Some hunters are avid beast tamers. They love to collect, they love to search, and they love to simply have fun creatures in their stables. With every major patch, we get new beasts somewhere in the world that are tameable, often through simple means like walking up and just pressing a button, to having tasks to complete such as long quest chains or secret feeding techniques. The simple explanation is that we love to collect new, interesting things. With Shadowlands, we were introduced to like-minded beings called Brokers. They love commerce, they love collecting, and they love trading. More than anything, they like profit. In various locations, there are Broker NPCs that stand near these large capsules which contain various lifeforms. How can these Brokers make profit from what they have? Easy; mortals like the Maw Walker hunters that want those beasts.
My suggestion begins like this; add an NPC Broker somewhere that has a stasis capsule near it. Inside this capsule, add beasts that can be tamed which use skins currently not found on any tameable beast. The Broker will offer to sell you the captured specimen for a modest sum (Maybe 1000 gold?), and you can ask them if they have others available. Every day, the NPC has an assortment of beasts that can show up, but only so many. It’d be kind of annoying to keep cycling the visible creature a thousand times while looking for one appearance after all! For example, let’s say the following is what the NPC will say;
“Greetings hunter. I see the allure of seeking rare and exotic beasts gleaming in your eyes. You are eyeing my prize at my side with quite the intrigue, after all. I have spent many a year seeking out life from across many worlds, all for the sake of selling them as exotic pets. For a modest sum of 1000g in your currency, I could be convinced to part with one of them. What do you say?”
- Option 1: “Yes, I’d like to purchase the beast to your side.”
- Option 2: “What other beasts do you have today?”
- Option 3: “No thanks.” or “Maybe later.”
If the first option is picked, the beast will be set free, and stand in a stupor (much like being stunned). The beast will be unattackable, and only visible to the player that paid for it. This sort of behavior can already be found in the game with the four painted mechanical scorpids and Hati’s various colors. The orb will close after a minute or so, and a new skin from that day’s selection will appear. If the second option is selected, the shown beast will change to another. This is only visible to you, so others can’t change it to something you do not want right before you pay for it. There could be maybe five to ten different skins picked from a pool of NPCs, similar to how there are four randomly chosen NPCs in the Theater of Pain.
One thing that hunters seem split on is the retention of names. Personally, I love when beasts keep their names, but I understand that others don’t. So, a small option that could be implemented is having the beast keep its name at first (Such as Captured Specimen or something like that), and when paid for, the Broker will offer you a Certificate of Ownership. Granted, the certificate is not worth 1000 gold on some auction houses, but consider it a bonus along with the pet. This way, you are given the choice right away on naming your pet or not.
As for the skins, the popular website Petopia has a listing of all skins that are found in the model viewer, both used and unused. Some have been added as of 9.1 PTR, but many continue to be unused for various reasons. The Broker that sells the beasts is a great way to introduce these skins without the need of creating some fancy rare with a new name. Mount models, such as Troll saddled raptors and Tauren armored kodos, are currently placed in many locations, but sadly none are tameable. There are some exceptions, though they are very few in number. Fun skins, such as the pink elekk found during Brewfest or the ghostly crocolisk found in Sholazar, can also be great additions here. How did the Broker obtain a figment of a drunk person’s imagination? What sort of method did the Broker use to capture a ghost? Who cares; it’s for sale and you want it! This can also be a fun way to introduce entirely unusual things, such as plant hydras from Gorgrond, spawns of G’huun from Uldir, and other weird oddities that resemble beasts yet are not currently classified as such.
Personally, my most-wanted pets right now are the pink elekk, a plant hydra, and any form of druid skin. While the latter is sparingly used (such as the crow models and owlcat forms) and most likely unlikely for taming due to them being druids, the other two aren’t TOO much of a stretch!
Useful links:
- Petopia’s list of unused skins: https://www.wow-petopia.com/gallery.php?id=unavailable
- Petopia’s list of unused models: https://www.wow-petopia.com/gallery.php?id=unusedmodels