(Warning. GIANT entry here. This is the process I went through before I even created my hunter. Call it OCD if you wish, I prefer to think of it as planning ahead. *winks*)

As I’ve mentioned, I love huntering almost as much as I love priesting. More, sometimes.My priest is fun because I contribute meaningfully to a group. After being squishy and helpless for so long, it feels unimaginably wonderful to be overpowered. To go out and feel nothing more than a vague irritation when a mob accosts me on my way, rather than the panic and frustration when my priest ventures out solo. To be an entire group all to myself - tank, healer, and dps - that, my friends, is true power. Relying on and assisting others is nice, but sometimes it’s also nice to be the one who can get things done.

Sure, I’ve got Khuuna, at level 70 and geared enough to be let into Kara (though not optimally pre-Kara geared, she’s pretty close). But where’s the fun in blogging about that, right?

So I started a baby hunter. For various reasons, not the least of which is the fact that I haven’t played horde in YEARS, I rolled on another server (Garona) as a dreadful hordie.

I had some options, as far as race was concerned. I could be troll, or orc, tauren, or blood elf.

I generally prefer female characters to males, so when choosinga race, I don’t have to concern myself with the males. I can concentrate soley on the females.

Female orcs are…let’s face it. Not pretty. There’s only one or two pretty orc faces, and they are sort of absurdly pretty. Like an ugly orc that went out and got botox. No orc should be that…cheerful. Plus, I don’t like any of the hair options except “bald”. I do like the bodybuilder form they’ve got, and I like the way they move, but….meh. No orc for me.

(Yes, I am aware of the absurdity of saying “Too ugly! And then, too pretty!” It’s my blog and I’ll paradox if I want to.)

Trolls? Again with the hideous faces! The pretty troll doesn’t look quite as out of place as the female orc, but after moving around a bit, I found I didn’t like her gait - she swings awkwardly from side to side as she moves, like a boat at sea. An unstable boat. I kept expecting her to randomly stumble and topple sideways.

I did love all the awesome jewel-toned hair options — but I don’t like watching her move across the screen. Not for me. *sigh*

Tauren, ah, I love the tauren. I love the culture, the way gear looks on them, they way they move…a definite maybe. My first toon was a tauren, and I still have a sweet spot in my heart for them.

Blood elves. Snooty little thing, but I like the way she moves, and she’s got a lot of pretty options for the character. I like the look of the tauren a bit better, I think, but the blood elf is another maybe.

So I’ve narrowed down my races to two, based entirely on aesthetics.

Could I have made a better choice for the purposes of min/maxing? Definitely - that bow skill on the trolls is very nice. And Blood Fury from an orc? Whew. Amazing. The races have no effect on your starting stats, but the racial skills can matter. [Edit : Untrue! Sonvar showed me that the various races do have differing starting stats ]

I know myself better than that. If I don’t like the way a character looks and moves, I will not be happy with them, regardless of anything else. Does that mean it’s a wrong choice to choose based on game mechanics?

What a silly question. Of course not. Especially for people less picky than myself, it’s a great way to help narrow down the choices.

Just because I’m making my decisions for my character based almost entirely on how something looks, that doesn’t make it the only way. It may be shallow, but it’s a video game, and I’m going to be staring at this character for a long time. I may as well enjoy it.

Okay, on to the pets. TOOONS of pet options. I load up my trusty petopia, and start to play. I spend a lot of time here, even when I’m not playing a hunter - I love looking at all the options, and I think the site is incredibly easy to use.

With pets, there are so many excellent choices that I can’t choose based on looks alone. That doesn’t narrow the playing field much. I can actually throw a bit of research and theorycraft in there to help me decide.

The most common way to differentiate between pet types is to look at their intended use. There are high armor pets, high health pets, middle-of-the-road pets, and high damage pets.

How am I going to be playing my hunter? I will be primarily grouping and providing dps in instances, but I may have to do some soloing. I know from experience that a cat makes a perfectly valid soloing pet, so I don’t think I need to worry about getting any of the tanky pets unless I really love them. And, in general, I don’t. I do like the looks of some of the high health and middle of the road pets, and most of the damage pets….hmmm, this isn’t really narrowing down the field for me much. Let’s try another tactic.

