An old friend

Last week I went to the cave at Fungal Rock in Un’Goro Crater to reunite with an old friend. Uhk,Loc, or Mongo as I refer to him, was not there when I arrived. The next day however, I found him waiting patiently right as I logged in.

He’s been one of my all-time favorite pets, with this being the fourth timed I’ve tamed him over the years. Each time I’ve let him go it’s been a tough decision, but I always do so with the notion that I’ll probably be back to call upon him again at some point.

My reason for taming him yet again is not only because I missed him, but because I want to try him out as a new PvP companion. I’ve never been one to blindly follow the herd, which is why I’m looking at making a gorilla and ravager my two primary PvP pets since going Marksmanship.

Also, I don’t do f**king spiders. I think they’re outstanding pets for PvP, but you won’t catch me with one. I’ve tried to bring myself to use them, but it just ain’t gonna happen.

There are some players who would PvP or raid with an untextured cube if it provided the best utility or DPS. Not me. I like my pets to have some character… some personality… individuality and perhaps a story. Spiders don’t offer me that.

I even tried to change my view on them. Some months back I ventured into the cave in Dustwallow Marsh where the Darkmist Widow lurks. I figured that maybe an uncommon rare spawn spider would be worthy of taming, but once I got it, I couldn’t abandon it fast enough. I’m fine with spiders in the real world, but as a pet in World of Warcraft… no thanks. I prefer pets with two eyes, not eight.

When you join a BG, 4 out of 5 times you’re going to see hunters with spiders for pets. There will be an occasional crab, wolf or Core Hound, but most the time it’s gonna be spiders. Blech! Web is a great ability and their spot in PvP is well deserved, but that’s not enough to make me want to keep one of those ghastly things by my side.

Since a Ravager is my answer for a cunning pet, I wanted to fill my stable out with a second PvP pet, this one being Tenacity. I usually run with a crab when I PvP as a spec that’s not Beast Mastery, but this time I’m trying something different. I’m going to run with a gorilla not only because they’re just freaking cool, but because of the 2 second silence they provide.

Currently, the two classes that give me the most trouble are Warlocks and those that begin with Shadow and end with Priest. Basically, the two DoT-and-run classes. I win many of those battles, but it can be a struggle versus a well-geared one, and without cooldowns. I’m thinking that the additional 2 second silence on a 30 sec cooldown will help out a bit in that department.

Although the Ravager is tough to beat in my opinion, having access to a Tenacity pet is also important. Mainly due to Roar of Sacrifice and Intervene – two huge abilities that enhance survivability. Also, let’s not forget Charge.

Anyway, my plan now is to fine-tune my UI some for MM PvP. Meaning, create some new Power Auras and possibly some additional NeedToKnow timers. That was actually my intention a few weeks ago before I was hacked, but since then I’ve lost some of my drive. Our arena team was dismantled as a result of the hacking, and with all of the business going on outside of WoW the past few weeks, I haven’t been in a hurry to get back to it. However, I think I’m about ready to get the Hunter/Ret pain-train rolling again – this time with me as Marks.

We’d sort of hit our proverbial glass ceiling with our Ret/BM combo anyway, somewhere in the 1860s. If we can get enough matches in before the season ends, maybe we’ll be able to at least get our helmets. Wishful thinking perhaps, but it’d be at least fun to try.

I’ve not been playing all that much lately (on Garwulf anyway), which is why things have been somewhat quiet around here. I had a lot of steam earlier in the month, but the hacking sort of took the wind out of my sails. I did manage to get all of my things back about 10 days ago, and I feel I’m about ready to start doing some hardcore huntering again.

On a side note, I broke down and crafted my Rock-Steady Treads. They cost me a pretty penny, but finally my raiding gear is resilience-free!

Tagged as: arena, darkmist widow, gorilla, marksmanship, pets, pvp, ravager, uhk'loc