Massive Update to Free Pets!

I was torn, for a moment.

A couple of weeks ago, a friend of mine indicated he was quitting Warcraft. He might come back for Warlords of Draenor, but likely won't, he said. Tired of paying for a subscription but not playing, he said. Oh, and did I want his extra pets?

Inside I'm all fuck yes but outside I offer a humble sure! and he then spends the next hour caging and mailing me his tradeable pets---twelve parcels packaged to the brim with battle pets. Once I saw the collection, my jaw nearly hit the floor: max level Anubisath Idols, a max level Crawling Claw; rare world drops; duplicates of the Pandaren Spirits; a Hyacinth Macaw.

This was no ordinary pet collection. It was then I realized the gift was worth well over 200,000g as the market currently stands. And that's why I've sat on these additions for so long. I wanted to decide what would make me the bigger idiot: selling the lot, or giving the lot away.

As you've probably gathered, I've decided to add them to my Free Battle Pets. I went ahead and cleaned up the list so that pets purchasable with gold via vendors are no longer included. Additionally, you'll see a handful marked "on hold." Those I plan to offer friends & guildies first before I make them available to the general public.

Hit me up on Twitter, leave a comment on the post or add my battletag if you're interested in any of these. As usual, I'd like people to limit themselves to two pets.

View the Updated List

Spending the Gold Cap #9: The day I spent over 300,000g on battle pets

What else to do once you hit gold cap, other than spend your fortune? In the Spending the Gold Cap series, I account for the money I earned as I spend it on Unclaimed Black Market Containers, and the occasional pet or mount from the auction house. There will be tears.

Yesterday, I freed myself of any lingering attachment I held to the half-million remaining on my banker's server and spent over 300,000g in a matter of minutes. Didn't even bat an eye, didn't feel even a slight tinge of regret. 

Earlier that morning, I was tooling around on my main server when I saw a player selling a Magic Rooster Egg and the Reins of the Swift Spectral Tiger in trade chat. My auctioning activity on Emerald Dream has been mostly light until recently, my liquid gold hovering right around 150,000g. I asked the player if they'd take that sum, fully well knowing what the response would be. But if I could come up with another 100,000g, the Rooster Egg was mine, they said.

That triggered something in my brain, my thoughts settling upon the remaining sum stranded on my banker's server. I wondered to myself how I could realistically spend that money. Sure, it would be nice to win a rare mount through the BMAH. However, as the appearance of Mimiron's Head taught me last week, that's a hell of a lot easier said than done. While I would've gladly dumped the entire half-million in that single transaction, I couldn't even stay alive long enough to place a bid. I guess a level 85 in a black tuxedo makes an easy target.

At auction's end, the thing sold for 10,000g more than I had. That experience, coupled with the inability to purchase the Rooster on my main server pushed me to decide that it's time be a bit more spendy and much less discerning when it comes to the money that's left on Bonechewer. 

On a whim, I sauntered over to the Auction House in Dalaran to search for tradeable pets I'm missing, a list I compiled easily at Warcraft Pets. Shockingly, the most expensive pet, going for a 135,000g buyout, was the Ethereal Soul-Trader. There was also a level 25 Spectral Tiger Cub going for much less. I knew that both of the prices were well under the U.S. market average. Hell, the Soul-Trader sells on Ebay for anywhere between $100 and $300 real dollars.

I polled Twitter, and with a wise suggestion by a fellow goldmaker, I nabbed the Soul-Trader for 129,000g and the Spectral Cub for much less. Of course, that doesn't account for the more than 300,000g spent. No, the remaining sum went towards additional pets---11 of them in all---each accessible via in-game channels, but ones most players will not organically acquire because of RNG. When a Blackfuse Bombling drops, some people see a cute little pet, and other people hear the cha-ching! of gold being made. 

I am, and have always been, a patron of both.

So while I won't bother listing which pets I acquired beyond the two above out of respect for my pet-collecting purist friends, let's just say I'm probably farther than most when it comes to Liopleurodon's handy little Warlord's checklist. The accounting:

543,414g

- 129,000g¹

-177,282²

Total Remaining Gold: 237,132g

                                                 

¹Etheral Soul-Trader.

²Spectral Tiger Cub all 11 mystery pets.

WoW Weekly: Treasure Island

WoW Weekly is a biweekly-ish, self-absorbed look into the things I've been doing -- or not doing -- in the game. From auctioneering and pet battling to mount farming and raiding.

Oh, Timeless Isle, you. A wide-open, unexplored expanse. Grounds of the ultimate pet battle tournament and frustrated alt-gearer's wet dream. TI. Your parallels are not lost on me.

Since I'm still LFW, I was able to hop online just after servers came up on Tuesday. First thing on the list: acquire legendary cloak. After speaking with Wrathion, everything was falling into place. Then I arrived on the Isle and became horribly, horribly distracted. I could knock off the quests one-by-one, but why would I do that when there are giant Celestials battling massive parties of fellow Horde right there in the courtyard? When I finally wrestled myself away after besting our four wise guides in order to quest, I was distracted by treasure chests, rare spawns and random events. 

After finally acquiring the cloak, I'd spent a good part of the afternoon on the Timeless Isle, each of my max-level toons having 496 gear in nearly every item slot for both specs. Yikes. Almost seems too easy. Especially when you find this---an in-depth guide to the location of ALL of the island's lootable chests---something I used when I returned to the island on an alt. However, the level of cooperation between players and factions on my populated PvP server that was brought on by the novelty of the content quickly faded and the island devolved into a everyone-for-themselves bloodbath. 

