Shaggy always did have a sweet tooth.
I was looking forward to Patch 4.0.1. There’s something exciting about having things change; new things to learn, new ways to do things, new stories to tell. Sure, there was apprehension, because changes that you don’t know about can be scary, but in general I think change is necessary. It forces you to adapt.
My enthusiasm even kept me going through problems with the patch download, the first time I’ve ever had problems there. Even though the servers have been up for about 12 hours, I still haven’t gotten to log in because my installer can’t handle baby murloc noises. Maybe they’re too cute? I don’t know for sure, but I’m reinstalling from scratch to see if maybe a fresh installation will do it.
But my enthusiasm vanished when I heard that warlock minions had been renamed in 4.0.1. Last night it was temporary; today it is permanent. When you summon your demons, you may have one of them keep the same name, but the rest… are all new.
Helola HATED that I put her in this shot. Heh. I called her Penguin-Girl for weeks!
Warlocks don’t get to choose their demon’s names. We find out their names as part of the summoning rituals, of enslaving them to our will. And while they’re our slaves, servants, and minions, they are also our constant companions. They adventure with us, they fight for us, they die for us, they come back for us; we didn’t choose them, they didn’t choose us, but together, we’re a team.
Cynwise’s demons are part of her, part of her character. Her relationship with each one of them is complicated and unique. Part of the story that I’ve spun as I’ve played this crazy game has been around those demons; lesser characters, but characters in their own rights. They make each warlock unique; no matter how you try to replicate them, the demons distinguish us from each other.
The names may not be unique, but they make the warlock unique.
But now, without warning, that part of my character is gone. The sinister, sexy Helola who graced the pages of Arren’s site, the one who provides the dark reflection of Cynwise’s personality? Gone. Thoglos, the voidwalker who always stands on my questgivers, the one who shields ‘wise when she hurls herself into melee? Gone. Chojub, her imp with a sense of humor who randomly pulls bosses? See ya. Skelzeras, the grumpy Felguard who was really quite a pushover? Thanks for the help in ICC, buddy.
And Shaagrym, dear Shaggy, Cynwise’s felpuppy, the rage magnet, the reason Affliction is so feared in battlegrounds… my companion in so many of these fights that you’ve read about on this site. Shaggy is gone, too.
From the blue post:
We apologise for any inconvenience these name changes might cause and thank you for your patience and understanding.
Patience? Understanding?
You killed my dog and replaced him with a lookalike, and you want my understanding?
I’m a Wrathbaby; started playing in November 2008. In two years, I’ve grown really attached to my demons. I can only imagine what it’s like for warlocks who started playing in 2004.
This is changing my character, without my consent. In RP terms it would be godmodding. Even though I don’t RP with others, I do experience the story of Warcraft through the view of my character; and now a fundamental part of that character is gone.
Chojub LOVES Chaos Bolts!
I shouldn’t be this angry. I shouldn’t let myself get so upset over something that I do for fun, for something that I do to amuse myself in my idle time.
But I am.
I’ve been an IT professional for 15 years with experience in large enterprises. Professionally, I understand that there are likely technical reasons behind this, and that the mistake, once made, is irrecoverable. The names were probably not permanently stored, but randomly assigned and it’s that random assignment that was lost. There were significant changes to the way in which demons were handled, and summoned… I get that.
Yet, as a player, I can’t get past that my dog is dead. I might have a new dog, just as good as my old one.
But I don’t want a new dog. I want my old one.
See, Shaggy wasn’t just a mobile DoT with special abilities I could keybind. From a development perspective I can see treating him as such, but from that perspective, my warlock is just a mob that accepts player instructions with a defined set of abilities that can be executed in specific sequences with specific results. This perspective, while absolutely factual and correct, ignores the elements of imagination that make us want to participate in this game.
I could play a little floating box that casts a damage over time spell that inflicts 40-80 points of Shadow Damage every 3 seconds for 18 seconds. Or, I could play Cynwise the warlock, the ambitious girl from Northshire who was jealous of her sisters and forged her own dark path to power. And who mastered a series of increasingly powerful demons, bending them to her will.
