The Lost Spectral Gryphon - Spirit Beast

In my last post I discussed how to tame Gon (the inky blue spirit raptor), one of two new spirit beasts that were introduced in patch 7.2.0. This post will cover taming the Lost Spectral Gryphon.

These two spirit beasts each spawn in a capital city; Gon in Orgrimmar, and the Lost Spectral Gryphon in Stormwind. Due to their spawn points, Gon is obviously easier for Horde players to obtain, and the gryphon easier for Alliance.

The Lost Spectral Gryphon - Tamed

Where to find The Lost Spectral Gryphon:

The Lost Spectral Gryphon is spawned from a rare item called the Spectral Feather. It has one single spawn point in Stormwind, right near the flight master. I have marked the exact location in red on the map below:

Gon - Inky Blue Spirit Raptor

There were two new spirit beasts added in patch 7.2.0, a spectral gryphon (the Lost Spectral Gryphon) and an inky blue spirit raptor (Gon).

The way these spirit beasts are obtained is interesting and a little different than anything we've seen before. You see, the spectral gryphon can only be spawned in Stormwind, and the spirit raptor can only be spawned in Orgrimmar. What it comes down to is this -  if you play a Horde hunter it will be a lot harder for you to obtain the spectral gryphon, and Alliance will have a harder time taming the raptor.

This post will cover in detail where to find Gon, and some tips & tricks to help Alliance characters obtain this pretty blue fellow. (I will cover the Lost Spectral Gryphon: Here.)

Gon, tamed

Where to find Gon:

Gon is spawned from a rare item called the Spectral Eggshell, which has one spawn point in Orgrimmar. Specifically, in the warlock trainer's hut in The Valley of Spirits, just in front of the pile of glowing skulls. I marked the exact location on the map below:

Lightning Paw - New Spirit Beast (Fox)

Lightning Paw

When patch 7.1.5 rolled around a variety of changes were implemented. There were class changes, new legendaries, micro holidays, the return of the brawlers guild, profession updates and more. What some people may not realize though, is that at the same time a new npc and hunter pet snuck into the game.

Level 100+ hunters may have noticed a new npc named 'Watcher Danuser' (named after Senior Game Designer Steve Danuser) appear after the patch in their hunter class hall. If you speak with him, he says:

The Night Watch knows a thing or two about tracking. In Duskwood creatures lurk in every dark nook and cranny.

Sometimes you catch a glimpse of their beedy little eyes, peering at you from the bushes.

<The watcher tries to suppress a shudder.>

Why, just the other day I sensed an unfamiliar creature stalking me in the forest, watching from the shadows.

How to get the Long-Forgotten Hippogryph Mount

The devs have done it again. Every expansion they always have some awesome rare mount that can be found out in the world, usually with a little dedication (and sometimes luck), and the ways to obtain them keep getting more interesting and (in my opinion) quite fun.

In Wrath of the Lich King we had the Time Lost Proto-Drake, in Cataclysm we had Aeonaxx and Mysterious Camels, in Pandaria we had Alani and then in Draenor we had to find those crazy portals to get the Voidtalon of the Dark Star. Well now we've got something completely different on the Broken Isles, and I find it to be one of the most unique and exciting mounts to find yet. It's basically a cross between a treasure hunt and a race!

The "Time Lost Proto-Drake" of Legion is called the Long-Forgotten Hippogryph, and I love it - IT'S SO PINK!

The magnificent Long-Forgotten Hippogryph

How to get it:

So here's the skinny on this mount - in order to obtain it you'll need to be the first person to find and click five Ephemeral Crystals when they're up in Azsuna. They are a bright pinkish/purple color when found in outdoor areas. When found in caves and under water they look a little less bright and more purple in color. These crystals can only be found in Azsuna on The Broken Isles, and have many, many spawn points (over 100) all over the zone. 

How to get the Fathom Dweller Mount & Hungering Claw Pet

If you've been following this blog for a while you'll know that I LOVE mounts. Mounts and pets are the thing I care about most in game. Hands down. Gear comes and goes, but mounts and pets are forever. <3

Well, when I first laid eyes on the Fathom Dweller mount, I knew I just had to have to have it. I mean, just LOOK at this thing! It's one of the few underwater mounts we can obtain, it'll give you a 108% increase in swim speed, it also looks totally gorgeous and unique.

Fathom Dweller Mount

Thankfully the amazing community over at Wowhead came together and figured out how to obtain it recently, and it's quite different from anything we've done in the past.