I'm glad to have finished most of the Isle's content on the first day. In other non-news:

• Unsurprisingly, the RNG gods have moved on to help someone else. Then again, I'm really only still after Ashes, which has more do with endurance now than luck.

• Found a group to kill Ordos, the boss accessible to only those with the legendary cloak, through Open Raid. Simple fight---a DPS race more than anything. 

• Failed miserably at the Celestial Tournament. If you want to see how far along pet battling's come, check out the tourney (assuming you have the requisite 15 max level pets---though you'll never win the tournament with just 15). This is serious stuff, and pet battlers will have to be cunning in order to progress---but look no further. Lio has a comprehensive guide that will help get you through over at Battle Pet Roundup. 

• Put together a new transmog (pictured in the header) for Elepheagle, mainly because of the legendary cloak effect animation. The "blue wings" were really clashing with the burnt orangey-yellows of my previous set. Consequently, I've abandoned the quest for two other sets simply because of the time involved---going to take a break from fashion design for a while.

Have you been enjoying your time on the Timeless Isle? 

WoW Weekly: Totally Soloable

WoW Weekly is a biweekly-ish, self-absorbed look into the things I've been doing -- or not doing -- in the game. From auctioneering and pet battling to mount farming and raiding.

So I'm plunking around Northrend, trying to sneak up on the last two mobs required for the Frostbitten achievement. Believe me, finding Loque'nahak is not an easy task; and once I do, I won't be able to kill the beast without incurring some nerd rage if any hunters are within earshot. I check my map, and that's when I see it: Wintergrasp. Why care about Wintergasp? The fat mammoth in the picture above is why.

Other things I'm up to:

• Grand Black War Mammoth is mine. For most decently geared level 90s, the bosses in Vault of Archavon won't cause much grief. Just burst them down and move on---the mount itself has an approximate 1% drop rate from each boss, so I was quite surprised to loot this guy during my second week in, much to the chagrin of a rival mount collector-friend of mine.

• Taking a break from pet battling---I had a good run getting into PvP, but simply got bored. I'm looking forward to patch 5.4 and the new pet battle tournament.

• Decided my warlock needs to have the Felheart set, as the Felheart Gloves were the first epic I ever received in game wayyyyy back in Vanilla when I was brought into a Molten Core run that one time. The pants and boots remain to be collected.

• Since I went through the trouble of crafting Sulfuras, Hand of Ragnaros, I figured I may as well try for (did someone say) Thunderfury, Blessed Blade of the Windseeker. I was rather shocked to see one-half of the bindings drop on the first time I brought my death knight in.

• The Thursday night raid roster is still being finalized---we have six core regulars who've been present since the beginning (July); I'm in talks with three potential recruits, which means one more player is needed to provided the bare-minimum roster of 10 players. We're really itching to spend some time in ToT before the patch drops on September 10th. 

• I've chosen to turn off trade chat on all of my toons for the time being. For the sake of my own sanity. For those who stomach trade chat daily, I call on you to be part of the solution.

How 'bout you? Any particular goals you have set for yourself?

WoW Weekly: So long, Malygos, and thanks for all the fun

WoW Weekly is a biweekly-ish, self-absorbed look into the things I've been doing -- or not doing -- in the game. From auctioneering and pet battling to mount farming and raiding.

I'll admit: farming low drop-rate mounts isn't a huge challenge at level 90. I saw a comment on Twitter this week from someone who claims they see no accomplishment in acquiring one of those RNG mounts, but instead take pride in amassing enough gold to buy a rare mount off the auction house, or perhaps snipe one from the BMAH. As a person who has spent over 500,000g on rare mounts, I'm not sure I completely agree.

With gold-making, someday you're guaranteed to get there. If you play that game---auctioneering, I like to call it---you're going to take the time to learn some tips and strats. Eventually, you'll reach whatever milestone you're after. Simply put, if you want to, you will see your gold readout at 999,999g99s99c. And then you can buy anything you desire. In a game of pure chance, as is the case with mounts and low drop rates, your odds lie in the low single digits, or in some cases one more decimal place to the left---you're never quite assured that prize. I don't think one reward is any better than the other at the end of the day. It's all up to you, the player, and what you get out of it.

That said, I've seen Malygos at least twice each week since November. And this week I've gotten lucky enough to never, ever have to go back.

The rest of the Weekly after the break.

Battle Pets: Level 1 to 25 in FOUR fights!

8.30.16 - Legion Update - this guide has not been updated since MoP, and I have not kept up with the pet battle side of things in Warlords of Draenor. That said, this guide will still work, as it doesn't take advantage of Howl Bomb, but at the same time there may be more efficient methods to level pets in Draenor that I am unaware of.

---

I bet the bounce rate on this page is going to be ginormous since being able to level a pet from 1 to 25 in four fights has so many prerequisites that its usefulness is limited to veteran pet-battlers. Literally: in order to do this right, players must have access to the Beasts of Fable quests at minimum, and even then players aren't guaranteed to have two of the items that make this possible: Pet Treat and Lesser Pet Treat. Both of these items are a must-have; they have chance to drop from reward bags players acquire from the Beasts of Fable quests and the weekly PvP pet battle quest.

Yeah, so it's kind of cheating---the treats will stack with each other, meaning you can have one of each active at any time to provide +75% XP gain. Throw on a Safari Hat for good measure and you're four fights away from raising that noob pet to max level (note: you may be able to do this without the Safari Hat, but why would you?). The order of these fights doesn't matter---in fact, any four pandaren master tamers will do the trick.

