phoenix-hatchling
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Breakfast Topic: Which vanity pets have captured your heart?
This Breakfast Topic has been brought to you by Seed, the Aol guest writer program that brings your words to WoW Insider's pages. I have a confession to make. I collect vanity pets. I don't mean I grab the ones from my race's capital and then the ones that go with holidays. I mean I hunt them down, build them, buy them, and do quests I would rather skip because the reward is a pet I'll probably never have out. How did I end up this way? I guess it started in the Undercity, where I bought a cockroach. In Orgrimmar, I figured the cockroach might like a few snake friends. It wasn't long before I ran out of pets I could get that way, and I wasn't high enough level to get any pet-related quests yet. So I started pouring my gold into pets from the auction house. My gear was from quest rewards because I almost never got drops I could use and my gold was going to pets. I eventually started buying gear first, but I still have trouble forcing myself to buy enchants and consumables when there are pets to save up for. I have two favorite pets. One is my Dun Morogh Cub, which my husband bought and rode out to Coldridge Valley to give to me. That bear has been by my main's side since level 1. My other favorite is my Phoenix Hatchling. A friend said he'd run Magister's Terrace with me as many times as it took for me to get it. I was a level 70 hunter with BM spec, and he was a level 80 protection warrior. I just couldn't put out enough DPS for us to take down Kael'thas, so we called in another friend to help. It was my first time through there, and I left with a fiery bird flying along behind me! The one pet I really wish they would add is an Azerothian Schrödinger's Cat. It could be a reward from a quest involving gnomes or the D.E.H.T.A. The worg pup can be either black or brown when summoned, so a cat could have normal and skeletal models to switch between. Since you wouldn't know if the cat is alive or dead until you summon it, the Copenhagen interpretation of quantum mechanics implies it would be both alive and dead while unsummoned. Do you collect vanity pets? Which are your favorites? Is it too early in the day to think about quantum mechanics?
Choose my Adventure: Insert funny title about being level 25 here
WoW.com readers, it's up to you to decide the fate of Turpen the Gnome Warlock with Choose My Adventure. Help test the site's new features by participating in this event, casting your vote toward the many aspects of Turpen and following his exploits on Alex Ziebart's WoW.com profile!Well, you guys wanted me to run Deadmines. As you can see, I ran Deadmines. Many thanks go to Urse (Healer), Child (Tank), and Sneafoo (Noob Rogue of Doom) for 4-manning the thing with me. Urse was pretty overleveled for the place so healing was hilariously easy, but Sneafoo made up for it by starting the run at level 12 and aggroing Gruul from the pirate ship.I went further than that, too. I didn't stop at Deadmines, I did Wailing Caverns, Blackfathom Deeps and Shadowfang Keep as well. I was kicking around the idea as soon as someone suggested Deadmines, but I didn't think I would manage to land a group for either of them. When I went out to the Barrens to get my Succubus (Angva) at level 20, that sealed the deal for me. I picked up the quest The Orb of Soran'ruk, and despite the fact that its quest rewards sucked, it gave me more reason to try and get the groups together. I put out a call to all of the various resources I knew, LFG and community chat channels (your server probably has a few good ones) and all of that, and managed to score a few groups.
Have you hit the 2.4 content yet?
Obviously, everyone knows patch 2.4 hit today. You can't turn around without seeing something about it. And, well... if you play WoW, you were probably assaulted with a downloader before you could log in. Basically, 2.4 hit. You know that.Have you really dug into the content yet, though? I know a couple members of my guild decided they would rather spend the day farming Adamantite and Mana Thistle in the 'old' Burning Crusade content because it was mostly abandoned. While it isn't fresh and exciting, it is certainly making them quite a bit of cash.Me, personally? I jumped in feet first. As soon as the servers came up I was flying to Quel'Danas and putting together a Magisters' Terrace group. My original intent was to get the new daily quests out of the way first, before everyone got home from school or work or whatever it is they do, but the server wasn't agreeing with me on that. Amusingly, after the mobs on my server were killed, they weren't respawning whatsoever. The server actually stayed up that way for about two hours, devoid of mobs, with hundreds of people standing around on Quel'Danas trying to figure out what was going on.%Gallery-19191%
New mounts and non-combat pets of 2.4
Of the many shiny goodies coming our way with Patch 2.4, some of the shiniest are the new mounts and non-combat pets. The 5-man Kael'Thas of Magister's Terrace drops the latest status symbol among pet collector's: the Phoenix Hatchling. We're not sure of the drop rate, but we have to assume it's going to be rare. If you can't get it in-game, you can always check it out on video.If baby creatures aren't your thing, there's also a number of new mounts available with the Sunwell patch. Two new PvP mounts: the Black War Elekk and Black Swift Warstrider. Information on obtaining these new mounts as well as pics can be found in our PTR post.Finally, the new Rocket Mount will be introduced in either blue or red. This can only be gained through a World of Warcraft Trading Card Game loot card. Or, you know, EBay. Patch 2.4 sounds great, but what's in it for you? Find out on our Sunwell Isle page where we list the impact on classes, professions, PvP, Raiders and many other playstyles and interests. Looking for more great info? Check out the WoW Insider Directory for the best of our guides and analysis.