How to get the Mount:

Hungering Claw Pet

The mount itself is a reward from the world quest: DANGER: Kosumoth the Hungering. (The same world quest also rewards the very cool looking Hungering Claw battle pet - the reward alternates periodically between the two.) In order to see this world quest and pick it up you'll need to go through an attunement process.

The attunement will require you to set aside a few hours to run all over the Broken Isles finding small pinkish-looking orbs and clicking them in the correct order. There are ten orbs altogether, but before you can start clicking orbs you'll need to talk to an orc named Drak'thul and pick up an item on The Broken Shore (more detail in next section).

On the map below you can see exactly where each orb is located and they are numbered so you know which order to click them in. The starting point, relic you'll need and location of the final world quest are all on there as well.

Bulvinkel - Spirit Moose

If there's one thing I always look forward to with each new expansion, it's the ability to tame new pets with new looks. As usual, with Legion we have a multitude of new pets to hunt down and add to our stables. This expansion offers some particularly beautiful new pets, from gorgeous Mana Sabers to badass mechanical pets and everything in between. (You can see a full list of all the new creatures added in Legion on Petopia.)

I was beyond excited to find out that we would be able to tame moose this time around; seriously moose are awesome. I finally saw one in real life for the first time in like 20 years a few months ago, and they really are majestic animals. They're big, powerful, awe inspiring, and now we can have them as pets!!! /SQUEEEE!

Well, as if that weren't awesome enough, the devs went and threw in a spirit moose as well! Be still my beating heart!

Meet Bullwinkle Bulvinkel:

So here's the deal with this lovely moosey. He's in game for hunters only, killing him will only get you a Crystalline Tear of Loyalty. There's nothing to taming him really. No special challenge, no tracking, no hoops to jump through at all as far as the tame itself goes. You can even tame him right at level 100, because like nearly everything else on The Broken Isles, he scales to your level. It's getting to him that can be a little tricky.

How to get to Bulvinkel:

Voidtalon of the Dark Star & Edge of Reality Spawn Locations

 

Who doesn't love having the rarest of rare mounts, and on top of that, a good challenge getting one? I knew as soon as I heard about the elusive Voidtalon of the Dark Star and how it would be obtained, I just had to have it.

There are several mounts you can get from rares throughout Draenor, but the Voidtalon of the Dark Star is by far the rarest, hands down. This mount is also totally unique in that it is found unlike any we've come across in the past. Forget everything you know about the Time-Lost Proto Drake, Aeonaxx, or even that Mysterious Camel Figurine - that won't help you here.


How to find the Voidtalon of the Dark Star:

In order to obtain this beautiful mount you'll need to find and enter an Edge of Reality portal. These portals can be found in various places throughout Dreanor, typically near level 100 areas where apexis crystals drop off of mops. Only one portal will ever spawn in on a particular server at a time, and the spawn time between them can be lengthy. On top of that people are still finding new spawn locations periodically, so there could still be unknown spawn points out there.

The map below will give you a rough idea of where the current confirmed spawns are located. (Scroll further down this post for much more detailed maps and screenshots of each portal location.)

Ironstevo Finishes the WoW Ironman Challenge (Again)

 

This incredible rendition of Ironstevo and his trusty blueberry minion Belnak was created by the talented @hugshot

Well guys n' gals, Ironstevo has done it again. He's reached the next level cap of the WoW Ironman Challenge as it currently exists. It was a long and wild ride to level 100, and a MUCH different experience than getting from 1 - 85 three years ago. He was also the first warlock to finish during this expansion, and the only one to finish without having either shadowmeld or feign death (two highly used life-saving abilities by many irons).

 

I'm not going to get all wordy here, because I'm about to do that in the transcript you can clearly see below. This is from the WoW Challenges podcast episode titled "Knowing is half the Battle," where I was asked to talk a bit about my experience with the challenge. Wall of text, yeah I know, at least I was kind enough to put the questions in bold to break it up a bit.

 

 

1. Tell us a little about yourself - the player behind the characters!

Bored? Check out the WoW Iron Man Challenge(s)!

"What doesn't kill you makes you stronger."

Are you a veteran WoW player who is tired of garrison chores? Raiding got ya down? Leveling alts just not holding your interest right now? Well, I've got just the thing for you - the WoW Iron Man Challenge!

Let's face it, these past several years we've gotten used to running from one quest objective to the next as quickly as possible. Pulling as many mobs as we can at a time, mowing everything down in our paths with no real sense of danger. Between the addition of heirlooms, talent changes and the world around us things have gotten so easy that leveling has become (at least to me) a bit of a bore.