Here's what it looks like:

Fight 1 - Aki in the Vale of Eternal Blossoms - Level 1 to 14 (+6706XP)

For easy-mode, use: Anubisath Idol

While it is entirely possible for your level 1 pet to survive Aki's grasshopper's first attack, it's not guaranteed. The Anubisath Idol can nearly solo the three on its own thanks to Sandstorm and Deflection. To be safe, start with the Idol, cast Sandstorm and swap your leveler in for a round---they won't take any damage. Swap the Idol in and kill the grasshopper. Use Deflection on Aki's next pet's first move, then use Sandstorm again to remove its weather effect. Finish off the second pet. The Idol may die facing the third pet---En-Bee-Dee---just finishing him off with your third pet. A flyer will work best for this.

If you do not have an Anubisath Idol: Get one. Otherwise, any pet with Sandstorm will make this fight considerably easier---just use it like you would were you using an Idol. If you don't have a pet with Sandstorm, your level 1 pet can often survive one round from the grasshopper, provided there are no crits. The key then is to start with your leveler, swap it out and counter Aki's three pets with two from your arsenal. At the end of the day, the Idol makes this fight downright trivial.

Fight 2 - Nishi in Valley of Four Winds - Level 14 to 20 (+8510XP)

Use a strong aquatic, as you're facing two elementals and a beast.

Nishi's no longer a pushover thanks to a change in patch 5.4. Siren, the pet she starts with, has been buffed. Solar Beam hurts, especially when you're also dealing with the pet's damage-increasing weather-effect. Avoiding Solar Beam will make this fight considerably easier. It should be the third ability Siren uses; I usually eat the Solar Beam, but reduce the damage it does by changing the weather before Siren casts it. Do what works for you.

I normally wait until Nishi's second pet dies to swap in the leveler, but this isn't necessary. I recommend finishing the battle with a mechanical pet.

Fight 3 - Yon in Kun-Lai - Level 20 to 24 (+6706XP)

For easy-mode, use: Emerald Proto-Whelp

Apply the Proto-Whelp's damage-reduction ability and you'll burn through Yon's first two pets before you know it. Otherwise, know that Yon starts with a flyer whose main ability is a multi-strike attack---if you have any damage-reduction buffs, just like when using the Anubisath Idol with Aki's grasshopper, these won't damage you. If you aren't using a Proto-Whelp, your first pet usually dies partway through facing Yon's second pet---here I'll bring out the leveler to hopefully finish it off---remember, your leveler is 20 now and thus can do decent damage as well as take some hits---then swap in a mechanical to finish the battle.

Fight 4 - Your Choosing/Burning Pandaren Spirit

For easy-mode, use: Pandaren Monk and Anubisath Idol

I went to the Burning Pandaren Spirit just because I have decent pets to counter the burning spirit's and it was closest. Really---if there is another tamer in Pandaria you're comfortable with, go for it. Any win will net you the remaining experience you need to get to max level.

For this fight, start the monk and use Jab. Then use Focus Chi---your opponent will use Lift Off here. Finish the pet with Fury of 1,000 Fists. Missing this attack can complicate the rest of this fight. Assuming you've killed Burning's first pet, continue to damage the next pet until your monk dies. Bring in your idol and finish the second pet using Crush while applying Stoneskin and using Deflection to counter the elemental's one devastating attack---once you time this right you'll be using Deflection the round after it comes off cooldown. The third pet here is a flyer with a multi-strike attack which gets completely negated by your idol's Stoneskin.  I usually drop the third pet low enough to where I can bring in my leveler for the last few hits of that fight.

Congrats! Now wasn't that easy?

Battle Pet Spotlight: The crotch-sniffing Spawn of G'nathus

No matter which way I turned, Spawn of G'nathus displayed an alarming obsession with sniffing my shaman's crotch. 

Aquisition: 100% drop rate from G'nathus in Townlong Steppes

Ability 1: Swallow You Whole / Jolt
Ability 2: Dive / Lightning Shield
Ability 3: Thunderbolt / Paralyzing Shock

Ok, maybe this pet isn't a crotch-sniffer. Maybe I was just experiencing a freak set of circumstances that caused my little guy here to orient his head towards my shaman's nether regions wherever I went. Maybe I just needed an attention-grabbing headline.

Either way, does that guy look familiar to you? Probably not. Heck, as of this posting only 8% of collectors over at WarcraftPets have that little guy, despite how easy he is to own. And as you've most likely noticed, he (mine's a male named Creepy Jay because of all the crotch-sniffing I definitely witnessed) packs an interesting punch with a nice smattering of devastating aquatic and elemental abilities. He's also one of the faster non-flying pets at 289 speed at level 25. If you're not interested in the whole pet battle thing, know that the Spawn of G'nathus is tradeable/sellable, though it's not regularly seen on the auction house---price history listings indicate it's been listed from anywhere between 2,000-17,000 gold.

Kill big eel, get little eel

Getting the Spawn of G'nathus is actually quite easy, but you're going to need a friend or two. More if you want the fight to end quickly, as G'nathus packs 43.6 million HP and hits as hard as a raid boss. Our group's decently geared tank was taking hits upwards of 300k. Our first kill took a little longer with just a tank, healer and damage-dealer---recruiting a second DPS made additional attempts go significantly faster.

