Hot Video: Dark Pheonix Mount

The good people over at one of my favorite World of Warcraft websites, MMO Champion, have just posted a video of the model for the new Dark Pheonix Mount.  This mount is set to be available as a reward through Cataclysm's new guild leveling system.  Once a player's guild has leveled up enough, they will be able to purchase this mount provided they have the funds and guild reputation required.  Check it out:

Celestial Steed Mount Now Available.. For a Price

Blizzard has just announced the location of the Celestial Steed, a rather cool looking mount which was found hidden away within World of Warcraft's game files. Some had speculated the mount would be available from some reincarnation of Ulduar's Algalon the Observer. Unfortunately, however, the reality is more terrifying than the possibility of another Code Omega. The Celestial Steed will only be available through the Blizzard Store for the hefty price of $25.00.

Along with Lil' XT, this new "Pet Store" offering continues World of Warcrafts slippery slide into the world of micro-transactions. What is a micro-transaction? It is an in game item or feature which is available only at extra real world cost. For a full primer on the subject, check out any of the many games offered by Zynga or Nexon. Those games are built around the concept of micro-transactions.

Zynga and Nexon games are also, however, free to download and play. World of Warcraft at $15 per month on top of the cost of actually purchasing the game, is distinctly not. Hence my growing gripe with the Pet Store. I can understand, to a certain extent, the need to charge for services like faction changes and server transfers. The cost does serve after all as a deterrent for over use. For pets and mounts, however, there is no real need for deterrence.

Lil' XT could drop of XT. The Celestial Steed Mount could drop off Algalon. World of Warcraft's many denizens pay a monthly fee so that Blizzard can grow and maintain the virtual world in which they live. They do not pay so that the company can R & D some virtual goods to sell back to them. Now that the veil of charity is lifted, it is hard to see the Pet Store as anything but a greedy, player-unfriendly enterprise. Sure, Blizzard is a company out to make money, but when does the risk of alienating their player base outweigh the short term cash boost of micro-transactions?

For me, if I wanted to play Farmville, I would, but I would rather play World of Warcraft. I hope that Blizzard keeps that in mind.

Taking Down Anzu

So, I am only about 10 kills deep in my quest for Reins of the Raven Lord and the daily trips out to tackle Anzu are already getting tiresome. I fly down to Sethekk Halls and prowl my way through the instance, being sure to give Darkweaver Syth a wide berth (he sees through stealth you know). Once I reach Anzu's chamber, regrettably at nearly the end of the level, it is time to clear the trash. Thankfully, you can ignore the back left group, but the others need to be dealt with. I always kill the Prophets first to avoid getting feared. Then it is finally time for Anzu.

The big bird is actually more trivial than the add packs that precede him. Occasionally he will stun you for six seconds using Paralyzing Screech and at 66% and 33% he will banish himself and call down a flock of ravens called "Brood of Anzu." Thankfully, the damage from the fight is not enough to make up for my Improved Leader of the Pack Aura and death is never really a threat. Even if my gear were weaker or I did not have a Feral Spec, he would still be doable because there is a brief "heal break" every time he summons his adds.

So far I have seen two greens and one epic gem. In case you were wondering, I leave the Spirit Shards behind. Here is hoping you will all see a picture of me atop my new Raven Lord mount sooner rather than later.

Warcraft Farming Subsidy Please

Yesterday, in The Joys of Farming, I talked about all the different kinds of farming which have been occupying my World of Warcraft play time as of late. Today, I would like to take a different approach and write about that farming which has fallen by the wayside. Be they ineffective, unnecessary, or just plain not fun you won't find me engaged in these repetitive tasks anytime soon.

Gold Farming

You do not need to seek out gold to build wealth in World of Warcraft. It is much more effective to simply make wise decisions with the gold and resources you will naturally accumulate through everyday play. Don't by crafted items. Instead buy raw materials and pay someone to craft it for you. Don't vendor everything. Selling certain items on the Auction House can increase your income more than 100 fold. Sell that you do not need. Many items in Azeroth decline in value over time and if you are hording without a purpose you are missing out on profit. Gold farming can be a boring chore. I choose to avoid it by incorporating smart, gold saving choices into my everyday play.

Reputation Farming

Aside from the Ashen Verdict Rings/Recipes, many WotLK reputation rewards have become extremely obsolete. As for other, older reputations, sure there is some novelty associated with their rewards and related titles, but the time investment to reach your reputation goals can be huge. I got my fill of achievement grinding working on Accomplished Angler. Aside from working up Sons of Hordir and the occasional Tabard swap, I am happy to simply take reputation as it comes.

