It Takes Two, Baby!

The Dark Side tempted me with cookies and cake (or was it punch and pie?), and I finally gave in. Rerolled. New server, new faction, same class.

What? You didn't think I could start with anything BUT a Hunter, did you? :P

Revn is now level 11 and questing his little heart out, Engineering goggles firmly in place. But I digress - this post is about the most important quest a Hunter will ever face: Taming a first pet.

After a bit of confusion as to which zeppelin would get me to Howling Fjord, I was on my way to the cold dark Aran was always trying to tell me about. Having never been on one of these airboats before, I took a tour, attempted to talk to the crew (apparently goblins get cranky when they're cold), and anxiously awaited departure. Now, I have seen Howling Fjord before. I have NOT, however, seen it through the eyes of a very squishy L10 Blood Elf. It was stunning up until the snarling wolves found me. One cannot outrun these things without a mount. Trust me.

Just beyond the wolves is that oh-so-inviting lift, boosting folks up into the continent proper. I found it interesting that, once I was past this lift, I only ran into a problem once. Did you know that there is a dwarf hiding near the entrance to the Keep? Yeah, he apparently has issues with Horde. Talk about uncalled for ganking...

As soon as I revived, however, I saw my target. Daggercap Hawk, level 6. Scraggly. Underfed. Pitch black.

I had to have him.

A guildmate of mine suggested Lucien as a name, and I think it fits him. Lucien, the Tauren Dru- er, Daggercap Hawk. And here I was going to name him Edgar or Poe or something.

Stable Master

I don't know about any other Hunters out there, but I adore my pets. I've had a few over the years - Vryth-the-cat who became Vryth-the-carrion-bird, Yona the black bear, and Irwin the ghost-croc to name a few - but I've only held on to the ones I truely love for any great length of time. Currently all the pets in my stables have a story to them, and because this is my blog and I can, I'd like to share them with you. :D

Meet Alvar. This is the pet that, as soon as I hit 21, I begged my Shaman friend to help me find and tame. He's a Ghostsaber, the only "official" ghost pet in the game (all the others with ghostly appearances have been rendered untamable). As you can see, he's transparent. How awesome is that!?

Alvar has leveled with me from 21 on, almost always staying right up there with me. If Blizzard ever decided Hunters are allowed only one pet, Alvar is the pet I'd keep.

This is Wailflash, my Gorilladin. He spent a few days as Gorilla because I just couldn't think of a good name. The solution? Name him after guildie Mages of course! :) He comes with me to grind leathers, since he can handle piling them up in a neat skinning mound for me.

Now, I read over at SES that all tanking pets will have access to Thunderstomp come the next patch... So what, if anything, would replace Wail as my farming buddy?

Hmm, I don't think he's impressed.

Next in line comes the newest member of the team, Aspatha the Broodmother. (Anyone seeing a theme here?) The name rocks, so she got to keep it. I've heard rumors that Moths are actually decent for raid DPS, so I'm going to level her up to 80 and do some pet-only testing against Alvar. And should Mrs. Flappy win out, Alvar will get a well-deserved break from dying in a fire during Sarth raids. (Seriously, wtb better way to position pets against bosses!)

For the rare occasion of PvP I like to bring out my WaspofLSDoom (yes that's the pets actual name!) because once I sic him on Rogues they can't Vanish for the stunlock - which means I have a infinitesimally better chance at kiting them to their death. Will it ever happen? Heck, not on this connection, but it's a nice dream eh? :P

I have to give a shout out to BRK for the inspiration for his name - he's been calling the Hive Queen "LSD Wasp of Doom" for a few months now, and it totally fits!

Last, and just maybe least these days, is Reptilicus the Devilsaur. He's stuck in the stables while I run around as a Survivalist, and seems less than happy with that. Once Aspatha is up to level 80, I might just spec back to BM to finish leveling the poor thing, give him some fresh air. ...Or maybe I'll be lazy and demote him to Raptor status. <.< Dunno if I can get away with this, but I would love for BRK and Pike share their current pets and any stories behind them. I'm sure Pike has an RP background for them all (loved the story for Wash). If not, I'll be content with this snapshot of my stables, for posterity's sake.

/target Xanthelei, /cast Revive

Well, now that our skies are blue once more, it's about time to get back to blogging! I have been busy while I was silent, so I'll start with what's new in the Draenei realms.

Firstly, I have added a new blog to my blogroll (as well as renamed it from "Blogroll"). Big Bear Butt has caught my attention, and even his non-WoW posts are hilarious. And since I'm leveling a resto Druid for PVP myself, it's fitting he's next to be added to my blogroll. I'm still looking for good blogs to read, so if you know of any, feel free to drop a comment and let me know!

Next, we move on to the Armory. Erikka, my Protection Paladin, is finally added, as is Ruinator, aforementioned Druid. I took the liberty of appending their titles, as well as updating Xanth's. This is my current "team" of played alts - more may or may not be added. Not pictured is my little Dwarf banker, Bankofxanth. Why? Because he has no roleplay potential, natch. (And I'm lazy.)

And finally, Gorilladin + Volley = more fun than monkeys in a barrel. Pun totally intended. So who are my pets now? Well, I have Alvar the Ghostsaber (of course!), Wailflash the Gorilladin, Origima the Wind Serpent, and Kaida the Warpstalker. Who's liable to return to the wild? Kaida and Origima, should I find a good reason to. I have one un-bought stable slot that is being saved for Rhino Bowling funtimes.

Ah, but now it's way past 11, the servers are likely up, and I must go have some leveling fun with my friend M. Or he might Charge poor Ruinator and beat him over the head with his shield.