Something I have been thinking a lot about since I started playing WoW is...well pets. As a hunter I have been through many many pets and a lot from the same family. Before patch 3.0.2 you kinda had to go through many pets to get the desired results from a single pet as you learned new skills from training them so you could train them to a different pet. Now for you older WoW players you are thinking "WTF we already knew that so what?". I'm not pointing that out for you. There are people that picked up the game after WOTLK came out and dont know about that or people that never played a hunter before. Personally I love the new set up and wouldn't go back to the old way for anything but I am just making it clear as to part of the reason I HAVE gone through as many pets as I have. Anyway that said there really wasn't a lot of room for keeping pets long term. Pre-3.0.2. you only had 3 stable slots (yeah I dont really have alot of insight into pre-BC since I started about a year ago so I again am working off what I know personally). This pretty much ment if like myself you where attached to a pet you had to use at least one other stable as your catch and release area. It is because of this I have noticed an oddity (perhaps I am too observant or maybe my imagination is a bit too active) that pets of the same family, e.i. cats, boar, etc etc, have difference ui and as such don't preform exactly the same.
Now I can hear the "you are smoking something" remarks already but hear me out. I have been partners with Snuggles since I caught him in Eversong the minute I finished my hunter quest and I was instantly in love. At first it was because he was my very first pet and it was a sentimental gesture but as we grew and I began to actually learn how to teach my pet how to be all the Snuggs he could be I tamed numerous cats along the way and was surprised in the differences.
When I caught Snuggles he came with the talents bite and claw. I didn't know his type of cat was special for this till i started researching. So right off the back I had a kitty with a roar and claws to match it. Since I didn't know you had to train up enw skills thats all he had for a while and it was good. Then through pointers from RL friends that were hunters and research I learned I had to tame something with the desired skill and train him till i personally learned the skill to teach to Snuggs. First one I got was a black panther I named Gomez from Stranglethorn. I hated him from the moment I got him. Now I understood that he wouldnt have the same talents as Snuggle-butt till i taught him but even once I did I knew something was off. He was always slow to attack. When I had him on defence I would have to get hit a few times before he even cared enough to fight. Agressive he wouldn't do anything just stand there. He got the boot not long after. With that said before you start harping on "Edyion you tard, those come with the ability cower maybe thats why he wouldnt do anything" . I am not stupid by any means and I knew cower was there i caught him to learn it and then promptly untrained it from him at the trainer. It wasnt the cower but this is but one example.
A later kitty I tamed was Josie, a frost saber from winterspring. I got her to learn the highest prowl and kept her to keep from having to give up Snuggles dps since at the time your pet could only know 4 skills (so nice to not have to worry about that limit anymore) and I wanted to have a cat with prowl for spying/scouting purposes. Where Gomez wouldn't do a damn thing I wanted him to if it ment actually being agresive, Josie was hell on paws. I couldn't even take her leash off she was so agressive without it. By contrast Snuggles seems to have a smaller aggro radius and when i take him off most times he wont ever attack something unless its almost right up on me or him or it has some sort of taunt to use. She also got unhappy a hell of alot faster than Snuggles at the same level. Sadly i had to let her go to train a stinky spider for my next level in bite but I am sure she is chewing the face off some Gnome as we speak.
Next I caught a red lynx I naned Edward and called JR when talking to guild (my toon has red hair most of the time and started with red hair so it seemed like a fitting name). JR was...special. That cat had a habit of attacking random things then we were in instance runs. Now it wasn't like I was just letting him loose all willy nilly. One of my pet pieves as a hunter is pet control. I think we should ALL be AWARE of WHERE our pets are at ALL TIMES, so I work really hard at maintaining that control. Jr. seemed determend to make my toon pull her hair out when she got him to level and started using him in instance runs. I would target a mob like always and when the tank had aggro hit pet attack and start firing. Then I would noticed Jr. run off to attack something on the other side of the room nevermind i wasn't even having him target it. Didn't happen often but I did stop using him for a while because of it. Nothing like having your pet go "fuck you" and pull half of Steam Vaults on your head. And it was probably Jr. that made me sit down and think about the differences in all the cats I have personally had. And then i started looking at other hunters and their pets in my guild and I saw something similar.
When I had my spider she didn't act like the spider of my GM's hunter. My gorrila seemed determend to kill me where as my buddy's Gorrila was just as chill as could be. Then there was Killer, the guild's special education raptor owned by one, Bigdog, that my Jr. seemed to be getting his notes from. I don't think I have ever seen that raptor do a single thing Bigdog wanted him to when he wanted him to. And even since 3.0.2. and WOTLK I still see the differences myself. I picked up another cat from Zul'Drak to hold my spot for my spirit beast I saw a difference in how he played for me versus Snuggles. Jr. and Snuggles remand different until i parted with Jr. for another pet i wanted. I couldn't blame skills anymore for the additude differences I have picked up on. Yeah I might be reading way more into it that I should but so what? Its my theory on pets. Just sit down and actually think about your pets and how they act if you have them. See if you see what I do :).
Just a happy death kitty helping mama get X amount of X killed for X loot. Then Tashia began to notice a pattern when numberous mobs where invovled. Dear Boris began to bring her too many play mates and would continue to do so with glea until she was forced to run her space goat butt to safety only to have to try again. Tashia thought this strange but never the less wanted to have faith in her kitty though she did coin the phrase "this cat will be the death of me" when talking to her partner in crime. The final nail inthe coffin came when Tashia was given the task of murloc control in the wetlands. All was well....for a while....when Boris decided that one camp of murlocs simply wouldn't do and the moment was right for the assassination of his hooved opressor and set his plan into action. Now I am honestly not aware of how many murlocs came in this assalt. I was a bit too busy killing the bastards as long as I could before having Tashia make her last run for survival, out running two murloc with 5 hp to spare. I do have to commend Boris in his attempt, he did almost manage to take me with him and normally murlocs are mean enough to kill without any help from mr. pissy kitty things just weren't in his favor. Thank the Naruu for mobs having leashes. So Tashia decides to throw herself off a bridge and run to Eversong to claim a more ...resonable kitty.
