Random Pet Challenge [v3.0]

[Finduilas]

Now I did a dungeon with Bananas, and tested him in several ways.
I admitt, that after the second boss I switched back to my wolf, just because he did help the group with his howling.
Bananas is as a gorilla simply a tank for me while doing quests. In instances I prefer spirit beasts and wolfes.
But for levelling and doing quests he is quite perfect. I already had a gorilla (Ronnie) and know, that I can rely on him tanking severals mobs without porblems. He also sometimes helps out as a tank in instances, when the original tank is dead or has left.



Hi animations: Sometimes he bangs his chest with his fists (i really like it, when he does it, just looks very dangerous), or he scratches his butt (just plain yucky - I mean who would like to hang out with a beast, always scratching his fanny?)

His sounds are very gorilla-like (ugh-ugh-ugh), not very noisy and not annoying. First time I heard them I thought they were very funny.... you get used to it
I did some swimming with him in Sholazar Basin - but water clearly doesn't seem like his element. He "swims" with his arms, but he barely moves them. I thought he rather looked dead in the water, like a corpse drifting with the currant....



I don't think I will keep him, since I already have a gorilla, the white rare from Un'goro.
But I think it was fun, testing some new things with him, I wouldn't have done with him normally (swimming).

I like this challenge, so I gladly ask for a reroll for Larkania:
Name: Larkania
Level: 76 (on her way to 77)
exotics: YES!
no diseased pets please

[Anjelier]

All right, I figure this is the best way to finally get myself to posting, so... may I have a roll, please? <3

Name: Anjelier
Level: 85
Exotics: They're fine!
Restrictions: None.

[Lupis]

*Randomly*
Anjelier!!! *Hugs*

By the way, Kormai, I'll have my report done soonish. Slacking off. xD

[Kormai]

By the way, Kormai, I'll have my report done soonish. Slacking off. xD

That's fine, thanks for dropping by!

Acherontia
Grey Fox


Finduilas (Larkania)
Red Nether Ray


Anjelier
Ghost Grey Wolf


Happy hunting all

[Acherontia]

Right, so, Ashtail! (I stuck this up on Blogger as well, he's too pretty not to show off, even if it winds up sounding like I'm criticizing him--which isn't actually my intent )

The Tame

I had a lot of fun playing with this little guy. When I first went to pick him up (I flew over from Twilight Highlands as a Horde), he actually wasn't spawned. I did a double-check on Wowhead for his timer & spawnpoint, parked myself, entered him into NPC-Scan and waited. About a half hour later, he spawned.

When he's "wild," he's apparently a rogue--he'll use Shadowstep and Evasion on you while fighting. Well, cunning devil! Oh wait, I mean Ferocity. I named him Smoke due to his color, and off we went.

Model & Animations

The first thing I did was take him for a run around Orgrimmar and have a look at his idle animations, and at his Trick. Blizzard still hasn't changed Trick in that the fox will carry on using it even when the player is moving, so you can have a fox out now racing at 100%+ speed along the ground on its two back legs

The animations are smooth, but the run looks somewhat awkward--the back bends in two different places depending on whether he's gathering up or flexing. It's a bit hard to catch in a screenshot, but maybe this will give an idea. (Notice also the way his front leg thins down oddly far when running.)

"Party Animal"

Oddly, because he shares the Coyote model animations, he howls--though soundlessly.

He also has--and warning, you cannot unsee these:

He has a massive overbite--it's more noticeable at some times than others, but from the side, his upper "snout" goes quite a bit farther than his lower!

And also, his ears move ludicrously far when he does his sniffing-the-ground idle animation--they actually cover his face

As for his model and appearance, he's looking good! His colors are a soft blue-gray, very pretty to look at and shading into a dark navy blue and then black on the legs. His tail has a pale tip, and his underbelly and throat, along with his face, has pale gray-white markings. His eyes actually glow, a very bright and pale aqua blue. His model and skin are both advanced Cataclysm tech, so they're very smooth and pretty to look at.

