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: