Okay, Pike's Gonna Sit You Down

And tell you a little story to make a point.

With all my spec testing lately and my latest entry on how my "relationship" to my pet, playstyle-wise, varied according to spec, I fear I may have accidentally given off some false impressions. So, I'm gonna clarify.

There are hunters of all specs who love their pets.

There are also hunters of all specs who really don't care very much either way. This includes some BM hunters who are BM only for the numbers, for example.

The point that I was trying to make in my last post, is that I missed the feeling of splitting my damage with my pet. I missed knowing he was doing 35% of my DPS. It felt awkward knowing that the damage responsibility was basically squarely on my shoulders. It felt lonely to me.

When I say that, I am not at all trying to discredit the relationship you lovely MM and SV hunters have with your pets, or say that they aren't important.

Tawyn was my first ever character and she was Marksmanship until level 55-ish.

The reason is because I had no idea what I was doing or what a spec was. So I asked my friends what to do with these newfangled talent points. At this point I'd actually started putting points into BM already but two different people completely mocked the idea of me spec'ing BM and told me Marksman was the way to go, so I promptly changed course and followed their advice.


Up I went through that talent tree and my owl Tux was there the entire way. He was my feathery little pocket tank. He was my leveling buddy. He didn't dish out a lot of damage but he held aggro like a champ. I loved him dearly. I loved him just as much then, as a Marksman hunter, as I do now as a Beast Master hunter.

Really though, I was hungrily eyeing the Beast Mastery tree the entire time I was leveling. Heck, I went off and made Lunapike so I could have a BM hunter that my friends didn't have to know about. There is a reason why I gave her a red kitty pet, aside from the fact that I think they're cute. It was a conscious, symbolic choice because Lunapike was going to be my BM hunter.


That Little Red Kitty is level 70 now, by the way.

Anyways, back to Tawyn. I finally said "Ya know what, screw everybody else. I don't care if they're going to call me a noob now. I'm respec'ing." So I did, and I'd like to say that I didn't look back.

...except I did look back, once. Because it sort of scared me at first. Tux went from being my pocket tank to being this Big Red Owl of Doom. He was doing as much DPS as I was at the time, if not more. "I've created a monster!" I thought. I spent about a level as BM and then spec'd back to my Marksman safety zone. Tux went back to being my mild-mannered companion. All was well.

Then I started to miss the whole "fast and furious" playstyle of BM and the idea that Tux could be more than just my tanky friend. We could fight alongside each other, each doing equal damage. We could be unstoppable, together.

Together we went through the Dark Portal and stepped into Outlands and that is when I spec'd to Beast Mastery for good and since then I haven't looked back. I wouldn't have it any other way at this point. We fight together. He isn't just there to keep the mobs away from me. He is there to buff me with his Ferocious Inspiration so I can in turn buff him with Kill Commands and tons of Focus, and we both act as an elegant killing machine, as One.

I have a special relationship with my pets as a Beast Master hunter. But that doesn't mean I love them any more than I did when I was Marksman. That doesn't mean I don't value them any more than I did when I was Marksman (although in a gameplay sense, obviously you do have to value them somewhat more =P)

When I was experimenting with non-BM specs in Beta, I felt a certain detachment to my pets in terms of there not being nearly so much hunter/pet synthesis (one procs something for the other) and the reason I was forgetting Mend Pet is probably largely because I was busy trying to work out new rotations. Anyways, that is what I missed about being BM. I missed the hunter/pet synthesis. I didn't love the pets any less just because I shuffled talent points around. That would be silly.

So! That is your Pike-story for the day. Hunters everywhere love their pets, and that is the way it should be. Just wanted to clarify that. Thank you, as always, for your comments and support and I will see you all next time.

[WotLK Beta] He's back.

Conversation From a Few Months Ago...

Me: "So guess what, I heard that in Wrath of the Lich King, I'll be able to tame those big dinosaurs from Un'Goro."
Boyfriend: "Really?"
Me: "Yep!"
Boyfriend: "...can you do me a favor?"
Me: "What?"
Boyfriend: "Tame one of those... and name it Wash."

The Case for Windserpents

At the risk of sounding horribly banal, I do really like cat pets. Perhaps not as much as The Kitty Collector does, but I still like them a lot. They're classy, come in a lot of varieties of color and overall "type", and they're cute when they stretch and yawn.

But when it comes down to it, I think my favorite pet family may very well be...



The Windserpent.

Windserpents are sleek. They're mystical. They have the whole Quetzalcoatl thing going on. They're sort of like dragons, but sort of like snakes, both of which fall into the "Things I Like" category.

They are tamable by hunters, and each of my "main" hunters has one: Lunapike tamed Arikara, summonable by a quest in Thousand Needles, who retains a lovely quality to bamf in with a poof of smoke when summoned. And Tawyn solo-tamed a ZG Soulflayer in what was quite a little adventure-- I then painstakingly leveled this pet up from 61 to 70 mostly via the Quel'danas dailies.

One thing I have noticed, though, is the amount of people who will ask me why I use Windserpents. I have had comments and e-mails to this effect, and people who approach me in game and, like a parent giving their kid "the talk", gently tell me I should be using a cat or ravager instead.

So I'm here to tell you some stuff about Windserpents and why I use them. There are two big reasons.

1.) I like them. And come on, why are you a hunter? So you can get a pet you like, foshizzle. I do not judge hunters on pet type. You should be using what appeals to you, first and foremost.

2.) There is a point where Windserpents start to out-DPS cats/ravagers/raptors.

"...hold the phone! What did you just say?"

You heard me. I don't know how many of you watched SK-Gaming's Kil'Jaeden Kill Video but you may have noticed that two of the hunter pets in that movie were Windserpents. You may have similarly noticed that a lot of these Black Temple/Sunwell/super-endgame movies involve Windserpent pets. Why do you think this is?

Let's look a little deeper.

The reason why cats/ravagers/raptors do lots of DPS in a raid, is because a.) they have a naturally high damage output, and b.) they have an easily spammable focus dump move in the form of either Claw or Gore, each of which costs 25 focus. Gore has a chance to do double damage on occasion, which is why if you are a min/maxer, ravagers are superior to cats and raptors.

Now let's look at Windserpents. They come with a high natural DPS, but not quite as high as cats/ravagers/raptors. And their focus dump move, Lightning Breath, costs 50 focus rather than 25. So this, at first, puts Windserpents at a distinct disadvantage.

But wait, Lightning Breath does a lot of damage. A lot more than Claw or Gore. And you should see it when it crits.

