Showing posts with label Pandaria. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Pandaria. Show all posts

Monday, January 20, 2014

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!

Sunday, October 13, 2013

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:

Sunday, September 22, 2013

Vale of Eternal Blossoms Rares - Patch 5.4

It's no secret that the Vale of Eternal Blossoms has become one heck of a mess and quite a bit has changed in patch 5.4. I'm not sure however, if people realize how all of these changes have effected the rares in this zone - and that they've added new rares (sort of).

Rare Champions:

The eight rares required for the Glorious! achievement, Major Nanners, Yorik Sharpeye, etc, have not really been effected. Every one of them (minus Sahn Tidehunter who moved in patch 5.3) are in the exact same locations as they were at the beginning of MoP. The only major difference you'll notice with them, is that their surroundings got uglied up.

"New" Rares in the Vale:

Before the Vale got all funked up, people working on Golden Lotus rep could get credit for killing powerful enemies at the end of a long arduous line of dailies each day. Although there were sixteen of them, only a few were available to kill on any particular day. All of these powerful enemies were (and still are) required for the achievement One Many Army.

All sixteen of these "powerful enemies" still exist within the Vale, but they have changed drastically. First and foremost, they have been made rare! Well, I should say "rare". Like just about everything these days they are on fairly short spawn timers. You no longer have to wait days to see one either, all of them can (and will) show up every day - yay! It is also worth noting that they will all spawn in during a server restart.

Another important little detail is that many (but not all) of them have moved. I marked all sixteen of these fledgling rares with bright pink stars on the map below. Several of them spawn in caves/underground, and I have noted that on the map as well. If you scroll down below the map, I also have screenshots of each of them in their new locations.

What you get from killing them:

Saturday, September 14, 2013

Timeless Isle Treasure

Anyone who has spent a bit of time on my blog should know that I love a good treasure hunt. From hunting down treasure chests across Azeroth on my Ironman toons, to looking for Troves of the Thunder King on the Isle of Thunder. I LOVE treasure! Well, I have to say I am in treasure heaven on the Timeless Isle!

Timeless Isle is loaded with so much treasure that there are actually multiple achievements associated with finding different kinds of treasure. Extreme Treasure Hunter, Where There's Pirates, There's Booty and Treasure, Treasure Everywhere are what I'll be covering in this post.

I have marked treasure spawn locations for all three achievements on the map below. Extreme Treasure Hunter chest locations are marked with bright green stars. Where There's Pirates, There's Booty spawns are marked with light blue stars. Treasure, Treasure Everywhere chests are marked with circles - with different colors indicating different types of chests. Skip below the map for more specific information on each achievement.

Timeless Isle Treasure Map (Click to Enlarge)


Treasure, Treasure Everywhere:

Yeah, it really is everywhere on this Island. I think I even stubbed my toe on a few of those Moss-Covered Chests. Seriously, those things are just all over the place.

Actually, there are 34 of them. However you only need to find 17 for the achievement. You will also need to find 4 sturdy chests, 2 Smoldering Chests, 1 Skull-Covered Chest, and the greatest chest of them all: the Blazing Chest.

I marked each of these chests on the map above, coded by color.

Tuesday, September 10, 2013

Timeless Isle Rares (Timeless Champion)

The Timeless Isle is chock full of rares. There are probably more rares packed onto this little island than anywhere else in the game. It even has all sorts of fun rare events, treasure chests, things to explore, you name it! For the purposes of this post however I will only be covering the elite and non-elite silver dragons.

Achievements:

Thirty-one of these rares are required for the achievement: Timeless Champion. (One of them that I am including in this post is not part of it, but still a silver dragon.) The items that these rares can drop are also a part of the achievement Going To Need A Bigger Bag. They aren't kidding either, we seriously need some new bags with like 50 slots for this place. That, or bottomless bags with no limit.

Loot & Tapping:

As I had mentioned in the Timeless Isle Preview post I did several weeks back, these rares have the same tapping system as the Isle of Thunder rares. You do not need to be grouped with other players to obtain loot when killing these guys. Even faction doesn't matter. As long as you participate by hitting them, you will be able to loot them. Although anyone can tap and loot, actual loot received will vary by person.