Which one is more interesting to you?
The first time I met Skelzeras, he helped me kill Ony-60. Thanks, you big lug!
Each and every warlock has a story to tell about their demons. Cynwise didn’t meet Skelzeras, the Felguard, until she needed to spec Demonology to take on Onyxia at level 60. Now, a year later, I’ve been raiding ICC as Demonology for 9 months and depend on the big lug to do major damage and provide the buffs our raid needs. He is the one who pulls Lady Deathwhisper, who charges ahead of the tank on Marrowgar, who is the sign to every tank in the raid that Cyn is pulling, get ready to fight to hold threat.
Skelzeras is impressed by the decor, not the boss. Don't let his expression fool you.
For someone who I didn’t expect to like very much, Skezel has grown on me. He and I have seen a lot of things together I’d never thought I’d see in the game.
Thoglos is my Voidwalker, first my leveling companion, later my best friend against rogues and other melee classes. Thog has tanked entire instances for me, rounding up all the mobs for me to then Shadowfury and Hellfire down. He shares every Voidwalker’s tendency to stand on quest givers, but he was always apologetic.
Thog, COME DOWN FROM THERE! I can't take you ANYWHERE!
He just never moved unless I told him to.
CHOJUB LOVES FIRE! YES, MISTRESS!
Chojub is my imp. He pulls bosses and then pretends he had nothing to do with it.
You know no one in the guild believes you, Chojub? You do know that, right?
Oh, whatever. He doesn’t care if they know or not, he’ll keep on causing trouble no matter what.
"Mistress, surely I can find you a date somewhere else?"
Helola was the most evil of all of Cynwise’s demons. Malicious, ruthless, manipulative, always willing to do whatever was necessary, Helola is the dark side of Cynwise, always tempting her to do what is effective versus what is right.
She’s also really good at Seduce-nuking people to death. Damn, she was good at that.
Shaggy likes the Underbelly. He's got a bed there and everything.
This is my dog, Shaggy.
There are many felhunters like him, but this one is mine.
Remember when we pulled Deathspeaker’s Camp together, Shaggy? Good times.
Chojub likes to practice his skateboarding when I'm not looking.
I know that there are probably technical reasons why it’s impossible to go back, why when I log in I’ll be faced with at least 4 strange new demons. With Cataclysm on the horizon there may be no resources available for this kind of a bug fix, and even the simple fix – giving warlocks the ability to rename their demons – might be too much to handle with a major deadline approaching.
I don’t care. My practical, professional side can go shove it. I don’t care.
Blizzard killed my warlock’s dog. And her blueberry, and her sexy whip-cracker, and her big guy with the axe, and the little dude who throws fire. If I’m lucky, I get to keep one of them, but the rest are all gone.
There was a story there, a story I was looking forward to continuing to tell, of seeing the new lands of Cataclysm. My demons were a part of that story… or they were, until now.
Warlocks are the single least played class in Warcraft. They’re tough to master, hated by opponents in PvP, hated by tanks and healers in PvE. They are complex, confusing, squishy. Players who not only play them, but love playing them, are a minority.
And Blizzard just killed our dogs.
I don’t know if I’m going to play Cynwise at this point. I feel that strongly about this, that I just don’t know. I may as well race and faction change her, since she’s not the character I was playing this weekend. In game, and in the pages of this weblog, I tried to create a strong female character who represents a way of looking at battlegrounds – and her demons are part of that.
It’s odd for me to write that. Cynwise is my main, and I really had no intentions of changing that. But Cynwise without Chojub, Shaagrym, Helola, Thoglos, and even that big lug Skelzeras?
She’s just as strange to me as these replacements are now.
Damnit.
I can’t believe they killed my dog.
—-
UPDATE: Blizzard is at least looking into this now. Blue post:
The Warlock naming issues is still under investigation but thus far it appears that the change was not intended but an after effect.
Under investigation, at this time, is if the name change can be reversed. Though that may not be possible, we await more information.