And if you have points in both Bestial Discipline and Go for the Throat, and you are critting enough, you will reach a point where you will, on average, be feeding your Windserpent enough focus for him to keep spamming Lightning Breath and that is when your Windserpent will begin to out-DPS a ravager.

When you reach this point is somewhat hazy and gear-dependent but it is generally accepted that somewhere between 30%-35% crit your Windserpent should start to pull ahead. If you are a newer or still-leveling hunter, you might think that sounds like a rather forbiddingly high crit chance for a non-Survival hunter. But it's definitely not hard to obtain even in the early raids.

This is me, fully-raid buffed, in my latest Karazhan run:



And that's without a feral druid (extra 5% crit) and without a shaman's Grace of Air totem.

Now, I don't have any numbers or hard proof, but I can tell you that going to Karazhan with Eltanin the Windserpent certainly feels like I am doing a little more DPS than I usually do with Locke the Kitty. Am I really? I don't know, and it's hard to say. A DPS test like this would require much repetition like any science experiment to hammer out some nice solid number averages.

But I do know that Windserpents do a lot of DPS.

And I do know that if you ask me in-game or in an e-mail why on Azeroth I'm using a Winserpent... if it's on Tawyn, it's because when I'm raid-buffed, my Windserpent does just as much DPS as my kitty, if not more, and if it's on one of my lowbie-hunters, it's cause I just plain like Windserpents.

And that, as they say, is that.

(Closing notes: If you are seriously interested in trying out the Windserpent-goodness for yourself, keep a couple things in mind: Firstly, some Windserpents have undesirable "caster" stats, so stay away from those-- Petopia will tell you which is which. Secondly, you may notice certain Macros that include Lightning Breath, you may want to look into those if you are into the whole Macro thing-- it makes it so your Windserpent does not move to cast it. Thirdly, Lightning Breath has been shown to interfere with certain elemental Shaman things, so if you run with one of those, you may want to bring your kitty/bug instead.)

So You Want to Play a Hunter? Part 4

Thanks for the comments on my last video. There were some concerns that the technique used in the video was hard to understand, which I was afraid of, but I went ahead and tried it anyway. I also had some concerns that the movie did not go "in-depth" enough with techniques for kiting, but in all honesty, the movie was supposed to be intended for a new hunter who isn't level ten yet (or who has never kited before) so hopefully it was okay for me to have skipped some of the more "advanced" tactics.

So you've hit level ten. Yay! Two different important things can happen now: you can use your talent points, and you can tame your pet.

Talent Points:

Before you, you see three possible talent trees to put your points in. I'ma summarize them really quickly: Beast Mastery focuses on making your pet stronger (and eventually making you shoot much faster), Marksmanship focuses on increasing your own Ranged Attack Power, and Survival focuses on critting a lot and using various tricks to survive or help out your party. You could say that Beast Mastery shoots faster but for less per hit, Marksmanship shoots slower but for more per hit, and Survival is slower and does less per hit, but crits all the time. Pick your playstyle!

If you are just starting a hunter and want to get it to endgame, then you should be aware of the fact that the Marksman tree is currently considered to be a rather weak tree compared to the other two; although hopefully this will be remedied (or at least improved a little) in WotLK. It's not such a big deal for leveling though.

In all honesty I do not see there as being a "one true spec" for leveling. They are all going to be reasonably effective. Beast Mastery is often seen as "the leveling" spec because it makes your pet more of a tank and thus you have little downtime, but Tawyn actually leveled Marksmanship until level 55 or so, and had absolutely no problems (though that was before the Growl-changes, so it may be different now). I regret to say I haven't leveled a Survival Hunter past level 17 because I've been so busy with other goals I want to accomplish, but I imagine that leveling Survival, while maybe not as fast as BM or Marks, is still going to be handy because you will rarely die. That is just my conjuncture, however!

A while back Znodis did a lot of testing and found that an interesting BM/MM hybrid (enough MM for Trueshot, then everything else in BM) was actually probably the best spec in terms of grinding and pet threat generation, but it might have changed since then with the growl changes. Regardless, his thoughts are worth a look if you are okay with crazy hybrid specs.

In all honesty I think you should level up in the talent tree that you find most interesting.

If you do want my advice, I am going to say Beast Mastery, and I am going to say spec something like this. Yes, it's a different talent spec than the "leveling spec" I posted a few months back. But I sort of waver on my own personal opinions of a leveling spec, so I change it up a lot. Anyways, the one I posted is basic cookie-cutter 41/20/0 but with some twists that hone it more for leveling and soloing: namely, you swap out Improved Aspect of the Hawk and Improved Revived Pet for Endurance Training and Thick Hide, which are considerably more useful for leveling. I am still thinking about the possibility of Catlike Reflexes instead of Ferocious Inspiration-- I know it sounds like blasphemy, but for leveling it's not a bad choice at all and I wouldn't knock you for it (so long as you respec later if you are going to be instancing/raiding).

If you are still unsure of what you want to do with your talent points and want some time to think about it, but also want to start putting your points somewhere, I'm gonna tell you to put five points in Lethal Shots in Marksmanship and then come back at level 15 (you'll hopefully have decided by then). Heck, all my hunters level Beast Mastery and almost without fail I put the five points in Lethal Shots first. But that's maybe cause I'm a crit fiend.

Anyways, I don't want to go massively in-depth on the subject of leveling talent points, but I might do that in a later post if enough people are interested or think it's a good idea.

Pets:

Pets! Yay! My favorite part of playing a hunter!

First of all, be aware of the fact that you will have to do your pet quest in your race's homelands; at the first major town you encounter after you leave the level 1-5 starting zone. So yes, that means that if you pulled a Tawyn and ran your Night Elf to Elwynn Forest at level six, you will have to go aaaaall the way back to Teldrassil.

The pet quest itself is pretty simple and involves you going and "taming" a few different test pets that the quest giver will tell you to tame. You will do this for three different pets until you are given the skill to tame pets permanently. Then you are sent to your home city (Ironforge, Thunder Bluff, etc. depending on your race) to pick up a couple extra (and necessary! Do not skip this step) skills and then you will be good to go!

"Pike, what pet do I pick?" Well back in the day, boars were seen as the supreme leveling pet and for good reason: their threat generation was massive. But the Boar-Shaped Piñata since been whacked into oblivion with the Nerf Stick so there is really no ultimate-leveling pet anymore. You may opt to go with something that has high armor, such as a bear-- keep in mind that bears cannot use Dash, though.

