The saga of Craig

The last couple of days have been torture for Trappa of Eitrigg. On a run in Old Hillsbrad recently her best friend and companion Craig despawned before her eyes and never reappeared when called. Her pet simply disappeared. Now, my hunter is only level 40, but I can't imagine how I would feel if I logged in one day to see my huggable-yet-feisty while lion Sobriquet gone. I get depressed just thinking about it.
Trappa did what every sane hunter would do, she went straight to her stable only to find it Craigless, and then filed a GM ticket. What ensued was a battle of legendary proportions. She was told that her pet was hungry, and that must have been why he left. I asked Trappa if this might have been the case, and she said that she always keeps Craig in the green, since all hunters love them the 25% damage increase. She admitted that he might have gone into the yellow just because he had recently been put away, but he was also at the top of the loyalty chart. In her own studies since this incident she said it took a rebellious pet 25 minutes of not being fed to run away. Since Trappa certainly fed her pet more often than this, it appears she was the victim of a horrendous, heartbreaking bug.
When she asked the GMs (and I mean plural, because she spoke to several tiers in the system over the ensuing days) she was told she had already used her allotment of restores on her account and so they couldn't, or rather wouldn't, help her. After pleading, and begging, and pleading some more she wore them down enough to get them to attempt to bring Craig back from the Twisted Nether or wherever he happened to be. But he blinked into-and-out-of existence just as fast as the first time. She was then told that there was nothing else to be done, and was sent away without much in the way of help or sympathy.
A wake was planned, scheduled to take place 1 PM server time in Mulgore where Craig, being a Rake, was first tamed. In order to prepare for the service, Trappa went out last night to tame another Rake, dubbing him SpiritofCraig. It was her intention to release him at the wake. I know, my heart aches for her. However, shortly thereafter she received a message from the gods, or rather, a message from GM Llyleath:
You should be all set. You should have Craig back and all should be well. If you continue to have an issue please repetition while in game. Thank you for your petition!
Naturally excited, Trappa rushed back to her stable only to find that her new SpiritofCraig had fallen victim to the same fate as his namesake. As she puts it "he went looking for his body." Again she filed a ticket, but this time received a response from a GM that plays a hunter. Within minutes everything was fixed, and a cranky Craig was in her stable, starving and rebellious but safe and sound.
Trappa's wondering friend has now been plucked from wherever he was in the Azerothian space-time continuum. The wake will still be held, but now has changed into the "Best Friend Welcome Home Snowball Party and BBQ" in Shattrah City, 1:00 Sat CDT server time. If you get the chance to stop by, Trappa will be the hunter with a grin on her face a mile wide and a happy Craig by her side.






Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Michel Jun 8th 2007 8:03PM
beautiful story
well told ;)
Coherent Jun 8th 2007 8:11PM
See, devotion between a hunter and pet like that is the reason I wish we could have more customization options for pets. (teach them tricks, like how to /dance! dye their fur with cool patterns or symbols!)
I've noticed some real strange quirkiness with pets spawning and despawning randomly, such as logging out with one pet, and logging back in with another pet that I didn't realize I had!
They're obviously fiddling with the taming system somehow. I wonder if they're trying to find a way to give us more pet stable slots or something cool like that?
G Jun 8th 2007 8:19PM
"Trappa's wondering friend..." Wandering?
James Jun 8th 2007 8:41PM
What is scary as hell is both that this happened, no one at Blizzard seems to know why or how it happened, and most disturbingly, did not really appear to give a rat's ass about the whole thing. I love WoW, but if my pet despawns like that and Blizzard behaves like a bunch of clueless morons, I'll be spending my 15 bucks a month somewhere else. That's some craptacular customer service.
JP Jun 8th 2007 8:52PM
Yea, something like this would suck immensly, on my lvl65 hunter, I have the same pet since about lvl23, a humar, and losing it would be akin to losing my hunter itself.
Akuma Jun 8th 2007 8:55PM
@4 Blizz's customer service is a huge joke... It doesn't really exist, they just pretend it does to make us feel better.
Patrick Schriner Jun 8th 2007 10:49PM
I have the same pet since level 10. I love my boar :D
He's tanked SL so far, and is doing great. I'd miss him a lot...
Shiro Jun 8th 2007 11:21PM
WILSON!!! I'M SORRY WILSON, I'M SORRY! WILLLSOOONNNN!
Heheh... sorry, couldn't resist.
chenli926 Jun 8th 2007 11:30PM
so cool
Varivaria Jun 8th 2007 11:59PM
such a nice story. probably the best one I have read in a while. T_T
Galandriel Jun 9th 2007 12:46AM
I've had the same thing happen to me. Galandriel of Scarlet Crusade here.. i had my wonderful white tiger named "Snowflake." typical name, but i found it hillarious when i would send my pet out to take out the last 5% of my pvp foes, and i have some screenshots and videos of her taking down some of the top pvpers too!
