A Goblin's Tale

Giveaway Winner and Screenshot of the Week: Through the Years

2013-05-06T21:25:00.000-05:00

Skold rolled a #2 out of the people who weren't me

Congrats to Kaleb for winning the Lil Ragnaros pet. Thank you to everyone who entered. I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend :)

I thought it would be fun to take a stroll down memory lane for this week's screenshot of the week. At first I was confused as to why I didn't have anything in May of 2010, but then I realized I wasn't playing at that time because I graduated college. Anyway, although I didn't find very many, I picked three that popped out at me from the first week of May.

Rizzii, my first beloved gnome May 2009

Still my favorite paladin, Aetta, tired after arena. May 2011

A sexy elf hanging out with a perty flower. <3 Lifegiving Seed May 2012

Heh, what a fun little thing to do. Have a great week everyone!
~Nichole

Transmog Feature: Skold's Runecloth Ensemble+Giveaway NOW open

2013-04-29T21:10:00.000-05:00

*whispers: scroll down for information on Lil'Rag giveaway!*

Wow, it has been a crazy long time since I've done an actual Transmog Feature. Things in WoW have slowed down quite a bit for me since I've been playing other games. I'm running out of outfits to feature because I've done pretty much all my friends and I'm not leveling anyone at the moment so I don't have anything new either. Well except there is this adorable ensemble that I put together for Skold a week ago...just finished it today by finding the *almost* perfect belt.

No headpiece yet, but I do kind of want to find a crown...

Shoulder~Archmage Mantle
Alone, this mantle is quite ugly. But paired with the gorgeousness of the Runecloth robe, it isn't all that bad. It has a terrible drop rate of 1% in Hyjal Summit. If you want this mantle, watch the auction house, with it being so ugly I can't imagine it would be all that expensive...

Chest~Runecloth Robe
This beautiful robe, one of my all time favorites, is a tailored item. Tailors of skill level 260 or higher can make it quite easily as it is learned from a trainer and all you need is five bolts of runecloth, one Ironweb Spider Silk and one rune thread. My favorite part about this robe is the cut out in the back.

Gloves~Mystic's Gloves
I will be the first person to admit that these gloves are not a perfect match for the set. But honestly, they are the best I can find. I've looked everywhere, but I keep watching the auction house and random drops. I am pleased with the fact that they don't clash too horribly with the set though. I love that they are dark and fingerless so though, I feel like they don't draw that much attention. Another terrible drop rate--less than 1% for these gloves so check the AH, I always see a ton of them up for hardly any gold.

Belt~Black Belt of Knowledge
I almost fell off my chair today when I found this beauty on the auction house today. I paid 1.5k gold, but it wasn't the price that stunned me, it was the fact that it was *exactly* what I was looking for!! I really really wanted gold strands for the belt, and I got them. This is another tailored item, the plan has a pretty bad drop rate of 0.2% in the BC raids/dungeons. So I'd look on the AH or find a tailor who can make it if you want it. Expect to pay a pretty penny for it though as it needs six Bolts of Imbued Netherweave, 14 Primal Mana and one Primal Nether.

Boots~Netherweave Boots
I've been told these boots go well with the set. Although I am pleased with them, I'm still not happy with how they go with the set. It is so hard to find good looking boots in WoW. Honestly, it's quite ridiculous. This plan is learned from a Tailoring Trainer so Tailors of level 335 and higher should be able to make it. All you need is six bolts of Netherweave, two Knothide leathers and one Rune Thread.

Weapon~Scarlet Kris
Although it really has nothing to do with the set or matching...I just loved this dagger so much I had to transmog it. So sexy! It has a 4% chance to drop off Ragnaros in Molten Core.

Off-Hand~Bureaucrat's Handbook
Notice the paw? Skold collects companion pets, so she needs somewhere to keep track of them! ;) This off-hand is a quest reward from "Call Out Their Leader" a quest in Kun-Lai Summit.

~Giveaway~
In honor of Skod's sexy dagger from Ragnaros, I've decided to do a giveaway of one Lil Ragnaros. It will be conducted through the comment section of this blog. To enter, answer the following question: "Which transmog feature/featurette (that I've done) was your favorite?"

The contest will go from 4/29/13 to 5/6/13 with the winner being announced Monday at 9 PM central time. Only one entry per person, US realms only with an active World of Warcraft subscription. I will be using the WoW /roll system to find the winner based on the number of entries.

Hope everyone has an amazing week!
~Nichole

Screenshot of the Week: Azure Water Strider

2013-04-20T17:33:00.000-05:00

If you are at all like me, you probably hate fishing in World of Warcraft. Though, I must say, it is way better than it ever used to be. One wonderful thing I love about it now is that you don't need to equip a fishing pole anymore! The only reason you would want to equip one is if you wanted to use bait and a +stat pole. You can also fish anywhere with whatever skill you are at and still level up, much faster than you ever could before. The best part about fishing now is that you can level it (slowly but surely) by doing the fishing dailies with the Anglers in Southern Krasarang.

The Anglers have a few nice rewards between honored and exalted, but my favorites are the Azure Water Strider and the Tiny Goldfish. As soon as I got exalted with the Anglers I ran to pick up the cutest unique mount the game has to offer. The Azure Water Strider is adorable and perfect for my gnomie. The strider makes bug noises, which I hate, but when you hit the spacebar while standing still he stands up really straight and it makes me giggle every time. It's also a pretty nice mount to have when you want to walk on water, but unfortunately this ability is disabled in battlegrounds. The other rewards are beneficial too, however, I don't fish very much so I don't buy them. There are four new fish that you can get while out fishing in Pandaria. They have terrible drop rates though, so I don't really suggest farming for them unless you have a lot of time to waste and a lot of patience. I do not have such patience.

"standing straight"

Just a side note: don't forget that you can use the "bonus" reputation for doing a dungeon and a scenario daily. Just make sure to mark it in the reputation panel. You can also get the Anglers Commendation once you hit revered with them to make the rep grind a bit easier.

fishing can be fun...sometimes :)

Fishing is better than it used to be, but still not my favorite thing to do. However, the rep grind is totally worth it for the Azure Water Strider. Not to mention the fish that you get are good for leveling cooking! I hope everyone enjoys the rest of their weekend!

~N

Screenshot of the Week: Isle of Thunder

2013-04-08T19:29:00.000-05:00

Silly Skold, she probably needed help getting up on that ledge

If you haven’t already, you should check out the new daily quest hub on the Isle of Thunder. It offers a variety of daily quests where you get reputation, valor/or conquest and honor, lesser Charms of Good fortune and a trove/bounty (dependent on faction)as quest rewards. You have the option [daily] to follow the PvP or PvE chain. I've only ever done the PvE ones because I don’t like getting ganked, but I hear the PvP are much quicker and easier. Apparently you don’t have to do as many quests and they are all located in one spot, whereas the PvE ones you are romping all over the island. The Isle of Thunder is being “discovered” a bit at a time…and it is dependent on your server’s participation as a whole. I thought that was a pretty neat idea. It was nice to not have the whole island shoved at us to do away with and get bored right away. As with all the other daily quests, this is a reputation grind. As alliance you are working on rep for The Kirin Tor Offensive. They have many nice gifts for you along the way to becoming exalted with them. Of course my favorite is the super adorable triceratops mount; but they also have cloaks, rings and other nifty things to offer.

Skold keeping watch

Dailies aren’t my favorite thing to do in WoW, but having a friend along makes them much easier to bare—fun even. There are a lot of neat things going on around the island too that aren’t daily quests like Kroshik, treasure chests and rare mobs that spawn all over the island like clockwork. I even got a companion pet off one of them--Haywire. The rare mobs don’t need to be tagged by alliance or horde for credit. Which means you don’t need to be in a group to kill them, just make sure you hit them a few times before you die.

Doesn't Ailsi look pretty standing there? This shot is perfect because of the way the lightening and rain is captured

Everyone knows how much I enjoy collecting pets so of course when the patch came out, I captured all the new pets there. There is a frog, a snake, an electrified Razortooth and a Thundertail Flapper. The frog and snake have brand new models that I was really excited about. The razortooth and the flapper are elementals, which is pretty rare to find in the wild. By Stage four Skold was already exalted with the Kirin Tor Offensive The rep grind is really fast, especially when you pick up the Grand Commendation of the Kirin Tor Offensive (or the Sunreaver equivalent at revered. One other thing I’d like to mention, if you do a daily dungeon and/or scenario make sure you pick which faction you want the rep to go to—it is really helpful in the rep grind. I hope everyone is enjoying the Isle of Thunder as much as I am…can’t wait to see the end of it!

~Nichole

Noblegarden~April 1st-8th

2013-04-01T13:20:00.002-05:00

It's that time of year again! Everyone is twitterpated, little bunnies are running around laying eggs and people are fighting over egg spawn points. Nothing has been added since 2012, so go ahead and refer to my guide from last year. There were some tweaks to achievements though, so if you are interested check out WoWhead's post.