The large, eel-like creature patrols along the northern and eastern shores of an island named Shan'ze Dao in Townlong Steppes. If you spent any amount of time doing Shado-Pan dailies, you've no doubt been to this island. He's surrounded by non-elite sharks, many elite Spawn of G'nathus (they don't drop the pet), and a harmless patrolling leviathan---make sure your tank waits to pull until G'nathus is in a relatively uncrowded area. G'nathus has a frontal AoE-type ability, so the healer and any DPS should be behind the boss---but really, its damage isn't anything to worry about. As long as your healer isn't sleeping, you'll be fine---simple tank and spank.

And there you have it! He's on a fifteen minute respawn timer, so farm at your leisure. If you're looking for fast & efficient ways to level your battle pets, please check out my guides link in the main navigation.

Note: if you're really struggling with this fight, Starre suggests bringing a warlock for Curse of Exhaustion in the comments below. The slow meant their group didn't even need a healer.

WoW Weekly: Extra play time

WoW Weekly is a biweekly-ish, self-absorbed look into the things I've been doing -- or not doing -- in the game. From auctioneering and pet battling to mount farming and raiding.

When I suddenly find myself with extra WoW time, my completionist-leanings tend to kick in. I browse my achievement pane, keeping an eye out for particularly fun tasks, or ones that can be completed relatively easily--most of the time. This week, I had my sights set on Terrific Trio. Given this expansion's general unfriendliness towards alts---which I admit, is getting better with each patch---I haven't spent much time on other characters. But in preparation for the Emerald Dream 1-night Raid Team's inaugural run, I thought it might be wise to have a viable tank on the side in case we needed it. And we did.

That said, anyone looking for a raid experience without the massive time commitment should contact me. We're doing Thursday nights from 7:30pm-11:00pm---earlier Pandaria raids for now until we fill up. I anticipate we'll be transitioning into Throne of Thunder within the next 2-3 weeks, and should be able to make decent progress before 5.4 drops and flex raids are introduced.

Given it's been seven months since the first WoW Weekly post, I thought I'd take a look at what's on the first "to-do list" and tally up what I've completed and what's still missing:

• Raiding with Leashes has been complete for quite some time, though the Lesser Voidcaller pet from its counterpart, Raiding with Leashes II: Attunement Edition still eludes me. I even ran three characters through that place this week. Perhaps I'll have better fortune next time.

• Speaking of the Eye, the Ashes of Al'ar have proven to be super, super rare. Who'da thunk it. Good news is, I can wipe the floor with Kael'thas in my sleep. So I guess let me know if you're having any trouble with that fight.

• I haven't been to Onyxia's Lair in several weeks---and the last time was to help a friend. Regular visitors here might know that the Reins of Onyxia dropped for me not too long ago.

• Malygos is soloable by a 474 Blood Death Knight I can now confirm. Requires perfect execution of the 1-1-2-3 sequence in phase three, and I seem to be able to manage that now most of the time. Still after that pesky Blue Drake.
  
• What We've Been Training For has provided a ridiculous amount of fun. I wrote a post about one of my favorite battle pets, the Giant Bone Spider. You should consider adding one of these to your roster.

• Every once in a while I'll run Stratholme back-to-back until I received the error message about entering too many instances. I've been casually after Deathcharger's Reins since Vanilla.

• Once deciding my discipline spec had to look distinctly different from my shadow spec, I've set about compiling the Avatar's Raiment set.Got all of the tier pieces this week--just need the accessory pieces to round out the look.

• I've established a personal goal for Elepheagle and the Hydraxian Waterlords: exalted by Blizzcon. Not a very lofty goal, since I'm about eight runs out, but I am really sick of Molten Core. I have the legendary two-hander and each piece of the shaman tier from that era. I just want it to be over with.

What about you? Are there mounts on this list you're after, or perhaps have already earned?

Battle Pet Spotlight: Force Swaps with the Giant Bone Spider

Giant Bone Spider via Blizzard

Acquisition: Contained in Dusty Clutch of Eggs dropped by Maexxna in Naxxramas
Ability 1: Bone Bite / Poison Spit
Ability 2: Stick Web / Siphon Life
Ability 3: Leech Life / Death Grip

Sometimes, all your game plan needs to entail is throwing your opponent off of theirs. Former professional basketball player Reggie Miller was notorious for getting inside his opponent's head with a constant barrage of trash-talk. He taunted John Starks until Starks blew up, leading to his ejection from the game (shown above). Heck, Reggie once found himself on the receiving end of an eye rake and right hook from none other than Michael Jordan. Because of his unique talent of getting inside opponents heads and throwing them off their game, I'm tempted to called my Giant Bone Spider "Reggie." Let me explain.


If you're like me, you've already assembled a handful of teams made up of pets who have good synergy. Maybe their abilities complement each other, or perhaps their overall combination of strengths seems to provide advantages no matter which pets your opponent brings to the table. You may even have a solid plan when entering into PvP battles. Great...until your opponent shows up with a Giant Bone Spider. If this happens, abandon all hope plans you may have had and get ready to react. You're about to be thrown off your game.

With 289 speed, the Giant Bone Spider will strike first against the majority of pets, aside from those in the Flying family. Add to that, there are a couple of popular humanoid pets that will be utterly devastated by this undead creature. But the chaos, the ability to throw an opponent off of their game, comes via Death Grip: you'll be able to hit your opponent with a parting shot before swapping them out with a pet from their back row---their lowest health pet when applicable.

