Decisions, Decisions.

Like many hunters out there, I've been taking a good hard look at my main hunter, Tzia of Deathwing, trying to figure out exactly which pets to be carrying with me into the next expansion. I know we will get a total of four stable slots with one pet active (for a total of five usable spots), along with three pet talent trees and the exotic pets. Counting quickly, that's one pet of each type (Cunning, Ferocity, Tenacity) plus an Exotic. I'm going to be remaining BM, so the Exotic will have and maintain a spot, even if I end up switching to MM or gods-forbid I figure out how to work Survival.

My current stable contains: Ruka, the Frostsaber Pridewatcher; Truffles, the Ashmane Boar; and Dae, the turquoise tallstrider (aka Strider Clutchmother). Right now I've got a Ferocity, a Tenacity, and a Ferocity. Dae is going to be my "vanity pet" which I might add, is named after a certain Boomchicken I know... That's three of the five slots taken up right now.

Cunning
I will want a cunning pet- I'm thinking a bird of prey, specifically a bald eagle look... love the look, will figure out how to tolerate the flappy mess that is a flying bird. Heck, I'm even considering shifting the Clutchmother, even though I grabbed it today and swapping brightly colored tallstrider for the eagle, and just naming that Dae. It would fit... believe me, it would fit still. ^_^ As you can see, I'm not too attached to the Tallstrider; and I was threatening the Boomchicken with the pink version - yes, a freaking flamingo/lawn ornament named Dae. I decided to be nice and instead grab the blue-green one. But we shall see.

Tenacity
I'll put the Eagle/Tallstrider on the back burner for now and instead come to another issue that has been brewing in the back of my brain ever since the OMG Ruka Post. I said there that I wouldn't neccesiarilly need Truffles, the wonder pig anymore if Ruka is maintaining agrro. That's true, though Truffles is a super little tank, The Guy has a boar named Barrel- who he's had from level 10 onwards, seriously, no other pet. I've had Truffles since about level 49 and it took from 49 -68 for me to name the boar. I don't have the same rapport with the boar that I have with Ruka. I also grabbed a boar because boars were the only thing with Charge, and charge + growl rocked. With Charge moving to other pets, I want to break away from having a boar and instead try something different out as a Tenacity Pet.

Warp Stalkers have always held my attention, they are pretty, have a dino/lizard thing going on and if I keep fish on hand, Ruka and the Warper would both have a diet they could share - if I even need the mass qualities of food I've been taking in the past. Though, I've never really liked the Warp ability... I mean, if the thing has warp, why train dash/charge onto it? And, if I cut the family ability off the pet... why grab a warp stalker again? Eh. It would basically be a boar, minus the family ability.

None of the bears look nice enough for me to want one. Giant Bear Butt... um no. Gorilla, um... again no. Now, a Turtle? Maybe, just mabye, as long as I can get ahold of a gray one with the pink shell. I like the look of those, but the ability wasn't all that great for tanking at times, though there are hunters out there that swear by their lil turtles.

A turtle is definitely on the test-this-all-out list once the patch goes live. I will be buying an extra stable slot right away, no problem, so I will be able to test away without losing any of my current pets.

Ferocity
When it comes to Ferocity Pets? I already know exactly who will fill that role for me. Ruka. I wanted her at level nine, I aimed my hunter towards 59 and got her, even abandoning Rak'shiri in the process - yes, I know, Rak'shiri is the bomb to a number of hunters out there, but I just happened to get lucky and run across Rak while in Winterspring. Instead of killing the cat, I tamed it instead and worked with it for a while, dragging it out into Outlands with me just to see how well a cat would perform. It passed with flying colors, then I hit level 59 and abandoned Rak in Winterspring and went for my true choice. The other Ferocity pets won't even stand a chance here, there is no question.

Exotic
When it comes to Exotics of all the categories, my eye is on one type, and one type only : corehound. I don't want an orange one, or a green one, nope, I want the Kurken from Azuremist. So guess where I will more than likely be going come patch launch? Yep, Azuremist Isle after a Kurken... and hopefully I won't get killed too many times in the process of trying to get ahold of him. No clue what I'll name him though, but I'll figure something out.

Conclusion
When it comes to pets, I'll admit, I've had more than the average hunter, not counting the temp pets that I tamed to learn a skill off and then got rid of. Though, for lasting pets? Cats have been a large part of my hunter existence. I love my purple kitty. And it shows. Ruka has been the pet I wanted from the start, she'll be next to me when I step into Northrend, and probably feel right at home in all the snow and ice while my lil troll self will be wishing it was 85 degrees out and a palm tree was in sight, dang it. Arthas? You will be mine, just for forcing me to come to a gods-forsaken icy wasteland just to waste your sorry carcass!