Each rare will drop several Timeless Coins. More difficult rares seem to drop more coins. They all have a chance to drop "Timeless" gear such as Timeless Leather Leggings, and also Burden of Eternity (a very nice item that will turn those leather leggings I just linked into an item level 535 item instead of 496.) Each of them also has a small chance to drop different items that the rare Pandarian Champions drop such as Big Bag of Herbs, Battle Horn, etc. Many of these rares have their own unique loot as well. As you scroll down through this post, you can see which items drop from each rare.

Finding Them:

Now as far as finding these rares - you'll probably easily stumble into more than half of them by just running around and exploring the Isle. When one is nearby you will see a small skull marked on your mini-map. I've done my best trying to make a map of where to find them all that wasn't totally funked up and as easy to read as possible. With this many rares that was not an easy task!

So anyway, here is the map below. For a more precise description of where you can find any one of these rares just scroll down through the post for that particular rare. Next to each rare I have written out more specifically where they can be found.

Timeless Isle Rare Map
Map of all rares needed for Timeless Champion Achievement (Click to Enlarge)
 
(To see an even larger image of this map you can also right click the image and view it in another tab. From there you should be able to zoom even further.)

I have screenshots of all of these rares below, and because there were just so many of them I decided to group them by location starting off the coast and then moving inland. To the right of many of the rares I have also included screenshots of their special drops. (There were a couple of drops that I was not able to get before running out of time. I will add those pictures to this post when I receive them or when I can bother someone who has those items!)

Monday, August 19, 2013

New Unique Tamable Rare & Some Trackable Pets not so unique anymore (5.4 PTR)

(Anything discussed in this post could very well change before going live, as this is from the PTR.)

I'm sure I'm not the only hunter out there that just can't get enough pets, especially the unique and hard to find ones. Well, when patch 5.4 hits we'll be getting at least one new unique tamable rare.

Meet Great Turtle-Furyshell.


Unfortunately, this spiked dragon turtle is one of the thirty-one rares on the Timeless Isle that needs to be killed in order to get the Timeless Champion Achievement. Not only is he required for the achievement, but he also drops Timeless Coins and potentially other nice loot such as Timeless armor (item level 496 armor pieces). For this reason, he will likely be DEAD almost immediately after spawning in on medium and high population servers. I imagine when the patch hits, that taming him will be a little difficult unless your in the right place at the right time.

Sunday, May 19, 2013

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! ^-^)

Sunday, March 31, 2013

Fishin' for Rares: Krakkanon

Fishing, it's not something I usually talk about on my blog. Mainly because it's never had anything specifically to do with rares (the silver dragon kind) until just recently. Well, patch 5.2 sure added a lot to the fishing profession, and one of those things is a rare - that you can fish up!

Meet Krakkanon. He's a really, really BIG kraken that you can fish up in any of the new fish of the day locations throughout Pandaria.


If you haven't been keeping up on fishing since the patch, let me give you a brief overview of some of the changes. Each day there is now a new "fish of the day" location somewhere in Pandaria. The fish of the day locations contain tons and tons of very fast re-spawning pools of one kind of fish. The type of fish that the pools contain depends on what location the pools are in; and although the pools are named slightly differently, the fish caught are identical to the ones already existing in Pandaria.

Monday, March 18, 2013

War-God Dokah (Rare Elite on Isle of Giants)

War-God Dokah <Ward of Beasts> is a level 92 rare elite that can be found on the Isle of Giants. He is located at the bow of the ship in the southeastern part of the zone. (Map with exact location further down in post.) This ship is inhabited by a pretty hefty Zandalari Dinomancer population.


Getting to Dokah without a flying mount can be a little tricky, especially if you don't feel like plowing your way through a heap-ton of elite mobs and the Primal Devilsaur that stands just outside the ship on your way in. To get onto the ship your going to need to jump onto one of the small canoes on the northwest side right near the two Dinomancers and the Devilsaur. Rogues and druids can simply stealth by them, hunters can get past with camouflage and everyone else who can't stealth...your in luck! You can get past every hostile mob on the ship with a neat dinosaur disguise called the Intact Direhorn Hide.