Rare Material Farming

Sure, I have use for Frost Lotus and Arctic Fur. Who doesn't? Unfortunately, they are genuinely random, rare drops. As a result, farming them is not really practical. In farming the other materials you need for your crafting, you should come across these items. If you don't and you really need them, you would probably be better served to farm gold and then buy them. Except on rare occasions, the appearance of these materials cannot be predicted and any attempt to "farm" them will either result in you getting lucky or frustrated. I'll pass.

Obviously I do make exceptions and occasionally my in game needs/interests shift so I will revisit some of these farming targets. What farming do you decided to pass on?

The Joys of Farming

I was thinking the other day that I need to buy some overalls and a tractor because I spend a vast amount of my Warcraft time farming. No, I am not grinding on Furblogs, searching for Frost Lotus, or running Dire Maul over and over, but I am am still farming. In fact, when you break it down, it is amazing all the different kinds of farming that occupy my day.

Rare Mount Farming

So, I have finally decided to start taking shots at Reins of the Raven Lord. I am only a couple weeks of Heroic Sethekk Halls runs deep and am already starting to tire a bit. Sure, between traveling, sneaking back to Anzu's room, clearing the trash, and downing the bird I have only blown about 15 minutes. It does, however become tiresome quickly. Perhaps I will scale back my trips to Outland to once every couple days. At that rate, I should be atop a killer mount within a year... sigh...

Frost Badge Farming

Rain, sleet, snow, or hail, nothing stops me from running my Daily Random Heroic. For some reason, missing out on those two Frost Badges strikes me as sacrilege. Again, if all goes well, I am less than twenty minutes deep in time invested. When things do not go well though, it is beyond frustrating. Thank goodness my tank spec lets me skip to the head of the que. I can't imagine a twenty minute lead in wait for this daily chore.

Holiday Reward Farming

Love is in the air, and so is the smell of fresh holiday loot. Sure, I know my chances at a Big Love Rocket are close to nil, but that won't stop me from killing the Apothecary Trio every single day during the holiday. That way, when I do miss out there will be no one to blame but the random number generator gods. To be honest, I would gladly settle for a Toxic Wasteling. Hear that drop gods?

Random Dungeon Farming

"You already said you do your daily Random Heroic!?!" Yes, but that is not the only LFD chore that occupies my time. Once my main du jour is finished with his daily tasks it is time to hop to one of my many alts and start farming random dungeons for experience. Though I will occasionally suffer the ques and work on a dedicated dps, my heal/tank capable alts see a lot more play as of late.

Jewelcrafting Materials Farming

I have a skill capped Miner, Alchemist, Herbalist, and Engineer all available on my primary server. I also have a close friend capable of covering all my Leatherworking and Enchanting needs. I know a Jewelcrafter who will work for free, but he is rarely on and I cannot really complain because... he works for free. So if you want a job done right, do it yourself. Towards that end I have been hoarding the mats needed to bring one of my many alts from 0 to 450 Jewelcrafting in one pass. Some mats I farm, others I buy, and all I have a hard time storing. Here is hoping it pays off in the long run. Honor farming: coming soon to an alt of mine!

Thankfully, I enjoy all the farming I choose to do; otherwise, I wouldn't do it anymore. Be sure to check back tomorrow when I will make a post about the farming I am not doing anymore. What sort of farming has been soaking up your playtime these days?

Grand Black War Mammoth Sighting

With the arrival of Toravon the Ice Watcher yesterday, I finally found myself with a reason to return to the Vault of Archavon. After joining a successful group for the 25 man version, I decided to form my own group to tackle Toravon in 10 man mode.

Mechanically speaking, Toravon is a relatively straight forward encounter. Tanks need to swap to shed a stacking DoT and ranged dps need to quickly burn the Frozen Orbs which spawn to avoid the raid taking too much AoE damage. That is pretty much it. He is, however, a bit of a gear check as he has a dps demanding soft enrage (an AoE delivered stacking debuff which increases frost damage taken) and dishes out a hearty amount of raid damage.

After a two wipes and a handful of personnel changes, my 10 man proved to be a success and Toravon was tasting the Vault floor. Unfortunately, the loot was a bit of a bummer as only a PvP caster cloak was of any meaningful use to anyone. Oh well, at least we got some experience to carry into next week.

