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:

Moonfang

I don't know about you all, but I've been having a blast so far since patch 5.4 hit. The Timeless Isle is where I've been spending most of my time. Between killing rares for pets, and pet battling for the Celestial Tournament, I have a hard time leaving that place! I've also been driving myself crazy in Proving Grounds on several of my toons trying for the gold. /Shakes fist at waves 9 & 10!

Whatever you've been keeping busy with over the past few weeks -- that's not all of the new content this patch has to offer. This weekend when the Darkmoon Faire floats back from wherever it disappears off to for the rest of the month, we'll have a chance to fight the new boss there - Moonfang!

Now unlike the Darkmoon Rabbit, Moonfang doesn't just spawn in out of the blue. She will only appear after many other (lesser) wolves have been slain throughout the forest. Killing enough non-elite level 89-90 Moonfang Snarlers, will cause a handfull of elite Moonfang Dreadhowls to spawn. The Dreadhowls are more difficult to kill and have a lot more health, but they are soloable. Killing these will eventually lure Moonfang out of her "den". Moonfang spawns right near the "corpse tree" just north of the fairgrounds. I marked the location on the map below. Her spawn timer is roughly an hour.

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:

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.