Over all, this event really isn't all that fun, you run around and collect eggs. Lots of eggs and fight with lots of people. Probably not fun with CRZ. There are a few fun things to buy, I really like the strider mounts--noblegarden's mount is a swift springstrider. Also, if you are working towards "What a Long, Strange Trip it's Been" for the violet drake--you might want to do this holiday's achievements if you haven't done so already!

Midaria at last year's Noblegarden

Good luck and have fun!

cuteness overload

2013-03-30T01:10:00.000-05:00

Kaleb helped me get the best thing in the world tonight. After months of watching for the rare guy to spawn, I finally have the Panflute of Pandaria. I've already had some fun with it :) It has a 15% chance to drop off Moldo One-Eye in the Vale of Eternal Blossoms.

You may be wondering, why is this the best thing in the world? Well, when you play the flute it will cause nearby critters to follow you for 15 minutes! Its cooldown? ONE MINUTE. *dies* They do disappear when you mount up, but that is the price you pay for cuteness. As far as I can tell, there isn't a limit on how many critters will follow you, but I only tried it a few times.

thank you sooooo much :)

Look at all the butterflies! Eeeee!

Pajama Transmog Featurette‏

2013-03-26T23:26:00.000-05:00

Ailsi and Skold leveled to 90 together a few weeks ago and are now well on their way to obtaining all of the epic gear through loads of dungeons, raids and pajama parties. Okay okay I'm kidding about the pj parties, but you can't honestly tell me that these two gear sets don't look like pajamas--because it's all I can think about when I see them. Ailsi has them transmoged, but Skold doesn't like green so she's just modeling them for this blog.

pretty Ailsi

Though it is hard to see in this screenshot, Ailsi is wearing a cool little eyepatch. It is the Netherstrom Eye Patch and can be obtained from doing the quest "Sabotage the Warp-Gate!" in Netherstrom. Both ally and horde can do this quest. Aside from the eye patch, the mantle is the only other thing that is not part of the Embrace of the Viper set. The Broadleaf Mantle can be obtained from doing the Alliance quest "The Lost Gem" in Ashenvale. Though not a perfect match for this set, it is the best I've seen for it yet. Horde can get these shoulders (Manager's Mantle) from the quest "Management Material" in Ashenvale.

Embrace of the Viper-Purple and gold leather Set-Drops off bosses in Wailing Caverns*except gloves
Chest~Armor of the Fang~42% chance to drop off Lord Pythas.
Waist~Belt of the Fang~28% chance to drop off Lady Anacondra.
Legs~Leggings of the Fang~29% chance to drop off Lord Cobrahn.
Feet~Footpads of the Fang~21% chance to drop off Lord Serpentis.
*Hands~Gloves of the Fang~2% chance to drop off the Druids of the Fang

probably one of my favorite screenshots

silly Skold

Arachnidian Regalia (Recolor)-Green, gold and purple cloth Set-Drops off bosses in Wailing Caverns
Though there are quite a few different pieces of gear that this set is interchangeable with, I'm just going to go through the set I have, which is the above set. I didn't do any farming for this set as I was lucky enough to find it all ridiculously cheap on the auction house...I'm not really surprised at the prices either. There is a teal sister set to this one that is prettier and also cloth, but lacks a helm and shoulders. The following items in this set have a terrible drop rate of .5% or less from the Burning Crusade dungeons and raids: Eldr'naan Hood, Eldr'naan Shoulderpads, Eldr'naan Jerkin, Eldr'naan Pants, Eldr'naan Boots, and Eldr'naan Gloves. The Hibernal Sash has a .1% droprate off mobs in the Badlands. You are better off checking the auction house to see if anyone is selling them.

love the design on the back, and you can barely tell that the legs are open on the sides

These sets make me giggle, but I love the detail in them. The purple set is my favorite out of all three. I wish I would have gotten the teal set instead of this one, I think I would have played around with transmogging that one. Hope everyone is having a wonderful time in WoW! Posts to come will include, screenshot of the week, top 5 favorite dungeons and something about daily quests--maybe.
~N

Cinder Kitten Winner AND Beasts of Fable rundown

2013-03-12T16:12:00.001-05:00

The little cinder kitten that needs a home goes to Geezix. You should have received your kitten already :)

In really tiny print you can see, #4 wins!

Thank you to everyone who participated :) After thinking about this for a week, I've decided that my favorite pet family is the Aquatics. I love how their abilities differ so much from pet to pet. Take for example a mirror strider, an emerald turtle and snarly (a croc). All aquatic but all very different. The mirror strider has a heal, a weather buff and is hella awesome against elementals with pump and water jet. The turtle has a nice defense ability, a heal, and has something to kick butt against flyers, critters, undead and elemental--talk about well rounded. Finally, the croc is more like a beast, but he also has abilities that are good against elementals.

This week I will do a quick rundown of the Beasts of Fable. You aren't able to do the "Beasts of Fable" quest until you have beaten Aki the Chosen. Which means you need to have beaten all the other tamers on Azeroth. Once you've done all that, horde can get the quest from Gentle San in Shrine of Two Moons and alliance can obtain the quest from Sara Finkleswitch in Shrine of Seven Stars. As long as you have a team of 25s defeating the beasts of fable won't be too bad. After reading my other posts, you all probably know that my preferred method is to use the +50% attack pet vs the opposing pet. That goes for this as well, but you might not always have three of that pet family. In which case I try to use at least two +50% attack and maybe one +33% defense. There are ten beasts of fable in all and they are level 25 and have 4000-4400 health. The good news is that there is only one of them and three of you. Sometimes it only takes one of your 25s to beat them. I'd just like to point out that I used the level 25s that I had available to me, which is why sometimes the team make up isn't quite perfect. For example, I'd ideally like to use three mechanicals on the beasts but since I only have two I made adjustments. It is also entirely possible to do this quest with whatever level 25 team you have, it just might take a little bit longer and be a bit harder. Good luck!!

Skold hanging out with Nitun the Midnight Plunderer

Nitun of the Jade Forest (56,29) Critter level 25
I used two beasts and a humanoid to defeat him. Sometimes it just takes those two, sometimes this critter can be quite the jerk so you do need your third to get the last hit or two in. One of the harder beasts of fable, imo.

Ka'wi the Gorger of the Jade Forest (48,71) Critter level 25
You can defeat him quite fast if you get lucky with your hits, since he is a critter I used two beasts and a humanoid to defeat him.

Skitterer Xi'a of Krasarang Wilds (36,37) Aquatic level 25
Since I only have one level 25 flyer, I bring a flyer and two magic--since the magic have the defense buff against aquatic.

Greyhoof of Valley of the Four Winds (25, 78) Beast level 25
To defeat Greyhoof I use Two mechanicals and a flyer.

Lucky Yi of Valley of the Four Winds (39,44) Critter level 25
Since this is the third critter I've encountered on the Beasts of Fable quest I use the same team as Nitun. Two beasts and a humanoid.

Skold again chilling with No-No under her umbrella.

No-No of the Vale of Eternal Blossoms (11,70) Aquatic level 25
Use the same team as you do for Skitterer Xi'a. A flyer and two magic. Just want to say that this little one is probably the cutest you get to battle ^_~

Gorespine of the Dread Wastes (26,50) Beast level 25
Same team as the other beasts already defeated at this point--two mechanicals and a flyer.

Ti'un the Wanderer of Townlong Steppes (72,79) Aquatic level 25
Same team as the other aquatics already defeated by this point--a flyer and two magic.

Kafi of Kun-Lai Summit (35,56) Beast level 25
Again, as a beast you'll want to use two mechanicals and a flyer. I found this to be another hard one. He hits like a truck and can stun so be prepared for that.

Dos-Ryga of Kun-Lai Summit (67,84) Aquatic level 25
Unlike the other aquatics, the team of a flyer with two magic doesn't work the best; I realized this after using that team for the fourth time. It is doable with two magic, but the spell that Dos-Ryga favors is a dragonkin spell so it eats up the magic pets. If you can, use three flyers. If not, just use whatever you have that isn't magic or elemental.

Mozi, the Red Panda

Why do this quest? Simply because you get a super adorable Red Panda the first time you do it!! After that it becomes an account daily quest where you are awarded the Fabled Pandaren Pet Supplies which has a chance to contain one of three other pandas, fun silly items, and battle stones. If the pandas aren't enough, I hear that the bag has a pretty large chance to drop those battle stones. The pandas in the bag are able to be traded once equipped and put in a box so that is a bonus if you get multiple drops of the same one. The Red Panda however, is not able to be traded. I hope this guide and the other pet battle guides in this series were helpful.

~Nichole

Grand Master Pet Tamers Pt. 2+Giveaway now OPEN

2013-03-05T23:14:00.000-06:00

This is the fourth and final installment of my Pet Battle blog series. All of the following teams are level 25. I hope these posts have been helpful to you. Make sure you check out the end of the post for the giveaway. One lucky winner will walk away with a super adorable cinder kitten.

Remember to refer to the "My Pet Battle Team" tab above if you are wondering why I'm using a specific pet.

