Back in 4.0.6 I greeted the arrival of a unique skin for Zaricotl with a general lack of enthusiasm. I always thought Zaricotl was an awesome mob back in vanilla (my enjoyment was probably improved somewhat by being good at NOT getting my lowbies eaten by him) and new skins are an unceasing source of joy, but... it's only a carrion bird. And I was pretty fond of the old red color, and all the screenshots of the new skin looked hideous to me. I was happy for people who wanted it and got it, but I had no interest for myself.
And then the other day I was keeping my friend company on voicechat as he marched off to the Badlands to hunt for Steamwheedle Cartel rep. As I clicked around the internet he punched some rams, stole some ogre rods, and then said "hey, you should come tame Zaricotl!"
- Cons: "do I even want one?"
- Pros: "oh please, that thing must have a five hour respawn timer, not like I'm depriving anyone if I later decide I don't want it."
I planned on shoving it into my stable as fast as I could and logging out, but I stood there thanking my friend for the freebie tame and watching it flap out of the corner of my eye. So I signed up to do a Coren Direbrew (because it's one squishy boss, nobody there is going to care what pet I bring) and when I finished that I stood around in the Badlands staring at this bird. I swear I tamed the same wrinkly-faced, scrawny-necked, mangy-looking bird all those other happy hunters did, but the flapping white fluffball with the serial killer eyes beside me didn't feel remotely similar.
It's been a few days now, and the only time I've bothered putting my floofball away was for a few time-sensitive trollroics runs. The rest of it? This guy. All the way. Especially for Argent Tournament dailies-- something about a vulture strikes me as appropriate for dealing with the land of zombies and snow drifts.
Now I just need to come up with a name.
