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Breakfast Topic: Punching the Time-Lost Proto-Drake
In nearly 10 years of playing WoW, this was probably the most bizarre thing I've ever come across. I was on the beta leveling realm and I had just used my wormhole generator to get to Northrend so I could check out something in Dalaran (for a WoW Insider post actually). As I was flying there, I spotted something in the corner of my eye I had never seen before. The Time-Lost Proto-Drake. Alive. Its health was going down really slowly. I flew down to investigate and came upon this extraordinary scene. A completely naked, level 91 troll warlock punching the Time-Lost Proto-Drake to death. Being Alliance, I couldn't ask this person what the heck they were doing, so I just watched it play out. I felt like it would be wrong to one-shot the drake and stop his strange ritual. This troll really seemed to be enjoying himself. I like to think he was doing it for payback over all the hours he camped it on live servers, but who knows for sure. I just know I'll probably never see anything like it again. After the deed was done (several minutes of punching later), he mounted up on his prize and waved at me. And that was that. What's the most bizarre thing you've ever happened upon while playing WoW?
The 5 mounts I'm going to farm until the end of the world
Mount collecting in World of Warcraft is a common passion. There are some really beautiful designs out there, and showing off a rare collection is one of the ways in which people take pleasure from the game. A number of mounts are also a testament to dedication or skill in the game: the arena drakes, the Pureblood Fire Hawk, Invincible... for those who have earned them these mounts and others like them stand as a visual marker to their accomplishments. For those of us who tend to be a bit behind on the raiding or PvP curve, there are still plenty of obtainable mounts out there. Some of them were formerly unattainable without groups, but thanks to the inevitable passage of time and raising of the level cap, the bosses which drop them are now soloable. Unfortunately, mounts tend to have a very low drop rate, so getting them can be a challenge of determination, diligence, and of course, luck. Here are a few that I have yet to earn for myself, but I remain determined to acquire! 1. Raven Lord Can you believe I am a druid who still doesn't have this one? A Burning Crusade-era druid, too. I've been farming this mount since Anzu was only summonable by druids such as myself, and I still haven't seen it drop. Admittedly I've slacked off more recently, mostly because I'm sick of Sethekk Halls. I should hop back to it, though. The Raven Lord is one of the most gorgeous ground mounts in the game.
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!
Breakfast Topic: The game's most famous rare
I was taking my main through the new set of Northern Barrens quests recently when I found myself running across rare spawn mobs a lot. This in itself isn't all that surprising; you'll run across rare spawns pretty commonly whenever zones aren't occupied by eager levelers. I saw Elder Mystic Razorsnout, Swiftmane, and for the first time ever, Humar the Pridelord. Humar is well known as a popular hunter pet, and until Wrath, he was the only black lion in the game. And that got me to thinking: What is the game's most famous rare spawn? If I had to settle on one, my vote would be the Time-Lost Proto Drake, which has driven legions of players to the nuthouse in an endless struggle to find it, let alone kill it. Close behind would probably be Loque'nahak, another famous hunter pet. Curiously, it feels like most of the game's really well-known rare mobs are actually fairly recent additions to the game, although people who played during classic WoW might disagree.
The OverAchiever: Achievements to do before it's too late
Every Thursday, The Overachiever shows you how to work toward those sweet achievement points. This week, time is of the essence. Where have we heard that before? I recently talked to a player who managed to solo most, though not all, of the Glory of the Hero achievements from Wrath. He mentioned ones like Share the Love that been impossible to complete without putting a group together, and as you can imagine, getting four more players for heroic Wrath achievements isn't the easiest thing in the world at 85. People who want the achievement for their alts are rarely interested in doing a meta piecemeal, and this is probably going to get worse, rather than better, once account-wide achievements go active. Once someone's got a red proto-drake on one character, they almost certainly won't repeat the process on one of their alts. The vast majority of achievements get easier as you level up, but the canny achievement hunter will pay attention to the ones that don't. As the game changes, players' priorities and interests change, and older content has a tendency to fall by the wayside. It's best to strike while the iron is hot.
