Secrets of Ulduar

Last night was a fantastic evening in the company of Petopians. Shaon had her eyes set on one of the beautiful Swarming Guardian cats, an ebon panther with glowing red eyes. The only place to obtain one was within Ulduar, during the Auriaya fight.

There was no question of which pet I would be bringing along to the adventure. Hegg, my newly acquired Skoll, was naturally the perfect match. I couldn't imagine not having him with me inside the grand Titan architecture of his homeland. He belonged in there.

The taming of Shaon's cat was a success, and afterwards we decided to keep going as far as we could with our small group of 5-6 people. We reached up to General Vezax where we unfortunately had to throw in the towel, but it was a wonderful night and absolutely so much fun.

I was able to spend some time with Hegg and get to know him a little better, and I can definitely say that the Ulduar run has rekindled my fondness for this wolf. I suspect that with Cataclysm's arrival and the decline in popularity of the Northrend saber worgs and WotLK spirit beasts I'm able to look objectively at him once more. I admit that seeing both Skoll and that worg model everywhere in the past caused them to grow a bit stale and overused in my mind, but I can't deny I always loved the appearance of Skoll. I just had troubles bonding with the model and overall spirit beast persona.

I do think I'll be keeping the name Hegg for him, as I also have Amon Amarth to thank for my renewed interest.

Here are some screenshots cataloging some of our journey through Ulduar.

Skoll Shenanigans

I'd been listening to Amon Amarth for most of the night, so perhaps it was their viking metal influence, but as I was sitting there at my computer idly watching some shows and chatting with friends, I was suddenly struck by a powerful urge to go visit Storm Peaks. I wasn't even in game at the time, nor thinking about it in the least. Yet there it was, that overwhelming desire to head to Northrend.

I logged into WoW, used my Wormhole Generator to teleport to Storm Peaks, and began to fly around.

As I started to approach the Brunnhildar Village area, I realized I knew exactly what was coming. I neared the cliff plateau, and as soon as I was in range NPC Scan blared at me.

Skoll was up.

Of course he was. Dang telepathic spirit beasts and their inability to leave me alone. It was as if he knew I had a free stable slot at the moment (left more or less open for a future hydra), and was purposely trying to tempt me.

I angled down to land beside him when a Troll hunter appears next to me. "Ah," I think to myself smugly, "see...he wasn't meant for me after all. This other hunter can have him and I'll be let off the hook." I cheered at him and backed away politely, implying that Skoll was all his and that I wasn't going to try to interfere. He makes no move, so I ask in /say if he's taming him. He then replies that he already has Skoll, and that I was free to take him.

I sigh resignedly, accepting my apparent fate, and tame the lightning puppy for myself (for the third time).

I really can't say right now if this will stick or not, but I do find myself entertaining the idea of keeping him. I'll give it some time. In any case, for the moment...I seem to have been tamed once more by a spirit beast. /eyeroll

EDIT: I have tentatively named him Hegg, after the lead singer of Amon Amarth: Johan Hegg. Seemed appropriate. :)

Pet Spotlight: Mana

Mana is one of the more recent members of the family, he joined me just before Cataclysm hit. At the time I had an open stable slot that I was randomly filling on whims just to try out some new pets. The good ole revolving door.

Snakes have always been one of my favourite creatures, yet Vephriel had never managed to bond with one. I'd tried many colours, wishing that one would just click, but they were never quite right. Eventually I think the urge just dissipated and I shrugged it off as sadly not-meant-to-be.

The white colour, oddly enough, was one that I actually never bothered to try. It just didn't catch my attention or appeal to me so I always skimmed over it when perusing the serpent varieties.

Funny how that works, hey? ;)

So one day, as I'm contemplating options for random pets to tame, I looked once more at the serpents and mused on the white one. My tastes had broadened significantly after being a member of the Petopia forums, and I found appeal in many skins that originally wouldn't have interested me. I decided to try it out.

I opted for the Coilskar Cobras in Shadowmoon Valley. The tame itself was nothing special, but as I took a closer look at the newly befriended reptile slithering by my side, I realized how beautiful the skin really was.

The white model was in fact the only serpent with a dark belly, a detail I had never noticed before. The bright cyan and magenta on the spines contrasted attractively with the iridescent white scales. The neon colours just popped, and I even realized that the aqua-green matched nicely with Vephriel's eyes.

As I spent some quality time getting to know my new pet, I was inexplicably drawn to the word 'mana'. I think the Dalaran Serpents used by mages had something to do with it, but I couldn't help associating him with some sort of magic aspect. I went ahead and named him Mana just to see how it worked, and I was surprised by how well it suited him. It just...worked. I also found it a neat little nod to the old hunter resource.

I love accidentally falling in love with a pet that I wouldn't have necessarily gone after. There's something exciting about that illuminating moment when you realize how much you like them. It's a pleasant surprise and something I'll never grow tired of. :)

Rock Me Asmodeus

Eep, my apologies for the slow pace here once again! This time it's classes that have been keeping me occupied, I haven't had the energy to compose any blog entries.

I did want to do a quick blurb on a little change to one of my twins.