But see, my thoughts on pets has always been that you don't choose the pet, the pet chooses you.

Pike would tell her young Padawan to study Petopia closely, browse the available pets that are level ten or lower, and pick the one that jumps out to them. There are no restrictions, although remember that only some pets will be able to learn Dash/Dive at higher levels (which makes leveling quicker), and some pets are considered to be better for endgame (windserpents, ravagers, cats, and raptors fall into this category), but if you like a non-standard pet, then go for it.

What's that you say? You found a pet you like but it's on the other end of the world? ...what are you waiting for? You're a hunter! Go get it!

And I would walk five hundred miles
And I would walk five hundred more
Just to be the man who walked a thousand miles
To fall down at your door...



That's my level eleven dwarf hunter. In Durotar. Getting there was an adventure, it involved running through Duskwood (and dying a million times) and I would have died a million times in Stranglethorn Vale, too, but lemme tell you, having a level 70 priest put a bubble on you and then tell you "Run!" and follow you all the way through the zone makes things a LOT easier.

When I first got there, the dinosaur I wanted to tame was level eleven, and I was level ten. And, as you may or may not know, you can only tame pets that are your level or lower. So I grinded myself up a level on the random critters running around Durotar, managed to tame a rare Scorpion while I was at it and nab myself Claw 2, and finally abandoned him so I could tame my new dinosaur:



So cute!

Well, I'd like to go in more detail on pets and how your huntering strategy has changed now that you have a pet, but this blog post is already obscenely long, so we'll discuss that later. In the meantime, the afore mentioned Petopia is an amazing resource to peruse if you have pet-related questions.

As always... leave me your comments and questions!

Finally

No really, I was literally having dreams about taming this guy, I was camping for him so much.



Althalor has The Rake, he has Humar, what's next? Sian-Rotam, of course. I'd love to go for the much lower-level Echeyakee but keeping three pets leveled up with me is simply not gonna happen... two is hard enough as it is, and typically requires forgetting about rested XP for the duration of my hunter career. I... am just that devoted.

I love pets.

I have been watching the new WotLK stuff popping up on Mania's Arcania with a lot of interest. It looks like I'm going to have two "cunning" pets (Tux and Eltanin) and one "ferocity" pet (Locke). Of course, that fails to account for Exotic Pets which are still a mystery.

Stable slots... it's all I'm asking for. C'mon Blizz! /beg /cry

Pet-Specs

Dear Pike,

I am a level 65 hunter named Syaoken on the server of Shandris. Questing and leveling has been going quite well for me, but, I've ran into a small problem... my pet. I tamed a Frostsaber Pridewatcher from Winterspring, her name is Sakura. But, the problem I am having is I don't know the best way to train her with skills. I don't know to give her the best stam or best armor. Of course I gave her the highest growl I could and also claw (rank 9). I don't know if the highest stam, highest armor, or even the resistances, are the most important. I just tried cobra reflexes for the first time and she kills so much faster. But, could you give me your two cents on the matter?

Thank you,

- Syaoken


Heya Syaoken,

The great thing about spec'ing your pet is that a respec is only 10 silver and it resets really quickly. For this reason, many hunters find themselves spec'ing their pet from situation to situation.

This is what I would do in your given situation:

First of all, the active skills. For a cat, I'd say max level Growl, max level Claw, and max level Dash. That is really all you need in terms of the active skills. Growl holds aggro for solo-play, Claw is going to be your focus-dump move, and Dash means you and your pet can kill stuff quicker!

After that, you want the passive skills. Max level Avoidance and Cobra Reflexes are both a must. Avoidance is going to be huge in determining your pet's survivability and Cobra Reflexes does provide higher DPS overall.

Next is stamina. Max that out because in the long run, Stamina is going to do a lot more in boosting your cat's survivability than armor will, because armor only protects against physical attacks whereas stamina protects against magical as well.

Now we have a choice, you can dump your remaining points in armor or spread it out over some resistances. Resistances are very good if you know you're going to be doing a lot of stuff in places with certain types of damage. You can also put some points in resistances and some in armor and it will work out nicely.

This is how I have spec'd my cat Locke for Karazhan/many Outlands heroics:

Growl Rank 8
Dash Rank 3
Claw Rank 9
Avoidance Rank 2
Cobra Reflexes
Great Stamina Rank 11
Natural Armor Rank 3
Arcane Resistance Rank 2
Fire Resistance Rank 2

This uses 349 of his 350 total training points and has worked just fine for me in early raids/heroics.

This is how I often spec Tux, my PvP/solo pet:

Growl Rank 8
Dive Rank 3
Claw Rank 9
Screech Rank 5
Avoidance Rank 2
Cobra Reflexes
Great Stamina Rank 10
Natural Armor Rank 3
Fire Resistance Rank 2
Shadow Resistance Rank 2

Now you will notice that he is a little more complicated because he is an owl, and I've taken advantage of that by training him both Claw and Screech. This is because Screech is very handy in soloing and in PvP but on occasion I will take him into an instance and turn on Claw. (While soloing: Growl/Screech/Dive, while PvPing: Screech/Claw/Dive). The Shadow and Fire Resistance is because you run into a lot of warlocks in PvP who like to DoT everything. =P

You will notice I had to sacrifice a point in Great Stamina to make up for Screech; to me, that is okay because owls by default have slightly more health than cats. Plus, I am usually wearing my PvP gear in a PvP situation, so Tux benefits from my additional stamina. But, it's all a matter of personal preference. Keep in mind that the higher ranked skills cost many more points than the lower ranked ones, so sacrificing the highest rank of something will often get you enough points for something else that you want.

For your Sakura specifically... I would say, first get her Avoidance and Cobra Reflexes, then max out Growl, Dash, and Claw, then max out Great Stamina as much as you can, and then see what you have left and decide whether you want to try and spread the remaining points out through resistances or dump it into Armor.

Again, the great thing about pet-spec'ing is that it's very flexible and cheap to mess around with it, so experiment and see what works best for you.

Good luck!

-Pike

Reproducing this here because I thought it would make a great guide! I have admittedly edited my reply up a little because I realized that I regrettably sent it on its way with some errors. Good luck to you, Syaoken, and I would check out Petopia and WoWHead's Pet Training Calculator for more on this topic.

Rediscovering Your Roots - And Your New Pet

Rediscovering Your Roots, for those of you who do not do not spend a lot of time on the Isle of Quel'danas, is a Sunwell daily quest wherein you get to travel to Razorthorn Rise (on the border of Terokkar and Hellfire) and temporarily "tame" a ravager to dig up roots for you. This quest is available to any class, but what's really interesting is that if you are a hunter, not only will you take to this quest like a fish to water, but you can put some of your hunter-skills to really good use.

