rare-spawns
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Did you miss in Pandaria?: The (other) Butcher
The Diablo series has a boss called The Butcher who's been more prominent lately with his appearance in Diablo III. But let's not forget that WoW has its own. Doctor Theolen "The Butcher" Krastinov was a boss in the original version of Scholomance. Upon engaging him, he would let you know that "The doctor is in!" You had to kill him to summon the optional boss Kirtonos. Like many other bosses, he was removed from Scholomance during its revamp. Or was he? Now, Krastinov is actually a rare spawn that has a small chance to replace one of the trash packs following Rattlegore. He only spawns in the level 90 heroic version of Scholomance. Krastinov has the same abilities as his first incarnation: a bleed, a stun, and a self-Bloodlust effect. He only has one item on his loot table, with a 100% chance to drop. Krastinov's Bag of Horrors is a transformation item that lets you sport the doctor's fashion, including his trademark bloody cleavers, for 10 minutes. It's a tribute to the quest item of the same name from classic WoW's Ghosts of Caer Darrow chain. We never knew exactly what was in that bag, and we never wanted to. For you collectors out there, the bag has already been flagged as a toy in Warlords of Draenor.
Warlords of Draenor: Jumping puzzles abound
Our friends at Wowhead have uncovered something I can honestly say I never thought I'd see in WoW: jumping puzzles. Well, I guess you could call those really annoying spots in Blackfathom Deeps and Wailing Caverns "jumping puzzles" but really, they're just jumps. So far three separate jumping puzzles have been spotted in Draenor. You'll find them at the Circle of Blood, the waterfall at Moonwillow Peak in Shadowmoon Valley, and the eastern end of Daggermaw Ravine. According to Wowhead, Circle of Blood is the easiest of the three, and Daggermaw Ravine the most difficult. All have rewards awaiting the intrepid jumping populace, be it a rare spawn with rare loot or a treasure chest of goodies. The presence of jumping puzzles in the game brings the question of player flying capabilities to the forefront once more. We already know we won't be able to fly in Draenor at release, but it's been speculated that flying will be added into the game after a certain point. However, player flying renders challenges such as jumping puzzles completely obsolete. Why would you bother when you can just drop in from above? Of course, that doesn't mean that Blizzard will never allow flying in Draenor--content isn't designed to be new indefinitely. However, it does make me feel like perhaps our grounding in Draenor is meant to be more permanent than initially expected. Or maybe I'm reading way too much into this. What do you think?
Get your Winter Squid and Snowy Owl while you still can
Pet collectors and fishermen take note -- the wintery months are almost behind us, and with them, the appearance of wintery pets and fish as well. The Snowy Owl, located in Winterspring, will be gone as of March 20 -- the onset of the Spring Equinox out here in the real world. Pet collectors should head to Winterspring now to capture these pets, as they won't be making another appearance until December of this year. This pet is part of the Kalimdor Safari achievement, so if you'd like that Zookeeper title, head to Winterspring and grab an owl of your very own today. In addition to the Snowy Owl, the sly Winter Squid is also prone to disappearing come spring. For most players, the apparent hibernation of squid won't really amount to anything. However, if you're working on The Oceanographer achievement, you'll want to catch a squid before they disappear until next winter. The pesky squid can be fished off the coasts of Swamp of Sorrows, Blasted Lands, Tanaris, Badlands, the Cape of Stranglethorn, and also around Sunken Temple. Both the fish and the pet have their own summery counterparts. However, while players may begin finding Summer Bass in fishing pools immediately after the Spring Equinox, the Qiraji Guardling for pet collectors will not be appearing until the onset of the Summer Solstice in June.
Snowy Owls now available in Winterspring for pet collectors
Saturday, December 21 marked the Winter Solstice out here in the real world -- and in the World of Warcraft, it marked the official beginning of the winter season. For pet collectors, this means that the Snowy Owl is once again spawning in Winterspring, and will continue to spawn all winter long. Keep in mind that these pets are rare spawns, and therefore are slightly harder to find than your usual pet. The Snowy Owl can be found all over Winterspring -- there are no specific spawn locations. Pet quality starts at Poor and goes all the way up to the coveted Rare. While we do know that December 21 was the first day of winter in Warcraft, we don't quite know as of yet when these owls will stop spawning -- last year it was the end of February. However, if the spawns are matching up to real life spring, the owls should disappear at the Spring Equinox, which is March 20, 2014. Because this isn't really guaranteed or known information at the present time, it's highly recommended to simply go catch your owl now, while we know they're available. The Snowy Owl is required for the Kalimdor Safari achievement, which in turn is required for the World Safari achievement. Completing World Safari will net you the Zookeeper title, so players that would like the title should definitely go pick up the pet. And even if you don't care about the title, I'd pick up an owl anyway. With fast attack speeds and deadly abilities like Predatory Strike, they're a nice addition to any Battle Pet team.
