Friday, July 29, 2011

A Return Home and a New Friend

Trailblaze

This all happened last night, but by the end of it all, I was way too tired to write anything, so that's why I am now. *blows dust off this thing* Near the end of last week, I ended up making one of the biggest mistakes of my life when it came to Toph's pets. I ended up releasing her vargul blighthound, Trailblaze, because I'd been angry at her for something I later realized wasn't her fault at all.

First mistake: I'd forgotten that Trailblaze is kind of a scardy cat when it comes to her personality.
Second mistake: I didn't have Teufel, my devilsaur, in my active party, and she always draws her courage from him.

I released her in Moonglade, which is where Toph had ICly been living at the time, and I thought nothing more of it as I went back to the Front in preparation to camp for Karkin which ended up not only being unsuccessful, but it was absolute hell for me to the point where I gave up due to griefers and a GM who screwed me over not once, but twice.

I then knew at least part of why my luck had turned utterly horrible: Teufel was mad at me for releasing Trailblaze in such an unfair manner as I had and he had somehow asked both Skarr and Karkin to teach me a very painful lesson. Though I'd successfully rehomed Skarr a handful of times over the weekend, on Monday morning, he had been in a particularly foul mood and ended up getting himself killed by an orc warrior. Apparently, he was the one who'd cursed me with my horrible luck, because I was griefed twice later that same day and later that night by the same draenei hunter. I submitted a ticket along with my good friend and a new hunter friend I'd made the night before oping that justice would end up served.

Not so.

After my griefing ticket had been screwed over, I tried submitting another asking for the restoration of Trailblaze since not only did I hope that bringing her back home would end my week of hell, but I was also missing her terribly because she'd been with me ever since Wrath, back when she and the rest of her kind originally thought of themselves as wolves before they finally realized what they truly were after The Shattering.

My ticket was finally answered last night... by the same damned GM who screwed me over again.

If not for Kalliope's quick thinking, I honestly would've quit the game last night because I was so pissed off and felt cheated. I was practically in tears as I kept telling her that I'd practically lost all faith in Blizzard (save for one certain person). She told me that she'd submitted her own ticket on the matter of my lost dog, and I had no idea if that would honestly work or not, and I don't know if it was out of anger or what, but I mentioned trying to take Teufel with me back to Zul'Drak in order to look for Trailblaze ourselves because she hadn't been restored.

The first hurdle was still to come though: Teufel. I'd been terrified of trying to take him out of the stable since last week, but Kalli told me to try, which I did after I'd worked up enough courage to face him.

He... wasn't mad at me. He was just upset and worried about Trailblaze, and that realization made me burst in to tears all over again. We then went to where I knew vargul blighthounds liked to hang out, while on Dethicus (sp?), Kalli was helping me look. Teufel kept ignoring every blighthound I'd stop to look at, and when one attacked me, he killed it without any hesitation because none of them were Trailblaze. Kalli then told me she found a blighthound she'd never seen before, on the border to Crystalsong Forest near the steps, so I headed over there.

Teufel's eyes were practically glued to this blighthound, and I started getting a feeling of recognition, though I was still unsure. Then the devilsaur emote involving stomping the ground came up, which rarely ever does, and I knew that he was trying to get her attention. He did, and she turned and the two of them were looking at each other for a good minute before she turned away and began pacing again. All this time, Teufel had been completely silent, and he's never quiet. But when he and this blkighthound looked at each other for as long as they had, I finally knew... that this was Trailblaze.

I told Teufel to stay back before I tried to coax Trailblaze to come back home, and she bounced towards me before slowing herself to a walk the last few steps. She bit Toph pretty hard which I took to be her telling me "Don't you ever do that to me again." and I promised her that I wouldn't, and she leant against Toph in forgiveness. It didn't take long for her to return to her hyper, bouncy self, and Taufel was ecstatic that she was finally home, because he started roaring his head off like he always does. I told myself I'd never separate them ever again because of how much they care for each other even though they're not the same species. I, of course, thanked Kalli for her hand in helping me get my girl back, and I know I'll never be able to make it up to her.