I went to Elitist Jerks and checked out their forums, but the Quick Links to Prominent Class Threads had only a single hunter link - and that leads to a stub of an article. [EDIT! Zasp gave me a link to the hunter spreadsheets on Elitist Jerks. For those who live for spreadsheet theorycraft.]

Ah, Elitist Jerks, you have failed me this time. Sure, there are probably other hunter threads there, but I don’t have time to spend a few hours searching for them and then through pages and pages of replies to pull out the relevant information.

What I need is a patsy. Someone who IS willing to do those hours and hours of research, and then post what they learned.

Back to Petopia! They’ve got some nice graphs detailing the differences between the pet families. Let’s see, there’s food problems - I probably don’t want anything that only eats bread or fruit, means I can’t forage for them. Course, I can just buy the stacks of petchow, but where’s the fun in that? Might be something to consider if I am down to the wire on choosing a pet.

Ah, there’s another at the bottom - the skills that each pet family can learn. I’ll be that’ll come in handy. I know I will almost certainly want something that can learn dash or dive, as patience is definitely not my strong suit. And a focus dump. BRK advocates a focus dump, such as claw or gore, over an ability like bite. If I can make that part of the equation, I’d like to.

I think I’m getting a little ahead of myself here. How about I do the same thing for the pets as I did for the race? Narrow down based on looks, then make a decision based on what’s left?

