Hunters: Tame a Pet Worgen, While You Still Can
Posted by 
pixiestixy on Monday, July 6, 2009 - 34 Comments Tags: Hunter, alpha worg, ancient grimtotem spirit guide, arena, beast, blue post, bug, exploit, game mechanics, garwal, hotfix, howling fjord, humanoid, mania's arcade, pet, tame, worg, worgen, wotlk
pixiestixy on Monday, July 6, 2009 - 34 Comments Tags: Hunter, alpha worg, ancient grimtotem spirit guide, arena, beast, blue post, bug, exploit, game mechanics, garwal, hotfix, howling fjord, humanoid, mania's arcade, pet, tame, worg, worgen, wotlk 
UPDATE 7/7/09
Wow, I figured this would be fixed, but I didn't think it would come quite this quick. Mania's Arcade now is reporting that the Worgen can no longer be tamed, and those that already have been tamed are somewhat useless. It was a good show while it lasted!
Earlier:
This past weekend was a great one for hunters everywhere as word spread about a newly discovered way to tame a Worgen - WoW's version of a werewolf-like, badass humanoid creature. It turns out that with just the right timing (described in detail at Mania's Arcade) you can tame Garwal, an NPC in northern Howling Fjord who gives out the quest Alpha Worg (in both Horde and Alliance versions). He has both a worg (beast) and a worgen form, and you have to tame him at just the right time to make sure you get to keep him as a worgen.
And once you've gone through the trials of claiming the worgen pet, you then have to be careful in order to keep him. You shouldn't, for example, risk certain activities like bringing him out in an arena, lest risk his return to worg form.
Now the big question - will Blizzard allow this game exploit/bug/awesomeness to stay in the game? All this excitement over an unexpected new pet reminds me of a similar situation with the Ancient Grimtotem Spirit Guide, who once upon a time in late 2007 / early 2008 was tameable. Similar to this time around, there was a ton of activity on the official hunter forums about the new addition to the pet kingdom. First, a blue poster for WoW Europe said the bug would not be removed. A couple weeks later, a separate post on the US forums informed us that the ability had been removed through a hotfix.
With this in mind, it seems unlikely that the worgen will remain as a pet, now matter how many petitions you sign. In fact, I'd say that all the attention the topic is receiving through blogs and the forums may just hasten Blizzard's response. But, there is some good news. If you're able to claim him quickly enough, I would say that chances are good you'll get to keep him. Any non-hunters who are trying to complete the Alpha Worg quest in the meantime may just have to put up with some serious competition! Also something to keep in mind - not everyone is happy with being able to tame a worgen. But I'm keeping my positive stance until I hear a good reason beyond jealously because you've already turned in that quest and can't go back to redo it (Yeah, I know it sucks. But at least some people can partake in the fun - I'm all for that).I've had a great time sorting through the dozens of threads that have spawned up as a result of the whole situation. Everything from what to name your new pet worgen (my fave submissions - ManBearPig, Sirius, GonnaGetDeleted) to what other creatures players wish they could tame (griffons and zhevras are high on my list). It also makes me want to log on to my lowly level 19 hunter in the Project Lore fan guild and start pumping her up. It's a race against the clock!
So what does everyone else think of this recently discovered game mechanic? Have any of you hunters gone out and tamed a worgen yet, or have most of you already completed that quest? For those of you who have successfully tamed the worgen, are you hopeful that you'll be able to keep him?
Reader Comments (34)
first?
Thats sounds cool. Blizzard's tiny oversight may just let us have a bit MORE fun. If I hadnt completed the quest I would definitely go back and attempt to tame him. Well, good luck to those that do tame him. I hope you can keep your new silver-hating friend.
This'll get hotfixed this week, count on it.
hmmm i wonderr how this would work
this is a message to all "first comment" hater's
i didnt want to make the first post this time but i coucdt resist it was like the coments took controll oever my body i coudndt stop it and when i finaly made myself back away from the computer then it was already too late.
i tell you this: people maybe dont know what they are doing when they make those "first comments"
HELP THE COMMENTERS BY NOT COMPLAINING
if you have bothered reading to here then you have to go outside.
I have a hunter, but no way I'll power level him from 7 to around 70 in time.
I suppose it looks cool, but lorewise Worgen are actually supposed to be an intelligent, at least decently, race from another dimension summoned here by Arugal. Because they are decently intelligent, I highly doubt they'd allow themselves to be tamed, similar to how higher demons can't be "summoned" as a pet, just enslaved for a short period of time.
