Meet the Family (Patch 5.3)

Patch 5.3 brought 30 more stable slots to the table (a mixed blessing, depending on which hunter you're talking to). For me, this meant planning out who was coming home and attempting to guess at which new pets would be popping up. Naturally, no amount of planning covered either half of the taming sprees. There are always some surprises!

Kalliope:

The pets who I knew were coming back were Tantalus, Orion, Amalthea, Icarus, Pygmalion, and Galatea. Tan had only left so I could get Polaris back before the rush of restoration requests. The rest had all remained as minipets. In the end, only Icarus kept his tiny counterpart. While I have many pets who like being in both my minipet lineup and in one of my stables, these forms had (with the aforementioned exception) only been a way to keep them near me. They weren't their proper colors, so it wasn't really them. Bringing them home for real was a very happy event, as well as a relief, since both of the rares (Amalthea [Stompy] and Pygmalion [Ironeye the Invincible]) were up when I first looked.

There were two impulse tames. Delphi called me after I fetched Tantalus. The bond was instantaneous. I've run with her almost non-stop since the tame. Amazingly, I've never actually clicked with an arcane wyrm before, though I've certainly admired the Spirits of the North since first entering Northrend. In the end, the tame felt partially premeditated, but I really had not expected such a strong bond. The other impulse tame was the product of good fortune. When I went into Deadmines to bring Icarus home again, there was a Brilliant Macaw up around where Mr. Smite used to be. Of course there was. I have always adored that skin since I first saw it on Skywing in BC. I'd tried to make it work on Kallimon, but it didn't take. This was my chance to rectify that. It didn't hurt that I felt terribly guilty about lucking into a spawn that others (and I) have had trouble getting. And so Leda joined the family.

The last pet Kalliope picked up was Eros. He was a PTR pet who had somehow managed to charm me. I kept telling myself that this was far too much effort for a tame that I wasn't sure was going to work out on live. I should have realized I was wrong when I was able to easily get on top of Ban'thalos's tree twice in a row without effort. But I didn't. Instead, I understood just how wrong I was when Banny spawned not long after I arrived. Eros had missed me! And so marked the easiest and least painful tame of Ban'thalos I'd ever had. I don't even care that he breaks my naming scheme; he just was not working as a minipet.

Kallimon:

Kallimon always manages to surprise me. As far as I knew, he only had three pets returning: Chili the green shale spider, MaqueChoux's natural size silithid, and Pacane. Naturally, this did not go according to plan. Both MaqueChoux [Haarka the Ravenous] and Pacane [Nychus] refused to spawn, and I delayed grabbing Chili, who had been Jadefang. This meant that I had time to run around impulse-taming things.

That's always where the trouble starts.

Thanks to Blasto and Bubin, I allowed myself to tame three regular-size pet versions of three of my favorite minipets: Zevran, Fenris, and Kaidan (who was a stretch, since his dragon whelpling minipet has no hunter pet equivalent). This was, of course, a terrible mistake, since I've been doing nothing but running around with Zev and Fen in minipet form to begin with. The same is now true of their larger forms, though now Fenris has the edge in terms of time at my side. Hopefully this will eventually pass; they just don't fit Kallimon's main theming. But hey, there's stable space to do that now - and besides, there's enough of them for a stampede.

Unexpectedly returning home were Jalapeno and Doberge, the latter taking a new form in Hugeclaw. Jambalaya will undoubtedly not be thrilled that his competition has returned, but the stable is so huge now that he can deal with it.

Pacane and MaqueChoux finally came home, so I decided to cheat and pick up a shale spider from the Jade Forest. But that meant he wasn't Chili - so after settling on naming him Rockefeller, I went back to Northrend to pick up Chili in his favorite form: a red demon dog.

After all this (and no spawn luck on Spiteflayer), I ticketed for Pompano's return. Like his sister Papillote, there was only one form he ever truly clicked in. Of course, a twist of fate has even changed this storyline. When Pompano was restored, he came back in his original green form instead of Spiteflayer's yellow. According to the GM who had sent him home, Pompano wanted to peck my face off for leaving him in the Twisting Nether for so long. Unfortunately, PetEmote confirmed this as true, as well as revealing a newfound cocky attitude. (Kallimon seems to be a magnet for that type of pet. Sigh.) Pompano was pleased that he'd caused so much trouble. Well, fine then. He can stay green.

Mind you, this is the short version; I ran around backtracking and circling between spawn points much more than it sounds like. How Kallimon takes more of my effort than Kalliope does is beyond me.

It's strange how (with the mental inclusion of Cadmus) my stables are dead even with each other at 35 pets. Completely unplanned. There may be some utility pickups in the future for both, but this will serve for now.

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.

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.

    -> 

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.

   ->  

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.

     ->

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.

Potentially finalized MoP roster

I knew there was no way I was going to make it into MoP without a full stable.  I did know that, even when I posted back in May about having three spots open.  Jason returned and Achilles moved over from beta.

Somehow, I neglected to write about losing my last spot to another returning pet.  Medusa finally settled into a green wind serpent from Wailing Caverns.  The short version: Medusa was originally a green Outland wind serpent.  We parted ways over the years and a previous attempt to turn her into a regular green wind serpent failed.  Then while running Caelan's alt through WC, she made eyes at us, so we ran the instance a bunch of times until we'd both tamed that spawn. Medusa insisted that we both tame; she was very cranky about it.

