Worgen, Tauren and the Uncanny Pet/Mount Valley

[Fumu]

The trademark pet thread got me thinking, and I honestly don't have an answer: What would be a good pet to match a Worgen? To be honest, none of them really fit IMO. Gilnean Mastiffs, being a highly specialized and bred domestic dog (based exactly on the Neopolitan Mastiff, Google them ) just feel weird standing next to a feral, wolflike creature. Wolves next to Worgen feel as weird as a human running around with a Gorilla.

They look kind of cool next to the larger Sabre cats, being still bestial but different enough to not feel like a feral doppleganger, but those are the Night Elf trademark pets. Foxes work with the females in particular because they both have slim, pointy muzzles and like sabre cats, are similar but not identical. For the males, I guess Hyenas would work in that place because of their snarl and boxy faces. With Tauren, I honestly can't think of a pet that screams bull-man to me. Lions or Coyotes because of their connection to Mulgore/the Barrens fit lorewise, but I don't know on a purely aesthetics scale. Maybe Rhinos.

As for mounts, I think both races unequivocally look best with Proto Drakes. They are big, bulky, feral, hunched over and fuzzier than the normal drakes - much like Worgen/Tauren are compared to humans. Like with Tauren, they are also one of the few creatures ingame that look like they could support such a large and heavy biped in the air. Ground mounts wise though, I think Worgen look awful in any form besides Running Wild. They actually do look amazing with Horde wolf mounts (as a quest with an autopilot Worg mount has shown me) but as we know, that's not possible.

Anyway, the point of this thread is to go into what pets/mounts/companions look best with Worgen/Tauren and why. It's also to discuss the uncanny valley effect wolves seem to give wolfmen. Tauren may fall into the same category for some, although to a lesser extent IMO because they are nature loving creatures and could theoretically get along with a broader range of animals.

[Vephriel]

I can definitely concur with that line of thought. Tauren have always felt a little odd to me as Hunters. I just have a hard time imagining a bipedal animal with another animal as a pet. Druids feel natural for them, and I find at least Eagles seem to match fairly well as companions, but as a whole I couldn't play a Tauren Hunter specifically as a main character.

Worgen are definitely out of the question for me however. I can't see them as Hunters at all, it's just far too strange. Nothing feels right with them, it's definitely too bizarre of a race to have an animal pet in my mind.

[Chimera]

absolute hands down if your a black worgen, this guy was the absolute most precious pet to my black furred worgen before i deleted him, the eyes were both blue (black worgs got blue eyes and my worgens face had the blue eyes instead of some which gets orangy-red)

not so sure about tauren but i too have been drawn to wolves for them but not the worgs, rather the slim wolves. My red furred tauren back in vanilla (havent played her since then sadly cause shes on a friends account) runs alongside her much beloved companion, a Longtooth Runner. I never knew of Mist Howler back then so when i hit 41 i tamed one of the wolves from feralas and when i play my new tauren hunter whos modeled exactly like redwillow down to the name itself, i'll be taming mist howler for sure :3

[Fumu]

The Tauren/eagle thing gave me an idea for Worgen: ravens! Sadly the new raven look that's a seagull reskin isn't tameable, but the Druid basic flight form model is in and tameable as a hawk. It fits the gloomy Gilnean setting and is distant enough from a wolf not to be creepy. Now, if only they didn't have elf ears.

[Chimera]

lol agreed, the elf ears are -ok- but id love to see them replaced by feathers (id be sad if they lost that extra graphic, it'd look too bleh imo, it'd be cool if they got a couple longer feathers instead)

[GormanGhaste]

As to what pet looks good with a worgen? I think it depends on how you RP them. If you really emphasize their dual nature, wolf And very proper human, then the mastiffs make sense.

On the other hand, I play my worgen as an anthropomorphic wolf. She is completely comfortable with her lupine nature, so a wolf hunter pet seems very natural. I also use a bear a lot, as I find it amusing to see the two of us running around with our booties in the air! A bat is also fun for a gothic sort of theme.

My worgen has Really been loving the Winged Guardian mount, a complete surprise to me.

For tauren, I concur with the idea of eagle/tickbird pets. I plan on having mine get a hippogryph mount as soon as she can.

[Lupis]

Tauren look fantastic with Rhinos. They also match most cats well, and eagles look just perfect with them.

Worgen… I support the idea of birds. Vultures, ravens, owls, all sorts of birds.

[Morven]

I always think taurens look overwhelming mounted on hippogryphs, though. They don't scale them up enough to look like they should be able to carry the weight.

Sadly, they haven't given tauren the "gnome punt" racial ability they should have had, either ...

[Wassa]

I've had two Tauren hunters, I think they look great with eagles, condors, bears, worgs (wolves are too small), frostsabers, rhinos, and hyenas. Some other pets will work great if you wanna match your fur color to your pets.

