Maybe I'm just being paranoid!?

[Niabi]

With Cataclysm's release only months away, it goes without much say that one of the biggest concerns regarding hunters is the possibility of some rare/one-of-a-kind beasts disappearing forever when Deathwing tears Azeroth asunder.

Many of my own hunters are accompanied by such pets, i.e.: Ghost Saber, Stider Clutchmother, Echeyakee, Humar the Pridelord, Old Cliffjumper, etc., all of which I adore immensely. So today I got to thinking, if said pets do in fact become extinct once the expansion hits, is there any way to safeguard my babies from possible glitches that may arise during that time? For example, let's just say that the Ghost Saber is no longer an acquirable pet after Cataclysm and I just happen to have this ethereal kitty out alongside my Night Elf huntress. Now what if, after I have installed Cataclysm onto my computer, I log onto my Night Elf only to discover that some strange glitch has caused my furry companion to disappear! I utilize "Call Pet" and still, my pet is gone. I submit a ticket to a GM only to have them notify me that the Ghost Saber is no longer a tamable pet and there is nothing they can do for me (Keep in mind, this type of glitch would probably affect a rather large population of hunters across every realm so GM's might resort to the easiest solution possible in order to rectify the situation which is - "Sorry, there is nothing we can do for you.").

To help calm my nerves a bit, I have stabled all of my rare beasties leaving only common-skinned/easier to obtain pets or no pets at all alongside my hunters. This might seem a bit extreme to some of you reading this. Hell, it might be all for nothing and my rare beauties will be just fine no matter what happens to their tamable status in the end. Am I being too overly protective here? Paranoid (be kind -*squeezes eyes real tight and prepares for impending criticism*)? What are your opinions on this subject?

[Rhyela]

Honestly, I think that even if they make these creatures untameable or retired come Cataclysm, I highly doubt a glitch would happen. Hunters can still use their ghost wolves, hydras, and black warpstalkers. The only pet so far that they have outright made unacquirable, even for hunters who had them already, were the worgen pets. And if said glitch did happen, I do believe that you'd find a kind GM to restore them. I've had Loque'nahak restored to me after I stupidly released him. No glitch, no funky stuff, just me being a moron, and they were still kind enough to return him to me.

So, I'm not going to criticize you for being worried, but I do honestly feel that your concern is unnecessary. (Watch me be wrong and then feel like a jerk later if it happens )

[Teigan]

We won't know, unfortunately. But, probably they've thought this thru and everything will be fine.
Personally, I've gone from one extreme to the other on this. When I first started thinking about it, I released my non-rares and replaced them with rares. Now, I've replaced my ghostsaber with Loque and my Clutchmother just turned into a Devilsaur. After seeing the leaked maps and screenshots, I'm not as worried about the fate of those two particular rares. Granted, I'll be taming those on another hunter alt, just in case the stables don't expand prior to Cata.
But, a couple terrifying prospects (not that you need more to worry about!)..what if the old rares do go extinct in the wild and go the way of the Worgen pet? Or, what if they decide to upgrade all the animals, as the old blocky beasts will look like they are from another game next to the new, shiny ones? And what if, in that upgrade, they decide it's easier to just get rid of the old ones and start fresh, rather than reskin them (yes, lack of programming knowledge probably quite evident there!)

[Niabi]

Hunters can still use their ghost wolves, hydras, and black warpstalkers.

I had pondered that very thought for a bit before submitting this forum topic.

I believe my concern for hunter pets is centered on the fact that this is the first time ever in WoW's history that old content quests, geography, major cities, npcs, etc. are being completely reformatted for an expansion. None of the prior expansions did this. The pets you've mentioned are all still evident in the game even though they've become untamable to hunters. I am thinking more along the lines of Blizzard getting rid of certain pet models altogether permanently.

[Kayb]

Hey you never know, maybe some of those skins that have only one running around out there might have had some babies and produced more. there could be a whole bunch more of the clutchmother skin runnin around come cata,

theres just as much chance of us getting extra as there is of it being wiped out

[Mania]

If nothing else, we should get a feel for what is going to happen from beta.

[Ryno]

I sincerely doubt Blizzard would want to paint themselves as the "bad guy" by taking away pets that were removed from the game.

They've done it enough in the past to know it get's the community in a tizzy.

[Ryai]

I sincerely doubt Blizzard would want to paint themselves as the "bad guy" by taking away pets that were removed from the game.

They've done it enough in the past to know it get's the community in a tizzy.

They've also done it enough in the past without ever giving a reason why. They said they were going to leave Ghost wolves implemented.

They didn't.

They fixed Gezz.

They took her out of the taming bracket for no reason. Never said why. Never hinted why. Still silent.

They RETIRED a wasp model for NO REASON. Never said anything about it, leaving another wasp model that still scales to the size of a player model, ingame, disproving the fact that some people claimed it was cause of her size.

Blizz has done countless stuff to really give a hunter a worry.