Alliance can purchase this disguise from Agrant Sharpshot on the western side of the island. Horde can purchase their disguise from Arnold Raygun on the eastern side. I would recommend purchasing several disguises because when/if your disguise wears off the item will have disappeared from your bags. I marked the locations of where you can find each of these vendors on the map below.

Thursday, January 31, 2013

Vale of Eternal Blossoms Rare Champions

Major changes occured in the Vale in patch 5.4. See this post to see how it effected the rares in it: Vale of Eternal Blossoms Rares - Patch 5.4

Vale of Eternal Blossoms, a zone for max-level players, is home to eight of the rare champions of Pandaria. Just like in previous zones, there are one of each type (Pandaren, Mantid, Saurok, etc.) and they all count toward the achievement Glorious! Being the final (and therefore highest level) zone, these rares hit harder and have more health than any of the ones I've covered yet.

The rares in this zone are all level 91, with health pools a little over 4M. They each have a 100% chance to drop an item level 440 bop cloak with random stats and a small chance to drop a Small Bag of Goods. They also each have a chance to drop some very fun vanity items, or some useful items as well. Each of the items they can drop are listed below next to the rare that drops it. You can also see some screenshots of each of these items in action in this post: Sneak Peak: Special drops from Rare Champions of Pandaria.

As I have stated in a previous post - many of them seem to spawn in around the same time, so if you run across a corpse or someone else fighting one of these rares it wouldn't hurt to check the rest of the spawn points to see if any others are up.

Also note that many of the rares in this zone are affected by phasing. If you can't see Ai-Ran, Major Nanners, Mold One-Eye, Urgolax or Kang it's because you haven't done the opening quest line to unlock the Golden Lotus dailies  This quest line starts in Kun-Lai Summit at the Temple of the White Tiger with the quests Temple of the White Tiger (Alliance) or Temple of the White Tiger (Horde). Following these quest lines will open the gates into the Vale and eventually change the phase so that you will be able to see all of these rares.

Click map to Enlarge
Ai-Ran the Shifting Cloud (Pandaren)
Ai-Ran can be found meditating in the small cave just east of Mistfall Village beneath the Tu Shen Burial Ground.

Like other Pandaren Ai-Ran's three abilities are Chi BurstHealing Mists and Spinning Crane Kick. The most important thing to know when taking him down is to interrupt Healing Mists, and run away from Spinning Crane Kick. Ranged players should also stand within 15 yards of him to avoid his Chi Burst which deals some pretty massive damage.

Ai-Ran has a small chance to drop Essence of the Breeze. This is a curious item that when used will give you a ten minute buff called Gentle Breeze. While under the effect of this buff, each time you jump you will be propelled a few yards forward. One great use for this item is untangling the plants on your farm much more quickly!

Tuesday, January 22, 2013

Dread Wastes Rare Champions

Looking for fun vanity items? Rare companion pets? Or perhaps something more useful? Look no further, the rares in Dread Wastes can drop all of these things. Each of the items are listed below next to the rare that can drop them. You can also see some screenshots of each of these items in action in this post: Sneak Peek: Special drops from Rare Champions of Pandaria.

The rares in this zone are all level 90, with health pools around 3.8M. They each have a 100% chance to drop either an item level 440 or 450 rare quality bop chest piece of a random armor type and a small chance to drop a Small Bag of Goods.

As I have stated in a previous post - many of them seem to spawn in around the same time, so if you run across a corpse or someone else fighting one of these rares it wouldn't hurt to check the rest of the spawn points to see if any others are up.

Click map to Enlarge
Ai-Li Skymirror (Pandaren)

Ai-Li Skymirror can be found kneeling in the middle of what's left of a large dead tree stump just south of Rikkitun Village.

Like other Pandaren Ai-Li's three abilities are Chi BurstHealing Mists and Spinning Crane Kick. The most important thing to know when taking her down is to interrupt Healing Mists, and run away from Spinning Crane Kick. Ranged players should also stand within 15 yards of her to avoid her Chi Burst which deals some pretty massive damage.

Ai-Li has a small chance to drop a really neat vanity item called Ai-Li's Skymirror. This item allows you to take on the shimmery appearance of other players. It works on players using transformation mounts and other transformation items, druid shape-shifts, all sorts of fun stuff. The effects don't break in combat either like a lot of other transformation items do. The one downside to this item is that unfortunately it can't be used while mounted.

