Random Pet Family Appreciation Thread 20: Spirit Beasts!

[Wassa]

Former threads:
Moths - Warp Stalkers - Crocolisks - Monkeys - Wolves - Core Hounds - Wasps - Dragonhawks - Turtles - Boars - Carrion Birds - Bears - Serpents - Tallstriders - Worms - Dogs - Ravagers - Shale Spiders - Sporebats

Random pet family appreciation thread is where I roll a random pet family every week for everyone to share their pictures, their stories, their love for that pet family. Please no hate or rants. This is an appreciation thread. If you dislike the family, don't post! Hopefully with some love we can get some hunters to try out new pets they never would have thought to tame before.

Our 20th family is the elusive spirit beast family!


Image from WoW TCG.

Spirit beast facts

~Spirit beast were introduced as an exotic tameable family in Wrath of the Lich King.

~Spirit beasts come in nine tameable skins.

~All spirit beasts are rare creatures.

~All spirit beasts are unique skinned named members, except Karoma which shares his skin with the now retired Grimtotem Spirit Guide.

~Two unused skin concepts for Skoll still exist in the database as spectralsaberworg_mid (grey) and spectralsaberworg_light (light blueish-grey).

~Back in Wrath, spirit beasts were tamed by 7.1% of level 80 hunters. Placing them at number three on the list of most tamed pet family. (Source)

~Back in Wrath, four spirit beasts were tameable. Gondria was the most tamed spirit beast at 33%, followed by Loque'nahak at 26%, Skoll at 21%, and finally Arcturis at 20%. (Source)

~Spirit beasts formerly had Spirit Strike, which had the same animation and effect as the druid spell Moonfire.

~While no mounts share the same model as tameable spirit beasts, a few spectral mounts match the ethereal looks of a spirit beast.

~Like mounts, no minipets share the same model as tameable spirit beasts, but again their are incorporeal minipets such as the Celestial Dragon and Spectral Tiger Cub that go well besides a spirit beast.

~Loque'nahak was the first spirit beast introduced in game. He is known as the Mate of Har'koa, the snow leopard loa of the Drakkari trolls. He seems to be a bit lost being a few zones away from her in Sholazar Basin, or maybe he escaped from Zul'drak as his mate is now chained up by the trolls and their children have become twisted and cursed. Loque, as he is commonly known, is one of the two non-ghostly spirit beasts, has a unique loud roar, and is the only spirit beast included in the achievement Frostbitten so he is sought out by hunters and non-hunters alike.

~Gondria, the second spirit beast introduced, has no lore in game to explain her existence unlike Loque'nahak. She is a fully incorporeal spirit beast with a pale purple frostsaber skin. She was the most tamed spirit beast in Wrath probably due to that she spawns in parts of Zul'drak that are rarely visited by players, so she was less likely to be killed by passerbys.

~Skoll, the third spirit beast introduced in game, is the other non-ghostly spirit beast and the first spirit beast that wasn't a cat. While Skoll has no in-game lore he is based off of Sköll from Norse mythology, the wolf that chases the sun through the sky.

~Arcturis, the fourth and the last spirit beast introduced in Wrath of the Lich King, is the only bear spirit beast tameable. His name is based off of the star Arcturus, which derived from the Greek word άρκτος, meaning "bear." He is also the lowest level spirit beast at level 74 and has one spawn location, making him a popular target for low level BM hunters for their first spirit beast. However, to compensate for his one spawn point his spawn timer is unusually long and is variable, estimated anywhere from 6 to 24 hours!

~Ghostcrawler, the crab spirit beast, was one of the two spirit beast introduced at the start of Cataclysm. He is named after Lead Systems Designer and well known blue poster on the WoW forums Greg "Ghostcrawler" Street. Due to Ghostcrawler spawning in a literal abandoned area of the game called the Abandoned Reef, and with his Nerfbat ability making him extremely difficult to kill he is one of the easiest spirit beasts to find. He does phase in and out while he patrols his spawn path, so always check twice. He might have been invisible while you swam over him.

~Karoma, the other spirit beast introduced at the start of Cataclysm, seems to be compensation for those hunters that missed out on the retired Grimtotem Spirit Guide, using the same distinctive ghost wolf skin. He is the only hostile spirit beast that will attack players on sight. Also before Camouflage was fixed to show alpha parts of models, when camoed Karoma would go completely invisible!

~Ban'thalos is one of three spirit beasts added in patch 4.2. He is the first and only bird spirit beast, modeled heavily after the Owl Scouts from Warcraft III. The trick to his tame is that he flies very high. A hunter must survive the fall as well as his Harsh Moonlight attack to have a successful tame.

~Ankha and Magria are the other two spirit beast added in patch 4.2. These spectral frostsabers share spawn timers, so only one can be up at a time. Once spawned they run quickly around the Regrowth in Mount Hyjal. Their trick tame is that their attack, Metal Cleaver, does more damage the more the target's armor rating. To survive the tame a hunter must strip all their armor. Their skins where formerly unused skins for Gondria in the database. Ankha is a greenish-white while Magria is a deep blue.

[Wassa]

Oh spirit beasts. I've had a love/hate relationship with this family. Some members I love. Others are some of my biggest hates.

I never got into the spirit beast craze back in Wrath. Loque'nahak, imo, is ugly. Gondria is boring. I love Skoll's look. I had him for a while on Wassa, but Wassa cannot bond with a wolf so I ended up releasing him. Arcturis, like Skoll, he looks cool but Wassa cannot bond with bears.

With the release of Cataclysm I had no interest in Ghostcrawler and I already had Karoma's lookalike, my Grimtotem Spirit Guide.

I kept on saying I wouldn't keep a spirit beast until Blizzard made a bird one. Come 4.2 patch my dreams where answered. I could finally bond with a spirit beast!



