing unexpected. She lunged, snapped, bit, and growled as wolves do. It was rather fun to click on her though and hear a happy, dog bark!






I took Spot all over with me, and I fell in love with her. Her graphics aren't amazing as she's an old model, pre-BC, but there was something endearing about the idea of a happy coy-dog barking and trotting long with Talaridan on his adventures.

I took her out into Sholazar Basin for dailies and grabbed a few shots of her swimming animations, which were a somewhat flailing doggy-paddle.




Here's a picture of Talaridan and Spot, him in his 'tribal/Northern' hunter gear, hanging out in the Basin together.


Overall
I adore this pet. I'm not even sure why, but Spot has such a personality to her! She is definitely a keeper and has been my constant buddy since I tamed her. I've never done a 'Horde only' tame before and that helps to make her extra special.

Even though the model is a wolf/coyote, I picture her as being a coydog (dog/coyote cross) and as a 'rescue' from a less than perfect life in Theramore. She's quickly developed into a character and personality all of her own.

I even found this neat little site: Wolf Maker - Doll Divine and made her here to sort of show how I picture her role-play wise.


In my head, Spot has one floppy ear and one upright. She has a brown eye on the left side and a blue on the right. A dark mask around her blue eye is what gives her the name 'Spot'. She's happy, intelligent, and playful, but fiercely protective of Talaridan when she needs to be. I picture her as probably a coyote/collie mix.

Spot is definitely a keeper. She's here to stay.


Name: Talaridan
Level: 85
Exotics: Yes
Restrictions: No diseased pets, please.
Already tested: Tan Bat, Blue Jormungar, Diseased Grey Bear, Black Vulture, Green Armored Chimera, Tan Wolf

[TygerDarkstorm]

Victorelle: Just as a fair warning, with that many restrictions it puts more limitations on how random your pet actually is as well as the replay value of the challenge. (That's not to say I won't comply and abide by your requests; it's just something to consider.)

Talaridan: I'm really glad you fell in love with Spot! Your story for her was just adorable; I'm glad she found a happy home with you.

Victorelle:
Black Boar


Talaridan:
Brown Sporebat

[asher1611]

Asher1611(Bruzyq):
Black Worg Mount

Of Taming and Training the Black Worg Mount in Combat

The simple answer: there's not much to it. These guys are already assigned to soldiers and are primed for combat around The Ramparts and Shattered Halls. They're devastating right out of the box. I guess the better title would be a reference on how to tame a beast and succeed in riding it. Chilly wanted to try at first, but that would need to be put off for another day.

I hopped into a group for the Ramparts with some members of my guild and had to make the tame in haste. Fortunately, the tank was willing to and skilled enough to let me peel off a worg on the pull, although the death knight to my right nearly decided to attack my tame target anyway.



The Worg charged at me immediately, it's cobalt eyes thirsting for my goblin...flesh? It would not have been pretty at all, especially since I have been decked out in some hand-me-down leather armor. Teeth cut right through that stuff. But fortunately or me, my freezing trap held and came just barely in the right place and time. And before I knew it:



The Worg was mine. He did a lot of damage with Kill Command and proved his mettle nearly straight away, turning his jaws onto former allies. He was fiercely loyal from the start. Like a Dog, but no, no ordinary Dog. A vicious wolf who has been trainer and armed for war. Whose unearthly eyes gaze through the soul and made Chilly want to run and hide. But I assured her this wolf was now our friend. I named him for both his strength and sudden loyalty:



Jake & Bruzyq in Draenor

Upon returning to Hellfire Peninsula, Chilly begged me to set Jake free. I tried to tell her the training given by the Shattered Hand Orcs would mean that Jake could never live a normal life as a worg in the wild. He would always seek satisfaction in the thick of battle, not content idle during the day or romp around and play as other canines do. It's a shame to think about, but at least now Jake would have a loyal owner and not suffer at the hands of other adventurers. Me and Chilly both shudder thinking both of what might have been and of sicking Jake against his former pack mates. Maybe even his former litter mates.

The whole time, the wolf stood proudly. Stoically. Waiting for command. Occasionally he would shake his brow back and forth, but never in a way that gave a sense of distraction. Every feature of the beast spoke of strength and power hidden within, and the spikes and sharp angles of his armor seemed to reinforce the fear brought on by brute force. A signature hallmark of the Horde. Before long, we were off to a variety of locations as we toured most of Terrokar Forest and Shadowmoon Valley.


We fought a number of fantastic creatures as we cut our way along the landscape. Some of them were ghastly, and others were beautiful. Chilly wanted us to find some way to spare this Moth, possibly to keep it. But with the massacre at Cenarian Thicket, there was no choice.


And as the evidence pointed us eastward, we found ourselves also tangled in more Shattered Hand Orc shenanigans. Something about some kind of ambush or attack or something. Jake helped make quick work of a room full of Orcs and a strange sympathizer in their midst. Jake's brutal barks as he charged into combat seemed to demoralize foes before they could even raise their weapon. Unfortunately, they also had a tendency to scare off Chilly.


