Filed Under: Leveling, Pets // Tags: Cunning, Ferocity, Tenacity
With 3.0, leveling pets really did get much easier, which is something I finally put to the test this weekend. I’ve had Scruffer (named after my first childhood pet), or Sian-Rotam as he’s more commonly known, in my stables for quite a while sitting patiently at 60. With the release of 3.0, he was automatically leveled to 65 for me (as all newly tamed lower-level pets are automatically leveled to 5 levels below the Hunter ’s level) and waited there patiently for his chance to shine.
This weekend, I decided it was high time to take him out for some fun. I grabbed him from the Stable Master in Shattrath and hopped a flight to Shadowmoon Valley. I chose SMV as our leveling spot for a couple reasons:
- The mobs were of an appropriate level to give Scruffer decent XP
- The mobs drop Marks of Sargeras and Fel Armaments, which I need for Aldor rep
So, after arriving in Wildhammer Keep, I hopped on my bird and flew over to my Rogue’s usual farming spot to get started. The process took me just a couple hours, and by the time Scruffer dinged 70, I had 130 Marks and 5 Armaments sitting in my bags, along with 25 stacks of cloth, a blue necklace for the guild bank and an extra 30 gold in my pocket.
The process was both lucrative and relatively easy. I watched videos on YouTube while I farmed (major benefit to having two monitors) which made the repetition relatively painless. The spot wasn’t heavily farmed, though I did see a couple Horde players wandering around.
I’m likely to repeat the process at least a couple more times. After all, I’ve got Pasha still waiting in the stables at 66, and I’ve got two more stable slots yet to fill.
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I finally leveled Banshee (my ghost saber) from 65 to 70 this weekend as well. I wanted a talbuk, so I was fighting barely-green ogres in Nagrand. But it still only took 2-3 hours. (I took a break in the middle and forgot to pause my stopwatch or I would know exactly. *sigh*)
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I leveled on the warmaul hill ogres for kurenai rep (acheivements) and it really didn’t take that long. In my opinion, its perfect right now. Just enough difficulty to make pet choice important, not too much to make you go insane.
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I thought the difficulty in levelling pets and the loyalty mechanic in ‘the old days’ caused hunters to feel a bond with their pets. Then again as someone who levelled several pets the hard way from the 20s or 40s, maybe I am just bitter now that anyone can go grab an Arikara and have it instantly be 65.
The easiest way I’ve found to level a pet is in heroics, a fast run for the achievement should take your pet from 65 to 70 in what feels like no time.
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@Blorg– The benefit to the new leveling process is that you can actually tame a pet you really want without having to spend hours upon hours leveling it. Some people just don’t have that kind of free time, or patience. This way, you’re getting a pet you genuinely want, rather than your second or third choice. That, to me, suggests a close bond.
@Mania– You know, you could’ve just gotten the Halaa PvP talbuk. That’s what I did. Took much less time.
@Ihlos– I would agree. I think the changes have made pet selection a fun process again, instead of a chore. I suspect we’ll be seeing a bit more variety in the world of Hunter pets as a result.
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I do love my second monitor too. I got to watch Zero Punctuation while farming for Cobra Scales.
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And where is this magical farming spot? Mindless folks want to know, lol.
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I got a lion from The Barrens after getting sick of camping Humar… and levelled him using the Scourge invasion. I got enough Necrotic Runes to get all the silly junk AD was selling including a couple of Scourgestones.
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@Sigrdrífa– Demon camp across the road from the Horde town.
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For the pet xp farmers:
Zaxxis Etherals in Netherstorm. You can pull about 10-12 of them (MD and dash makes it much faster) and then explosive shot, Volley. With this tactic I levelled Stomper from 65 to 70 in 1,5-2 hours.
It also provides Consortium reputation (I <3 Elemental seaforium charge)
This is a pretty fast way of getting xp for your pet and repu with a race. Just don’t forget 2 things:
1, You must have the improved barrage talent so that your Volley can’t be interrupted.
2, You must attack non-caster monsters, because the casters don’t run to you.
3, You should have a relatively big amount of hp.
I do this in Battleground pvp gear so that I have a great amount of hit points (plus, I am a miner) and some extra crit chance.
With my Volley crits I can kill ~10 Zaxxis raiders with
1xexplosive trap
2xVolley
I believe that this may be easily continued in WotLK (unfortunately, I do not have it yet) and this makes Marksmanship the best levelling spec for me.
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Hmm. Those were 3 things xD
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Damn I need an edit button.
I mentioned explosive shot. I meant explosive trap.
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