Holy long-winded ramblings, Batman!

As are most hunters, I’m constantly plagued by the fact I only have 3 stable slots. (This in reality means that I can only have two consistent pets, because the 3rd slot will be used for taming new pets with higher abilities of bite, claw, etc. for the two mains.) Anways, my stable was currently filled with Caedmon (cat), Archimedes (snowy owl), and Thor (orange gorilla).

I remember roaming around Stormwind post-BC and seeing a hunter hot-trotting around with a nether ray. At that point in my Wow career I was still playing Catja and had very little understanding of hunters, but I still could appreciate a thing of beauty. Perhaps it was strange alien, floating, buggish, creepy beauty…but beauty to be sure. So I made a note-to-self to add that to my imaginary pet wish list.

We fast forward to the present and Cerwyn has reached Outland and it’s time to let the new pet taming ecstasy begin. Where to start? How about a Sporebat or Nether Ray? My high expectations for a “glamorous” pet were dashed quickly after a stop at Petopia. (On a side note: may I recommend Petopia to any and every hunter looking for new pets or where to find new levels of abilities. Many ludicrous pet ideas have been trashed after looking up the pets real stats on this website.)

As it turns out, Sporebats can learn absolutely no skills. That’s right none. So this makes them entirely a fashion statement and nothing more. Sure they might look trendy strutting around Shatrath with you, but you’ll also be followed by the sniggering of hunters who know the truth. You’ve sacrificed an entire stable slot to look “cool”. The Nether Ray situation is similar. Most of them are “casters” to start with, meaning that they are inferior (lower armor, health, and dps than other pets of the same level). In addition, the few that aren’t casters can’t train very many abilities.

So eventually practicality sinks in and I settle on a Ravager (not attractive but effective). This is when the strategic planning began. One of the pets had to go and it would be Thor. Him and I had some great adventures together, but he never really got leveled very far as he just can’t compare to Caedmon. So I had to make the most of the open slot and run some “errands” before finally grabbing a ravager.

First, I journeyed to Winterspring and tamed a Frostsaber Stalker with both Dash and Prowl rank 3. Then I grabbed a “Hobbes” cat just to take some pictures and say that I’ve had one before. Then I came back to Hellfire and trained a Thornfang Venomspitter which had Bite Rank 8.

Whew! With all of those abilities collected I could finally get down to business. I found that the “style” of ravager I preferred most was the Rip-Blade Ravager, who’s skin is “crawlervar2”. This ravager also had Gore Rank 9, so the plan was coming together. I trekked up to blades edge and found the ravager breeding grounds.

Initially, all I see are ravagers with the “crawlerpurple” skin and I jump the gun and tame one. At first I assumed that perhaps Petopia was mistaken and the “crawlervar2” ravagers were not located here. After further exploration of the area I do indeed find one that “looks” right and tame him. So this is the 3^rd ravager I tame in less than a ½ hour. But w/e. I’ve got my ravager and my skills and I’m ready to roll back to Zangarmarsh. So I grab the flight point at Toshley’s Station and fly back to Telredor.

Upon arrival I glance over at my accomplice and “WTF! This isn’t even my ravager! This is the second one I tamed…crawlerpurple!” So at this point my hinny is sore from riding hypogryphs all over the place, but a mistake this monumental cannot go uncorrected….so I head back. I land at the Station and to my bewilderment yet another ravager is with me this time. Now I’m intrigued. This one is “crawlerorange” a variation that I had never tamed before and there must be some method to this madness. So I do some tests with dismissing and calling the ravager and low-and-behold his skin randomly changes with each summon. Now after I return to Petopia to investigate whether this is common or not I find that it is clearly documented. (Perhaps some of you more perceptive readers noticed this already.) Anyways, 3 ravagers in one? Sold.

So please give a round of applause to Prickle the newest member of my clan. Due to his Stat superiority he will most likely earn himself a permanent spot on my roster next to Caedmon.

Screenshots of my studies will be posted when I get to my home computer.