Meet the Family: Patch 5.2

It's been quite some time since I last updated my official pet roster, so with patch 5.2 coming in, now is definitely the time to check in with the family.

My stable's been overall stable in terms of who's stayed this expansion, though several have made skin swaps, shrunk down to minipet size, or grown up from minipet status since my last update....or some combination thereof. It's complicated.

Arachne rejoined my active ranks prior to MoP, only as Amthea rather than Jadefang. Psyche went from raptor to tallstrider and hasn't looked back. Hippomenes ended up turning his nose up at green Portent after all and remained a white organic quilen upon MoP release. (He still pairs nicely with Atalanta, since they're both off-white.)

Pan (black goat) ended up not working out, leaving room for Amalthea (Stompy) to step in. Unfortunately, my ever-crowded stable meant that she ultimately had to drop down into minipet form as a Summit Kid. Orion made a similar change into my Stunted Shardhorn.

Medusa preyed upon my sentimentality on the 5.1 PTR and managed to completely bond herself with Sparkwing (who happened to be the first unique skinned rare I'd ever discovered fully on my own, which meant the cards were stacked), which meant that I was completely at their combined mercies...especially when Sparkwing spawned right in front of me when it came time to officially meld the pair on live. Such cheaters, both of them. How could I possibly resist those charms?

A series of random events led to Laelaps (Karoma) joining my stable on what I thought was a temporary basis. I should have known better; I'd already gotten attached to her when I tamed a regular wolf that kept wandering into one of Karoma's spawn points and named her for the first time...she asserted her personality even that early. But out of respect for Polaris (Arcturis), I let her go after a few days. This, of course, was a massive mistake and after much hemming, hawing, and repeated denials, I filed my first pet restoration ticket ever to get her back. Laelaps has hardly left my side since. I definitely never saw that one coming. Polaris ended up dropping into Baby Blizzard Bear form.

Jason, who I had decided to stabilize as yellow from his color-changing self, became my second pet restoration ticket not long after I got Laelaps back. Just another example of my pets knowing what's best for them better than I do. Knowing Jason, I should have seen that coming too. He especially likes being part of a stampede, since it means he gets to change colors every five minutes.

Pygmalion, who had changed to a basilisk when Jason stabilized, took a brief hiatus before coming back to me as a Scalded Basilisk Hatchling minipet. Ultimately, this was a good thing, since it reunited him with Galatea, who returned as a Tol'vir Scarab. Other former pets who returned as minipets include Odysseus (Darkmoon Monkey) and Penelope (Darkmoon Hatchling).

Scylla, who charmed me unexpectedly as a teal worm, did so again as a pink silkworm when she flipped off of a tree branch to nibble on my face. I will never know how the other silkworms on that tree branch didn't aggro....whatever happened, it was a very clear sign that not only did she want to change forms, but it had to be rightnowthissecond. She did that just before the silkworm burrow animation was added on the 5.1 PTR - it was glorious.

Somewhere in there, Tantalus took a brief lack-of-space-induced hiatus, but he came back - he always does. Achilles did the same, after making it to live as Ironback. Unfortunately, Ironback had just been killed when I went to retame him, which threw me off badly...until I checked for Terrapis, who came running right up to meet me and ended up suiting Achilles's personality even better than Ironback did. Go figure! Of course, not long after that, the noisy Slateshell Wanderers appeared on the 5.2 PTR and Achilles insisted on changing forms yet again. I have noticed that my stable has overall become bossier, as well as more intent on griefing me. I'm not thrilled by this revelation.

The only truly new pet who's joining the family in patch 5.2 is Tiresias, the blue dire horn...and even he has a storied history. I originally had my heart set on an orange dire horn and indeed went through the majority of the PTR with Tiresias as orange. However, one day I logged in and he was blue! More colors had been added to the table his spawn comes from and he had been grandfathered in with this new color. I thought to myself that this wasn't a big deal; it'd be a Calydonian situation again. But by the time I got back to his spawn on the rock on the Isle of Thunder, Tiresias had completely melded himself with the blue skin. I hadn't even liked the blue skin, before or after the color change! But of course, again, he knew better than I did; this is his true color.

Did I say my stable's been stable? I'm not so sure now.

At any rate, all buffs are and have been covered, which is utterly amazing to me. Even more amazingly, I have strong bonds with almost every pet...thank goodness. I'll probably let Psyche fully turn into my purple tallstrider mount if I ever get the chance to tame Cadmus; I am far too attached to Tantalus.

If I can someday "correct" the colors of my pets-turned-minipets, I would actually be 100% happy....so long as no new shinies win me over. Every time I swear I'm done, something I never knew I wanted calls to me....(not the case with Tiresias; I always wanted a triceratops).

Kallimon's stable actually did undergo some major changes since I last updated his stable chart. the lesson to be learned here is that I shouldn't have massive amounts of stable space available, because if I do, it will be filled.