So, meet the family as I know them:

There actually haven't been many changes since the last big family post, just skin changes.

Eurydice had previously rejected a pink crane skin, but embraced it once Patrannache started wearing it.  It didn't hurt that Orpheus, who is an expert on long, punishing camps, was turning cartwheels at the prospect of my losing my sanity camping for his wife.  Thanks, Orph; can always count on you for that.

Hippomenes did in fact settle into the green Portent skin.  This was an absolute non-surprise, since he pulled the same stunt that Loque did when he became Hip's new form.  After I hit 90, green Portent stopped stalking me and refused to spawn.  Then when I did get him, it was only after an eight hour camp.  Then of course he was green again the next time I saw him.  Sigh.  Between him and Eurydice, I will go crazy in MoP.  This is a fact.  At least Atalanta is happy.  She's kind of into the statue hubby, since she was born from a statue herself.

On the plus side, Calydonian will not have to go through Bristlespine in order to be himself.  After a short heartbreak (the porcupine who appeared to be him was not tameable when I first tried), Calydonian became himself again.  Not a moment too soon; I've been getting terribly used to him being white....and he's just....not.

Pan decided to stick with his original spawn on the Veiled Stair.  Not Stompy, not Welcome Goat - the little guy staring off over a cliff.  It's rather dreamy.  Rather un-Panlike.  Wouldn't be the first time one of my pets had a different personality than their namesake, though.

Pygmalion changed skins a while ago, after the old world basilisk skins won me over.  But it wasn't until this latest build that he felt right.  Deatheye, the rare spawn basilisk in Thousand Needles, suits him more than a common one.  After all, Pygmalion was the Large Loch Croc - he deserves a unique skin from a rare.  It's just...him.  It didn't hurt that Galatea returned briefly as Rockhide either.  If I had any sort of true bond with her, I'd be in trouble.

I only just now realized that Hip and Leo are next to each other on the grid.  That's utterly typical.  My pets are such trolls.  I share this as a warning to others - beware of trolling pets.

I think I'm pretty much done, short of Pan being there instead of Cadmus (I'm fond of Pan, but it's not the same).  Of course, I always say that....  But really, I think I'm more or less good this time.  Every buff is covered but kings and I just can't click with a shale spider.  Hope everyone else's stables are shaping up well!

Getting to know you...again

Since I've been doing all of this soul-searching and reevaluating of pets, I've been making a point of spending extra time with the ones I haven't felt as close to.  The process is different for every pet, since they all have different backstories.  Some had an initial spark at the beginning.  Others warmed up over time.  The ones I already let go or intend to transform into minipets are pets I never truly bonded with (with the exception of Hippomenes, whose history with me is complicated), not deeply enough that they must be in my stable.

My number one concern is Cerberus.

My dear white corehound was my first exotic pet, way back in the pre-Wrath patch that expanded our stables to five.  I always liked Omen's look, and to know that I could tame the Kurken as him was extremely exciting.  Once I needed to have a wolf, he was game to morph into a red hellhound - a fitting match, or so it had seemed.  He made it through a number of raids, at least until ICC.  Then one of the other hunters in my raid picked up a red hellhound of his own.  Somehow, that enabled me to see the flaws in the model.  This marked the second time Cerberus had lost his individuality.  (The first was when other white corehounds named Cerberus kept popping up.)  That was when Hector was born and Cerberus left my stable until the pre-Cataclysm patch.  He was a shoo-in to be retamed and he always ranks highly in my "must have" exotics, but that initial bond has not yet returned.  There are so many reasons why this might be that I can't even begin to guess which is the actual cause.  I'm up to four dog-like pets now (plus Theseus, the big green dino-puppy), on top of everything else.  I can't even change his skin; he's not a drooly puppy and Chromaggus is too....pink.  No, Cerberus must be white.

I just don't know how to get that spark back.  I'm not sure if I can, or if I should even be trying to.  I've been running around with him on live and nothing has changed.  But perhaps there's a reason for that.  I think Cerberus has established himself as a necessary presence in my stable and on my roster, whether I need heroism or not.  He would be there regardless.  In other words...overthinking things can create problems where there should be none.

Lesson learned.

Since Leo and I worked things out in my previous post, my other major concern is Pygmalion.

He was my pre-Cataclysm rescue from Loch Modan, the Large Loch Crocolisk, who I'd only ever seen that one time.  He spent a few nameless days with me in Storm Peaks helping me (futilely) camp for the TLPD before he became Pygmalion....and then I still kept him by my side because I wanted to get to know him.  Unfortunately for Pyg, Gumbo pretty much has a monopoly on the crocolisk spot in my heart, and Kalliope never really needed him by her side.  As a basilisk, Pygmalion could have a new life....but there's a small hitch.  Basilisks have a CANNOT UNSEE graphical issue with their head's idle animation.  And it's getting to me.

As long as I don't idle with him, things should be okay.  I do like him in his new form.  It's just that one animation that's blocking me from him.  Such a superficial reason.  There is hope, though - if I stop focusing on the animation, I'm less likely to see it.  So perhaps with time, I will be able to unsee.

Here's hoping.

(Fun behind the scenes side note: Cerberus posed for the howl completely on his own, without coaxing. I'm taking that as a good sign too.)

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.