I'd like to apologize for my delay in this challenge. Life can be a real stinker some times. Anywhooo, on to my report.
I decided to start with Sheeturself first, mostly because I couldn't remember if Thela was phased to the area to tame the beetle. I figured I'd do Sheet first because I might have to quest a bit on Thela to get to where she needed to be. (Thankfully, it turned out Thela was far enough into the quest chain to get her beetle)
So, Sheeturself is off to Azuremyst to tame The Kurken. (btw, did you know you can't use your flying mounts in Azuremyst even if you have the Old World flying ability? weird...) The tame itself was easie-peasie. The reward? A nice new, shiny, white corehound of course.
Although, those are some seriously demonic looking eyes he has. Because of that, I chose the name "DevilMakesU". It just seemed to fit with those eyes. When Blizz first introduced the corehounds into the line of pets we could tame I was exstatic. Then, I heard their running/walking sound. Wow, what a turn off. Between how loud they were and how the screen shook, I was instantly turned off. Thankfully, Blizz did away with all that. Now each of my hunters has a corehound pet.
One of the things I like to do when obtaining a new pet is go out and see what it can handle. So, I took Devil to Hyjal for a bit of a "warm-up".
Him soloing one level 80 was nothing. He probably could have done it in his sleep. So, let's see how he does against two.
Same. I don't think he even broke a sweat. Let's go try some caster mobs, since melee mobs are no problem it seems.
Again, cake. Let's try a few more shall we.
I had Devil track down 3 casters and their minions. (couldn't get all of them in the same shot....dam casters and their lack of staying within melee range)
Above Devil is eating the last of the casters, saving the minions for desert. All the while, Devil did this on his own with no help (shots/healing) from me. But, these mobs are a little low in level. While waiting for my hearthstone cooldown, I decided to find some higher level mobs to play with. I think a level 81 elite will do.
Again, a little too easy. Devil ate him up and spat him out in no time. Also, with no help from me in the form of shots or heals. It's time to go find more of a challenge. I'm off to Twilight Highlands.
Above you can see how Devil's tree is spec'd. Notice that I have not buffed his health or armor, with the exception of Bloodthisty. Which, when you think about it, how much is a 5% health increase/replenishment really?
First, let's take him swimming. I'm sure he'd like to cool off a little bit.
The swimming animations are pretty good. It's a typical "dog-paddle" type movement. Now it's time for him to eat a naga.
This was a little bit more of a challenge than the Hyjal mobs. Devil's health dropped quite a bit by the time he chewed up the naga and spat him out. But, Devil persevered with no assistance from me. Let's find something a little more fun.
Yes, one caster and two melee mobs with some powerful damage. This was a little more daunting for Devil I must admit. These three mobs can really dish it out. Here I had to intervene a few times (4 to be exact) with some heals. But, again, no shots from me to damage mobs.
Two down, one to go...no more heals from me.
When all was said and done, and while I was musing over the cute input from PetEmote, we were ambushed by a caster that was making his way back to where we were. He did not get pulled into the initial attack, but for some reason felt he wanted a part of us anyway.
Devil's health was not back to full after eating the 3 prior mobs. But, he quickly made minced meat of the mob that attacked. And he still had plenty of health afterwards.
All-in-all, the corehound is a pretty hearty pet. Their idle animations aren't annoying and their constant glow can be somewhat soothing...kinda like staring blankly into a fireplace...it just puts the soul at ease.
Now, we move on to Thela.
First, I have to say I just LOVE the beetle pets. I was soooooo happy Blizz gave them to us to tame. (I think bugs are just amazing in general) I was also happy to see that this was the pet that got rolled for Thela.
Thela already has a beetle pet (white and black one from AQ20), but that didn't stop me from trekking out to Uldum to tame another. I had been contemplating anyways on which one of the Uldum beetles to get for Sheeturself anyways...although I ended up with a black and red one for Sheet that came from AQ20 as well. But I may take her back to get one of the Uldum ones. I'm partial to the colors of the Light Blue/Turquoise Scarab. I just love how the yellow lines pop out at you on it.
Anywhoooo...on to the tame. Again, an easy tame due to the fact that they are all neutral. If the beetles had been hostile it could have been a little bit of a challenge seeing as how there are so many so close together. But, in no time at all Thela had her new pet.
I wasn't sure what to name it, so I googled "Amethyst" to see if anything would pop out at me. By doing so I found some interesting information, as well as a suitable name. Copied from Wiki: "The name comes from the Ancient Greek ἀ a- ("not") and μέθυστος methustos ("intoxicated"), a reference to the belief that the stone protected its owner from drunkenness". Pretty interesting. But more interesting still is, "while medieval European soldiers wore amethyst amulets as protection in battle – the reason for this being that amethysts are believed to heal people and keep them cool-headed" (from Wiki also). Well, what could be more fitting for a tanking pet? So there you have it. Meet Amethustos.
Now, let's see what this little beetle bug can do. As you can see below, I've spec'd him as a tanking pet with no points for added damage output. This critter is meant to stay alive.
Now, on to the fight. One against one was a cake walk, as you can see below. Amet was at full health by the time he finished off his foe. Let's try something a little more challenging shall we.
Let's see how Amet does against 4 others. During his next battle I offered very little assistance. I sent Amet to each of the mobs one by one to gather them. I used none of my abilities to pull the mobs to us...it was all on Amets shoulders.
You can see above that by the time he gathered all 4, and had one almost dead, his health was a bit low and he popped "Harden Carapace". Here is where I helped with a heal...and only one heal. From here on out he was on his own. Which I must say, he did very well.
With that said and done, I decided to find something a little more challenging. Let's go kill an elite!! It's time to head to the underwater cave near the dam. (Plus, we can see what Amet's swimming animations are like)
Hmmm....swimming and beetles apparently don't mix. Their animations are the same as if they were walking/running on dry land. Phooie...how unimaginative.
to be continued...
So this was a wonderful success!
*
Enjoy!