We’ve moved!

“It’s a pet-eat-mob world” has moved (as young as it may be). It can now be found at http://wow.wolfdragon.net. Why the move? Because now I can have it as part of my own website and I can customize it. And since no one even comes to this site (well, one person has visited, the wonderful Mania), it shouldn’t be a problem to move it!

Re: Alliance has to teleport everywhere

Fancy this, I was talking about having to get teleported to certain Alliance cities and when I actually want to travel from Ironforge to the Exodar (because this is with a level 10 character that doesn’t have much chance in the Wetlands), not one person responds to me asking for a teleport. Not one. Even though I said I would pay. So I ended up walking through the Wetlands very, very carefully. Luckily I didnt die but I think Blizzard needs to rethink this system.

Alliance has to teleport everywhere

This doesn’t have anything to do with hunters but has anyone noticed that Horde has no problem travelling from one city to another but if you’re a human in Stormwind and you want to travel to the Exodar, you have to get someone to teleport you for who-knows-how-much?

Think about it. Mulgore and Orgrimmar are close enough together to just walk or fly a windrider. Then it’s a free zeppelin ride to Undercity from Orgrimmar and a free translocation thingy from Undercity to Silvermoon City.

But for Alliance? True, to go from Stormwind to Ironforge involves simply jumping on the underground tram. And from Darnassus to the Exodar is basically a boat ride away (I’m simplifying that). But what’s the best way to get from Ironforge to Darnassus when you’re level 10 and want to tame a Strigid Owl? The answer is: the ONLY way is to have a mage teleport you. That’s it. Nothing else. Well, that…just…is poopie.

Adoni – a learning curve

My character Machalor got rid of her deviate coiler hatchling in favor for a springpaw stalker. The only problem? Springpaws can only be found at level 7 at their highest. Machalor was level 22. And so began the long leveling process.

I found out quickly that killing other level 7 mobs gave the springpaw no experience whatsoever. Mania from Petopia confirmed this (unfortunately I didn’t read this until after but hey, what can you do?). So I then had to find a good place to level the little red kitty.

I soon discovered the area around Camp Taurajo was ideal for this; thunderheads (level 20-21) in particular. They stay at a distance where my ranged attacks are more powerful than melee and for whatever reason, they caused very little damage to me. The experience my pet was getting was also good.

A mod called PetExp2 made this process a lot easier. It displays lines in the chat that look like this:

Pet: +[exp from kill] – [current exp] of [total exp need to get to next lvl] to [next lvl] ([exp left to next lvl]) ([approximate repetitions needed to next lvl])

If that doesn’t make much sense, seeing a screenshot should help. The main thing I’m trying to point out is the approximate repetitions that it outputs. It basically shows how many more thunderheads I needed to kill for my springpaw to get to the next level. Very handy, especially if you’re sick and tired of the whole process and then you see that you only have 6 more mobs to kill. After all, it is only 6 more mobs, right?

Another fun part for me was naming my springpaw. Now, I usually like to give my pets meaningful names. Such as Nicora‘s ghost saber named Tonrar, which is Inuit for “ghost”. But with this character, I had been giving my pets funnier names, such as Crikey the crocolisk and Sliver the windserpent (apparently a sliver is a Terry Pratchet creature that looks like a windserpent). So I was going to name my new pet Twitch, because his huge ears are always moving like he’s on crack or something. Then I found the name Adoni, which is Australian Aboriginal for “sunset”. So I named him that. Then my fiance said he liked Twitch better, because “he sounds like someone you can relate to”. Then I regretted my decision. Then I found out that not even GMs can change pet names. *Sigh* Oh well. Adoni, it is then, because I am NOT leveling ANOTHER springpaw.

My next goal

Everyone, whether they admit it or not, has some sort of goal (short-term/long-term) in WoW. Mine? Well, I would like to hit level 40 and get my mount (that is, if I have enough money for it), but more importantly, I want to get Snarler. Not because I want a really rare pet I can show off, but because I like wolves and being black, he reminds me of my late Black Labrador Retriever, Blacky. I’m trying to keep things that remind me of her and Snarler would certainly help with that. And yes, I will probably spend an hour or so trying to find him. Ah, the things we do for our pets

Intro…

I suppose a good place to start with this blog is with why I like the hunter class so much. I think the first most appealing thing to me is the pets. I LOVE the pets part. I get to go out into the wilderness, track down the one particular pet that I want, and then tame it. And so begins the long but satisfying journey to bond with it until we are the best of friends, protecting and taking care of one another. As they say, half a hunter’s character is their pet. And yes, it does get to the point where I get very very pissed off when someone or something kills my pet.

My pet is not a demon that I summoned and use by bending its will. My pet is a loyal friend who would protect me as fiercely as I protect it and we have become that way through a difficult process. I know there are some people who find this strange but I get into my characters (it is a role-playing game after all) and I know that I am not the only one. I’ve heard of hunters spending hours to tame the one particular pet that they love, and taking the time to bring an old pet back to its home territory before releasing it because they wanted it to be happy after they were gone.

Pets are a major (and unique) part of being a hunter but tracking has to come in as my second favourite hunter ability. It has proved invaluable for navigating through tough mobs, as well as picking and choosing which mobs I’m looking for/want to hunt. Whenever I’m playing another class, I constantly find myself saying, “Damn, I wish I could track beasts right now.”

Next is the combination of being able to use a gun/bow, auto-shot, and various gun/bow related spells like Multi-shot. My play style is that I like to pull mobs. And there’s no better puller than a hunter. There’s something about being able to pick off a target before it even gets close enough to touch me that I enjoy

Two hunter-only abilities finish off this list: Aspect of the Cheetah and Feign Death. Travelling at 30% more speed than most of the other characters at your level sure makes me feel more superior And Feign Death is really good in helping to keep the aggro on my pet instead of me. (He has like 3 times more armor than I have. He can handle it.)