Pandaria

Courageous Yon of Kun-Lai Summit (35.8, 73.6)

He's a little bit hard to find because he's in a cave. Yon's team is composed of a flyer, a critter and a beast so you'll want to bring a magic, a beast and a mechanical.

Wastewalker Shu of the Dread Wastes (55.0, 37.6)

Bring an aquatic, a flyer and a mechanical to beat Shu's team. He has an elemental, an aquatic and a beast.

Mo'ruk of Krasarang Wilds (62.2, 45.8)

This silly hozen has a flyer, a beast and an aquatic. You'll need a magic, a mechanical and a flyer to defeat this team.

Hyuna of the Shrines in The Jade Forest (48.0, 54.0)

She has the same team make up as Mo'ruk--a flyer, a beast and an aquatic. So bring your magic, mechanical and flyer team.

Seeker Zusshi of Townlong Steppes (36.2, 52.2)

Zusshi has a critter, an elemental and an aquatic. Make sure to bring a beast, an aquatic and a flyer.

Farmer Nishi of the Valley of Four Winds (45.0, 43.6)

Bring two aquatics and a mechanical to this battle to defeat Nishi's team of two elementals and a beast.

Aki the Chosen of the Vale of Eternal Blossoms (67.6, 40.8)

Aki is the last Grand Master Pet Tamer. Her battle is very hard. She has a critter, a dragonkin and an aquatic. You will need a beast, a humanoid and a flyer. This battle is hard solely because of the dragonkin's weather ability Call Lightning. Pretty much if you don't get the first or second hits in (hopefully big hits) you might not do very well the rest of the match... but if you have the team above you should be alright. I won't lie though this is, and for good reason, the hardest Grand Master.

Spirit Tamers

Burning Pandaren Spirit found in Townlong Steppes (57, 42.2)

This team is composed of an elemental, a dragonkin and a flyer. Bring an aquatic, a humanoid and a magic.

Flowing Pandaren Spirit found in the Dread Wastes (61.2, 87.4)

You'll want to bring a flyer, a beast and an aquatic to defeat the Flowing Pandaren spirit's team of an aquatic, a critter, and an elemental.

Whispering Pandaren Spirit found in the Jade Forest (28.8, 36)

This team is made up of a critter, a dragonkin and an elemental. You'll really be glad you leveled that humanoid up ;) Anyway, you will want a beast, a humanoid and an aquatic.

You have a chance to get this pet in a Sack after completing the Whispering Pandaren Spirit's quest daily

Thundering Pandaren Spirit found in Kun-Lai Summit (64.8, 93.6)

Bring an aquatic, a beast and a mechanical to defeat the Thundering Pandaren Spirit's team of an elemental, a critter and a beast.

Darkmoon Faire

We all know that the first full week of the month, the Darkmoon Faire comes to Azeroth. Jeremy Feasel comes with the fair and has a daily pet battle quest for you. His team is composed of a mechanical, a beast and a magic. You will need to bring an elemental, a mechanical and a dragonkin to beat him. This battle is very very hard. The beast hits like a truck...oh and he throws bananas.

Cinder Kitten Needs Home

And now for the part everyone has been looking forward to--the giveaway. It will be conducted through the comment section of this blog. To enter, answer the following question: "Which pet family is your favorite and why?"

The contest will go from 3/5/13 to 3/12/13 with the winner being announced Tuesday evening. Only one entry per person, US realms only with an active World of Warcraft subscription. I will be using the WoW /roll system to find the winner based on the number of entries. One lucky winner will get to take home the super adorable cinder kitten.

Good luck!

~Nichole

More Pet Battle Daily Quests+some Grand Master Tamers

2013-02-25T12:54:00.001-06:00

In addition to the alliance and horde daily pet battle quests, there are also dailies in Outland, Northrend and in the Cataclysm zones. Both factions can do each of these upon completing their own faction's for the first time. In this post I will be going over these daily quests and giving a sneak peek at next weeks post on the Grand Master Pet Tamer Daily quests. Once defeated, each Grand Master will award a Sack of Pet Supplies. More on that later. Just know that it isn't a walk in the park, you need to be prepared because the tamers do get harder, especially once you get to the Grand Masters.

Outland
Nicki Tinytech of Hellfire Peninsula (64.4, 49.2)
Nicki has three level 20 mechanicals, you will need three elementals to defeat this team.

Ras'an of Zangarmarsh (17.2, 50.6)
Bring a magic, a dragonkin and an undead to beat Ras'an's level 21 team of a flyer, magic and a humanoid. While you're out there farm for a rare Sporeling Sprout if you don't already have a rare humanoid. They pack quite a punch *giggle* and they have a nice self heal ability.

Narrok of Nagrand (61.0, 49.4)
He has a level 22 team of an aquatic, a beast and a critter so you will want to bring a flying, a mechanical and a beast.

Morulu the Elder of Shattrath City (59.0, 70.0)
Depending on your pet's level, you could probably do this battle with just one rare flyer seeing as he has three level 23 aquatics. Otherwise, three flyers will do the job ;)

Morulu the Elder with his three crocs

Northrend
Beegle Blastfuse of Howling Fjord (28.6, 33.8)
Bring two magic and a flyer to defeat Beegle's level 25 team of two flyers and an aquatic.

Gutretch of Zul'Drak (13.2, 66.8)
This battle is pretty tough. You will for sure want two mechanicals and a beast--max level for the mechs if possible because the Gutretch's beasts hit very hard. When I did this one I struggled with my 25 and 21 green mechanicals. He has a level 25 team of two beasts and a critter.

Nearly Headless Jacob of the Crystalsong Forest (50.2, 59.0)
This is another tough one. Jacob has three level 25 undead. Which means you need three critters to defeat him. When I first did these quests I had one 25 critter and I figured it wouldn't be too hard if I just used one of my other rare 25s. That strategy did not work. I ended coming back later with two critters and a turtle.

Okrut Dragonwaste of Dragonblight (59.0, 77.0)
Okrut has two undead and a dragonkin. This battle is kind of annoying, but not quite as bad as Nearly Headless Jacob. Bring two critters and a humanoid and you'll be golden.

Nearly Headless Jacob

Cataclysm
Bordin Steadyfist of Deepholm (49.8, 57.0)
Bordin has a critter and two elementals. Bring a beast and two aquatic to defeat this team of level 25s. The two elementals are very very strong. Whatever you do, do not bring a mechanical to this fight because they will die a quick and painful death. If you can, use at least one of the healing spells on the aquatics.

Brok of Mount Hyjal (61.4, 32.8)
Bring a dragonkin, a mechanical and a beast. Brok has a magic, a beast and a critter. This fight doesn't seem too bad; until the magic pet comes out. The magic pet has an ability to blind your pets, reducing accuracy by 50% this can make it quite hard for the dragonkin (or any pet) to beat down the magic quickly--it will still work but it might take a try or two to beat this team of 25s.

Goz Banefury of the Twilight Highlands (56.6, 56.8)
This team of level 25s includes a beast, an elemental and a magic. Bring a mechanical, an aquatic and a dragonkin to beat them!

Bordin Steadyfist

Since I want all of the MoP information in the next blog, today I will also go over all the Grand Master Pet Tamers that are *not* on Pandaria. The fun part about doing these quests is you are guarunteed a Sack of Pet Supplies which gives you a 0.4% chance to loot the Porcupette or pet family specific battle stones. The sack can also include lots of other fun things like biscuits that make your pet bigger, treats to make them smaller and my favorite--bandages for use after pet battles if your pet heal is on cooldown!

Note: The Grand Master's have elite pets. From what I can tell they just have a bit more health. I honestly only did Trixxy and Lydia when my pets were 21--I waited for all the others until I had a few teams of 25s. It's a huge annoyance to try and do them and keep dying. What used to work is to flee the battle and start it again until you got the opposing pet you wanted first--coming patch 5.2 that won't work so well because your pets will start being hurt when you flee from battles :(

Grand Master Pet Tamers Pt. 1
Stone Cold Trixxy of Winterspring (65.6, 64.6)
This little goblin has a team of 19 elites that includes a flyer, a dragonkin and a beast. You'll need a magic, a humanoid and a mechanical to beat this team.

Lydia Accoste of Deadwind Pass (40.2, 76.6)
Bring two critters and an aquatic to defeat Lydia's team of 19 elites. She has two undead and an elemental. The only annoyance with this battle is the undead ability to come back to life for 1 round when killed. Not too hard of a fight though.

Bloodknight Antari of Shadowmoon Valley (30.6, 41.8)
This might be one of the worst teams you will battle (though not the hardest--I'll get to him later.) Antari has a magic, an elemental and a dragonkin of level 24. Bring a dragonkin, an aquatic and a humanoid.

Major Payne of Icecrown (77.4, 19.6)
This guy really is a major pain...okay okay bad pun. But really, I can honestly say that he's the hardest pet battle daily that I've done. His team of 25s includes a mechanical, a beast and an elemental. Make sure you bring an elemental to beat his mechanical. Not only that but his mechanical hits like a truck so be ready with the heals. You'll also want a mechanical and an aquatic.

