I thought other Hunters night appreciate my story about my favorite pet and how he overcame 4.0!
When I started WoW (about a year into BC), picking a pet to fight by my side was an easy one. When a group of us went into Scarlet Monastery, and I saw the red Hyenas I knew that was my pet! A few days later I went in and.... accentually pulled the whole room! The Houndmaster had about five Hyenas and pulling one meant pulling everything! So, I took down the room with a volley of arrows, expecting to take down kill everything. But I didn't! There was one Hyena left, biting furiously at my ankles! I knew that was MY pet! I tamed him and "Scarlet" was mine!
But Scarlet had a rough beginning. Pets didn't level scale at the time and he had dozens of levels to catch up to me as I journeyed through Outlands. Very few pets had special abilities so he couldn't keep pace with his cat cousins. Also pets "ran away" if they stayed unhappy! So he was frequently cranky!
However we stuck by each other and were rewarded at patch 3.0. It was then that he became a happy, healthy, killing machine! He was simply a monster that couldn't be stopped. Together we took down Fel Reavers, helped kill Thrall, ran all over Northrend. When group quests came up, why would I need to group with anyone? I already had my tank! We did everything to together and while other pets got to try out, there was simply no one else I wanted by my side.
So I was eagerly looking forward to 4.0 and our further adventures. I decided to wait for the shattering in the city that I felt a connection to, my beloved Auberdine, and wait for the changes. After 4.0 I logged in...
The first thing I noticed was that *something* was by my side...and it was named Scarlet....but it wasn't MY Scarlet. Instead it was a drooling dog with large jowls! Even though the red hyena hadn't been take out of the game blizzard changed my pet! On purpose!
Opening a ticket was no help, and so I resigned myself to be a hunter without a pet for awhile. I didn't want another pet I wanted mine! I explored the changes for a few days, feeling a particular connection to Tanaris. Something kept drawling me back there. It was only after my fourth day of exploring that I found this:
Scarlet had found me!
So I quickly threw down a trap and got back my buddy!
I don't know why Blizzard decided to do this, change a pet that hadn't been removed. But I'm thankful that Scarlet tracked me down and I can't wait to see what other challenges and adventures we have together!
-Chris