One odd thing that I noticed, though, is that from the front he always looks either startled or completely blank--his eyes are really widely spaced, and very round.

He makes no idle sounds; his in-combat noises are quiet, but I personally find them somewhat irritating. Mind you that's a personal thing; many people might find them endearing!

His overall size is pleasant; he's about the same size as a coyote-model wolf pet, perhaps a bit smaller. He is large enough to feel like a solid presence at your side without becoming overly large or obtrusive, or detrimental to targetting.

Utility

This pet seems pretty useless in PvP. Maybe it's just me, but I'd think non-BM hunters would want a root and likely a Cunning or even Tenacity pet, and that BM would want something with a damage boost or more adaptable utility. The AoE debuff is okay in huge groups, like Tol Barad, but it doesn't affect casters and doesn't buff you at all.

In group PvE, tanks will cover the fox's debuff. In solo PvE, though, this guy's pretty nifty--his AoE debuff will both help him keep aggro on multiple mobs and will allow him to take a bit less damage from physically-attacking enemies. If you like the look of a fox and want somewhere to use it, I'd think that questing and grinding is his place to shine!

All in all, this is a fun pet to play with, and overall he's pretty to look at. For me, though, some of the animation quirks put me off, and his relative uselessness probably means I won't keep him around (a Spirit Beast's damage buff + aggro generated by Spirit Mend, along with the utility of Spirit Mend itself, leaves little competition for me ). He's fun, though, and he's pretty, and I'm guessing a great many folks really love this guy to death!

[Finduilas]

I had the Red Netherray from Shadowmoon Valley. Larkania already had a green Netherray from Zangarmarsh she never used, so she abandoned Ljus and got the red one.

Bronze's looks:
I named him Bronze, for he seems to shimmer bronze in cerain lights.
First thing I noticed about him: he shrinks - a lot. After having tamed him, he seemed so small besides my tauren, I became doubts, how he would do in a fight. One pic shows him at Larkania's side with his original size coming up behind them. Second thing: his colour: in the greenish Shadowmoon Valley light he seemed almost brown and not very pretty. But his colour got better in Dalaran with proper light and I truly admired him changing between red and brown-bronze. His skin (?) is very smooth and shimmers with every move.

What I definitely don't like about Bronze is his head. He has two sets of big fangs/teeth so I wonder how he's ever going to eat something and they just look horrible to me. And his eyes: are the small four dots his eyes and if yes, what is the big one in the middle? Does he have eyes?



Bronze's animations:
I couldn't notice any animations while he was flapping at my side (or does the flapping count?). He just doesn't do anything at all.
Swimming animation: he swims like he moves normally: flapping at my side only a little slower.
Sounds: Well - he's a quiet pet. Just a very low growling when you send him at something. Nothing when you click at him and the same low growling when you feed him. He has no flapping noise, doesn't growl, bark, yawn whatever "normal" pets (cats, wolves, owls,...) do randomly. For me he is to quiet. I like pets "talking" to me and giving me a feedback (*grrrrr I'm attacking now*) or something like that.

Bronze's fighting abilities:
I went to an random instance with Bronze but since our tank left before the first boss I had to get my rhino to tank the rest of the instance (he did a great job! Thank you Purzel!). But the first groups I noticed, that Bronze used his special "shocking" ability ALWAYS when it had no cd. This ability is meant to interrupt casts of my enemies. I would think this ability to be lovely when doing pvp. So I got into waiting line for pvp. After 45 minutes of waiting warsong pops up, I enter, 2:2, alliance has the flag. Before I even spotted my first enemy the bg was over. Nice Blizzard, thanks so much - I really love beeing in a queue for 45 minutes and having absolutely nothing of it (frustration speaking, since Larkania saw now bg since she was 29 due to HOURS of waiting-time). So I just cancelled the pvp test for Bronze. I tested Bronze again on a dog, he even slammed his shock at the poor dog, who clearly doesn't have any casts at all.
I think his shock is not very useful - he uses it every time he can and I think if I ever would need it in a bg, it would be on cooldown, because he just hit a warrior with it....
Since he is a cunning pet, his tanking abilities are not worth mentioning. He needs a lot of healing, although he managed to keep aggro of at least one mob during my quests.
I wouldn't use him in an instance either, there are better pets for dps with abilities that help me and/or the group more.