Obalis of Uldum (56.6, 41.8)
Bring a mechanical, a magic and a beast to beat his team of level 25s. Obalis has a beast, a flyer and a critter.

Major Payne

Next week I will conclude my Pet Battle Daily Quest series with all the daily pet battle quests on Pandaria. Then finally my little Cinder kitten will find a new home with one lucky winner--details next week!

~Nichole

Alliance/Horde Pet Battle Daily Quests

2013-02-19T15:25:00.002-06:00

Each day you are allowed to battle the the Master Pet Tamers of Azeroth. You start out with whichever faction you are on. Alliance quests are all on Eastern Kingdoms and the Horde quests are on Kalimdor. Once you go through ALL of the daily quests the opposite faction's quests are also available for you to do. I had already done every single pet battle master through Grand Master Aki so I don't know if you have to go that far or not in order to get the quests. Anyway, just flying around Kalimdor was enough for me most days. To get started with the quests Alliance should go see Audrey Burnhep in Stormwind and Hordies can meet Varzok in Orgrimmar.

This guide is geared towards defeating the opposing team with a team of "+50% Bonus Strike" pets. Towards the top of my page you'll see the tab "My Pet Battle Team" that page goes into more detail about my team and why I choose the specific pet that I do. I explained it all there so the daily quest blogs could be a "go to" of what you need w/o all the why and hows. Also in the team post I talked about who is stronger vs who, you'll want to reference that when you need to know which pet to put against the opposing team--remember this strategy obviously works best when you are using the correct pet--use that pet swap! I hope this post helps! When I started doing all the pet battle stuff I did most of it by trial and error and using warcraftpets.com/wowhead as references but there were times I just couldn't find a good strategy. Good luck with your battles!

Alliance

Julia Stevens of Elwynn Forest (41.6, 83.6)
You'll want to defeat her team of two level 2 beasts with two mechanicals.

Ol MacDonald of Westfall (60.8, 18.6)
He has a flyer, a mechanical and a critter that are level 3. Bring a magic, an elemental and a beast.

Lindsay of Redridge Mountains (33.2, 52.6)
She has three critters of level 5. Depending on your pet's level you could probably just use one or two beasts.

Eric Davidson of Duskwood (20.2, 44.2)
Eric's team is composed of three level 7 beasts. Bring one or two mechanicals.

Steven Lisbane of Northern Stranglethorn (46.0, 40.4)
To defeat Steven's team of level 9 pets (two beasts and a magic) you'll want a team of two mechanicals and a dragonkin.

Bill Buckler from The Cape of Stranglethorn (51.2, 73.6)
Bring two magic and an undead to beat Bill's level 11 team of two flyers and a humanoid.

David Kosse of the Hinterlands (62.8, 54.6)
David has a critter, a beast and a magic of level 13. You will need a beast, a mechanical and a dragonkin.

Deiza Plaguehorn of the Eastern Plaguelands (67.0, 52.4)
You'll want to defeat her team of level 14 pets (two beasts and an undead) with two mechanicals and a critter.

Kortas Darkhammer of Searing Gorge (35.6, 27.8)
Kortas has a team of three level 15 dragonkin. Ideally, you should bring a team of three humanoids, but for me I only had one so I took him as far as he could go and then just used my other strong pets. So I'd say, a humanoid, a mechanical and a turtle (aquatic.) It all depends on what level you are when you fight.

Everessa of the Swamp of Sorrows (76.6, 41.6)
Bring a flyer, a magic and a mechanical to this fight. Her team is composed of level 16s; an aquatic, a flyer and a beast.

Durin Darkhammer of the Burning Steppes (25.6, 47.6)
Kortas Darkhammer's brother has a flyer, a critter and an elemental of level 17. You need a magic, a beast and an aquatic.

Fighting Grazzle, in the above I was trying out humanoid, flyer, mechanical vs his dragonkin

Horde
Zunta of Durotar (44.0, 28.4)
He has a critter and a beast of level 2. Bring a beast and a mechanical.

Dagra the Fierce of the Northern Barrens (58.6, 53.0)
Bring two mechanicals and a beast to defeat Dagra's team of level 3s (two beasts and a critter.)

Analynn of Ashenvale (20.2, 29.6)
You'll want to defeat her team of level 5 pets with a flyer, a magic and a beast since she has an aquatic, a flyer, and a critter.

Zonya the Sadist of the Stonetalon Mountains (59.6, 71.6)
Zonya has two beasts and a critter of level 7. Bring two mechanicals and a beast to beat her team.

Merda Stronghoof of Desolace (57.2, 45.8)
To defeat Merda's team you'll need to bring a flyer, an aquatic and a beast. Merda has an aquatic, an elemental and a critter of level 9.

Cassandra Kaboom of the Southern Barrens (39.6, 79.2)
This little goblin has a team of three mechanicals of level 11. You'll want to bring three elementals or anything except a magic or a beast. This one was harder for me since I only leveled one elemental. Honestly though, there are very few mechanical pets that you have to battle. I ended up using a mechanical, an elemental and an aquatic because those were the three I was leveling at the time.

Traitor Gluk of Feralas (59.6, 49.6)
Gluk has a dragonkin, a beast and a critter that are level 13. To defeat him you'll want to bring a humanoid, a mechanical and a beast.

Grazzle the Great of Dustwallow Marsh (53.8, 74.8)
He has three level 14 dragonkin that he stole from Onyxia's lair...what a silly silly goblin. Ideally, you should bring a team of three humanoids, but for me I only had one so I took him as far as he could go and then just used my other strong pets. So I'd say, a humanoid, a mechanical and a turtle (aquatic.) It all depends on what level you are when you fight.

Kela Grimtotem of Thousand Needles (31.8, 32.8)
She has two critters and a beast of level 15. You will need two beasts and a mechanical to defeat her team.

Zoltan of Felwood (40.0, 56.6)
Bring two dragonkin and an elemental to defeat Zoltan's level 16 team of two magic and a mechanical.

Elena Flutterfly of Moonglade (46.0, 60.6)
Elena has a magic, a dragonkin and a flyer of level 17. This battle can be a little tricky, but bringing a dragonkin, a humanoid and a magic should give you the upper hand.

In the middle of a battle, sometimes Aurorie just doesn't pay attention...

I hope you enjoyed this post on alliance and horde daily pet battle quests. Next week the post will have this same format except I will be covering the daily pet battle quests of Burning Crusade, Wrath and Cataclysm.

The Team

2013-02-11T23:46:00.001-06:00

Before I even started doing the pet battle trainers I went through all the pets I currently had and picked out a "team" to level. Although my team has varied a little bit since then, it was always my goal to get at least one of each family to level 25. Now that I've done that and then some I went on to defeat all the trainers. I found that it makes leveling your pets a whole lot easier when you have two maxed out pets carrying a third. This works best with the trainer dailies, but it also works with regular pet battles. This works because when you are using two capped pets with one that isn't capped that one gets all the XP. Depending on the level of the pet--that can be 700-1000 XP from one fight. Just make sure the not capped pet gets hit or hits at least once.

Now I know there are many different strategies to doing the pet battles, but I prefer to always have the family that has the +50% bonus strike against the opposing team. When I can't, well then I can't but I really really prefer it. For example, I will always use my moth (flying) against an aquatic because flyers have that bonus against the aquatic family. You can get an entire list of who is stronger than who from warcraftpets.com's Pet Battles Cheat Sheet. Honestly one of the best things I've found during my journey through pet battles. Other people prefer to always have a healer out with one or two plus damage--or someone who has +33% bonus defense against one of the opposing pets. Of course that strategy works well...better than mine even because it has a better survival rate. However, my team kicks butt quickly and even if one or two pets die I can always stop at a nearby Stable Master or just wait out the cooldown of Revive Battle Pets. Using the Stable Master (located near pretty much any inn...)costs a few silver, but it is a very nice option if you don't feel like waiting. I feel silly, but I just found out a week or so ago that this was an option. Before I was just waiting on the cooldown and wasting my bandages.

Mechanicals have the +50% bonus strike vs. Beasts

Above we have Shardik the Anodized Robocub. I generally prefer him for his Demolish ability used with Supercharge. I hear that supercharge is being nerfed in the patch. Imo, it'll still be strong enough to take out beasts quickly so I'll still use it.

Circuit is a De-weaponized mechanical companion. If I use him, it's because I want someone to take some hits for the team. So I'll have Extra Plating and Repair active for his rotation. I'll use Metal Fist or Thrash depending on if I'm fighting a beast or a critter.

Critters have the +50% bonus strike vs. Undead

Cuddles is a cute little Bandicoon Kit. When using him against Undead I use Powerball first paired with Tongue Lash because of the increased speed buff.

To the left of Skold we have Hopper, the Grassland Hopper. Primarily I like to use him because of his heal, but his damage against Undead isn't anything to scoff at either. His Skitter and Swarm abilities are quite good.

Magic has the +50% bonus strike vs. Flying

Allons-y is an Arcane eye. I leveled him first, because he was my ONLY non grey quality pet. Later I got a stone and made Dream a rare so she is my go-to for beating flyers. Anyway, for Allons-y I usually use

Focused Beams, Eyeblast and Mana Surge. Like I said though not my favorite magic, but it was something to start with.

