Long-Term Illness = Bored Hunter Challenge (IMAGE HEAVY)

[Kurasu]

At level 79, I was in Zul'drak, and I was close enough to Quetz'lun's place that a Scion seemed like a good pet to grab. These windserpents are gorgeous. Stunning color, very eye-catching, and to be quite honest, the only Outland model I enjoy looking at. I was very happy to get the chance to actually run with one, and while I wouldn't give up my Blueskies for it, it gave me a good appreciation for the looks. The ability was helpful as well, with Arcane Shot getting a boost and not doing too terribly bad. Having had Tenacity pets for so long, I did have some major threat issues with this pet, but that was mostly because of my lack of patience and care, rather than the pet's. Ryouga was named after the character in Ranma 1/2, due to several very, very odd pathing issues that kept striking me. I would tell him to attack, and he would run off in the opposite direction in order to find a 'path' to the enemy. Or running in Shattrath, he suddenly flew off down a slope, only to come up another slope in order to follow me. The eternally lost boy, indeed.


Ryouga: the eternally lost.... snake?


"Hey! Where are you going *this* time?!"


The best part: when I came out of this screenshot, my PetEmote's quote: "Ryouga flutters over and examines Laziphus curiously."

[Kurasu]

Then, it was on to Cataclysm. I started my journey off in Mount Hyjal, and the moment I dinged 81, I picked up one of the local Core Hounds tromping around the burned out area. Due to the constant background crackle of fire, he was named 'Simmer'. The look, for me, was definitely imposing, but not exactly what I'd consider appealing. Then again, there's a reason Kura was happy to give up Ruby for Chromaggus: I'm just not fond of the 'red core hound' look as a pet. The constant fire crackling, as well, is actually one of the few sounds that I actually found somewhat grating. It didn't bother me to the point I had to turn noise off, but it was noticable for me, and I can see it being very annoying to people who don't enjoy pet sound effects. I have no complaints about threat-holding, though, and the pet's casting-slow was extremely useful against many of the enemies. Much handier than Antithesis and his clouds o' doom for leveling! Simmer was named for the constant 'simmering' sound.


And they call it.... Puppy-love!


.... someone got a mop?

[Kurasu]

At level 83, I was in Vashj'ir, and it was time for my next pet: Tourmalaine the warp stalker. Back to tenacity pets, and not a moment too soon! While Simmer wasn't doing terrible at holding threat, Tourmalaine earned his stripes by holding it rock-solid, as well as being able to slow the enemy in case I did somehow manage to pull threat. In addition, he did it with style: I originally hadn't much thought of the color of them, but having seen it and run with it a bit, I'm pleased to say I absolutely love the way they look. Plus, I *love* warp stalker sound effects. They sound so horribly violent. Tourmalaine was named after Tourmaline: a semi-precious stone that comes in a variety of colors. I managed to accidentally typo the name, and the nrather liked the way it looked so didn't bother changing it.


I.... really, *really* like how I look with this fellow.


Until this shot, I'd never noticed how brilliant the eye glow is.


"RAWR!"

[Kurasu]

In Uldum, I dinged my 84. That is where I got hold of my scorpid, Diplomacy. Little Diplomacy was another tenacity pet, just around the time when they're nice and necessary. His tanking ability was surprisingly good, probably because a lot of Uldum's creatures are humanoid, and thus affected by the disarm special ability that Diplomacy sported. Likewise, moving on to Twilihgt Highlands, his ability came in extremely handy for fighting those damned dwarves. Tenacity's color scheme, a simple and basic yellow, I was a little disappointed with admittedly. Maybe I'm just spoiled with Timothy's gorgeuos 'hidden blues', though. Diplomacy was named because frmo the time I got him, throughout quite a lot of his life, he was being used in a variety of 'diplomatic' missions. Gotta love Horde and their version of diplomacy!


He's big! He's yellow! He's diplomatic!


Gratuitous camera-wave!


I really love the lemon-yellow color of these. Underappreciated.

[Kurasu]

And finally, at level 85, came my last pet: Pargon the wolf. And Pargon is... ugly. I'm sorry to say it. I've not really liked the Worg model, and though I'm somewhat attached to him for pure personality, I just can't get my head around the sound effects and looks for this model. It's really a pity: the +5% crit is going to be a huge help later in life if I decide to do anything instance-oriented. Pargon's name comes from Eternal Darkness: the 'chant' for 'increase power' is 'PARGON'.


Just checking for fleas!


Someone really needs to feed this fellow!


I do have to admit: their eyeglow is... very stand-out.

And there you have it. The entirety of a hunter from level 1 to 85, through the eyes of a variety of pet tames. I hope that you've enjoyed this little journey as much as I have!

[TygerDarkstorm]

That was a very fun read.

[GormanGhaste]

Yes, thanks for sharing your journey. --off to go tame a brown tall strider, your Jack stole my heart!

[TygerDarkstorm]

I love the brown and grey tallstriders; I feel that their colors go under-appreciated. There's so many little nuances to their color scheme and tallstriders have some of the most personality of pets out there.

[Kurasu]

RISE FROM YOUR GRAVE!

Burnout struck with WoW on my main, and I couldn't really decide what I wanted to do. 12th in the world in pet battles for a while (I've since fallen; I just don't 24/7 as much), done all the questing, run heroics from here to there, did dailies until my eyes bled... I needed a bit of a break. I thought about leveling another character, only I've already *seen* all the lore, and I'm not feeling like watching it again.

... only, hey! I haven't seen it from the Horde side. And there's still so many pet families I haven't tamed. Even more now, actually!

So what the heck. Let's resurrect an old thread and continue the challenge for 5 more levels, shall we?

[GormanGhaste]

Will you be taming a new pet every level, this time around?

[Kurasu]

Yep. Same as I did with the '83-85' from before. It's a long time between levels, so it'll give me plenty of time to bond with and get a feel for the pet.

Being able to respec them should make things a lot easier in general, too. Before, I had to go with the spec. This time around... well, I'll probably try and run with them 'as they naturally are' but I can change them to Ferocity/Tenacity/Cunning as needed.

[Akycha]

I look forward to this. I missed this thread first time around it was a good read.

[Maizou]

I look forward to this as well. I'm glad you bumped the thread too, I never would have seen it if you hadn't.

If I hadn't already gotten my Pandaren hunter to level 20, I'd probably do this on her. Heck, I still might, just alter the rules to start at 20. Just call it "bonding time" for Origami (zee crane) and I. xD

But yes, excited to see your future updates. :3

[Kurasu]

It really is a fun way to level, I found. Gives a nice chance to see the world, plan some things out, get a feel for different pets... in the early going, of course, there's a lot more flexibility in where you can go.

So, after completing the Horde's adventures in monkey-poo-throwing, gathering plenty of herbs to fund my later acquisitions, and killing a random rare that I came across while running through the Jade Forest, I happened to ding my first level while hanging around Forest Heart. And at the moment of ding, wandering right beside me was a Smoky Porcupine. Looks like my next 'best friend' is an easy choice.

Also, as a 'for the record', Porcupines start out as Tenacity. So I don't even have to shift it if I need a random tank!

[Dalianza]

I loved reading about this, especially all your pictures and the personality quirks each of your pets had!

I've decided to try it as well, and probably going to write about it in my blog (with full credit for the idea going to you )

[Wain]

-> Moved to Show & Tell, at the request of Kurasu

[Maunkitten]

This is such a wonderful idea! I am really tempted to roll (another) hunter to do this on. It's ok! I only have.. four other hunters over level 50.

But it looks like so much fun!

What a wonderful read!

**I'm attempting this challenge, credited to you of course, twice- once Ally and once Horde. It sounds like so much fun!

[Kurasu]

For the record, I haven't given up on the character. With the holidays, and with burnout having been successfully beaten with 5.1, I've just been focusing on doing that again. I promise I'll revive the thread once I continue leveling Ninhar... or if she accidentally dings while doing something or another.