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Officers' Quarters: Loot system for mounts
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. One situation that officers and raid leaders are frequently unprepared for is a rare mount dropping from a boss. Many times, players aren't even aware that specific bosses drop mounts, because they drop so rarely. Without a specific policy in place, you have to make one up on the spot -- which is not a great idea. One guild just ran into this problem, and they want to know the best system for mounts. Hi Scott, Last night the officers of our 25-man raid group encountered a bit of a dilemma. Heroic Ji-Kun dropped the Clutch of Ji-Kun mount and we, the officers, had to decide how to deal with it. We use the EPGP lootmaster system, but didn't have any rules in place for how our raiders should roll on the mount. After a brief discussion we decided that we would just put a free roll for all players of Raider status and it would go to the highest roller. Other officers began to bring up valid points for the future, the next time a rare mount drops. What sort of requirements should we put on who is allowed to roll on mounts the next time one drops from a boss? Most of the other officers are saying "Raider" status, at least 1 month with the guild, and 90% attendance should be required before we roll. I felt the attendance clause was a bit strict, because it's not a combat item and it doesn't enhance the raid's performance in any way. The others feel that we should be rewarding people for having good attendance, which I feel is a valid point.
Battlefield: Barrens ending soon
Still have shopping to do with the Darkspear Rebellion Quartermaster? Be sure to get it done before patch 5.4 goes live. In a forum post earlier this morning, Community Manager Crithto reminded players that the Battlefield: Barrens world event will be ending forever when the next patch is released. Crithto -- Battlefield: Barrens Ending Soon As the Orgrimmar invasion begins in 5.4, Vol'jin and his forces will move beyond gathering supplies and into a full assault on the Horde capital. This means that once the new patch goes live, the Battlefield: Barrens weekly quest will no longer be available. Those of you who have a Radical Mojo after the patch goes live will still be able to use it with existing armor tokens. However, Ravika, the Darkspear Rebellion Quartermaster, will no longer be available for purchases, but you will have a rare chance at receiving the Raptorhide Boxing Gloves and Gahz'rooki's Summoning Stone by killing the Kor'kron, and other associated mobs in Northern Barrens. source So if you were planning to buy vanity items like Xan'tish's Flute and Griftah's Authentic Troll Shoes, or wanted to earn the Darkspear Revolutionary or Hordebreaker achievements on an alt, get to work! The patch could be coming as soon as Tuesday, August 27th.
Patch 5.4: Gahz'rooki converted to a rare drop
Once patch 5.4 drops, the Battlefield Barrens world event will come to a close. Players will no longer have access to the Darkspear Rebellion Quartermaster, Ravika, who sells a variety of fun items, including Gahz'rooki's Summoning Stone. Battle pet collectors have been curious as to what will happen to Gahz'rooki next patch, and Mumper confirmed its fate: @Proffessor_Oak Ghaz'rooki is being converted to a rare drop. Not sure about the boxing gloves yet. - Cory Stockton (@mumper) July 9, 2013 Its definitely good to know that Gahz'rooki will be sticking around, albeit as a rare drop. We don't know where it'll drop or how rare it'll be, so farm the pet now while it can be traded for a Radical Mojo. As for the quartermaster's other Battlefield Barrens-themed items, like Griftah's Authentic Troll Shoes, we're assuming that they'll disappear along with the event once the patch hits. Purchase them now while you can!
Rock on with Kang's Bindstone
I'm going to have to humbly beg everyone for their forgiveness for my terrible title pun. Get it?! Okay, but seriously. We know we've got Phat Loot Friday and all that, but Kang's Bindstone is such a neat item that it deserves its own post. The Bindstone is an item that buffs you with a chance to turn an enemy to stone upon delivering a killing blow instead of triggering the normal death effect. Loot and such is unaffected - this is a purely cosmetic item. The buff lasts ten minutes and works against critters, mobs, enemy players, and even bosses. Kang's Bindstone drops from Kang the Soul Thief, a rare mogu elite in the Vale of Eternal Blossoms. He can be found in the far west of the zone, on Autumnshade Ridge north of the Five Sisters site on the map. He's a mogu sorcerer and does some nasty shadow-based attacks, but he should be soloable for a level 90 character. Happy hunting!
Voyage Century Online introduces new Crete instance
Voyage Century has been around for four years now, and the dev team is always searching for new ways to freshen up the free-to-play nautical title. To that end, the latest game update includes the isle of Crete, which IGG calls a "primary instance." Accessing Crete requires players to be sea battle level 15 and class level 15. Once these requirements are met, it's a matter of navigating to the Straight and preparing for three waves of pirate forces. The baddies include Gibraltar pirate flagships and North Sea pirate flagships, both of which will challenge high-level players as well as lower-level types who want to advance quickly by doing the daily quest and defeating the three bosses. There's a fair bit of incentive to run the instance due to its loot drops as well, and enterprising captains have a chance to snag buckshot cannon and dartling cannon drops, not to mention rare gold and high-grade forging materials. [Source: IGG press release]
Wasteland Diaries: Serendipity tour
There are three new serendipity drops in Fallen Earth, one per sector. While few have been found, even fewer have been reported. The old serendipity mobs usually spawn in the same general vicinity, making them easier to harvest. That almost takes the luck factor right out of the equation. But the new mobs can spawn in different locations, possibly even at random. This adds a bit more chance to these encounters and makes them a bit more, well... serendipitous. The old serendipity mobs in Fallen Earth have been around for quite a while now, and it's entirely possible that some of them remain to be found. Many that aren't publicly acknowledged could still be closely guarded secrets only known to certain clans or persons. But I have gathered a good deal of information on the mobs and their locations, and I would like to give you a tour of the serendipity encounters that I was able to dig up. After the cut, we will start in the southern edge of Sector 1 and work our way to Deadfall. Follow along!