[Ceravan]

Here's one of my worgen hunters...


As for mounts, I feel worgen look good on elekk's, winged guardian, kodo, and mammoth mounts
Tauren look good on Kodo's, the winged guardian, and mammoth as well

Both look better on drakes than proto's, at least when grounded.

As for Tauren pets, it may not sound the greatest, but if you see them next to each other, I think Gorilla's and Bears fit nicely next to them, as well as Turtles.

[Morven]

Somehow it makes more sense to me for Tauren to tame gorillas than anyone else -- they're not a biological relative, after all.

[cowmuflage]

My hunter looks good with a crab she's a cow. XD

[Finduilas]

My Tauren has Shadowclaw, his big back makes him appear bigger and why shouldn't Tauren tame sabercats? I like the sabercats next to my Tauren, because they are bigger than the normal or hunched cats. I also like my lynx with her, because the mane makes them appear bigger, too.
My Tauren also has a rhino I really love with her. He looks great, especially with bestial wrath Then I tamed the brown devilsaur from Un'Goro and I absolutely love him. He doesn't look as huge next to her as he would next to a Bloodelf, but I still like it.
And I really like Ban'thalos and Gondria next to her, because 1) spririt beasts just fit the spiritual Tauren and 2) they both look quite big (Gondria same reason as Shadowclaw and Ban'thalos because he's flying).

As mount I really like my Tauren on a wolf. You don't have that many problems riding a wolf like when riding a Kodo or Mammoth like fitting through a door. I always hit her head in warsong when I wanted to enter the tunnel to the alliance base on my Kodo, now with the wolf it works pretty well. And she actually looks very pretty on a wolf. As flying mount I really have to disagree with the Proto-Drakes, they just get too huge when mounted by a Tauren, I still have my wyvern with her and he looks nice and not too big, everything other just looks ridiculously huge with Tauren, although my Tauren Shaman likes to ride on the drake dropped in the dungeon with Millhouse. But the wingspan of the drake covers my whole screen.

I don't play my worgen hunter very often and she is still 22, so all tamed pets still look tiny next to her, but I like the black wolf Ceravan posted with her and also her black fox. She still has not enough reputation to buy a horse from Stormwind, but she'll get the black one to ride it in her human form (if this is possible).

[Kayb]

Worgen don't fit Druids at all, I'm sorry, this retconned rubbish of a storyline is complete fail imo. They shouldn't even be able to switch between human and worgen forms either.

Hunters, yeah I can see that for them. I think any sort of wolf or eagle works best for them as pet.

Worgen for the Horde!

[GormanGhaste]

Worgen don't fit Druids at all, I'm sorry, this retconned rubbish of a storyline is complete fail imo. They shouldn't even be able to switch between human and worgen forms either.

...alright, Kayb, I'll bite. Worgen seem perfect as Druids to me, as they are already shape-shifters. And are you saying that worgen should be stuck in wolf form? Even before the retcon, worgen switched between forms (the village below Shadowfang Keep).

[Morven]

Personally, I read worgen human forms as essentially an illusion that they have learned to project -- to blend in better and feel better about themselves -- but that falls apart if they can't spare the effort to keep it up, for example in a fight. Otherwise, why would they automatically switch to wolf form in combat?

[Kayb]

Worgen don't fit Druids at all, I'm sorry, this retconned rubbish of a storyline is complete fail imo. They shouldn't even be able to switch between human and worgen forms either.

...alright, Kayb, I'll bite. Worgen seem perfect as Druids to me, as they are already shape-shifters. And are you saying that worgen should be stuck in wolf form? Even before the retcon, worgen switched between forms (the village below Shadowfang Keep).

A single group of worgen could yes, no others did. And before the retcon, that village wasn't even related to Gilneas I don't think. But yeah, they should be stuck in worgen form.

This is just my thoughts, I'm not out to starts wars or anything

[Chimera]

the villagers of Pyrewood Village were afflicted with the curse but in a different way, Arugal bound each of their wrists with bracers that would forcefully transform them at 9pm everyday, i think it was some kind of experiment, not sure but i do remember finding somewhere in-game that they had bracers that made them transform every night.

Also there was more speculation that worgen came from the emerald dream then the speculation that they were part of the burning legion, blizz expanded on it so that the lore said that worgen originally were night elf druids who worshipped Goldrinn and fell prey to the overpowering feral instinct and fury that goldrinn is known for ^-^

I do agree, tauren look good on wolves but also raptors, my tauren druid does amazingly well on his venomhide ravasaur in appearence (and because of the size i dont get a headache from the constant bobbing and tail wagging that the raptors do)

worgen, i perfer to have them on all fours or on nightsabers (i cant stand elekks so im not sure about em), but they do look very good on gryphons and the old world drakes (never seen one on a proto that i can bring up the image of to really know how they look)