Since the release of 4.0.1, more than a few warlocks have noticed that their pets are in fact no longer their familiar demonic servants, and instead appear to be new entities with different names. We’ve been able to pinpoint the cause of the issue, which should be resolved by tomorrow for any warlocks that log in for the first time from then on. We’ve also been able to determine that we will be able to restore any renamed warlock pets to their original pre-4.0.1 names during next week’s scheduled maintenance.For those of you who like your new pet names, we’re working on a feature for a future patch that will allow you to refresh your summons and essentially generate a random pet name without having to level a new warlock.
Cynwise's Warcraft Manual 
You know, when I first heard about that, I thought “Oh well, warlocks have new pet names. Things happen. At least they didn’t lose a piece of gear or something.” Then I recalled that my warlock had an Imp whose name was pretty close to the nickname of the best flatmate I ever had.
Damn Blizzard. Those bastards killed a good memory!
X(
Now they’ve made me cry.
Bizmir (my imp) is the only one I have left. I have Phuudrom as a dog. Phuuckdat. I want Bheezhem back! What makes me cry even more is that I don’t have screenshots (from having computer problems last year) of my old demons. Bheezhem, yes from raiding, but I play with the names off, so he’s just another felpuppy by the looks of it.
But he’s my Bheezhem! X( Can’t raid with this phucking Phuudrom.
Bizmir is the name of my imp, too, and he’s infamous with my guildies for the many antics he’s perpetuated over the past almost six years of gaming and raiding together.
I really liked the rest of my minions’ names, but Bizmir — that little guy has history. And I can’t even bring myself to summon him, now, because I’m afraid of the name I’m going to find staring at me.
In a game that encourages roleplay and character development, it’s hard not to develop an attachment to the named entities in the game. And while I understand that change progresses the game’s story, too, a flippant reply that “Deathwing ate our minions” just doesn’t help, here.
It’s one thing to not be able to name the minions what we want, but then to just arbitrarily change the names after six years of developing a history that involves them. It really is heartbreaking.
…I don’t hardly ever play my warlock, but I’m already making unhappy noises, because Mellie loved her blueberry. They were tight. 😦
Crap.
Well said, Cynwise. And I feel your pain.
I spent, quite literally, all day yesterday downloading the patch. When I went off to work (graveyard shift, oh how you drag on and on…) the installer was just starting. By the time I got home, I was giddy with glee, thinking of how my AoE damage would skyrocket with the new Soulburned Seed of Corruption, coupled with an AoE Curse of Elements and a volley of molten stone on top of it all. I immediately specced into my new affliction build, lamenting the lack of Improved Fel Hunter and Dark Pact, but knowing it was well worth the change.
And then I went to summon Nheemyn.
I summoned my hellpuppy and noticed with joy that I now had a “Move To” command! Oh, the little things we’ve always dreamed of, now on our action bars…
But… But wait. This isn’t Nheemyn moving at my will. This is… Drookun?
We may not know each other Cynwise, but I’m with you on this. My ticket demanding my felpup is in as we speak. We mustn’t let this atrocity go on.
We must get our dogs back.
Very well said. I think Blizzard very much underestimates how much players become attached their companions in the game.
Your analogy that they killed your dog is right on.
They essentially killed your dog while you were on vacation and replaced him with a look alike and just hoped you wouldn’t notice when you got home.
What offended me the most was the statement “We apologise for any inconvenience these name changes might cause and thank you for your patience and understanding.”
Patience and understanding are fine when it comes to several hours of extra downtime due to a huge patch.
You don’t just rename a players pet or demon and say thanks for understanding.
We shouldn’t have to understand.
I’ve had a Warlock since Classic WoW and he has had the same demons since Classic WoW. Sure I don’t play him that much anymore but you grow attached to those companions because they have always been with you.
The only way Blizzard can make this right is to finally allow Warlocks to name their own pets. Anything short of that and this is a slap in the face to Warlocks everywhere.