 I caught the zeppelin to Undercity to check the fishing and cooking dailies for the ones I hadn't done yet. The fishing daily ended up being Tadpole Terror, which is one I needed, so I  took Blaze down to the lake so we could spend some time together... while her constant barking and bouncing scared away the fish.

 Sugar

I eventually got the daily done, though, and since I was in the Eastern Kingdoms, I remembered that I'd told Kalliope that if I was ever on that continent, I'd go pay Chitter a visit because I'd yet to see him in the game.

Little did I know what I was getting myself into.

After arriving in Chiselgrip, I flew down to Redridge, and Kalli told me where to find Chitter, and I responded that I'd come down from the north. She told me Chatter hung out in the north near Lakeshire, so I decided to go pay him a visit first, but unfortunately, he was asleep since it was pretty late. I proceeded to head to where Kalli told me I could find Chitter -- and he was there by his little tree!

Trailblaze and I sat there watching him for a bit while Kalli and I were talking about how adorable he was and how Trailblaze was actually calm for once since she'd never seen anybody as hyperactive as herself before. Then... it happened. I started thinking about walking out of Redridge with Chitter (and Kalli was no help in this, either XD), but my active party was full, so I flew out to Bogpaddle and stabled Jada before returning to find Chitter still running about. After telling Trailblaze to stay back, I talked Chitter into going home with me, and I nicknamed him Sugar not only because of how hyper he is but because of his endearing personality.

Even though I absolutely love tarantulas off the game, in game, I'd never tamed one on any of my hunters, and as Kalli said: I just needed to find the right tarantula, and I finally have. Welcome to my stables, Sugar.

Tuesday, March 1, 2011

Hawkbane: A Tale of Plight and Influence.

I know I posted this in a thread on the forums, but I wanted to post a slightly altered/updated version here in my blog about the tiger who means so much to me:

Sure he was just another white tiger, sure he was just an elite who looked like a carbon copy of King B, but that cat has come to mean so much to me over the past few years even though I never got to tame him nor even see him in the game before his untimely disappearance. The first time I ever laid eyes on this cat was in a screenshot which accompanied a blog from a dwarf huntress saying that she hated that cat. I couldn't help but wonder why she did, except that he must've been quite a challenging tame, and even though he looked like King B's twin, I really liked him despite that, and I absolutely adored his name. That was when I knew that I absolutely had to have that cat.

At that time, Toph was a draenei shaman and I was struggling to like the class, but I gave up, deleted her, and changed her into a blood elf huntress who's sole interest was cats, and her eventual goal and greatest challenge - Hawkbane. I leveled her as fast as I could, and I don't remember how far I'd gotten with her, but it wasn't very far since I still played other characters at the time as well, and I wasn't even remotely close to being able to set foot in Outland when I learned that Hawkbane had been removed from the game.

I was heartbroken.

Toph ended up shelved for a long time after that because my sole reason for playing her had been removed without any clear explanation, but part of me never gave up hope that perhaps, one day, he would make a return. Sure I still played her once and a while, but I knew that I'd lost my reason to do so until I remembered about Takk the Leaper, who became Toph's main pet alongside Dishu. Pets came and went as I tried to find her complete stable, and even Dishu ended up being released in order to find the right balance as Toph's interest in pets shifted from cats to reptiles in my futile attempt to get Hawkbane off my mind. It didn't feel right, though, nothing I tried did. Again, Toph was shelved in favor of other characters as I struggled to find someone to be my main, but my mind kept going back to her, and eventually, she was level seventy. I managed to quest in Skettis on another hunter of mine, Atreja, but I never really felt at ease there because I knew that someone was missing, but what could I do about it? Hawkbane was gone and probably doomed to stay that way.

