Creature Handler Archive
Thread: Humble Thanks
WraitheOza wrote:
I know things arent looking so well for your class, although Ive never had the desire to pick up this profession in my long term here in the Galaxy, many..MANY of my online friends here are/were MCH/CH. As of this moment, I can count at least seven on my friends list who are active, playing MCH.
With that said, I wanted to share a few things with you guys that helped shape my experiences in SW:G
-The very first time I stepped off the boat, many moons ago, one of the first things I saw was a fully grown Rancor tooling around in front of the Mos Eisley Cantina, led by one of you. I was very much intimidated, and elated that something so close to the SW feel and the epic feel of it was standing right in fromnt of me. I was hooked.
-My first guild on Radiant (Rebel Cell) had a wonderful communtity of Creature Handlers. My guild leader Mystic Lightshield (godbless ya, you still play the game) Gave me my first mount. A Bol. Naming him Jester, I must of rode all over Dantooine for hours that day..ducking voritors and those nasty cavemen..lol.
-On one of my trips to the Argo Outpost, A player event must of been happening, A Dark Jedi Master was wiping the floor with what seemed like 20-30 players. Creature Handlers showed up and out came Kimogilias, Rancors and beasties I hadnt even seen at that point. Them and a Padawan turned the tide and slain the DJM. Awesome, awesome visual.
-My pets I was given over the years, some are still with me..Jester, Meatball, Jester Jr. And the friendships with the trainers I had made. The memories of my gaming experience was enlightened and enhanced because of you.
-These are just a few memories I had, the list is endless...
If this is the Death Knell for Creature Handlers, I just wanted to say from a dedicated player and long time veteran, that the galaxy wouldnt have been the same without you...
/deepbow
May The Force Be With You
You know, this is a big part of what Creature Handlers are all about: Sharing the wonder and awe of this fantastic milieu with the people around us.
The mentor who got me into SWG was a Creature Handler. He's the one who showed me how a loyal pet could enhance my gaming experience. His two pet gurrecks, Sabretooth and Razor, guarded my own rear end many a time, when I was a nOOb terrorized by the muggers and snakes outside Kaadara. The first time he set them up with his "Friends" command to allow me to command them, I was hooked. The mystique of Creature Handler descended on me like no other profession in this game.
Adding to my appetite was a chance meeting with an anonymous Creature Handler, riding a kaadu and leading a large cat (which I can identify now as a razor cat). I and another nOOb friend had banded together and were locked in a desperate fight with a nest of Tatooinian mynocks. He paused and watched us fighting, and tipped us both 5000 credits afterward. But his generosity wasn't what stuck with me the most: It was the sight of another player riding a kaadu! The hook sank deeper into my jaw.
I went on to become a Master Bounty Hunter/Creature Handler dabbler, able to use pets up to level-35. For the better part of a year, that was the high-water mark of my Creature Handler career, because with the Master Marksman prerequisite for Bounty Hunter, I simply didn't have the skill points to master CH. But I was able to tame some awesome pets, nevertheless: My Merek Assassin, Scarface, whom I tamedfrom right between the legs of his pappy without firing a shot,and my Desert Vesp, Draco (both possessors of a nasty poisonous bite); my Graul Mauler, Povarotti; My Mantigrue Night Stalker, Shadow (who killed the mark that brought me to Master Bounty Hunter when the mark went swimming, thinking he could escape me -- HA!!), and later, my more-powerful Mantigrue Hunter, DarkShadow;my Gleaming Lantern Bird, Talon, who was fast enough to keep up with me on my swoop, and escorted me on many a mission for the Hidden Village of Aurilia; and many others.
It's difficult to describe the sense of pride that comes with commanding a stable of magnificent pets, but when you get a taste of it, as WraitheOza has, you understand. You simply... understand.
I went riding my kaadu, PaddleBoat, last night. It was the first time in a while that I'd gone on an extended overland trek on a pet. I rode from the Mining Outpost on Dantooine west to some of the ruined shrines along the lost Trail of the Ancients in search of untrained wielders of the Dark Side of the Force. I reminisced as I rode, tasting again with exquisite poignancy my trusty kaadu's speed as he swam across the lagoon west of the Outpost, knowing that he was swimming as fast as he runs on dry land. And we trotted across the rolling landscape, and I was content to let him run at his own pace. We were in no hurry last night; we had the land all to ourselves. Well, us and the rich wildlife around us. As we traveled, I spotted one baby after another: infant Slinking Voritor Hunters; diminutive Thune Grassland Guardians and young Thune Herd Leaders-in-the-making; huurton whelps.... Every time I saw one of those yellow dots in the midst of red ones, I felt again the urge to dismount and tame the babies. Alas, I had long since given up the skill in order to concentrate on the Path of the Jedi laid before me. But I knew in the depths of my heart that the call of the wild would never leave me.
At last, we reached our destinations, and I took the measure of the young fools poking amongst the ruins and looted their corpses. It seems a barbaric way to obtain the precious crystals I need to enhance my own skills, but such, perhaps, is the natural way of the dark path I follow. The way of the warrior is a way only the strong can follow; the others must, inevitably, be thrust aside.
When I had finished my business, I turned to a pleasant hollow in the hillside, and found a suitable place to drop a hunter's lodge between the trees. And there, I spent the night.