I disagree. Even a one-time rename to let players get their old names back would open the floodgates and we’d see a lot of the naming silliness that we see with hunter pets… “ikilledyou” and such. I liked that, at least with warlocks, there was no such nonsense. A warlock’s pet’s name was what it was.
I think the best solution would be for players who are truly upset about it to be able to petition a GM with the names they want back, and have them changed once. That way, players who care get their old names back (or even better names) but people can’t name their pets non-conventional things since it would have to get past a GM first.
I do understand how you feel, though. I would be just as upset to log in and find my hunter pet renamed… I’m upset enough that my warp stalker, Bamf, can no longer bamf (warp).
I hadn’t heard about this change until this morning. I can understand why this is upsetting – your writing clearly shows it 😦
I never had a warlock, but Lus did. He had his voidwalker out a lot and I can’t place the name right now (something hugely unpronounceable) but his imp’s name was Gartik – or Garlik, as we called him. And even thinking about Garlik being gone makes me a tiny bit sad. And he’s not even mine – I hate to think how a warlock who has played everyday with their demons and built a relationship with them must feel.
I hope Shaggy gets to keep his name.
I’m afraid to log into my warlock now… maybe if I wait long enough they’ll fix it…
That is so terrible Cyn. As a hunter, I too have the complete love and loyalty towards the pets that have served me well over the many levels…but I can tame new ones and rename mine. Warlocks & their minions are stuck with each other, for better or worse, and I’ve always viewed their relationship (lore-wise) as disgruntled partners who eventually, over the “years” get to care for and trust each other. It’s very sad that Warlocks are losing part of what makes them distinct people. Hopefully Blizzard enables some kind of reversion or one-time rename that lets Warlocks revert back to their old minion names.
I think the most disappointing thing is they’ve said “too bad” instead of “I’m sorry we messed this up.” I do understand it would be onerous to manually rename every warlock pet by their GM force. But couldn’t they, for instance, work on a naming scroll? Or just on renaming those who put in tickets and have the names of their pets on hand?
You went through long quest lines to get these pets. You’ve quested with them, raided. They’ve kept you alive. You’ve grown attached and now Blizzard just ups and renames them? It’s not fair. You are right to be upset and angry about the name change. You have grown attached to your old demons. Changing the names accomplished nothing for Blizzard. There was no reason to do so. It’s simply…fluff for them, but hurt for all of the locks.
Sorry Cyn =(
Gone through long quest lines _with_ these pets.
There, I fixed it for you.
Both are entirely accurate. 🙂
Sadly they had to do this in the Beta and I thought, OK, as long as they get this fixed in production. The goblin hunter I was playing with lost all her pets also, and had to run without until she could tame a new one at level 10.
Remember when Norm MacDonald got replaced by Colin Cantrememberhisname as the Weekend Update anchor on Snl? He gave a monologue about this comparing it to a bar – you go to the bar, you meet Jim. Jim is your bartender, he knows how you like your mixed drinks, knows you by name and always has that one seat on you like ready when you come in. Well, one day Jim is gone. He’s moved on, now there’s Steve. Steve can do everything Jim can; and Steve has his own little flourishes, but he’s not Jim! Steve knows he can’t replace Jim. Jim was YOUR bartender.
But, dammit, Steve… You’re just gonna have to do for a lot of us. And we’ll resent you but it’s not YOU it’s your bosses, so don’t take it personal if we’re rough on you.
… I lost my train of thought here. But, I lost ol’ Greedhun and now he’s Derpdoor or something equally stupid and it’s sad.
My warlock is a long suffering alt, but even though she has never been played on a regular basis, I’ve realized I KNOW by heart the names of all her demons.
Taryip, Graknos, Disneri, and Flaadhum will all be missed.
Cyn,
My warlock Fynwise has always been a little bit of a hero-worshipper from the shadows. I’d be lying if I tried to deny that I’m more attached to Cynwise’s minions than my own. The idea that they might not be the same breaks my heart. But I do have to say that I love the way you’ve captured and shared them here. No matter what you decide to do with your character, these memories won’t be gone and maybe sometime down the road, looking back at this post won’t hurt /quite/ as much.
