…is always a good thing to farm when leveling a new pet. By the time my Lava Dog hits 80, I should have enough in the freezer to last me through ’til Cataclysm. 
Rather than try to speed level my pet via heroics, I always level them solo before I use them for any groups, whether they be for PvE or PvP.
I’ve always enjoyed pet leveling, because it gives me an opportunity for some nice relaxing play, and a chance to replenish the gold and supply stores. In this go ’round I’m hoping to keep myself in Spiced Mammoth Treats for weeks and weeks to come. It also gives me a good excuse to knock out some of the dailies I scarcely have time for.
Raiding gets expensive for a poor hunter like me, so it’s nice once in awhile to take time out and focus on collecting gold and mats, rather than exhausting them.
What do you farm when pet leveling? Or, do you prefer to go the heroic speed leveling route?
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{ 29 comments… read them below or add one }
well, i can’t say that i’m leveling my pets often(i’ve got my wolf about half a year ago), but when i have a free time of raiding i usaully farm mats for alchemy(red epic gems, 170+gp each on my server) from fire elements in the storm peaks.
I just go farming heroics, even if it’s been months I don’t level a pet. With a 245 iLevel gear dps I could go without a pet too, to be honest. Heroics are a joke now, with the new LFG tool. You clear them in few minutes, sometimes even before the 15 mins debuff expires. Fast, easy, no time waste. But sometimes I like grinding too
Valley of Forgotten Heroes: About seven level 80′s in nice groups perfect for AoE with the new Misdirect mechanics. They all drop lots of raw currency, cloth, greens, and Potions, respawn quickly, and are easy to take down.
I’m with Dal – I can level a pet in about 5-6 heroics – though the random LFG tool will determine the speed. A decent tank can mean a 15 minute clear, but a poor tank can make things interesting…
HCs .. the new lfg you can end up with ANYONE i dont see why hunters cant level pets with freshly ding 80′s we are still top dps in the end though leveling while farming for profs is nice to and don pets level of BG’s to like we can to o.O
I’d love it if pets could level in BGs. That would give me the option to farm honor if needed.
tbh it is stupid we can level off them and not pets? though tbh say you finally got bored of farming tbh go go HCs i go with my boyfriend [gayadin nab healer] and me and him are the only epic geared sometimes … we dont mind like i go out my way to help other players but it is nice to to level a pet faster in HC’s like i retamed arc last night [dont as my why i love that spirit bear xD] but i need to level him fast for some pvp before the points resets … when ever that will be ><
I use to farm crystallized fire from the Fire Elementals in Storm Peaks until it got saturated by gold farmers. Now I will still hit up the Fire Elementals due to their high re-spawn rate, but for Relics of Ulduar. Now that I’m exalted with The Sons of Hodir, I just sell the Relics on the AH. On my server they still fetch a nice price. Leveling a pet 5 levels in that spot yields me a lot of Relics, Crystallized Fire, and Greens with the occasional Blue. I occasionally hit up the Library area in Storm Peaks since I’m an engineer and can “skin/dismantle” the mobs in that area. I’ve tried other areas, but always go back to the Fire Elementals.
I’m not big into raiding/dungeons (although I would like to be), but I just wouldn’t feel right taking a 75 pet into an 80-80+ instance. Wouldn’t be fair to the group. It’s the equivalent to going in under-geared.
That’s how I’ve always felt. I always show up with guns blazin’, and that includes a level 80 pet. However, if I were in a raging hurry to level a pet for the good of my guild, I’d speed him through some x-server heroics.
> I’m not big into raiding/dungeons (although I would
> like to be), but I just wouldn’t feel right taking a 75
> pet into an 80-80+ instance. Wouldn’t be fair to the
> group. It’s the equivalent to going in under-geared
I agree with you if you’re a freshly dinged 80 in blue greens OR if you’re BM specced only. But if you’re a “epic” hunter, your dps will outdps almost anyone in your 5man, even without a pet.
I’ve found that just NE of Snowdrift plains (along the cliff) with all the earthens is a great place for pet leveling. The spawn rate is ridiculous and you’ll farm a massive amount of greens to disenchant since a lot of them are already at 3/4 – 1/2 HP. You get less than max exp for those ones, but the spawn rate is so crazy it doesn’t even matter. Relics of Ulduar have certainly gone down in value, but still pretty sweet how many you’ll pick up there if you need the rep.
I definitely feel dirty leveling pets in heroics, but I’ve brought my 2nd and 3rd hunters’ 77+ pets into a heroic here and there when I’m triple boxing. It hurts their dps but since I’m pulling high dps on the other two it doesn’t matter so much. I wouldn’t dream of doing it solo though.
I also farm mobs in Storm peaks for the relics as well. I end up passing them to my alts in order to give them a head start on rep. I like to take my pet through the SoH dailies, then I’ll go on a little iron dwarf killing spree now and again, inside the cave by Frosthold.