Then i logged on oneday, to find her missing!! So i opened a ticket, and i got her back (wasted one of my restores). After about a week it happened again!!! now i was at a debate to waste my second and last restore.. i decided it was worth it since ive had this pet for quite a while through my field marshal grind and couldnt dare part. As soon as i got her back she disappeared. The GM tried a second time, and same result, she disappeared. After that i didn't want to deal with it any longer so i just continued to grind a new pet.
RIP Snowflake :*(
Beaverius Jun 9th 2007 1:23AM
Remember that little article posted a few weeks ago that alked about "bug or feature" regarding new pet taming? basically you could merely dismiss a pet, not abandon, and then your old pet would be stabled if you had a spot open.
If you don't have a spot open, you can destroy your stable and make ALL of your pets inaccessible
Well that is DEFINETLY NOT A NEW FEATURE and almost caused the loss of my favorite pet, my beloved boar Seigfried(sic).
Long story short, it took me a few hours of GM petitions, some of whom were totally cluesless and treated me like poop, and i eventually got my pet back after my ticket was "escalated"
PLEASE DON'T MESS WITH THE PET TAMING BUG! The above article to me shows that something is going on with pet's post patcha nd it's not a good thing. Why is it such a pain to restore a pet? If the damn thign just disappears, why would a GM just not fix it and be done? How in the hell are we are able to just lose a pet and then have to go through a retarded process just to get it back when it wasn't your fault in the first place? Of course my situation was a bit of my own fault but even so...
Brasson Jun 9th 2007 2:22AM
@8
I feel a sudden urge to tame a volleyball...
Jiazu Jun 9th 2007 2:38AM
Well, I guess this just goes to show that the only people who get how attached we hunters get to our pets are other hunters... If I lost my ghostsaber, I'd be so sad... Not only is she awesome, but that was a LONG swim... and I'd hate to have to train another one 18 levels.
@2 tricks? That'd be sweet! /petshake...
CaseyJonesspeeder Jun 9th 2007 4:08AM
I had a boar until around lvl 49, and I stabled him for a cat for better DPS, but I still have him. If I ever lost poor Icculus, I dunno what I'd do...
As far as stables are concerned: MORE STABLE SLOTS!
oomu Jun 9th 2007 5:24AM
>15. I'm sorry but get a fucking life all of
>you, its just a vitrual pet tht you shouldn't
>feel attached to.
it's just your fucking life, you're just a virtual annoying poster, you shouldn't feel so attached to.
Savok Jun 9th 2007 5:56AM
And thus we bring up what's probably the serious problem with WoW right now because a patch won't fix it.
There are some amazingly helpful and funny GMs out there, but it's like finding $100 on the street.
But most GMs are lazy, lying sacks of shit who really don't want to be talking to you. "Why are you coming to me with your problems? We all have problems, I'm forced to talk to you for instance".
They refuse to help; refuse to give you even the most basic information, refuse to reset a broken event, refuse to tell you the fucking truth.
But again, you get those rare ones that actually say to themselves "hey, it's my job to help these people" and everything is wonderful.
We're not SOE teleporting people into space yet, but we're damn close.
phalanx Jun 9th 2007 7:23AM
I have to aggreE with the sentiment in this thread,
I AM FUCKING SICK AND TIRED OF AUTOMATED RESPONSES FUCKING TALK TO ME YOU LAZY SHIT DON'T GO OH SORRY CAN'T TALK SPECIFICS USING THE SAME FUCKING MACRO I HAVE SEEN 5 OTHER LAZY ASS GM'S USE, I KNOW WHAT THE PROBLEM IS FUCKING FIX IT
/rant
Zaquyn Jun 9th 2007 7:56AM
Zaquyn from Kirin Tor here, I'm a level 70 Hunter myself, and I know if I ever lost my beloved Alden or Jo ( Blackwind Saber, and Lost Torranche Tallstrider ), I would be massively heart broken.
Jo and I tanked Sethekk Halls once when I was beast master specialized, and ever since I've sworn I would never abandon my best friend, even though I've changed specializations.
Alden has been my companion since the spec change, my lovely feline friend who makes up for my lacking of beast points now..
I wish all of you hunters who have suffered this horrible thing luck in retrieving, or replacing your valued companions.
- With Love, Zaq.
Wolfstalker Jun 10th 2007 1:13PM
This is a known bug and has happened to a lot of people. Your pet is still in your stable, just not visible.
Its sad that the GMs don't even know about it.