Breakfast Topic: Just how lucky are you?
This Breakfast Topic has been brought to you by Seed, the Aol guest writer program that brings your words to WoW Insider's pages. Getting random drops always involves a bit of luck. In a PUG, not only do you need to have what you want drop, but you have to manage to win a /roll as well. In guild groups, you have to have DKP or whatever currency your guild uses for a loot system. Gear for the most part comes from time; eventually, you get the loot you need, but getting these random drops becomes far worse when farming for low drop-rate items such as pets and mounts. Baron runs, heroic MgT runs, Anzu runs, ZG trying to farm the various whelp and raptor pets ... some of us spend hours or days or weeks, and still never see it. I have been on a pretty major achievement kick since prior to the Cataclysm launch, topping off old reps, farming pets and mounts, doing fishing achievements, all the things that take a back burner to leveling and new instances and raids. Trouble is, I have awful luck. Being a druid, I have run Anzu so many times I lost count and have never seen the mount; same with Baron, ZG and heroic MgT. No mounts from any of these places in hundreds of attempts. On the other hand, I have a guildie who has both ZG mounts, both Brewfest mounts, the Horseman's Reins, Anzu, and Rivendare's Deathcharger. He even got two of the raptor pets from ZG the same week he got the mount. How lucky are you when it comes to farming rare drops? Have you been able to go in and get the drops in a few attempts, or have you given up in frustration, cursing the WoW gods?
The OverAchiever: The 25 most entertaining achievements, part 3
Every so often, I get tired of the self-seriousness that infests some of (OK, most of) the other work I do here and get the urge to write something purely for fun. After our series on evil achievements and the relentless misery of School of Hard Knocks, I'd like to spend some time on achievements that are nothing but an absolute joy from beginning to end. This week we continue our series on World of Warcraft's most entertaining achievements. This is the full series to date, if you're just catching up with us: OverAchiever: Pure Win The 25 most entertaining achievements, #25-21 The 25 most entertaining achievements, #20-16 The 25 most entertaining achievements, #15-11 (today's post)
Five old world vanity pets you may have missed
It's a good time to be a pet collector. We're getting recognition, cool toys for our pets, and even an achievement series especially for us. If you're new to the world of pet collecting, or have just dabbled in it so far though, you may be struggling a bit to get those last few pets for the achievement. In the spirit of helping out my fellow pet enthusiasts, here's a few rarer or lesser known old world pets that you might have overlooked, especially if you started the game after Burning Crusade.
Buying your way through raid content
There's a new game in town, and Artirius of the Aerie Peak server has noticed it, and admittedly, so have I. With attunements gone, it is now possible for any level 70 to go in and see tier 5 and 6 content whenever they want. Of course, they don't generally have a prayer of actually downing bosses unless they have 20-24 well geared people to help them out. That's where gold comes in. With a few thousand gold, you can buy your way into a tier 6 group that doesn't need the tier 6 armor and go along for the ride. A few hours later, you come out on the other end with Illidan dead and a few shiny new drops, even if you've never set foot in Karazhan. It's not just people trying to buy these slots in the trade channel either. As Artirius observes, many raid groups are actively soliciting for buyers for their raid slots. On my own server, one Horde group is trading tier 6 runs for large quantities of certain herbs, promising that all but a few select drops will go to the people who buy their slots with stacks of Netherbloom and Ghost Mushrooms. So what's causing this?
The Phoenix Mount is indeed in game -- with Ezra!
var digg_url = 'http://digg.com/pc_games/Blizzard_s_Make_a_Wish_kid_gets_one_more_awesome_item'; As Nethaera and Eyonix have both pointed out on the forums before, the Phoenix mount is indeed in game. But as I had the honor to learn recently, it's not in the place that many of us might think it is. At least, the first one isn't. The others -- well, nobody but Blue has the vaguest idea where those are going to drop. (Of course, most people figure on Kael'thas or Al'ar in Tempest Keep as the drop source for the Phoenix Mount, much like the tiger mount drops in ZG from the tiger boss, and the Baron drops his own mount in Stratholme.)You see, the World First phoenix mount belongs to Ezra Chatterton, the young man who recently went to Blizzard's offices with the Make-A-Wish foundation. Ezra was given the first ever Phoenix mount in game for two reasons. First, it was probably the best gift that Blizzard could really give any gamer as far as one of the new Outland mounts. Netherdrakes are awesome, but a phoenix trumps that, if you ask me! And hey, who wouldn't want a mount that could move at 310% speed like the Swift Nether Drake arena award mount. Secondly, as Ezra's father Micah explained to me, the phoenix is an extremely important personal symbol for Ezra.