I did some testing, and here's what you can do with your temporary pet:

- Any sort of pet attack macro (My pet attack/Hunter's Mark macro, for example)
- Intimidation
- Bestial Wrath (Big Red Ravagers really are Big Red Ravagers.)
- Mend Pet
- Use Sporeling Snacks and Kibler's Bits
- Teach him Growl. However, it does not show up because he already knows four moves and you can't change his moves.
- Misdirect onto him
- Bandage him
- Run around with him while mounted, just like in the old days

And here's what you can not do:

- Kill Command (kind of random, I think, because so many other pet-based abilities work.)
- Feed your ravager
- "Passive" pet abilities (Ferocity, Frenzy, Ferocious Inspiration)
- Keep him. =( If you go too far outside the area he automatically leaves you and runs back. Also, as of a recent hotfix, these guys cannot be tamed (at least not through the conventional method).

Similarly, you cannot open your spellbook to see his abilities or right click on him to see his attributes.

I'm curious to see how things that I do not have would effect him (Leggings of Beast Mastery, Devilsaur Tooth, etc.) unfortunately I don't have a lot of fun things like that to play around with.

Have any of you made some interesting discoveries on what you can/can't do with your temporary pet? Lemme know and I'll edit 'em into the list!

(Oh, and one final note while we are on the subject of dailies: do not underestimate the power of using the dailies to level a pet who is in their 60s. The other day just doing all the Sunwell quests both on and off the island got Eltanin from roughly 95% into level 63, to 65% into level 64. He is also now Loyalty Level 6. It is indeed a little challenging not having a higher-level pet for the harder quests... but who better to take on a challenge than a hunter! It's quite fun, actually.)

What's In a Pet?

Teal Windserpent shall be known as Eltanin (pronounced ell-TAY-nin as far as I can tell) : brightest star in the constellation Draco. It perhaps isn't an overly witty name as so many of my other pet names are, but my new Windserpent has a majestic presence of sorts to him, and thus he needed a majestic name. And it still does have a pretty neat little meaning behind it.

He is now halfway through level 62 and he is Loyalty Level 3. He got there partially through some solo-grinding, but largely through group work: so far, thanks to the help of some guildies, Eltanin has already seen several group quests in Shadowmoon Valley, basically every single Sunwell daily there is, and even the inside of Auchenai Crypts.

I've grown rather attached to him in just these past two days, which is sort of alarming because he was supposed to be an experimental pet of sorts. Whatdaya do when you've got three pets you can't part with? (Especially if you're a big dork like me, and all three pets come off as having completely different personalities and quirks which makes them even more special.) I suppose all I can do now is pray that Blizzard gives us more stable slots for Wrath of the Lich King.

I've been thinking lately I would love to see a fairly-"realistic" picture of Tawyn and her pets; perhaps she'd just be relaxing, content, by some campfire in the middle of the woods with Tux on her shoulder or perched on a nearby branch, and Locke resting his head on her knee, and Eltanin quietly keeping guard a little ways away. Sadly the extent of my artistic talent is cutesy Disneyesque cartoons; I could never fashion something the way I've described it. I'd commission a good artist to draw it, though. Cause I'm obsessed.

Speaking of obsessed, I rolled another hunter. Is this 14, 15 now? I've lost count. Only three of them are level 20 or higher anyways... (Hey, the first step is admitting you have a problem.)

Hmm, I suppose this wasn't a particularly interesting post. In order to bulk it up a bit, I'll add that I have now added Twitter updates to my blog sidebar and I'm going to experiment with that (in case anybody cares about various mundane details of my life), and yes, I have Hunter Kindergarten posts in the works. I love writing them, but I like to spend time on them. /nods

Pet Taming: A Story Told in Pictures

Well, the results were in, and the masses wanted me to give the Windserpent a try:


Now there's high-level Windserpents all over Outland. But I, being me, needed something special. Something... dare I say... teal. Something I'd fallen in love with during a random fun-run of Zul'Gurub a few weeks back:

This Guy.

Level 61 elite Soulflayer, found in Zul'Gurub, a pre-BC level 60 raid instance. The only other Windserpent with that same skin is found in Wailing Caverns. Yes... yes. He would be mine.

So I bid my goodbyes to my wolf Amarok, got my boyfriend (on a lowbie alt) to set up a raid group for me so I could get into the instance and then I walked into Zul'Gurub solo. And by solo, I mean solo. No pet. Just Tawyn.


It wasn't long before I found my target. Unfortunately, he was constantly flanked by two level 60 elites who acted as bodyguards. If I trapped and started to tame the one I wanted, I was quickly swarmed by two elites who hit hard and have various stuns and poison abilities. Not good.


I tried a couple of strategies here, none of which quite worked. I tried getting onto the higher platform and trying to tame him from there, so they'd have to run to get to me-- but then he just went out of range and the tame failed. I tried to tame him from the water, but he wound up evading it. I soon realized I would have to get the two entourages out of the way before I could focus on the guy I wanted. So I figured I could maybe throw down a Frost Trap and kite them and slowly burn them down. This failed miserably thanks to their charge'n'stun tactics. It was all sort of discouraging and I began to wonder how I was ever going to do this without various Survival Hunter tricks. But no, I wasn't going to give up. Cause I'm a hunter, dangit.

So eventually, after much trial and error and my feign death button worn from use, I realized that as a Beast Master hunter, my best weapon would be exactly what I was missing... a pet.

So I got one.


A level 60 serpent in ZG. He's kinda cute, no?

Now, I felt, I was ready. I went back to the taming spot and laid down a freezing trap. I positioned it in such a way so when they patrolled back, they would walk right into it, and I'd have another trap cooldown ready.


And around the corner they came, and into the trap Teal Windserpent popped. The other two dashed at me. I laid down another trap... double-trap! And with two of the windserpents crowd-controlled I sic'd my new snake on the other and proceeded to burn him down. But it wasn't long before Teal Windserpent broke out of the trap (early, I think) and shoved me off the ledge and into the water... which I hadn't exactly been banking on. And so, I regret to say, thanks to some unfortunate stuff that happened, I hit the bucket.

My serpent and I (who I'd renamed Kaa because he'd sort of grown on me) went boldly back inside. We were down to just two.


Same routine as before. Laid down a trap...