Tectonicus. This was a very appealing name in terms of meaning and originality, but...perhaps it was a little too obscure. I had trouble associating it to my black scorpid's identity. Despite all the perfection behind it's idea, it just seemed to ring hollow. As pet names are wont to do for me, a better one just nudged its way into my head today.

Shedding his old title, this shrewd scorpid has revealed his true identity as Asmodeus.

Sometimes it takes a few tries to really land on the perfect name, and I'm relieved to find how well this one suits him. I also like the way it sounds when paired with Almagest.

Also, on his command none of you may leave without first getting this song stuck in your head. ;)

Damarion: the Draconic Diversion

 
I feel as though I'm cheating somehow by writing this entry, but it can't be helped...I finally have a mount that I've been after for years! He's so special to me, in fact, that he has the honor of being the first mount I've ever named...he's even developing his own personality. Since I'm treating him as one of my pets, I figure he can nudge in here and share a bit of the spotlight. ;)

This actually happened many weeks ago, but I'm just getting around to posting about it now. My eternal gratitude goes to the wonderful Petopian guildies who participated in the mount run. With my atrocious RNG luck I never would have imagined winning the roll, but somehow there I was staring at the Reins of the Black Drake sitting in my bag.

I've always loved the history of the Black Dragonflight, and I secretly longed to have a black dragon as a companion early in Vanilla WoW. I managed to obtain the Dark Whelpling minipet which mostly satiated that desire, however when flying mounts came into existence I slipped back into daydreaming. Lo and behold, a black dragon mount arrives in Wrath of the Lich King and I knew that one day I'd have to get it. :D

*huggles her dragon*

While pondering a name for him, I considered the standard conventions used by the black flight. Males often end in -on, so that gave me something to work with. And then Damion popped into my head and it just felt right. Further contemplation reminded me that dragons often abbreviate their full names, so I added a syllable in the middle to make his full name Damarion, with Damion being the casual form. It worked perfectly.

And now...screenie spam! ^_^

 

 

Along Came a Spider

Hi everyone! Sorry about the mini-hiatus there. I have a small surprise today, one that I'd like to introduce you to. This is Stitch, and he's the newest addition to my stables. :)

 

Go ahead Stitch, say hello!

...

Rawr! Oh come on, it's alright. Introduce yourself to the nice people. *prods*

Honestly, he's really quite affectionate. Don't let his shyness offend you. He's very excited to meet you!

...I think we scared him off.

Erm, let's try this again shall we.

I'm sure some of you may be wondering where this random tarantula came from. To be honest, I've always felt like Vephriel should have a spider, but I could never settle on a particular one. I adore spiders in real life, and Veph is a character who is closely mirrored to me. The lack of an arachnid always nettled at the back of my mind, but none ever seemed to click with her. 

I hadn't considered the tarantula model though. I was always looking at the sleek, thin spiders. Zarakh came close, I adore the spiky models, but it's such a shame that they shrink down so much. The tiny size kills it for me, they practically look like a minipet after taming, and you can't see all the lovely details.

Zomg, brief intermission of tarantula swim since I just love the new animation Blizzard created for them! <3

*cough* Back to business...

After the recent swell of tarantula love (see Kalli's blog entry for the news!), I was once again reminded at how wonderful the creatures are and how much I wanted a special one for Veph. Although I had created an undead hunter named Spiders in order to grab one of each spider model in the game, I still had that longing for a single one on Vephriel.

I was not expecting a tarantula to suit her, for some reason her character seemed more fitting to a thin graceful spider. I was driven to try though, and after some consideration over colours I decided on the green. Not only did it match the blood elf eyes, but a green tarantula was actually the first pet I ever tamed in WoW. Back when I first began playing the game I had started with a night elf hunter. I was immediately drawn to the green tarantulas, one of the initial mobs you see in Teldrassil, and knew I wanted one when I could tame one. That spider was the first pet I really felt attached to, I thought the bright toxic colours were just fantastic looking.

So, with that memory in mind, Vephriel headed to Teldrassil specifically to tame Githyiss the Vile. Not only for the nostalgia factor, but also because I enjoy seeking individual beasts that are named or rare. They seem to have more personality, more of a presence. When the tame completed I could tell right away that there was a connection.

Another sign that this tame was meant to be was the fact that a name popped into my head almost instantly. Stitch was just there in my mind, waiting to be applied to my furry new friend. It could be reasoned that a spider stitches things up with its thread of webbing, but overall there's no meaning to the name. It just...worked. :)

Stitch has really warmed up to Veph, and I finally have that contented feeling of knowing a pet is truly a match. Now, I did have to let someone go in order to tame him. It may come as a bit of a shock, but I no longer have Syntax the blue wasp. As excited as I was about that colour, I once again found myself struggling to bond with the wasp. Just as Hypnotik lost his appeal in the past, I couldn't help feeling distant from Syntax. My love of the models and colours always spurned me to tame one, but I think they just weren't meant for Vephriel. I now know that a tarantula is what really suits her in the 'insect department', and I'm perfectly pleased to discover that.