Current Pet Status... Good!

I've been thinking alot recently about a few things, but the main thing on my mine (WoW related) is what the hell do I do if I see a beast I want to tame considering the status of my stable at the moment? Well, here's a quick insider to what it looks like as of present:

Now I think you may agree, there are some pretty nice pets in there, all of which are rare spawns and 1 in particular is a bit of a mess to get (I'm talking to you King Krush!). Why am I posting this? Well as I have been attempting to farm reputation with the Winterspring Trainers for the Frostsaber mount, I have been wondering what I would do if I was to come into contact with Rak'shiri, a pet which used to be the 'Loque'nahak of today' so to speak. Yes, it's a normal kitty and yes, there is another way to tame a cat which has the same skin colour, but you should know by now, I am partial to a rare or two. A quick picture of Rak'shiri can be seen below for you guys who may be unaware just what he looks like.
Now yes, I do love rares, but the state my Stable is in at the moment only allows me to actually pick one pet for Marksmen which so happens to be my Raiding Spec, and as you can see, it's a frikkin parrot! I wouldn't have much gripe about it if I had managed to conjure up the Hyacinth Macaw by now, but ever since I started grinding the rep for this mount (Approximately yesterday xD) I've been thinking about what to do in a situation like today, if Rak'shiri appears, would I tame it in place of Aotona? Or get rid of one of my prized Spirit Beast pets for it? I used to have Rak'shiri some time back, and now I have decided to go for him again, thus confusing the hell out of me on what to do x)

Here is a spot of information and lore based on this beautiful beast directly from WoWWiki:

• Hunters often seek to tame Rak'shiri for its striking appearance, which is shared only with Shy-Rotam, who before patch 2.3,was a Horde-exclusive quest-spawn. They are based on mount skins, thus when viewed in the hunter's Pet window, the model is placed lower than normal pet models, since the viewer is leaving room for a rider to be shown.

  Of note is that Rak'Shiri is mentioned as prey of the all-time famous dwarven game hunter, Hemet Nesingwary. According to his Outland hunting buddy, Shado 'Fitz' Farstrider, he and Hemet met as rivals both attempting to catch this mighty cat, and ended up making a friendly competition out of it. (Which, according to Farstrider's regret, was also the event that gave him the title "Fitz".)

Ahh wells, would love to hear feedback from you guys about what you'd do!

-Zuk

"Leaking with Happiness"

A couple of weeks back I posted a picture of a fellow Hunter on Agamaggan named 'Frenzyfever' after he successfully tamed Gondria! Me and him tend to talk with each other about all sorts of things, but Hunter news, mainly Spirit Beasts, are normally top on our list, and after several personal sightings of Arcturis, he informed me that he was also going to go for it! After hours of stress, perseverance and research, thankfully he managed to tame Arcturis last night while actually getting ganked by some dumb alliance. This is pretty impressive news, and I wish all the best for him and his new Spectral Companion! Also, good news for us both is that his character 'Frenzyfever' is scheduled for some heavy plastic surgery, that's right, he's going Alliance! This will really help us get in touch with each other about all sorts of stuffs! Again, major congratulations to him on taming this heavily Elusive beast in it's early introduction to Azeroth!

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On a side note, I have been thinking alot recently about the 100 Companion achievement, if it would ever be implemented and if so, what would be the reward? Well after a quick google search, I found this blue post from almost half a year ago!

Pretty interesting news for collectors all around. I'll be sure to post when further news becomes available so stick around.

-Zuk

p.s. The 'Leaking with Happiness' quote is actually from Frenzy himself, though it's origin came about whilst confusing lowbies into getting flagged for PvP! Actual Genious! ;D

...and a Happy New year!

Has been a pretty epic Christmas personally this year, finally got myself a new Mountain Bike, loads of other cool shit, a Snooker Table and Guess Who:Pokémon Edition. Win! (Yes, I am an adult now, 20 in January, but Pokémon Guess who is too epic for words, trust me!) Aside from the festivities, which, for me have been a quick 'HAI I R CRIMBO, GOODBY!' due to working Boxing Day, today, and scheduled to work tomorrow, it has been a good laugh, and a success :D

Now... World of Warcraft's Winter Veil. Got off to a great start, completed the remaining Achievements on Zukiji for the Violet Proto Drake, then, that same day Finished off Less-Rabi on Luxray, resulting in a Red Proto Drake. After all this was done, I really haven't done anything of major interest other than try and get more of an Insight to the respawn timers of Arcturis, which if I have to say, seem completely randomized at the moment :S So far, since December 15th, I have found Arcturis in the single known location 4 extra times, bringing my total sightings up to 5. Now this is good news if you happen to be:

1. Online as he's there
2. Know me and my obsession for this sort of thing
3. Realize that if you aren't online, I will kill it/ do a /who Grizzly Hills and see if there are any other Hunters around, so make sure you are ;)

The 5th Sighting came across just 15 minutes ago, which is a bit of a bummer as a friend of mine has been trying to get this beast for his Dad's lvl 74 BM Hunter had logged out literally 10 minutes before hand. Although, I actually didn't kill it this time, so I personally have 3 of the Leather Chests still, instead of 4 :) Hopefully his Dad logged on just to quickly check just after I logged ;D

Greatfather Winter... Ok, well 2007 saw people being given a Clockwork Robot pet, which in my eyes is too cool for words, really really want it (I wasn't online in 2007, I started playing mere 2 weeks after the event finished) which fires rockets at each other, and would have bumped my pet collection up to 116 at present. 2008 saw us getting a miniature 'Wowhead Rocket' which was good fun, and still is! But 2009... Thank you Greatfather Winter for a pretty rubbish BB Gun :( Ok, I may sound like an ungrateful little kid, but seriously, I really don't like this years secret gift. It has 200 uses, no Feat of Strength for it as there was one with the previous 2 years presents and the use of it is pretty limited. I was personally hoping for something a little more cool like a Remote Control Helicopter which you can shoot each other down with, much like the Steam Tonk Controllers, and with the whole Mr.T thing going on at the moment, it would seem a little more fitting, but meh, one can dream :)

Anywhoo, has been a pretty cool Christmas overall despite the BB Gun QQ and the lack of stuffs to do, but thankfully my brother introduced me to a game, which at first seems completely pointless, but give it 5 or 10 minutes, and it's the most addicted thing ever... Minecraft! All in all:

Merry Christmas, and a Happy New Year!

-Zuk

Fall of the Lich King, Lowdown!

So, I haven't made a post since the day prior to patch 3.3.0, and with good reason too. The new LFG system is actually amazing... I'm addicted to WoW all over again! My previously untouched alts are finally brimming with energy again, using the new LFG system to full advantage. Anywhoo, I'll do a lowdown and talk about what I've been up to recently with 3.3.0.

Arcturis:

Yup! I managed to bag this incredible looking Spirit Beast Realm First after waiting all day on patch day for him to spawn, at 23:01, same time Gondria Spawned for me in 3.1, he appeared! So far, there have been a few whispers and questions based on location of this beast and what he is exactly, well yes, he's a Spirit Beast so he can Prowl, plus he knows Spirit Strike (Moonfire for Pets) and comes complete with the PvE spec talent tree. Despite all this, you have to be Beast Master specced in order to tame it, and that's normally a bad thing for people who tend to Raid as it's not exactly the best one to pick at present. eeek!

Since taming this beast, I have seen it once where a level 74 Blood Elf Paladin was killing it, unaware that it's the new shiny beast for Hunters. After I saw this, I quickly made a Horde alt and talked to him about it, he felt kinda bad as about 5 other people have been trying to get it recently (mainly horde) and the drop (which was a melee dps leather chest) isn't useful for him, so he vendored it... Ahh wells, not exactly the end of the world, but still, kinda sucks when this sort of thing happens.

Perky Pug:

Woot! Thanks to the LFG System, after having grouped with 100 different people using the 'Look for Random Heroic Dungeon' option, I managed to bag myself this little dude! Now, Breanni has started to sell an Albino Snake and a Calico Cat, but when will she supply Dog Wormer? When you guys get this, you'll know what I mean ;)

Main problem after I obtained this pet is that I got him on Luxray, so Zukiji is dogless at the moment. Working on it though ;)

Core Hound Pup:

Booyah! Possibly one of the coolest things for me is this molten dude, ensuring my account is safe and sound! But seriously, this is a great way to show that your safe and sound, and that your account, no matter what happens, will always be in the original person's hands.