Trapped Teal Windserpent. Sic'd pet on his red buddy. Intimidation, Bestial Wrath, and onslaught of MQoSRDPS. Uh-oh, Teal's out! Chain-trapping for the win!


And now the time had come. As he was heading for my next trap, Teal Windserpent got off a fear and a bunch of poison on Kaa, sending him running. But before he could finish him off, I /thanked him and hit the abandon button. Just me and Teal Windserpent now...


Aaaaand action:




Woo-hoo!


Now he just needs a name. Oh and he needs to be brought up nine levels. It's gonna be a pain, but hey, I've got nothing better to do during farming sessions. And how often do you see one of these guys runnin' around? I mean, I adore Locke, but I think he must be the most popular cat model on the server.

Oh, and the above story-- I think I could have probably pulled it off with no deaths if I hadn't been standing too close to the edge. It woulda been tough, but I think I could've done it. Almost makes me want to go back and try it again... almost.

And yes, this is one of the reasons why I can't get enough of this class. Who else gets to pull of crazy stuff like this, in the name of something that equates to some 30% of our DPS? =P

In other news, my new boots, they are lovely, no? /pose

Pick a pet, any pet!

So I'm sure you long-time readers know about Tux and Locke, but who's the third pet in my stable?

Well, currently, it's a level 68 Bloodmaul Dire Wolf from Blade's Edge, named Amarok. Amarok being the name of a giant, fearsome wolf in Inuit mythology, and also the name of an amazing piece of Open Source software. I originally got him partially because I was inspired by my desktop wallpaper and partially because I wanted a pet that still did some damage but also had a little more armor than my other two pets, for grinding and the like. But for some reason I haven't really gotten attached to him the same way that I have to Tux and Locke. Oh, he's a neat little pet, but... I dunno. I'm sorta feeling like something different.

So here is where I turn to you, readers, for help and advice.

Should I stick with the wolf, or try something different?

Oh, and here are the current candidates for "Try Something Different":

Raptor:

Tux was the first pet I ever tamed, and the second was Wash, a Mottled Raptor from Wetlands. I'd had my eye on a raptor pet almost as long as I'd been playing the game, and I went out and tamed Wash the second I was a high enough level. (Oh, and for those of you who do not "get" the name... click here, please.)

For a while, Tux sat in the stable while Wash followed me everywhere. Then I started to feel bad for Tux so I pulled him out again. Then I tried alternating between Tux and Wash for a while but it soon got to the point where I simply could not keep them both up to me in level. Finally while questing in Stranglethorn Vale I realized that level-36-Wash just could not hold aggro on some of the level 40 mobs I was trying to attack, and I was forced to choose between Tux and Wash... and, well, I picked Tux and Wash went to the stable for good.

There he stayed until I was level 69 when I realized that I needed that third stable slot (the other two taken by Tux and Locke) to be able to learn the highest level skills for my kitty and birdy. It was actually something that I'd known I'd have to do for a while, but I'd been putting it off because I'd gotten rather attached to Wash in the short time that he'd quested with me. So finally one day I took a deep breath, pulled him out, took him to the prettiest spot in Nagrand, and released him.

...I cried. Real hunters cry.







(Warning: if you are anything like me, then do not look at these pictures while listening to "When Somebody Loved Me" from Toy Story 2 unless you want to risk bursting into tears.)

*pulls self together*

Anyways, the point is that I still have this little longing in my heart to have a raptor waddling after me again. The downside is that they do fill basically the same role as a cat so it might be sort of redundant to have both. But hey, who said having hunter pets had to be logical, right?

"A feeling is not much to go on."
"Sometimes a feeling, Mister Spock, is all we humans have to go on."

Ravager:

I've never had one. Supposedly they are the highest-DPS-pet in the game and that aspect sort of intrigues me. I'd like to try something else in my raids and heroics; I love Locke but he's gotta get some time off sometimes ya know?

Unlike many people, I find ravagers to be cute in an Aliens/hydralisk sort of way. "Pike, you're nuts for using the words "cute", "Aliens", and "hydralisk" in the same sentence." Yes, yes I know. (Hey, Starcraft is cute.)

I do rather like the idea of trying out a type of pet that I have never tried before... it'd be exciting I think.

Windserpent:

My character Lunapike has a Windserpent as one of her two pets (the ever so cute bright red Springpaw Lynx is the other) and I've really enjoyed having him as a pet. Lightning Breath is great and scales with hunter AP, so as your attack power goes up it will make a difference in your noodly Windserpent buddy as well.

I'll admit I'm also inspired by the fact that a hunter friend of mine who I have ridiculous amounts of respect for (and who consistently beats me in PvP although I outgear the heck out of him) runs with a Windserpent. Clearly he knows something that I don't. (Actually I think he knows a lot of things that I don't.) And I think the Windserpent might be a part of that secret. MUST. FIND. OUT.

Boar:

If I want to stick with my original plan of having a grinding pet, then the ever-fashionable boar might be a good choice. The downsides are that it'd be quite a level grind to bring one up to level 70, and also, the recent boar nerfs make this somewhat less of a must-have-pet than it used to be. Still, it's a solid choice with lotsa armor.

And there you have it. What's a hunter to do for her third stable slot? The nostalgia and overall coolness-factor of the raptor? The damage, unique-ness, and new-ness of a ravager? The fun Lightning-Breath-goodness of the windserpent? The armor of the ol' boar standby? Or should I just stick with my wolf?

...I'm torn.

What do you think?

I've put a poll up on the sidebar so you can cast your vote. And please feel free to leave your comments on pet-picking!

Ode to Locke

This is my cat, Locke.



Formerly known as Rak'Shiri, Locke was tamed at about 4am server time while I was wearing the Leper Gnome Halloween costume. I'd wanted Locke for a while. He is teal, after all. Teal is my favorite color and basically the main reason I rolled a night elf-- teal hair. Teal hair!! So I camped out for him (he's a rare spawn) and finally managed to nab him.

We were level 57 then; today we are both level 70 and he is my Official Grouping Pet. This is mainly because a few people have taken issue with Tux's immense wingspan and I don't want to be a pain-in-the-butt, so I use a pet with a somewhat lower profile. (It's also helpful because I can keep Tux spec'd more for PvP and Locke for PvE.)

Locke has successfully "emergency tanked" two dragons: the last boss in Hellfire Ramparts and the last boss in Old Hillsbrad. He usually manages to somehow double the DPS output of any and all other hunter pets that happen to be in the group. And he has really come to be loved by our little group of instance-runners. He has become our willing guinea pig more than once: "Hmm, do you guys think we can jump here? ...hey Tawyn, have Locke go check it out!" And he has spawned many a guild inside joke. One is that one of these days mid-Heroic Mech run, he is going to randomly disappear and then replace Patheleon the Calculator as the new end boss. (We decided that he is going to be wearing a monocle when this occurs. "When", not "if".)