I would finally say: although I like his colours, he's no pet for me. I don't think he matches a tauren. He just seemed so tiny and fragile next to Larkania. I think he would match an elf or a troll ways better. His abilities didn't convince me and he is just too quiet. I had a lot of fun taming him and doing my quests with him, but I'm sure as soon as my stable is getting fuller, he has to move out to make room for rares or pets that are more special to me.



I'd love to have another challenge for Larkania:
Level: 78
Exotics: yes!
restrictions: no gorillas/monkeys (just have enough of them right now), no diseased pets

[TygerDarkstorm]

The nether ray's shock has to be taken off autocast and micro-managed to get the best use out of it, which actually applies to the other two interrupt pets as well.

[Anjelier]

Lupis! <3 /hugs!
Ahah, I think coming across you gave me the courage to finally emerge and poke at these boards. :D

So, here's my first challenge!

the lone hunter
To be honest, I never was much of a fan of the worgs, mostly because of very obvious flaws they have — such as their various layers of fur having rough, pixelated edges. It makes them rather unappealing as pets, to me, and so I thought of this endeavor as hopeless; this poor thing was going to be abandoned as soon as I was done with observing him. I couldn't see myself getting attached, especially when I was very confident a transparent skin wasn't going to look right alongside Anjelier.

Regardless, I thought, what a better way to bond than going on an adventure together?
And so Anjelier ventured into a graveyard outside of Darkshire, eventually descending into catacombs with the ghostly wolf by his side.


"Are you fast on your feet?"

Since he looks old, grizzled, and very very dead, and I was spelunking in burial chambers with him, I couldn't possibly name him anything other than Dampé.


"Follow me if you dare!"

And off we went!

appearance and animations
For the skin...
To me, he's a lot nicer than his corporal alternate; the transparency is always giving the chance for colors to be thrown onto him, for those of the scenery to show through him, instead of looking a constant deluge of dull, dingy gray. This also makes his green eyes definitely stand out, as they remain vivid no matter the backdrop.







But for the species...
Worgs are not very animated in most cases: when idle they often just stand there, their only motion bobbing up and down as they breathe. Sometimes, they'll shake their heads — which also serves as their primary combat animation, along with a crouch that often accompanies it.
Their run is where they make up for this. They barrel eagerly into combat with a somewhat askew (and completely endearing!) gait, and come loping just the same back. Combined with their more subdued animations outside of fighting, it makes them come across as a loyal guard of their hunter, more so than pets that go bouncing all over the moment nothing is going on.



I also admire their tall stance when just standing, how they hold themselves up high; it gives them something of a noble appearance (even when viewed through some nasty-looking cobwebs).



They also have a vaguely lop-sided, hobbling walk, something that gives them a lot of character. Things like that make up for whatever flaws the model possesses, I think: they have a lot of charm, a lot of postive aspects to override the negative ones.

combat (and a small part regarding sounds)


While my other ferocity pets — including such things as cats, tallstriders, hyenas, and condors — never seem to lose aggro, I noticed with Dampé, I was losing it quite frequently although he's specced precisely the same as the rest, and I was getting beat on as a result. I can only figure that perhaps the crit-boosting talent of his was benefiting me a bit more than it was him, causing me to sometimes put out more damage than he could distract enemies from.
This wasn't too much of a problem, though, with a bit of patience: as long as I gave him the chance to get a bite and a growl in before I opened fire, he'd hold onto the mob we were fighting the whole time.