We did find time while adventuring to take a quick swim while helping out some of the destitute folks in Shattrath's Lower City. Jake's swimming animation was less of a doggy paddle than I expected. The pictures I took don't exactly seem to do it justice -- if anything it looks like he's standing and swimming at the same time.


Eventually we were called to Coilfang Reservoir where we were tasked both to kill the Naga and to free their slaves. Jake was not only adept at combat, but his penchant for single target attacks meant he did not have Stanky's thunderstomp and aoe agro problems. Jake would surgically go for one foe and tear into him immediately. His roars, while still terrifying Chilly, also greatly helped our party and tended to be useful regardless of the competition (not many feral druids around strangely).


Eventually, as our time came to an end in Draenor's southern forests, we stumbled across a strange, foreboding owl statute. For awhile all three of us just stopped, took a break, and allowed it to sink in. Jake seemed to have some kind of recognition, but eventually was restless and waiting for the next fight. That seems to be Jake's personality -- never satisfied until the next kill is in sight.


Even so, Jake's imposing figure seemed to have far less of an effect once we reached the horrors that awaited us in Shadowmoon Valley. With demons roaming the countryside, Jake seemed to fit right in -- or at least appear nondescript. The above picture is most telling. While I was tasked to hide out and discover plans, Chilly and Jake were completely ignored by powerful demons that walked by. Sure, Chilly is actually harmless. But Jake? I've seen him take out gigantic creatures 5 times his size by himself. They must have assumed a simple canine was insignificant. Eventually Jake showed them their error.

Final Remarks

Jake is a fantastic pet and has been added to my regular rotation. And ever since I got 4 extra talent points to give him when hitting level 69, he has become exponentially better. He has a powerful attack and gives great party utility. And best of all, he looks fantastic too. Sure, no one should ever underestimate a Goblin, especially based on size, but there's nothing wrong with having a gargantuan worg loaded out with spikes and other-worldly eyes to have your back. Chilly never warmed up to him, but I think Chilly and Jake come from totally different worlds. Jake's is one of a war-torn world where violence is survival. I may have tamed him, but I don't think I will ever be able to break him of his thirst for blood and gnashing of teeth.

Fortunately, our journey seems to have taken us to a place where Jake will fit, and fight, right in.



Not only are there others of his kind ready and primed for battle, but the entire aesthetic of the scenery seems to fit Jake's sharp, strong, and imposing figure. War torn wasteland ravaged by the undead. At least for Jake, there's no place like home.

----------

Name: Bruzyq
Level: 70
Exotics: Yes
Restrictions: None
Completed: Black Worg Mount, Gray Fel Boar, Red Gorilla

[TygerDarkstorm]

Asher, your story makes me want to run out and tame one of these guys.

Asher1611(Bruzyq):
Red Scorpid

[Finduilas]

Tyger I have a question about my bird. Do you want me to try out the carrion bird or the bird of prey? Or both? It's quite a special pet to exist in two families.

[TygerDarkstorm]

It was originally rolled as a carrion bird, but if you'd rather tame the bird of prey version since it's unique that's fine. I leave it up to you.

[Varethyn]

Turfed out a couple of unused pets, so now I have space for more challenges

Name: Varethyn
Level: 85
Exotics: Yes
Restrictions: None
Completed: Grey tallstrider, purple shale spider

[Serendipity82]

I've slacked off on this the last few months. I think it's time to play again XD


Name: Elsi
Level: uh... 53ish? I think XD
Exotics: Not big enough yet.
Restrictions: None

[Icesilvaros]

I was given the Ghostly White Demon Dog

And I will apologize for being quit late on this tame. It took me a bit to talk my hubby into it and he was supposed to run with me in Kara last week, however he got his hours changed and I had to wait... Well a nice guild member was going to Kara for a transmog item and offered me to tag along. I am glad I did.

The tame of this guy was a pain in my butt. It wasn't really all that bad but getting to him was just annoying. When I did try to tame him, he continued to do some little phase thing and canceled my tame. Took me 6 tries before it went through.


Right after I tamed him I did a little look at him and decided he looked pretty good with me. Little calico kitten looked a bit freaked but what does she know right?


After finishing Kara (forgot the screen shots lol) I decided a good name that would suit this little guy would be Warp. Considering he is a phase hound after all... I thought it was pretty catchy, in a cheesy sort of way. At first I wasn't so sure I would keep him, I mean he looked awesome with me... but I wasn't to big on his ghostly appearance. We went to Storm Wind so I could show him around, see how he liked it. The more time I spent with him the more I liked about him.

He is fairly quite which is nice, and he does this cute little hop every so often. The way he acts now you would never realize he was a ghostly demon dog... After watching him hop about my side while I did my chores in Storm Wind I decided to take him to Uldum to see how he handled fighting. And boy was he fierce.


