I’ve got a dilemma and I need your advice. Lately I’ve really had the itch to spec Survival, mainly because our guild is on a roll progression-wise and I’d like to be able to contribute more DPS if possible. I’m still rocking the meters as BM, but sometimes I wish I were specced SV, especially for the pet unfriendly fights. I also want to try it out for PVP due to its bursty goodness.
The main problem right now with a SV respec for me is… I only have 2 non-exotic pets; a gorilla and a wolf. Gorilla will be nice in 3.1 for PvP with the Pummel skill, and the wolf will be among the top choices for all raiding hunters in 3.1 with the improvement to Furious Howl. However, until 3.1 both of those pets are fail for both PvP and raiding. My only other option would be to abandon one of my beloved pets and go tame another. But who would I let go and what would I get?
I will undoubtedly remain BM for one of my specs after 3.1 hits. I’ve always identified with the ultimate “Huntard” spec (a little sarcasm there… and man am I so F-ing sick of the gross overuse and misuse of that word) and will continue to do so. I guess it’s the animal lover in me.
With that said, it’s a given then that I am going to use exotic pets after the patch. Right now I feel I am too heavily invested in BM with three exotic pets in my stable. No matter what, I am probably going to release one of them after the patch anyway. So my present thinking is that I release one of my 3 exotics and go for a Cat, Raptor or Wasp.
My three exotics are: Loque’nahak, King Krush and Nuramoc. Conventional wisdom would say, this choice is easy… just get rid of either Loque or Krush because you don’t need 2 exotic Ferocity pets. My response to that is, WHAT..??!!
King Krush is my favorite pet at the moment. I love the guy, and I’ve yet to see another Hunter on Kul Tiras who has a big green Devilsaur. That right there equals major cool points for me. When I receive the almost nightly tells from other hunters who want him, it’s nice to be able to direct the young Hunterlings to YouTube or this website in order to see how I solo-tamed him.
Loque’nahak is perhaps the most attractive of all my pets, but is becoming increasingly more ordinary on my server. 🙁 I feel that Loque is going to be the new Humar (in the sense that although it’s rare, every hunter will have one) as more Hunters hit 80 and become dual-specced. Since Krush has a bit higher DPS than Loque, I use Krush about 99% of the time when running raids or instances. Loque has more or less become a vanity pet along with my Grimtotem Spirit Guide. I suppose maybe I should just abandon Loque and tame a pet I’m going to use more often.
NO WAY!
I spent the better part of 2 weeks trying to catch her. Even if I did decide to abandon Loque, there’s a chance I might want her back at some point and there’s no way I’d ever want to force myself to go through that hunt again.
Yet, Although the idea of it sounds blasphemous, if Loque becomes increasingly more common and doesn’t emerge as a top DPS pet, I would consider setting her free later on down the road. But for right now, she stays. I’ll tell you what though… if Blizz introduces a black Spirit Worg, Loque’s bags are packed.
So here I sit with 2 Ferocity pets that I cannot bear to live without, at least for now anyway. Krush isn’t going anywhere and neither is Loque’nahak, so I guess that leads us to my last exotic, Nuramoc.
My Chimera is the pet I’d most likely let go. I tamed him for PvP use, but more often than not I use Krush in BGs and arena. The problem with releasing him is, Chimeras are going to get a whole lot better for PvP in the coming patch. They are also looking pretty decent for raid DPS as well with the damage normalization across the trees and the buffs that Cunning will be receiving.
Another question is which spec will I use for PvP in 3.1? Right now I’m thinking that I’ll use both. I like the idea of having a PvP focused BM build and a DPS dealing MM or SV spec. I’ll probably BG as BM, then switch it up for arena depending upon my team composition.
So if I don’t intend to raid, but mainly PvP as Beast Mastery, which pet(s) am I going to use? This raises another interesting question… why have the top two DPS pets available, Loque’nahak and King Krush, if you’re not going to raid as a BM Hunter? The answer is simple… because I like them, that’s why! I’ve always been silly like that, but I think it’s good to not take this game too seriously anyway.
Also, at some point I imagine our guild will pick up a few Hunters, especially when we’re hitting 25 man content. In situations where we have another hunter or two, I would definitely roll as BM for the raid-wide Ferocious Inspiration buff. That’s when it’ll be nice to have an ass-kicking Devilsaur by my side. 🙂
My ape is sticking around because I think that Pummel is going to rock for arena, especially for BM and MM hunters. BMs will have a silence on a 21 second cooldown, and MM will have healer shut-down mode with Pummel, Silencing Shot and Readiness.