After Toravon's loot was disposed of, we lost a healer and a dps, but I decided to make a run at Koralon anyway. I find the encounter enjoyable and it seemed as though there might be upgrades available for a raid member or two. Our eight man proved rather easy and Koralon was down for the count. As with Toravon, Koralon's loot was as useless as can be, with only one notable exception. Much to my amazement, there between three pieces of Elemental Shaman gear were the Reins of the Grand Black War Mammoth!

I just sat and stared for a second. Thoughts of excitement, logistics, and potential drama all floated through my head. I announced the find to the raid resulting in a flood of all caps exclamations. "It goes to the raid leader, right?" I joked, giving rise to a chorus of "haha" and "NO."

I must admit, I briefly thought of taking it for myself. There would be outrage, sure, but I would only be offending seven people in a server of thousands. Assuming a handful of them could be bought off or talked down, my little stint as a ninja would likely only cost me the temporary ire of less than a single instance group's worth of raiders. My reputation on the server was sterling, so I was confident that even if a storm resulted, I could weather it and it would be brief.

In the end, however, I thought about how I expected to be treated as a raider and new I had to do the right thing. I typed out a very specific call for open rolls and the winning roll turned out to be the first one out of the gate: a perfect 100 within a second of my call. I waited for the other rolls to assure there wasn't a tie, passed the winner his loot, and offered my congratulations.

Sure, I would have loved to claim this rare prize for myself, but the excitement of just seeing it drop and knowing it was handled respectfully provides its own kind of joy. The only way to counteract all the stories of PuG ninjas is to create positive PuG experiences whenever you have the opportunity. Also, who knows, maybe the WoW karma gods will finally see fit to give me those Reins of the Raven Lord I have been farming...

Hot Video: Invincible Mount and Perky Pug

The good folks over at MMO Champion have just released a set of videos featuring content data-mined from the upcoming World of Warcraft Patch 3.3. In the first video, we can catch a glimpse of a new mount being added to the game, the flying horse Invincible. In life, Invincible was Arthas' loyal steed. In death, he is a crazy looking mount you can nab in Icecrown Citadel. Odds are Invincible will be the Mimiron's Head of Icecrown, but no details have been released as of yet. Enjoy the video:



The next video is of a new pet being introduced in 3.3, the Perky Pug. This pet will be available as a reward for participating in World of Warcraft Patch 3.3's random dungeon feature. Be sure to watch this one to the end as the little dog's funniest animation lies at the end of the clip.

Mount Drop Guide

A rare or exotic mount is always a sure way to turn heads. Sure, you could grind reputation, complete lots of achievements, or shell out tons of cash to impress your friends and random passersby, but why not just try to get lucky instead. Below is a brief rundown of the World of Warcraft mounts available as drops and where you can hope to find them.

Deathcharger's Reins
Baron Rivendare in Startholme drops this long sought after mount. The facts that the instance can easily be completed solo and the drop rate for the Reins was increased to 1% in patch 3.o.2(up from a 1 in 5,000 chance) make it one of the easiest drop mounts to come by.

Reins of the Time-Lost Proto-Drake
Not surprisingly, this exceptionally rare mount drops off the Time-Lost Proto-Drake, a rare spawn who patrols around Storm Peaks. The good news: the Reins have a 100% drop chance. The bad news: this mob only spawns once every 3 to 24 hours, disappears after having flown one of his many possible routes, and shares a spawn with other less alluring mobs. This mount will likely require a long and tedious hunt, but a mob tracking add on like NPCScan will really help your chances.

Sea Turtle
You have an exceptionally small chance of turning up this blue beauty whenever you fish in Northrend fishing pools. It is not a drop per se, but close enough to warrant mention here. If you fish a lot and own a lucky rabbits foot, you may find yourself atop this rare mount.

Swift White Hawkstrider
Kael'thas Sunstrider in Heroic Magisters' Terrace drops this riding chicken. Though he may be a much easier foe here than in the Eye, you will still not be able to bring him down alone. Bring a friend and hope that this rare drop falls into your lap sooner rather than later.

Reins of the Raven Lord
One of the coolest ground mounts available, these Reins drop off of Anzu in Heroic Sethekk Halls. Anzu can only be summoned by a Druid who has completed the epic flight form quest line so buddy up with your friendly neighborhood shape-shifter if you hope to bag this gem. If you are a Druid, Anzu is soloable at endgame, but you better be Feral and your margin of error is as small as this mount's drop chance.