The other big inside joke is that if anything bad happens and there's no apparent scapegoat-- it's Locke's fault. Many a mysterious wipe or pull-gone-bad has been irrevocably decreed Locke's fault.

We were in Heroic Mech the other day and after one of these "Locke's fault" occasions, we all sort of had a good laugh about how ironic it was that nothing had ever really truly been Locke's fault. Nothing in recent memory, at least (because I recall a few slipups in Dire Maul and Scholo). Locke has always performed his duty masterfully and has never caused any issues unless it's my own mistake. Hunter pets seem to get a bad rap a lot-- but Locke? Nope. He's pretty much got a halo on his fuzzy teal head.

...we spoke too soon.

A couple hours after we'd finished Heroic Mech we made a new group and headed to Heroic Underbog. We were about halfway through, working our way up one of the ramps and slowly and carefully pulling naga mobs out from behind a little open door. Everything was going as intended and I sent in Locke to attack skull, as is customary. And then it happened. I send Locke in to the mob, he somehow manages to position himself so his butt is pointing towards some other naga-- and they must've not been amused because suddenly these extra naga were targeting Locke and charging over to him.

Well you can probably guess what happened next. We already had our hands full with our current pull-- the extra nagas were the death of us. Not to mention I was petless, with Locke having met his untimely demise due to an unfortunate and accidental mooning-incident.

It was all partially very funny and yet also partially very embarrassing and shocking to me. For once, it really had been Locke's fault.

Yet another guild inside joke of ours is that if you make some silly mistake or screw up, you are informed "And that's why you're not going to Zul'Aman." And Locke was not spared. He was informed that he's not going to Zul'Aman and that Tux is going to get to go instead.

Poor Locke. Tux is givin' him heck in the stable, I'm sure.

Sweet Dreams are Made of This

So the other day I was browsing the fan art section of the World of Warcraft website, and stumbled across a stunningly gorgeous picture that promptly became my new desktop wallpaper:


So maybe I'm really just an obsessed hunter-addict (okay, so there's no "maybe" about it), but I can't stop looking at this picture. It's just a compelling and dynamic image. And standing at the side of that powerful hunter, almost appearing to to be materializing from the shadows, is an ever-faithful wolf pet.

So of course I had to go tame myself a wolf.

I picked the Bloodmaul Dire Wolf in Blade's Edge. He comes with the highest rank of Furious Howl, and before I tamed him I temp-tamed a raptor from Netherstorm and obtained the highest rank of Bite for myself as well. This is my third stable slot, after all, so I'd best get everything I need beforehand.

Is the wolf gonna stay? I'm not sure. I haven't had anytime to play around with him yet and he's only level 65. It's going to be neat, I think, to try having something other than a pure DPS pet. The wolf is more of a well-rounded pet, sacrificing some DPS for some armor. I think he might be good for grinding and solo'ing. One thing is for sure: he needs a name.

And once he gets a name, I'll probably get all attached to him.

Oh Blizz, why must you torment us so, with a mere three stable slots?


Hrmm. It doesn't look quite as epic as the artwork, does it?

Someday, though. Someday when Tier 4 leaves the bounds of a young hunter's daydream, as it is perhaps the most attainable dream in a garden of delights such as Loyalty Level 7, traps that never break early, The Ultimate Aimed Shot of Ultimate Destiny (And No Threat To Boot), and being able to surround oneself with a limitless menagerie of creatures.

Everybody say "Grats!"

So it's a little hard to see, but...


That would be my Tux, dinging 70.

Lemme tell you a little bit about Tux.

He was the very first pet I ever tamed (aside from the "taming quest pets") on the very first hunter I ever rolled-- heck, the very first character I ever rolled period.

For some strange reason, he stuck by me even though he was starving and unhappy and rebellious for a little while because I had no food with which to feed him.

He stuck by me even though he couldn't hold aggro worth a darn because I didn't know I was supposed to teach him Growl.

He stuck by me when my strategy was "Hey Tux, let's run around and melee things together!"

He was the pet that I put on aggressive in Deadmines, zipping around attacking everything and pulling everything because the two of us didn't know any better. Or perhaps he did and was just too polite to tell me.

He followed me everywhere. In Westfall. In Redridge. In Darkshore. In Wetlands. Actually in Wetlands I tamed a raptor and Tux spent a good few levels in the stable, but for some reason he still liked me when I eventually pulled him back out.

Desolace. Stranglethorn Vale. Arathi Highlands. Swamp of Sorrows. Tanaris. Hinterlands. Felwood. Un'goro Crater. Winterspring. I went all over Azeroth and back again and the whole time there was a little owl following me.

It was around this time that I realized I had a little problem; namely, Tux's birdlike nature and his big wings were annoying people that I grouped with. So out of courtesy I tamed my teal kitty, Locke. Now, I love Locke to death. And Locke was my first pet to hit 70 because he gets to go to all the instances.

But Locke is no Tux.

Tux is just a normal ol' gray owl, a Strigid Hunter to be precise. He's not one of those fancy white owls or black owls or super-shiny red-and-purple owls. Nope, he is just a plain gray bird from the night elf starting zone.

...and that is why I wouldn't trade him for anything. We've experienced the entire game together, he and I. We've grown together and learned together and made mistakes together and never once has he complained.


We've come a long way, you and I...

So I guess what I'm trying to say is...

GRATS TUX!

A Question for the Ages Leads to an Informative Post

Way out in Netherstorm, by Area 52, there is a goblin named Dr. Boom. Who or what is he? Well let's see what WoW Wiki has to say:

Dr. Boom is a non-elite quest boss with about 500,000 hitpoints; he does not move or use ranged attacks, making him a popular target for casters and Hunters to test their DPS output, as well as a target for leveling up ranged weapon skill.

So we can see that he is handy for a few things, aside from a quest. He is very handy for leveling your weapon skill (if you are not quite a high enough level for Netherstorm yet, you can always hit up those guys in Blasted Lands that don't die.) And he is handy for ranged DPS classes who want to test their defining role: DPS.

Now, as BRK once said in one of his posts... hunters can't really get the full story because you can't use your pet on Dr. Boom. So even though you can get a good idea of your ranged DPS sans-pet... it's discounting 35% of the story (or however much your pet contributes to your DPS.)