EVE Evolved: Ghost Sites and PvE goals
PvE in most MMOs revolves around killing hordes of NPCs for currency, XP, tokens, or loot, and EVE Online is no exception. Players can hunt for rare pirate ships in nullsec asteroid belts, farm Sansha incursions for ISK and loyalty points, or team up against Sleeper ships in dangerous wormhole space, but most prefer the safe and steady income of mission-running. Missions are essentially repeatable quests that can be spawned on request, providing an endless stream of bad guys to blow up in the comfort of high-security space. Completing a mission will earn you some ISK and a few hundred or thousand loyalty points, but most of the ISK in mission-running comes from the bounties on the NPCs spawned in the mission sites. Similar deadspace sites with better loot are also distributed randomly throughout the galaxy and can be tracked down using scanner probes. But what would happen if the NPCs in these sites were a dangerous and unexpected interference that could get you killed, rather than space piñatas ready to explode in a shower of ISK? This is a question CCP plans to test with the Rubicon expansion's upcoming Ghost Sites feature, which promises to introduce a whole new form of high-risk, high-reward PvE. In this week's EVE Evolved, I look at EVE's upcoming ghost sites and explain why I think its goal-oriented approach to PvE should be adopted in other areas of the game.
Mogu Rune of Fate price reduction, Shaohao rep gain hotfix
Players merrily scampering around on the Timeless Isle may have noted that Mogu Runes of Fate, the coins used for bonus rolls in ToT raids, are not dropping like candy. In fact, the Runes were only available on Mistwalker Ai for the whopping cost of 2500 Timeless Coins per rune. Some players protested the steep cost, pointing out the ease in which one could quickly max out on Elder Charms one patch prior. As it turns out, Blizzard agreed with this assessment, and the price of Mogu Runes of Fate has now been reduced to 1000 Timeless Coins per Rune. As Timeless Coins seem to be pretty plentiful on the Isle itself, this should make it easier for those seeking to get Runes for further ToT raiding. Killing the rare spawn Evermaw results in over 1k Timeless Coins for the kill, so getting the coins won't be that much of an unreasonable stretch. In addition to this change, an adjustment has been made for players looking to gain rep with Shaohao -- the daily quest Path of the Mistwalker should now be awarding 250 Shaohao reputation upon completion. While both nabbing Mogu Runes of Fate and Shaohao reputation are still a bit of a grind, these changes ought to make the grind a little more bearable. Whether or not we'll see any further adjustments remains to be seen, but for now, it's nice to know that Blizzard is monitoring the situation and making changes as they deem necessary.
Officers' Quarters: 9 new guild activities in Mists
Every Monday, Scott Andrews contributes Officers' Quarters, a column about the ins and outs of guild leadership. He is the author of The Guild Leader's Handbook. Mists of Pandaria has given us some fantastic raiding experiences -- it's easy to forget just how many activities this expansion currently offers. Much of this new content is either group-oriented or can become group-oriented if you want to make it so. With Mists' third content patch set to go live tomorrow, now is a great time to look at some of the many guild activities that are possible in this expansion. Here are nine ideas that go beyond raiding. 1. Earn your Stormbreaker titles. Some of the achievements for this meta can only be accomplished solo, but many of them are much easier with some help -- and some all but require it. The summoned elites for It Was Worth Every Ritual Stone, for example, mostly require a group to take down. Some classes can't solo Tak'u with all of his powers active if they can't dispel his robust HoT for Our Powers Combined. Ready for RAAAAIIIIDDD?!?ing is rough to solo. It can be accomplished most easily right after a server reset, but with a raid group you skip that hassle. Every roach squished counts for everyone in the raid.