I Like the lockjaw ability he has, I think it will prove useful in PVP and some other battles along the way. The animations of the fighting is actually really smooth and he looks like he means business when hes attacking things.


Overall I plan on keeping Warp. He has some nice abilities which will be decent in PVP, he also is much quieter then i expected and he fit nicely with a worgen and my play style. Hopefully little Calico Kitty can deal with that. (hes also terribly cute.... in a undead sorta way.)

I would love to try another one....
Name:Icesilvaros
Level: 85
Exotics: go for it
Restrictions: None

[TygerDarkstorm]

So I totally need to stop being lazy and give out some rolls, and maybe even eventually get around to making my report on my blue wind serpent. >_>

Also, Seren, I hate doing this, but since I do it to everyone else in my thread I feel it's only fair if I mention that it's part of the rules on Petopia that you may only have one image in your sig. (http://forums.wow-petopia.com/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=123)

That said, let's get this party started.

Varethyn:
Blue-Green Warp Stalker


Serendipity82(Elsi):
Bronze Crab


Icesilvaros:
Purple Armored Chimaera


::OR::

Yellow Raptor

[Varethyn]

My challenge this time around was the blue-green warp stalker
These handsome guys are known as Warp Chasers, which can only be found in Netherstorm - primarily around Manaforge Duro. And with their colouration they fit in really quite well. They are actually quite large in their wild state, but despite his size this fella turned out to be extremely friendly. See? He's nuzzling Varethyn affectionately!

Look at that and tell me it's not adorable.

I named him Vorpal. Unoriginal but definitely fitting. He's actually quite the quirky character, bouncy and fun-loving. So cute. Blue-green is accurate for his colouration fading into a muddy brown as it reaches the tail. His back and legs are also crossed with lavender stripes which match his glowing purple eyes. He also has a pair of horns on his head, a spike each on his shoulders and elbows and two sets of three spikes on his back, all brown-black. I really love warpies with their wicked-looking features; you can just see the cunning in Vorpal's face. Also, his teeth and frills are actually 3D which is more than can be said for some models, particularly some vanilla ones, whose features remain paper-thin. He really is quite the charmer.

Vorpal's basic idle animation is to bob his head up and down and swishing his tail, occasionally lifting his head up to sniff the air before looking from one side with his mouth open then closing it as he looks to the other side.



When walking he has a kind of proud trot, which I find mildly entertaining to watch, flattening his spines along his back as he plods along contentedly. When running he stalks close to the ground in a streamlined fashion, almost as if he were giving chase to something. It's fairly amusing to watch at high speeds.


Attack-wise Vorpal has two types of bite: a basic snap in which he twists his head to one side as if to grab the opponent with his jaws, and a lunging bite where he flings himself straight-on at the target. I always find that warpies look cat-like when they do this, with their arched back. Time Warp has no distinct animation that I noticed.


Warp stalkers are very quiet pets to have around. By your side they make no sound whatsoever and in combat they make low wheezes and growl-hisses that aren't overly noticeable, though he they do make them often.

Since warpies are of the tenacity tree I specced Vorpal for maximum survivability and took him for a run back through Stonecore. Slabhide still owes me a drake. I'd used my beloved Aurora (aka Gondria) to clear out the trash on the way to the first boss, who I skipped, but Vorpal held aggro really well against Slabhide. Much like the purple shale spider I'd reviewed previously he did need healing more often than a beetle or turtle as he lacks the defensive shield.

You can clearly see the cat-likeness of the lunge-bite in this shot.

I'm surprised at how well Vorpal fits in down here; he really matches the greens and purples of Slabhide's lair. If Vorpal were made of stone, he'd make a brilliant inhabitant for the Stonecore.


Warp stalkers' special is Time Warp. NOT to be confused with a mage's Time Warp which has happened to me in many a raid so far when experimenting with slows, which is what the warpie's Time Warp is: a long-range, single-target slow. Perfect for the trigger-happy, those who forget to use misdirect or simply pull aggro off of the pet by accident. This ability used to be just Warp, which would cause the warp stalker to disappear and reappear behind their target and allow it to avoid the next three melee hits aimed at it. It also, however, shared a cooldown with Charge. But hey, why ram yourself into a foe if you can warp behind it, right? It could also come in useful in some PvP scenarios, such as catching flag-carriers, though I can't say much about that as I tend to avoid PvP like the plague.

I was amazed to see such a personality develop so quickly, but I already have my lovely green warpie, Tirrae. I'll keep Vorpal around for a little while and see how we go. Who knows? They might become mates!

Let's go again!
Name: Varethyn
Level: 85
Exotics: Yes
Restrictions: None
Completed: Grey tallstrider, purple shale spider, blue-green warp stalker.

[TygerDarkstorm]

Oooo, you're right, that warpie looks great in Stonecore.

Varethyn:
Blue Moth

[krania]

May I do this?

Name: Krania
Level: 85
Exotics: Yeah!
Restrictions: None.