Legs, aka Dream is not only one of my favorite companion pets, but she's also super strong in battle. What's nice about Dream is that she is strong against flyers so I use Laser, Surge of Power and Focused Beams, but she also has two abilities that are strong against elemental: Pump and Whirlpool. rawr.

Flying has the +50% bonus strike vs. Aquatic

This is Flutter the Oasis Moth. She has beautiful wings and eats aquatics for breakfast. Any questions? No? Good. I prefer to use Alpha Strike because of the extra damage if she goes first, Adrenaline Rush for the increased speed buff and Moth Dust--because even though it has a moderate chance to miss, it goes BANG when it does hit.

Beasts have the +50% bonus strike vs. Critters

Yes that is a disgusting Jumping Spider. No I don't use Itsy very often. I only leveled him to be annoying in PvP battles. Anyway, if I were to use him I'd use either one of his first talents, Sticky Web so the pet can't flee and then Leech Life so he can heal for a bunch and never die! Muahahaha.

Meet Tod, the Fox Kit. I always use Bite, Howl for the increased damage buff and Leap for the speed increase. Start out with Howl, then Leap followed by bite. He's gets hit pretty hard but he also hits for a ton with all his buffs up. Oh and he dances in is spare time. /die

Elementals have the +50% bonus strike vs. Mechanicals

Loves Me Not is an Ammen Vale Lashling. My favorite ability she has is her Poison Lash. It keeps a debuff on the target for 5 rounds. That's pretty big when you are fighting something that can revive once after it dies. I always use Soothing Mists at least once a battle because it not only heals her, but the others on the team. Generally, I use Stun Seed for the third talent because it does so much more damage than the other third talent. I hear it is being nerfed though so we'll see once patch hits. Sadly, she isn't the best choice for an elemental to level up--but she does the job. I will be leveling one of my rare elementals at a later date. Right now since there are only two or three battle masters who have mechanical pets it just isn't worth it to me right now.

Aquatics have the +50% bonus strike vs. Elementals

River Song is a Mirror Strider. I always use Cleansing Rain at the beginning of the battle because of the increased aquatic damage buff. Then I have Water Jet and Pump as the first and third talents. One of the cutest pets :)

Turtles are very versatile in the pet battles. The one above, Squirt the Emerald Turtle, has abilities that are good against Flyers, Critters, Elementals and Undead. Normally when I use him though I use Emerald Bite, Healing Wave and Headbutt.

Undead have the +50% bonus strike vs. Humanoids

Ruby is a Fossilized Hatchling. She's very good at killing humanoids. She also likes to yell BONESTORM at random times. (Okay she doesn't really yell it, but it is one of her abilities...) I don't have a set rotation for her since I don't come across many humanoids. Bone Bite, Death and Decay and either of the third talent should work just fine. I also like the fact that she has a pretty hefty heal if you don't choose D&D.

Dragonkin have the +50% bonus strike vs. Magic

This pretty little pet was quite expensive, but she is the last of the colored whelplings that I needed. Her name is Rose and she is the Crimson Whelpling. I like her because she has a decent heal, or you can choose to do the weather buff Scorched Earth. Usually I use Scorched Earth, Deep Breath and Breath. The opposing magic pet doesn't live through two rounds of the mentioned talents.

Humanoids have the +50% bonus strike vs. Dragonkin

Shroomie here is an orphaned Sporeling Sprout. I always use Jab on him because it does more damage than the other 1st ability. Secondly I'll use leech seed because it's always nice to get that extra healing and finally I choose Crouch for the damage reduction.

Over the next few weeks I'll go through which pets of my team I used for each trainer. Feel free to return to this post to see which "rotation" I feel is most effective. I hope everyone is having a wonderful week and don't forget to check out my Love is in the Air post from last year--nothing has changed (except for the dates) and well...love is in the air! ;)

Now that you have a team, take them out and beat all of the Master Pet Tamers:
Alliance/Horde Pet Battle Daily Quests
Outland, Northrend and Cataclysm Master Pet Tamers and Part 1 of Grand Master Tamers
Part 2 of Grand Master Tamers (Pandaria, Spirit Tamers, Darkmoon Faire)
Beasts of Fable

~Nichole

distractions

2013-01-31T00:31:00.002-06:00

I really wanted to have my massive pet battle master guide out by now...but I've been distracted by alts...and doctor who. Well those aren't really the only things keeping me away from finishing it--the post is actually going to be pretty huge and it has taken more research than I thought it would. In short I'm going to take my time finishing it and post it in three (I think) posts through out February. The last one being at the end of the month--with a giveaway. :)

So what has been keeping me so distracted? Well, I'll show you :)

LFR with my favorite priest. I've taken a new interest in my mage after a little break and changed to arcane. I like it.

Midra Skymend, holy paladin of Moonguard

Leveling in the Jade Forest

My latest love, Skold the disc priest--also of Moonguard.

And finally, raiding old raids with my guildies on "guild night" <3

I hope everyone is having a wonderful week! Look for the first post on pet battle masters the second weekend in February!

~Nichole

Mageweave Recolor Transmog Featurette‏

2013-01-10T21:33:00.006-06:00

With this post, I won't go into as much detail on each set like I do with the Transmog Features. I decided to do it this way because I noticed someone already put a *ton* of effort into putting these sets together on WoWhead and was kind enough to post to them. So a huge thank you goes out to Sungaard on the WoWhead page. If you click the "colors" below it will take you to their wowhead page, scroll down to the comments and look for the ones posted by Sungaard. The Black, Gold and Red sets are mine and are complete save the red. The Purple is my friend’s and he did an awesome job of putting it together.

And now, without further ado, I give you the mageweave recolors!

Red
I love how fire mages and warlocks look in the red set. The chestpiece just looks so fiery. I haven't gotten the horns on my warlock yet (I sort of lost interest in her...) but I really think they would look cute with this set. Out of the four, this set is my favorite. As I was leveling my warlock, I got the Felheart Belt (from Molten Core) and I love that it goes well with the set. Sure the green looks a little silly, but it brings out a little of the warlock in her. I'm not sure why, but none of the mageweave sets have matching shoulders on WoWhead, but I chose Shroud of the Nathrezim because of the red and gold flecks in it. Might not be perfect but it suites my warlock. I suppose that I should point out that I don't have the boots to this set :( however, if you click "Red" above there are a handful of choices for you to go farm.

Purple
This set looks especially good on frost mages and warlocks. It looks even better with the warlock horns than the red set does. Also, the warlock belt mentioned above goes perfectly with this set as well. The shoes are annoying as hell to get, you are better off watching the auction house than farming for them. They are a chance drop out of a bag you get for turning in 30 Arakkoa feathers to Vekax in Shattrath's Lower City. The feathers drop off the bird people in Terokkar Forest. Getting the feathers isn't really the problem though, the problem is that the boots only have a 3% chance to drop out of the bag. However, you can only turn this quest in for the bag until you reach honored. Luckily rep isn't shared amoung toons yet so you can do it on a few different ones if you really want to farm for these boots. They are pretty though, and the only ones that complete the set. The mantle that Eliaura is wearing below is the Mantle of Maz'Nadir, and it has a 23% drop chance off Moam in the Ruins of Ahn'Qiraj.

Gold
This set is my least favorite out of the four, but then again I’m not really a fan of gold. When I decided to write this post I just bought all but one of the pieces off the auction house (Moonguard has the best AH for gear.) I had to work for the shoes, which are Alliance only *grumbles.* Which is why I took the screenies on my human. For one, because she is my only 85 ally, and secondly my druid would have looked silly in it. The shoes are a quest reward from the quest Show Them Gnome Mercy at Toshley's Station in the Blade's Edge Mountains. I'm not sure why, but WoWhead has the "Elegant set" and the gold mageweave recolor listed apart, well actually not even apart since the Elegant set doesn't get it's own transmog--anyway--the Elegant Mantle matches this set wonderfully, so if you like gold, are alliance and want a sexy new transmog--this set is for you!

Black
The black mageweave set will always have a special place in my heart as it was the first naughty outfit I used on my mage a few years ago when she was just a wee human. (Now she’s a 90 gobo and has a much cuter set--which I will be posting on later this year ). This set is possibly the easiest set to get because a tailor between the levels of 200-230 can craft this sexy set for you. Or you can get it off the AH. I like how it is less bright than the other colors. I had it for a really long time as my shadow priest's PvP set transmog.

That was a tiny look into the gorgeous mageweave recolors. In the next few weeks I'll be posting on what team of pets you should be leveling if you are interested in beating the Battle Masters with the least headache. *whispers* there is also a little fire kitten that is looking for a home.

Have a splendid weekend!
~Nichole

And how for some random shots of kisses, butts and naptime. :) Don't forget to clicky clicky!

As always, thank you so much for taking the time to read my posts <3

Happy New Year!