I do admit it looks cool, but in the long run I'd MUCH rather PLAY the Worgen as a race, Horde or Alliance, or neutral, I could honestly care less, than tame them as a pet.
I managed to tame mine the other night. Took me over an hour to time it perfectly. Atm now Im currently recording a video for youtube with him as the main attraction. My little Zen'aku will have his time to shine ^^
Doesn't taming a humanoid amount to slavery?
Im good without this pet. I got my Spirit Beast (Loque'Nahak) yesterday, 15 minutes after getting another hunter the blue bird, Aotona. Hows that for luck :)
I have an 80 hunter that hasn't completed the quest... but I'm too lazy,
i got one of these worgens on my second attempt at taming, sick pet to have. I named mine Porkchop :P
WoW I need to find out if I have done this quest line or not. i can't remember. :(
ive tamed it on my 80 first attempt yay me! i named mine rarepet
I got mine this evening and I'm stoked.
I was put off when I got to the last quest in the chain and found a group of 3 alliance hunters camping the spawn point for Garwal. Fortunately, they not only refrained from ganking my ass to high heaven, they even charaded that they were taking turns on the respawns and that I could join the queue. So after 30 mins of /cry and /sorry with some allies and an odd feeling of comradery, I managed to time my Tame Beast perfectly and walked away with a new worgen pet to the cheers and congratulations from my fellow hunters.
Not only is it an awesome-looking pet, but it was a strange yet appreciated experience working towards the goal with some alliance that were there for the same reason as myself and not thirsting for each others blood.
Congrats to everyone who nabbed a worgen. Pretty please to blizzard in hopes that they'll let us keep the pets as is, even if they fix the bug. Finally, good hunting and thanks to those alliance hunters with whom I shared that special moment.
hey im a level 70 hunter hopeing to tame it but im dumb at the game any hunters that have it wanna help me please im on the relm draka
Blizzard wouldn't have put it tameable if they didn't want anyone to tame it like the Frostsaber in Winterspring...
Does it say what Spec it can be? Tanacity ?Feroicty?
I already did the quest unfortently
he looks badass tho
HOT FIXED at 10:30 PDT 7.7.09
The mob is not longer tameable in either form...
damn
Correction 11:30 AM PDT
damn... right when I was doing the tameing
Got him yesterday, and WAS working fine, played with him morning of tuesday 7th July, all fine, logged out untill this evening, no longer works..mostly. He's still a pet, I can still mostly command him, but cant feed or change abilities, says i dont have a pet. Suckage, major major suckage. Looks like this is just for show now.
really weird, I tried to tame for like 5 times and didn't work, even when he is still a wolf, it says that he isn't tamable....
There is a lot of debate over whether Blizzard will revert previously tamed worgens into worg form retroactively or not. Blizzard's solution to similar situations involving typically untamable creatures becoming hunter pets (i.e. the famous spirit wolf, hydras and crocoslimes) was to fix the error which allowed a hunter to tame the creature but, allowing hunters to keep any instance of the creature tamed prior to the hotfix.
However, this situation is unique from the other cases in the past. Spirit wolves, hydras and even confused slimes can (with some small stretch of the imagination) be rationalized as being domesticated by a hunter. The difference here is that Worgen are for all intent and purpose, humanoid. To draw a parallel, imagine a hunter taming furbolgs, murlocs, gnolls, tuskarr or even Mekgineer Thermaplugg for that matter. So, you can see why Blizzard may have an issue with this. I admit, being able to conscript a Wolvar (or other humanoid creatures) as a companion for a fee would be a fun feature to include in the future (remember the mercenaries in Diablo II?) I think that a hunter subjugating sentient humanoids truly conflicts with a lot of the in-game lore. That is unless you are Swamplord Musel'ek of course.
Even as far back as vanilla WoW many people have speculated seeing the Worgen as a playable race sometime in the future and I think the way Blizzard handles this situation maybe some indication to whether or not this will come to pass. But hell, if hunters get to keep their worgen minions AND Blizzard decides to introduce the Worgen as a playable race, players rolling Worgen better get a racial ability that allows them to consume Kibler's Bits, nuff said.
First time I saw this was a couple nights ago (7-2-09) when a hunter in Naxx 25 pulled him out. I seriously thought it was because of the talent spec some people go for the (more annoying pets IMO) special pets. Then I heard it all over trade when I turned it back on for a few to find an enchanter. XD
I love this pet I tamed it on my third try about 3 days ago. And today I'm going to be taking it to my guilds naxx run.