It's a great ability to mitigate damage with as well. For instance, if an opponent's pet applies a damage buff to itself, just swap it out. Opponent swaps in a pet that has a devastating attack with a nasty weather effect? Swap it out before your opponent gets to use it. Also, DoT up your opponent's pet with Poison Spit and Siphon Life, then Death Grip and the pet will either die in the back row or limp back into attack position with sliver of health, begging you to end its life. I've had opponents up and quit after my second use of Death Grip---they fold and crumble when unable to stick to their cookie-cutter predetermined plan of attack.

With a three-round cooldown, this ability will often be ready just about the time your opponent realizes what is happening. Which, most of the time, is too late. The Giant Bone Spider has become my default starter pet, and I've won 9 out of my last 10 bouts running Giant Bone Spider, Gryphon Hatchling, and Oasis Moth. To top it off, my bone spider solo'd an opponent's entire team last night to earn my 10th win for the weekly PvP quest. Though everything I've written thus far in this paragraph is partially based on luck, the Giant Bone Spider will be a regular on my pet battle roster.

WoW Weekly: Now what?

WoW Weekly is a biweekly-ish, self-absorbed look into the things I've been doing -- or not doing -- in the game. From auctioneering and pet battling to mount farming and raiding.  

I hit two major milestones over the course of the past week. For better or worse, there is no feat of strength for turning 30 years old. Don't get me wrong---I'm happy to be here. It's hard to believe this game's been around since my early twenties, and I've been a subscriber for most of that time. The second milestone? I made the gold cap on my banker. And subsequently abandoned him to his server to forever camp the Black Money Auction House---but we won't talk about that.

Truth is, I didn't really have a plan for what I'd do after hitting the gold cap. After the server transfer, followed by my dismissal from the new guild, progression raiding on the Main has ceased completely. Not currently seeking it out, nor am I planning to in the near future. My play hasn't been this casual since early Wrath. I've not had this lack of direction since the Burning Crusade.

Quite frankly, I'm a bit overwhelmed with the smaller, faster patch cycle we've been given in MoP. Just as I've gotten a grasp on the bulk of 5.3 content--the Barrens campaign, new scenarios, continuing the Legendary line, new battle pet quests, new battle pets, PvP pet battle quests, etc--I'm getting ridiculous amounts of information on what's all going down in patch 5.4. I feel like I've seen everything but the very end of the movie. Like I know what's going to happen, just a little fuzzy on all of the how's. And it leaves me feeling a bit deflated. A bit burned out. A bit meh.

Of course, aside from story spoilers, we've heard a good deal about planned features and functionality, like Flex Raiding and Virtual Realms. I'm excited about the potential in each of these features, but will leave it to another post. For now, what I've been concentrating on since the last WoW Weekly (which was actually over three weeks ago---I've been slacking):

• Progress towards Raiding with Leashes II is going well. I nabbed all four pets from Karazhan on my second run. Also, Lady Vash'j is NOT an easy fight. I have to work really hard on the Main in order to solo her---haven't yet found a way to do it with my priest. Luckily enough, she dropped her pet on week two, so I no longer have to bother with her. Still after Tideskipper from Serpentshrine Cavern and both the Pocket Reaver and Lesser Voidcaller from Tempest Keep.
 
• Since its release, I've been avoiding the Throne of Thunder LFR. I can't completely put a finger on it. I don't know why a fourth LFR wing seems so much more cumbersome than Dragon Soul's three wings---but it does. Consequently, I've just acquired my last Secrets of the Empire to move on to the next phase of the chain. It's nice of Blizzard to dish out legendary gear to just about anyone who wants some, but it definitely doesn't feel epic like it did in previous expansions---where the team worked together towards a goal that would greatly benefit one player, and thus the raid. Know what I'm saying? Rare things cease to be rare if everyone has one.

• The mount gods have not smiled upon me since the Reigns of the Onyxian Drake dropped over a month ago. I'm still after Ashes, still after the Blue Drake, and I've decided to throw in an occasional Stratholme farming session. In fact, during my last run I looted Lord Aurius and saw a flash of purple---but not the one I wanted to see. Almost gave me a heart attack.

• Now that we're incentivized via a new weekly quest, I've started PvP pet battling again, something I haven't done since the first week of the expansion. I tell you, it's a lot of fun and there's quite a bit more strategy involved when you're fighting with level 25s vs. the level 10s I was using in October of last year. For tips and tricks I've been relying heavily on Liopleurodon's blog.

No longer beholden to a raid schedule, I'm free to do whatever I want. While I haven't completely abandoned the gold-making game---I have to at least check the temperature of the water on the new server---it's taking a back seat to knocking out random achievements with the main and leveling a monk. Aimlessly having fun on my own terms.

I suppose that's all that matters.

ArWAAARRRK!: Peacock battle pet to debut soon™?

Update 6.7.13: The speculation I included in this post on the origin of the mystery sound in the Throne of Thunder musical score has been slain by the truth, delivered via Twitter by none other than Glenn Stafford, Senior Composer at Blizzard. That's right---conch shells can be turned into horned instruments.

Cool, huh? AND we're still probably getting a peacock pet.
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@elepheagle @liopleurodonic @spacebard The chances are very good.
— Cory Stockton (@mumper) June 5, 2013

Earlier today in an innocuous response to a tweet from yours truly, Lead Content Designer Cory Stockton hinted that players will be seeing a peacock battle pet in game at some point. Why is this important, you ask? Well...it's not, really. If anything, it tells us that Blizzard plans to continue to support pet battles---something that shouldn't be surprising at all.