This is Lesedi, Sesotho (African) name meaning "the light." I was so eager to tame this beauty that I picked out his name before the patch hit. I parked myself up on that tree until he spawned. It was a nerve wracking tame with so many players around and few people trying to kill him and falling to their deaths, but my tame went smoothly.

Wassa worships him almost like a loa. Lesedi, who is quite intelligent, is amused to be worshiped and in turn watches over Wassa and will protect her during times of danger.

------------------------

Before patch 4.2 was out I was leveling Ptaysanwee. Since Wassa had no spirit beast at the time, I thought my alt hunter would be perfect for a spirit beast, especially since she's a Taunka. I looked over the four Northrend spirit beasts and picked out names for each one if I would tame them, but in the end I went with Arcturis as the best match. Mostly decided on him because he is a ferocity bear! I could already have a ferocity cat and ferocity wolf but bears are tenacity.

I stopped leveling the moment I hit level 74 and camped for this guy for DAYS! I was even griefed by a level 85 night elf hunter that flagged up and jumped around me and kept on pulling out all his spirit beasts to set off my NPCScan. I'm not stupid enough to attack him (although if Wassa was on the same server he would have been dead =P ) and I stood my ground. Finally one day I logged on right after work and saw him up with no one around.



Going with my Native American naming theme, Arcturis was renamed to Wanageeska, a Sioux name that means "white spirit." He's been a great companion and helped me with soloing the ICC 5 mans for my transmog set with his heal. Wana's personalty became opposite of my other bear, Ealahweemah. Ealah is laid-back, lover of naps, a snuggler to Ptay, yet unafraid when it comes to combat. Wana however is high strung, always pacing and growling, nervous and hesitant to fight. This makes him very aggressive. I wonder what happened to him during when he was alive that made him like this. Did his death cause this personality, or was he always this anxious?

I also noticed while taking screenshots for this only Arcturis' teeth cast a shadow. The rest of his body does not. Creepy.

[Miacoda]

Oh yay! I was just saying this week how I hoped spirit beasts would be soon!
this is... going to be a long post I have many spirit beasts across all of my characters. So I guess I'll start with Mia.


Banthalos
Mia's favorite and most loved spirit beast is Banthalos, or Banny for short. I sometimes call him my scout owl, since he's based off of the owl scouts in Warcraft III!

I absolutely love this bird. I adore his mesmerizing wings, his brightness, and the shade of green he's in. He's just a glorious bird.
After getting Ban'thalos on the PTR, I had to have him on live. I logged on as soon as I possibly could, got my quests to get into the correct phase done, sat int he tree and camped for 12 hours until I had tamed him. And not that it matters, but I found I could bond with him more since he was the server's first. It just made him seem all the more glorious. As for his personality, I see him as very loyal and trustworthy. He's a bit more independent, sometimes liking to go off scouting the area when not asked, but he's very happy with staying by Mia. He likes to show off a bit because he knows how gorgeous he is, but he doesn't flaunt too much. He likes to perch on Mia's shoulder or Krush's back spines.

Here's a screenshot on Banthalos after I tamed him on the PTR, before his size was reduced.


And here's the server first tame on Argent Dawn!


And behold... more screenshots!


I absolutely love how bright he is. <3











Ankha
Next is Ankha, Mia's second favorite spirit beast. Ankha is just gorgeous, and I had to have her. She's green, but she also turns white, and it's fabulous! I just adore her brightness. Ankha is a bit shy and reserved. She'd rather be alone with Mia than in a busy city with others, but that doesn't stop her from being a reliable battle companion.

Here's when I tamed her. I think she was the server second (a friend of mine got server first) but it can be hard to keep track sometimes!


And funny enough, Ankha was just up on Argent Dawn, and was safelt tamed by a worgen hunter. But first I got a change to run around with her with my Ankha!


And more screenshots! xD













Gondria
Gondria... Oh Gondria. She was my first spirit beast, and I have this weird relationship with her, where I don't use her, but she's perfectly fine with that. I have a lot of memories with her, and I almost decided to release her for MoP, like I have thought of doing so many times, but once again I have reconsidered. She's just too happy to be in my stables. So, as long as she's happy, she has to stay!



And here are some old screenshots of her. This one time me and a few friends went out and ran some old stuff and it was super fun. XD

We did Chess in Kara and for some reason we decided to pose after we defeated it.


Then we went and chilled in Medivh's bedroom. XD


And then killed Onyxia.



Loque
Loque... oh god Loque's tame was absolutely hilarious and so much fun that I can't stand to part with him. <3
So, he had been avoiding me for a long time, you know how Loque is. So a friend of mine decided to help one night. Well, she's drunk. XD So we're talking on vent and I'm laughing at her and what not. I'm flying around each of the spots and she's flying one one of them, because she's too drunk to fly. So I had this macro at the time (didn't have NPC Scan) that if I found Loque, it played a clip of Illidan yelling "YOU ARE NOT PREPARED!" So... when I eventually find him, you can imagine how hilariously scary that is.
So I did find him eventually! He spawned RIGHT under my friend, and she didn't even notice. So I get there and Illidan voice is all "YOU ARE NOT PREPARED!!!" And I'm all "OH CRAP HE'S RIGHT!" and I fumble about and what not and eventually tame him. Then my friend pulls out her Loque and laughs are shared. Ahh, good times.

Here's the screenshot from after the tame! Apparently I was in a group of people, rofl. I know they weren't all there, though. I think we were just talking in party chat.


It's possible that one day I'll part with Loque, but for now I have no reason to.



Karoma
Karoma... I love her, but I don't use her enough. She's being released in MoP. She doesn't like the stable. She's too proud and free for me to keep her, so she'll be happy running around in the wild again. For now though, I'm using her as much as possible until the day when she is once again free.
I absolutely love the name Karoma, though. I hope one day I can find her a home on a future alt or something.