I recounted the adventures of the lava spider siblings before, and not much has changed with them since. Cayenne's been getting used to combat in her minipet form, so even though she's still a little sweetheart, she isn't shying away from fighting like she used to. Sugarcane's basically established herself as a hermit, which is why I went slightly nuts trying to get to know her better. None of them will budge from my stable because Stampede exists, so I'm resigned to an army of lava spiders. At least it's a pretty army.

In MoP, Chili swapped from a red hellhound into Jadefang. It started out as a swap of convenience, but he clicks far better in this form anyway. Dogs are just too small for trolls. My former Shango Jalapeno jumped into my Tiny Shale Spider to avoid Jambalaya's territorial wrath.

Bait molted, shedding her Jormunger skin for Gnath's. Amusingly, this is the skin color Scylla was originally supposed to be, but it never clicked. She also picked up a new worm brother in Slimey, who is just too adorable for words.

Ravigote gave up his feathers and became a supermodel Venomspine. I can't recall offhand how many forms he's gone through, but this one seems to suit him for a change.

Pacane, who had disappeared from my stable, found new life in Nychus. Somehow, the lone raptor persona suits her far better.

Blasto is still planned to swap to pink whenever Kallimon actually hits 90, which may not be until the next expansion, at the rate I'm going. It's just as well. I have no idea where I'm going to put Chipotle (Degu) when Kallimon does hit 90. MaqueChoux will most likely return to minipet-only form....again.....but we'll cross that bridge when it comes.

Things can never be simple (or: Kalliope's MoP roster changes again)

This is all Arachne's fault.

I had things all worked out for MoP. She would transfer from Kirix to a minipet green tarantula so I could keep both her and Orpheus, while still having room for all my incoming family.

However, things generally do not go as planned when I plan ahead.

While doing Therazane dailies in the Crumbling Depths, I suddenly realized that Amthea reminded me vaguely of Arachne in Smite. Intrigued by the parallel and having nothing to lose, I brought Arachne out there to change forms.

Our identification was instant. Arachne's movements reminded me of her Smite counterpart's. She was suddenly more alive than she'd ever been as Jadefang. That solved the bonding issue.

We ran around Tol Barad with her in cunning spec. With the changes to beast mastery and her new spec, we tore up plenty of Horde. Suddenly, I couldn't imagine how I had ever felt nothing for shale spiders and could have thought I could live without one.

Then the horrifying reality set in: I had no stable space for her. Someone was going to have to go. Shockingly, I didn't have too much trouble settling on Pygmalion, even though he'd just changed into a basilisk. Despite the new form, I still wasn't really feeling him as a true companion. He'd lost his personal connection with me once it was clear that Gumbo is my only crocolisk who matters on any character, period. Plus, from a practical perspective, I'm unlikely to need petrifying gaze with my current setup.

That should have been all, but it wasn't. It hardly ever is just one change with me. Now that I had a shale spider again, I was only going to be missing one buff from a complete set - a sunder, since Psyche (my pink raptor from the Barrens) was also going to turn into a minipet in MoP. I was torn again; I like Psyche, but have never really felt her personality in a raptor. A serpent would have been out of the question for her too, but the buffs had changed in 5.0.4 - and a tallstrider felt like a real possibility for her, specifically the purple one. I had tried one once before, but Penelope didn't click, partly because I was resentful of how she came as a package deal with Odysseus the monkey (who I felt nothing for).

So it was off to Terokkar, unsure whether this plan would work, but again having nothing to lose. I specifically did not want to tame the same tallstrider that Penelope had been, so I ran around the island on foot in camouflage, with Psyche the raptor in tow. I figured she'd let me know when we found the right bird. She was quiet, though, so I kept running around, pausing only when a tallstrider parading around its own raised section of the island caught my eye. Mere seconds later, Psyche lifted her head and roared. I knew that was my signal, so I tamed her on the spot. Almost immediately afterward, Psyche preened her wing feathers. Messages of contentment don't get much clearer than that!

Of course, this once again left me with the seemingly impossible choice of who to let free. Once again, I was surprised - Tantalus practically volunteered. He's terribly energetic, but doesn't get out of the stable often. He never complains, but I know he needs more attention than he gets. If runed blue demon dogs ever became minipets, he'd fit right in as one. The best part about Tantalus's easygoing nature is that he can wander in and out of my stable whenever he likes with no problem.

So when the time comes, I know who will be taking off for a while. Thankfully, that won't be for another few weeks. I really wasn't expecting this.

Kirix still tameable in 5.0.4

With aspect of the wild gone, I had to see if Kirix was still tameable in patch 5.0.4 at level 85 with all my Cata gear.

To my great surprise, he was!