Much ❤ to Chojub, Shaagrym, Helola, Thoglos, and "even that big lug Skelzeras."
~Fyn
I thought I was nuts for feeling the same way.
If I had known, maybe I would have taken more screenshots.
And this is why I haven’t touched the game in weeks… I’m just sad about how downhill it’s gone…
My poor Klathtaz… I can’t even make myself log in to see if it’s as bad as it seems.
I don’t play a Warlock, but I completely understand why this has affected you so deeply. I’m really sorry about the loss of your demons and I hope, even if the hope is unlikely to be realized, that you’ll get them back.
This seems like a bit of an over-reaction.
But only at first glance.
While it’s true that I don’t particularly care what my Warlock’s minions’ names are (he’s an alt that I’ve only played for 25 levels or so), if they did this to my Hunter pets, I’d be heart-broken. While Bahr the bear was named after an old joke (“There’s a bahr!” “Where?” “Over thar!”) I’ve come to know and love him as you can only come to love a loyal pet and companion who helps you murder things. A forced rename? No way! It’d be kind of like going out and taming another bear. Sure, it’d be a bear, and it’d do the things bears do, but it wouldn’t be Bahr.
My condolences to all the Warlocks out there.
A dog is for all expansions, not just Wrath.
^
SO much ^
Damnit, you made me cry again.
My imp, Zilnip, and voidwalker, Ormthak, kept their names, but my succubus, who I wasn’t really attached to, got a namechange.
Perhaps they will find a way to use the certificate of ownership on your renamed demons. Still not the same, since Cyn went to bed with Shaggy and woke up with Rover, but it could happen?
My Warlock was my first character, and the first to 70. Whilst I didn’t keep her as my main for long, that’s always given me a fairly big attachment to her. Luckily my Voidy kept his old name, the others have changed though, my dog has something completely unpronounceable /mourn. Afraid to spec Demo to check if Jhuutom is still there, he was awesome.
Ugh, that truly sucks. When I was a noob in WoW, my friend had a warlock – my first “warlock buddy” leveling. And his imp was named Pizqua. At first, I thought all the imps were named Pizqua. After I realized they were not, the name Pizqua was still permanently etched in my brain as the generic name for imp. I have to mentally check myself and not say “why don’t you summon your Pizqua?” to any warlock in group.
Poor, poor Pizqua. At least his master has quit playing.
After I finished practically hyperventilating about how Blizzard “KILLED MY DEEEEMONSSS!” (my boyfriend thought I had finally lost it) I tried to look at the bright side.
Jae has had a few name/server changes since 2005… why not the minions? But… at the same time… they were the only remaining link to the original Jae. Luckily, my ol’ buddy Aztai the Imp is still sticking around. I’m not too sure about these new guys, but Azzy will beat ’em into shape.
Aw, I’m sorry. It’s funny how the things Blizzard doesn’t think matter, are what really make the game for a lot of us. I’m having tree-form melancholia today. Probably similar to your lost dog woes.
Nooooo!
I’m really afraid for my lock’s pets after this change. There are so many memories, from yelling “Blast your stupid sewage infested heart” at Zeptik the Imp, to my boss reading me some poem about how Adam had ’em and coming home to get my Felpuppy cleverly named Haadhum. I liked all of my pet’s names, even the Felguard whose name I couldn’t pronounce!
Curious, I saw that they’ve acknowledged the problem, but I didn’t see anywhere where they said that they wouldn’t at least try to fix it…is there a source on that?
Well said, and I couldn’t agree more.
Krakmoth my voidy was my constant companion from level 10 to level 80, and quite honestly I am not looking forward to leveling 81-85 without him. Give me a break, Blizzard. Kraky ran Gnomeregan on aggressive FOR me when I needed it for my dungeonmaster achieve. He kept me alive when subpar tanks lost it, letting me nuke to my heart’s content while he took the beating. He was my stoic, beautiful blue protector and this “Graz’nos” will not do in his stead.