I imagine I’ll still use Krush for PvP along with my gorilla while I’m BM. Heck, I may even break out the ghost wolf now and again to freak the Horde out. They’ll ignore it thinking it’s just some Enhance Shammy’s pet; meanwhile it’ll be tearing their face off. My Grimtotem Spirit Guide will finally emerge as a top DPS pet for all specs in 3.1. That makes me happy in the pants because so far he’s just been taking up a 5th stable slot, only to be used once in a blue moon when I feel like receiving some oooohhhs… and aaaahhhs. I’ll no longer have to feel like I only have four stable slots. 😀
So here’s my thinking… although I probably will PvP primarily as a Beast Mastery Hunter, I think that the Chimera is going to be my expendable pet. Gorilla will be a good PvP pet with any spec, and I also like the exotic Ferocity pets for PvP too because of Heart of the Phoenix, not to mention the additional DPS.
For PvE I plan on using a wolf mainly, which is great because I already have one at level 80. Right now I’m on the fence about my PvE dual spec, but I’m definitely interested in MM at the moment.
So wait a minute… if I’m thinking of speccing MM after the patch and using a wolf, why abandon any of my pets??? I guess that’s because I’m being impatient and I want to experience 4.5K DPS right now!
Now that I’ve thoroughly given some critical thinking to this dilemma, maybe I should just hold my horses. I plan on using my wolf for PvE no matter what, so why should I bother with taming and leveling another non-exotic DPS pet only to abandon it in a few weeks after 3.1.
My Chimera would be nice to still have around when 3.1 comes out to see how effective Cunning pets are going to be after the buffs. I’d also have to re-gem and re-glyph… aw hell… I think I’ll just sit tight and wait for the patch.
However, I do have that “I need to hunt down and tame a new rare pet” itch. It’s burning feverishly too. I always get it after awhile. If only they’d allow us zookeeper type hunters to purchase additional stable slots. C’mon Blizz, please…
Oh well, must… resist… urge… to… tame… new… pet.
You guys are such good listeners. Thank you for your time and continued support. 😉
I’ve tamed most of the rarest pets in WOW. Currently, part of my rare collection included Gondria. At had tamed Aotona and Loque’nahak too, but abandoned both >.<
Since I already had a spirit beast didn’t want to waste a slot on another, and that Aotona wasn’t my thing. I also got araga, uhk’loc, and nuramoc…a few others had/have as well…all out of luck and searching,
I’d say to keep loque since it’s really rare and tough, and to go hunt for it again…not worth it.
I think we should petition for way more stable slots, I can’t seem to decide on a fifth pet….well let me just say I haven’t “found” him yet. I have Loq, Gondria, The Beast (core hound raid boss), and Nuramoc. I dunno what to do about the fifth slot of course if I managed to stumble across Krush, I’d be set.
I spec’d SV last night. I was able to keep both my core hound and my bird pet for use after the re-spec. The damage increase has not been automatic, and I am still figuring out rotation and consistent output…
Nobutada,
We think alike you and I. My first alt was a Hunter. In fact, he sort of ended up becoming my main for awhile before TBC. I have a Knight Captain Dwarf Hunter sitting at level 58.
I often get the urge to play him, but I always end up talking myself out of it. I have also thought of the transfer idea. He could be my main on another server. Being able to log on and play anonymously sounds like fun at times.
He was loads of fun to play way back when. He has engineering as one of his proffs, which I used to thoroughly enjoy. My favorite was jumping off the cliff above the gold mine in AB while wearing my parachute cloak and blasting holes in the defenders.
His pets are Grunter and Old Cliff Jumper. If Aotona remains tamable after 3.1, that may be enough incentive to level him.
Btw, I also understand the urge to tame another pet (it’s fun). Since you have a perfect collection on this toon, you might want to roll another hunter. Sounds tedious, yes, but maybe it’ll give you a chance to play with some friends on another server, or try out another race or faction. If you’re like me, you already have a few hunters in the mix.
We can always pray that they add more stable slots in a future update. lol
/salute
Thanks Dalailah.
I actually just checked Wowwiki and saw they have him listed as male.