Well this challenge will turn that experience right back around. It is quite difficult, and adds a real sense of danger back into the world of leveling. Clearing paths to a named mob, carefully planning out routes of escape, feeling your heart beat rise as you make your way through a cave (hoping nothing respawns in your face), wiping the sweat off your brow as you make it through another fight with only 27hp left - these are all things commonly experienced by iron man challengers. As difficult as this challenge is, I have always found it fun and very rewarding, both from a gameplay perspective, and for the community formed around it. It'll also really make you appreciate the small things in game. ;)

That being said, the WoW Iron Man challenge is still around and thriving. Since I last posted regarding the adventures of the Iron Steves, there have even been two new challenges created in addition to the original. :D

What is the Iron Man Challenge?

For anyone unfamiliar with the WoW Iron Man challenge, it is a player-created challenge with the ultimate goal of trying to make it to max level in only grey/white gear, with no spec and without dying. (See link for full set of rules.)

New Rares in Nagrand and Tannan Jungle (Patch 6.2.2)

Yeah I know, I haven't been posting much this expansion. With two kiddos under three years old, it's pretty hard to find the time these days. There's just no way I would have been able to cover the insane amount of rares added in WoD. Thankfully little additions to the game like the new 6.2.2 rares aren't too much to take on, and have motivated me to write up a quick post.

I also figured it was about time to make a few updates around the blog on various pages, the most notable one being to the "List of Rares by Zone" page. I couldn't cover every vignette in Draenor or the treasures right now, but I did link to the Wowhead guides for each zone so that they can be easily found in one place.

So anyway, let's get on to these new rares! In the latest mini patch 6.2.2 there were seven new rares introduced (all pictured on the map above). Three of these are located in the un-instanced version of Highmaul in Nagrand, one is located in the un-instanced version of Hellfire Citadel, and the remaining three are located beyond the Dark Portal in Tanaan Jungle. All of these rares can be accessed with flying mounts after achieving Draenor Pathfinder.



How to get the "Predator" Title

A few days ago I read an article on Blizzard Watch talking about how to get the Predator title in Tannan Jungle. As soon as I saw this title I knew I HAD to have it for myself. I love titles, and this one especially I just had to have floating over my head. (Plus I also love a good rare-related challenge!) According to the article, you would need to be randomly ported to the demon Xemirkol by using the item: Master Hunter's Seeking Crystal. Upon killing him, you'll receive the Predator Achievement and corresponding Predator title. Although you will need the Crystal to reach Xemirkol, I found out that there is a little more to reaching him than just having the Crystal and being lucky.

After a few days of scouring Wowhead comments on pages related to this achievement and talking with people in game, I was able to figure out how to pretty much guarantee myself a port to Xemirkol. Here is what you'll need to do if your seeking out this title for yourself:

My Fantastic New Fel Friend (How to Tame a Green Fel Wolf in Tanaan Jungle)

Yesterday I managed to tame myself an amazingly awesome new pet in Tanaan Jungle - a beautiful green fel wolf. I LOVE her. She matches my little Fel Pup perfectly. Heck, she even matches the transmog I've been sporting for the past few weeks! I strolled around with her triumphantly through Lion's Watch after my victory and promptly received a whisper asking how I was able to make her mine. After explaining the details to my fellow hunter, I figured I'd post them here as well for anyone who may have missed this little hunter treat. Oh, and I almost forgot - the best thing about this pet is that you don't even have to be a Beast Mastery spec hunter to tame & enjoy!

Tamed Felbound Wolf & Fel Pup

You see, wolves with this skin and color have never been tamable prior to patch 6.2. I've been watching these lovelies wander the woods outside my garrison since beta, but have never been able to tame one because they are technically 'aberrations'. Well in the latest patch there was a brand new item introduced that will allow you to tame one of these awesome looking animals for one minute. This item is called the Vial of Fel Cleansing.

The 7 Mount Dropping Rares of Draenor

I love camping for rares, this shouldn't be a secret to anyone who has been following this blog for the past few years. I like setting up my characters in a safe cozy spot to wait for a prize that could show up in minutes or even days. I actually enjoy the wait, and I cannot convey just how happy I am that Blizzard has implemented some RARE rares back into the game. That feeling - when your target appears after waiting and waiting for what can sometimes seem like a decade - it just can't be beat.

In MoP the spawn timers on rares were so short they hardly felt 'rare' at all. There wasn't even a real TLPD or Aeonaxx equivalent. Alani was nice as her drop was guaranteed, but I never could find the time to farm for shards (I did still get the mount though - Thank You Reinoverall!) and would have loved to camp for SOMEthing in Pandaria.

