As soon as I saw the picture, my first thought was, "KIWI!" Kiwi being my goblin challenge's first exotic pet. I remembered the first time I had seen the chimeras, I'd disliked them intensely. And after getting to know them with Nimhar, had really taken a shine to it. I was a bit curious to see how I felt about it a second time.
For those curious, here was my first written-up experience with Nimhar's experiences:
http://forums.wow-petopia.com/viewtopic ... 60#p211752
Finishing up an archaeology project and dropping off Codebreaker (The Razza) in the stable to make room, I used my Blessed Medallion Of Karabor to zoom to Shadowmoon Valley, where I immediately set off to search out my prey (after a quick check for Collidus while I was in the neighbourhood, as I always make a habit of doing).
Finishing my search, I swept off into the wilds, passing by multiple boars until I found the slowly flying chimera below me.
Taming was easy: it didn't even decide to spit at me, though I certainly remember Nimhar's hocking quite a few times while being tamed.
Once my lovely green was tamed, I swept off to take him to my traditional 'inspection' location: the deserts. In this case, Silithus, since I had plans ahead of me for what I'd do for bonding.
"Excuse me? I'm trying to get a picture of us both together!"
"Thank you. ... camera hog."
The first time I ever saw them, as I had said before, I genuinely disliked how the 'armored' chimera looked. I much prefered the more natural look of the horned goat-headed model. However, between The razza and Nimhar's experiences, I'd taken a bit more of a shine to it. And now, as I got a close look with Kurasu, I could take the details in even more.
One thing I never got used to was the heads. I really didn't like how they looked then, and I'm still not too fond of it. Maybe the way the jaw juts is just too... uncanny valley for me.
The blue eyes are quite nice, though.
Taking my usual time to take a long, slow inspection of details, I was struck by the patterning on his back.
.... and the fact the tail actually has nice and visible 'stings'. Or at least swells at the base. Not to mention segmenting rather like a scorpion... er, scorpid tail.
After examining, it was time to take my beauty through a nice trial run. I'm not inexperienced with using a chimera in Silithus, but this is the first time Kurasu was using one specifically instead of just a single battle.
The first thing I noted was the soft swooshing of the wings. For people who get annoyed at repetitive noises, that could get on their nerves. I, personally, find the sound to be relaxing. And when he attacks: brutal. Deep growls, bellowing roars, and hissing gurgles. Really, it's just awesome. I *love* it.
Thanks to massive outleveling, my presently unnamed chimera did too much damage to Ahn'Qiraj's mobs, so I simply put him on passive to do most of it, letting the flapping wings go to see how annoying it would get by the end. Hint: it never got unbearable, though I did get used to it unless I was listening for it. The squishy hive sounds, on the other hand, *did* get to be a bit much, so I turned back to music for most of the run until his 'starring role': Viscidus.
Alternating between letting his Frost Breath autofire, and manually triggering Frostire, it took almost no time at all to frost him up, and then once he was frozen, I called the horde (Stampede) and tore him apart. No pet this time around, alas.
My chimera popped up again to help against the twins, offering some physical damage to whittle them down, and winning me an Idol for the AH. Always a bonus!
One thing I noticed was something that popped up in the past with a wind serpent: occasionally, I found my chimera zooming off in a totally different direction when I dismounted, or went around a corner. My only guess is that the wingspan makes for some occasional odd pathing in narrow AQ corridors, though the amusement on watching him run off to a corner to apparently hide from the battles was starting to win me over. He'd finally gotten his name.
.... poor thing.
The name became even more apt, as battle after battle with Qiraji Mindslayers, poor SC was getting feared and rushing off in *real* fear instead of random pathing issues. To be honest, it was really starting to win me over.
Scared as he was, SC did a great job against the enormous Ouro. And the Great Old One, Cthun.
"Here he is, seeing what the inside of a worm looks like..."
A quick stab later, and I was back at the entrance (the sacrificial dagger is the greatest thing for getting out of long dungeons) and headed to AQ20 for some 'polishing up' and Illusion Dust for the AH. Scaredy spend the whole time close beside, observing. Other than fetching a couple of things, the little chimera was happy to cling close by and not have to engage. I had a personality for him, now: imagining him as a baby who had been newly out of the nest, swept away from his home by a hunter who hadn't thought it through. It made me feel amazingly protective toward the little fellow! Protective enough that I almost felt bad for wanting to test him out on *real* targets.
.... but I did. And together, we swept off to The Timeless Isle.
.... just in time for a Xuen battle. Nothing new came of it (a pair of gloves I already had) but he got to show his chops a bit. A couple things to note: the Froststorm Breath is not so useful on single targets as might be hoped, as Bite does a lot of damage, and is spammable. Also, it is in a cone, thus making targeting a little more difficult. On the other hand, unlike Burrow, the Chimera can move while breathing, and thus keep a creature in the cone's path. It's an OK ability, though for AOE, I prefer the worm's. Sure, the breath causes some threat (where Burrow drops the worm's threat altogether) but it's a weak replacement for bite, and since it's a channeled ability, they can't use it and attack at the same time. In the end, it's great for group battles, but not so much for soloing.
After a lot of work and hard thinking, I really do like the Vilewing. Especially when coupled with his personality. Unfortunately, the memories of Codebreaker just keep me too well-bonded with him to consider giving up my white for him. For now, he'll have a place in my stable, while he grows and matures into a full-grown Vilewing. Once the time comes, I'm sure I can take a trip to Shadowmoon and release him among his own kind!
) and Jet seems to show a nasty fascination with him. 
he was checking out the saddle Drift rides. I reckon he's trying to tell me something. 
We would think we were out of combat only to watch the damn thing take off again.
you know who to roll for too 