Patch 5.2: Zandalari Warbringers and where to find them
The new patch has plenty to offer with a new raid, a new zone, and tons of new quests and content. But don't forget the rest of Pandaria in your travels, because the Isle of Thunder isn't the only thing to discover in patch 5.2. The Isle of Giants located north of Kun-Lai Summit offers several different things to obtain through the mass slaughter of dinosaurs -- and scattered across Pandaria are a selection of new rares to plunder. These rares, discovered early in the PTR cycle, aren't your typical rare mob. Unlike the other rare spawns scattered around Pandaria, these are gold elite mobs that require far more skill. There are three different mobs that spawn -- stealthed scouts, flying elites shown in the picture above, and Zandalari Warbringers. It's the Warbringers that offer the most difficult challenge, requiring a tank and healer at bare minimum to bring down. So where do you find these wonderful mobs, and why do you want to kill them?
Where does he get those wonderful toys? Pandaren rares and loot
If there is one thing I have perfected in eight years of playing this game, it is filling my bags with useless stuff. I'm not talking about armor bits and pieces for transmog, or weapons with pretty glows, or bags full of crafting material like cloth or leather. No, I'm talking random baubles that will make you look like your neighbor. Or fling you in the air, without worry of what happens when you eventually hit the ground. You know, stuff. Everybody likes stuff. And who has the best stuff in Pandaria? Rare mobs, of course! But which rares have the good stuff? Which ones will let you summon a fleet of angered puppies in party hats to fight at your side? Or inexplicably get you ready for a day at the beach in the middle of a raid? Or turn you into a statue with no apparent purpose other than sitting there pretending to be a statue? You want useless stuff? Oh we've got all kinds of useless stuff for you, sorted by category.
How to defeat the saurok rare spawns
When a couple friends of mine in high school would talk about the lizard-people living underground, controlling the world's governments and manipulating our society, something tells me they weren't talking about the saurok. Much like the grummles (a miserable race of gnome-like Sherpas, though some people are quite partial to them), the mogu shaped the saurok through the powers contained within the waters of the Vale of Eternal Blossoms. Their intention was to make the saurok their enforcers, their troops, their battle-worthy servants that would reinforce borders and protect the mogu empire. Instead the saurok grew out of control, so much so that the mogu emperor lead a campaign to rip the souls out of the rebellious reptiles. Now, you may be thinking about that old saying, "my enemy's enemy is my friend," right? Well, unfortunately that's not true all of the time -- in this case we just have two enemies, much like that one Shado-Pan daily. While the saurok don't have the resources or power of the mighty mogu, they are still quite the nuisance. There are a number of saurok champions scattered across Pandaria, all of which share the following abilities: Grappling Hook Much like Rushing Charge, Grappling Hook will prevent you from straying farther than 20 yards away from the target, at least for more than 5 seconds at a time. Vanish The saurok sheds all DoTs and disappears into the shadows. Don't freak out like I did the first time I fought one; it didn't evade, it just took the cowardly rogue's way out. You do have a shot at hitting the saurok before he disappears, so make it count. Smoked Blade If you failed to bring the saurok out of stealth, he will use Smoked Blade which hits for 55% of your health. Vicious Rend A stacking bleed that deals moderate damage, Vicious Rend also functions to provide a sort of soft enrage for the saurok rares -- you need to kill them before the damage from the bleed, in addition to other sources, becomes unmanageable.
How to defeat the mogu sorcerer rare spawns
Over the past two weeks my colleague, Dan Desmond, and I have talked about how to quickly and efficiently to dispatch champions of the various races of Pandaria. Lording over all of those "lesser races" at one time (or, in some cases, even creating them!) were the mogu. A race of imperious and vindictive creatures, the mogu featured among their ranks sorcerers of great power who could bend flesh and stone to their will. Sprinkled throughout Pandaria you can find some rare examples of these domineering magi. They're not terribly difficult, compared especially to other rare spawn types, but they can certainly hold their own. It's never a bad idea to go into battle with one knowing what will surely be thrown at you. Dark Bolt: This is what the mogu will be spamming at you. With no cooldown and a second-and-a-half cast time, expect lots of these to be thrown your way. They don't hit for much, so they should be easy to shrug off. Shadowbolt: Offering a much larger beating than Dark Bolt, this spell has a 1.8 second cast time and a five-second cooldown. Considering it hits for significantly more, you'll want to do your best to interrupt it whenever you can, if you can. If only to make things easier for yourself. Voidcloud: Pretty straightforward -- the sorcerer spawns a cloud, and if you stand in it, you'll die in short order. Avoid the clouds, which will not be hard at all. Unlike the pandaren rare spawns, for instance, there are no special mechanics forcing you to cope with the mogu's attacks. It's a very by-the-book mob to fight: don't stand in the bad, interrupt the most painful spell, and drop the enemy. Here is a list of each mogu sorcerer, their location, and what special item they can drop: Borginn Darkfist: Found in Kun-Lai Highlands, drops the Crate of Kidnapped Puppies Gaarn the Toxic: Found in Krasarang Wilds, drops Gaarn's Leggings of Infestation Kang the Soul Thief: Found in Vale of the Eternal Blossoms, drops Kang's Blindstone Karr the Darkener: Found in the Dread Wastes, drops the Imbued Jade Fragment Kor'nas Nightsavage: Found in the Jade Forest, drops the Darkstaff of Annihilation Norlaxx: Found in Townlong Steppes, drops the Big Bag of Mysteries Sulik'shor: Found in Valley of the Four Winds, drops the Crystal of Insanity Good luck clawing your place at the very top of the Pandaria food chain! Mists of Pandaria is here! The level cap has been raised to 90, many players have returned to Azeroth, and pet battles are taking the world by storm. Keep an eye out for all of the latest news, and check out our comprehensive guide to Mists of Pandaria for everything you'll ever need to know.