Then Wrath was released, and I learned of King Krush, and given a reason to level Toph again, but things kept stopping me. At that time, another hunter of mine, Zerai, was my main, and I guess you could say that I wasn't motivated enough by Krush to level Toph because I was afraid of him up and disappearing like Hawkbane had. That never happened, though, and eventually, I ended up playing Toph with my boyfriend and his brother, and we ended up getting to 76 before they both quit for some reason, and again, Toph was shelved in favor of Zerai. Then, I learned that Bestial Wrath would be getting nerfed and elites level 75 and higher would be getting a buff to their damage, so I knew I had to hurry and level now or I'd never get to tame him. I didn't want to lose my chance with him like I'd lost it with Hawkbane. Somehow I managed to get Toph to 80 in time, and after five stressful days of searching, help and moral support from my best friend, a pleasant surprise in Loque'nahak, and the help of a nice priest, Krush was finally mine and I was happy because Toph was now my main, and I was comfortable about it. Hawkbane had become nothing more than a faint, sad memory to me... or so I'd thought.

Then, I tried to go back to Outland and do Skyguard rep on Toph.

It was... uncomfortable... for me being in Skettis on her and her Skyguard rep still isn't finished even now.

I once ran into somebody who either had the real deal or just a white tiger named Hawkbane, but it... still hurt. A lot. I stopped in my tracks when I saw him, just stared at him, then I turned and ran away from him as fast as I could go because it hurt me that much. Somebody else... had my cat... and I could never have him myself, ever.

Fast forward to the revelation of Cataclysm and the revelation of 25 stable slots. I was happy along with everyone else since I could finally have so many pets I didn't have room for previously and shiny new pets recently made tamable after years of waiting, and I even finished most of the Skyguard quests in order to tame Gezzarak because I've always liked her. Then the actual expansion was released, and having learned about Jadefang, I leveled Toph as fast as I could in order to tame her, eventually overcoming my hatred of Deepholm and learning that I actually liked that zone. Jadefang came home on Christmas Eve, then right before New Year's Eve, Toph tripped over Sambas and tamed him as well. Her stables have shifted quite a bit, and even though I loved all these additions, her stable wasn't and would never be truly complete.

Fast forward to the beginning of February and the revelation that a big chunk of previously MIA pets are coming back, and then it suddenly hit me and everything came flooding back.

Hawkbane.

Everyone was coming back but him, and I had to do something about that... or at least try to.

I swallowed all my fear and mustered every ounce of courage I had and made two threads, one on the Petopia forums, and one on the official US hunter forums. The one on the Petopia forums ended up with really good results, which practically floored me, while the other...yeah... let's not go into that.

The following day after making my threads, I'd gone back to Skettis with my best friend to finally release my Gezzarak because despite how much I like her, we just weren't bonding, and I knew she would never be able to replace Hawkbane. I released her at the same skull pile I'd tamed her at the day the Shattering patch went live, then I did something I'd never been able to do before... I took my best friend to Blackwind Valley, to show her the cave where Hawkbane once lived.

I've never cried so hard over a pet in this game ever.

Even though I never got to meet him or even see him in the game before his removal, Hawkbane has been a constant presence within my mind all these years, and though I feel a bond between us, I'm just not really sure how to describe it except it's like waiting and hoping to finally meet a friend after so long. I feel, I know, that he's.... my cat... and if I didn't try to do anything about his disappearance, who would have? Gezzarak got her chance, the red warpstalkers got their chance, Death Ravager got his chance, so why can't Hawkbane get another chance, too?

Toph's years-long bond with her Takk the Leaper, Jet, also came to an end, but I'm okay with that. I released him in the exact spot I'd tamed him all those years ago close to the Sludge Fen in the Northern Barrens, with my best friend by my side to give me the support I needed for this. Jet walked by her side all these years in Hawkbane's stead since he couldn't and we both know that because if and when Hawkbane ever makes his return, he'll finally be able to come home. With the recent addition of Sulik, the black Madexx, to Toph's stables; however, I feel that Jet's not gone. I don't know how to really explain it, but I feel that Sulik is Jet in a new body with a new name, but that's a different story entirely.

Fast forward to a few days ago, and threads about the PTR had been popping up, and I was floored to see one thread I'd been hoping for: Hawkbane was back! But in what skin? I remember having talked to Kalliope and a few other people in my old thread about how interesting it would be if Hawkbane came back as a dawnsaber, and with this on my mind, I took a deep breath and clicked on the thread title...