Monday, January 7, 2013

Townlong Steppes Rare Champions

In the other zones I've covered so far we've seen all sorts of useful items and trinkets, vanity items, epic pants, weapons - you name it. Well, this zone is fairly simple where special loot drops are concerned. Each of the rares in this zone has a chance to drop a bag containing some very useful things. Most of these bags have stacks of items used in crafting professions, a couple of them could contain some epic weapons/pants, one bag is even full of feasts! Scroll down to see exactly what each rare/bag can drop.

Almost all of the rares in this zone are level 89, with health pools around 3M. (The exception is Lon the Bull who is sitting at level 88 with about 2.5M hp.) They each have a 100% chance to drop an item level 440 rare quality bop necklace with random stats and a small chance to drop a Small Bag of Goods.

As I have stated in a previous post - they all seem to spawn in around the same time, so if you run across a corpse or someone else fighting one of these rares it wouldn't hurt to check the rest of the spawn points to see if any others are up.
Click map to Enlarge
Yul Wildpaw (Pandaren)

Yul Wildpaw has one spawn point. You can find him meditating just outside of the Niuzao Catacombs overlooking the water. There are no hostile mobs anywhere near him outside the cave, so you don't have to worry about any adds joining in during the fight.

Like other Pandaren Yul Wildpaw's three abilities are Chi BurstHealing Mists and Spinning Crane Kick. The most important thing to know when taking him (and other Pandaren rares) down is to interrupt Healing Mists, and run away from Spinning Crane Kick. Ranged players should also stand within 15 yards of him to avoid his Chi Burst which deals some pretty massive damage.

Yul has a small chance to drop a Big Bag of Wonders. This bag contains a variety of enchanting supplies including several: Spirit Dust, Mysterious Essence, Ethereal Shard and usually even a Sha Crystal.

Monday, December 31, 2012

Kun-Lai Summit Rare Champions

The rare champions in Kun-Lai Summit each have a chance to drop some very interesting items - from strictly vanity to the quite useful. We really do see a mix of everything from these guys. Fireworks, killer pug puppies with hats, an item that will raise your reputation with each of the factions of Pandaria by 1000 (and can be sold to other players) and even an item that can dismount unsuspecting players - ha ha. Each of these items are listed below next to the rare that can drop it. You can also see some screenshots of each of these items in action in this post: Sneak Peek: Special drops from Rare Champions of Pandaria (just scroll down to the Kun-Lai Summit section).

The rares in this zone are all level 88, with health pools around 2.4M. They each have a 100% chance to drop item level 430 rare quality bop bracers of a random armor type and a small chance to drop a Small Bag of Goods.

As I have stated in a previous post - they all seem to spawn in around the same time, so if you run across a corpse or someone else fighting one of these rares it wouldn't hurt to check the rest of the spawn points to see if any others are up.

Click map to Enlarge
Ahone the Wanderer (Pandaren)

Ahone spawns under the small pagoda structure to the northeast of Shado-Pan Monastery. If you're having phasing issues with her, try completing the quest Beyond the Wall. Also, make sure you have completed Where are my Reinforcements?, as this quest phases out the zone. If your still having phasing issues, it is possible to have a friend take her out and still get credit so long as you are grouped and within range.

Like other Pandaren Ahone's three abilities are Chi BurstHealing Mists and Spinning Crane Kick. The most important thing to know when taking her down is to interrupt Healing Mists, and run away from Spinning Crane Kick. Ranged players should also stand within 15 yards of her to avoid her Chi Burst which deals some pretty massive damage.

Ahone has a small chance to drop Pandaren Firework Launcher. It shoots pretty fireworks. Kind of useless for most I guess, but I love this sort of thing.

Saturday, December 22, 2012

Bombyx - Trackable Hunter Pet (Silkworm)

Bombyx is the tenth trackable hunter pet that we've seen in Mists of Pandaria. He is a level 90 purple silkworm, and is considered an exotic beast - therefore he is only tamable by hunters in Beast Mastery spec. He was introduced in patch 5.1, and is a little more difficult to find than the previous nine.