How to defeat the mantid rare spawns
The enigmatic, apostrophe-loving mantid remind me a bit of the aliens in the movie District 9 -- bug-like, unpleasant looking creatures that, despite appearing to be foreign and strange, harbor the same kinds of emotions and instincts as humans. And while the mantid don't have large puppy dog eyes to draw our sympathy like the prawns, they do have a rich and complicated history that simultaneously invokes sympathy and uncertainty. The Klaxxi are fighting a war against their own people, attempting to restore sanity to the mantid by dethroning their fear-driven queen, while being regarded as heretics by the remaining dominated legions of their kin -- but can we really trust them? Our alliance with the Klaxxi may simply be a marriage of convenience, and as soon as the empress is dealt with and their house is in order the re-unified mantid may turn their sights back to the pandaren, and us. For now, however, there are a few "evil" mantid champions that need to be dispatched, all of which share the following abilities: Blade Flurry – The bug will wildly jab and prod in a cone in front of itself, dealing massive damage to anyone caught in its swath. Tornado – Summons a tornado that travels in a circular path, triggering Harsh Winds for any players that get too close. Windsong – Buffs the mantid's attack and movement speeds and makes it immune to snares and roots. To squash these bugs, lots of room will be required as you will need to keep clear of any tornadoes that spawn. Ranged classes will find kiting to be near impossible while Windsong is up, meaning that the majority of this fight will have to be conducted within melee range, unless you have a tank chum. Run through the mob when he begins to cast Blade Flurry if you're in melee range, otherwise just get the heck out of there.
How to defeat the hozen rare spawns
There's just something about the hozen that makes me so happy. It's probably their bizarre dialect where nearly every word is some variation of ook or grook or dook, or perhaps their propensity for scatological haikus. Either way, you can imagine my apprehension whenever I came across one of these pinnacles of hozenhood. Clearly it had to die -- if only for a shot at the plentiful gold, experience, and perhaps a rare item that it might be holding -- but boy did it hurt to ook that grookin' hozen in the dooker. Like the pandaren, jinyu, yaungol, and other rare spawns, no matter how slight one of these adversaries may look, you still want to approach them with caution. The hozen rare spawns possess several punishing abilities that make it a threat to anyone with lead feet. Likewise, this is not a boss you want to fight in close confines. These abilities are: Bananarang: The hozen throws a banana, which spins out in a line away from him, and then returns. If it connects, the target takes 45% of their maximum health as physical damage. Yee-ouch. Going Bananas: Flipping his lid, the hozen bounces around and does physical damage to anyone he lands on. No much you can do other than run around and attempt to evade any landings. Though, admittedly, this will be pretty easy if there's enough room for you move around. Toss Filth: Puts a debuff on the target, increasing damage taken by 11%. Can stack, and each stack lasts 30 seconds. Basically makes the fight a race against the clock. Basically, the best way to approach these is to constantly be on the move. Get your licks in, don't get hit by the banana when it goes out, and try to avoid getting stomped on. Not much you can do about Toss Filth, so just focus on getting the hozen down before it stacks too high, or kite if that's possible with your class. Cooldowns are a must as the fight draws on, if you have too many stacks of the debuff.
