Travel and Leisure

**What is the World of Warcraft?**

World of Warcraft is the single most popular massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) on the Internet today. It all started on September 2, 2001, when software giant Blizzard Entertainment released World of Warcraft. It was one of the first role-playing video games to allow players to connect to the Internet to join an entire virtual world of gameplay with other gamers. The concept took the world of gaming by storm, and by 2008 the World of Warcraft now holds the lion's share of the MMOG market with 10 million subscribers.

**The World of Pets on Warcraft**

The World of Warcraft has become such a realistic virtual world for many people that they've started searching for virtual luxuries for their online character to enjoy. Now pet lovers who play WoW are able to choose from an entire world of pets to select their own unique animal.

While you can have a small pet and a "combat" pet. Small pets are only there for companionship for your character. These are luxury items that people enjoy having, but really serve no real purpose. On the other hand, you can also have combat pets which serve a very useful purpose depending on the animal that you choose. And if your character is a hunter you have the potential to choose a non-combat pet that may compliment your combat pet.

**Categories of World of Warcraft Pets**

In this virtual world of pets, there are more than enough choices to select the animal that suits your needs. If you are selecting a combat pet, you'll want to choose very carefully because the pet's abilities will serve you well if you are very selective. There are various families of pets with particular abilities. These are mostly considered "hunter pets" which fight, level up, and have special skills alongside the hunter.

- Ferocity Pets: These pets cause damage more quickly. This category has several families, including the carrion bird, hyena, tall strider, cat, raptor, and wolf.

- Tenacity Pets: These animals will strike harder and with more protection, but a little more slowly than the ferocity pets. These are considered the "defensive" pets. These families include the bear, boar, crab, crocolisk, gorilla, scorpid, turtle, and the warpstalker.

- Cunning Pets: These animals are considered more "balanced", with the same hitpoints and a little less armor than ferocity pets, but with a little more speed than tenacity pets. The families in this category include the bat, dragon hawk, ravager, spider, wind serpent, bird of prey, nether ray, serpent, or the sporebat.

**Collecting Pets**

While many people spend hours on WoW completing quests, gaining experience, and leveling, another segment of the player population is there for the social experience. There are so many people playing WoW that it's near impossible not to strike up a conversation with fellow players, or to meet new people you come across during your travels.

One of the important things people like to do when they taking part in such social environments is to make a unique impression on other people they meet. Nothing makes quite an impression as a large pet collection. You can typically only have one pet out at a time, however they can switch, or "summon" whichever pet they like.

Some of the creatures or truly a work of art on the part of the game creators, and other animals are perfect attack animals that aid a hunter in all aspects of their quests. With the introduction of leisure pets and hunter pets, the World of Warcraft creators introduce a whole new aspect to the gaming experience, a unique connection between person and animal, between the avatar and the beast.

**Top World of Warcraft Pets**

In a place where there is a world of pets to choose from, it's important that new players can recognize which pets are actually useful. According to some of the top WoW players, the following are the top best hunter pets of Warcraft.

1. The Cat: By far the most popular Hunter pets on WoW are cats. Preferable qualities of the cat include its multitude of skills and variety.

2. Ravager: The Ravager is preferred by many players because they achieve very high damage and have good armor in a fight. Some skills Ravagers can learn can give them a 50% chance to achieve double damage.

3. The Bat: While it is an unlikely choice for one of the top pets, Bats are actually very popular among players because they have good health and armor, and can achieve high damage in a fight. Secondly, many players love the look of a vicious bat on the attack.

4. The Owl: On WoW, just as in real life, Owls can achieve high damage against foes, and they also have good health and armor. Targeting can be somewhat difficult with owls, however they have so many skills that hunters love to use them often.

5. Spider: An unlikely pet, spiders are actually one of the more popular pets the World of Warcraft. They achieve a very high damage rating, and also have one of the highest net bonus totals of the entire world of pets on Warcraft.

6. Wind Serpent: This bird is essentially a snake with wings. It has high damage and average health and armor. This serpent has the unique skill of lightning breath and offers the highest damage of any pets against unshielded enemies.

7. Gorilla: Who would want to fight alongside a gorilla? While they can be difficult to feed, have a low health bonus and average health, the gorilla is not always a very common pick among WoW players.

8. Crocolisk: This creature is a strange green lizard with yellow fangs and six short legs. They have no unique skills and have very low health. They do offer high armor however.

9. Wolf: While most people would consider the wolf to be one of the most vicious fighters in combat, in this world of pets, the wolf actually achieves only average damage and has average health. The also have very few skills.

10 Nether Ray: Probably one of the strangest pets on Wow, this pet has stingray body with feathers and brightly colored stripes along the body. They do achieve large health bonus and small damage bonus, they have very low armor. They look cool, but they aren't good for much else.