the first pet battle

i'd forgotten all about this until this weekend, when i was leveling my warlock through mount hyjal. near the end of the zone, when you infiltrate the twilight's hammer cult, instructor devoran asks you to take his pet corehound out for some fresh basilisk meat and a spiked collar. then he sends you out to fight the ogre gromm'ko's champion raptor, butcher.

i was halfway through the last quest when i realized, "oh my gods, this is pet battling!" and it was, up until the point where the ogre got all pissed that his pet had lost and i had to kill him. these days, we're too sophisticated for such juvenile displays of temper, and just talk smack about how op the other guy's pet is on the official forums.