Still, I found myself heading over to Dr. Boom today. Why? Well, initially it was because I have a third use for Dr. Boom.

Namely, he allowed me to answer the age-old question... What happens when Improved Aspect of the Hawk procs, and you use Rapid Fire, Abacus of Violent Odds, and The Beast Within... all at the same time?

Well it doubles my vanilla DPS, that's what:

Before:


After:


(Note: I also tested using Bladefist's Breadth in place of the Abacus, since I typically have both equipped. The resulting DPS increase is not quite as much as it is with the Abacus.)

But wait! That's not my total DPS... that's just Tawyn's DPS. I am a hunter, afterall. I have a pet.

Now Tux is only going to be effected by Bestial Wrath and not all the other fun stuff like I am. But still...

Before:


After:


So now we have a bunch of numbers showing my DPS and Tux's DPS, before and after using a bunch of buffs/trinkets. Remember, this is all "white" DPS: no special shots, no Kill Commands, no Ferocious Inspiration, no Frenzy for Tux... not even Hunter's Mark. So the actual number in real combat would undoubtably be higher.

So why am I posting all this then? Well I'm not one for hardcore math or theorycrafting. But here's what we can see right off the bat:

1. Unbuffed (except for Aspect of the Hawk), Tux is doing 32% of our vanilla DPS.
2. If we pop The Beast Within, Tux moves up to doing roughly 41% of our vanilla DPS.
3. If I use a bunch of speed-increasing trinkets/procs and The Beast Within, Tux is still doing about 26% of our vanilla DPS.

Obviously this isn't telling us the full story; as I said before the numbers would change as we throw in stuff like Frenzy and Ferocious Inspiration and various special shots and Tux's Claw. Also the numbers would change if I were to pull out my kitty Locke who does slightly more DPS than Tux does. The main thing I am trying to say here is: Your pet is important. If you are a Beast Mastery hunter and your pet dies, your DPS is going to be gimped down to about 70%-- or less-- of what you normally do. Furthermore you will be bringing no more Ferocious Inspiration or Kill Commands to the table.

And even if you pop all of your trinkets/buffs (minus the Beast Within), and double your white DPS, you still will not be able to make up for the loss of your pet.

Now there are times when things happen and losing your pet on some superhard boss fight might be inevitable. In these cases you can only hope he does the best he can, because not using him at all is exactly the same as him being dead. Well, except not as sad. *hugs pets*

But there are things you can do to increase your pet's survivability. Here's a short list:

-Sporeling Snacks.

-Various other stamina buffs or scrolls (I love using scrolls on my pet).

-Spec'ing him with Avoidance Rank 2.

-Spec'ing him with the appropriate resistances for the instance. BRK wrote up a handy list for Karazhan and various five-mans here.

-Keeping a Mend Pet up. Kestrel has a really nifty macro that lets you keep both Mend Pet and Scorpid Sting up at the same time.

-Knowing what you're fighting. You should pay attention to the people who have been here and have done this before. Pay attention to the things they're telling the melee DPS classes. If you're in Mechanar and they say "Rogues, you have to run away when he 'raises his hammer menacingly'", then you need to mentally add "And pet." If you're in Shadow Labs and they say "Melee classes have to run away when Murmur does his Sonic Boom" ...yep, that includes your pet. Watch for what the melee guys are watching for and recall your pet to your side at the appropriate time. Then send him back in when it's safe.

Is it hard to do? Yep. But is it worth it to not only have that extra DPS, but also provide that constantly-ticking Ferocious Inspiration to your party? You betcha!

Happy Huntering, and give your pet a pat for being a good boy (or girl).

Random Ramblings!

So my Sitemeter tells me that I've had like 100 new visitors just in the past few hours thanks to a link on Big Red Kitty. To coin a term, I have been BRK'd. Wow! Thanks BRK! And welcome to any new visitors. Please feel free to browse around my little blog, and pull up a chair and make yourself comfortable if you so desire. *passes out cookies and tea for the readers, and a variety of pet foods for their pets*.

(Edit: And a link on Mania's Arcania too? Wow, thank you!! I might just have to make another "shout-out" post sometime soon.)

Now then, Outlands:


This screenshot was taken shortly before heading through the Dark Portal to get to Outlands. Yes, I've had my hearth set to Shatt since level 50 or so, but there was no way I was going to miss out on going through the portal.

The irony is that the screenshot is already "outdated", so to speak, since in the short time between then and now I have already managed to replace two pieces of gear as well as my ranged weapon, all with stuff that is better than my old-world gear to a ridiculous degree. I already love Outlands though-- it's fun, it's challenging (the "yellow" mobs are more like "orange" mobs, and I love that challenge), and of course, there's all the new gear!

So here I am, on the fast-track to level 60 (ooh, remind me to do more farming... need epic mount cash) and enjoying every bit of it.

Other bits of interest: My teal kitty has been christened Locke. This name has a double meaning for me; firstly, John Locke was a 17th-century English philosopher, just like Thomas Hobbes... so there is an in-joke there, a nod to both the Calvin & Hobbes comic and to BRK. Secondly, Locke Cole is a character from the Super Nintendo game Final Fantasy VI, which is one of my favorite video games. Locke the kitty and Tux the owl have been taking turns playing in Outlands with me, all the while being lavished with roasted quail.

Also, I have decided that I'd like to improve upon my PvP skills. I've been doing a lot of battlegrounds recently (since once I hit a level ending in 8 or 9 I hightail it over to the battlemasters... you might say I have a bit of an addiction) and while I would call my self an "okay" PvPer and I tend to be towards the top of the damage charts at the end, I still am not a "good" PvPer. A lot of times in PvP I'll get caught of guard or people will sneak up on me, and then I seem to spend the duration of that duel trying to get back to range and doing very little non-pet damage. It's definitely time to practice my technique here.

I do have an interesting PvP story to share. I was in Alterac Valley the other day, and was somewhere out in the middle of nowhere when I ran across a lone orc warrior. He was level 51, and I was level 59. Now I know it's battlegrounds, I know player-vs-player combat is the whole point here... but I couldn't bring myself to attack him. Not with eight levels separating us. Besides, since we were both out in the middle of nowhere I figured he must have been doing a quest or something. So I hopped on my mount and rode right past him. Not long after this I paused to catch my bearings and decide where I wanted to go. And who should come jumping on me but that level 51 warrior! We fought, and obviously Tux and I triumphed. But I have to say that little incident left me admiring the orc player's courage and mindset. He knew what PvP was all about. He was willing to try taking on a player that was eight levels higher than him. Whereas I, well, I love a good battlegrounds game but I'm really just a carebear at heart. It was an interesting juxtaposition of two different playstyles and I /salute that orc warrior, wherever he is.