The other nine trackable hunter pets in Pandaria walk in predictable paths leaving footprints that eventually lead us to the beast making them. Originally all of their tracks were backwards, several have since been fixed when patch 5.1 went live. These beasts are completely stealthed, and the only thing that will make them visible is for them to walk through a flare. A Hunter's Mark placed on the beast will keep it visible to the hunter that placed the mark until the flare wears off.

Like the other nine beasts, Bombyx is stealthed and leaves tracks that can only be seen by hunters. His tracks however are unlike anything we've seen so far. He doesn't leave actual footprints as tracks, he instead leaves a trail of Heavily-Chewed Silkweed (pictured on the right in the screenshot below.) Unfortunately because these "tracks" are basically a small tuft of flowers (and look just like a smaller version of the Silkweed herb), they do not point in a particular direction. This makes determining the direction that Bombyx is travelling incredibly difficult.


As if not knowing which direction he were moving weren't difficult enough, he also moves VERY sporadically. He twists and turns, doubles back repeatedly and even stops in place for lengthy periods of time. In the screenshot below you can see there are Heavily-Chewed Silkweed tracks all over the place. Where does one even start looking for this guy?!

Saturday, December 15, 2012

Where to Find the Riches of Pandaria

Looting Lost Adventurer's Belongings
In addition to the fun new content and rares added in 5.1, there were also several new achievements snuck into our logs  - very similar to the Lost and Found/Is Another Man's Treasure Achievements. These achievements are granted for finding grey items (that generally sell for around 100g) and gold from chests hidden throughout Pandaria. These items have existed since the release of MoP - they just haven't counted toward anything until now. (Any treasures that you found before the achievements were implemented should still be accounted for in your achievement log.)

The achievements are: Treasure of Pandaria, Fortune of Pandaria, Bounty of Pandaria and Riches of Pandaria. Although achievements are great, there's more to be had by finding these items than just the achievements themselves. Finding all of these items should land you about 1,800 gold. There are 18 items that count toward the achievements and each one is worth around 100 gold - whether it be actual gold from a chest or what the vendor will pay for the grey item.

Looting these items also grants a huge amount of experience to leveling characters. In the screenshot on the right you can see my level 88 hunter received 283,800xp (mostly non-rested) when she looted Lost Adventurer's Belongings. At level 89 while rested, she received 539,000xp from looting Ship's Locker. That's worth more than two quest turn-ins!

I have marked on the map below where you can find each item needed for the Riches of Pandaria Achievement in red, along with a brief description further detailing the area in which each object can be found. I have also added in the locations of other various items that do not count toward any of the achievements, but do give some gold/xp. These additional items are marked in yellow.

Sunday, December 9, 2012

How to Kill Alani The Stormborn (Reins of the Thundering Ruby Cloud Serpent)

My last Alani post was written and edited throughout various points during mop beta and ended up being sort of a timeline of discoveries, rather than a straight forward, this is how to Kill Alani and get an awesome mount post. I figured it was about time to condense everything into one clean spot for her - so without further adieu:


Like the Time-Lost Proto-Drake, Aeonaxx, Poseidus and even that pesky mysterious camel figurine before her, Alani the Stormborn is Mist of Pandaria's rare that drops a mount. Unlike her predecessors, the method of killing her and obtaining the mount she drops is far different from anything we've seen until now. 

Alani has a 100% chance to drop the Reins of the Thundering Ruby Cloud Serpent. She can be found flying high above the Vale of Eternal Blossoms protected by a Nimbus Shroud, which completely protects her from any type of harm.

Rares in previous expansions required us to wait around for hours, days, even weeks on end waiting for them to show up. Many of us would afk with our volume turned up so that if our coveted rare did spawn we'd hear the blazing horn of npcscan and drop whatever we were doing for a chance at downing them. Often times a lucky person questing on an alt would just happen to run into said rare only moments before we could tag them, destroying all hope of obtaining what we had been waiting for for so long. 

Well Alani changes the game entirely, making sure that only those that really truly want her are going to get her. Anyone looking to get their hands on the Reins of the Thundering Ruby Cloud Serpent are going to have to farm for it plain and simple. The only thing that will break Alani out of her Nimbus Shroud and make her attackable is a Sky Crystal. A Sky Crystal is created when ten Skyshards are fused together.