To quote myself from Wowhead:

Aspect of the Wild no longer exists in MoP, which forces the tamer to take massive 32k ticks from Kirix's aura. Fortunately, the minor glyph Tame Beast shortens your taming time by four seconds and the talent Aspect of the Iron Hawk reduces the damage you take by 15%. With the glyph alone, the above method still works, perfectly countering Kirix's knockback and stun.

The only difference I noticed in 5.0.4 is that Kirix's toxin cast now interrupts the tame beast cast, even through deterrence! So you need to cast tame beast AFTER the toxin cast. The timing needs to be a bit tighter, but it's completely doable.

For the record, that's the lowest my health's been since taming him the first time, when he actually killed me as the tame went off. Typical!

Overhauling Stables: Untangling Kalliope's Mess

Redoing Kallimon's stable was rather tame.  I know exactly which pets I have and haven't bonded with since I play him so infrequently.  But it's different with Kalliope, since I get to see even her stabled pets.  Though inactivity and fully intending to quit playing WoW helped me get some distance from her pets, there was one deciding factor that really tipped the scales.

Calydonian changed everything.  The moment porcupines were confirmed as a real new family, I realized that I finally had five main pets to run with.  Then I ran an instance or two with them - Ursa, Atalanta, Orpheus, Hector, and Calydonian - and it was confirmed.  I didn't want to run with anyone else.  I had a full core to my active non-BM stable for the first time ever.  And that was when things finally started to fall into place.

I could bring my favorites anywhere.  Orpheus would lead the PvP charge and Ursa the PvE.  But where would that leave all my other pets?  Oddly, I'm more inclined to rotate the others in for fun or buffs just because I know that my core group can always be with me.  Going casual helps; it means I'll most likely run with a BM offspec, which means all of those pets will get rotated in too.  It's very freeing knowing that my main pets will always get a chance to come with me.  Never again will I hardly ever see Ursa.

So with all of that in mind, I looked to my pets and saw who could shrink down to minipet size and which few were going to have to leave entirely.  A couple surprisingly morphed to new forms as I was checking out new families on the beta.  And still, even with new additions, I'm going to have empty stable slots.  It's quite amazing.  The whole process took me by surprise, so unlike previous journeys through my stable, it was undocumented.

Thanks to the five locked stable slots on the beta, I was forced from the beginning to decide who I absolutely couldn't live without.  Space was at an absolute premium and I had to release a number of pets there just to ensure that I had space to tame new families.  Though I cursed the additional limitations, ultimately, I learned a lot about my bonds with particular pets.

I was surprised that Andromeda wanted to stay.  I was at a loss for a name for my fen strider, but she stepped right in - and suddenly, I saw her for who she really was.  She was no dragonhawk, even the blue one with the pretty wings I am so fond of...from a distance.  This was her.  Tall, graceful, light on her feet.  She even brings the stars with her.  I got a completely different vibe from Blasto.  How funny that Andromeda followed a similar path to Perseus, where the second form clicked after the first did not.

It was somewhat less surprising that Pygmalion eased my conscience about considering releasing him by easily slipping into basilisk form from his green crocoliskness.  Most shocking was the revelation that we both wanted the purple rather than the green.  He's been the boss of me since he got me to save him from becoming Gosh-Haldiir, so I suppose that if he wants to turn things to stone as a form of artwork, that's his prerogative.

Arachne was the first to volunteer for minipet duty.  In fact, no sooner had I picked up the little green tarantula minipet, she had moved into that form and stayed there.  Whenever I log in on live now, I'm surprised to still see her sitting in my stable as Kirix, waiting for MoP.  Her transition of all of them has been the most seemless.

Circe was another easy transition.  She'd already taken three forms with me, so shrinking her from Aotona into the parrot minipet was a natural evolution.  Besides, I still had Icarus, who had been my #1 parrot from the beginning.

Except Icarus will also be transitioning to minipet form.  I have adored Ol' Beaky from the first time I saw him.  Out of all the birds, Icarus was my surprising top pick.  Except in the end, I know in my heart that I never bonded with him as much as I did Perseus (who shares the same family buff).  I just can't do flying pets.  Castor and Pollux are the two exceptions.  I find anything with wings difficult to idle with overall.  At least he's reunited with Daedelus, who long ago took the form of my minipet seagull.

Psyche was a hard call.  I tried to encourage her to morph, but she wouldn't have it.  It was pink raptor or nothing.  So she'll be shrinking.  For some reason, Kalliope with a devilsaur works, but Kalliope with a raptor feels weird.  Between Psyche and Andromeda, I'm losing two debuffs I won't be replacing.  And because I'm casual now, I don't care.  I'm bringing my bear, dammit.