2013-01-01T02:43:00.003-06:00

Aetta watching the Org. New Year fireworks

Here's to hoping your 2013 is bright and full of happiness :)

Upcoming posts:

Mageweave Recolor Featurette

400 pet achievement and a giveaway

Aetta's Holy Transmog Set: Judgement Armor (Recolor)

2012-12-17T21:56:00.001-06:00

I always grow a little lazy around the holidays, thus this post is a week or so late--sorry about that! I hope you enjoy it just the same and I hope to have another transmog feature up around the beginning of the year.

Aetta with her new favorite pet, Kirby the Civet

Aetta has quite a few transmog sets. My latest obsession has been getting her a new holy set, since her skimpy bloodscale outfit (which will be in another post) just wasn't appropriate for healing. This gorgeous purple set, known as the Judgement Armor (Recolor),can be farmed from the heroic dungeons of Burning Crusade (with the exception of the mace and shield). After farming for this set over the last month, I've really come to hate farming heroic dungeons for gear. Silly once a day lock ;_;. Something wonderful about this set is that it *isn't* just for paladins. Any plate wearing character can wear it at the appropriate level. Though I honestly think it looks the best on a female blood elf holy paladin :D

Anyone who has read my transmog features on A Goblin’s Tale must have figured out by now that I won’t have a headpiece showing--unless it shows my character’s hair. The Mask of Penance covers the whole head so I wasn't interested in it, but for you completionists out there you can get it in The Steamvault off of Mekgineer Steamrigger; it has a 25% chance to drop. I think this is a very unique looking headpiece, and even though I won't wear it, I do like the way it completes the set.

Shoulders-The Justice Bearer’s Pauldrons are a little too big for my liking, but since they go with the set I will use them--I couldn't really find any other pretty purple shoulders to match either. I do like the little swords that are on top of the pauldrons. They can be found in Hellfire Ramparts, they drop off Omor the Unscarred with a 13% chance.

Chest-I really love the look of this breastplate. Probably just because it is purple--but it is quite simply gorgeous! I especially enjoy that the sleeves are about half length so her arms show a little bit. The other thing I actually really enjoy is the dark part that goes up her neckline like a turtle neck. Though I do love her skimpy outfit, she looks kind of regal all dressed in this purple set. The Breastplate of Many Graces can be farmed in Shadow Labyrinth. It has a 19% chance to drop off of Grandmaster Vorpil.

Hands-The Life Bearer’s Gauntlets have a 17% chance to be looted out of the Reinforced Fel Iron Chest at the end of Hellfire Ramparts.

Bracers-Since the chestpiece of this set is kind of short sleeved, and I like the look of the bare skin between the sleeves and the gloves--I just used the bracers I had in my bag. Of course you can get the legit bracers from The Blood Furnace off of Broggok. They have a 16% drop rate. Honestly though, I just don’t see the point when they aren't going to show anyway.

Belt-This belt is really pretty. I like the design on the front of it and the little loops that go around the waist. The Girdle of Many Blessings can be farmed in the Slave Pens. It has a 14% chance to drop off Rokmar the Crackler.

Legs-I simply adore that I am a plate wearing paladin and I can look like I am wearing a robe. The Cassock of the Loyal is one of my favorite pieces in the game. Obviously since it goes with the set it is a perfect match. It has a 13% chance to drop off Hungerfen in the Underbog. Of course this is the piece that took me the longest to farm. I was so excited once I got it and began looking for a mace and shield to match the very next day.

Feet-Boots of the Watchful Heart are the boots that go with this set. They have a 15% chance to drop off Captain Skarloc in Old Hillsbrad Foothills. I found this to be the most annoying piece to farm for due to the annoying boss you have to fight before hand and the escort part you have to do with Thrall.

Mace-Thanks to the help of my favorite tank, I was able to get the Scepter of Power in two painless runs of Halls of Origination. It has a 28% chance to drop off Setesh, so you do need to do most of the dungeon, but we easily two-manned it with a well geared tank and a decently geared healer. This mace does drop on both normal and heroics modes, which is really nice.

Shield-When I first started putting this set together, I had my heart set on the Bulwark of Azzinoth in Black Temple. My friend and I ran it once to try and get it, but of course it didn't drop. So I thought I would check out the AH to see if there was anything I could use in the meantime. Then I found this little gem. It was only up for 200 gold so I snagged it right away. I’m in love with the way it matches the set. I think it fits my dainty little elf quite well. The Steadfast Buckler has the best drop rate off of Gibblesnik, a rare in Thousand Needles. I would farm the AH over the rare though, because it only has a .3% drop rate.

rawr panthers *a special shout out* to Dandranelle for halping me complete my set <3

I hope everyone has a wonderful week! Happy transmogging!
<3 Nichole

Favorite MoP Zones Screenshot of the Week style

2012-11-26T21:41:00.002-06:00

I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend! Mine was extra long due to Thanksgiving and having black Friday off so it was quite wonderful ;)

For this week's screenshots of the week I wanted to point out two of my favorite zones. The first is Valley of the Four Winds. I love that there is so much *green* in this zone. Of course it makes sense because it is, after all, the farming zone. I also saw for the first time this weekend that there are actually thunderstorms that pass through. I was even lucky enough to catch some of the lightening. Thunderstorms are one of my favorite things, so of course a zone that has them will reach the top of my favorites.

Aurorie on her cloud serpent flying near Halfhill

Aetta, on her Sapphire panther near Temple of the White Tiger--see the baby sapphire cub?! /dies of cuteness

My other favorite zone is Kun-Lai Summit--particularly this area near the Temple of the White Tiger. I love how there are so many pretty things in one screenshot. I absolutely adore the buildings here. I'm in love with the mountain/cloud scene and I can't get enough of the trees, especially . I didn't actually quest in Kun-Lai this time around, but I did on my mage and it was pretty fun.

What is your favorite MoP zone?

Have a fantastic week!
~N

Screenshots of the Week: Mounts!

2012-11-15T23:49:00.001-06:00

A week or so ago I realized that I was at 97 of 100 mounts for the Mountain o' Mounts achievement. Of course I had to start farming to get up to 100. It was a bit daunting at first, but with the help of my guildies, left over justice points and just plain boredom, I ended up getting the last three mounts I needed in no time!

rawr

First, the guild randomly decided to do heroic 10 man ICC. I love doing the old raids--especially in Wrath which was my favorite xpack until a few months ago ;) Not only did I get to hang out with my amazing guildies, I also got a pretty sweet looking dead dragon mount. The Bloodbathed Frostbrood Vanquisher is the award for doing all the heroic 10 man achievements in Icecrown Citadel. With strategy and a handful of 90's it was relatively easy. We had also started this a few months back so some of us were already more than half way done.

I adore the cloud with this mount, and its size. Other than that the disc looks like a sewer cap

Then I started working towards my Red Flying Cloud. It requires exalted with the Lorewalkers, but don't fret because it is a painless rep "grind." As long as you are level 90, have MoP flying and some time--you can grind this out in about two hours. I found a really amazing guide on where exactly each of the artifacts are that you have to find in order to get exalted with the Lorewalkers. After finding all the items you will get quest items in the mail from Lorewalker Cho that you need to turn into him. Then bang! you're exalted with the Lorewalkers.

clever girl

With my left over justice points on Xaela I decided to turn my JP into Honor and pick up the Black War Raptor from Raider Bork, the War Mount Quartermaster in Orgrimmar.

You get the Red Dragonhawk for completing Mountain o' Mounts on the horde side, or the Blue Dragonhawk when completed on the Alliance side.

/purr

My friend and I have been working daily on our Cloud Serpent rep so we could get our cloud serpent mounts and so he could get the patterns for the jeweled panthers. These mounts are so cute. Once he got revered with the Order of the Cloud Serpent I started farming materials for the Sapphire Panther. There is also a red one, a jade one and a yellow one. Pretty they are, but also very expensive. Each takes 20 of their respective blue quality gem (so River's heart for Sapphire), an Orb of Mystery (18k gold with guild discount), four living steel, and two Serpent's eyes. This wasn't as much of a headache to get though for me because I had already saved up half the gold and I have two alchemists to transmute the living steel and the River's Hearts.

This was a fun post to put together, I love my mounts almost as much as my companion pets ;)
What is your favorite mount?

I hope everyone is having a wonderful week!

Nichole

Giveaway result: Kjuib AND Screenshot of the week

2012-11-09T18:46:00.002-06:00

Congrats to Kjuib for winning the Lil K.T. pet. Thank you to everyone who entered. I hope everyone had a wonderful week and has an even better weekend <3

And now, for my latest obsession:

Yep, that's right. My goblin mage is back. The gobin crew has reassembled--and life on Azeroth couldn't be better. Oh and she's awesome. I actually want to do my dailies on her, unlike when I attempt to do them on my feral druid (I'm really...really bad at feral dps.)

Toodles
<3

Pet Battles and a Giveaway for Lil' K.T. CLOSED

2012-11-02T01:02:00.000-05:00

rawr. dundee is hungry.