Swift Razzashi Raptor
With approximately a 1% drop rate, odds are you will kill Zul'Gurub's Broodlord Mandokir many times before having a chance to own his beloved mount. Thankfully this entertaining encounter presents little challenge to a small group of endgame players.

Swift Zulian Tiger
This armored cat is the second mount available in Zul'Gurub and drops off of High Priest Thekal. A relatively small group of endgame players should be able to handle this shape-shifter with minimal difficulty, but with less than a 1% drop rate it will take a great deal of finger crossing to take this tiger home.

Reins of the Blue Proto-Drake
Skadi the Ruthless in Utgarde Pinnacle drops this beauty less than 2% of the time when you down him in Heroic mode. Since you will be running Heroics to get some of the new 3.2 badge gear anyway, may as well make Skadi's home on of your primary targets.

Reins of the Bronze Drake
This mount can be found on the Infinite Corrupter in Heroic Culling of Stratholme and has a delightful 100% drop chance. To make things a little more challenging, the Corrupter is at the end of the instance and despawns 25 minutes after the violence begins. It will take a well geared, organized group and lots of chain pulling to land this Drake, but these days that combo is not too hard to come by.

Fiery Warhorse's Reins
To mount this fanged horse, you will need to down Attumen the Huntsman in Karazhan. The drop rate is not good, the instance has a lockout timer, and this old boy is far from soloable so count your lucky stars if you nab these vintage reins.

Reins of the Black Drake/Reins of the Twilight Drake
These mounts drop off Sartharion in the 10 and 25 man versions of the Obsidian Sanctum when the boss is defeated with all three Drakes still alive and well. The drop rate is 100%, but Sartharion 3d is not for the feint of heart. Cozy up with the top raiding guild on your server if you hope to take one of Sartharion's brood as a mount.

Reins of the Blue Drake/Reins of the Azure Drake
These mounts are exceptionally rare drops which can be found at the end of the Eye of Eternity (10 and 25 man versions respectively). You will need a solid group, someone with the right Key to the Focusing Iris, and a lot of luck to come across this rare mount.

Reins of the Grand Black War Mammoth
This mount has a small chance to drop off any of the bosses in 25 man Vault of Archvon. The only way to maximize your chances on this one is to run the raid every week with an honest Master Looter. This Mammoth will truly put your luck to the test.

Ashes of Al'ar
If you want to fly across Northrend on top of a Pheonix, you will need to pull these ashes out of Kael'thas Sunstriders cold, dead hands. The mount has a very small drop chance and the instance is still moderately challenging even by today's standards. You may very well never see one of these mounts wandering your server, let alone own one.

Mimiron's Head
Good luck getting your hands on this one as only a successful completion of Yogg-Saron's 25 man hard mode will give you a shot at this flying monstrosity. If you can handle Ulduar's Old God without the assistance of any Watchers, you will have a guaranteed one in twenty-five shot at this bizarre flying machine.

Venomhide Ravasaur Mount Guide

With the advent of patch 3.2 comes the arrival of a new mount for Horde players: the Venomhide Ravasaur. Check out the picture below.



To get your hands on this beauty, you will need to do some new quests in Un'Goro Crater for Mor'vek the Ravasaur Trainer who is near the base of the ramp from Tanaris into the Crater. The first of which, Toxic Tolerance, simply involves getting poisoned by Venomhide Ravasaurs multiple times (beware the misleading quest text). Next, Mor'vek will send you off to collect some Venomhide Ravasaur Eggs for the quest Venomhide Eggs.

After those relatively simple quests, Mor'vek will give you the quest for the mount itself: They Grow Up So Fast. To complete the quest you will need to turn in 20 x Runecloth, 20 x Rugged Leather, 80 gold, and 20 x Venomhide Baby Teeth.

To get a Venomhide Baby Tooth, you will need to complete one of four random daily quests with your freshly aquired Venomhide Hatchling. The quests will send you either to fight Searing Rocs in Southwestern Tanaris, to get meat from the Silithid of Southern Un'Goro's Slithering Scar, to find Silithid Eggs in the Noxious Lair in Tanaris, or to get dinosaur meet of the various dinos of Un'Goro.

Rinse and repeat the dailies for twenty days and turn in the required materials to Mor'vek to recieve your Whistle of the Venomhide Ravasaur. Happy riding and don't forget to buckle up.