Monday, May 7, 2012

What's In A Name?

I've come across a dilemma. Nevermind the GIGANTIC list of companions that need to be renamed, and nevermind that I need to collect a lot of them first (once MoP is released). My current predicament - should I rename the pets that already have proper names assigned to them. Or will I even be able to rename them?

Blizzard has made it possible so that many of the pets are easily customizable. A lot of companions are of neutral gender and often neutral faction. This gives the player a lot of room to personalize their collection. Companions such as the Fox Kit, for example, could be renamed to (almost) anything the player desired.

But there are some pets that have already been named and/or assigned a gender. Miniwing and Lumpy are just a few examples of pets with existing names, while Mr. Chilly and the Guild Herald are examples of companions that are classified as male (due to their preassigned name and actual in-game model).

So what to do with these pets that have already been customized by Blizzard? CAN anything be done? Will the final version of the new collecting system even allow pet collectors the ability to change the names of pets that have already been named?

It would be somewhat disheartening if we weren't allowed to rename these pets, but at the same time it feels a bit rude to overlook a developer's creativity. I mean, someone had to go through the trouble of coming up with a unique and suitable name for the pets with proper titles to them, right? Hell, some of those companions might even have interesting back-stories to their in-game names.

If I were to put myself into the shoes of a developer, I know I wouldn't want someone messing with the name(s) of pets that I've created. Then again, I'm pretty detail-oriented and anal about stuff like that. Maybe the WoW devs won't mind as much as I would.

For now, I guess I'll be leaving the pets with existing names alone. It's no sweat off my shoulders for the time being, since it means a few less names I have to come up with lol.

Come MoP, if we can rename them to whatever we please, I might have a change of heart for some of them, though. Or I might not. It's hard to suddenly stop using a pet's name that I've gotten accustomed to using for so many years. Then again, "what's in a name?" Right?

4 comments:

  1. I am not sure if I will rename my companions, should such an option be available. I have known them as these critters for years, but I never had a name for them in mind.

    Should I decide on renaming, I will likely come with a basic theme. All my chars start with an M, I also use behindthename.com to look up any meanings. My hunter pets also chare the M naming theme.

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    1. @Maru: It's quite tough to think up of so many names for so many pets. In the end I might rename just a few.

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  2. I would like the option to rename all my pets, but I agree it is a little rude to the Devs to rename the named ones. Also, I like most (if not all) of the names anyhow, so I wouldn't need to change them =]

    Man, I can't wait until my main gets my Lumpy from my alt!

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    Replies
    1. @Quidamtyra: I agree, many of the existing names are already very fitting for the pets. There are only a couple I would reconsider changing, but part of me doubts that I would have the heart to rename them.

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