The Dancing Tree

So I’ve tried leveling a worgen a couple of times, mostly because I like knowing the story of all of the races in the game. I’m generally pretty awful at leveling Alliance races though, and night elves and draenei are the only ones with which I’ve had much success. When Cataclysm dropped, I thought for sure I would be able to level a worgen because of the awesome Victorian vibe of the zone.

As it turns out, I couldn’t stand it, and my account is littered with various worgen across several servers, none of them above level 7. But today while flying through the Barrens on my paladin searching for a giraffe calf, I decided to check out what other pets I wanted to hunt down.

Wait. I should stop here to say: I didn’t play much of the beta. I also didn’t read much about the beta because I didn’t want to spoil Mists for myself. Going into Cataclysm, I read up about so much that nothing felt like a surprise to me when I got into the game. That was the last thing I wanted to happen this time around, especially since towards the end of the expansion, a lot of my desire to play WoW had left me.

However, since Mists dropped, I’ve had barely any time to play at all. Work has been totally kicking my ass. In fact, I only just hit 90 with Fayasha, my druid, yesterday. (This is also why I haven’t been posting at all, for which I have to apologize). So I should have spent today finishing up the Dread Wastes to get gear for her so I can start running heroics. Instead, I decided some pet hunting was in order.

Which brings me to that giraffe calf. I love how big this pet is. I decided it would definitely make a good friend for Fayasha, since she’s always the tallest one in a group, being a tauren and all. But since I’ve been focusing on leveling with the little bit of time I have to play, pet battling isn’t something I’ve been able to do. I’ve always loved searching for pets though, even before battling them was a thing, so I couldn’t resist the urge for long. I turned back to my old friend, Warcraft Pets to see what I might want to go looking for. And that’s when I saw it.

The Gilnean Raven.

Immediately I knew that whatever plans I’d had for the day were going to have to be put on hold and one of those languishing worgens would have to be leveled. Nevermind the fact that I have professions to take care of, a secondary main to level, and a main to gear. Nevermind the fact that I have yet to level my monk or my pandaren. Nevermind the fact that Mists really is an incredible expansion. I needed to go back to do that Cataclysm content that I hated so much, just to have a chance at that bird.

Okay, I realize it’s nothing more than a recolored seagull, but you have to understand. I was 13 when The Crow was released and one of the most interesting field trips I remember taking in school was to the Edgar Allen Poe house in Philly. I’m pretty sure I had “The Raven” memorized at some point too, but I’ve long since forgotten it. Also, ravens feature rather prominently in one of my favorite guilty pleasure books. What I’m saying is, this pet pretty much had to be mine.

And so where everything else failed, the promise of a shiny new pet is what finally got me through Gilneas. It’s actually a decent enough starting zone, though it felt like it dragged on and on in parts. I still can’t take playing a worgen seriously though, and the only way I’ll probably ever play that character again is if I race change her to a night elf. But it’s great, because now that I have my amazing new pet. I can get back to all of those important things I’m supposed to be doing, like gearing up Fay. Oh wait, is that a baby ape that’s only available when it rains?

BRB, camping a rainstorm.