To Pandaria!

It's been quite gratifying to hear that the videos have been helping hunters get their tames done. Congratulations to all!

I'd love to hear more of your taming stories! The taming mechanics may stay the same, but each tame is unique in its own way.

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!

Patch 5.0.4 arrives!

The pre-Pandaria patch hit today! You all know what that means - more taming stories! Unlike the pre-Cataclysm patch, this wasn't a massive epic taming spree that spanned three continents. I had three very specific stops.

The journey started three days ago, in Thousand Needles above Ironeye the Invincible's spawn. He was there when I arrived on Saturday night. I had forgotten he was already my desired color on live as well as beta. I was so struck by his beauty that I actually beast lored him to make sure he couldn't be tamed yet (which, of course, he could not). Even then, I started praying that he would be up when I logged in.

He wasn't. Sigh.

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I then flew down to Uldum to touch base with Jason. Unlike the other pet swaps of the day, he was merely going to stabilize his color to yellow from the exact same tame. Part of me knew that there was a good chance he'd be in white when I arrived.

He was white. Of course he was.

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So I teleported up to Toshley's Station in Blade's Edge, quickly flying down to Zangarmarsh to the tame I was secretly most looking forward to. Andromeda was finally going to become a sporewalker. When a pet finally comes into their own and everything clicks, it's beautiful. Not all of my pets go through such transitions, but Drommie is among the most graceful who have.

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Of all of today's tames, hers was the only one that was a sure thing even before I arrived. No color changes, no rare spawns to worry about. Plus, Drommie completed the Zangarmarsh trio of species (sporewalker, nether ray, sporebat). I've always loved that zone - it was the first one I truly fell for.

I ran back to Uldum to pick up Jason (who was yellow this time), then flew back to Thousand Needles to wait for Pygmalion. And wait. And wait. Until I finally flew across the zone to check on one of the other rares (who was not up) and then, of course, he spawned.

I am feeling quite good about the state of my stable. Stability in one's stable - and in one's life! - is important.

Farewell, so long, and goodbye

The end of the beta is fast approaching, and with it comes the dreaded moment of saying goodbye to our beta pets. Some will be waiting for us next month in Pandaria when the expansion is officially released in September. Others will return to the wild for good, their journeying days at our sides over. But the hardest goodbyes will be for the pets who we will never (for the moment) be able to tame again.

IN MEMORIAM

One specific type of mushan was only very briefly flagged as a tameable crocolisk, but nonetheless won over numerous hunters' hearts.

A couple of yaks were briefly tameable as part of the goat family. This goodbye is the hardest for me personally, as Cadmus the red yak will thus far be unable to migrate into a mount form.

Manglemaw the baby crocolisk and a group of tiger cubs were also briefly flagged as tameable. Gigantic baby pets have thus far been unintended, so it was unsurprising that they were not an exception to the rule. On the plus side, both shall live on in minipet forms. (Chuck is the adorable equivalent of Manglemaw.)

This is the unfortunate downside of beta testing and getting attached.  But better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all.  Farewell, you kings and queens of beta.  You shall not be forgotten.