Time for one of those renaming scrolls. >.< Honestly, thanks for clearing that up. I had read on BRK a few months ago that he was a she, and just went with that. Nice follow through. I love all of this great info I get from you guys. 😀 Keep it coming. 😉
@ Garwulf
ADS
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I clicked the graphic ones, not the text links by Google
LOQUE gender
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Har’koa is the Leopard Goddess the trolls and you can read the “she” reference inside text of the following quests:
1) http://www.wowhead.com/?quest=12628
2) http://www.wowhead.com/?quest=12632
Loque is tagged as MATE of Har’koa. We can deduce that Loque must be male :-). We could also argue that Loque is smaller than Har’koa and that’s a typical characteristic of males (at least among animals).
@ SmashD
I’ve convinced myself to wait for the patch. The pet I was considering abandoning, the Chimera, is actually the one that stands to gain the most after 3.1.
I just get that nearly irresistible urge now and again to go out and tame a new pet. The Chimera hasn’t completely knocked my socks off yet, but I feel that may change after the patch.
I think after 3.1, the wolf might be top dog (no pun intended…nyuk, nyuk) when it comes to MM and SV hunters. It even looks pretty damn good for BM due to the shorter cooldown and longer uptime of Furious Howl.
@ Dalailah
Most of the information I’ve read points to Loque being female. Unless Har’koa is female, or they are “partners”, I haven’t seen much to indicate Loque is a male. Like most of the other pets though, Blizz was pretty ambiguous about gender, leaving it to the owner to decide.
I went with the female theory and aptly named her after my wife for various reasons. 😉
As far as your affinity for flying pets… you may have to go for Aotona after 3.1 arrives. Imo, that would be an awesome flying pet to tame.
Sorry about the ads. I had been filtering them out at one point, but they’re so competitive and abundant that it’s difficult to keep them out entirely. I finally gave up on the competitive ad filter. I figured that visitors are not forced to click on them, so I’ll just focus on other things. I do appreciate your conscientious approach to “tipping” bloggers so to speak.
This site requires loads of time to update and maintain. While the ad revenue is minute, it at least helps me to rationalize the effort I put into this. Btw, which ad(s) did you click on? Were they image, text or link ads?
I reluctantly went SV recently, but glad I did as getting so much more DPS now. Cat (or possibly raptor) is the best combo with SV. Hwr, since SV pet now deals <15% of total DPS, if you took a wolf I doubt you’ll even notice any loss in DPS. And you’ll still be doing far more DPS than BM (particularly for boss fight where pet dies alot anyway – Sarph/Heigen)… So I would definitely hold out till 3.1 before setting any of those beauties loose…
Side not on your ads…
I clicked a banner to give you some credit (I always do that on blogs every time I visit them) but I want to be honest: you should get rid of GoldSelling-related ads. They’re not a great thing, to be honest 🙂 (that one linked to wowmine.com).
NOTE: I just clicked another one that points to… wowbot.at enough said :-(((
Small note: Loque’Nahak is a HE, not a HER. Watch out for his true male nature ;-))
Back on your topick: abandoning pets is hard but in my opinion Loque is a *must have*. I specced BM for 1 week just to tame him and play around for a while, then I switched back to MM (I’m a true MM player since origins, I do not mind if DPS is not the best-of-the-best).
I’d love to tame a hawk or a nice eagle from Northeren. They’re awesome looking and I love flying pets… even if Cunning is not the best tree for dps, I guess. But this is a game and pleasure/fun is one of the top reasons I play for 🙂
If you’re still after Loque’nahak, good luck with that. That one takes time, patience and luck for sure.
After writing that post I definitely talked myself into keeping all of my pets. They all will be quite viable after 3.1. I’m so happy I’ll get to use my ghost wolf now!
The dark horse may be the Chimera for PvP and raiding. The Cunning tree is getting so buffed, that I can see that pet going from a good PvP pet to a great one; and a ho-hum raid pet to a pretty decent one. The shorter cooldown on Roar of Recovery has me thinking the Chimera may come in handy for those groups where mana regen is an issue.
Of course, I don’t intend on raiding much as BM, but it’s still an intriguing thought. Either way, he’s probably gonna kill it in BGs.
Come on 3.1!!!
OMG, you have the pets I WISH I had!!!! @_@
I would say get rid of none of them. The only rare pet I have is Nuromoc that you have there. I have however camped all the others that you have (with the exception of the wolf *envious*). Since SV seems to be the raiding spec both now and into the forseeable future, then definitely just hold out and use that wolf for that. 3.1 isn’t that far off. I must say I am VERY impressed with your collection. The only luck I’ve had with Loque’nahak is seeing him killed in front of me by a Horde Hunter. >< Best of luck to you. ^^