Pet planning

Plans for Ideale
Ideale already has:
1. Cinnamon. He's staying around. I don't care how much they nerf cats, they'll still have to pry him from Ide's cold, dead fingers.
2. Saffron. I am not as attached to her as I am to Cinn, but it'd still take a lot for me to release her.
3. Gutripper. After the trouble I went through to solo-tame her, I don't think so. I died, like, four times in the process and spent quite a bit of gold on scrolls, pots, and so on to up my health each time. Plus snatch is going to be an awesome ability.

I've been really thinking over which pets I want to tame. Obviously, the spirit cat (a.k.a. my excuse for having a third cat on one hunter) is going to be one, no bones about it. I was thinking about a rhino for the last slot, but that just doesn't fit Ide's personality. She's not a rhino kind of elf. So, choices:

a. Devilsaur. She has a bit of a connection to these anyway, since she spent a large amount of the 50s hunting them down just to prove she could (along with the other elite dinos in Un'Goro Crater). Pros: It's a ginormous dinosaur. Cons: Monstrous bite doesn't seem like the coolest ability ever, though it is decent. Also, I think devilsaurs, core hounds and rhinos will be the "It" pets for most people for at least a few months after the expansion hits.

b. Chimaera. Ide's second home is in Everlook, and she does spend a lot of time frolicking (she's an elf, elves frolic, trust me) among the chimaeras around there. She doesn't have the same connection to them, but they would still fit her quite well. Pros: Froststorm breath looks freaking awesome, and flying pets are fun for attacking gnomes with. Cons: I have this really odd aversion to pets with two heads and I don't think I could get past it.

c. Wasp. I LOOOOOVE them. I have always had a thing for lightning bugs — we don't get them out here in NorCal, so when I lived in New York, I used to go into squealing, girly fits over them. Zangarmarsh is my absolute favorite Outland zone, despite killing my framerate, precisely because of the lightning bugs. And they, also, very much fit Ideale's personality. Pros: Sting will be AWESOME for PVP. Plus they glow! Cons: Since Daj, my next hunter, is going to be survival specc'ed, I hate to blow an exotic slot on a non-exotic pet. And the pink bugs would match Daj's hair.

d. Windserpent. I like shooting lightning at things, for everyone who has not noticed this yet. In fact, this was first on the list when I found out they were adding stable slots, until I learned what the new pets were. Pros: Windserpents are awesome. Cons: See above, and I already plan to tame a windserpent on Daj and maybe on Tshaya anyway.

The cons to all of these choices are, of course, that none of my current pets and none of my planned pets are tenacity pets, which could really cut down on my ability to do solo stuff. But none of the tenacity pets other than the rhino really catch my interest. So do I ignore Ide's personality to grab a rhino, or pick one of the above? And if I pick one of the above, which one!?

Plans for Daj
Right now, she has a snow leopard. I would like to tame either Rak'Shiri or a white tiger and give her two cats as well — I know they're getting nerfed, but I really don't care too much for a lot of the pets, and I figure three useful pets is more than enough. I don't know if I will tame any other pets until she hits 80, though, unless a stabled level 42 becomes 75 when you pull them out.

So:

2. Rak'Shiri or a white tiger. Or maybe Echeyakee. I don't know! But definitely another kitty.
3. Wind Serpent, either Hayoc or Arash'ethis.
4. Wasp? If Ideale does not take one, Daj will get one of the pink ones. Or maybe a dire raven.
5. Open.

I was considering perhaps a warp stalker for the last slot. I don't care much for their appearance in general, but I don't absolutely hate it, and the ability could be really fun for PVP — and since I decided to level a survival hunter specifically to try out PVP (plus extra pets and professions), then I should really be grabbing pets with awesome PVP abilities. I don't want to hoard them all on Daj and screw Ideale, though, either — I want both to be fun to play. Also, Daj has a long way to go to 80.

Plans for Tshaya
It's very odd to be including her again. But if I do end up leveling a resto shaman and doing some raiding with my real life friends, it would be extremely useful to have another high-level Alliance toon both for versatility (in case we ever have too many healers and not enough DPS) and for farming mats.

My goals for Tshaya are long term ones, as my VeCo peeps will be coming first. They're also a bit more difficult, as I want to choose pets that will be more useful in solo and PVE situations. Fortunately, Tshaya is a beast master hunter as well.

She has:
1. Artemis, an owl.
2. Onryo, a ghost saber.

I liked the ghost saber thing, so I wanted to take some other "mysterious origin" pets for her. I definitely want to tame Arikara (extra bonus for doing it on Alliance, right?) and was tossing around the idea of one of the crystal spiders, but they don't seem as useful — a spider might be better for Kresha anyway. I'll probably grab a moth. I would kind of like another cat on her, but I don't know what — Loque'hanak would be the obvious choice, but I don't want to double up on pets. Hopefully, by the time she hits 80, there will be other spirit beasts.

I'm holding off on planning anything for Kresha until I see how certain pets perform in PVP. As a twink, having a nice variety of pets would be awesome, but I really want to make sure they are all useful in PVP because I won't be using them otherwise and I hate to let a pet rot in the stable.