Only to nearly lose it when I saw the huge white tiger with the wingless silver dragon border around his name happily munching away on a dead arakkoa. Hawkbane was Hawkbane!!! He wasn't some strange skin I'd have to get used to, he was himself!! I admit that not seeing a winged golden dragon border around his name anymore still makes me arch a brow, but I'm getting used to it. I'm just so, so happy that he'll be coming home once the patch hits Live. Even if I end up camping who knows how long for him.

Hawkbane's finally got his second chance at life. He'll finally... finally... be coming home, and I couldn't have done this without all the support I'd gotten over on the Petopia forums.

Saturday, February 26, 2011

Madexx, the Therapeutic Scorpid.

He is for me, at least. I've been having a very, very horrible morning and my stress levels are pretty much through the roof to the point where my chest is tightening and I'm on the verge of a panic attack. Pretty much, I just want to find a dark cave and crawl into it to hide myself from the world.

I haven't had much sleep for the past two days because of shitty weather and other things, but I won't go into that since that's not what this post is about since this is supposed to be a blog about Warcraft pets, after all.

Since I was woken up early, I got on earlier than usual and it was a few minutes before dailies would reset, so I decided to fly around Uldum, and out of habit, I flew over the Sekhet Wastes while mousing over the red dots there, and Madexx happened to be up and he was black this time. The only other hunter in Uldum was 83, a level too low, so I landed and tamed him not only because I didn't want him killed, but because I just couldn't believe that I'd run into him again so soon.

Welcome to my stables, Sulik.

This is the second time he's been there for me when I've been feeling like my life's falling apart, the first was when Fallout, my bronze, came into my life. Antares, my blue, I happened to trip over by sheer luck, but she's as special to me as Fallout and Sulik are and she'll always be equal with them. Lots of people over on the Petopia forums call Madexx a special scorpid, and I've always believed them, and I definitely do now because it's true.

Thursday, February 10, 2011

So much in hardly two days.

 I really need to remember that I have this blog now even though I still post over on the Petopia forums so I don't have to cram several entries into one post like this. @_@

Twin Suns

A day late since I had to catch up on sleep, but I still can't believe that I ended up taming Pogeyan not once, but twice on the same hunter, within mere hours of each other. I'm glad I helped Taluwen tame Pogeyan for her worgen, so all I need to do now is to find her again for J. I love my two golden kitties, and I plan on leveling them at the same time and I'll never have them separated from each other.

Scorpid Redux

This morning, I ran into Madexx again, and he was blue. o_o There was nobody in sight so I tamed him, and now Fallout has a sister named Antares. Even though I originally wanted green for Toph, I'm really happy with the two she has since they're so different from each other. Bronze is so earthy, while blue reflects the starry sky, and they were also the first  two colors revealed during the Cataclysm beta, which makes it even more awesome.

Letting Go

Noon today, I tried fencing some gear over to my mage Alliance-side with the help of my best friend, but some asshat rogue ended up snapping up the blue sandals. Luckily, that's all they got because my best friend and I stopped afterwards. This put me in a rather sour mood, and I decided that it was finally time for Toph to say goodbye to her oldest companion and dearest friend, Jet.

The reason I released him is because I felt my bond with him beginning to ebb over the past few weeks, so I knew that my time with him was coming to an end, especially since Toph's true defining pet, Hawkbane, will hopefully be returning to the game soon. I took Jet to the exact spot where I'd tamed him back during the early days of BC, and I cried, but I didn't cry as much as I thought I would. I was... okay. Takk's time by Toph's side may now be at an end, but I plan on picking him back up soon on Toph's daughter, Rhilla though this time, Takk will be a female this time, Jet's daughter, to be precise.

Monday, February 7, 2011

The Big Patch Cometh?

I'm hoping so, even though I have a friggin' doctor's appointment around the time the game's supposed to come back up. GRR. So much for being the first person on Shadow Council to tame the Ravasaur Matriarch like I'd been hoping. Same goes for Pogeyan over on Moon Guard. Ah well, as long as I find them, it's all good.

I'll make a real post about my pets sometime soon, I promise and one of these days, I'll figure out how to post pretty screenshots in my posts like Kalli and Veph both do.