turtle-mount
Latest
Enter at Your Own Rift: Getting a head start
Dateline: Thursday, February 24th, 12:55 p.m. EST. After having rushed home from work (huzzah for a half-day), I was frantically putting the kids to bed for an afternoon nap and patching up my RIFT client. Twitter was abuzz with gamers sitting at the starting gate and revving their mice. It was here. After seven betas, it was here, and we would be the first in the door. 12:59 p.m. EST. Began checking the server status list, trying to will the dull grey names to light up as they signified activity. 1:00 p.m. EST. Scott Hartsman posts a short message on Twitter: "Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to RIFT." Right on cue, the servers came up, and what felt like the entire population of Oregon tried to cram into the game all at once. By 1:01 p.m., when I logged in, my chosen server of Faeblight was already full and had 461 people in the queue. I was 462. It would be another 45 minutes until I was able to play the game proper.
The Queue: My pet is adorable too
Welcome back to The Queue, the daily Q&A column in which the WoW Insider team answers your questions about the World of Warcraft. Alex Ziebart will be your host today. Mat and Gray aren't the only ones with adorable pets. I can play that game, too! Look at that Roomba up there. It's so cute, what with its glowing cycloptic eye, its massive, unyielding grin and its manic, electronic chittering. Just adorable. lazymangaka asked: What is the most efficient way to grind guild reputation?
Sea Turtle gets new idle animation in patch 3.1.2
Patch 3.1.2 has added another entry into our list of things that are completely freaking adorable today. We didn't notice this on the PTR for some reason (likely because everyone was busy playing premades that lacked turtles) but jumping in place on a Sea Turtle does something really quite cool. Your turtle hides in his shell.The video embedded above comes from reader Enaress. There's not much more to say about it except that it's crazy awesome. Anyone who disagrees has no heart. Fact. YouTube frame is green to celebrate the turtleosity of the video.
Insider Trader: Evolution of Fishing
Insider Trader is your inside line on making, selling, buying and using player-made products.Patch 3.1 brought many welcome changes to the Fishing profession, including a Turtle mount and new Fishing daily quests. These not only add incentives to go out and fish, they also make doing a little fishing each day easier. Of course, players can never have enough improvements, and still have many gripes about the way that the profession works. This week, I will be discussing different perspectives on the activity, as well as the challenges that Blizzard faces when considering which changes to make, and which feedback to tackle.
In praise of fishing dailies
I have to say: I am so happy that we have fishing dailies back in the game. Leafshine has found a new addiction to fishing, and I have, too: though I'm a little underwhelmed with the actual rewards (while I was a little taken aback by the cooking daily awards system when it first came out, now I really like it, and wish they'd come up with a version of that for fishing), I like the quests, and I like taking my hard-earned Mastercraft Kalua'k Fishing Pole and going out into the world to find some fish. Leafshine is exactly right: it's a terrific way to kill a few minutes that really doesn't feel like a grind at all. And while you're out fishing, there's no better time to keep an eye out for pools, too -- you never know when that Turtle mount might drop.You might say that fishing is boring, and it is -- though they've made some really generous changes to how it levels up, you're still going to be clicking a bobber for a long, long time. But it's never been so rewarding in terms of what you can get, and it is probably the most fleshed-out minigame in Azeroth. If you, like me, sometimes prefer a little break from the usual combat (the war, if you will, of Warcraft), I can't recommend Fishing highly enough.
The best of WoW Insider: April 14-21, 2009
Patch 3.1 has been out for a week now in the World of Warcraft (in fact, patch 3.1.1 is coming out today), and players have tons to do -- we're all raiding Ulduar, playing around with dual specs, and leveling up through the Argent Tournament to become Champions of our own factions. In fact, there's a lot of new stuff in World of Warcraft, so if it ever gets overwhelming, worry not -- Joystiq's WoW Insider has you covered. Here's our most popular posts in the past week. News WoW Insider's Guide to the Argent TournamentIt's joustin' time in the World of Warcraft. Here's what you need to know. WoW Insider's Patch 3.1 FAQFrequently asked questions about last week's patch, answered just for you. Ghostcrawler on the mechanics behind Armor PenetrationOne of the game's devs talks about one of the tougher damage dealing mechanics to figure out. First day for Champions on the Argent TournamentThe very first class of Champions arises. Curse, WoW Interface band together to block WoWMatrixA small shakeup in the addon world leaves a few players hanging right around patch day. Features Wrath 101: Emalon the Storm WatcherThere's a new boss in the Wintergrasp Vault, and here's a quick guide to taking him down. The Queue: Service with a smileYou ask, we answer. That's how it works. How to get the Turtle MountWant to get your hands on the brand new aquatic mount? Here's a few tips. How to activate Ulduar's hard modesSure, anybody can raid Ulduar. But can you do it on hard mode? Lichborne: Top Death Knight DPS builds and patch 3.1With dual specs out, everybody wants to know which builds are best. Our Death Knight column breaks down which talent points to look for in patch 3.1.