How to defeat the pandaren rare spawns
One thing I noticed while leveling was how much of my inventory was being filled with zany flavor items and mountains of random stat food. Between that and the pandaren racial bonus, Epicurean, I formed this preconception that all panda-shaped people loved to eat food and do kooky things, so imagine my surprise when NPCScan informed me that a pandaren rare was within my scanning range just waiting to go toe-to-toe. I like to believe that maybe these particular pandaren are just looking for A Worthy Opponent (see what I did there?), and that I just get so caught up in the exchange of punches and blows that I forget not to kill them. Like the jinyu, and the rest of the rare spawns, the pandaren rares all share the same set of abilities: Spinning Crane Kick - A whirlwind of feet and pain, the 3-second cat for this attack can't be interrupted, but the target can be stunned or crowd-controlled during the animation. Just to be safe, make sure that you don't engage the pandaren in an enclosed area. Chi Burst - The pandaren will only use this ability if you are more than 15 yards away from them, a mechanic surely designed to force you to deal with Spinning Crane Kick in some fashion. And at over 200,000 damage per cast, I would say it's pretty effective. Healing Mists - The one ability you will want to save your interrupt for, Healing Mists heals the pandaren for 30% of their maximum health. Stuns and crowd control should also work if you find your spellbook lacking a reliable interrupt. The main strategy here is to stay close to the target for the most part, only moving away from it during Spinning Crane Kick. Also, interrupting Healing Mists will prevent you from dulling your blades against the bears' furry backside while you race to outpace the healing.
How to defeat the yaungol rare spawns
I'm not a huge lore nerd but I still find some of the backstories in WoW pretty interesting. Take the yaungol, for instance: they originally were a tribe of tauren that got separated from their brothers and sisters in Kalimdor when the Sundering ripped Azeroth's Pangaea-esque supercontinent apart. The yaungol originally settled in Townlong Steppes until the encroaching mantid threat forced them to breach the Serpent's Spine and resettle their people in Kun-Lai Summit. Unfortunately for them, Blizzard says they're not "good" tauren, so we get the privilege of dispatching with their champions. Like the rest of the rare spawns, the yaungol rares all share the same set of abilities. Yaungol Stomp– A particularly deadly ability, the yaungol puts his foot down on your shenanigans and deals massive AoE damage if you happen to get caught within its radius, in addition to a lovely little 2-second stun. Bellowing Rage – Occasionally the rare spawn will put up a buff called Bellowing Rage that will almost double its damage but reduce its movement speed by 20%. Rushing Charge– Much like the pandaren rares' Chi Burst, Rushing Charge is another mechanic designed to prevent players from merely kiting the rare around and avoid the melee-based stomp mechanic. The yaungol will charge you if you stray more than 20 yards away from them. What you're going to want to do to take down these furry foes is pretty simple – stay out of the AoE, watch out for Bellowing Rage, and keeping yourself close enough to not get charged. I've found that the easiest way to avoid Yaungol Stomp is to just run through the guy, because the ground effect of the stomp is always in front of him.
Mists of Pandaria rare spawns offer unique challenges
Mists of Pandaria asks the ambiguous question, "What are we fighting for?" In the case of most players, it's loot and gold. There's a lot of fighting to be found in Mists, but in the case of Pandaria's rares, they offer something along with the gold and loot, something far more valuable -- experience. Not experience points, although you'll get it if you're in the process of leveling. No, the rares of Pandaria offer experience playing your individual class, and playing it well. There are several different types of rare champions scattered all over Pandaria -- hozen, jinyu, mantid, mogu, saurok, yaungol and pandaren. But these champions aren't like any rares you've seen on Azeroth. Rather than allowing players to simply stand there and beat the stuffing out of them, these rares have unique abilities that require tactics and skill to counter. Are they impossible to beat? Absolutely not, once you've figured out how to counter their bag of tricks. But you cannot simply stand and beat them up anymore. Movement is absolutely key, and so are stuns, interrupts, and other abilities that define a class. Rather than allowing you to just spam your main attack, you're forced to practice moving out of the way of attacks, which are clearly defined on the ground. You can't let them cast every spell, or you'll certainly die. And kiting is definitely helpful in most cases as well.