For each of the 4 spirit beasts I’ve tamed and kept, I’ve leveled them based only on what I was doing. If I was running a heroic, I took them along. If I was grinding dailys they were the pet I used. However, I recently re-tamed a wolf (I got just sick of the worgen look so I went and grabbed Ironjaw =) ) so I am speed leveling him in heroics so that I can have him at 80 by tomorrow. I rotate my spirit beasts in heroics but for the very limited raiding I do (VoA, the raid weekly, when I start joining groups farming ICC rep), I use a wolf for the superior DPS. That is the only concession I make, though, is taking the wolf. Because I’m not a progression raider I flat out refuse to respec into MM or SV…..BM 4 LIFE!!!
Right on lawman.
Are you dual specced BM?
I am not but I was certainly giving the matter some thought with your recent series on BM PvP! As a general rule of thumb, I LOATHE PvP. So many of the people are jerks about it that it just has left a REAL sour taste in my mouth. Your descriptions of PvP with a pet, though, get me pretty excited. I LOVE my pets…its why I roll BM, baby! The idea of watching my trained death-machine destroy other peeps while I sit at range makes me, undeniably, curious.
So I suppose I shall see what the new year brings.
I’ve got a few more articles on the way regarding BM PvP. Perhaps some of the info contained therein will help you make a decision.
If you’re not into PvP that much, arenas can be a frustrating nightmare for a Hunter, but you may end up having some fun w/ BGs.
Who knows…
It would DEFINITELY be BGs. NO ARENAS. High stress does not equal high fun for me and arenas certainly seem to be more stressful with things like rewards being tied to your rating and whatnot.
So I look forward to the stuff that may deal with BGs to see if I can be talked into the Sandlot jump from the high dive into the pool of PvP.
If it’s Mammoth Treats your pet craves, the mammoths of Sholazar have a MUCH higher drop rate of Mammoth Meat. I’ve been farming them while doing my rounds looking for King Krush, and have made a good 400+ Mammoth Treats from these tasty guys. They also travel in groups and can be AOEed down easily with the use of MD, and do virtually no damage. Plus on my server there’s more competition for the Storm Peaks mammoths, but no one seems interested in the ones in Sholazar.
The reason I farm them in Storm Peaks is because they’re right near the Sons of Hodir dailes, plus the stampeding herd of them seems to respawn fairly quickly. I like that I can take 10 of them down at once, and by the time I finish looting and skinning all of them, another 10 are coming around again.
I usually level them at the main KK spawn point collecting meat, just in case he ever shows up. Not seen the bleeding thing in months, and I am even mining on my DK there as well, and still no sign.
No KK for months..?
That sucks.
Come to think of it, I haven’t seen him for several months myself. I’ve not been after him, but still… Anytime I’m in the basin I always pat by the areas where the rares spawn.
I’m weird like that.
This almost feels like a cheat but I level pets – and farm leather in Argent Vanguard in Icecrown – the important part is not to complete the quest line…
Basically Forgotten Depths Slayer & Acolytes spawn quickly and are met by Argent Crusaders…who will stop them and engage them. All you have to do is tap them once and you can loot/skin them. The skinning is 75% Borean, 24% Nerubian Chitin, and 1% Artic fur… plus you get free heals from the cocooned Argent Champions when you break open their cocoons – it also has the bonus of a short flight to Dalaran and you can sell your junk to the vendors in the Vangard…
nice tip finwe.
I hit the mammoths too. I am a skinner so I can farm leather and the mammoth meat for treats all at the same time. I head there too when I am waiting for the dungeon finder to put me in a dungeon.
I do that on occasion myself, usually 15-20mins before a raid. However, I’m sitting on quite a few stacks atm, so I should be good for awhile now.
I level my pets along Bor’s Breath. The Frostfeather Screechers and Witches drop Relics and Frostweave Cloth while saronite and titanium ore can be mined along the area too. Vyragosa and Skoll can also show up (and as a bonus, the Time-Lost Proto-Drake — though I haven’t seen that in the wild). Sometimes I head on to Icecrown for the dailies and even go as far as Sholazar to mine.
I have a personal rule: not to call out a rare pet that spawns in that particular zone I’m in. I don’t want to cause any inconvenience by triggering an npcscan.
That is annoying, when I was hunting Loque and later Gondria the amount of people that decided they would level up their new pet in the same damn area it spawns made my head spin.
There’s an area just North-East of Fizzcrank Airstrip in the Borean Tundra where the Mammoths respawn at an unbelievable rate. They travel in herds of 4-5 and as soon as you kill the last herd in the area they immediately respawn again for non-stop farming. In about 8 minutes time I was able to gather 2 stacks worth of Chunk o’ Mammoth (40), enough to make 20 Mega Mammoth Meals!
I’ll be investigating this. Thanks for the tip Moose.