BUT.

I highly doubt that the 'one of a kind' models are going to be retired, and even so, we still have plenty of time. REMEMBER we are getting larger stable slots. So you can always retame a more common skin later.

[Dewclaw]

I agree with Mania. Let's see what beta brings, then worry about what to worry about.

[zedxrgal]

Honestly I was just a little bit paranoid until reading the posts. Now I'm certainly paranoid and really contemplating my recent decisions on my alt alliance hunter. She just released Ghost Saber to get Takk and then just release Humar to get Giggler.
It wouldn't surprise me if the Barrens rares are made extinct since several of the land changes are close or right at a spawn point. In my opinion Snort and Azzere appear to be in the most danger since they're the closest to the new lava line that is going to rip through the barrens.

I seriously hope that we get the chance to get back some that have been released. I hope that Blizz doesn't screw us again and just remove everything with giving us the time to get it back.

[Vephriel]

Again, we will have news in the beta long before Cataclysm is released. Don't worry, you'll have plenty of time to weigh your decisions and see what sort of pets may be going away or changed before it happens.

[Ryai]

Yeah but remember.

Barren Rares are not one of a kind skins; Takk, Echayekee, Humar, etc, they all share skins with other mobs that aren't in danger.

[zedxrgal]

Very true but the Takk skins are only found in the Wailing Caverns right??

Where are the other Humar and Echayekee skins??

I know I know ............... Look on Petopia.

Now what about Snort? He's in the most danger as far as I'm concerned. His only matching skin is either Ravage in the Blasted Lands and the Pesterhide's in Thousand Needles which is set to be flooded. So I would suspect that skin is in the most danger of being retired /extinct.


**looks on Petopia**
So how can you spawn Sian-Rotam???? Is this another Hord only quest??

[Ryai]

Very true but the Takk skins are only found in the Wailing Caverns right??

Where are the other Humar and Echayekee skins??

I know I know ............... Look on Petopia.

Now what about Snort? He's in the most danger as far as I'm concerned. His only matching skin is either Ravage in the Blasted Lands and the Pesterhide's in Thousand Needles which is set to be flooded. So I would suspect that skin is in the most danger of being retired /extinct.


**looks on Petopia**
So how can you spawn Sian-Rotam???? Is this another Hord only quest??

Look I know you're upset and worried and all but if you clicked the thottbott or the wowhead links you'd know that the quest has been changed to Ally -and- Horde a few patches ago. The quest is the end quest of a chain started by a Tauren if i remember right. Sian is summoned when Shy reaches a certain amount of health and is left close to the spot she spawns; IE at 50% ish percent health Sian will spawn and he can and will fear, or Shy does. I forget which.

The Black Lion skin is also held by Pitch, a non elite quest mob that has a fairly quick respawn timer afaik.

Wailing Caverns is not being destroyed, if you had checked the cata information the druids saved WC from falling into the lava. And if it's to dangerous to go in there by foot now, will, there's a flying rocket. I'm sure someone wouldn't mind giving a lowbie hunter a lift come cata.

Purple Hyena's aren't being made extinct. It's NOT impossible for the purple Hyena's to still exist in a few scattered places. And as you said yourself, there is still Ravage. And who knows, as someone said they're might be more mobs changed or relocated. Look at the Diseased wolf skin. People feared it would be one of the skins going the way of the dodo come cata.

There are now diseased wolf skins readily available in the human starting zone.

So really just calm down, and wait for Open Beta.

[Acherontia]

I took a ride around and had a look at the new world. The Ruins of Mathystra are still there, untouched (Ghost Saber). The Hinterlands also look exactly the same (Old Cliff Jumper). I forgot to check the Clutchmother area

The place I'm most concerned with is Western Plaguelands. I got myself a Diseased Black Bear just in case. WPL is rejuvenated, with healthy forests and farms; chances are the black bear will remain or be moved, but I'm not going to take that chance.

Rotclaw has replaced my white warpstalker Shadowstep as my current tankpet, and I <3 him, to my surprise. It's really too bad Gezzarak isn't tameable anymore!!

[Azunara]

Aaaw! No more Welcome Bear? If you ask me, at the entrance to WPL there should be a friendly rotting bear named Welcome Bear. Talking to it will cause it to say 'Welcome!' and give you the hug debuff: Hug. Stunned for three seconds.

[Teigan]

Talking to it will cause it to say 'Welcome!' and give you the hug debuff: Hug. Stunned for three seconds.

Yes!

[zedxrgal]

Well it's good the ruins are untouched. I cannot wait to see what the lands are going to look like with all the changes.

[Acherontia]

Aye, keeping in mind the changes are alpha, and there are still entire chunks of unsculptured land, but the ruins so far are fully intact.

The Maelstrom for example is currently just a big bunch of unsculpted boulders and a big swath of concave water. And for some reason, one of the boulders has "THRALL" and an arrow pointing toward the Maelstrom's center... painted in red.... O.o