Second Blogiversary & Giveaway

Wow! I can't believe it's been two years already since I started rambling about rares on this blog. Seriously, where has the time gone?! I have to say, this past year of blogging has been even better than my first. With the addition of like eight bazillion rares in Pandaria, and a heaping ton of fun new hunter pets - I've had a LOT of fun things to write about.

Let's take a look at what's been happening around here this past year. ~

One of my goals was to improve navigation, and I think I've somewhat accomplished that with my tabs up above. The first tab I added was the List of Rares by Zone, after that addition I just continued adding tabs from there to help people find more specific rares. The List of Rares by Zone tab gets the most hits by far, but I notice plenty of people using the rest of the tabs as well - specifically the hunter pet related ones. I notice people using the search option too, but not nearly as often.

In the last year I've written a total of 82 posts (83 counting this one), bringing my total post count to 248. Although I have produced less posts than the previous year, I'd like to think that the quality of posts has gone up. On average I've been spending a lot more time on each one compared to last year.

Some of my posts have been wildly successful (based on the number of views), and then there are ones that I'm simply proud of based on quality and content. First, let me tell you all which posts were deemed most popular according to their view count.

Top Five Posts from the Previous Year based on Views:

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! ^-^)

A Precious Little Announcement

So I tried to find a cute baby night elf or draenei to take a screenshot of for this post, because I figured it would be more appropriate given the characters I play in game, however it just didn't happen. I actually couldn't find a baby draenei model anywhere. Where do draenei come from? Eggs? Then holy moly, the night elf one I found.. simply terrifying. So here is a cute human baby to preface my announcement.

That's right, if you haven't already guessed this post is all about baby! The hubby and I just welcomed our first child into the world last Thursday, April 18th. She weighed a healthy 6lbs 10ounces and measured in at about 20'' long. She's got a full head of dark brown (maybe even black) hair and her eyes are getting bluer each day. She's absolutely gorgeous and I must say, I'm totally in love. <3

That being said, activity on my end regarding this blog will be slowing down significantly for the next few weeks/months until we've established a nice routine with our new addition. I will still be answering questions/comments, etc.

Until my next post, (pre) Happy Children's Week!

Trove(s) of the Thunder King

Ahhhh treasure, who doesn't love finding a big honkin' treasure chest? I know I always get a little excited each time I run across one while playing. Well this post is all about treasure baby. No, not the typical treasure chests you'll find out in the world (although you should be looking for those too), but the actual chests you can find throughout the Isle of Thunder: Trove of the Thunder King.

Finding your first Trove of the Thunder King will land you the achievement Thunder Plunder which counts toward the meta-achievement: Stormbreaker.

These chests generally contain about 30 gold, a Shan'ze Ritual Stone, a Fortuitous Coffer (which will usually yield 1-3 Elder Charms of Good Fortune and a small chance at any one of the books required for the Zandalari Library Card Achievement). If you have not yet looted a Key to the Palace of Lei Shen since the weekly Tuesday reset from a rare or another source, there is a good chance you'll see one in your chest as well.

Isle of Thunder Rare Spawns

There are a total of eleven rares on the Isle of Thunder. Ten of them are required for the achievement Champions of Lei Shen. They are all on very short re-spawn timers that seem to be between 30min to an hour, and certain rares become available after unlocking different Stages of progression on the Isle. (More info on that below.)

All of these rares (minus Ra'sha) share the new tapping system introduced in patch 5.2, where so long as you participate in killing the rare you will have access to it's loot. As more and more people join in on the fight, the mob's health pool will increase with each additional player. All in all, I think this new system is great, as it gives players around the Isle more time to get to each rare once it's been called out.

Each of these rares is guaranteed to drop a Tome of Valor worth 15 valor points each time you kill them. They will also drop a single Shan'ze Ritual Stone and a Key to the Palace of Lei Shen for an individual character once each week (so long as you haven't already looted the key elsewhere). Obtaining three ritual stones will unlock the group quest Setting the Trap, which will then lead to the weekly group quest Champions of the Thunder King. Obtaining a Key to the Palace of Lei Shen will unlock the weekly solo scenario Troves of the Thunder King where you will have five minutes to grab as much treasure as you can before the clock runs out.

These rares also have a very small chance to drop the item that begins the questline for warlocks to get their green fire; Sealed Tome of the Lost Legion. The tome seems to be roughly a 2-3% drop chance off of any one of the rares (minus Ra'sha), and can only be looted by warlocks. When combined with a Healthstone the item becomes The Codex of Xerrath, which starts the questline with An Unusual Tome.

So without further adieu, here are each of these rares listed below in the order they became accessible on the Isle. If you scroll further down the page I also have a slightly more up to date map showing exactly where they can be found.

Haywire Sunreaver Construct
NPCID: 50358
Coordinates: 48, 85
Location Description: Running along the shores in southwestern Ihgaluk Crag
Base Health: 10539k
Notable Loot: Sunreaver Micro-Sentry

Abilities: Haywire: Go Haywire! Deals 18500 to 21500 Nature damage to all enemies within 40 yards every 1 sec. for 20 sec and increases movement speed by 100%. (Ranged players can still dps him and not get hit, so long as you stay right at about 40 yards. Others should be able to heal through it. If you don't have heals, I recommend getting away from him for the 20 seconds he casts this.)