Cooking is a little easier, but only a little
I've been holding off on leveling up my cooking until 3.1 in the hopes that the tweaks Blizzard was making would give me an easier go of it, but I probably shouldn't have bothered waiting. While they have given us a few more recipes that stay green later, that's pretty much all we got. Anyone expecting more yellow recipes or even (gasp) orange to get the skill points rolling faster will be sorely disappointed. I cooked some of those Salmon you see above, and got a pretty good rate of about one point for every three cooks (which is normal for green on any profession), but 420-450 is still a slightly uphill battle.The good news is that you no longer need flint and tinder (though if, like me, you bought a Gnomish Army Knife, you didn't have to worry about that anyway), and you should make sure to stop and talk to the cooking trainer next time you run the daily, as they'll now teach you the Black Jelly recipe. And of course that ugly Chef's Hat is in the game -- I considered it for a moment, but at 100 Dalaran Cooking awards, you're going to be doing at least a few weeks of grinding just to wear that hat. Still, if people will fish up the turtle mount, I guess there's no end to what they'll chase in game.Update: We're also told the level required for the cooking dailies may have been raised to 80 -- one tipster says one faction can do them and the other can't. May be a bug -- we'll keep an eye out on this one.
How to get the Turtle mount
We're listening in to your replies on Twitter about what you're all planning to do when you log into 3.1 for the first time, and an astounding number of people are planning to go for the fishing mount. Yes, despite the fact that everything Blizzard has told us points to the Turtle mount obtained via fishing being extremely rare, lots of players are after it anyway. We've decided, then, to wish you luck. And to help you out, we'll give you a few tips that just might help make the almost assuredly long, boring, clicking grind bearable.1. Learn to fish (and cook). If you're going to be fishing for the mount, you might as well learn to fish and cook while you do it. The mount itself drops from fishing pools in Northrend, so if all you're doing is going for those, it'll take you a little longer to level than just sitting in Stormwind and leveling fishing (which you can definitely do), but you might as well up your profession while you do it. El's Angling is the guide of choice -- follow it closely and you'll be 450 Fishing/Cooking in no time.2. Find Fish. If you follow El's guide, you'll figure this out along the line, but even if you've already leveled fishing, you'll definitely want to make sure you've got the Find Fish ability, obtained from the Weather-Beaten Journal, which you get from -- you guessed it -- fishing. This will help you find fish pools on the minimap tracker, and since you need to fish in pools in Northrend to get the mount, it'll be a huge help, if not invaluable.
BlizzCon 2008: Costume Contest
This year's costume contest entrants ranged from the exceptional (hello Thrall!) to the ridiculous (goodbye Rick Astley), but in the end the winner was clear. A female Dranei on a motorized turtle mount stole the show. More than that, she won a replica Frostmourne. Check out her fantastic ride and the way it moves in the video above, and a gallery of the entrants below.%Gallery-34252%
Around Azeroth: The elusive turtle mount
Reader Steve sends in this lovely shot of the rare turtle mount, which you too may be able to find if you buy enough packs of WoW TCG cards. It's slightly Photoshoped to give it that proper photorealistic effect. Not half bad, if I do say so myself.Do you have a unique shot of Azeroth that you'd like to show off to the rest of the world? Tell us about it by e-mailing aroundazeroth@gmail.com! You can attach a picture file or send us a link to one -- and don't worry about formatting, we'll take care of that part.
WoW Moviewatch: The Real Speedy
I lament the low quality of this video, but am still amused by it. In it Azric of Eldre'thalas rides from Tirisfal Glades to Stranglethorn -- on a turtle mount, acquired by obtaining a rather rare TCG card. The mount was advertised early on as traveling at 100% speed -- though, on clarification, 100% speed seems to be normal run speed. So... even with most of the video sped up, it's a 7 minute run trip across the Eastern Kingdoms.
A Turtle Mount?
Remember the Warcraft trading card game that's being developed? The suggestion has always been that some of the cards you collect may convey bonuses within the game itself, though the Upper Deck website is vague on what sort of rewards they might be. Well, a recent addition to Thottbot gives us a hint - the spell "Create Upperdeck Turtle Mount," which seems to be part of the recent build on the test realms. A search of Thottbot provides other possible TCG rewards - tabards, pets, and trinkets. Somehow, the thought of my Gnome warlock riding around on a giant turtle appeals to me...