As for his combat sounds, they consist of barks and growls, primarily when first going into a fight, and both of which were definitely less attention-grabbing than most of the noises of the chatterbox pets that run with Anjelier.

the conclusion...

"You were very quick to be able to keep up with me!"

Anjelier had not seen a wolf at his side for months — they simply did not seem to be his kind, and believe me, I tried out a number of skins! — so I thought he wouldn't ever have one. Nope, there would always be a wolf-shaped void in his stables, and that was all right.



But apparently running around with one in a graveyard for an hour or two is enough to change your mind. As Anjelier was heading out with Dampé tramping beside him, it wasn't even a question. They would definitely be going on more adventures — Dampé's a keeper!

[Finduilas]

That's what I thought, too, about the nether ray's shock. But since I'm not very good at typing macros and normally forget to use them, it's just nothing for me. Probably somebody else would be happy with him doing pvp and using a macro to interrupt.

[Agner]

The nether ray's shock has to be taken off autocast and micro-managed to get the best use out of it, which actually applies to the other two interrupt pets as well.

I've always heard that gorillas smart-cast their interrupts. I haven't tested this myself, though, since I've barely been on my hunter since he got his gorilla.

[Finduilas]

@Agner this was also my imagination. Since I tested a gorilla just recently (see top of page ), I always thought he was kinda clever. His interrupt came in handy most times. Pity that he's a tank and I would prefer a spider/spirit-beast/chimaera for pvp.

[TygerDarkstorm]

The nether ray's shock has to be taken off autocast and micro-managed to get the best use out of it, which actually applies to the other two interrupt pets as well.

I've always heard that gorillas smart-cast their interrupts. I haven't tested this myself, though, since I've barely been on my hunter since he got his gorilla.

Yes, gorillas and moths can both smart cast their interrupts, however, in a PvP situation (and raid situation where you're being asked to interrupt), leaving these abilities on Auto-Cast will often interrupt the wrong thing.
For example, interrupting a warlock's shadow bolt over their fear, or a healer's little spell over a big one. You can get by without micro-managing the smart casters' interrupts, but anyone trying to min/max will be manually controlling them.

[TygerDarkstorm]

All righty, one belated crocodile report coming up (this will be my last one for a while as I have some other projects I'd like to start focusing my attention on).

Looks:

As many of you who read my reports know, I'm a big fan of the crocolisks, particularly the Cataclysm models, and this guy is no exception. I think this is the first white croc I've gotten to make a report on as well. ^_^ Ruffley has a food naming theme and the bf said I should name a croc Taffy so I settled on this guy. Now, the website says Ripscale can spawn between the levels 37-39, but in the time I spent waiting for him to pop in those levels, I had seen him at level 39 3 times and tamed him on the third after spending some time leveling. I'm not sure if it's just coincidence or if he just preferred level 39 to laugh at me.

Anyway, on to how this bad boy actually looks. Like I said, I'm a Cata croc fan. The model is very solid with no huge flaws and I think his coloring is awesome. He's not so much a plain white as he is a mix of purple, gray, and white, with dark blue fins, black teeth, a cream belly, and beady yellow eyes. Taffy's face is actually my favorite part about him. He always looks like he's up to something devious, and with all those bony plates and ridges, and wicked looking teeth, I'd hate to be the enemy of this fellow. One of the stranger things on this model is the area where the legs connect to the body, they look a little like painfully obvious sockets as opposed to a gathering of fat/skin.

Sounds and Animations:

Unlike their old world brethren, the Cata model crocs don't make any noise while idling, which makes me a happy afker/tab outer. As endearing as the noise can be, when they get to doing it all the time while I'm tabbed out or something, it gets to be rather annoying, but I digress. The shot of Taffy performing his idle is probably one of my favorite pics. ^_^ He just looks like he doesn't give a damn and he'll sure as hell tell you. That little headshake of his is the main croc idle animation not including them just sitting there and twitching their tails.

