WoW Petopia Community

Quiv wrote:I never personally felt a draw toward them either. I also never understood how shale spiders were beasts when they are clearly disjointed rocks. However, people enjoy them and want the gyreworms too so I say the more the merrier!

Vephriel wrote:I don't have any strong desires to tame a gyreworm myself, but when we have shale spiders as an option it really seems silly not to let us have them as well.

As an aside: I long for the day they apply this sound reasoning to other undead versions of pets.

Really? IMHO a game like WOW which is set in a fantasy world, I like it better the beasts to be more like Shale Spider instead of just non-fantasy animals we can found irl.

Besides, even if you dislike Shale Spiders, you can always not tame them.

pop wrote:Really? IMHO a game like WOW which is set in a fantasy world, I like it better the beasts to be more like Shale Spider instead of just non-fantasy animals we can found irl.

Besides, even if you dislike Shale Spiders, you can always not tame them.

Exactly, you hit the nail on the head. That's why I said "the more the merrier." If people enjoy them, I am all for more taming options regardless of how I personally feel about them. My opinion should not keep someone else from enjoying something in the game just because its different than what I enjoy.

Because of the rings, gyreworms have more of a construct-gone-wild look than shale spiders, which seem more natural (at least in Deepholm). At least that's my opinion, YMMV. I'm not arguing that they shouldn't be pets, just why they might not be. Tweaking the skin on the rings to make it metal instead of stone, and one might work as a mechanical.

Yeah I view them as beasts, but made out of elements instead of flesh. They still think and act like beasts, they're just not as squishy. A bit like Iron Dwarves, before the curse of flesh took hold, are still humanoids, and how we can soon tame mechanicals that think and act like beasts too.

In that respect I think there's no reason we couldn't tame an undead creature that still thinks it's an animal. The whole spirit beast thing does blur the line there already. Maybe with special training we'll be able to tame more ghostly and undead beasts some day.

Wain wrote:Yeah I view them as beasts, but made out of elements instead of flesh. They still think and act like beasts, they're just not as squishy. A bit like Iron Dwarves, before the curse of flesh took hold, are still humanoids, and how we can soon tame mechanicals that think and act like beasts too.

Thats an aspect I never considered. The Azerothian concept of living is actually much different than ours.

pop wrote:

Wain wrote:It looks like it's unlikely we'll see owlcats in 7.0, but it's not impossible we'll see them in the future. They are very cool. It's good to know they are at least on the radar and not a druid form

Isn't it confirmed that the owlcats are one of feral's artifact skin called moonspirit or something?

It seems to be the 6th skin according to wowhead artifact calculator.

http://legion.wowhead.com/artifact-calc#AsazE6A

confirmed

http://www.wowhead.com/news=252303/arti ... n-appearan

pop wrote:

pop wrote:

Wain wrote:It looks like it's unlikely we'll see owlcats in 7.0, but it's not impossible we'll see them in the future. They are very cool. It's good to know they are at least on the radar and not a druid form

Isn't it confirmed that the owlcats are one of feral's artifact skin called moonspirit or something?

It seems to be the 6th skin according to wowhead artifact calculator.

http://legion.wowhead.com/artifact-calc#AsazE6A

confirmed

http://www.wowhead.com/news=252303/arti ... n-appearan

That's what I thought. I didn't think those would be tameable.

Owlcats are also being used for wild beasts that aren't just druids in animal form. It surprised me too, but they are.

Let's also not forget that Blizzard is prone to hilariously pointless changes in testing phases.

Remember those teroclaw chicks that were running in fear because of the fire? They turned into white tigers. For no reason. Tigers, which were not even on that half of the zone map other than on a ridge above the Alliance stronghold. Tigers, in the heart of where all the Teroclaw birds were. I mean, a rare bird even flies around that spot, escorting its young. What sensible mother would lead their children around in front of potential predators? A bad mother, that's what!

As optimistic as I am for Owlcats being tameable and not limited to the one class I don't like playing, I'm fully expecting something ridiculous like this to happen. Like, the wild Owlcats being changed to Fel Unicorns or something.

WerebearGuy wrote:As optimistic as I am for Owlcats being tameable and not limited to the one class I don't like playing, I'm fully expecting something ridiculous like this to happen. Like, the wild Owlcats being changed to Fel Unicorns or something.

Quite possible. Anything can change in Alpha. I've already seen stuff I recorded in the last build missing from this one. Owlcats are used in a few different places though and right now I suspect they'll stay.

Seeing them in the wild they actually make pretty cool beasts. Kind of like a flightless relative of the gryphon. The hair braids are the only non-wild thing about them (shame they can't remove those) but wild musken have the same issue.

I think a family that is so unique is a waste of beast group. I do think if the Manasabre Cats are not grouped into cats, they should be grouped with Quillen and the family renamed as Familiar.

I also think that Rylaks andm Chimeras should be in a single family; chimera. Having said, I wish that Dreadraven is a tamable family.

I still believe that beavers and Riverbeasts should be in a single family too, and I hope giant rats are tamable and be grouped with porcupine into a group named rat.

I also prefer toucan pets and parrots to be in single group named Tropical Bird while cranes, penguins and seagull into another group named Waterbird.