In WoD there are dozens of silver dragons called 'vignettes' in each zone. They are actually quite common though - even more so than MoP rares (they even loose their silver dragon portrait after your character has killed a particular one). They do however drop some interesting and unique loot. I straight up did not have the time or energy to find all of them throughout beta and go on to post about them. For anyone interested in learning more about these vignettes, Wowhead has some incredibly in depth articles on them for each zone in Draenor. Notable loot, maps, screenies, they have it all. Here they are by zone:

• Shadowmoon Valley
• Frostfire Ridge
• Gorgrond
• Talador
• Spires of Arak
• Nagrand

I did however have time to CAMP! That's right, as soon as I found out that there were going to be RARE mount dropping mobs scattered throughout Draenor, I just knew I had to find out as much as I could about these guys.

Throughout Draenor there are seven, that's right, SEVEN mount-dropping rares. Six of these rares have a 100% chance to drop a mount for anyone who participates in the kill (Source). The seventh drops one mount which will need to be rolled upon. Each of the mounts looks just like the rare which it dropped from.

WoD: Shadowmoon Valley Screenshots, Rares & Hunter Pet Goodness!

I'm not dead, I swear. I've just been very busy these past few months. Between the wee little one learning to walk, a job shift, and not a whole lot going on in WoW, I not only didn't feel the need to post - I pretty much didn't have time for it. Well that's about to change. I'm back.

This past week I've been exploring around the Warlords of Draenor beta with my hunter, and I've totally and utterly fallen in love with the game again. Between the mind explodingly gorgeous landscapes, incredibly cool new hunter pets, and silly amount of rares - I'm seriously like a little kid in a candy shop. MUST EXPERIENCE EVERYTHING! (Thankfully I don't have to worry about breaking anything.)

I had a hard time deciding whether or not to play my shammy or hunter for exploring beta - then I remembered hunter pets. Durka dur, that was an easy decision. Perhaps even more than finding the new rares, I was most excited about taming new hunter pets. <3

I've stumbled upon quite a few awesome new tamable hunter pets in the past couple of days. The pets in the screen shots below can all be found in Shadowmoon Valley.

**WARNING SPOILERS AHEAD** (Just in case the title of the post wasn't warning enough)

Hunter Pets

Look! Another Late Liebster!

I was reading through some of JD's posts over at Amateur Azerothian, and was surprised to see that he had nominated me for a Liebster Award. Neato! What is a Liebster Award? It's pretty much a way for bloggers to get to know other bloggers, much like the Sixth Meme. The one going around right now has a few rules centering around the number eleven.

• Tell 11 random facts about yourself.
• Answer the 11 questions provided by the person who nominated you.
• Choose 11 bloggers to nominate.
• Write 11 questions for those bloggers to answer.

Let's jump right into it!

JD's 11 Questions:

1) Presume you blogged regardless. If it wasn't World of Warcraft/MMO’s, what would your blog be about?

Miscellaneous Rares and Elites of Pandaria

 

Are you feeling the end of expansion blues? Looking for something different to do when you log in later? Perhaps you should check out some of the lesser known elites and rares around Pandaria. If you like vanity items your in for quite the treat, and with the new toybox feature coming in Warlords of Draenor these won't be taking up any bag space - yippie!!

So anywho, this post has been sizzling in the back of my brain since Mists of Pandaria first went live. Every time I would stumble across an interesting elite that dropped unique loot in the early weeks/months of MoP, I kept telling myself that I had to write up a post on them. Somehow other posts always got priority, but I have to say, I'm glad this one got pushed back because there were several notable elites and rares (even though they don't sport a silver dragon) stealthily added in some of the previous patches.

Most of these elites have very fast spawn timers; as in anywhere from instant to 20 minutes or so. A few of them however are actually rare, and can take several hours between spawns. I have more details below on each of their timers, and if there is nothing written next to a particular elite regarding spawn time then it is on a short timer.

A decently geared level 90 should be able to solo almost everything listed below. I can only speak from a hunter's perspective (I know, cheating class...yadda yadda), but I was able to take down everything (including G'nathus) by myself with an item level of 537.

Click map to Enlarge

The elites listed below are in order by zone level, starting with the lowest (Jade Forest) and moving to the highest (Dread Wastes). As I've stated in the past, mob names are the same color as you'll find them on the map above, and please click on the images to see a larger version. Enjoy!