I find their run and swim endearing, but I can understand people's dislike of their run since it looks a little like their back is breaking in three places. Normally I don't notice it while just regular running, but I found that when mounted it was even more painfully obvious than usual. Their swim is rather natural for them, at least. They tuck those little feet into their side and propel themselves with that rudder-like tail.

Combat:

Crocolisks are tenacity pets, and while they don't do utterly trash damage like back in WotLK, it still won't be as good as a ferocity or cunning pet. However, what Taffy lacks in damage, he can make up for in being a tank. It really just depends on how you spec them. I tend to spec my crocs to be more damage oriented since I'm using them mostly for their slow and not necessarily to hold aggro while in SV spec.

Crocs have two attack animations, a standard lunge and bite, and a more exaggerated thrashing bite. While being a bit basic, they do manage to make Taffy look rather ferocious, in my opinion.

The Crocolisk special ability is Ankle Crack which is a single target slow/snare effect. A lot of people think this is only handy for PvP, and while it does get great use against melee/flag carriers there, I find that crocs are about the only tenacity pet I like to use for soloing on my SV hunters. I spec my crocs for as much DPS as possible and just blast away at mobs, typically killing them before they reach me between conc shot and the croc. You could find limited use for them in a dungeon as well, but I think the fights would be situational and only if you didn't need a more important buff/debuff brought in.

Overall, Taffy will be staying with Ruffley. I adore the way he looks and I've been needing a croc for her leveling travels.

[Kormai]

Finduilas (Larkania)
Armored Brown Ghost Boar

[Serenith]

This looks exciting! I would really love to do this.


Name: Neyaari
Level: 82
Exotics: Yes
Restrictions: No cats please, I always have cats.

[Kormai]

Neyaari
White Warp Stalker

[Sarantha]

I am bored, so I will participate in this fun little game.

Name: Sarantha
Level: 85
Exotics: Yes
Restrictions: No monkeys or gorillas, please. Dislike this class passionately.
Rares I already have: All Molten Front/Hyjal rares except Ban'thalos and Ankha, all Northrend rares. Forgot to add that I also have Sambas and Karoma as well as the Olm the Wise.

[Calixte]

I started a new baby hunter just so I could participate in this! I'm so excited!

Name: Poochyená
Level: 20 (soon to be 21)
Exotics: Not yet!
Restrictions: None!

Thank you thank you!

[Serenith]

My random challenge was the White Warp Stalker!

I’ve always kinda liked warp stalkers from a distance. I never tamed one before, but I do recall debating on it. I just never got around to it for some reason. This random creature selection was a good kick in the behind for me to actually take the time to tame one.



I decided to name him, Amrantu, which means “blink” in Welsh. I didn’t get the screen cap of him fading out on me, but he did vanish for a moment mid tame! Also was a perfect fit for my draenei hunter’s naming theme. I tend to use names that sound as though they are (or could be) untranslated draenei words or just plain draenic names, and Amrantu kinda works.



As far as looks go, I would say its a very interesting looking pet. It has a lizard appeal to it, just a bit overgrown! Out of all the color options that are now available, the white warp stalker is by far the nicest match for my draenei. His rough looking skin which is colored in a white and light violet tone, there are also few dark blue stripes running down his back on on his legs. Deep purple spikes protrude from his back and head, creating a more fierce look. He also has bright blue eyes that stand out.



The animations aren’t so bad. While running this guy is a bit of a spaz, often speeding up and slowing down or stopping VERY briefly to look at something then once again speeding up and slowing down. A bit odd perhaps for pet... or it could be just how he reacts on my computer. Another thing to note about his running animation is that he lowers his head a bit, much like a stalker!

This guys swimming animation is both cute and awkward. Its kinda hard to explain, but he seems a bit "squishy" (lack of a better word!) while idle in water, and then has a serpent type of swim (seemed relatively serpent like to me)

His idle moves are kinda cute, he moves his head about a bit in a curious fashion, and also stands proudly. His facial expression seems very sweet, as he gives off a toothy (but cute) grin.