My latest obsession has been pet battles. Not necessarily the battling part, but the major changes to collecting pets in general. I do have to say that the battles can get pretty addicting! When I first heard that WoW pokemon was going to be introduced, I thought it was a silly idea and I just didn't think it was going to be something I was interested in--I was totally wrong. I really like running around Azeroth collecting and leveling pets. The pet battles are turn based and usually have one attack(or heal/defense what ever you choose) per turn. The animations that the pets do during the battle are super cute. I have to say one of my favorite things about the new pet system is the fact that you can actually name them. I love it :)

Leveling/Fighting

My team before I started leveling the robo bunny

Pets start out at level 1. At first you only fight with one pet--moving up to three after you unlock the slots by leveling. The wild pets level 4 and below will only have one to battle, after that there will always be two or three to battle. So it does get progressively harder if you don’t manage your health and attacks well. There are 10 different family types. Each will do better or worse against certain other families, Warcraft Pets has an amazing guide for this. Go on...click it and scroll about half way down the page. The best way that I have found to level is with a mechanical, an aquatic and an elemental or dragonkin “healer.” Which for me ends up being a robo bunny, a crocodile and a crimson lasher. So far this team kicks butt because the majority of the things that I have been battling are either critters or beasts. Right now this team is level 11/12, I would be higher but this weekend I got pretty obsessed with collecting pets level 1-10. I also wanted to point out that you can switch out your pets (only the ones on the team of three) to fight when it is your turn. Doing so, however, takes up your turn so the enemy pet gets to take the next turn. Switching out to another pet is good for healing, or just bringing in another pet to get points. The pets are awarded experience based on their level vs the wild pet's level. Higher enemy pets award more xp to your pets. I want to point out though that once you get to be much higher than an enemy pet you will no longer recieve xp for the battle. Also the pets must live through the battle and have taken one turn to get xp. Queuing for PvP pet battles does not award xp and neither does battling a friend. Oh! You can “power level” lower pets. With my group I could keep my mechanical and aquatic on the team and then level a level 1 up to their level. All you have to do for a pet to get xp for that battle is to have them in for *one* turn, in which they’ll get hit--so don’t make the battle too high level or they will die. After that pet gets whacked, switch back to one of your other two pets and defeat the enemy pet. If for some reason you really want a certain pet leveled it’s a good way to do it--but I would recommend leveling three together by going to the zone appropriate for the pet level. I like to do the same level or one above. So far, I have a handful of level 10s, as I was trying to get the achievement "No Favorites" for the fun of it. It's to raise a member of each family to level 10. I got pretty far though, only have four left!

Collecting

FuFu!

Over the weekend I was working on getting 250 pets so I could get my Feral Vermling. There are so many new and adorable pets to collected I can hardly contain my excitement. I do it somehow, but it’s hard. This weekend I picked up a good chunk of pets and I’m now sitting at a pretty 269 toward the next goal of 400 for the achievement "That's a lot of Pet Food." which you get a Venus fly trap for completing. Among the common rats, snakes and squirrels that are everywhere, this weekend I got a gorilla, a tiny twister and a giraffe--just to name a few my new cuties. Another of my more recent loves is my little white fur-blue eyed vermling, FuFu. I got him from doing the achievement Ling-Ting's Herbal Journey with my guildies a few weeks back. I had not realized that the little vermlings could be so cute--they are. It’s a pretty easy achievement too, so if you’re 90, you should check it out.

In the battles, not *all* pets are capture, and though this can be frustrating--and I don't know why they do it...there are many other pets that you can capture. It is nice that they added the paw print on the mini map for when you want to search for pets to battle. Just so you know though, you can only capture *one* pet per battle--so choose wisely ;) I've noticed that not all pets like to hang out by themselves, they tend to be the "back up" pet for other wild pets. So if you are searching for this one moth or something and all you can find is snakes (above level 4) try picking a fight with the snake and see who comes to back it up. Not all pets are like this. Some spawn only at night, some only in one location and only when it rains. Others only spawn when you've cleared out a bunch of other wild pets. There are tons of pets with silly little restrictions on them, but I don't mind them--it would be pretty boring if it was just cut and try run and capture them. This makes it a little more interesting. You know the hardcore collectors (ahem, that would be me) will sit and farm for them until they get them.

Pet Battle UI lots of helpful information on the tool tips--make sure you read them!

Another thing I want to bring up is that while the stats are important, if you are just collecting and never plan to fight for them--there really isn't any reason for you to try and farm for rare quality pets. They look pretty just the same. If you plan to fight with it, then yes--good luck with your farming for rares. I think it's really cool when I get one, but I already have my team picked out to fight with so I don't care if it is grey or blue. All qualities count towards the achievements. If you are looking for help in your quest to catch them all, check out Warcraft Pets search by zone, and combine that with WoWhead's map. You'll be golden. So amazing together. It's like mac and cheese. Or peanut butter and jelly. But I digress.

Freckles stands over my goblin's head

Trading
If you aren't aware, pets/mounts and some achievements are now account-bound. This is a really big deal. I'm so happy about this. It also means you can buy pets on the AH of alliance side, and have them on your horde toons. A lot of the companion pets that you already own can also now be "caged" traded and sold on the AH. Lots of pets that are drops and purchasable can be traded as well, but not all of them. For example, pets from the collectors edition of WoW are *not* able to be traded :( You also can't trade the Wild Pets that you capture in the pet battles. You aren't able to capture player pets either. It is also good to know that you can trade/sell pets that you have leveled. Recently, I purchased a level 18 Tol Barad fox. I spent quite a bit of gold on him, but taking into account that I no longer have to farm Tol Barad OR level him to 18--it made the purchase very very worth it. One thing to note about buying pets that are already leveled is that you *can not* use that pet until you have a leveled pet of that level in your pet log. So currently, I can't use my little fox until I level one of my pets to 18. Even IF you are the one who leveled the pet, once you put it in the cage it is no longer yours and you will have to wait (unless of course you have a pet that level). Aside from pets that you may have across a ton of your characters, like me with 10 snowshoe rabbits from having so many gnomes, you can only have 3 of each pet. So you can only have three black king snakes, three adders, three tree pythons...you get the picture. You can only have a total of 500 pets in your log. There is an easy fix though if you are running out of space--release your duplicates. You don't need an uncommon, a common AND a rare Alpine Hare. Chances are you just need the rare. Also, only *one* of your alpine hares will count towards your achievement of collecting. This has been quite the long post and now I must get to the part you are all waiting for. Yes, yes. Lil K.T. Giveaway. It will work the same way as my last giveaway.

The Giveaway
This giveaway will be conducted through the comment section of this blog. To enter, answer the following question: "Do you like the new pet battle system? If you do, what is your favorite part? If not--why don't you like it?"

The contest will go from 11/2/12 to 11/9/12 with the winner being announced on Friday November 9th. Only one entry per person, US realms only with an active WoW subscription. I will be using the wow /roll system to find the winner based on the number of entries. One winner will receive the cute Lil K.T. pet.

That is all for now. Good luck collecting <3

~Nichole

Hallow's End and a few of my favorite things

2012-10-18T20:29:00.000-05:00

Liore bobbing for apples

Hallow's End began today and goes through October 31st. I'm mostly excited about it for a chance at the Headless Horseman mount, and I suppose the rings (yay gearing up?) Not a whole lot has changed since last year--and since I did a giant how-to on it last year, I will direct you to last year's post. Obviously with the new lands, there is a new achievement for visiting all the Candy buckets of Pandaria. As with the Cataclysm zones last year, this is not included in the meta achievement Hallowed Be Thy Name. The only other change I've noticed is that the item level on the rings, helm and sword have also been upped to 470 to match the level 89-90's who will be doing the mini-boss. If I find any other significant changes I will make sure to post them.

I'm sure many of you have read the Game of Thrones series, watched the HBO show or have atleast *heard* about it. We'll I'd like to share with you a few references that the devs at Blizzard have put in. My absolute favorite is Cersei Dusksinger. Just seeing the name Cersei was enough to tickle me pink--but it gets better. The things she says also sound just as Cersei Lannister would. "These orcs are fools! So much power nearby just waiting to be taken, and all they do is sit on their hands and watch while others plunder the riches!" or "Avuun dares to oppose me? I will crush him! When I am done with the draenei, they'll wish that they were Lost Ones!" Those are the two that stand out the most to me--but if you want to see her for yourself she is in Stonard.

While working on the fishing achievement A Penny For Your Thoughts, I came across a coin from a Squire Rowe, who resides in Stormwind. He is thought to be a reference to Jaime Lannister. The coin reads: "I hope I can get transferred out of Stormwind eventually and see Cersei again. Nothing good ever happens in this city." Referring to the separation of Cersei and her brother Jaime.

There is a gnome *somewhere* in Stormwind named Tyrion. This makes sense as a reference because Tyrion Lannister is a dwarf (so small) and is very intelligent (as gnomes are.) According to WoWhead his location is unknown, but I remember doing a low level quest with him a few years ago. I am unsure if he is still in game or not. I also noticed that they were careful to give each Lannister the same color hair--probably refering to the fact that they all have the same (golden blonde) hair in the books.

