Random Pet Family Appreciation Thread 6: Core Hounds!

[Wassa]

Former threads:
Moths - Warp Stalkers - Crocolisks - Monkeys - Wolves

Random pet family appreciation thread is where I roll a random pet family every week for everyone to share their pictures, their stories, their love for that pet family. Please no hate or rants. This is an appreciation thread. If you dislike the family, don't post! Hopefully with some love we can get some hunters to try out new pets they never would have thought to tame before.

Our sixth family is the bestial Core Hounds!



Yay our first exotic family!

Core Hound facts

~Core Hound models have been in the game since Vanilla WoW, but not made into a tameable family until Wrath with the introduction of exotic beasts.

~Core Hounds have four tameable models (although felbeast model and felbeastshadowmoon model have the same model look just different fire colors linked to the model) and five different skin colors.

~Core Hounds have no rare members.

~Core Hounds have three unique skinned members: Chromaggus, Gomegaz and The Kurken.

~Other notable named members of the Core Hound family that can be tamed are Braxxus, Magmadar, Smolderos the Carbonizer, Svarnos, The Beast, and Uvuros.

~Voidterrorskinblack shares the same basic look and animations of a core hound, but all members of this model and skin are labeled as demons.

~Back in Wrath, core hounds where tamed by 5.4% of level 80 hunters, making them the number five top tamed family. (Source)

~Back in Wrath, nian (aka The Kurken) was the most tamed skin at 44.6%. Felbeastskinredblack was the least tamed skin at 13.0%. (Source)

~Core Hound's Lava Breath used to do damage along with slowing the enemy's casting speed. Ancient Hysteria, the core hound's signature exotic bloodlust move, wasn't added until Cataclysm.

~If you attach an authenticator to your battle.net account, you will receive an adorable Core Hound Pup minipet.

~When first tameable, core hounds kept their loud stomping noise and screen shaking ability after being tamed. These have been hotfixed.

~Most core hounds keep their fire cackling noise after being tamed. Chromaggus and The Kurken are the two silent core hounds if the continuous noise bothers you.

~Chromaggus was originally labeled as a dragonkin but was changed to a beast and made tameable in Cataclysm. His species is known as a Drakeadon. It is speculated that Drakeadons are genetically engineered core hounds captured by Nefarian who mixed dragon genes of various flights with core hound DNA. Chromaggus also had the loudest sounds in the game for a tameable pet. His roars used to be heard zone wide, so even if you couldn't see the hunter with a tamed Chromaggus it sounded like it was right next to you. This has since been hotfixed. The Drakeadon model is also one of the few models for tameable pets that currently do not have a swimming animation.

~Gomegaz, while he looks very similar to other green core hounds, he is a different skin and even different model. Felbeastgreenblack is more yellowish than felbeastshadowmoon, making it a unique skin. Plus he has red fire instead of green, making him share his model to the red core hounds, as spell effects (including color) are linked to models. Svarnos is mislabeled on Petopia in felbeastgreenblack. Instead he belongs in felbeastshadowmoon as he has green fire in game.

~The Beast used to keep his boss tag after taming. This was removed in Cataclysm. He was the only tameable beast that had this feature (a few other beasts kept this feature in Cataclysm beta, but it was removed before the expansion went live).

[Wassa]

RAWR! CORE HOUNDS!


While I jokingly said I would name my core hound BLOODLUST (yus, in all caps), I'm far too serious role-player to do that. This is Bomani, meaning "warrior" in Malawi (African). He was originally The Beast and I had him back when he had his boss tag, which got a lot of whispers from other players. Although he lost his legendary boss tag, he's still acts "like a bawss!" Although he's shorter than Wassa in game (I was using noggenfogger in that pic to make him look huge), for role-playing purposes he's a lot bigger. He's a big alpha male core hound in his prime and knows it.

Bomani is one of those pets that I usually stable for long periods of time since I'm usually survival speced, so when I bring him out he usually is bugged with buffs on him lasting for days. Twice now he's had Ancient Hysteria on him for days. Both times this happened I never switched to any other pets as long as he kept the buff. IT. WAS. AWESOME!



Here is Ptaysanwee's core hound, Keezheekoni. I've been calling her Zheek for short. Her name is both Cheyenne and Chippewa in origin meaning both "burning fire" and "fire briskly burning." She might not be as fiery as other core hound models, but she lives up to her name with her lava breath attack. I see her as a younger core hound. Her smaller size in game fits her. She only reaches up to Ptay's chest if they stand side by side.

