Thousand Needles Rare Spawns - Including Tamable Rares added in 5.1

With the extremely welcome change of raising hunter's stable slots to a maximum of 50 (up from 20) in patch 5.3, I figured it would be a good time to continue on with my posts on low level rares - including more interesting and unique hunter pets. I don't know about anyone else, but I have a lot of new pets (and a lot of previously abandoned pets) to find and fill my stable with in the very near future.

Taming Skyshadow

Well, Thousand Needles has a lot to offer hunters as far as tamable rares are concerned. Twelve of the fifteen rares in this zone are tamable, and nine of these are fairly new (added in patch 5.1). Two of these rares even have unique looks. (Note: The three silithid rares are exotic, therefore hunters need to be at least level 69 and in Beast Mastery spec to tame them.)

Skyshadow, the level 43 grey, yellow & orange spiked wind serpent, has a very appealing unique coloration and model (pictured on the right). He can be found in the far eastern part of the zone near Splithoof heights. He spawns in a relatively out of the way area near the other cloud serpents overlooking the sea. For those without flight - just head straight up into Splithoof Heights from the water and then eastward along the mountain until you get to the flat overlook.

Barnacle Jim, a level 40 spiky sea crab, also has a unique look. You can find him swimming around underwater in Splithoof Crag in front of the remains of a large Centaur tent.

Lesser Charms of Good Fortune to Drop from Rares in Patch 5.3 & Sahn Tidehunter Moved

With patch 5.3 just around the corner I figured I'd give a quick heads-up about a few of the changes that will be affecting rare spawns in Pandaria when it goes live.

The biggest change affecting all of the rares in Pandaria (minus the Zadalari Warscouts & Warbringers) is that they will all drop several Lesser Charms of Good Fortune now. I flew around the ptr killing each rare up, and every one dropped several charms. The amount seemed to be about 3-5 from each.

That isn't the only thing being added to their loot tables though, Blood-Soaked Invitations will also have a chance to drop off of the rares in Pandaria (minus the rares on Isle of Thunder). I'm not sure what the drop rate will be on them, but I had to kill about ten rares before I saw one. (Official patch notes)

I think this is a wonderful change. I'll admit, as much as I love pet battling I was getting a bit tired of it in order to get my Lesser Charms. It will also be nice to see people hunting these rares down again given this new incentive. I know I won't be flying by and leaving any of them alive any more when I come across one.

Also, the Big Blossom Excavation totally destroyed Sahn Tidehunter's Little pond in Vale of Eternal Blossoms. The poor guy had to move with his dead crab Carapin to the northern pond next to Mogu'shan Palace. He is shown at his new location in the screenshot below.

Sahn Tidehunter at his new location in patch 5.3

(And on a personal note - Our new girl baby turned one month old yesterday, and she's doing quite well. She went on her first road trip last week and she had a lot of fun. She absolutely LOVES bumpy car rides. I'm also fairly certain that I witnessed her first real smile this morning! ^-^)