Me? I’m respeccing affliction/demo. My faithful felpuppy is still Sruumyn, and maybe I’ll grow to love my as-yet-unnamed felguard as much…
…but I doubt it.
I personally don’t RP with my characters, but my warlock is different. I’ve had him for over 160 days /played and he and his minions hold a special place in my heart. The night before the patch I was heading for my usual logout spot and along the way, I dismissed my big meat shield with an axe named Flaaghun and waved goodbye to him. This has always been my normal ritual before a decent sized patch or talent reset because I know he’ll not be there when I log back in the next time. Had I known then what I know now, he would have stood beside me as he always has when I logged out. Tis truly a sad sad day.
I was still downloading last night and have not logged onto my lock yet. Now I’m not so sure I want to. Will Zaggrath still be there?
If not I want a summoning scroll, like certificate of ownership, so I can summon my demon buddies back!
I can understand your pain Cyn.
This same thing caused my wife to just shut down last night. She was just heart-broken that Gobmat (which she perpetually pronounces as “Gombat”) was gone. We submitted a ticket, and she just sat there, all interest in the game gone.
It’s hitting me too. We’ve leveled these characters together every step of the way. Her demons are in most of our screenshots together. Hell, there’s one of Graklos, the Voidwalker, skinny-dipping with us in Winterspring.
This sucks.
I agree completely…my lock was my first character when I made my WoW account, and has been my main this entire time (almost three years,) but now I don’t know. I feel like I am having to relearn the class, and even worse, I am having to relearn it without my friends! Sure, some people hated my needy imp, and he pulled more than a couple bosses, but those things gave him his personality and I want Yaznik back!
The post people linked was on the EU forums, they haven’t said they won’t be able to fix it on the US forums, so I am still holding out hope that there will be a fix. I know a lot of non-locks seem to think this isn’t a big issue, but it really is for us.
Awesome post.
I miss Aztip… This one time, we were sitting in the Twins room in Sunwell about to pull, and my imp starts running down the stairs. I remember very clearly saying on vent “well there goes my imp to wipe the raid” before I could react and get my pet passive out.
and Pryytom… oh Pryytom! We got Gladiator together. You were a fantastic warrior.
Jhuuthun… Well buddy, I know we didn’t always agree. When I first met you in the Ulduar patch, I was really turned off by the evil eyes. But now, I miss you so much :-X
The demon that remained was the one I was using when I logged out pre 4.0.1 . I am wondering if this is the same for others as well.
I got double whammy’d yesterday. Account got hacked and my pet names got replaced. Luckily they only used some justice points, but still.
Let me add further perspective in saying that I played since late-Vanilla WoW. When the patch hit that gave 41-point talents I was 55, questing in Silithus.
My Imp’s name was Ruptai. Always reminded ms of rupees from Legend of Zelda. I remember one time when I summoned him in Magtheridon’s lair and I accidentally had him on aggressive. Oddly enough, another warlock pet attacked one of the cultists too, but it was my imp that warned me of the wipe. I was able to make it beyond the gate that closes the encounter thanks to my imp making some noises (I used my keybindings to keep him from attacking, but the other imp ended up attacking).
My Succubus’ name was Bronneri. Her and I shared an entire day together when I was first 70 and trying to get through Shadow Labs for the arcatraz key. This is when it was first released, so the third boss was way too fucking hard.
Then there was Zhar’thak, the big blueberry. He was my buddy while leveling in Vanilla, though after aforementioned patch I switched to my felguard. I almost solo’d Hydross with Zhar’thak. Any time I tried anything crazy that I needed to solo, there he was.
My dog’s name was Sloogrym. He took a very long time for me to first summon due to how hard the quest was back when I first did it. Him and I shared a lot of BG experiences and Arena experience (BG experiences went well, notsomuch for the arena).
