Rares: Trounce or Announce?

When I came across that rare creature with the silver dragon, I used to kill it, thinking I might get a really great drop. Well, I gave that up quick. (e.g. Sewer Beast Drop list via Thottbot)

Instead, I send out the creature and the location into general so that any hunters who want to tame it can do so because those rare creatures, like the Sewer Beast or the Ghost Saber, were intended to be one-of-a-kind pets for hunters (particularly given the long respawn time of the Sewer Beast).

I'd like to quote Drysc who said:

Every time you kill the sewer beast a hunter dies a little inside.

(Quote via this thottbot poster; thanks.)

However, now that we're well into the game, part of the point of taming these rare creatures has been lost.

First, all creatures normalize in size:

Pets scale to appropriate sizes. If you tame a pet, it will likely be smaller than the "monster" version. This was done because certain pets were very messy to play/group with at their default sizes.
(Source: Blizzard's Hunter Pets Page)

... their speed is all the same:

Base pet speed is standardized for all pets, including legacy pets.
(Source: Blizzard's Hunter Pets Page)

... and they lose all their elite skills:

Finally, remember that once you tame it a “rare” or “elite” pet has no special abilities that will set it apart from its common cousins (i.e. Snarler, once tamed, is just like any other level 42 wolf whether tamed at 42 or tamed at 8 and leveled up to 42).
(Source: Sticky on the WoW Hunter Forums which also lists an exception or 2.)

The question becomes - is it worth it to walk away from the rare kill and instead let some hunter out their tame it? Or don't they care either? Every time I sent a location into General no one ever seemed to rush over to tame it. I think there are just better pets out there.

And I'd like to make sure I link to this valuable resource for Pet Info: Petopia and the associated blog: Mania's Arcania.

Link Update (7/31/07): Gitr tells the story of a rare he tried to tame.

Raretracker

Apparently I like finding rares. Now that I know the silver border means a rare spawn I'm aware enough to recognize them when I see them.

Sludginn in the Wetlands:


And while in Loch Modan in and near the Excavation Site:




And the first rare I ever realized I was looking at:
The Clutchmother Strider in Darkshore:

I knew she was different. When I looked her up in Thottbot I learned Silver=Rare in the comments.

So I decided to download a mod called Raretracker to help me find and track them. Last night I ran around Elwynn Forest picking up new rares.

Yup, this is another time sink waiting to happen.



Oh - and p.s. yes, the fun part is killing them. :)

Links:
Raretracker on ui.worldofwar.net and Curse-gaming. I'm running version 1.5.3 with no problems.

Also my thanks goes to this Livejournal discussion where I learned about the Raretracker mod.

Aggro the White Tigers

This picture I did not alter at all (except to crop it). Strangely it is a tribute to Siegfried and Roy.



What is that there beside the heads? Is... is that supposed to be a mithril deposit? Were Siegfried and Roy miners (in addition to being hunters)? Perhaps one would hold aggro while the other did the mining. Hm. I had no idea their conservation efforts included minerals.

S & R were a big deal at the Mirage for many years until the whole "tiger bites Roy" incident. Now if you go to the Mirage, there's no show but there's still a Dolphin and white tiger habitat (20 second video).



By the way, I was sure to use a silver dragon border around the icon above which signifies a "rare spawn" for the white tiger rather than a gold dragon border which signifies "elite." (I only just learned that recently, I have to admit.)

I found Timmy

I had seen Timmy a few times in my travels but never realized what a rare spawn he is. Apparently he's one of Stormwind's secrets. I first learned this while watching G4TV when they did a special about World of Warcraft. Since then I never saw him. Until yesterday:

I was able to buy his white kitten for 60 Silver. Apparently you can sell them for 5 gold on the auction house. I think I'll keep this one though.

This Allakhazam.com link includes a picture of his route, although I liked this one better from RPG expert. It also showed his spawn point.