Just a Hunter and Her Pets, Part the First: Cats

The main reason I started playing hunters at all was so I could have pets. My hunters have stayed Beastmastery from TBC until now, because the pets are the best part. BM puts the focus on your pet and lets you tame extra beasts, so how could it be wrong? I was thrilled when the challenge tames were introduced in 4.2, because they're unique and interesting to actually acquire. (If you're one of those people who runs around killing them to piss off hunters, don't tell me about it.)

Since my stables are almost full (Dear Blizz: Please give BM hunters bigger stables!), I thought I'd do a post and show you some of my favorite and most often-used pets. If you're looking for something cool for your own hunter, I also recommend Petopia, where you can browse pets by looks and family. Also, if you don't have it already, get the _NPCScan addon to track rares. _NPCScan.Overlay isn't a bad idea, either. You'll probably notice a preponderance of cats. I have three in real life and a heck of a lot more in game. I just like them, OK? I'll do more posts later with some of my other hunter pets.

Pez
This is my favorite cat, who sadly lives in my stable almost all of the time. She doesn't have any super special abilities, so she gets passed over in favor of pets who do. But I love Winterspring, and I love the Frostsabers. She's named after one of my actual cats, who is also stripey, though not purple. Of course I have the matching mount and non-combat pet. Getting everyone in position for this screenshot was like, er, herding cats. I'm still trying to come up with a mail transmog look to match them all. This is not a rare pet, but I get a lot of whispers asking me where I got it: Go to Winterspring and find a Frostsaber Pride Watcher, et voila.

Mistral and Cierzo

These are the two Spirit Beasts I use most frequently. Their Spirit Heal ability is pretty useful when you're farming, say, Lovely Charms in Throne of the Tides. I used to use them in raid fights where we needed just a little extra healing bump (a very little one) but we're past that now, so they just sit around with me in Stormwind and head out for solo battles. The NPC beasts are two of the challenge tames located in Mount Hyjal, and require you to basically strip down so they don't one shot you. How can you argue with that? I got Cierzo (Ankha) first, but I like Mistral (Magria) better because of the blue tint. They're named after the Mediterranean wind; same direction (northwest), different languages.

Itztli
This is Skarr, of course, who hangs out in the Molten Front on a rock platform. He shares a spawn timer with a similarly stony crab, Karkin. This guy took me forever to actually find. Certain hunters who already have him apparently find it amusing to go to the Molten Front and just sit near the spawn points with their tamed pet out, so they can set off your NPCScan and trick you. I hope you guys have to spend, like, 10 months camping to try to get Ban'thalos or something. (NB: I checked the zone for hunters and made a little announcement before taking this screenshot, so no NPCScan caches were harmed.) Mine is named after an Aztec god of stone. I don't actually especially care for this appearance, but I swear he does better DPS than other cat pets, so he's the one I raid with.

So there you have four of my cat pets. I've got more of them, but we'll save those for another day.

Today's Transmogs: Night Elf Hunter Kilt

I've been working on putting this outfit together for my hunter for about a month now. It's taken a while to gather up all the pieces. As I mentioned previously, I really, really like kilts in-game, and I thought it would be an unusual look for a hunter. Aqualaeta is definitely a Night Elf through and through, so I wanted something that matched the green and purple night elf colors. I also wanted fairly low-profile and streamlined, as "natural" looking as possible. I've had gigantic shoulders forever and ever but I thought with something less conspicuous, she could have more of a ranger look. So here it is; these aren't really the best screenshots but I'll try to get better ones soon. Please enjoy the Little Fawn, one of my favorite vanity pets.

I also took a shot at an action shot to show off the bow, although it was really hard to catch it since I wanted a wooded background and most of the mobs in Hyjal die in 1-2 shots. But there's a sprite darter!

Here are the items involved. This outfit started with the legs and the bow and went from there. I love this bow because it looks so foresty and perfect for a nelf hunter.

• Helm: Netherstorm Helm -- I like this because it's spiky, with my pointy ears and pointy eyebrows, and it's not overly showy and doesn't cover too much of my head. (BoE green)
• Shoulders: Spaulders of Sealing -- these have a great low profile without looking too much like turtle shells. I could do without the rivets, but overall good. (Quest reward from Desolace, both factions)
• Cloak: None (I almost never display cloaks, especially not with this chest piece)
• Chest: Ancient Chestpiece -- the color on this doesn't exactly match but it tends towards green and picks up some of the colors in the kilt. I love the open back design too much to go with my other option, which was the Skettis Chestpiece. (BoE green)
• Wrist: None (doesn't show under the gloves)
• Hands: Curse Lifter's Gloves -- again, I could've gone with a Skettis piece, but I wanted more green represented. I think these make a nice transition from the chest to the kilt and bow. (Alliance quest reward in Wetlands)
• Waist: Outrunner's Cord -- Looks fine, I think. I may go for the belt that actually matches the kilt at some point, but I like this for now. (BoE green)
• Legs: Oceansong Kilt -- obviously I like this since it was one of the main inspirations for the set. The colors are perfect. I'm not in love with the chain detail but I can overlook it. (BoP drop from the last boss in H-Ramps)
• Feet: Outrunner's Slippers -- I wanted it to basically look like I wasn't wearing shoes. I don't like that they're bright blue, though. (BoE green)
• Staff: Dreamer's Dragonstaff -- I like this because it's kind of woodsy and gnarly looking. Unfortunately the enchant glow kind of ruins the whole "simple" thing. At least it's a green glow, I guess. (BoP drop from Thorngrin the Tender in the Botanica)
• Bow: Honorable Longbow -- I can't say enough about this bow. It's got wood, it's got vines, it's got leaves. It's not overly flashy but it has just enough detail to be really attractive.  This shares a model and colors with the Dutiful Longbow (both of them being BoE greens) as well as the Wyrmstalker's Bow. The last is a quest reward from Icecrown that I sadly vendored  before I knew transmog was coming.

I really love this outfit and it makes me super happy to have finally gotten the kilt today and been able to finish it out and actually do the mog. The only things I'd really like to change are the color of the chest (wish it were a little bit greener), the enchant glow (turn it off! ee!), and the color of the shoes. I know there are other versions of the shoes in different colors but the blue seemed like the best option out of what was available.