I figured as might as well post this here, as well as on the petopia forums just for fun :)
Random Pet Challenge (undertaken on my level 82 hunter alt Laetificat)
Pet I was given: Wind Serpent (Green)
I went and tamed one of the Wind Serpents from just outside Wailing Caverns.
Name I gave him:
Malachite
Model:
The model is really very smooth. Unlike some other older models all the various parts fit together well. One of the first things I noticed about Mal where his colours. I really love the colours and patterns on this model. The variations on the scales look really good. My only complaints were the "feathers" on the wings of the model look a lot more like skin, lacking the details of feathers on some other models, and his face looked a bit... off. The eye looks fine, but he appears to have a slightly concerned leer, which was a little disturbing when I look back at the screenshots. From the back his crest was also noticeably 2D, whereas from other angles it was a lot more fleshed out - once again though, I was under the impression that the crest was also supposed to be feathers, which was a little hard to believe.
His wings also looked a little bit too small, but that might just be me.
Animations:
Idle: Mal didn't really have an idle animation aside from the flapping in place that they do. Animations are not as smooth as they perhaps could be, it tends to "kick" suddenly at points which is a little bit annoying considering you expect it to a be a bit smoother (not unlike a snake really). In motion the kick isn't as noticeable, but it gives an impression of being very taxing for him to fly along. When you are mounted and he follows, the fast fly looks a bit silly.
I have a dragonhawk on my main and the flying/idle animations look so much smoother and well rounded then the ones on the Wind Serpent. Dragonhawks look almost elegant, compared to Wind Serpents who give the overall impression of struggling to stay airborne most of the time. An idle animation of them resting on the ground similar to the snake models would be nice.
What I did love animation wise though where his swimming and idle in water animations. When idle in water he paddled with his wings with his head just above the water. When in motion in water he folds his wings in and slithers, which is one of his best animations, it really is lovely to watch.
I didn't get any good shots of Mal swimming with me, I'm currently using my laptop so I can't swim, swivel the camera and take screenshots at the same time (have to press two buttons on seperate sides of the keyboard at once to take screenshots unfortunately)
When fighting he has two animations - a bite/lunge and a tail lash. The tail whip looks quite good, he raises himself higher in the air using his wings and swipes his tail forwards. The bite/lunge he lunges forwards slightly and bites (a bit obvious, but there you go)
Sounds:
Mal didn't really make too much noise, especially compared to some other pet types (Raiden, I'm looking at you boy). In combat he made the usual snake hisses and snarls, but aside from that there was little other noise. Out of combat the only sound he appears to make is the wing flap noise
Abilities:
His main special attack is a debuff which causes the target to take extra damage from magic for 45s. This is pretty useless to a hunter, but could be beneficial in raids/pvp if you have a lot of casters and don't need to bring another type of buff for the raid.
All in all, I didn't mind having Mal around, so I think I will keep him for the time being. If only to get him out and take him swimming with me :)
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| Malachite saw what you did there. |
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