[starkittens]

WOOO! I love them! my favs: Chromaggus for my troll, and The kurken for my Tauren

[Chimera]

I have been off and on with core hounds, i usually tame Chromaggus and leave it at that due to his model but one hunter in particular ive designed to be a hunter of firey creatures and i came up with the peeerfect set to match my core hound pup and his 'mommy'

the sig i made to aknowledge his awesome superness <3



For my current most played character who is a draenei, more specifically going to be a bounty hunter for the consortium, im not entirely sure what color im gonna go with for her but it'll probably be a red core hound or the kurken

[Vephriel]

Beast was a bit of a surprise bond to me. I had never found a core hound that I really clicked with, even though I'd tried all the original models available at the time. I wanted to love one, but there was never that immediate connection with any of the colours.

When I heard of The Beast and his infamous ?? skull boss level, I was intrigued to try taming him, purely for the challenge. It sounded really fun as a goal to attempt due to how difficult it was to get him back then.

I was mercilessly beaten in my first attempts. He lived up to his reputation! I spent so many hours trying to tame him. It eventually took the help of my best friend with his paladin to bubble me during the tame that I managed to get him. The elation of finally succeeding was just...amazing. I really felt attached to that core hound. He was so intimidating, and powerful...I had to keep his name as just Beast. It was too perfect, there was no other name for him.

At some point in WotLK I found Gondria out in the wild, and on an insane whim I decided to let go of Beast to tame her. I instantly regretted the decision, and the next morning we went back to UBRS to try to retame him, but to no avail. I was so upset, I was kicking myself over my stupid decision. In a last ditch effort I opened a ticket to a GM, asking if there was any way they could restore him. I had no idea at the time that pet restorations could be done, I was just going out on a limb. I was so relieved when my ticket was answered and the kind GM put Beast back in my stables, good as new. That event solidified the bond and I knew I'd never let him go again. When he lost his ?? skull tag I wasn't concerned. I knew who I had tamed, and nothing would ever change that. It was fun having it while it lasted, but it certainly didn't bother me when they took it away.




Astaroth is my second core hound, and though it took a bit longer to find his personality, once I did I was completely attached. I'm so glad that they made this model tameable, he's so gorgeous. I love the beautiful golden eyes and shimmering purple/blue/green scales. I knew I was bound to fall in love with a purple dragon hound, I just had to wait for him to warm up to me.

[Lisaara]

Love them!

Jessi has Chromaggus
Lisaara has the Kurken
Taluwen has The Beast(tamed him when it was difficult)
Titala will eventually have Gomegaz.

[Niabi]

Oh corehounds! How you make my heart swoon!

My love for Corehounds started back in BC. The Kurken was a model I was very fond of but couldn't obtain until the release of WotLK. I went completely bonkers when news on the forums indicated he would become a tamable model! I remember what an adrenaline rush it was to ride through the Alliance town of Auberdine, hoping that none of the npc guards would dismount me or that I'd become flagged and run right into a level 80 Alliance player somewhere along the journey. I also remember the frustration I felt when, after waiting patiently among the other players wishing to tame him, having my opportunity stolen from me by some Alliance jerks who thought it'd be fun to consecutively murder him. I eventually did get my Kurken though; he’s now known as Gemini and resides with my Blood Elf huntress, Auroryn.



My admiration for two-headed demon puppies was rekindled once again when it was discovered that Chromaggus would become tamable. I knew from the moment I heard the news I simply had to have him! In fact, I just may be getting my purple dragon puppy tonight thanks to a few helpful guildies on Nesingwary! Synestra’s first attempt at lvl 70 didn’t go over so well – so here’s hoping that the second go at lvl 82 will earn better results. *Edit*: Thanks to Oberron and my fellow Guildies from Petopians who helped me obtain my Corehound shortly after the initial post. I've decided on the name Tenebrous Thank you. Thank you. Thank you!!!

[TygerDarkstorm]

Yay corehounds!

I have two currently on my bigger hunters. On my biggest hunter, Ruffley, I have Chromaggus (who has been renamed Gogurt).


The other corehound belongs to my RP hunter, Rosaliah. And even though he lost his lovely boss tag, I sent her out on a mission to go and tame the Beast by herself. I can't remember how many attempts it took me to nab him by myself, but, succeed I did and I let him keep his name. It just didn't seem right to tame him without him keeping his identity; he'll always be Beast to me.

[Sesamee]

I adore my Corehound, Marama. She's named after a polynesian moon goddess because she's so glowy and ethereal. Her model is a little rough and could use some tlc from the devs but she is still gorgeous. Hope you all don't mind the screenshot spam!

[Miacoda]

I have 3 corehounds so far, one on each of my 85 hunters!

First up is Mia's core hound, Bloodlust!