Alrighty, enough pseudo-philosophical rambling. Back to Outlands!

Big Teal Kitty

That, my friends, is Rak'Shiri, the oh-so-elusive Winterspring spawn that is the prized catch of Alliance hunters everywhere (since hordies can summon the same type of cat for a quest, so they don't have to go hunting for him. =P) He has a sort of teal-tint to him, and that is one of the reasons why I picked him over other cats... because teal has long been my favorite color. This also explains my character's hair color... but I digress!

My wait for him actually wasn't that bad. I camped out at Frostsaber Rock for a couple hours last night, with no luck, but a lot of guildies were on at the time chatting up a storm so I at least wasn't lonely. Then, this morning, at roughly 4:30 am server time (don't worry, I work the early morning shift, so I'm used to it... and I'm an hour ahead of my server anyway) I logged on again to see if he was there. I didn't see him at first, but I did manage to catch him out of the corner of my eye when I was on my way out...

Taming him was certainly an adventure; I was pet-less, obviously, and there were mobs everywhere. After several false starts and mashings of the Feign Death button (I maintain my stance that Feign Death is a girl's best friend), I laid down a freezing trap and began the taming process. Not long into this, I was jumped by a stealthed mob. Helplessly I watched my HP dwindle but then, in the nick of time, my new kitty was tamed and helping me fight the offender. Unfortunately this meant I hadn't had time to feed him or teach him growl, so he wasn't a lot of help, especially since more and more mobs kept showing up. We fought valiantly for a while, but eventually I hit the bucket. I didn't mind though, because I now had my lovely Big Teal Kitty.

(Adding to the overall amusement of the above story is that I was wearing the Leper Gnome costume the whole time.)

It will take a few levels to get my new kitty up to speed, I think, but it'll be fun. And obviously I will never, ever fully give up Tux. But it's about time I had another pet to play with... just in time for Outlands, too, since I also hit 58 last night. He does need a good name, though. It was my boyfriend who ironically came up with the idea of naming him after a philosopher a la Hobbes (the irony being that as far as I am aware, he has never read BRK), so I'll be thinking!

Oh, and thank you all for the suggestions on blog readers. I will be looking into them this weekend.

Beware My Rudimentary Art Skills

I have made a topbanner for my blog! As I do not have access to a working scanner at the moment, the characters were mouse-drawn in GIMP. Then they were pasted onto a picture of Elwynn Forest. I think it turned out okay. The hardest part was figuring out how to center the image because, by default, it aligned to the left. It's still sort of stuck to the top of the banner but it looks okay for now.

Let me know if you're having trouble reading the banner, I realize the bright blue text is kind of an iffy idea but I tried to make the text large enough to still be easily readable.

Other blog-related news: I've added my e-mail address to the sidebar. I don't know if anybody would have reason to e-mail me but I thought it would be a good idea to have it there, just in case!

WoW-related news: My boyfriend admitted to me the other day that Tux's wings annoy him sometimes. This is understandable and the curse of pets with big flapping wings. I love Tux and would never part with him but as I get closer to "the higher levels" of the game (aka the Outland Levels), I figure it's time to start thinking about an alternative pet to use when the people I'm grouping with would rather I not have a bird. I have my raptor in the stable, but I've also been thinking about the ever-so-classy cat. Decisions, decisions, on what my third pet should be...

On Training Low-Level Pets

So with the newest patch, raptors got the ability to learn dash. I do indeed have a raptor sitting in my stable. I got him in Wetlands at level 22 or so, leveled him to 36, and then realized that he was falling too far behind and I was having too tough of a time keeping two pets leveled with me. So sadly, poor Wash the raptor has found himself in the stable ever since.

But "raptors getting dash" inspired me to go out and pull him out of confinement and see if maybe, just maybe, I could start leveling him again.

Here's the catch: I'm a (currently) beast mastery spec'd hunter at level 53, and he's... level 36.

I knew it was going to be a challenge, but I was curious to see if I could do it, so I packed up and headed over to Blasted Lands where I would run into a bunch of mobs that were green to me-- hence they would still get us experience, while hopefully being not too difficult for me to handle now that I was, for all practical intents and purposes, pet-less.

My test run was, not surprisingly, very difficult. My pet rarely hit, and when he did he did very little damage. He couldn't hold aggro. My polearm skill wasn't particularly hot. But, after some trial and error, I managed to carve out a step-by-step strategy on how to do this:

Pike's Personal Strategy on How to Level a Pet That is 20 Levels Lower Than You:

1.) Get as far away from the mob as you can, and still be able to shoot it.

2.) Lay down an immolation trap.

3.) Send the pet in. Once the pet has the mob's attention, shoot at the mob with Scorpid Sting and Arcane Shot. At this point you've probably pulled aggro, so go ahead and shoot it as many times as you can before it gets to you.

4.) As soon as it runs over the immolation trap, feign death. The mob should jump back to the pet. This is when you get up and run far enough away to regain distance.

5.) At this point, the DoT laid by Serpent Sting is probably really close to running out. So fire off another Serpent Sting and Arcane Shot, and if all goes well the mob should be dead or close to it by the time it gets back to you, thanks to your sting/trap DoTs, and you should be able to finish it off pretty quickly. If something goes wrong or you need to buy some extra time, throw in some tricks like Wing Clip to get back to distance.

And that's what I've been doing. It seems to work pretty well for me. I actually got my dino to gain a level, but at that point I had to leave so I stabled him to continue progress another time.

I have to admit, running around with a low-level pet that can't hold aggro, and throwing down immolation traps of all things, has sort of made me feel like an uber-huntard-newbie. There were a couple of other hunters around while I was doing this, I can only hope they guessed at what I was trying to accomplish and didn't just think I had completely lost my mind. But if I can level my dear pink raptor up to level 70 I think it will all be worth it to have a unique pet-- it will be worth it to have a pet that can't be tamed "in the wild" past level 40. My current goal is for this to be the pet that I use in cases where, say, the group isn't fond of a big owl with flappy wings.

But yeah, I'm curious to know other methods regarding how hunters have trained up low level pets. Maybe I can find one that's a bit more effective than my current one.

In other, real-world news, I have a new job-- at a pet store. I find this delightfully ironic considering my class in WoW. *grin* ^_^