Pet of the Week - Darting Hatchling

i nabbed the darting hatchling before patch 3.3, and all raptor pets still dropped off of rare spawns. it was quite exciting when i got him! i remember parking a toon at each of the locations where rare spawns would pop up, and i would check on each alt every now and then to see if it was up. the /tar macro came in quite handy for Dart. when i loaded in at first i didn't see him up, but upon hitting my macro, there he was! he's a fast little bugger :P

why i love it
even if he doesn't run around quite as often as say egbert, i enjoy watching the darting hatchling get its daily exercise. for something so small, it kicks up quite a bit of dust!

what i would change
i'm somewhat torn over the way this raptor and the majority of the other baby raptors are now obtained (post-patch 3.3). having them as drops from spawned nests DOES make it slightly easier for people to find, but at the same time the raptors lose their rare(r) quality and mystique.

i'll liken this to the sprite darter hatchling, who's main charm pre-bc was it's rarity and relative difficulty to obtain. it was out of the way, and you had to know specifically where to go/what to do in order to find and complete the quest chain. these things made it feel that much more rewarding in the end.

much like the sprite darter hatchling, and all nearly all the hatchlings, it's lost this quality that made it unique. with spawned nests rather than spawned creatures, it's easier to obtain, yes. but at the same time it's easier to "farm" too, meaning the auction house can be flooded with "rare" (not so much anymore) raptor pets at any given time.

it's arguable if the spawned nests is actually more convenient or just about the same level of tediousness as the rare spawn mobs themselves. personally, i feel the nests make it easier to get a raptor hatchling since there are fewer spawn points to be concerned about and there's no chance for it to move around. if you know the spawn locations, coordinate logging in with the repsawn timer, there's a high chance you will find a nest. as opposed to a rare spawn creature that has multiple spawn points and has a path that it wanders on, making it harder to keep track of even when it does show up.

but like i mentioned, i'm torn. i do appreciate the way blizzard has taken into account that not everyone is a hardcore pet collector, with endless amount of time on their hands to sit and wait for a rare spawned mob. i just miss the feeling of finally finding that pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.

i'm definitely glad i managed to get the darting hatchling before the change to how it is obtained. i wouldn't trade in that experience for anything.