I hope also that Gyreworms to be tamable and be part of the family Shale Beast.

Yeah I'm waiting to see what they do with Mana Sabers. I mean, last I heard they were still going ahead with them as a family and I have no reason to doubt that, but I'm waiting to see what they do *with* them. If it remains solely the three beasts we've seen then I think it's a poor idea. In my head I've come to refer to families like that as "salami" families. In that they've carved off a thin slice of an existing family for the sake of making a new one, like the dubious rylaks of Draenor, which made no sense historically and almost nobody felt positive about. There are far, FAR greater differences between members of Serpents, Dogs or Water Striders than there are between Mana Sabers and Cats or Rylaks and Chimeras, yet there you have it.

As it stands currently, Mana Saber is gonna be like pre-Wod Sporebat with only 3 skins. I don't understand their naming philosophy if I may be honest. Mechanical is super broad, while Mana Saber is super narrow.

Has there been any inclination of how pet families are going to change, if at all? I know the pet skills will be changing since the raid buffs are changing, and that seems like a great opportunity to rethink the families.

I can't decide if I like bigger families or smaller. Bigger families are more broad, which makes it easier to add new tameable beasts too. The downside is you might lose some of the flavor and identity that smaller groups have, which in turn restrict new additions to narrow choices. I think Riverbeast is a good choice for a family name. Its broad enough to allow varied entries into it, while narrow enough for flavor and identity. A canine family, on the other hand, would be very broad and soak up a couple of our existing families, but doesn't feel right IMO.

I took more shots of the gorgeous replacement raven model today, mostly so I could use them in Twitter But I don't like to post anything to Twitter that people can't also see here.

It really is quite lovely. As I've said before, this is a case where it was probably unrealistic to expect the replacement model to closely resemble the original since the original was only ever intended for a critter and was extremely low polygon. Still, it could have at least retained some resemblances but in this case I'm not complaining too much. I'm yet to hear from any raven owners that are upset about this change, but I'd like to hear from you if that is the case.

I'm a fan, it looks like a real world alternative to those untamable dread ravens. Also I've had those low poly ravens as pets before, and I couldn't get over how critter-y it looked. I'd die a little bit to see a seagull update!

Though i dont play wow any more i love this model but i would not swap it for my old raven Anika..dimply due to the size. The old raven was a quite small pet and i think i would miss it if i were to return and it was gone

How big is the raven? I prefer small avian pets like the current one.

Wain wrote:Yeah I'm waiting to see what they do with Mana Sabers. I mean, last I heard they were still going ahead with them as a family and I have no reason to doubt that, but I'm waiting to see what they do *with* them. If it remains solely the three beasts we've seen then I think it's a poor idea. In my head I've come to refer to families like that as "salami" families. In that they've carved off a thin slice of an existing family for the sake of making a new one, like the dubious rylaks of Draenor, which made no sense historically and almost nobody felt positive about. There are far, FAR greater differences between members of Serpents, Dogs or Water Striders than there are between Mana Sabers and Cats or Rylaks and Chimeras, yet there you have it.

I had the same issue originally regarding Rylaks/Chimeras and now Mana Sabers and Cat (i guess?). I mean, overall I still don't get the difference between a Rylak and a Chimera other than one is an updated creature. But if I'm not mistaken, the blues have already confirmed that pet family skills (the buffs anyways, ie Furious Howl) are going away so as to make pets more balanced and really just an "aesthetic choice".

Which, if that's true and I'm remembering correctly, then personally I really don't see the harm in having pet families be so specific or small like Mana Sabers and Rylaks, since they're really not going to be more than aesthetic choices as to which you prefer. But that doesn't mean we won't see more in the future with future patches.

Personally, for my guess, the only reason I could come up with as to why Rylaks weren't Chimeras is probably due to the 'lore' of the story. Chimeras are native creatures to Kalimdor, and if I remember correctly, they're mentioned even in the Warcraft Chronicles book alluding to such. Meanwhile Rylaks are clearly a native to Draenor. So it might not have made "lore sense" for something that in WoD is native to Draenor to be named or be 'the same' as a creature native to Azeroth; a completely different planet. And perhaps the reason Outland/TBC's Draenor was called Chimera is because they had mutated so far from the tearing apart of Draenor from being Rylaks, that the Azerothians present and remaining for so many years in Outland began calling them Chimeras instead?

IDK Rylaks and Chimeras are weird, and I totally just word-vomited on this for no reason, sorry XD

TL;DR
I can understand people not liking small families, and originally I was too. But I guess I'm more neutral on it now that families won't have a "raid buff" skill, which means that families really just come down to a name. But I do understand (and agree) on being concerned about such 'small' variety in a family. I just hold onto the hope that maybe we'll see more variants added through patches.

And Rylaks are still odd XD

Edit:
In regard to the ravens, oh man those are pretty! o_o

Yeah, now that raid buffs are gone, I'd rather have small, biologically-accurate families. Arcane wyrms, for example, shouldn't be in the serpent family. Likewise, the Draenor hydras should not be in the same family as the Azerothian variant. Stegadons and kodos being in the same family, on the other hand, I have no issue with, since we've known that they're related since Warcraft 3.