Skyshards will drop from pretty much any mob in the Vale of Eternal Blossoms. The drop chance is incredibly low though (roughly anywhere from .01 - .4%). Mobs with lower health pools that respawn quickly make a good target for farming these things. In the screenshot below you can see my friend Reinoverall farming Stonebark Tricksters in Ruins Rise for his very last Skyshard.

Saturday, December 1, 2012

New 5.1 Rare Faction Champions in Krasarang Wilds - A Closer Look

As I had mentioned in a previous post, there were a bunch of new rares that were going to be added in patch 5.1. Well the patch is here, and so are they! I've spent a lot of time over the past week camping these rare faction champions, and I figured I'd share some of the information I've learned.

First of all unless you've completed the initial couple of quests (starting with Meet the Scout -> A King Among Men/Meet the Scout -> The Might of the Warchief) at your faction's base camp you will not be able to see these rares. Completing those initial quests and their follow-ups will toss you into a new phase that will change your zone map significantly and allow you to see both the Horde and Alliance base camps: Lion's Landing and Domination Point.

Each base has three rares, for a total of six rare champions in the zone (of course you'll only be able to attack three of them, as your own faction rares will appear friendly to you). There are three different types of rares: the warrior, rogue and healy-type. Each base has one of each type. When you've killed all three champions in your enemies base, you will be awarded the achievement I'm in Your Base, Killing Your Dudes. (Origin: In Ur Base.)

Each rare has one piece of loot unique to them, and the rest are shared. The shared loot that you could possibly get from them (in order of most likely - least likely) is:

- around 10 Domination Point Commitions (Alliance)/Lion's Landing Commitions (Horde)
- Honorable Commendation of Operation: Shieldwall (Alliance)/Honorable Commendation of the Dominance Offensive (Horde)
- Small Bag of Goods (Both Factions)
- and the reason why these guys are so highly camped: Blood-Soaked Invitation (This item will grant you access to your faction's Brawler's Guild.)

These rares also grant +400 reputation with The Black Prince up to Revered.

The Commendations are by far the most common drop. Let's just say I've gotten a LOT of honor over the past few days. I now have each of the trinkets and have seen a couple of them more than once. I have yet to see the Blood-Soaked Invitation, or know of anyone who has received it. If you don't want to spend incredible amounts of gold on the Black Market Auction House though this is the only means of acquiring it at this point.

Spawn timers on these rares are very fast. The longest spawn I've seen was about an hour, but I've also seen them respawn in as little as a half hour.

(For Alliance Players) Horde Champions at Domination Point:
 
Champion of Arms: Kar Warmaker

Abilities:
- Heroic Leap/Heroic Leap He will use this if your over 15 yards away, it will knock out 40% of your health. Don't get to far from him!
- Cracking Blow (pictured left) This is the killer right here. This ability he smashes straight in front if him, and it will cost you 60% of your max health if hit. The best way to avoid this is to run right through him as fast as possible or try to sidestep it.
- Sunder Armor self-explanatory

Loot unique to Kar: Steadfast Footman's Medallion

Tuesday, November 27, 2012

Lost and Found Achievement: Where to Find Lost Treasures in Pandaria

One of the things I've been having a lot of fun doing in game recently is hunting for the rare lost treasures across Pandaria. These things are more rare than the actual "rares" making them a really fun challenge to try and find. These items are all part of a series of achievements starting with Lost and Found, Finder's Keepers, One Man's Trash... and finally Is Another Man's Treasure. The final achievement grants the title <the Relic Hunter>.

Yaungol Fire Carrier
Most of the items that count toward the achievements are very interesting in that they are bind on account. These are bind on account weapons that can be sent to your level 85-86 alts! There is something for pretty much every class too (except for hunters, they kind of got shafted here). Most of these rare items are looted from containers of the same name as the item itself. A few items that count for the achievement are from chests that can contain several different objects. There are also rare npcs that will give players an item upon interacting with them which will then despawn immediately after. There are also a couple of ultra-rare cooking recipes too!

WARNING: When you find an item, make sure that you will not be interrupted while picking it up. If you move when trying to loot, the loot window can disappear and the item you were trying to loot will disappear along with it.

