Hunters: Taming Draenor

Hunters are kind of a special class. They're the only ones who use Bows, Crossbows, or Guns, and they get to tame pets anywhere out there in the world - really getting to customize their own core gameplay features.

Pet collecting for Hunters has always been a pretty big appeal to the class, and with each expansion, we get new pets and new pet families to tame. Let's look at what we're getting in Draenor!

Clefthooves:

Clefthooves are actually absorbing Rhinos into their mix, so if you have a Rhino pet already, they'll share a family with the Clefthooves. There are a number of new Clefthoof models, typically with more horns and tusks (this will be a general theme for Draenor models of older animals, which is weird because shouldn't they be identical to Outland ones?)

Riverbeasts:

Riverbeasts fix a longstanding problem in WoW, which is the absence of Hippopotamuses... Hippopotami? Whatever, Hippos. You'll find plenty of these guys in Draenor's rivers and lakes across most of its zones. They have a rough, almost scaly natural armor around their heads, and big, scary, massive jaws. Fun fact, hippos are the world's most aggressive animals, and are far deadlier than animals that people usually think of as being dangerous, like lions or wolves.

Stags:

I feel compelled to go back to Ashenvale and tame one of those dark, cursed stags now. Stags are another big umbrella family, including typical deer, but also gazelles and Outland/Draenor's Talbuks. Come to think of it, have there been herbivore pets before?

Hydras:

This is technically not a new pet family, but I believe there was only ever one hydra that could be tamed, and at some point they made it untamable (but grandfathered in those who had it already.) Well, Hyrdas are going be tamable again, and there are a bunch of new Hydra models that seem far healthier than the mutants we saw in Outland. These Hyrdas are big quadrupeds with a few heads and nice dark scales.

Rylaks (Exotic):

Rylaks are somewhat-lupine beasts with two heads who can fly, and are a common flight-path option for Horde players (Alliance get Fae Dragons, which apparently the Draenei had access to for reasons I can't begin to guess at.) Despite their similarities to Chimaeras, they appear to be their own family.

New Models of Old Pets:

Many of Outland's old animal denizens are getting model updates. Wolves, Boars, Sporebats, Ravagers, Bats, Birds of Prey (including a new Toucan look,) Carrion Birds, Wasps, Raptors, Cats, Moths, and possibly Worms will be getting either new models or at least new color variations. Notably, the new Ravagers have perhaps more believable anatomies, but they don't look nearly as alien as they used to (and instead seem somewhat more like Silithids.)