Bloodlust started out as The Kurken, he also used to be BLOODLUST but as to the change I'll explain that later.
Anyway, so yeah, Bloodlust was originally a Kurken puppy but as soon as Chromaggus was tameable I had to go tame him. I love dragons and I had always wanted to tame dragon-puppy Chromaggus! So here he is now, in all his dragon-puppy glory!
Now, jnot too far back, I was running my weekly Tempest Keep run with the gorup of people I run old world raids with, and I ended up dieing to Kael'thas' mind control (and the weapons of my allies... <_<)
But miraculously, Bloodlust (who was BLOODLUST) at the time, did not despawn! He kept on tanking KT, he was just so determined to see him dead that he was like "I'm sorry mom, but this guy needs to DIE!" It wasn't until after Kael'thas died that he finally despawned. I'm guessing he just doesn't like Blood Elves? Who knows. So, after that, I decided to change his name to Bloodlust as a sign of more respect for him. XD


Core hound number two is Espen's core hound Garm!

Garm hasn't done anything too miraculous like Bloodlust has, but he's a loyal companion for Espen and a good heroism provider!

Lastly, there's Sarahma's core hound Beast (and Beast Jr.)!

Beast is fairly new, but what I've gathered of his personality so far is he loves his son, and is super proud of him. Either way, they're cute together along with Sarahma and I'm looking forward to finding out Beast's personality

[Mozag]

I see the greens are under-appreciated!
I only have one core hound, as I really don't like the models much. But I thought I'd give one of them a try on my Goblin, who specializes in bright pets. So, off I traipsed to tame one of the greens, who I promptly tucked in the stables and forgot about. I named him Dollar, and took him out for a few dungeon runs now and then. I felt quite meh about him. But I gave the lad a chance, and over time the bond has fastened. The two are not bosom buddies, and never will be but I'd still never change him for another!

[Ana]

I loove dollars look with your goblin - really fitting - and i soo love the name Dollar for a green corehound ^^


------

I have a red core hound on Kahlua; Meet Bourbon. I loved questning in Vahshir with him, made me gigglesnort that the fire wouldt go out under the water (the water bubble kinda makes it look like Bourbon just had gasleak accident when i took the picture )




--


I have had some trouble binding with my corehounds, eventhough they are lovely on Tårnfalk. I even let go of chrommagus. I think it comes down to the fact that i rarely run as a BM on tårnfalk, though that might change with MoP, who knows .Tårnfalks current corehound was also her first tamed; meet Neriak - although his appreance might change, i think Neriak will always be a name for my corhound tried it on wolf, but didt seam to fit. THe evil Dark Elf city from everquest, seams to fit best with a two headed mean biting maching

[Aritria]

Ah, the Core Hounds! When I was leveling, I never was one for their looks, and they were amazing disgusting in my eyes. However, when I was able to start taming exotics, I came across a little site called Petopia for ideas, I then realized that the classic Core Hound look had been modified for one particular mob. No oozing, no snarling, no drooling. It was the Kurken. And it was ALL THE WAY in Azuremyst Isle. Well, way to go Arit, you could have any of the others, they'd be easier to get to than the Kurken. So I trudged my way up there, dying several times at level 80 waiting for the boat to the Isle from Ru'thran Village and finally got to the lair in Azuremyst. He was there, waiting for me, no lowbie Alliance in sight. Hit tame, and he was mine.



Now, I just had to think up of a name. I started doing some research, and low and behold, one of the names for a province in my beloved Canada fit the bill: Manitoba. Manitoba means "strait of the manitou", Manitou meaning 'Spirit' in Cree. So, Manitoba it was, and changed the predominantly male model to female in my mind, and she stuck. When I cleaned out my stables after my "OOOH, MOAR STABLE SLOTS!" taming spree, I kept her. I don't use her often, but when I do, she always brings in compliments.

[JezzebelPop]

Ok this is an absolutely horrible picture but it's the only one I have as all the SS on my laptop were deleted.

This is my Corehound right after taming! My guild was waiting for me so had only a few seconds to take it hence the quests and text everywhere. -.-

He has no name here but I named him Grond, after the wolf headed battling ram from The Return of the King used to smash the gates of Gondor down!
He is disliked by my guild master for whatever reason, which makes me a tad protective over him. I was all happy after the tame and my new companion gets a /spit! I know he was a bad guy to begin with but I made him pure with my tame. Every time I bring him out with my GM around he gets bad treatment. I think I'll order him to bite his butt one day... yeah that sounds good. :p

