This keeps coming up but I don't blame you for not knowing.
The quest was changed so that you keep the rod afterwards, as so many people were keeping the quest in their logs just so that they could keep the rod too.

Sweet, Thanks!
Time to go back to ashenvale then :)

This presents a major problem for Hunters.

If you collect Spirit Beasts and you use a Wolf to Raid with, then you're SOL as far as taming Vanilla WoW Rares because you don't have any open SLOTS!

You got 5 slots at the moment. 4 of them are most likely filled with Arcturis/Loque/Skoll/Gondria - the 4 Spirit Beasts.

Your 5th slot is most likely your raiding pet slot - and most likely it's a wolf of some sort.

So if you want to go back to get any of the old-world beasts, you have to sacrifice your "utility" pet.


Stinks - I wish Blizzard would have given us more Stable Slots in the last patch to give us some space to play with.

@Netherscourge

Yeah that's why I only picked up one spirit beast. I've been anticipating this and made sure I kept some of the more rare of my favorites. I've got Humar, the Ghost Saber, and now I guess I'll go get Echeyakee.

You don't need to worry about Humar. After him being rare for years, they inexplicably made a predictable every-5-minutes black lion spawn in Sholazar Basin.

I've got Smuckers, the cat I first trained at level 10 before even leaving Teldrassil, way back when I first picked up the game in '07. Semi-retired, but he ain't going anywhere.

I've got Pete, my raiding wolf. He ain't going anywhere.

I've got Leatherhead, the rare croc from the Stormwind canals that my wife alerted me to when he was available. Sort of a gift from her. Now also my "extreme soloing" pet. Not going anywhere.

Just tamed a nameless hyena for an upcoming foray into PVP. This little phase probably won't last long (they never do) but I do need an appropriate pet for it. Not going anywhere, yet.

This leaves me one slot for an "exotic" pet. If any of them might disappear from the wild at any time, which one(s) are the most raid-viable, or worthy of preservation for other reasons?

"The quest was changed so that you keep the rod afterwards, as so many people were keeping the quest in their logs just so that they could keep the rod too."


What of the people who already have done the quest before this was enabled?