• Bat - in real life, I love bats. The in-game bats? Not so much. I don’t really like the way they look, or the way they fly. Not for me.
• Bear - Hmm, I actually kinda like the way the bears look and move. They are low dps pets, though, and I like a lot of the high dps pets, which would suit my play intentions better.
• Boar - if I was soloing, I’d be hard-pressed to find a better pet - the charge that they’ve got holds a mob RIGHT THERE, which is super-handy. Especially if you’ve had a cat that ran to a few feet from the mob and then decided to leisurely stroll the last bit. Take your time. No hurry. And then when it got there, it did a little tango with the mob as they tripped over themselves trying to get into position. “Oh, if I go to your…oh, sorry. Do you want the left, or..? Maybe we should start over, I’m so sorry, this is all my fault, really” - during which you, the hunter, slap your forehead and tap your foot, impatiently waiting for your pet to establish enough aggro to hold the dadblasted thing still for you. Boars never have this problem. They are, however, quite ugly in the face and have an odd hitch in their gait that I don’t like. They aren’t a dead no (I like them unless I look too closely at them) but not a preference.
• Carrion Bird - Despite their name, I DO like the way the new-headed carrion birds in Burning Crusade content look. Hate all the original content birds, and am not a fan of those tailfeathers, but I like the Burning Crusade head shape. Heads shape. Whatever..
• Cat - the most popular (and varied in look) pet available. Khuuna had a black and white pair of the lions - I looove the maned cats. However, I’ve already been a cat hunter. Been there, done that. I want to try something different this time. No kitty for me.
• Crab - Confession time - I think the crabs are adorable, especially when they swim. They have some really lovely colors, and are really rare to see at high levels. Unfortunately, they’re rare to see because they do even less dps than a normal non-dps pet. If I choose a crab, it’ll be for love of the cute little appetizers rather than out of practicality.
• Crocolisk - no. Nope, never, no way. I don’t like they way they look, the sounds they make, and I don’t trust that grin. I think they ought to have a special ability “Crocolisk pets have a small chance of turning on their owner and doing a death roll, should the hunter be foolish enough to take the crocolisk swimming.” Unique? You betcha. It is, however, definitely not for me.
• Dragonhawk - I do rather like the look of the pink valentine dragonhawks in Botanica. But aside from that glorious wingspan, I find the heads somewhat disturbing. I halfway expect them to pull a Mothman Prophecies on me and introduce himself as Indrid Cold. No thanks. I like to sleep at night.
• Gorilla - Jane Godall, I am not. I think they’re very neat pets, but they do not appeal to me, aesthetically. Never did like monkeys or gorillas, even in real life.
• Hyena - I love the cackle. Hate the face. And that half-limping gait. But I love that purring cackle!
• Nether Ray - These flying carpets with teeth are NOT cute. And they want to eat your face off.
• Owl - love owls. I truly do. I love the way they look, the way they attack, and I think the new color options in the Burning Crusade content look VERY nice. Not sure about having something flapping around the area that I normally keep my camera, though. Ever do the dailies out by Evergrove, with the wrangling? I HATE doing the wrangling. Can’t see a dadblasted thing with those monsters on ropes. If a flying pet is anything like that, it could be the most beautiful and useful pet in the game and I wouldn’t tame it.
• Raptor - now here’s an interesting thought. I like raptors. Maybe not love ‘em, but I do like them. The new raptor model that was introduced in Burning Crusade looks adorable enough to nibble. I call the new ones “Jolly Rancher Raptors” because their heads are square, they’ve got rounded edges, and you just KNOW that if you lick one, it tastes like watermelon. Raptors are high dps and well-regarded pets. A maybe.
• Ravager - I love ravagers. I know what you’re gonna say! They’re hideous! They move awkwardly, flolloping about like mattresses! They’re like…bugs! With spikes! Yes, well, I don’t care! I love ‘em, I think they’re the cutest things in the game. You have to realize, I am terrified of bugs in real life. Especially spiders. The sort of terror that one should really reserve for fear of nuclear war, or Gene Simmons or something. But I love game bugs. I love the undead bug-taurs, and the cute little maggot critters, and the beetle-mounts, and the random areas in Azeroth with all the wasps and whatnot. LOVE. <3<3 Yes, it’s odd, but I’m not questioning it. Every time I see one of those lightning bugs on the wall in a bug cave settle its wings, I go all tingly. So yes, I love the ravagers, in all their spine-twitching, hissing, and chittering glee. They’re also seen as being great damage pets, so they’re a good option for me. I couldn’t get one on Khuuna because she had pale pale skin and black hair, and none of the ravagers “looked” nice with her. This will come into play later on. Ravagers = love. I don’t care what you say.
• Scorpid - I like the scorpids, I think they move very cool and have that shiny carapace that I enjoy so much. But I don’t want to hug one. And I would totally hug a ravager. The bits I enjoy about scorpids are there and more in the ravagers. Sorry, Mr. Scorpid. You lose the popularity contest. *tentative consolation pat*
• Serpent - They look neat, but…just don’t do much for me. I’ve got nothing against them, just don’t have anything FOR them, either.
• Spider - the thick-legged spiders are okay. I can handle them, and could even call them cute. The thin-legged spiders? Especially the new ones, with the knobbly joints? *shudder* No. No nononono. *fingers in ears* I can’t heeeear you! Scariest thing in the game. Once they shrink down to hunter pet size, they manage to capture the essence of whatever it is that creeps me out about real life spiders. No. And if you tame a spider and walk up to me in game, for the sole purpose of freaking me out, I will ban you from my blog. I’ll do it! Don’t make me! *brandishes ban-hammer warningly*
• Spore Bat - I like the soft sprinkle of sparklies when they’re standing around. Not a fan of the way their attacks look, or their weakness in general. Still, if they came out with some new color combos, I might give it a try. SPARKLIES! *gestures wildly* Seriously. How can anyone resist?
• Tallstrider - I love the way the tallstriders look AND move. I wish there were more mild color options - I love the crazy colors, don’t get me wrong, but I like a bit more color coordination. The biggest problem on these guys? They can’t learn claw. And bite, by itself, just isn’t a very high damage skill. I do love the way they move, though.
• Turtle - big, bulky, and not very huggable. Despite this, they do manage to be cute. Another low damage pet, and I don’t like it as much as some of the others. Their “bored” animations are a ton of fun, though.
• Warp Stalker - Love everything about them - except how they look when they run. And how often do I put my character on walk? That’s right. Never.
• Wind Serpent - For soloing, I hate the wind serpent. He stops halfway to the mob and casts. Then what does the mob do? They run up to him. Granted, nowadays the dead zone for hunters isn’t as big as it used to be - pet and mob would probably still end up in shooting distance. But it means I wait even longer for them to establish aggro so I can start shooting. Patience really isn’t my strong suit. For instancing, he’d probably work out pretty well, but the damage he does aside from this lightning breath isn’t very impressive. Situationally strong - and I prefer a more stable pet. Some of ‘em look really cool though, I gotta admit.
• Wolf. There are two wolf models - the regular wolf and the “dire” wolf, as I call it. The dire wolf looks disgusting - he’s got extra hunks of hair that look like my friend from high school’s collie - matted and unkempt. Also, the gait has a definite hitch to it - like the wolf broke his hip when he was younger and has learned to work around it or something. The REGULAR wolf, on the other hand, is very nice. He always seems so…happy…to do whatever you ask. “Want me to go kill the thing? huh, huh, huh? I can go kill the thing, PLEEEASE let me go kill the thing!” His biggest downsides are no claw, limited color choices, and his furious howl can sometimes snag aggro on mobs, as it’s an aoe buff.