And that's it for Mia! Phew! Now onto he alts!

Hunter #2, Espen! He, thankfully, only has two Spirit Beasts, Thor and Sif!


Thor and Sif are a thing, just like their Norse counterparts. The two are faithfully loyal to one another, and would actually rather save one another before their master.

Thor
Thor is very protective of Sif and Espen (mostly Sif, though). He's all for the greater good and fighting for what's right. He's powerful and wise, but he doesn't always use his head. Sometimes he's just all brawn. He'll do anything for his family, though.







Sif
Sif is passionate and fiercely loyal. She, of course, will do anything for Thor (and Espen... hehe), but she's not as protective. She also uses her brain more than Thor does. She relies more on cunning than strength.








Hunter #3! Sarahma, oh thank goodness, she just has one.

Sabu
Sabu is... ogod I just love him. He's a playfull little (well, big) snow leopard. He's fun and full of joy and somehow make his way into Sarahma's favorite pet spot. I love saying his name, sometimes I'm just like "Saaaaahboooooooooo." He's like a little kitten, unless, of course, his mom is threatened... then you better watch out.










And now, last but not least, hunter #4, Syleanora. She has three spirit beasts.

Magria
Magria, unlike her sister Ankha, is more outgoing and active. And... it's almost 6 am so I'm being lazy with my descriptions. Heh.












Gebo
Gebo is a sweetie. He's a simple bear, really. He's named after a character form the webcomic Off-Whote, because they have similar markings. ^^






Nightwing
Nightwing... very similar to Banthalos. Awesome owl scout. XD Okay.






Good lord. I was so obsessed with this... I spent.... like.... 7 or 8 hours on this. How is that possible, rofl. But omg I'm tired. Going to sleep now. Terrible sorry for super long post. x.x

I'll also be editing this tomorrow. Syleanora's pets need more love in typing and I also found typos and mistakes.

[GormanGhaste]

I didn't get a spirit beast until Cataclysm. Ghostcrawler and Loque are my favorites.

[Melentari]

I just recently went through and culled the number of spirit beasts Mel, my main, has. She used to have Gondria, Magria, Ankha, and Ban'thalos, but the only two of those I really, really wanted to keep on her were Gondria and Banny. I was a little sad to see Magria and Ankha go, but Gondria is the spirit cat Mel really has a tie to. She matches Mel's ghost sabre.

My other top-level hunter had Loque'nahak, Skoll, and Ban'thalos, but he eventually let Banny go. The two that aren't ghostly are best for him.

[Lupis]

Woo, spirit beasts! Technically, I only have one that I really use; my lovely Faron.



Okay, so "lovely" isn't the word. Faron's a bit of a jerk who enjoys lording over others, including his hunter.

When Skoll was first released, I was determined to hate him. I thought he was super ugly and cheaply designed. Fittingly, just as the patch released, I went up to my grandparent's house for a week. No WoW. I could relax and not worry about the new Spirit Beast Hunt.

I couldn't stop thinking about him. Every night I'd lay awake, restless, thinking about Skoll. He was infesting my mind, overpowering. I literally could not sleep because I was thinking so hard about that dang spirit beast. When I finally got home, I logged on Vallrok and flew to Storm Peaks. Silly of me- new spirit beast = packed zone and tame-fights.

He was up. He was waiting.

At that point, I realized that Faron was Vallrok's pet. THE pet. I'd still keep my hydra and my kitty, but Skoll would take priority. I ended up naming him after a province in the Zelda series, because the spirit beasts reminded me of the Light Spirits for some reason (Fun fact, Faron now resides in the new Zelda game as a female water dragon. Faron is watching you no matter where you go…). It fit, and I never changed it.

A few nights after I tamed him, I somehow got an idea. Faron wasn't just a spirit beast; he was a whole lot more than that. I decided that he was a Twilight's Hammer cultist once; and before that, a normal human hunter and father. He lived in Westfall and had a daughter. When she was killed by a gnoll raid, he joined the Cult in a moment of depression and rage. After raising in ranks and learning the art of Electromancy, he took part in an experiment to see if they could put a human mind in an animal's body, effectively using them as scouts and spies. It worked perfectly, and his mind took over that of a wolf.

Of course, he has absolutely no luck; his camp was attacked by Vallrok as the experiment took place, and his human body was killed. The troll then tamed the wolf that was Faron, and Faron did not take kindly to the arrogance of the troll. He used the new spirit bond to attack and take over the troll's mind, turning Vallrok into his troll puppet. He left to find a more competent sect of the Cult after realizing he'd kept his power over lightning.

I now use Faron as my go-to RP character. I adore him; he's grumpy, a bit(lot) uncaring, and tends to revert back to his "I want to burn the world down" Cultist mindset fairly quickly when left alone. Faron is one of the reasons I now know my online friends of… Uhm. Two years? Something like that? Whatever. He's got sentimental value far stronger than my other pixel pets.

[Mozag]

I don't really like spirit beasts. Most leave me very underwhelmed, but I have certainly tamed my share of them to try and bond, but so far only one of my hunters has managed to keep hers. My Loque was abandoned twice (once I had him restored as I wasn't sure if I had made the right decision, turns out I had), my Gondria stuck around for an expansion and was then unceremoniously dumped due to how dull she is. I had Ghostcrawler also for some time, but just didn't feel any connection, despite actually rather liking him visually.

[Neilaren]

I think in my history, I went from despising Spirit Beasts to being on good terms with them. My early experiences with spirit beasts were bitter. I spent many nights in early Wrath NOT SLEEPING and camping for Loque'nahak, only to never see him. I finally saw him right before a Naxx raid. There was someone trying to tame him (sigh) but then they died (seriously, you have a friend with you, and Loque is TRAP AND TAME. How do you DIE?) so I took a turn, and the friend killed loque (and then didn't tell his friend, apparently, because I got a whisper later being like "Hey, enjoy your spirit beast" and I had to tell him no one got him...) SO I kind of gave up after that. I seriously have never seen Loque'nahak in the wild to this day, on any character at all. I am cursed.

On the plus side, since I had loque tagged, I got kill credit off of Frostbitten, and never had to worry about it again, heh.

"Why would I want a spirit beast, anyway?" I'd ask myself. "I raid and their moonfire is not all that dps-y. Queen Mindy is a far more useful raiding wasp." So I gave up and tried to not think about it. Gondria was introduced and my interest was low. I probably flew over its spawn points a few times just out of curiosity.

When Skoll was introduced, I looked for him a few times, but between all of those failed Loque'nahak camps and a failed TLPD all-nighter way back at the beginning of the expansion (which resulted in the server's first green proto-drake hatching out of my egg the next day for my troubles), I was done with camping and wasted nights. They were better spent working on college projects and composing music. Instead, since I usually was in the area for Argent Tournament dailies, I'd just casually pass over spawn points with no real intention in mind.
One day, there he was, just wandering around!
I still refer to it as "I just kind of ran into Skoll one day". He was made to be my spirit beast, hand-picked from the spirit beast pups and put before me. I suppose that's one way to get things done.


(relinked from my transmog post)

He was originally Ixion, but after an April Fools Day "Joke" turned my devilsaur Gilgamesh into Greymon (a name which then became permanent), I then changed Ixion's name into Garurumon. My guild still likes Greymon more. I think it's probably because it's an easier name to pronounce! 'Garuru' is a growling onomatopoeia, and also Japanese, so the trick is to say it more like "galulu". I don't know why, but I love using Spirit Mend and hearing his worgish growling bark as he does it. It's like "Ugh, do I have to?"
I used to keep that quest item from that one Orgrimmar fishing daily where you'd generate electricity to kill fish with, just to activate it when I /pet Garurumon, and then emote to pat my hair back down afterwards. Hug at your own risk! Even if he's so fluffy. But I enjoy hugging him. If I had a dog (It'd require not living in an apartment), I'd want a big fluffy huggable husky. That's what skoll reminds me of, only, uh, more static-y. Of course, growing up, especially in winter time, I remember all the times my cats would generate static shocks as I pet them (I even saw sparks! Those poor things).

--
I've since tamed Ghostcrawler (I had a friend who ran into him so many times while herbing every day he just started demanding for people to tame it, so I decided I would) and Ban'thalos (I tried to camp for him, after I had sworn off camping; it took 5 hours and a flawless tame and I was done by 2 AM, for once), but of the three, I guess I've bonded with Garurumon the most. It makes sense, I've had him the longest.

--
I usually rotate the usage of my spirits nowadays. Ghostcrawler also gets renamed a lot. First, he was "Crabby" (the lovable Blizzard forums mascot), and then "GregStreet" (I was trying to "hold him hostage" to get better loot drops for my guild) and nowadays he is "Zarhym" (because... wait, what? Zarhym isn't Ghostcrawler! But Ghostcawler is Zarhym? Oh boy). He is the crab of many personalities. Also arguably the most meta of my pets. By which I mean, 4th-wall-breaking.

--


I used Falcagon for all of my Firelands raiding, since I basically got him the night before we started. On my Shannox kill video, I point out that raiding with him is a hassle, because he's just so shiny and distracting!
It was also when the new pet stances were in place, so I found myself attributing the side effects of target switching when on Assist stance to Falcagon's very short attention span. "Look, just because I threw serpent sting on something else really fast means you need to go after it 3 seconds later! I'm still hitting THIS guy, see? Stop being a shiny thing who is distracted by other shiny things!"
"Falcagon" is a portmanteau of Falcon and Dragon, but I tend to pronounce the -gon like one would in "polygon". Not all that interesting, and honestly was a placeholder (It's the name of an "airship" in a game I was designing at the time) but I like how it flows, so it stays.

--
On Koushiro, I have Arcturis (Mimi) and Magria (Izzy). She's not usually Beast Mastery, though, so they don't get much use. I've also seen Gondria once and was able to rehome it to my boyfriend's alliance hunter.
I've seen Karoma once, and with no one to rehome it to, I sat and watched over it diligently until someone of the opposite faction came by and tamed it. I mean, I don't know how I would have stopped anyone from just killing it, but I just didn't want to leave it alone. All of my failed experience with Loque'nahak has driven into me some crazy desire to never just simply ignore those high profile rare spawns. But since I usually can't make the space to make them my own, I'm usually just flailing around until, some way or another, they're not there anymore. Luckily, Koushiro's able to switch in and grab some of them (How I got Magria, and also a green Madexx!)

And some day, in some way, some hunter of mine will see Loque'nahak and tame him. I swear. I will break that curse...

[Vephriel]

Describing spirit beasts as a love/hate relationship is quite accurate in my case as well, Wassa.

When they were first discovered I had no interest in them. Loque'nahak held no appeal for me. I could appreciate his colours and unique appearance, but I've never been much of a cat person in WoW.

As the other three spirit beasts came into existence during WotLK I still felt no pull towards any of them. Gondria sparked a momentary interest when I saw the datamined model against a black background, it was a lovely dark purple, but in game she turned out to be more of a pale pink. I really liked Skoll's concept, but I disliked the saber worg model, so that was a no go. Finally Arcturis just...didn't do anything for me. I remained without desire to tame any of them.

Much later on, I stumbled upon Gondria in the wild, and in a spur of the moment decision I decided to tame her, releasing my core hound Beast to do so.

My memory's fuzzy on all of the details, but what basically followed was a rising urge to seek out all of the spirit beasts. I ended up with all four of them at one point, plus Skorn, and those were my 5 stable slots for a while.

It wasn't long, however, until the thrill of the hunt wore off and I began to see I had no real attachment to these creatures. They were a fun scavenger hunt, but once the magic wore off I saw that my initial impressions still held. I didn't truly want any of them. They weren't pets that I had bonded with, they just felt...hollow.

I had released some of my closest pets just to make room for some shiny trophies, and once I realized that I let all of them go and retamed my old friends. I can understand the mentality behind wanting to collect them all, as I was pulled in by that myself for a time, but in the end it wasn't an outlook that suited me, nor what I wanted my stables to be. I would rather keep the pets I truly bonded with. I was very happy to have my original pets back and didn't regret releasing the spirit beasts for a moment.



Time passed, and eventually I started feeling drawn towards Skoll. I always had loved his shade of blue and the lightning effect, I just had a hard time getting past his worg model. I ended up finding him...2 or 3 times I think. I would get the feeling that he was up, and sure enough he'd be there, so I'd give him another chance. It just never stuck.

It wasn't until Cataclysm that things finally fell into place with him. Something was clearly there, and I just had to wait to fully understand the draw he had for me. One thing that became easier was that we were no longer in the era of 'Wolves or nothing'. Having spent an entire expansion seeing wolves and worgs everywhere, I had grown completely tired of the model on top of my initial dislike of the saber worgs. Having some breathing room without seeing one every day eased my dislike, and I actually began seeing parts of the model that appealed to me.

What solidified the bond was one night when I had been listening to Amon Amarth, which always reminded me of Northrend. It really was my favourite continent, and it will always be my favourite game content. I just love the Norse mythology ties and the overall look and feel of that expansion.

As I was listening to the viking metal, I was struck by a powerful urge to go to Storm Peaks. I wasn't even on WoW at the time, it was just a completely visceral sort of pull. I logged in, ported to Storm Peaks, and sure enough Skoll was waiting for me. This time it felt different. I tamed him, and rather than keeping his name Skoll which I had in the past, I named him Hegg after the singer of Amon Amarth (Johan Hegg). Then everything just...fell into place.

I realized that Skoll seemed to represent Northrend to me. He was a piece of that expansion. His appearance encompassed much of what I loved about WotLK, so finally tying it all together and realizing that having him was having a part of my favourite continent really made me fall in love with him completely.

I've certainly had my ups and downs with spirit beasts over the years, but in the end Hegg was the one that beat the odds and became a permanent part of my stables.

[Kalliope]

I generally don't tame spirit beasts, and yet, I feel a strong connection with three as pets. Yet, because my connection is so specific, I felt that I had to catch up and post in the other appreciation threads first.

That said....



Kalliope's single spirit beast is Polaris. I wrote about taming him here, but somehow, that doesn't cover all of it. Arcturis was the first spirit beast I ever actually wanted to tame. Our very first bond was instant, but when I gave that hunter up, our bond was broken. Attempting to reconnect with him on Kalliope ultimately ended up defining my relationship with Orpheus and Chatter, but left the door hanging open with Arcturis. It wasn't until Polaris that we were able to truly recapture that close bond with each other. Ursa is still Kalliope's One Bear, but Polaris is Kalliope's One Ghost Bear. I don't know how that works, but it does. I guess it's because of the exotic thing.

Hippomenes, who was my first Arcturis, is going to finally become himself apart from Arcturis when he becomes a quilen. I just can't see him in Loque's body, much like I couldn't see him in Arc's body the second time I tamed him. That's my problem with most of the spirit beasts. I see them as themselves, not as my pets. It blocks personality and bonding.

Kallimon has experimented quite a bit, but is only tied to two spirit beasts: Mojo and Saffron.



Mojo was the manifestation of a long-term bond between Skoll and me. I wrote about his tame here, which includes links to the posts I made about him invading my dreams. No other pet has ever done that to me before or since, not even Sambas the crazy summoner. Somehow, Mojo embodies that mystical connection that I still can't explain. Of all spirit beasts, he's the one who belongs at Kallimon's side.



But then there's Saffron. I wrote about her transition from Dishu to Gondria here. Saffron has always been a stable pet; Jambalaya is Kallimon's primary cat and the only one who ever gets out (and come MoP, the only one left). She doesn't seem to mind playing second fiddle, whether it's to Mojo or her mate. Going back to Hippomenes for a moment, he has to get out and play; that's why he has to change forms to stay with Kalliope - Polaris is the only SB who feels right by her side. But Saffron is more of a house cat. And a lady. I'm just happy she's happy; Jambalaya would kill me if I ever let her go.

[Rhyela]

Oh wow, I had written up this whole thing, and then accidentally closed my browser. x_x

Okay, so here we go again. Arcturus was the first spirit beast I tamed. I just found him one day with no one around, and I was right at level, so I decided to give him a shot. He was pretty cool-looking, sure, but I just don't like the bear model. I kept him for a dungeon run or two, and then I let him go.

Loque'nahak was next. He and I have had a strange relationship. My husband found him one day and was going to tame him, until he realized he didn't have BM spec and didn't feel like picking it up. So, I slowly flew out there and tamed him. The name Dante came to me, so that's what I named him. His roar was neat, and he was different-looking, but there was still something about him. I couldn't quite fall in love with him.

Gondria was the one I really felt pulled to. So, after a few days of random fly-bys in between raids and such, I finally found her! I loved her immediately. She had this...thing...about her. She felt like a quiet, calm, gentle, lost beautiful soul looking for a home. There wasn't a mean bone in her body. I don't normally like transparent pets, so I was quite surprised when I found how much I liked her. Veph helped me come up with a name for her, Shikon. It's from the Inu Yasha series, which I loved and watched religiously back in the day. It's Shikon no Tama, or the Jewel of Four Souls/Shikon Jewel, so the name definitely seemed fitting. Everything about her was wonderful. I loved her ethereal and lovely appearance, as well as her softer roar.

However, there came a time when I felt I didn't need two spirit beasts taking up two of my five stable slots, so I had to decide which one to let go. I don't even know why it was a decision. I asked my brother, and he said he thought Dante suited me better. Rhyela's not your typical night elf, she's more tomboyish, so he said that Dante had this wild and feral look which was more suited for Rhyela. So, I let Shikon go. I pretty much immediately regretted it. I then let Dante go, since he wasn't the one I wanted and I kind of resented him or something.

Around this same time, I do believe that the Cataclysm beta was open. I was piddling around in there, and decided to try to find Gondria again. She was there! I tamed her, and that cemented the fact that I had to get her back in live. I went to look for her in the morning before work, I believe, but she wasn't there. However, when I got home, she was there! I snatched her up and vowed to never let her go again.

Once Cataclysm rolled around and we got our 25 slots, I figured I'd give Dante another try. I had been seeing him with a bunch of other hunters, and I actually sort of started to miss him. Tilo and I scoured the basin for him, but to no avail. Finally, I put in a ticket and he was restored. Yay! Or...not. Up against Shikon, there was just no comparison. Dante felt lifeless to me, so I let him go again.

After a long break from WoW, I came back and the urge to go looking for pets once again came over me. I figured I'd casually look for Karoma and Ghostcrawler. I wasn't really expecting to like another spirit beast, since Shikon was the only one for me. I looked for GC maybe once and didn't find him, and gave up (I don't like the crabs in-game, their feet slide around while idle and it irks me). A little while after, I found Karoma. Firelands had opened up by this point, so there was almost no one around in Twilight Highlands. I tamed him (her?), and immediately was surprised at how much I liked him. He's like the opposite of Shikon. Where she would rather be loved and content and spend her life quietly with Rhyela, Shiranui (name comes from Okami) wants to fight. A lot. He's savage, wild and fierce, like a spirit that was torn from its body against its will. He respects Rhyela and is deeply loyal to her, but he doesn't like anyone else. He's always tense and ready for a fight. He loves Rhyela in his own way, but he's more of a guardian where Shikon is more of a devoted friend.

I ended up finding and taming Loque'nahak yet again, and named him Tenseiga this time. I liked the name much better, but he still felt so lifeless, so I let him go again. I doubt I'll ever tame him again, or at least not on Rhyela. I've tried him three times, and the third time was not the charm.

I then found and tamed Ban'thalos not long ago. Landing in that stupid tree was harder than I thought! I died a few times from the fall and the attack he does, but I finally tamed him. I don't even remember what I named him (if I named him at all), because I let him go almost right away. I love green, but I couldn't stand the bright trail from his wings. It was way too distracting and bright. That, and the owl isn't my favorite bird model. I like the carrion birds.

I've also casually looked for Ankha, but at this point, I don't know if I'd actually tame her. She's pretty, but she looks too much like Shikon, and there's no way I'm replacing Shikon. Maybe if I tamed her, I'd like her, but at this point I'm more than happy with my two spirit beasts. That's more than I ever expected to have.

So, Shikon and Shiranui are my two spirit beasts. Neither of them will ever leave, and they both get equal attention and love, although I think Shikon is still my favorite.

[TygerDarkstorm]

Interestingly enough one of the spirit beasts I always thought I would hate turned out to be one of my most beloved pets of all. As I was leveling Rosaliah through Northrend, I got this sudden urge to take another look at Gondria. For me, this was totally weird as I typically passed Gondria by because I've never been fond of the ghostly spirit beasts and being able to see their faces through their asses. But the more I leveled, the more she called out to me and even began invading my dreams.

When I finally got to Zul'Drak, even though I was only like level 74, I just *had* to go and see if she was up. And sure enough, there she sat teasing me.


And so I super ground my way to level 77 (with the help from the boyfriend). I talked to Lupis during the process about this strange draw to Gondria I was having, with Gondria taunting me the whole way. And my initial looking for her resulted in nothing. Then after I got home from work the next day and did a little bit of flying around and then, boom!, she was up in the very first place we met--the place I knew she would reappear for me. Cue a short, heart-pounding tame and she was there by my side.


And then... like an idiot... I had no idea what to name her. xD I think it was Lupis who suggested that I named her Azunara. Everything clicked into place after I named her after Azu. It made sense. The two characters had been acquaintances in one of the RPs here and it seemed fitting. This wouldn't be just a pet, this new friend of Rose's would be her guide and companion for the long journey she had in front of her. And since then, the two have been completely inseparable and Azu is undoubtedly my favorite pet to use and have out and about.






Tsara's too young to have a spirit beast now, but when she gets to level 76 she will be on the hunt for Loque as she was actually designed to match with him since Loque is my favorite spirit beast.

[starkittens]

ok, the only SB I really bonded well too, was loque. I must have her on all my hunters, for (and I do think you forget to say this,) She (yes, I say it's a she.) and Skoll are the only "solid" spirit beasts. I love her roar, I love her colors, I and I also love the fact that's she's a white and blue beast spawning in a very, very green place.

[Kitchu/Sknot]

i love SB Kitchu's Main pet is Howlett (skoll)

they one i feel no love for is ghostcrawler he was a pain to camp and ugly as sin
i think logue and Skoll are best looking ones IMO

[Corpsebryde]

Since the moment I saw Loque's model data mined I've wanted spirit beasts. However, I've found it very difficult to bond with any of the models....that is until Ankha.