The Shado-Pan rangers are an obvious reference to GoT's Night's watch. When you click on them, they say things like "We are the sword in the shadows. We are the watchers on the wall." and "Our vigil is constant. We keep the darkness at bay." These are things that the night's watch say in their oath: "Night gathers, and now my watch begins. It shall not end until my death. I shall take no wife, hold no lands, father no children. I shall wear no crowns and win no glory. I shall live and die at my post. I am the sword in the darkness. I am the watcher on the walls. I am the fire that burns against the cold, the light that brings the dawn, the horn that wakes the sleepers, the shield that guards the realms of men. I pledge my life and honor to the Night's Watch, for this night and all the nights to come." I won't lie, whenever I read/hear that I get goosebumps. <3 Jon Snow.

And finally, one of my latest favorite things: PANDAS. It is kind of funny how much I adore them now seeing as when I first heard about them I sighed and thought it was a really silly idea--and thought they looked pretty dopey. I have three now--a monk, a rogue and a warrior. Two of which I race changed because I was out of new character slots. I still think the male pandas look super goofy, but the females are absolutely adorable. They can have long or short tails, they have the cutest hair styles, and the little shock of color you can choose for their hair is pretty neat as well. If you don't like the highlighted piece you can choose to make it match the rest of your hair. Also, their giggle is so cute I giggle whenever I hear it. My favorite panda skin is the black and white--but I just had to make a red panda as well, the tail is too cute to pass up. Monk roll is also pretty fun. If you don't have a panda--you should definitly go make one...like now!

Hope you all are doing well!

~Nichole

SotW: Week 1 of MoP Edition

2012-10-01T22:16:00.000-05:00

I'm absolutely loving everything about Mists of Pandaria.

Pet Battles!

Super adorable Monk

Beautiful Quest Zones

Leveling my druid to 90 <3

Yes, that is all.

I hope everyone is enjoying MoP as much as I am--blog on pet battles to come in the next few weeks!

Transmog Feature: Fizzilla's Lionheart Bloodfist

2012-09-25T04:05:00.000-05:00

In just twenty minutes, Mists of Pandaria will go live. {Edit: I got side tracked--it's live now and it's pretty awesome} I cannot wait! Looking forward to playing a bit tonight in the new level 85+ zones and then later this week starting out my female panda monk. Should be a wonderful time. Anyway, here's some love to the plate wearing goblins out there!

This set is comprised mostly of Bloodfist Plate, a bronzey sister to the Darkcrest Plate that I featured a few weeks ago. Each of the pieces: Chest, Gloves, Belt, Leggings and Boots have a terribly low drop rate of .3%-.5%. They can be "farmed" in the Burning Crusade dungeons. I don't suggest farming for them, maybe run a few dungeons and try your luck but really--I'd stick to the AH or ask in trade chat to see if anyone is selling them. They haven't run too expensive on my server, though we're pretty low population.

My favorite part of this set is the Swiftsteel Shoulders. Even though I'm not usually a gold and diamonds kind of girl, I really like how sparkly these shoulders look! I love how it adds so much to the bronze of the Bloodfist set. The pattern for these shoulders is a zone drop in the Burning Crusade raid, Black Temple. It has a 3% chance to drop.

Fizzilla is wearing a Thoriumweave Cloak. Personally, I don't think the set needs a cloak--then again I don't ever think they do ;) I do, however, think this cloak matches quite well with the rest of the set. Especially with the golden trim. This cloak has a 21% chance to drop off Mechano-Lord Capacitus in the Mechanar.

Two Lionheart Executioners complete this set. Again, another great choice for this set with the little accent of gold in the blades. If you are looking for this beauty, a blacksmith of 385 skill or higher should be able to help you, or check the auction house. {Edit: I overlooked the fact that this weapon is bind on pick up, sorry those of you who aren't blacksmiths :( }

And now for a sneak peak at my first night in MoP.

Xaela, balance/restoration druid

That little guy with the purple around his head is my charmed woodland creature from the glyph. So I can have two non-combat pets out at a time. Simply amazing. Oh yeah and my last blog about decisions? Threw that out the window. I'm leveling my druid now as a priority along with my monk :)

Hope everyone had a fun first night <3

Nichole

Decisions, decisions

2012-09-13T00:24:00.002-05:00

Aetta~Loving the new fairy wings!

I have nine level 85 characters. Because I always want to play all of them, this holds a problem for me when Mists of Pandaria comes out in 12 days! So I decided, altoholic as I am, that I need to pick *three* to bring to max level first, plus a female panda monk ;)

I’m super excited!

It took a while of playing around with all my characters post patch 5.0.5, but I finally made my picks. I’ve decided to level my paladin, Aetta, as my main healer. My death knight, Naelah, as my main melee dps--and some day a tank? Last but not least, Aurorie the mage, will be my main ranged.

Naelah with an unfinished transmog set

For the last week I’ve been playing around a bunch on my DK as frost and I’ve been having a blast! Quite proud of myself too because she’s like the 5th DK that I’ve started, but the only one I’ve gotten to end game. At first I didn’t like the diseases that I’m supposed to keep up--but I’ve gotten used to them now and I’m actually kind of liking the rotation. While running dungeons on my DK I’d been seeing a lot of paladin healers and it made me miss mine. So yesterday I decided to run a few twilight dungeons on her to see how it would go. I was really worried because I cheated to get in by wearing a full set (of old, like ilevel 352?) PvP gear. It went amazingly to say the least, and I actually stayed with the same group for four dungeons. Ended up getting a ton of gear too...including the shoulders I’ve been trying to get for transmog on my DK o.O of course it would end up like that. Though, I will have to say Naelah is one of my luckier characters as she did win the Vitreous Stone Drake on her first heroic run of The Stonecore (though it does drop on both modes.) Screenies to come on the next screenshot of the whenever-I-feel-like-it blog ;)

Aurorie <3

Other than topping off the pally and DK for gear I’ve just been focusing on making gold from farming mats and finishing up my engineering and blacksmithing professions so I’ll finally have one of each profession when MoP comes out.

So what are your plans for Mists? Do you try to play all of your characters equally or do you have a main you are solely dedicated to? I’d love to hear from you!

I hope everyone is having a wonderful week!
<3
Nichole

Transmog: Blood Knight Mail

2012-08-27T22:18:00.000-05:00

I love this set so much I have it on two of my characters. One is an alliance human hunter and the other is a horde goblin shaman. Though this set is called Blood Knight Mail, it also has pieces of the Battleforge mail. Blood Knight also has a sister set (and yes it is mail!) called Glimmering Mail, however that set is red and gold and not as highly detailed as Blood Knight Mail. I adore the detail in this set--the little gold/red symbols etched onto the black parts of the mail are so beautiful.

There is quite the ugly headpiece that goes with this set, but I can't stand to have Midori's cute little pigtails covered up. You will notice (if you haven't already) that I never wear cloaks on any of my toons--but I'm sure you could find a nice looking cloak at one of the many transmog websites if you like them!

Shoulder-Battleforge Shoulder

These shoulders have the best chance to drop off the rares in Northern Stranglethorn and that is only a 3-4% chance. Depending on your server, these might be easier picked off the Auction house, and since they aren't really that pretty when separated from the set--you might find them decently priced.

Chest-Blood Knight Breastplate

This chest piece has about a .2% chance to drop in Old Hillsbrad Foothills--another hard piece to farm. The sister piece to this set, Battleforge Armor, has a 4% drop chance off rare spawns in Arathi Highlands and the Stonetalon Mountains. I really love how this chest piece is sleeveless save the little straps on the arms.

Gloves-Battleforge Gauntlets

I bought all the pieces of this set off the Auction House so I can't really say how hard it was to get--but I seems quite hard. These gauntlets only have a 4-5% chance to drop off of rare spawns in Northern Stranglethorn. The sister piece, Blood Knight gauntlets, have a .2% chance to drop in Blade's Edge Mountains. On my human, I ended up using the Glimmering Gauntlets that my friend gave me to complete the set. I think they match the set well enough, mostly because of the pattern on the front of the "greaves."

Belt-Battleforge Girdle

As I'm researching where these items can be obtained, it seems the majority of the set can be found off of rare spawns in Northern Stranglethorn. This belt is no exception, with a 3-4% chance to drop.

Legs-Blood Knight Greaves

These "greaves" make me think of a cute little ruffle skirt with the way the gold and red are patterned. This piece has the best chance to drop in Auchenai Crypts with .16% chance. The Battleforge Legguards have the best chance to drop in--you guessed it--Northern Stranglethorn off of rare spawns.

Feet- Battleforge Boots

Most likely to drop in Stonetalon Mountains or Arathi Highlands, with at 3-4% chance. The Blood Knight boots have quite a low chance to drop in Old Hillsbrad Foothills and Auchenai Crypts.

One-handed axe-Gatecrasher

Just pretend that I have two of these little axes for my transmog set ;). This axe has a 16% chance to drop in the Firelands off of Baleroc, the Gatekeeper. I had been healing for my guild, but no one needed it for main spec so I got to roll and ended up winning! Now if only I could bring myself to play my enhancement spec. more...

I hope everyone is having a wonderful week!

Nichole