The most difficult transition was that of Hippomenes.  I would not have a blog if it wasn't for him.  My 10 hour Loque camp prompted storytime to move here.  And yet....I've finally admitted to myself that Kalliope only has room for one spirit beast in her heart and it belongs to Polaris.  It's Arcturis's fault.  I never wanted a spirit beast until he came along.  And so Hippomenes will become a white saber kitten (snow leopard if one gets added) so he can be with Atalanta all the time.  He always did like being fussed over and being a kitten will get him that sort of attention again.  It's a little weird, but it'll work.

Linus and Pandora won't be staying.  Both were essentially forced on me due to needing their family abilities and there are no minipet equivalents for them anyway.  Kharon will most likely be joining them.  I get the feeling that I have yet to find the right turtle/beetle for me, if there even is one.

Leo is a complete wild card.  He never gets out; Atalanta has the monopoly on cat utility.  And yet, because of his name and what he represents to me, I can't let him go so easily.  Besides, he's still my good luck charm.  No, I think Leo will be staying, against all reason.  He's meant to be with me, no matter how much I try to resist.  I do not know how or why this happened, but he has an unbreakable hold on me.

The newcomers are less numerous than those shrinking or leaving, but they seem to have already carved some niches for themselves.  I've already written about Calydonian at length.  I won't go into it again here.  Suffice to say that he somehow manages to catch my eye during stampede, even though he's the smallest pet in there.  There's just something about that porcupine.

Achilles was a bonding shock.  His name came to me unbidden.  Achilles has never been one of my favorite characters; he killed Hector after all!  And yet, that's why he works so perfectly as a quilen.  I tend to see my exotics as being somewhat at odds with my non-exotics, since they displace the latter when I'm actually in that spec; it fit perfectly for the Trojan-Greek rivalry!  On the other hand, Achilles's parallels to Hector were quite surprising.  When I saw him howl while still scooting forward at top speed, I knew I had another lovably goofy dog on my hands.  I don't know what color he'll be in the end, but I do know he's staying, and not just because he has a battle res.

I was surprised about Pan too.  His noisy combat antics amused me from the moment I sicced him on a poor, unsuspecting victim.  He has so much personality!  Very few pets get a smile from me just by entering combat.  I feel like I don't really know him yet, since his wild version is not yet tamable.  While Achilles is open to a color change, Pan is dead set on being the lone goat on his cliff.  I don't know what color he'll be; I just know that he's mine.

Eurydice is one of the strangest cases I've ever seen in one of my pets.  I'd tried taming her as a snake and on an alt as a tarantula, but never truly felt anything for her.  The green crane keeping an eye on Dawn's Blossom strikes me as distinctly male.  And yet, the two shall one day merge to become my Eurydice....Orpheus's Eurydice.  In studying her, I realized why she's finally settled on this form.  Orpheus needs a partner he would write songs about.  He needs inspiration.  And yet, this is my Orpheus.  My right arm in PvP.  He needs a lady with survival skills.  Lullaby fits perfectly for the wife of the great poet.  She'll join him on the battlefield.

With all the changes, I probably should not have been surprised that one pet decided to come home.  But I was.

Tantalus returned!  I can't explain why he came back any more than I could explain why he left.  Our connection was forged, broken, and reforged.  I thought he required more attention than he actually seems to.  Perhaps he's trying to create balance in my dog situation (Hector and Tantalus being non-exotic; Cerberus and Achilles being exotic).  Maybe he just knew that he had a place in my stable again.  I don't know.  I have never completely understood Tan.  It seems we're on the same page now, though, whatever the reasons.  It's good to have him back.

So thus far, I'll have three empty stable slots.  All things considered, that's nothing short of a miracle.

After picking up Tan last night, I flew around Northrend for a bit.  No one was up in the Basin (somewhat unsurprising).  But Arcturis was.  As was Gondria, who had chosen to spawn near Atalanta's new birthpoint.  I'd never seen her there before, and I hadn't seen Arcturis in the wild in ages.  I took both appearances as a sign of approval from the cosmos and the game itself.

All is well.

Teamwork to the max

As some of you may have noticed, Orpheus wasn't listed in the first line of the family grid.  Instead, he appeared alongside my four other current PvP pets of choice.  (Kalypso is taking it easy; she is still a bit of a hermit crab.) This was partly a reflection of how organized I keep my stable, as those five are generally the ones with me, and the other four rows appeared in the usual order of my deep stable.

The other major reason I chose to display them that way is because they are a team, moreso than any of my other pets.  Generally, my pets either run with me as a duo or as part of a larger raid group; there are a select few cases of pairing off (Atalanta and Hippomenes, Perseus and Andromeda, and the twins Castor and Pollux), but they are fewer and further between.

Last night, I was able to cycle through all five pets multiple times against a druid-warlock team.  None of them died, since I kept switching them after they were dotted up.  Orpheus and Arachne especially got into trading off in multiple matches.

If only I had three more stable slots, I would gladly run with five spiders.  This is really fun!