Nighthowl Animations

[Rikaku]

So today I'm leveling a baby Hunter, I didn't care for the starter dragonhawk for my BE so I trekked over to Tirisfal and decided to go tame Nighthowl.


http://www.wowhead.com/npc=50908/nighthowl

I was sitting there waiting for it to spawn, and as usual, it spawned in a sitting position. I tamed and went about my way. But that's when something weird seemed to occur. I began killing mobs again, and I'd notice that Nighthowl would run over to the mob, and do a howl-animation (throwing its head back) and then attack. I can't tell if it's doing damage during that split second or two, my leveling/fighting speed hasn't changed so its certainly not a big impact. But its really really frequent (like happens maybe 7/10 mobs I fight today).

I know the animations aren't unique, but I'm not sure if this is common with saber worgs or... what o_O I have Skoll on my main, and I've honestly never seen him do that animation in combat NEARLY as often as Nighthowl. I notice Nighthowl doing it fairly often outside of combat too, but never seen it so frequent in combat.

ANyone with more experience with saber worgs have an idea what's going on, or is the random animation cycle just playing with me? lol

[Kalliope]

My guess would be "growl on autocast."

[Rikaku]

My guess would be "growl on autocast."

I considered that, but when I switch to my main and use Skoll, he never does this animation. Even with Growl on. I'll have to try taming a different saber worg and see. It's just very odd cause Nighthowl even seems to 'stand and wait' or 'howl' even after the mob is dead.

It's pretty cool, and if it's something all saber worgs do (that aren't a different family, like Skoll is), then maybe I just never noticed it before due to not using one prior. But it certainly gives Nighthowl personality.

[Kalliope]

My guess would be "growl on autocast."

I considered that, but when I switch to my main and use Skoll, he never does this animation. Even with Growl on. I'll have to try taming a different saber worg and see. It's just very odd cause Nighthowl even seems to 'stand and wait' or 'howl' even after the mob is dead.

It's pretty cool, and if it's something all saber worgs do (that aren't a different family, like Skoll is), then maybe I just never noticed it before due to not using one prior. But it certainly gives Nighthowl personality.

Things to consider: damage/hp differences between your hunters and the mobs you're fighting.

Another possibility: Furious Howl, the wolf buff ability, is somehow on the active pet bar and autocasting on delay (every 45s). I've seen that happen before, though I'm not entirely sure why - possibly old skill-to-bar behavior.

It is neat, either way.

[zedxrgal]

This has me curious. I may have to tame him to see if he does it for me too

[Rikaku]

Things to consider: damage/hp differences between your hunters and the mobs you're fighting.

Another possibility: Furious Howl, the wolf buff ability, is somehow on the active pet bar and autocasting on delay (every 45s). I've seen that happen before, though I'm not entirely sure why - possibly old skill-to-bar behavior.

It is neat, either way.

Yeah, I'm going to keep an eye on him and see if it stops at any point in leveling. So far, Geist (my Nighthowl) is quite happy to howl his impending victory over prey XD

As for Furious Howl, that's a super good point. So I'm not sure if it's Furious Howl somehow mysteriously auto-casting. My combat log also shows nothing for him. Also I filled his pet bar to try and see if that stopped any 'ghost auto-cast' on the pet bar, but as it is, I honestly can't be sure nor eliminate this.

BUT, your thought process led me to another theory. I looked up Nighthowl again on Wowhead and noticed he has two abilities when he is un-tamed; Leaping Rush and Threatening Growl. And my theory is that, for some reason, this animation he is doing is tied to Threatening Growl. I think despite being tamed, he's still trying to 'cast' that ability, which is also every 45 seconds. In addition, he casts this ability specifically in melee range, which also explains why I see Geist running up to a mob, doing this howl animation, and then begin attacking.

But again, I can't dismiss/disprove Furious Howl either. Or just having a very 'animation active' pet cycle perhaps.

Either way, just wanted to post and see if any other Hunters had this experience. So thank you for the ideas. I certainly have come to really love Geist more than I thought I would, and he has just a great personality