Ghostlands - aka Dr. Whitherlimb

Ghostlands, the low-level Horde (and particularly Blood Elf) leveling zone, has only a single rare that you may stumble across while leveling. That rare is the mad scientist Dr. Whitherlimb.

Dr. Whitherlimb is kind of an interesting rare. When initiating combat with him he will always quote one of these lines:

"It is very kind of you to donate your organs!"

"Be proud, your brain will be put to good use in one of my abominations."

"Excellent! Fresh parts!"

(Well I guess there's no secret as to what he's been up to in Ghostlands...)

Hillsbrad Foothills Rare Spawns

Dustwing - Tamed

Dust be gone! This post had been sitting around for far too long. Between the wee little one, holiday orders for the newly opened etsy store and the holiday season in general, time has been sparse around these here parts.

So anywho, I created a new undead hunter a few months back to level through some of the horde zones post-cata. I finally took my time going through Hillsbrad Foothills, and I've gotta say...wow. This zone is bursting at the seams with rares. There are a total of 24 of them currently. 14 of these rares are tamable by hunters, and 10 of them were added in patch 5.1. This means that the rest of you lowbie undead hunters have no excuse if you don't have a cool pet at this level range!

Let me start off by mentioning my favorite - Dustwing (pictured on the right). He's a level 22 white and yellow moth with a completely unique look. That's right, no other tamable moth in game looks just like this guy. You can find him on Purgation Isle in the southwestern part of the zone. Remember to look up when your looking for him, as he flies pretty high. Also be aware, there are some pretty fearsome worgen just below the area where he patrols.

The second pet that I just had to have when coming out here was Carcinak. Carcinak is a spikey deep sea crab that is dark green in color with some purple/pinkish details along his spine and claws. You can find this clickity clackity fellow where the green slime runs down and meets the sea just south of the Ruins of Southshore. You won't be able to tame another crab that looks like him until leveling up to 84 and finding the Mosstide Crabs in the Jade Forest.

Thoughts on Warlords of Draenor, (War)crafts & The Future

Anyone who follows this blog has probably noticed that I kind of dropped off the radar recently, and for various reasons. The first is that my little girl, who was born this past April, is becoming increasingly mobile. That being said, I've been spending a lot less time around the computer. Apparently for me less computer time doesn't necessarily mean less WoW related time though. I've whipped out my clay and art supplies and have been working on some Warcraft themed art!

Then, as much as I love WoW, I hate to admit that I have been a little bored in game over the past few weeks/months, only logging on to level battle pets and finish my weekly Celestial Tournament. I have however, been spending more time playing Hearthstone, and I have to say - for a game I thought I'd have no interest in, it has me hooked!

Blizzcon 2013 & Warlords of Draenor Reaction:

Oh how I wish I could have gone to Blizzcon this year. So many wonderful members of the community meeting in one place, the energy, excitement, all of the eye-popping cosplay - let me tell you, I watched my twitter feed feverishly the whole weekend. Had teleporters existed, and I had a free and trustworthy babysitter fall from the sky, I would have been there in a heartbeat! Ah well, hopefully I'll catch the next one.

I'm sure most people weren't too shocked about the announcement for the next expansion with all of the rumors being tossed around the interwebs beforehand. It was a title that just felt right when I first read it, and I was hoping that it wasn't just a rumor. Personally, I can't wait for it. I haven't been this excited about a new xpac since Wrath of the Lich King. It will be so wonderful to see some new life brought back to this game. Maybe I can even talk the hubby into playing with me again!

On the Instant Level 90:

Neverending Spritewood & Scary Sprites

I'm sure by now that most of this post will probably be old news, but hopefully some of you will find some tips I'll be sharing useful in snagging yourself a Dandelion Frolicker pet sooner rather than later.

Take a look at the screenshot below. This is the tree just east of Old Pi'Jiu with the Nice Sprites frolicking merrily around its base. See those purple crystals in the shot? Those are Neverending Spritewood Crystals. There are four of them - all are pictured in the screenshot below. I am showing you all four in one shot so that you can see exactly where each spawns from one vantage point. They cannot and will not spawn in at the same time. 

 

Spawn Time:

On the ptr, and when patch 5.4 went live, the spawn time on the crystals was about an hour. It has since been stealthily changed to about 15 minutes. Which crystal will spawn in next is completely random.

The Crystal "Daily":

You can only interact with the Neverending Spritewood Crystal once per day, per toon. Once you have completed the event, you can see the crystal when it spawns in again, but you will not be able to interact with it. Those of you with more than one level 90 can farm for this pet on multiple toons. I've been farming it daily on three toons myself.

The Fight: