One of the changes Blizzard has planned for Cataclysm is that hunters will start out at level one with a “race appropriate” pet. Here’s the exact quote,
“Additionally, hunters will now start with a race-appropriate pet at level 1 and will be able to tame a different pet at level 10.”
This has got me thinking (always a dangerous thing btw), about what the possible race/pet combinations might be. Remember too, they’re going to be new members of the hunter family in Cataclysm as well.
ALLIANCE
Dwarf and Bear – The original vanilla wow cinematic featured a dwarf hunter with a bear, and the Argent Tournament pet is bear cub. Dwarves and bears just go hand in hand. I think this one is pretty much a given.
Draenei and Ravager – They come from Outland so it makes sense that Draenei would start out with one. Although, I think moths would make a good contender as well. Ooh, look at the pretty butterfly – oh wait, ruuuuun!
Night Elf and Nightsaber – They ride around on cats, and there are plenty of them in their various zones. That being said, I think owls would be a much cooler choice. It’d make them look smarter anyway.
Human and Boar – Wolf could be a possibility, although I’d like to see a killer sheep myself. The hunter uses the Elwyn lamb to sacrifice you.
Worgen and Wolf – I find this idea both cool and creepy at the same time. Is it a pet or you’re little brother? Hopefully we’ll get some new pets to tame in Cataclysm so maybe Worgen will get something not even in the game yet.
HORDE
Troll and Raptor – They use them for mounts, so it only makes sense that they’d have them for pets too. Although tigers would make good candidates as well.
Blood Elf and Dragonhawk – Lynx would be a close second. I guess whichever one is the “prettier” of the two will win out.
Undead and Bat – Again going with the mount theme here. Spiders would be a nice creepy option as well, but I like bats for Undead.
Orc and Wolf – Wolves and orcs seem to go hand in hand, but it should be noted that there are no wolves in Durotar. I could also see boars and scorpions as options too.
Tauren and Tallstrider – Something about one of these birds pecking you to death makes me chuckle (weird eh?). Other options for Tauren are wolves, cougars and possibly hyenas. Since this is an expansion, tamable Kodos anyone?
Goblin and Mechnical Yeti – They’ll probably end up with a crab or turtle (I think they’re starting zone is an island). Still though something mechanical would make sense for them. Of course if they went that route that could open up the possibility of Gnome hunters some day, and we just can’t have that. I think the reason gnomes can’t be hunters is their pets would eat them. Even the veggie ones!
So what do you think the various races should get for their starter pets?
Totally agree!
On an off topic, I've been playing WoW since the release of the Diremaul instances, I always wanted a specific pet category for talent specs. Would be nice for cata to have a talent deep in BM to allow the taming of dragons. (stronger than beasts, but only available to BM) this isn't against lore because orcs enslaved dragons in wc2 . And if we are able to use them as a mount, they should be able to fight for us.
As for marks, there should be an option to have no pet and increases the hunters stats. (The whole ranger theme)
For survival, the hunter has an ability to combine spirits with current pet. (Similar to metamorphis) The hunter and pet merge together, losing all skills and the pet for the duration. The new form gains abilities based on the pet. since theyre taking away pet specific ablities (ravage, furious howl etc) the merged form gains these and dps abilities (melee).
I agree with your race/pet combos. The goblin starting with a mechanical yeti -would- be cool, but I'd also lean in favor of Blizzard actually giving Goblins something like a turtle, instead, due to the island theme.
I wish BM hunters got 2 pets just like Nathanos Blightcaller that undead dude with 2 dogs