My fanaticism about animals has finally gone overboard.  It’s understandable when certain real-life traits carry over into an MMORPG atmosphere.  Afterall, people know best how to roleplay characters that are like themselves in some form or another.  A neat freak might will be compelled to keep their bags and spell books in order.  Someone obsessed with green might make a point to collect green armor pieces.  But when one’s inclination, against all common sense rationality, hampers their gaming strategy, an intervention may be warranted.

My problem is that I get silly about animals.  I love pets.  Dogs, cats, snakes, rats, they play an important part in my life.  Chinchillas, chameleons, geckos, fish, raccoon, deer, guinea pigs, pigs, horses, goats, cows, turtles… I watch Animal Planet regularly (did anyone else see the Puppy Bowl during Super Bowl Sunday?!  Puppies playing on a model football field!  Brilliant!).  High-pitched squeally noises and cooing are commonplace when there’s an animal in my vicinity (unless, of course, that animal happens to be particularly demanding of respect and dignity. I know a certain cat who gets the most pointed look of disgust on his face when you get too cutesy with him).

All of this is peachy, or at least was until I started playing a hunter in World of Warcraft.  Naturally, after reading a little bit about hunters and their pets, it seemed a perfect fit for me.  How could I resist charming and training pets in-game? 

Skade, the purple-haired orc huntress, was born.  Level 10 seemed to creep slowly under the weight of my anticipation (hunters are not trusted with pets until that coming-of-age) but soon I was able to take the first steps towards being a proud pet owner.  They had me practice my skills on scorpions, boars and crabs.

Then finally I was encouraged to go out and seek my own kindred animal spirit.  The taming process is basic.  You get the target animal to attack you and then you cast a charm spell.  The spell itself takes a looong time to cast, especially since the animal is hitting you all the while.  But if you manage to maintain your concentration, you can succeed in taming the creature which means it will follow you around and obey basic commands. 

My first furry friend was an alpha wolf from Mulgore whom I named Blades (I thought Skade’s Blades sounded cool).  He was really just a pup and thus a perfect pet for my low skill level.

As long as I fed him well and regularly, he stayed by my side.  We fought the world together and our mutual trust grew.  Pets have loyalty levels that increase over time if you treat them well.  Before I knew it, Blades was Loyalty Level 6, and thusly dubbed my “Best Friend”.

It’s not unusual for hunters to get their pets to Level 6 loyalty, but it’s unusual for the hunter themselves to get similarly attached.  The best course of action is to get the best pet for your level group, train with them, learn their skills if possible, and move on.  But in order to “move on”, you can do one of two things.  Either put your pets into a stable (you can only ever have 2 pets stabled at once, so the maximum number of pets a hunter can have at one time is 3), or ABANDON them.  That’s the actual command.  “Abandon”!  This is why I don’t watch Animal Cops or Animal Precinct.  I can’t stand to see animals abandoned or neglected, not even in-game! So far, I have been incapable of abandoning any of my pets.  This is when I begin to think that WoW’s nomenclature is intentionally manipulating my delicate sensitivities…

I love Blades so I’m not prepared to let him go.  Easy enough.  I stabled him.  But then I went to get my next pet and I promised myself I wouldn’t become attached.  I tamed a large snapping turtle, named him Snapsorz, then played long enough with him to learn Bite, his special turtle skill.  But when it came time to move on and tame a bear, I couldn’t do it.  I was saved from making a decision when a friend of mine logged onto my account and Snapsorz ended up running away.

Since then I have gotten two more pets, both of them big cats.  Aleister (short for Aleister Meowley) is a named lion from Mulgore named “The Rake” and he’s supposed to be the best pet for my level group because he’s really fast.  Then another friend of mine got the Echeyakee quest which involves summoning a big white lion.  He’s so cool looking that I just had to go along and tame him. 


So now I’ve got 3 pets and I don’t know what I’m going to do.  The main way you improve your pets is by taming other animals and learning their skills from them so you can teach them to your pet.  For example, bears have Claw.  In order for my wolf Blades to learn Claw, I need to tame a bear and learn it from him.  But then that would mean I’d have to abandon the bear later!  AAAHH!  I can’t make myself do it!  Maybe I’m too much of a softie to play a hunter in WoW…

Oh well.  I’m in too deep to go back!  At the very least I need to give my white lion a good name so that when I’m high level I can justify having a gimpy pet by pointing to his super cool name.  Any suggestions?