Patch 5.4 patch notes
Virtual Realms feature revealed
The Proving Grounds are coming
The latest patch 5.4 newsPatch 4.2 New Hunter Pets: Ahnka
by Mathew McCurley 
Jun 1st 2011 at 1:00PM
8 new rare tamable beasts have been added, each of which provides a unique taming challenge. Will you be the first hunter to tame Deth'tilac, the rarest and most powerful of them all? Players will need to progress through the Hyjal Regrowth and Molten Front daily questing areas in order to unlock access to the full gamut of taming challenges.
I hopped on to the PTR this morning and, lo and behold, found the first of these eight new challenges -- Ahnka, the spirit cat.
Ahnka presented a simple yet devious challenge -- the damage Ahnka does to you is based on how much armor you have. High armor rating means you'll be one-shot and dead in a second. Having no armor means you can survive the cat's onslaught. Ahnka is also immune to slows, traps, and anything that would prevent this beast from mauling your face off. In order to tame Ahnka, you'll have to strip down.
Name: Ahnka
- Type: Spirit Beast
- Pet spec: Ferocity
- Found in: The Regrowth
- Gimmick: Does damage based on armor. Take off your armor to tame and survive.
The news is already rolling out for the upcoming WoW Patch 4.2! Preview the new Firelands raid, marvel at the new legendary staff, and get the inside scoop on new quest hubs -- plus new Tier 12 armor!
Reader Comments (Page 6 of 8)
Dreyja Jun 1st 2011 7:32PM
Oops, I almost missed the Boar Spirit:
http://www.wow-petopia.com/look/boarskinbrownarmored_ghost.html
Phredreeke Jun 1st 2011 9:11PM
There's also Sambas if you want a rare pet for MM or SV.
http://www.wow-petopia.com/look/alliancelion.html
Brock Jun 1st 2011 2:03PM
Can't raid with bm can't pvp with bm. At least I have a new cool questing pet, even if it's just a recycled look :)
wow Jun 1st 2011 2:09PM
Why can't you raid as a BM. I do all the time. Never heard any complaints.
Shinanji
Brock Jun 1st 2011 2:47PM
In a casual guild like mine, downing a boss or not often comes down to a few thousand dps. BM is too far below MM for the rest of the raid to make up for it, especially since I am usually one of the 2-3 dps who are making up for the others.
(cutaia) Jun 1st 2011 2:50PM
The hunter in my core group raids as BM, and while he does occasionally hear suggestions to switch -- verging on "complaints" -- the fact is, he's able to keep up just fine.
If you're talking about a cutting edge progression guild that's trying to stay at the forefront of heroic modes each tier, you'll be hard-pressed to find a BM hunter, I'd imagine. But you definitely can raid in BM if you have a less hardcore group willing to let you play what you enjoy.
VioletArrows Jun 1st 2011 2:04PM
Eeeeeeehhhhhhhhh....
I hate camping for any reason (I have no spirit beasts, obviously. I do have rare spawn pets.) But... unique skins... hunters doing huntery things... *twitch*
And I take back yesterday's comments, it does now seem weird that they're dropping all this noise for hunters. :/ Especially considering people still think there's way too many of us.
scott Jun 1st 2011 2:04PM
too bad no one raids as BM. it'd be nice to get unique pets on my hunter and still do respectable raid damage, but noooo... i have to take a sub-par spec in order to tame/use them.
sticking with my wolf and non-exotic cat, as always. thanks for putting effort into something not worthwhile, blizz.
wow Jun 1st 2011 2:10PM
ME! ME! PICK ME!
I raid as a BM Hunter.
Shinanji
Blazing Rain Jun 1st 2011 6:15PM
I also raid as BM, and do more damage than 4/5ths of the MM or Surv specced hunters out there, and they're not shabby.
Draig Jun 1st 2011 2:16PM
How did you figure out the gimmick? There seems to be one hell of a logical leap from 'getting 1-shotted' to 'taking all your armor off'.
Knob Jun 1st 2011 2:28PM
Probably an attack that leaves a debuff? Like Ghostcrawler's Nerfbat.
Bin Jun 1st 2011 2:20PM
This is really cool. Hope they start doing more of this kind of solo stuff for all classes. Don't know what but something like this would be real cool. Maybe new demons for locks, cosmetic changes for other classes?
Therosh Jun 1st 2011 2:31PM
While cool, the BM-only flavour leaves a sour taste in my mouth. As a raider, I have a MM and an SV spec, and unless there's not any AoE trash-pulls or add-mechanics (Cho'Gall anyone?) in Firelands, I won't be trading out my SV spec anytime soon (Main, of course, MM).
Whine whine, whine moan, give me rares I can tame. Whine.
niall Jun 1st 2011 3:06PM
agreed.
Dreyja Jun 1st 2011 3:14PM
As has been said by others: Exotic pets are what Beast Mastery is FOR! We get the short end of the stick in just about every other way so, sorry if you don't get sympathy from me on this one. If you can't choose BM as one of your specs then your priorities are such that you give up the right to have these pets. It's that simple and actually, quite fair.
I have BM as both my specs and by doing so, I know I'm giving up something. To those who chose to NOT have BM as either spec, frankly, you're giving up something. Fair is fair.
Kazdur Jun 1st 2011 3:51PM
As far as my own raid group's composition, we've found that they've upped all classes AOE abilities so much that you don't really need to have a Surv off-spec purely for the AOE anymore. I think it's perfectly viable for a raiding hunter to have MM for raiding and BM for fun/taming rares if you're so inclined.
SaintStryfe Jun 1st 2011 2:31PM
Nice but I'm kind of disappointed it's BM only.. i hope some of the others are traditional beasts that other hunter specs can get.
Panteleone Jun 1st 2011 2:42PM
Being a dwarf hunter, I should be manly and sexay enough to tame even the wildest, most exotic beasties. BM spec only = fail. If these are a progression, with each successful taming challenge unlocking the next one, it doesn't matter if the other seven are normal pets. Having the first one as an exotic pet would essentially gate the challenges for BM only. I will wait patiently and hope for Blizzard to do the right thing. I better get some more Barleybrew...
Thiron Jun 1st 2011 2:43PM
While interesting, the gimmick seems too simple.