I had always despised the ghostly saber look, especially Gondria's whom I view as nothing but big, glowing eyes, but after seeing the models for the Cata cats (Magria and Ankha) I thought I'd try them out. Originally I had tamed Magria but quickly let her go since, once again, I couldn't form a bond. It took a few more months of checking and I had almost given up until one day I came upon Ankha. Here was the spirit beast I had been waiting for! He fit my paranormal themed stable perfectly and I rechristened him Phantom.


I LOVE his ghostly trail he emits when running and I simply adore his pale green color. It's always a tough pick between Phantom and my regular kitty when deciding who to take for the Agility/Strength buff

[Azzrazzah]

I love my Spirit Beast freinds.. my fav so far is Skoll.. I was the first on the Public relms to tame Skoll... Mania used a pic of me and Frostfang my ever loving and loyal freind; to head up the Skoll pages on the old petopia site. Thanks again Mania for that honor!!! Huggz to you and prayers for your health!!!

[Finduilas]

Spirit Beasts <3 I had been looking forward to the day when this thread would come up.
I've always played Beastmaster on my different hunters so I was super happy when I heard about pets only for us. I found petopia and pets I wanted to tame.
Varg
The first one that really caught my eye was Skoll. By this time my orc (who was my main back in Wrath) had already reached level 80 and I set out to find this lightning wolf. After a few days of checking spawn points I found him infront of this cave up in the north. I tamed him and named him Varg. I found him pretty funny with his moonfire and the guild liked to call him wolf-owl, because he acted like a owl druid. Eventually I let him go, and went for an other pet instead. We only had 5 stable slots and I didn't feel a strong bond with Varg. When Cata hit (I think it was then we got 25 additional pet spots), I started to miss my Varg. Also the ability had changed from moonfire to healing and I thought I might give Varg an other try. Varg let me suffer, I camped him for weeks until I finally saw him again and tamed him. Since then he's one of Morga's most loyal pets, next to Arod, his tiger. I like his healing ability, he saved me more than once from death by nasty warlock dots or rogue venom.


Neferet
Neferet is Loque'nahak. I found him here on Petopia and was like "ohmygosh gief". I had never seen this pet before on a hunter and was set on getting him. Then the pain began. I spent weeks in Sholazar, flying circles for hours and hours. I camped him straight for several hours each day, only interrupted by sleep and food. I hadn't heard about Npc-scan or silverdragon yet, so I jumepd at each yellow dot that appeared on my minimap only to let out breath again when it was only a gorilla or rhino. I never found him. I gave up after 3 months of circling and camping after I found him dead south of Nesingwary's camp. I was heartbroken. Then I left the apartment for university and had told my fiance if he wanted to check he could logg me in. He knew how much I wanted this pet, and logged me in during the afternoon, he found Loque the second spot he was searching and tamed him for me. Loque went through a rename and is now named Neferet. She's a pet I enjoy in pvp, her loud roar sometimes gets on my nerves, but I can't let her go, because of all the time I spent to get her.


Amitola
Amitola is Morga's Magria. I was so excited about non-purple spirit cats I knew I had to get her or Ankha for my Orc. I had tried out Gondria, but she just was too female purple for my male orc. I love cats in RL and spirit cats? Hell yes! I spent hours on this dang rock eagle eyeing the kitties' path and Banthalos's spot. I found Magria first, shortly after taming Banthalos on Findu parked in the tree. Magria is the cat I feel most attached to on Morga. She has this elegant grace and calm personality. I never use her for pvp, only for dungeons and raids. She's my pve cat. Her blue is such a pretty color and her damage always is awesome. She's Morga's shiney precious.


Next pets are Finduilas' pets. She has more than two spirit beasts, but those two are the ones that will never leave her stable.

Pearl
Pearl is an unexpected bond. I tamed her because no one wanted her while I was camping for Magria. Most of Findu's pets have nordish names of gods or cities and I didn't find anything that suited this bright kitty. So I went with the first thing that came to my mind: Pearl. Very fitting for her pearly white color in my opinion. I found Magria, too but I let her go again, because I always felt like using Morga's Amitola and not a pet of Findu. So I took Pearl out for pvp and she stuck. I love the sounds she makes when running into a fight or healing me, the trail of light she leaves when running. Now she's in my active stables most of the time for both pvp and pve. I just love her so much. Pearl is strong, protective and Finduilas can trust her with her life. Pearl is "the best pet".


Fjölnir
Fjölnir is the first Spirit beast Finduilas really bonded with. I had tried the northrend rares, but I always was sad I had missed the chance to tame the grimmtotem spirit guide. I remembered all my hunters that were questing in Mulgore but never tried taming this beast. I was so naive back then. Only tamed pets that looked like pets When I found that there would be a spirit beast that would look like the shaman wolfes and the grimmtotem guide, I was excited. It took me about a week with circling the highlands to find Karoma, but then he was there, no one around to disturb my tame and Fjölnir came home. He was my constant companion until I found Pearl. I still love him a lot and use him whenever Pearl needs a break. He's a cute puppy, always entertaining Findu and making her laugh, still agressive towards enemies and very protective of his mistress.


Then there is my Tauren Larkania. I had tried out most spirit beasts on her and released most of them again. I have Arcturis on her, which I like, but not as constant pet, then I have Magria and Ankha, but I don't feel as connected to them as to the two other pets I will show here.

Aiyana
Aiyana was named Mapiya (Sky in Sioux) before I had the original Mapiya (Aotona) restored. Most of Larkania's pets follow a native american naming theme. Aiyana means eternal blossom, a name I really liked for a spirit beast. I didn't have to camp for her, I tamed her a few weeks after 4.3. had come out and the "kill everything with rare portrait"-hype had kind of settled down again on my server. Now that we have transmog she see the light quite often because I really like her green and how she matches my green transmog. Her sounds are adorbale when fighting and I love the trails her wings leave.