The OverAchiever: Mountain o' Mounts in Northrend
Every Thursday, The Overachiever shows you how to work toward those sweet achievement points. This week, we continue the Mountain o' Mounts grind in Northrend. Bad news, folks: Once you've made your way through your own faction's basic ground mounts and the array of options available in Outland, you've largely exhausted the supply of factions that will offer you tons of mounts just because they like you. The closest you'll get is the Argent Tournament, which offers lots of mounts but a relatively long grind for most of them, even if you're already exalted with your home factions. Past this point, count on doing reputation grinds for only a few mounts at most. However, the bite doesn't feel as bad in Northrend, in no small part because Dalaran and Argent Tournament quartermasters will sell you Commendation badges for the Argent Crusade, Ebon Blade, Kirin Tor, Sons of Hodir, and Wyrmrest Accord in return for 16 justice points. Each badge gives you 520 reputation, and it's a great way to bleed off extra JPs you're sitting on, if spending lots of time in Northrend isn't on your to-do list. Also read: Combining The Ambassador and Mountain O' Mounts and Mountain O' Mounts in Outland
Guildwatch: No tabard, no loot
Some stories of drama on the realms aren't directly guild-related, but they're just too good to pass up. The one above is just such a story -- one of our tipsters was just flying around Azeroth one day when a conversation in General caught his eye. One unlucky Time-Lost Proto-drake seeker ran into his very own Griftah, and ended up with 425 less gold and a very "unusual" toy item. That story and more in this week's Guildwatch, which starts right after the break. If you have downed, recruiting, or drama news for us, feel free to send a tip in to guildwatch@wow.com, and you might see it here in the future. Read on for more!
Time is Money: Farming in Storm Peaks
Kebina Trudough here, offering you the best gold making secrets they don't want you to know about! I was like you once, poor and homely, before I discovered my patented system. Now you too can fill your pockets with the good stuff without ever breaking a sweat! Why spend all your time toiling when you could be vacationing in the Hot Springs? I'm not offering these tips for 100 gold, or 90 gold, or even 50 gold! No, not even 20 gold! My system is yours for FREE! Satisfaction guaranteed or I'll give you a full refund (handling charges may apply).Today we'll be discussing some of the choice farming locations in the province of Storm Peaks. There are three areas in particular that I will point out, as well as some good gathering tips and information on where you can locate rare mobs. Don't forget to check the comments section, as I'm sure it will be full of sweet spots and mob-hunting information!
When AFK attacks redux
Matthew Rossi's triumphant tale about his wife's taming of the elusive Loque'nahak, otherwise known as the Death Star pet, reminded me of a similar scenario that happened with a guildie. This time, it was nowhere near as peaceful, nowhere near as innocent, but every bit as triumphant. See, my guildie, a Shadow Priest, had been looking for the Time-Lost Proto Drake in the Storm Peaks for almost a month. Every day, he'd log on and spend a few hours circling the rare mob's known path hoping to get the Reins of the Time-Lost Proto Drake. As the mob is guaranteed to drop the mount, he wasn't the only one on the hunt. One day, though, he got lucky and finally spotted the fantastic creature... except that it was already tagged by a Gnome Death Knight. Instinctively, he did what any red-blooded member of the Horde would do. He Mind Controlled the Gnome, used him to tank the drake, and when the drake was low on life, tossed the Death Knight off the edge of a cliff. One Shadow Word: Death and a hearthstone later, the priest was in Krasus' Landing sitting atop his pretty green drake.
Seeking the Time-Lost Proto Drake
I don't know if we've mentioned this before, but even if we have, it's interesting enough to put out there again, I think. There is a dragon in the expansion that can be soloed, and drops a epic flying mount at 100% drop rate -- all you've got to do is find him. A few people have already nabbed the mount, and lots more are on the hunt right now. The mob in question is the Time-Lost Proto Drake: it's a rare elite spawn (but as I said, it's possible to solo it, especially at level 80) that shows up every six hours or so flying around the Storm Peaks. Unfortunately, none of the usual suspects have maps of where he's been seen yet, but we're hearing it's around the southern part of the zone. When he goes down, he'll drop the mount, a good chunk of gold, some Frostweave, and a random enchantment Talisman.An interesting tactic on Blizzard's part -- on the one hand, this is definitely a big change from the huge questlines and rep grind from the netherdrakes: just kill this one dragon and you're guaranteed the mount. On the other hand, the rare spawn rate, and the fact that it is a 100% drop rate means there'll be a lot of competition, at first anyway, for the kill. But the good news is that the odds will only get better -- if you're willing to do some dragon hunting for a few hours and have some keen eyes for what's in the air, you could pick up one of the coolest flying mounts yet.
The Queue: Finding treasure where there's no treasure to be found
Welcome back to The Queue, WoW Insider's daily Q&A column where the WoW Insider team answers your questions about the World of Warcraft.Another day, another Queue. Forgive the awful quality of the screenshot above, I tried to show off Malygos' righteous beard but the guy doesn't sit still, even if you ask him nicely. He's a crabby son of a lich sometimes. Well, let's forget about him and dig into today's questions. As always, if you have a question for The Queue, leave it in the comments section below and we'll get to it in a future edition. Magebleck asked... As a mage, my main weapon is almost always a Staff with some good stats to it. Since Wrath of the Lich King has come out I have read several places that there are now some really well speced staffs that are "Bind to Account", such as the Dignified Headmaster's Charge and the Grand Staff of Jordan. I understand that their stats scale with level, but how does one go about aquiering these new "BtA" items?