In combat, however, he has a more fierce demeanor. He lets out a screechy growl and roar noise, that may not be my favorite pet sound but its still fitting for a lizardy creature.

This guy is a tenacity pet, so I didn’t really take much note on his DPS output (not to mention I’m not the best at recording numbers ). I mostly solo quested with him and I have to say he was very good at holding aggro... or at least I didn’t notice many slip-ups. I spec’ed him for mostly tanking anyways, going more towards the survivability skills instead of raw DPS. I have enough ferocity pets and only one tenacity pet (Amrantu makes two now) to just prefer the tank skills in the tree.

Also for anybody that still feeds their pets, his diet consists of fruit and fish! Yummy!

The signature skill for the warp stalker family is time warp, which reduces movement speed by 50% for 6 seconds. In my eyes this may be somewhat decent for PvP, and also for soloing. I did take Amrantu in into one BG (I don’t pvp often, but I thought I should give it a try) He did alright, but I’m not the best judge at PvP pets, so I can’t say if thats where he will shine. Alas, I didn’t take him into a dungeon, because I have always felt weird about tenacity pets in 5-man dungeons. Had I done it, most of my selected talent skills for him wouldn’t be of much use for DPS output, so I would have had to rework the build a bit. Of course, I still believe he makes a great solo tank pet for questing and whatnot.



Overall, Amrantu is a keeper! I fell in love with this little guy mid tame when he vanished on me for that split second. He has tons of personality (my opinion of course! ) and makes an awesome tank pet! I enjoyed this family so much that when my younger hunter Serenith reaches 82, I plan to have her tame the blue warp stalker.



I’ll take another! But this time I would like Serenith to have a chance.

Name: Serenith
Level: 37, but she will be getting some more levels soon... so lets just say 40.
Exotics: Too low
Restrictions: Her level is restriction enough!

[Finduilas]

So my task was

Larkania set out for Razorfen Kraul to tame her new boar. I wasn't over excited, I never really liked boars and prefered bears or rhinos as tank pets.

The taming:
The tame went pretty smoothly, although another boar and the boss were trying to hit her. I killed her former owner, who didn't seem too happy I stole his pet and distibuted her talents to a tank-pet. After that, I wanted to leave for the exit, but no pig was following me. I looked around and saw Chili dead on the floor. Pretty strange, 'cause I didn't leave her alone in a fight or did something unnormal. But there she was, dead. I think it comes from taming a ghost pet (see second picture above). I rezzed her and went off to thousand needles for the swimming check.
Swimming:
She actually swims really cute. She paddles with her little legs to keep up with Larkania. What I thought was kind of strange, is, that she stays very upright when you don't move in the water, almost as if she wants to reach the surface.

Appearance:
Chili looks like the "normal" armoured boars, only ghostly. She wears a silver armour and is of a nice rusty colour that matches perfectly with Durotar or Orgrimmar. Her mane and hoofs are black. The whole appearance is really smooth, no pixels to be seen. I did expect her to look "older" in design, more blocky or with more pixels showing, but she really looks nice.
Animations and Sounds:
Chili's run is a little galopp besides her master. You can clearly see, she's not made for sprints, but I really think she looks cute when running.
She sometimes sniffes the ground and wiggles her tail - really sweet
Her sounds are exactly what I expect from a piggy: grunting and squeeking. I like her sounds, they really fit and don't get too annoying.
Fight:
First I did my Argetum-dailies with Chili. Since she is a private tank for me, she had no problems keeping the aggro from me. She seems to hit her targets with her snout and keeps her special ability "Gore" at two mobs if she's able to.
Then I visited the halls of stone with her and she really did well for a non-pve pet. But it's clearly not her field.


Conclusion:
Chili has really grown on me. She looks cute and is a reliable partner for soloing and levelling. I think I will keep her, at least until my stable gets too full. Something I noticed while visiting the stables with her: In my stable she doesn't look ghostly at all, but like her former, solid self... spooky pet