iMDu: 07/09/09

Sadly i was not able to level fast enough to get a chance to tame or at least have the Worgen pet while it lasted. The Worgen pet was a NPC from the ‘Alpha Worg’ quest in Howling Fjord, where Hunters could time their spells just right and tame Garwal and keep him ‘stuck’ in worgen form. As most of you already know Garwal is no longer tamable and there is no decision yet to remove the pet from the game altogether. But in efforts from Blizzard to hotfix Garwal has buged all the current Worgen pets and there no longer able to use any spells and are therefore just another vanity pet. Here are some blue posts on the matter.

Blizzard adresses the Worgen issue; All italic and quoted posts are from other users, and not myself. (Just wanted to clear that up)

The worgen should not technically belong to any of the pet families and was therefore removed. This means the pet no longer has access to pet talents or abilities. Whether or not similar circumstances with hunter pets in the past have occurred isn’t really relevant. Given the nature of the creature that was tamed in this case, we feel it should not belong to any of the eligible pet families from which a hunter can choose his or her combat companion.

As you may have already seen, tons of unhappy Hunters out there bringing up other pets that are no longer tamable and how they think they should treat the Worgen the same.

It’s not really a matter of consistency. There are times where unintended issues in the game will provide players with a benefit if they exploit the case. Any time this occurs we assess the individual situation and handle that situation based on the specific circumstances present. Whether or not you compare and contrast our actions in this case to any actions in the past is, as I mentioned before, quite irrelevant. There are far more variables in play than you’re accounting for in order to argue this situation with Garwal should’ve been addressed in exactly the manner we’ve addressed similar hunter taming issues in the past.

"While the model remains, the wolf in that form has no access to pet abilities or the talent tree. What’s going to happen to it?"

It may yet still be removed altogether. I don’t have a final decision on that to share with you.

"I am of course NOT happy with the arbitrary and unfair way in which this was handled"

I’m not sure how fairness can be measured in a case where the taming of this pet was largely unfair. Taming the worgen relied on a quest and an odd commitment to timing. It wasn’t fair to anyone.

"along with the ridiculous delay in communicating with your customers how you planned to handle your mess."

With all due respect, the issue gained traction and popularity over a holiday weekend. We began discussing the situation the moment we arrived in the office on Monday morning. By Monday afternoon we confirmed this to be a bug with the public, stating that Garwal would be hotfixed so as to be untamable in the future. The exact changes made in the hotfix were only tested and solidified within a very brief window of time before being pushed live to all realms.

"This worgen-wolf model gave me hope that I could have a “cool pet” that would actually be raid-viable. I was excited about playing my hunter again, like I used to be when I first started playing."

It is unfortunate when a bug is found that provides players with something really cool that we feel they shouldn’t have. For that I apologize.

In closing.

In some previous cases we fixed the bugs that allowed the taming of certain pets, but felt the pets weren’t so far to an extreme that they needed to be removed. In other cases in the past, and in the case of Garwal, we’ve removed the pets as well feeling as though allowing them to remain hunter pets would be going too far.

Those of you asking for consistency, or to “pick a side” as I believe I saw one player request, are over-simplifying the nature of bugs. There’s no side to be on when it comes to fixing bugs and addressing any unintentional outcomes due to those bugs being present. We have to assess each case on an individual basis.

A humanoid who could only be tamed through the trickiest of means didn’t sit right with us, so we removed the ability to tame him and removed his status as a hunter pet.

Hi and welcome to the iMDu Hunter's Blog. In this blog I'll try to cover a mixture of things; new features, in-depth analyses, some theorycrafting, general tips and advice, guides, random hunter news and links to useful resources i have found useful. Although I'm only in the process of leveling a Hunter, however i have been playing World of Warcraft for over 3 years now so i like to think i know enough about the class to build a blog around it. Also i thought it would be fun and a learning experience as my wife and i shape this blog around our newly created Hunters.

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