So where does that leave me? Raptors, ravagers, BC carrion birds, owls, regular wolves, crabs, bears, tallstriders.

Gonna toss out bears. I like ‘em, but I don’t love ‘em. Also gonna drop the tallstriders and wolves for having no claw. *sob*

So raptors, ravagers, bc carrion birds, owls, crabs.

Oh, another thing! Remember how I mentioned being impatient? You know what skill is GREAT for impatient hunters? Dash and dive. Oh yeah. I get quivers just thinking of it.

Crab, you adorable little cupcake, you cannot learn dash. Farewell, good crustacean!

So now that I’ve narrowed it down a bit, I’m gonna open up Petopia again and look at the specific skins for each of the families I liked. The ravagers especially seem to have an odd color palatte - lots of golds and reds, and greens, and a purple or two. No blacks and whites, no pastels or earthy tones. BC carrion birds also have that red/gold thing going on (with a green and white/black, just for giggles). Raptors appear to have a lot of earthy colors, and the red/gold again. Some muted colors in the jolly rancher raptors even, a very nice assortment to choose from. Owls mostly have muted earthy colors (except when it looks like Mardi Gras exploded on them).

Keeping that in mind, I go to the character creator. I’d decided on Tauren or Blood Elf for my race…let’s see what’s available, shall we?

Taurens, lots of muted colors. A black. The white has brown hair, that’ll be hard to match up…hmmm…grays, soft browns, goodness I love the spots, how cute are those? It’s like full body freckling.

…nothing that would look good with the ravagers except perhaps the solid black.

And when I made Khuuna, she was all whites and blacks. The tuxedo pets all looked great with her. But I want something different - I want to be able to try out more pets and have some leeway in case I change my mind. I was very hemmed in with Khuuna - tamed a gold ravager with her once and just didn’t like the color combo.

Blood Elves, as you’ve already guessed, lots of golds and reds and oranges. A few whites and blacks, but not many.

I looked at it for a long time, trying to find a way to make it work, and the dusty, earthy colors of the tauren just don’t match well with the pets that I chose.

With sadness, I crossed the tauren off my list. A moment of silence, for the hunter that never was.

…

So I rolled a belf, making sure her skin tone and hair color match with as many of the pets as I could. I decided to go with a soft orange hair color - a lot of the pets had that either as an accent color or as a major color.

I then spent an hour and a half going through various name possibilities before finding something that wasn’t taken and that I felt matched the personality I had in my head for her. She’s got short, spunky hair and a mischievous grin. No long, graceful name would suit this girl, no sir.

Finally, she was ready.

I hit the button, and Tayt was born.

So what was the purpose of this entry? It was so you could see how someone else makes a decision about characters. You can see the times when I was shallow, and the reasons I decided for or against something. Disagree with me on spiders or striders? Go right ahead!

But whatever you do, try to think ahead. If you are very lucky, you’re going to be stuck with this toon for a very very long time. You may as well like them.

This entry was posted on Thursday, March 27th, 2008 and is filed under DPSers, ~ Vonya. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.