Girl's Best Friend

“What’s in a name? That which we call a rose. By any other name would smell as sweet.” –William Shakespeare

“A friend is one that knows you as you are, understands where you have been, accepts what you have become, and still, gently allows you to grow.”-- Author unknown

Incredible words from a truly inspiring writer.

Names are important in this world. It was once said that a good name is more desired than great riches. When it comes to naming my characters, a lot of time, consideration, research and love go into selecting the right one. There is nothing worse than being stuck with a bad name such as “Earl”. The same careful planning goes into each of my pets as well. Take a journey with me as I introduce you to my pets. Some might need a bath because they have been in the stable too long.

 Being a night elf and starting in Teldrassil, my options were limited when it came to taming my first pet. So my collection of furry friends started with a spotted Nightsaber Stalker and I still have her even though she is a very low level. I named her Echo because I saw way too many “Shadow” or “Kitty” Stalkers walking around so I decided on Echo. I mean, hey; she always was following me, mimicking whatever I would do so it seemed to fit. I would just like to say that I loved the ability to tame any pet my heart desired. My only argument was that I would never own a spider. They were gross and let’s face it; I just didn’t want a spider following me around everywhere.

Pet #2 was a work in progress. I like to have/do things that are different than others. I like things that not everyone has. Every night elf hunter that I saw had their own version of Echo so I decided it was time for an upgrade. That’s when I saw him. He was big and blue and had two heads. That’s right! I am talking about the core hound-Kurken. From the first time I saw him, or shall I say-heard him, I wanted one so badly. But you had to be speced in Beast Mastery to be able to tame him and little Kay was just not old enough yet. So I waited ever so patiently to drop that last point into the talent tree that allowed me to go get my core hound. Upon taming him and glowing with pride, I was asked what I was going to name him? I hadn’t even thought that far yet. So after some consideration I decided to name him Echo. Yes that’s right, Echo…Are you seeing a pattern here? Come on! I had to! It was a giant blue dog with two heads! Echo was perfect. So now I had Echo my core hound and Echo (1.0) my Nightsaber Stalker.

Echo, the wonderful friend of mine, walked with me and fought beside me in Wrath. I was a BM hunter with an awesome looking pet. Eventually I saw the green slimy core hound and decided that I had to have him as well and I appropriately named him DosDiablos. I kept switching between the two core hounds to make sure they stayed up on their levels while I was gaining levels as well. Once I hit 80 a close friend of mine informed me that the exotic pets are nice and all but BM just didn’t do near as much DPS as Marksmanship or Survival. If I was serious about doing well, I needed to respec. That’s right…it was time to put Echo in a stable and go out and get a “real” pet. With a heavy heart I wandered around Azeroth in search of my new best friend. I was instructed to find a wolf and I found one that would do for now. He fought with me in all my dungeons but there was still a void feeling in my heart knowing that Echo was in the stable; in time out. Yes my DPS did increase dramatically, but it just wasn’t the same running without him.

I started PVPing in Wrath as well and I was just getting clobbered. My friend, yet again, offered his advice. He said I was using the wrong pet…again. *sigh* Here we go again. He informed me that if I wanted to be a good PVPer that I would have to go out and get a spider. Eww! They are able to throw a web out and trap whoever is coming after you. I rebelled for quite some time. After playing a battleground one day and just getting owned by a hunter with a spider, I reluctantly went out and farmed for a cool looking spider. If I HAD to have one, then he was going to have to be easy to look at. I saw him, tamed him, and named him. I never wanted him in the first place so I named him Peeve. So when I busted him out in a BG and you would see him charging after the horde his name would read “Kaylyne’s Pet: Peeve!” Clever, right? I thought so.

Occasionally I see an Echo stomping around Stormwind and it kinda tugs on my heart strings a little. Even though he made everyone’s sub woofers kick and I got some upset friends and guildies when he would go running past them, I miss the times we shared together. Maybe one day BM will get a little love and I can pull him out of the stables, give him a bath and we will be reunited once again.

--Kaylyne the Huntress