My Core Hound history began with a random tame in Mount Hyjal of a normal Core Hound after I learned about the nice Ancient Hysteria ability however I always had it set in my mind that I was going to tame Chromaggus. I actually replaced the original CH with the Kurken when I was doing quests to get my Exodar rep up, I named him Kurkhammet after the guitarist from Metallica as it seemed too perfect considering his mob name! :p

I eventually made the decision to release my Kurkhammet as I dearly wanted to tame Blue Madexx and had al my slots filled up =/ the plan was originally to get rid of my black Madexx but I had only ever seen that one which I tamed never mind a blue one! I planned to go tame the Kurken again after I got my blue one but after I did I couldn't make myself release my Black Maddles! I think I had tamed Chromaggus before abandoning, I wouldn't leave myself without a CH so I am ok for now with Core Hounds but I kind of miss my Kurk... He liked bathing in the apple barrels during halloween.

[Talaridan]

I love Core Hounds. I'm a fan IRL of "bully breeds" like Pit Bulls, Bull Terriers, etc. and to me, this is like Azeroth's version for hunters. Big, buff, large and in charge!

Talaridan recently added to his stable a handsome Drakeadon! It is truly one of my most favorite models in game. Here's a couple of not so great screenshots to show off his beautiful colors and details though.





His eyes, scales, and the subtle shading is just incredible for such an old model. I do wish he had an actual running animation, instead of the 'fast waddle' that all Core Hounds do, but otherwise, I like most of his animations quite a bit. His beautiful golden eyes are gorgeous and probably my favorite as far as pets go.

Talaridan's companion is named Balaur, pronounced BAH-lore. Balaur is Romanian for "stocky dragon", which I thought was quite fitting for him.

Strangely enough, he's one of Tala's more affectionate, mellow pets. With PetEmote, his favorite thing to do is to walk over and rest a head on each of Talaridan's shoulders and make happy noises! I picture him as being much like the 'Bully breeds' I've known in the past. Big and tough looking, but mellow and affectionate, downright sweet to his people, but watch out if he feels they're in danger because he'll defend them to the end. I've been having a lot of fun having Balaur around and I think he's 100% a keeper.

[Dakonic]

Kraft (means "Strength" in German) is one of my favorite pets. I love his model and his waddle. A good friend of mine helped rally up folks to help me get up to him. He's one of my main leveling/pve pets.



And Bizkit, I tamed him back when he was still a PITA and had the ?? boss tag. Which is a bummer that he no longer posses it, but he earned a permanent place in my stables

[GormanGhaste]

My core hound is a Kurken named Solfatara. I really loved using her to kill the Greench this year, she seems very Winter Veil-y.

[Rhyela]

Well, crap. After reading this thread (I somehow missed it!), I started missing Oscar, my core hound. I had let him go due to lack of use and the fact that I hate the constant fire sound.

However, after seeing all the cute pictures and reading everyone's stories, I began to feel bad. So, I went back to Blasted Lands and got him back (Gomegaz)! If you're curious, I came up with his name after thinking how he's a "hot dog", and then the name Oscar (Oscar Mayer) popped into my head.

This is us shortly after Cataclysm launched:




And after I re-tamed him tonight:

[TygerDarkstorm]

I love the rat photobombing that last picture. xD

[Holgarr]

Wykea actually has two corehounds.
While he easily could've gotten the "traditional" red, or even the fel green ones, those just never really "clicked" with me. No, not even Beast... the constant flaming sound and drooling of lava everywhere just was not very appealing. So I looked elsewhere.

And as soon as I learned about Kurken and Chromaggus, I knew I'd found my winners.

First came Chromaggus, whom you see merrily chomping away in my sig. Incidentally, on the same run as I tamed him, I also got my first Nefarian kill - I gave my new pet the credit, of course. As at the time I was (and still kinda am) into classic rock, and the game Brutal Legend had recently came out, I knew he had to be named for the "Legendary Metal Beast" of the game, especially considering the resemblance. So therefore, he was dubbed "Ormagoden". Now if only they'd quit slacking off on giving the poor thing some decent running/swimming animations...

Later on came Kurken, my first tame in "enemy territory", so to speak. While I'd seen one or two tamed Kurkens sporting the name "Cerberus", something about that irked me - after all, Cerberus had three heads, not two. So, being the casual mythos buff I am, I started looking for mythic two-headed hounds. And I came across one, who, coincidentally, was said to be brother to Cerberus - Orthrus, who guarded the herds of flesh-eating cattle that belonged to the multi-limbed giant Geryon; both the hound and his master were slain by Hercules in the course of stealing the cattle as part of the tenth of his Twelve Labors. To face down Hercules is no easy feat, even if he did lose, so perhaps bearing such a proud name would grant this beast some of the original's ferocity. And so Orthrus he became.