Peachy
Peachy was Larkania's first spirit beast. I tamed her on a fly by and she stayed. Until transmog came out I didn't use her much, I just couldn't stand the purple together with all the brown, red, orange colors of our sets. Then transmog hit and I farmed the purple set for Larkania. It's her pvp set (I mean who doesn't fear a purple Tauren running at you?!) and Peachy pretty much developed to my favorite pvp pet (next to a purple wasp and Aotona). Her name isn't following the naming theme, but it just stuck in my head until I changed her name to it. She's Peachy, nothing else.


Last hunter is Nerdanel.

Penelope
Penelope was Nerdanel's first spirit beast. She was sitting in her spot the second Nerdy reached level 74 and I tamed her only 5 minutes after reaching level 74 (had to put one pet into the stable first). I wanted to have one spirit beast of each "family" on Nerdy, so she does have the bear, a wolf, a crab, an owl and two cats (I gave in to Magria, because she fits the current transmog) in spirit form. Penelope was a pet that didn't get much attention after I tamed other pets, but she still has a save spot in the stables and gets her use in dungeons and pvp every once in a while. She's a very nice and gentle bear despite her aggressive looking snarl. It's a spirit bear grin, nothing to fear. I love the idea of having a ferocity bear, they are so cuddly and cute, having a bear as dps pet always appealed to me, just because of the irony.


Leya
I tamed Leya on a spontaneous idea after doing my molten front dailies and seeing her up. She also started my idea of having a spirit beast of each family. I mostly use her for LFR and questing, adoring her sounds and pretty wings. Today I was in deepholm doing the Therazane quests and shrank down to mini-Nerdanel. Armadillo pup and Leay looked really huge next to me, and Leya was so glowing bright in front of the purple background, I had to take a pic.


Stardust
Nerdanel is the only hunter I have Ghostcrawler on. I tried him on all my hunters, but he only stuck with Nerdy. I named him Stardust and I love to look at him. He matches my celestial steed so perfectly, I love having him out just for sparkling appearance. I don't use Stardust as often as the other pets, but if he gets to see a battleground, he rocks it. His low profile helps him to survive, because he doesn't get targetted as often as my bigger pets. He's a fierce and strong little guy who likes to eat gnomes (I think it's because he can reach them above the boots).


Coco
Coco is a pet that changed owners. I used to have her on Larkania, but I felt that she didn't belong there. I wanted to call her Chanel at first, but this name was reserved, now she's Coco, but in my mind she's always Coco Chanel. She's a graceful and pretty pet that likes to show off and doesn't love fighting a lot. She's mostly Nerdanel's questing companion. I found her one day in Twilight Highlands and it just felt right to me, that she was the Coco that couldn't live with my Tauren and had now found her owner. Coco had decided to follow Nerdanel, she didn't need to be tamed or told to follow her, she does it on her own will.


Yay, all important pets done. Wall of text, but they have such personalities I had to share all their stories. There are more, but these were the most important to my toons.

[RHMakonea]

Vortex

Vortex was my first spirit beast I truly bonded with he's my partner in crime and killer of Alliance



Out of all my spirit beasts I use today Vortex is my oldest and I use him the most with everything especially PvP



He's been my partner for a long time being the rebirth of one of the first pets I bonded with, and one of my favorite spirit beasts for years.



Out of my pets he's by far one of my most loyal and reliable pets


Vander

Vander is probably my current most used Spirit beast right now in PvE terms



Have always bonded with wolves ever since I worked with them in IRL, Vander is an extremely close spirit beast and companion



She's one of my favorites to use love everything about her, even though she's the youngest of my spirit beasts she's moving on up to being one of my closest companions



Soundwave

When it comes to Dungeons and Raids Soundwave is always first on my list


He is my favorite Spirit beast to Solo dungeons with and do raids and randoms in general



He was the only Spirit beast that literally Asked to be tamed I ran into him 8 times before finally taming him



Now he is part of my big happy Family I love my Big lovable Storm wolf

[Aritria]

This is Misery, named so for my camp. It was right at the end of Wrath, and I was so gunning for an easy camp, but I would come up with corpse after corpse after corpse. In the end, it wasn't a bad camp, with just over 40 hours, but I was also camping against other hunters who wanted him too. I hope they got theirs because almost right after I decided to switch my girl over to Nesingwary.

Other spirit beasts I've tamed are Skoll and Gondria, but they were rescue tames, and were let go soon after. One SB is enough for a character of mine!

[Rhyela]

There is something seriously wrong with me! Since I wrote my story above, I've been feeling this thing gnawing at the back of my mind about Shikon. The one I have now isn't the same one I fell in love with originally. I know I should just try to pretend she's the same one, but I know she's not. Argh!!! I tried running around with her a bit, I even found Gondria in the wild again, but it didn't work.

I don't know what it is about me, but for some reason, when I let go of pets, I have a really hard time bonding with them again if I re-tame them down the road. It's like I know that they're not the same, no matter how much they may look it.

So, once again, I submitted a ticket. I'll be lucky if they restore the original one for me. I think they've restored a few at this point, so I won't be surprised if they tell me no this time. But, I'll remain hopeful. It's my own darn fault!

In the meantime, I have taken up searching for Ankha again. Not religiously, since I'm not even on all that often. What's odd is that I've never seen Ankha or Magria in the wild. Ever. It makes me wonder if I'm in the wrong phase. It's the Regrowth, and it's got the Firelands dudes (naga and elementals) running about along with Spirits of Malorne, but it's just weird that I've never spotted them. I've seen Ban'thalos two or three times now, but no kitties.