I've marked locations on the map below to indicate where each item can be found, along with a brief description further detailing the more precise area to find each object. I have also color-coded them by different type of item. For example: all of the items on the map below marked in green are from npcs that can be added right into NPCScan. NPCScan will pick up these rare npcs if they are up, but they have to be added manually.

Friday, November 23, 2012

Tons of New Rares Coming in 5.1, Including New Hunter Pets!

As many are aware, patch 5.1 is going to be bringing a lot of changes. One of the changes that I'm most excited about is the incredible amount of new rares being introduced. Not only do we get to see some new rares in Pandaria - we are also getting over a hundred new tamable rares throughout the Eastern Kingdoms and Kalimdor!

New Hunter Pets:

Qem - Pink "Brain" Bug. (Click any image on this page to enlarge.)
I'm not going to list every single new tamable rare (Petopia has already done that here), but I do want to share some of the ones that I thought were the most noteworthy.

Several of these new rares have skins that were not previously tamable or are brand new looks entirely!

There are three new "brain" bugs that can be found lurking around the hives in Silithus. There is a beautiful new sapphire owl that is tamable at level 25 (pictured left). There are seven new spiked wind serpents with absolutely gorgeous color-schemes ranging from level 27 - 53. There is a beautiful hunched striped green cat (think skarr's model + Winna's Kitten color scheme) that can be found in the Swamp of Sorrows, and another new black and white striped hunched cat in Felwood. The Arcane Wyrms in Coldarra have finally become tamable, and a new red wyrm has been introduced in Silithus. There is even a tamable monkey wearing a hat!

Several other new rares' looks were once only available in raids such as AQ40 and Blackwing Lair. Never could get a friend to help you tame Chromaggus? Don't fret - there is now an alternative that looks exactly the same! Chromehound is a level 49 rare that patrols around the inside of Blackrock Mountain. Several of the more colorful wasp models that were once only found in Zul'Gurub or AQ40 have also made an appearance out in the world.

Many other models that were once available only at higher levels can now be tamed by hunters much lower in level. Nether Rays and Sporebats (previously only tamable in Outland) can now be tamed in the level 40 - 50 range. A new level 48 boar in the Searing Gorge shares the same model as the blue & white felboars on Ogri'la Plateau. There are a couple of beetles that were originally found in Halls of Origination/Uldum that can now be found at level 27 and 39. Even shale spiders, which we previously wouldn't have seen until hitting deepholm can now be found as low as level 29 (of course not tamable until level 69 though because they are exotic).

Sunday, November 11, 2012

Krasarang Wilds Rare Champions

Moving out of the Valley of the Four Winds and into Krasarang Wilds, we step away from vanity items and trinkets as the special rare drops - and move into epic pants! That's right, each one of the rares in this zone has a chance to drop their pants! Quite literally too, the pants are named after the respective rare that drops them. These pants are all epic, item level 440 and can be equipped at level 87. They are also all bind on equip, so they can be sold on the auction house or given to an alt. ^-^

The rares in this zone are all level 87, with health pools around 1.8M. They each have a 100% chance to drop an item level 420 rare quality bop helm of a random armor type and a small chance to drop a Small Bag of Goods.

As I have stated in a previous post - they all seem to spawn in around the same time, so if you run across a corpse or someone else fighting one of these rares it wouldn't hurt to check the rest of the spawn points to see if any others are up.

Click map to Enlarge  
Ruun Ghostpaw (Pandaren)
Ruun spawns on the upper level of the Temple of the Red Crane. Those with flying mounts can simply fly right into the terrace he is on. Before engaging him in combat be sure to clear the add (Incarnation of Despair) that patrols down the hall in front of Ruun. This mob patrolling into you and using it's Last Grasp ability while engaged with Ruun has the potential to make things go bad fairly quickly.

Like other Pandaren Ruun's three abilities are Chi BurstHealing Mists and Spinning Crane Kick. The most important thing to know when taking him (and other Pandaren rares) down is to interrupt Healing Mists, and run away from Spinning Crane Kick. Ranged players should also stand within 15 yards of him to avoid his Chi Burst which deals some pretty massive damage.

Ruun has a small chance to drop Silent Leggings of the Ghostpaw.