So, you want to know why I have peacock on the brain? Oh, you don't want to know. I'm going to let you know anyway. Early on after 5.2's launch, I noticed a curious vocalization that popped up during a lull in the musical score for the Throne of Thunder. Initially, I referred to it as a 'yodel' (which, admittedly, isn't very accurate), and a friend offered that it may very well be a peacock. Listen for yourself---the phenomenon takes place around 10 seconds in:


Now, let's compare that sound to the vocalization of a peacock:


Do you hear it? At first I wasn't convinced, but now I'm no longer sure. Whatever the hell it is, just what the heck is it doing on a music track and what significance does it have? I've reached out to Senior Director of Audio Russel Brower for an answer, and will update this post and tweet his response should he return my query.

Given that it's likely we'll see a new peacock pet soon, how do you think it will be acquired? Drop, or new tame? Reward for a meta-achievement, perhaps Raiding with Leashes III: the Frozen Wastes? I've also heard a rumor that peacocks are Ghostcrawler's super cool but as-yet unannounced special 5.4 game-changing feature.

Time will tell.

WoW Weekly: 5.3 & Me & You

WoW Weekly is a biweekly-ish, self-absorbed look into the things I've been doing -- or not doing -- in the game. From auctioneering and pet battling to mount farming and raiding.  

Truth be told, last week I didn't really care if patch 5.3 was just over the horizon. I've had enough trouble getting through 5.2; just didn't have the stomach for more dailies, and stabilizing a raid has turned out to be rather difficult. And, of course, been feeling a little burnout in the midst of it all. So I'm kind of surprised that 5.3, with its "smaller" amount of content, has me excited.

Done

Enhancement seems stronger. Perhaps I was imagining things, but I seem to be cutting through mobs with a bit more ease. And that makes sense, given the various buffs enhancement received with the arrival of the patch. Our burst is absolutely brutal -- though that statement comes strictly from a PvE perspective. Enhancement has always been fun, and this patch only gives us more reason to stick with it. Check out an insightful comment made by Dahlese on an earlier enhancement-focused 5.3 post if you'd like a refresh on talent choices. Sometimes my speculation doesn't align with the facts and it's nice to have people point it out in a clear, friendly manner!

Battlefield: Barrens. Having avoided most of the detailed spoilers for this patch, I genuinely enjoyed the story from both sides. There are differing opinions on the volume and quality of the content in this patch, but for me, the fact there are no new daily grinds is wonderful. I'd rather not do dailies for as long as I play this game. I'd prefer it were dailies never a major part of a content patch again. Not that weekly quests are new, but this is something that should be further explored.

What if we were given sets of weekly quests instead of daily quests? It's not like the game has to require player participation in order to advance the story. Instead, they can tie it to the calendar. Every week or two we're given a new set of quests that serve to advance the story. That'd be cool. If there must be dailies, focus less on their development and more on the story-advancing quest lines.

I think that's exactly what we're going to see with this patch.

LFR insta-queues for DPS. Not quite true. But I'm now queuing as restoration and rolling on enhancement gear. It's a beautiful thing, isn't it?

Looking Forward To

Heroic scenarios. By all accounts, they are a lot of fun. I haven't really delved too deeply into scenarios at all in MoP. Sure, I have my Scenaturdist achievement, but that's pretty much as far as it goes. The two scenarios I ran to get to the Barrens were a lot of fun, and friends report that heroic scenarios are a welcome challenge.

Raiding with Leashes II. I'm a bit of a fan of this new pet battle fad, and having had fun with the first iteration of this achievement, I welcome this with open arms while anticipating this isn't the last time we'll see pets added to old raids. Now if only I could remember how to get through Kara (thanks Lio!).

Finishing the Throne of Thunder. It's great we're seeing fresh content more quickly than we have in the past, I won't argue against that that. But I feel there's a sweet spot they've overshot. Perhaps it's just me, but I wouldn't mind a little more time---two, three weeks or more---before MoP's patches have released. I take that back: 5.1 seemed just about right with the last two coming a bit too quickly to where it seems I'm always playing catch up.

Our guild has never had a more difficult time stabilizing and fielding a consistent raid. And the reasons aren't dramatic: real life is happening. We're aging, gaining more responsibilities. It's a good, natural thing. But at some point, Blizzard will have to address this, too.

How about you? What are you liked, and not liked in this patch? Is there anything you know you'll absolutely not touch?

WoW Weekly: All about the benjamins

I've gone fully operational.

There's a good chance if you're reading this, you've been to Feckless Leader before (but if you're new, hi!). You probably know that I've just entered the final four weeks of a challenge I set and accepted, which I affectionately call Chasing the Gold Cap. The lead-up to these final weeks has consisted of a rather high volume of posting activity. But this is WoW Weekly. On to that.

Good news is, I've finished Raiding with Leashes, which means I am done farming pets FOREVER until 5.3. Now you know where this is going...Raiding with Leashes II! We'll be sent into BC raids -- Karazhan, Serpentshrine Cavern and Tempest Keep -- to collect ten pets for the achievement which, like its predecessor, awards a pet on completion. Though I was a weekly regular in Karazhan until Attumen dropped his horse, the place has a hold on me, and I won't mind heading back in. I'm still farming Tempest Keep for the Ashes, though I haven't been to SSC since The Lurker Above.

Earlier last week, Malygos dropped the Blue Drake, which I already own. Kind of makes me think I should have a blue drake-less friend tag along for the kill. I don't believe having an extra body in the raid would cause mechanics to be more of a challenge than they are solo.

I've effectively ceased all activity on the new Isles for the time being, partly because of time restraints and partly because there's nothing of benefit I can acquire for the Main at this point. The treasure room was fun, but since I have no use for Elder Charms -- all upgrades for both main and offspec come from the Throne of Thunder or Shado-Pan -- I've no good reason to farm keys. The Alt still has a ways to go when it comes to gear, but he gets attention as time allows.

As far as the next two weeks go...it's all about the money. That's my main focus. I don't want to have to take stupid risks at the end of April just to hit the gold cap. Those of you who know me know I prefer safe bets. And in this case, that means slow and steady.

Emphasis on steady.

Patch 5.2: One week in

It's been nearly a week since servers came back online with a host of new content, including a new daily quest hub and a 12-boss raid. Have you consumed all that you could consume? Are you sated? Though my guild isn't prepared to head straight into the Throne of Thunder, I've been living vicariously through friends who have been killing bosses since last Tuesday. Aside from archaeology, I've been able to dabble in all of the new content introduced with 5.2. Thoughts below!

The Isle of Thunder

Recently, I heard a comment likenking the Isle of Thunder to Tol Barad. The color palettes do seem similar, though the Isle is chock full of rocks and walls and temples and hills, all of which can make bee-lining across the map to your destination rather precarious. Which I like. The mobs hit quite hard, and I'm getting accustomed to being regularly knocked off of my mount when riding within arms reach of a mogu or troll.

Surprisingly, I've somehow found enough time for dailies this past week, only missing last night's round on the Isle. But with only the first section of the island open, there are about a dozen dailies currently available to players. Chances are that the next section of the Isle will have been unlocked before I post this. I'm hoping they advance the story progression in a way that doesn't involve simply tacking on a half-dozen dailies to the current laundry list.

The Isle of Giants

Dinosaur island! Aside from the fact that now every hunter and their best hunter friend can tame a direhorn and name it some variation of "Cera," there are pets and two mounts to be earned by any player willing to invest a little amount lot of time. The island is full of elite trolls and dinosaurs. And the dinos come in two varieties: badass elite and superbadass elite, the latter of which you don't even want to make eye contact with unless you have a group of hardy friends with you.

The thing I really like about this island is that in order to accomplish anything efficiently, you really have to do so in a group. It hearkens back to the days of yesteryear when group quests were a real, regular thing. While the Isle of Giants doesn't really entail much story progression, sometimes it's nice to join up with some friends just to murder stuff.

New elite battle pets

5.2 introduced the Beasts of Fable quest that pits pet battlers against elite pets. These pets are so elite they're going to take you on 1v3. There's ten in all, and once defeating the lot, players earn an achievement and access to the Beasts of Fable daily quest.

And I'm torn. On one hand, I found the battles to be much easier than some of the level 25 tamers I've encountered in the past. Battle with two pets from families featuring strong attacks against your opponent and...next! On the other hand, I've won a hell of a lot of battles in order to even be in the position to fight the elite pets. That defeating them didn't take much effort isn't a bad thing.

Owning the farm

I bought the farm with the Main, even though he's maxed out all rep and thus won't benefit from the new work orders. The Alt, subsequently the only other toon I have at 90, has taken full advantage of the work order system and is currently gaining Klaxxi and Golden Lotus rep by planting & harvesting pumpkins and turnips.

It's not a fast method to gain rep, but it's nice to slowly chip away at it while concentrating on the new content with the Main.

Easing up on the alts

It is noticeably easier to land gear off of 5.0 world bosses and raids. The Main netted 15 Elder Charms after receiving a Key to the Palace of Lei Shen, and spent several of them to win a half-dozen pieces for his healing set. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to find a key with the Alt, but even spending the three Elder Charms he had on hand netted two pieces of gear. Couple that with the reputation gains from commendations, and the option to gain rep on the farm, 5.2 did bring some nice changes that makes it a little easier to move another character through previous content. Several pieces of gear, acquired through the new factions, are also accessible to players early on, providing a nice little ilvl bump.

Conclusion

Overall, the excitement I normally feel on patch day quickly waned; it's back to same-old World of Warcraft, thought that may be in part because the guild I help manage is going through a rebuilding phase, and it's taken some focus away from actual play time. Perhaps when everything settles I'll be able to dive into more content with a fresh perspective. If you've read this far, what are your thoughts on the new content? Too much? To little? Just right? Too soon?

WoW Weekly: through a Blizzcon darkly

Did I just photobomb Chris Metzen?

The photo at left was taken in the lobby of the Anaheim Hilton during Blizzcon '11. That's me, center frame. The eyeball, nose and perfectly sculpted facial hair to my right belong to Chris Metzen, Senior Vice President at Blizzard Entertainment. My phone at the time was a 3GS, meaning it didn't have the option to "flip" the lens so that I could take a self-portrait while viewing how the final shot will look. Needless to say I was more than dismayed when I discovered that none of the shots---plural---turned out.

Anyway, I mention this because, well, Blizzcon '13 has been announced. Which means I'll add two more quests to my 2013 personal log: get to Blizzcon this November, and if successful the followup involves getting a better photo that features me and more than 60% of Metzen's face. I am resolve incarnate.

Ok. On to WoW Weekly.

Truth is I just can't bring myself to run LFRs anymore. Not after acquiring the 4-piece bonus and finishing up A Test of Valor. I don't know what it is. Perhaps it's that there are 16 bosses to navigate in MoP vs. the seven encounters we had in Dragon Soul. Sometimes I forget that LFR was introduced with the Dragon Soul raid. Nowadays, instead of LFR runs taking a quarter or a third of my available play time on a given night, it now entails an entire evening of play. And that's just on the Main. Many things can be said about this expansion, but I don't believe anyone can argue there's a lack of content. In the past, I've been able to consume most of the available content with multiple toons. Now I find myself with so many options I feel I need to be more strategic with my play time.

The weekly list shrinks considerably if I remove all five LFRs, meaning what remains revolves around pets, mounts and Hydraxian Waterlord rep. The joy I felt when I fashioned Sulfuras, Hand of Ragnaros quickly diminished once I realized reaching Exalted meant approximately four more months of weekly Molten Core runs. Why did I have to be such a raidless noob throughout all of Vanilla? Why?

I think I'm going to change the title of this feature from WoW Weekly to InB4 the Waterlords Loved Me. Yeah?

Also noting:

• The damned spider finally dropped her cursed clutch. That means aside from a couple of 10-man achievements I view as completely optional, I no longer have a reason to visit Naxxramas. So long and farewell, floating three-dimensional polygonal base of death.
• I learned that the Blue Drake does NOT equal the Blue Proto-Drake (I have the latter), which means I'm not finished farming Malygos like I'd thought. I also learned that I'm going to have to devise a battle plan in order to solo the former Aspect of the Blue Dragonflight.
• Skeram is the new Maexnna.
• Razorgore dropped his pet, leaving Chromaggus as the sole remaining target in Blackwing Lair.
• The Dunce now makes an appearance on the weekly list. Formerly a banker, he now functions as a sort of dumping ground for all of the items I'd normally sell, but are listed for too low a price to make a comfortable profit. He hangs onto them while the sale prices rise to a more acceptable level. I've been making sure to check him at least once per week in order to move inventory more quickly to aid in my run at the gold cap. 

If one thing's going to come out of these next two weeks, it will be figuring out how to successfully solo Malygos with the Main. Wish me luck, and if you have any tips, please leave a comment! I'll let you know how it goes...

WoW Daily: the list grows & the love returns

The good news: I did see Lost in the Deeps and Glop, Son of Glop a couple of times each when I remembered to check for them. The OK-but-makes-the-daily-list-significantly-longer news: I made great progress on the pet battle front, which not only necessitates an update to the veteran leveling guide, but means I have a couple of extra options when it comes to daily tasks: the Pandaren Spirit Tamer fights.

Actually, I'm being dramatic for drama's sake. It's really not that bad. I grabbed the Earth Spirit as the quest reward for how much trouble it gave me, a guildie gifted me an Air Spirit, and the Water Spirit dropped from the bag a couple of days later. Between pet battles and my love (the boomkin pictured above) returning to the game after a six month hiatus, I've been a busy guy. Too busy to chase after mounts that rarely drop.

So I'll be focusing on the two quests above. Just those. In two weeks, I hope to have a level 90 rogue, a level 90 boomkin partner, and no reason to go back to Deepholm for a long, long time.

Happy Valentines!

WoW Weekly: Damned, insufferable spider

img: norrec@wowhead

I learned a couple things over the past two weeks as it relates to WoW Weekly: Maexnna, pictured above, does NOT drop the Dusty Clutch of Eggs. Anyone who argues differently and has a Giant Bone Spider to prove it has clearly gamed the system and should be reported immediately.

Secondly, if I mean to post regular updates on these tasks I've imposed on myself, I should probably keep a better record. I have no new pets to report, no new mounts and the 4-piece tier bonus for the Main remains ever elusive. Truth is I've been spending a lot more time playing the auction house since setting a particularly foolish goal for myself.

Oh well. Til the week after next!

WoW Daily: tying loose ends

While my weekly list is rather lengthy, I have a more difficult time compiling a list of things I could do daily, outside of the rep grinds and the like. I say could because if one were to do these things daily, there wouldn't be much time left for other activities. These activities require a high tolerance for boredom, as most of them involve low probabilities and drop rates.

Of course any achievement hunter will be slowly chipping away at achievements. This list isn't for those. This one is for those handful of things I'm after and could attempt daily, if afforded the time and the patience. At first glance, this list may seem short, but one could literally engage in some of these activities non-stop until the desired outcome is achieved. But eff that. Because pet battles.

WoW Weekly: Battle Pets

(click to enlarge)

Happy Tuesday! It's hard to believe it's been over a month since I first posted my in-game to-do list. I figure now is as good a time as any to revisit the list for a quick progress check.

In the last month I've won most of the gear I could win from LFR for the Main aside from head, shoulder and chest tier tokens. To be honest, I've grown rather tired of LFR. Most of the previous weeks have looked like this past one: run Terrace for a chance at tier tokens to round out the enhancement set, the healing set and remaining wings be damned. I also have not been good about running the Sha.

Pet acquisition seems slower than it really is. I've been bringing guildies along for those runs and while pets have been dropping regularly, I'm not getting the /roll support I've been looking for. I still have yet to see the Dusty Cluth of Eggs drop from Maexxna.

What about you? What is on your weekly list, and how has progress been?

Level your pet from 1-25 in 90 minutes

Ding!

The pet battle guide is "finished." By finished, I mean, it's whole in form. I ended up scrapping the section that delayed me from posting it earlier. It became too involved, which isn't a bad thing. What remains is substantial, but so much more could be said. For another time, perhaps.

Disclaimer: this guide is meant for players who have a small collection of max-level, or nearly max-level pets. It's not for players who've never battled before.

And please! If you're crazy steadfast enough to plow through this guide, leave me some feedback! Tell me what worked for you, what didn't work, what could be better, etc.

View the Guide (also accessible via main navigation for future reference)