The Lich King:

Not everyone will be geared enough to be able to encounter this guy themselves in the Citadel, but thankfully, Blizzard has allowed everyone who hit's level 80 to progress through the 3 sections of the Icecrown Dungeons, finally leading to The Lich King himself! I won't unveil anything else, though most people out there have already encountered and bested the event, but it's Epic! The dungeons start to get hard at the beginning of the third one. Lots of ghosts, souls and scary shit in stock along with powerful entities that are within the Lich King's grasp.

As a side note, the Achievement under the Arcturis picture obviously isn't real, but some people have asked me silly things as follows:

[W:from][Random]: Oh hai d00d! I herd yu gut first taim on Arktooriss?!!1onee!!!

[W:to][Random]: Yeh dude! He's pretty cool ain't he! :D

[W:from][Random]: YES link achi plees

[W:to][Random]: Pardon? Which achievement would you be talking about? :D

[W:from][Random]: 4 taimin heem

[W:to][Random]: Ahhh, I get ya, well there isn't an achievement for taming anything Server first, as to be honest, how would a Warrior be able to get this? ;D It would be cool if they implemented it though, as a new set named 'Class Achievements' where you get them based on your class for doing specific things, and only, in our case, Hunters will get spammed with the Achievement of a Server First tame :)

[W:from][Random]: k, i see, i haff to go find this noaw thnk yu 4 the help :O

[W:to][Random]: No problem dude! :)

-Zuk

Patch Day 3.3.0 - Fall of the Lich King

Double post seems necessary just to recap over everything we will be seeing tomorrow, with the main one for me, and many Spirit Beast Hunters alike, Arcturis!

New Instances!

• Icecrown Citadel: 5 Man Dungeon built up of 3 Wings with an interesting Quest item which starts the Quel'Delar Quest chain.
• Icecrown Citadel [Raid]: 10/25 Man, Normal and Hard Mode Raid, finally facing us against the Lich King!

New Pets!

• Albino Snake: Sold by Breanni in Dalaran
• Calico Cat: Sold by Breanni in Dalaran
• Perky Pug: Obtained for using the new LFG tool with 100 Pugged people.
• Raptor Pets: Now Obtained through the Nests which will spawn around the locations of the Corresponding Rares as the Rare mobs no longer drop the Pet.

Built in Quest Tracker!

• Tracks quests in terms of where the item/mob can be found.
• Map has been updated to accommodate this change.
• Quests also show the amount of Experience/Rep that will be obtained at the end of it.

New Fishing Event!

• Located in Borean Tundra, at the same time and date as the Stranglethorn Vale fishing event.
• What it requires is catching a Blacktip Shark, which apparently prefer to hang about Pygmy Suckerfish and can be only caught in pools.
• Rewards include an Heirloom Ring, giving an extra 5% Experience gain for new chars, or a Pair of Fishing Boots which provide a direct port to Booty Bay.

Weekly Raid Quests!

• Each week, we will be able to pick up the 'Weekly Raid Quest' which takes the position of the original Daily Heroic (As the reward is now obtained from just using the new LFG option)
• You will be rewarded with around 35gold and 10 Emblems of Frost for killing one of the Raid Bosses selected for you that week.

Ashen Verdict!

• For those of you guys prepared for Icecrown Raid, there's a new Reputation to go with them, much like with Black Temple and the Ashtongue Deathsworn.
• Depending on your standing, you will be able to purchase upgradable rings from them. A 200g payment can be made to switch between types of ring (Tanking Ring ---> Healer Ring)

Arcturis!

• Following the tradition of a new Spirit Beast per patch, Arcturis, the Spectral Bear makes his appearence in Grizzly Hills.
• Lowest level Spirit Beast to date, at level 74.
• More info on this guy on previous post located >here<.

I've probably missed out a LOT of information, but these are the things for me which kinda stand out. Also the Misdirection change for Hunters is going to be INSANE! Bring on the Extra AoE Tanking aggro! Take care guys, and happy 3.3.0! :D

-Zuk

P.S. New information on the Core Hound Pup! For everyone who has an Authenticator connected to their accounts. Another reason to make sure you pick one of these up to ensure your account is safe. I like to think of it as another pet, which can be bought off the Blizzard Store that acts like your own personal Guard Dog! But yeh, Core Hounds inc! :D

Spirit Beasts

Managed to help another Hunter tame a Spirit Beast today! Here's a picture of 'Frenzyfever' a Tauren Hunter who managed to find me actually on this blog page which is pretty awesome! Gratz to him and his new Spirit Beast!

