World of Warcraft

It appears that Blizzard had sent some mixed messages regarding the “Grim Totem Spirit Guide” pet, one of the more unique looking pets available to Hunters and tameable only through the use of some rather complex mechanics.

Apparently, the spirit guide was summoned by NPCs in Dustwallow Marsh. These pets were the only available “spirit wolf” that was tameable by hunters, and taming them was no easy task. The wolves were only summoned with a duration of 1 minute, which meant a hunter would have to find a way to decrease the casting time of his tame pet spell (usually with the help of a shaman) in order to successfully tame the wolf before it despawned.

Now, Blizzard’s original stance was that this was not an abuse of game mechanics and that this was simply a unique, fun pet that hunters were allowed to tame, as the following response demonstrates:

“While this feature of the Grimtotem Spirit Guide wasn’t exactly intended, it was agreed by the development team that this is a fun use of in-game mechanics, and we therefore have no plans to address this issue - it will still be possible in future for everyone who wishes to tame this NPC to do so.”

Apparently (some speculate due to the coming expansion) the design team reversed that sentiment, and hotfixed the guides so that they can no longer be tamed. As per Drysc, a representative at blizzard:

“Through a hotfix we’ve recently removed the ability to tame a Grimtotem Spirit Guide. Players who have already gone through the trouble of taming the creature will be able to keep them unchanged. This hotfix only removes the possibility to tame this creature from here on.

The removal of the spirit guide has been debated within design discussions for a while now as to what impact the pet and its precedent has on the game.
The unintended nature of the taming, the undead status of the guide, appearance of the wolf in relation to the feel of the hunter class, and the complex processes of taming were all issues touched upon and discussed.

Ultimately the discussions brought us to the conclusion that this should not be a permanent addition to the pet selection available to hunters; however, those that have already tamed them should be allowed to keep them due to their efforts in obtaining one.”

If you’re a hunter, this means that you won’t be able to get the pet in the future, but you can keep the one you have! My guess is that a similar looking animal will be available for taming in the new expansion, but obviously that’s pure speculation.