– So between now and the last time I messed around with femaledwarf.com, something interesting has happened in regard to Beast Mastery and pets; namely, Devilsaurs appear to be beating wolves again. Only if you both have about a bajillion buffs though. (i.e., wolves are probably still superior in five- and ten- mans). Why this is different from how it was when I tested it multiple times a couple months ago, I dunno. Gear maybe? It may be worth a look, though, if you a Beast Master and are into that sort of thing!
– I did ToC25 on the weekend, like I always do if I happen to have the time slot off from work. Actually we did it twice. The first time we were going to have six hunters so I volunteered to go on my druid instead, and I healed the thing. Then I was feeling all good about how the next day I’d go and pretty much be the only hunter cause all the hunters had gone on the first day. But no, we still had like… four or five hunters in the group. The number of hunters that have joined the guild in the past month or so is through the roof. Maybe my guild is right, maybe hunters DO just follow me around, like I’m the Pied Piper or something.
ANYWAYS.
I got a whisper from one of the hunters, who was spec’d Beast Mastery at the time, if he should use his wolf, cat, or Spirit Beast. I told him that, numbers-wise, the wolf would perform the best of all three, but stressed that he should use the pet that he loved the most! So he ended up actually cycling through all three pets throughout the course of the run, giving each one a chance to do one or two bosses. Which I thought was neat.
The point is that I still support using the pet you love. That, to me, is one of the points of “Being a Hunter”. I mean, I can see not running with a tenacity- or cunning- pet, cause that makes sense, but I don’t like feeling pidgeonholed into one or maybe two pets of all the ferocity ones we can choose from.
I’ve been running as Marksmanship lately and recently discovered that, according to all the mathy stuff, I’d be doing 200 more DPS if I was using a wolf. My raptor, though, is not going anywhere, so the math can shove it. (Not saying wolves are bad though, I know a lot of people that really like them… but they are simply not my style. Well, except for the fiery Zul’Drak wolf, but Lunapike has that one already and I like when my hunters all have unique pets).
Granted, if Wind Serpents because a Ferocity pet, I wouldn’t raid with ANYTHING ELSE EVER, EVER AGAIN, but that is just a pipe dream. /dreams
– My “NaNoWriMo” book is going well, I’m at 13,500 words! I must say, the writing thing is fun. I’ve let the WoW and the blog fall a bit to the side while I work on this big book project but it’s suuuuper fun. Right now I’m just trying to dump words onto the page, but once I finish up, I plan on going back and doing a hardcore edit job. This is my profile-ma-jig by the way, and you should add me if you are doing it too. Not really for any reason, but just cause it’s fun.
…so that last one was totally not pet related. “Pet project”, maybe…? Hmm. /muses
I’m still in BM spec, using the cat I’ve had since level 60. I should probably respec and level my wolf, but 1) beast mastery is what I enjoy, 2) I top the charts in my guild’s 10-mans, and 3) I don’t want to level another pet after leveling both my cat and my warp stalker. 😛
Also: Yay, NaNo! That is excellent progress. ^_^d Is this your first time, or have you done it before?
Yay! Love the math-can-shove-it attitude! Now, get back to your NaNo! *shiftyeyes*
Why not just go out and tame a level 80 wolf to check it out instead of levelling another pet to 80?
Oooh, this means that Cuddles the Devilsaur has more reason to go omnomnom! (Though when we have newish tanks, I do prefer to have my wasp instead. Makes it easier for the tank to hold aggro.)
Dragonhawks and Wind Serpents should be ferocity pets. Their special abilities don’t have any other effects. Trade them for the hyena and flamingo imo.
I’ve recently gone out and tamed a raptor. One of them blackish,greenish,brownish skins from Un’goro. I’m going to be using that in anything that is not progression stuff because I like raptors and I’m sick of using my wolf for everything under the sun.
So you think no one should kick me out of a raid for bring along my white plainstrider? He’s ferocity! x)
Nah, he’s just a sentiment pet. As a full BM, I use a nice little black devilsaur whom I affectionately call my puppy.
…hunters are weird.
I use a wolf for raiding like a good little hunter but secretly I love cats, I take my cat to heroics and such always, and my Turtle for dailies, though I have to agree – LOVE Wind Serpents, they’re so pretty. Loved that Feralas quest to capture their spirits.
I’m at 64 and *still* with the Raptor I tamed at level 10 back in Mulgore . I guess I should try another pet but I really don’t know what to try next.
I use my wind serpent in all 5 mans, and often in 10 mans, depending on the boss and what the group composition is. Roar of Recovery means far less time in viper, which completely offsets the dps drop of not using my wolf.
I run in survival spec, or occasionally marksman.
On a different note, I’m a bad hunter who still hasn’t named his wind serpent. Not sure what feels right yet.
Gorilla – MissingLink
Wolf – GoldFarmer (after being told having an unnamed pet made me look like a gold farmer)
I carried into WoW one trait I developed during my years of playing Pokemon (which I still do!) – in Pokemon, I always use my starter. Always. I know a few people who would actually shove their starter in the PC (often the Pikachu in Yellow). To me, that is madness!
Anyways, how did that carried into WoW? Simple – all of my hunters must tame the ‘perfect’ pet at level 10, and that pet will be the only pet they use for the rest of their lives. I have other pets, though they’re more of a collection of pets that I would occasionally play with.
Watermist, my first and main toon, tamed a Mulgore wolf at level ten (in 2005!) and named him Howler. (Yes, that wolf is four years old. Haha.) Goldwater, my Survival hunter (I’m the same way about specs as I am with pets – my characters never respec because if they do, then it’s just not them. Hence why Watermist shall always be a Marksman, my other hunters their respective specs and why my mage is gonna be Fire for the rest of her life) tamed the rare maned lion from Mulgore and named him Tigerseye. Kur, my Beast Master hunter, tamed the corrupted mottled boar in Durotar and named him Tiny. Leafrunner, my Marksman hunter, ran all way to Durotar for a crocolisk and named him Grins. Watermist the second, another Marksman hunter, ran all way to Dun Morogh (she’s a draenei) for a wolf whom she named Howler the second. Rubywater, my another Survival hunter, camped the rare white bear in Dun Morogh and named him Glacier.
Remember how I mentioned that I “collect” pets? (Again – blame Pokemon! Haha.) Watermist filled up her stables with the orange tiger (Hobbes), the rare strider Clutch Mother (Turquoise), the crocolisk from Wetlands (Grins – yes, I like the name Grins for a croc), and the red moth from Trekkoar Forest (Flutter).
Kur, when she finally get the ability to tame exotic pets, will be taming a brown-black chimera from Stonetalon mountains, a black-blue devilsaur from Un’goro Crater, a furry worm from Borean Tundra, and I’m still undecided on her final pet.
Goldwater is a slightly unique case. Normally I don’t like cats (I don’t like their models or animations), though the maned lions are tolerable (and cute). However, I decided that for fun, I’ll tame all rare cats. So, her main pet is the Rake from Mulgore, and she tamed Echeyakee and Humar (I really lucked out – only a few hours of camping!), and she also tamed the ghost saber after several hours. I plan to tame Shy-Rotam when she hits level 60.
My Alliance hunters? I’m afraid I haven’t played them that much (though my draenei did snagged the blue moth the moment they became tameable), so they only have their main pets.
…sorry, I got kind of sidetracked there, but I like my pets, as you could tell! (And yet I enjoy the Marksman playstyle the most. Ironic, no?)
Oops, I forgot to mention that Leafrunner is a Night Elf hunter. I adore my NE hunter with that crocolisk. Totally worth it!
@ Shizu – this is my very first NaNo ever!
13,500 words? I hate you. I really, really hate you. *hugs*
I started over. My first attempt crashed and burned… worse than my christmas ham last year, but I think I’m sitting on about 3k new words on the new work. If I didn’t have a paper due in the morning… I’d be nanoing. Back to RD of paper. *mutter*
I believe that there was a bit of talk about possibly being able to pick what tree your pet was in Cataclysm which would be totally awesome as you could make any pet into ferocity for raiding then. 😀
(Though when we have newish tanks, I do prefer to have my wasp instead. Makes it easier for the tank to hold aggro.)
what
Scutters is a pig I tamed in Loch Moden at about level 14 ( didn’t figure out pets until then) and he’s still my constant companion questing, doing dailies, soloing, or running lowbies through instances.
For raids I switch to MM and use Fido the wolf because, even though I like BM best, I can pull almost another 1K dps on most fights in MM.
In battlegrounds I run as BM with Fluffy my red eyed cat from Zul Drak The “Big Red Kitty” creates havoc among the “squishies” on the other teams 😀
I did the worst possible thing ever a long time ago and I’ve never let myself get over it. When I hit lvl 10, I tamed a turtle in the Barrens that I affectionately named Nerf. I named him after a pet turtle I used to have that ran away back in high school.
Yes. The turtle ran away.
Slowly.
Anyway… Before I realized what a stable was (noob), I read online somewhere about how amazing Gorillas were for huntards. So I was in Strangelthorn questing, I think level 40ish, and found a beauty starin at me. I did it. I did the unthinkable. I abandoned Nerf. /CRY
Magilla has been with me for a very long time since then. I will never get rid of Magilla. He does my dailies, and helps run lowbie friends through instances. He even tanked Heroic Nexus with me the other day (wierd story in its own). My buddy the healer has macros setup specifically to heal Magilla.
For raiding tho, I do the generic huntard move of using a wolf. Waldo is a good friend of mine, too. The healer has macros for him as well. When I start an instance with Magilla, most people that know me say “Where’s Waldo?” let the /loling commence.
For PVP tho I use a cat. Lenny (named after my healer’s real life cat) sniffs out rogues for me and keeps them from hiding.
I really hope one day that they make our choice of pet not affect our DPS. Pet choice should be more of a personality thing, and seeing every raiding hunter everywhere run around with that same boring white wolf is getting old.
My Troll has been using her Wind Serpent for everything. She’s just an alt, if we need serious DPS I bring my Shaman anyway. 😉 But yeah, if they would just make Wind Serpents ferocity pets… /dreamysigh