With the Release of 3.3 merely weeks away (I mean, it has to bee soon, right?) I thought I's do a recap of the Spirit Beasts available in game as of recent and the locations of each! Locations I would recommend people to look for the beasts are in Green ;D

Loque'nahak

The original Spirit Beast, found on the Beta of Wrath of the Lich King is still one of the most sort after Spirit Beasts of the 3 for it's bubblegum blue mouth and sleek looks. This little fellow can be found in Sholozar Basin at the following locations for people who have Co-ordinates with the amount of times I have personally found her in [ ] brackets:

• 70.9 | 71.7 - [4]
• 66.6 | 79.1 - [1]
• 51.4 | 81.6 - [2]
• 31.3 | 66.5 - [1]
• 22.1 | 70.2 - [1]
• 29.2 | 47.3 - [1]
• 36.7 | 29.3 - [1]
• 59.3 | 22.5 - [2]

Best way to go about this is keep circling the area. If you have mining or herbalism skill aswell, you can make some pretty sweet gold from this method :D it's a win win situation!

Gondria

The second Spirit Beast released in patch 3.1, enlightened Hunters across the globe that Blizzard is interested in adding a Spirit Beast per patch! Known for it's 'Spectral Tiger' look, or as the Spectral Tiger Pet, Gondria comes equipped with style and pursuit about it! This ghostly kitty can be found in Zul'Drak at the following locations for people who, again, have Co-ordinates with the amount of times I have personally found him in [ ] brackets:

• 63.6 | 43.0 - [5]
• 69.8 | 48.6 - [9]
• 61.7 | 61.9 - [2]
• 68.0 | 77.3 - [6]
• 77.8 | 70.5 - [1]
• 77.2 | 44.4 - [1]

I have found Gondria quite a few times to say the least, and from what I can tell, mainly on Agamaggan Server, is that it isn't always picked up straight away, or I have a LOT of luck with this guy. The time of day plays a major role in the taming of not only this beast, but every single one, however, I have found at either 00:00 server time -> 04:00 server time it is normally there :D

Skoll

The most recently available Spirit Beast on Live servers is possibly the most noticeable of the 3, being that instead of it being a kitty, it's a Wolf! This electric blue wolf emanates electricity which can be heard by standing near to it, and with all the other Spirit Beasts, has Prowl so a stealthing, electric blue wolf that looks like it wants to go and kill ANYTHING is pretty much very high on Beast Master Hunter's agenda in terms of taming. So far, I have managed to find this beast in 3 locations, however, a friend of mine may have hinted at a 4th hidden location which will need inspecting furthur upon (as I haven't actually seen him there, so if anyone has found it at the bottom location, please, respond!). This metal beast can be found in Storm Peaks at the following locations for people who, yet again, have Co-ordinates with the amount of times I have personally found him in [ ] brackets:

• 27.7 | 50.4 - [2]
• 30.2 | 64.6 - [1]
• 46.6 | 64.7 - [2]
• 54.5 | 54.3 - [?]

This guy has alot of beliefs that he shares the spawn of the Time-Lost Proto Drake or Vyragosa, when I can in fact confirm that he definately doesn't. I managed to find Skoll on the PTR 3.2 a few seconds before the Time-Lost Proto Drake flew passed me, same with on live servers, but with Vyragosa and a few more seconds between each other. Same with Gondria, and all other Spirit Beasts to be honest, it's all a matter of being in the right place at the right time as they can be picked up pretty sharpish.

Good luck hunting Spirit Beasts, and roll on 3.3 for Arcturis, the 'Spectral Bear'!

Arcturis - Spirit Beast 3.3.0

The newest Spirit Beast introduced on the PTR for patch 3.3.0 is Arcturis, the Spectral Bear found within Grizzly Hills. Being level 74 make Arcturis the lowest level Spirit Beast attainable for any Beast Masters out there.

Here are a few screenshots I took based on this new Pet:

Arcturis - Spirit Beast Patch 3.3.0

Location - North of Amberpine

Taming the Beast

I made a video shortly after taming this awesome looking beast, based on screenshots taken during and after the tame. Link to the video can be found here.

More locations are bound to pop up over time, so I'll post them in the comments to this post.