Mists of Pandaria Beta: Hunters get new challenges for rare pets
Hey hunters, sick of players killing beasts you've spent hours trying to track down? Syiler has dug up some new news for hunters on the Mists of Pandaria beta, in the form of new hunter pets with a unique twist. Hunters were given a series of unique taming challenges in the Firelands patch, with several unique hunter pets that required specific tasks in order to tame them correctly. For hunters, it was an incredibly entertaining new challenge to add these pets to their stable. In Mists of Pandaria, it looks like challenge tames are making a return -- with a little twist. These beasts are not out in the open for all to see; instead, they are hidden away. Hunters will have to track the beasts via sets of mysterious tracks found on the ground, rather than the usual tracking methods. These tracks are apparently only viewable by hunters; other classes can not see them. If you follow the tracks to their natural end, you'll see absolutely nothing at all. But if you cast a flare, you'll find a rare pet of your dreams just waiting for you to tame it. This is not only a fun mechanic, but it also prevents random players from wandering around indiscriminately killing the rare pets that hunters crave. And the creatures themselves seem to be elites, which discourages other players from intervening on a hunter's tame as well. Players killing rare spawn spirit beasts and other creatures has been a source of irritation for many a hunter over the years. Perhaps this solution will keep the creatures in the hands of those who can use them for more than padding their pocketbook. It's open warfare between Alliance and Horde in Mists of Pandaria, World of Warcraft's next expansion. Jump into five new levels with new talents and class mechanics, try the new monk class, and create a pandaren character to ally with either Horde or Alliance. Look for expansion basics in our Mists FAQ, or dig into our spring press event coverage for more details!
The OverAchiever: Guide to Bloody Rare
Every Thursday, The Overachiever shows you how to work toward those sweet achievement points. This week, we're back to flying endlessly around spawn points. So, how many of you are still with us after Frostbitten? My guess is that most of you are still circling Storm Peaks in a desperate bid at Vyragosa. My friends, I salute you -- but the rest of us are going to pack up and ship out to Outland. Bloody Rare tends to be slightly easier than Frostbitten for the simple reason that Outland is even emptier than Northrend, and there are no rares here competing for spawn times like Vyragosa and our old buddy, the Time-Lost Proto Drake. You'll still find a few people leveling their Wrath-era alts through Northrend, but the population of Outland players usually vanishes by Zangarmarsh or Terokkar. However, that's just been my experience, and as always, realms will differ. And no matter how empty Outland seems, there are still a few rares here that will drive you up a wall.
Mists of Pandaria Beta: Krol the Blade and Nessos the Oracle
Sylier over at Ace Games was nice enough to tip us off about these two rare elites he's run into on the Mists of Pandaria beta. The first, Krol the Blade, is a giant mogu who tickles my fancy for a couple of reasons, the first being that he's a Krol Blade reference, and I love the Krol Blade. More interestingly, however, he drops the Elixir of Ancient Knowledge, which is weird and cool because it gives you 300% XP gain for one hour. Next up is Nessos the Oracle, another rare elite. He drops the Hardened Shell, an item that you can throw at a mounted player and which dismounts them. In the video, you can see Sylier dismount a flying player with it. This is probably going to be a huge item for PvP realms and any world PvP. There's also a series of achievements for killing these rare elites (and there are a lot more than these two) throughout Pandaria. [Thanks to Sylier for the videos.] It's open warfare between Alliance and Horde in Mists of Pandaria, World of Warcraft's next expansion. Jump into five new levels with new talents and class mechanics, try the new monk class, and create a pandaren character to ally with either Horde or Alliance. Look for expansion basics in our Mists FAQ, or dig into our spring press event coverage for more details!
Breakfast Topic: Is camping a rare spawn actually worth the effort?
My roommate Mike is a pretty awesome clothing designer, but first and foremost, he's an ultra-dedicated WoW player. Whereas I'm more interested in the raiding and economic aspects of the game, he spends hours on end grinding and camping in an effort to collect fun items. He loves collecting transmogrification gear. He loves grinding on-use archaeology items. But what he really loves is mount collecting. It's the only thing that explains why he'd waste so much of his youthful life farming in Storm Peaks. He'd been hunting the Time-Lost Proto Drake for years -- since the 2008 release of Wrath, really. Yesterday, he finally struck gold. The elusive beast was right in front of his eyes. It wasn't dead. It wasn't tagged. It was finally his. After three long years, my roommate scored the crown jewel of mounts. Two hours later, he sent me a text message: To each their own, I suppose. But what about you? Have you been on the hunt for ye olde Time-Lost Proto Drake? Have you camped some other rare? And after all the time you invested into the effort ... was it all worth it? I'm not allowed to share my phone number with you guys here, so you'll have to comment after the break in lieu of texting. It's open warfare between Alliance and Horde in Mists of Pandaria, World of Warcraft's next expansion. Jump into five new levels with new talents and class mechanics, try the new monk class, and create a pandaren character to ally with either Horde or Alliance. Look for expansion basics in our Mists FAQ, or dig into our spring press event coverage for more details!