And then came Shaathun. Him and I were a perfect fit at 55. Remember how I mentioned I was questing in Silithus? Well we were grinding the elites that used to be near the entrance to CC place (the name slips my mind). While we were grinding, a level 60 in Nemesis gear rode up out of nowhere with his felguard, and started attacking. This was a major thing for me because the server was pretty dead at that point, and there wasn’t much PVP to be found (unless you were hanging around Blackrock Spire, then you’d get a train run on you by an ally raid). I was in Stam gear (still best option IMO for leveling lock, lol). I actually took him on, and me and Shaathun pulled a victory out of it. I battled someone higher than me, that far outgeared me, and I won, all thanks to Shaathun. Oh, and there was that time during the HWL gear grind that I set him to aggressive, parked him near the GY at stables, and took the flag, walking away with an extra 5 kills because he pretty much solo’d everyone in the GY.
Good times my friends. You will be sorely missed.
I wish there was some type of petition we could sign, but blizzard doesn’t give a rat’s ass about how Warlocks feel. Took them 4 years to give us a green fire spell for godsakes, and we’ve been petitioning that since the spell model came out in BC.
REPOSTED FROM A GM:
…the ritual came to a close and a demon of untold power (but limited stature) was pulled through the void, kicking and biting and gnashing its teeth, forcibly bound to the mortal world. The warlock, a quizzical expression on his face, regarded his familiar, who was in fact now quite unfamiliar, and inquired, “Who in the hell are you?”
Since the release of 4.0.1, more than a few warlocks have noticed that their pets are in fact no longer their familiar demonic servants, and instead appear to be new entities with different names. We’ve been able to pinpoint the cause of the issue, which should be resolved by tomorrow for any warlocks that log in for the first time from then on. We’ve also been able to determine that we will be able to restore any renamed warlock pets to their original pre-4.0.1 names during next week’s scheduled maintenance.
For those of you who like your new pet names, we’re working on a feature for a future patch that will allow you to refresh your summons and essentially generate a random pet name without having to level a new warlock.
Thank you for the post…my guildies thought I was crazy last night as I mourned the loss of Zortuk!
I’ve been mostly a demo ‘lock for about 5 years now, and like you build stories around my minions, but the difference is that I feel anything BUT fondness and love for the foul creatures.
Sure, I summon them and bind them to my will. As relationships go, this is a pretty abusive way of going about things. I used to love the old Demonic Sacrifice talent – nothing could beat instantaneously killing your minion, especially for no reason or just to enjoy watching it twitch as it fell to the floor.
So now I’ve got some new ones to abuse. Good. The old ones were getting boring anyway.
And if this kind of attitude bothers you, I’m a WARLOCK, what did you expect? Go hang with the hunters.
The thing that is really cool though… the “move to” command. I’m just loving that!
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I know how you feel. I about had a heart attack when I summoned my Fel Guard, Zurilshokin, only to get some doofus named Eraktom. Who has been referred to as Rectum by a couple guildies -.-
But its my voidwalker I miss. Messy Hugs.His real name is Mezzyvhugz but we called him Messy Hugs. And he didn’t like this place, and he always wanted to be sent back to the nether. But he got me to 80 and he was a good company. Once I realized my big blue buddy wasn’t there anymore, I promptly dismissed the temp who showed. I couldn’t even begin to tell you what it’s name was. But it was not Messy Hugs.
I’m not so concerned with the whip wielding tart or the pup, but I want my 2 best buddies back. I’m tolerating my hunter going from 6k to 2-3K in heroics. A priest who DCs half the time she enters an instance. The druid who can’t turn into a tree very often. But I’m not having this nonsense of my minions being changed behind my back like I wasn’t going to notice.
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My guild thought that I was nuts when I reacted with shock to find Phuunom the grumpy dog and Mirlissa, essentially my female lesbian self, gone.
Mirlissa was replaced by a Dutchmaid sounding Helgad and Phuunom… no I don’t even wanna go there I might just tear again.
Anyway your post made me hug my dog irl and tell myself that i wasn’t insane for missing my minions.
I lost Yazuri *weeps* Zuri has been an intrinsic part of Rynn’s character, I always considered myself lucky that I got one of the coolest names for an imp. He was a snarky, loud-mouthed bastard of an imp who would complain every chance he’d get and yet if Rynn was in danger he’d never run away. ‘Zuri was there when she first met Zevron, he was there when she was rescued from I’mani, he was even there when she was considering forsaking the demonic path and choosing to walk down the path of a mage. Even when I moved her through to the other side to become worgen when the time comes. There would be epic plots and twists of fate. Many story lines had been planned out for the future.
Now ‘Zuri is… Tarpad
I was devastated when I found out, especially when my other lock didn’t get his demon’s changed on him! The only good thing that came from it was Rynn’s puppy (who got called Puppy ’cause he had a -horrible- name) got changed to Zazzuun which was a big improvement from his old name >_> But that small name change did nothing to justify ‘Zuri being eaten by Deathwing (It’s true! The GM told me so!)
Even Klath (Klathgrave) is now something unpronounceable… He stayed by Rynn’s side the whole time she was sick. For so long he was the shadow who followed her around when she interacted with guildies and the first time she became on official member of Symphony. Klath was always somewhere close, protecting Rynn from the critters who wished her arm. He took the blows for her and would be the shield so Rynn could blast them from afar. Out of all her demons, Klath was the best behaved.
And the one she never summoned… Rynn never liked Saranda… and for some reason she was the one that stuck around. (Malis wishes Deathwing could have eaten her for good)
So here is to all the ‘locks who cry out for their demons back! I know my guildies thought I was crazy but man… I have had these guys since BC came out and while I could live with the other’s being re-named I want my ‘Zuri back!
I feel your pain. I had heard about all the issues with warlock pets, and I was very worried about logging onto my lock.
A little background- My warlock was my husbands first character that he no longer played. He had switched to playing a shaman as his main in BC, and his lock began gathering dust.
I remember watching over his shoulder as he tromped through Blackwing Lair with his felpup, and farming on that toon for him, with his imp Zignik.
Eventually, I asked him if I could have the character, and he happily agreed, so it was transferred to my account. I re customized him to a her, changed some key features, such as her name, and logged in. To my joy, I found Zignik waiting there for me upon my login. I specced the lock to Destro, and he has been my little feisty companion ever since for several years now- that is until Wed.
I knew there had been technical issues, but that did not make me feel any better when I attempted to summon Zignik, and found him to be replaced by an impostor.
I hope to see him again some day.
I first heard about this problem on patch day, but didn’t think much about it since when I summoned my felguard, Hathuun, he had the same name. I let out my held breath, thrilled that I hadn’t been affected by the bug. But then I summoned Kartuk, my slightly antagonistic personality-bomb that is my imp. Sadly, it was an impostor whose name I refused to remember, and instantly dismissed him. As I saw him fade into the nether I thought, “Why did you leave me, Karuk?!”
I started playing this game in 2005, and have kept my same minions from vanilla, through all the travails of Outland, and throughout the barren wastes of Northrend. After My human warlock died a horrific death and came back as Forsaken, none of my minions left, and I continued through the rest of Northrend sans flesh but with the familiarity of my long-time companions. To lose my pets due to a bug is a bit unsettling, and I really, REALLY hope Blizz gets this straightened out!
I haven’t even tried to call Jhorva, my malicious vixen of a succy, nor Krakrast my stolid VW, or Jhaguun, my faithful puppy, for fear that I will be plagued with the false hopes of dopplegangers who may have the same talents as my pets, but they lack the shared experiences.
It’s the one thing that hasn’t changed throughout my time on Azeroth, and damnit, I want them back!
A friend of mine has an imp called Dagham, or as we call him, Dagenham. He supports West Ham (:
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I just came back to wow and restarted on the alliance side. I have had a horde warlock in the past… I am only level 8 at the moment , and the thing that is bugging me is that my imp has no personality. There used to be text that came up with my other imp… He would grumble and threaten and complain about stuff… My imp was absolutely vile, and I liked him that way. This imp is lifeless and dull. I barely notice he is there. Does anyone reading this know if there is there something in the settings I need to change or was this feature removed? Great article by the way !
I think the text was removed. There is a sound option for pets which will make him grumble, however – check you sound settings.
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