Where the Wild Things Are: Stompy

Today, we scale the peaks of Kun-Lai Summit to catch a glimpse of the skillful climbing goat Stompy. Coming up next is a trip to Townlong Steppes.

Transcription:

Hey everyone! This is Kalliope checking in from the snowy mountains of Kun-Lai Summit with the agile rare goat Stompy.

This handsome fellow is level 88 and is the only goat in the game to wear the blue skin. Once tamed, Stompy will gain the trample ability, which slows the casting speed of any enemy in his melee range - 50% against mobs and 25% against other players.

When he moves, Stompy drops heavy tracks, which are rather large and quite easy to spot against the snow, even when partially buried. This combination makes Stompy one of the simplest new rares to track down, but don't get lulled into a false sense of security - Stompy turns around and doubles back more often than any of the other rares.

Stompy has a relatively compact path in the mountains of Kun-Lai, never coming close to Bristlespine's trail. He especially favors the summit of Mount Neverest, as he takes the time to climb it each time he passes through. However, he takes two slightly different paths up and down the peak, depending on which part of his path he's on, so watch out for him to do some impromptu rock climbing.

Stompy walks through a few aggressive mobs - including some elite yetis - and one incredibly snowy area near the base of Mount Neverest, but for the most part, the terrain is clear for taming.

His spawn timer appears to be around two to eight hours here on the beta.

For the most current information on Stompy and other hunter pets, be sure to visit Petopia and the Petopia forums.

From the peak of Mount Neverest, this is Kalliope showing you where the wild things are.

Patch 5.0.4 arrives!

The pre-Pandaria patch hit today! You all know what that means - more taming stories! Unlike the pre-Cataclysm patch, this wasn't a massive epic taming spree that spanned three continents. I had three very specific stops.

The journey started three days ago, in Thousand Needles above Ironeye the Invincible's spawn. He was there when I arrived on Saturday night. I had forgotten he was already my desired color on live as well as beta. I was so struck by his beauty that I actually beast lored him to make sure he couldn't be tamed yet (which, of course, he could not). Even then, I started praying that he would be up when I logged in.

He wasn't. Sigh.

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I then flew down to Uldum to touch base with Jason. Unlike the other pet swaps of the day, he was merely going to stabilize his color to yellow from the exact same tame. Part of me knew that there was a good chance he'd be in white when I arrived.

He was white. Of course he was.

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So I teleported up to Toshley's Station in Blade's Edge, quickly flying down to Zangarmarsh to the tame I was secretly most looking forward to. Andromeda was finally going to become a sporewalker. When a pet finally comes into their own and everything clicks, it's beautiful. Not all of my pets go through such transitions, but Drommie is among the most graceful who have.

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Of all of today's tames, hers was the only one that was a sure thing even before I arrived. No color changes, no rare spawns to worry about. Plus, Drommie completed the Zangarmarsh trio of species (sporewalker, nether ray, sporebat). I've always loved that zone - it was the first one I truly fell for.

I ran back to Uldum to pick up Jason (who was yellow this time), then flew back to Thousand Needles to wait for Pygmalion. And wait. And wait. Until I finally flew across the zone to check on one of the other rares (who was not up) and then, of course, he spawned.

I am feeling quite good about the state of my stable. Stability in one's stable - and in one's life! - is important.

Where the Wild Things Are: Bristlespine

Welcome to Kun-Lai Summit, home to the fearsome porcupine Bristlespine. Later in the week, we'll check in with his neighbor Stompy.

Transcription:

Hey everyone! Kalliope coming to you from the warm yellow fields of Kun-Lai Summit where I'm keeping an eye on the trickster porcupine Bristlespine.

This sneaky little guy is level 88 and is the only porcupine in the game to use the dark blue skin.

Like all other tamed porcupines, Bristlespine gains two abilities as a hunter pet. The first is paralyzing quill, which enables him to incapacitate enemies in melee range for two seconds. The other is rest, a fun little non-combat ability that lets him take a nap.

Bristlespine leaves puzzling tracks when he moves. They are fairly large in addition to being green, which makes them stand out from the ground, at least when they're not buried in it.

However, Bristlespine doesn't make tracking him easy - he repeatedly cuts through numerous aggressive mobs and makes a habit of dropping a track, then turning sharply in another direction.

Bristlespine sticks to the southern part of the zone, never entering the snow-covered mountains where Stompy resides. He generally avoids the roads, except to cut across them.

There are very few truly safe areas to tame him along his path, so when taming at level, be especially aware of your surroundings.

Bristlespine's spawn timer on the beta is around two to eight hours.

For the most current information on Bristlespine and other hunter pets, be sure to visit Petopia and the Petopia forums.

From the south side of Kun-Lai, this is Kalliope showing you where the wild things are.

Where the Wild Things Are: Bloodtooth

Today, we'll be paddling in the shallows of Krasarang Wilds with the sly dragon turtle Bloodtooth. Next week, we'll be checking out the rares of Kun-Lai Summit.

Transcription:

Hey everyone! This is Kalliope. Hope you're ready to get wet today as we trudge through the Krasarang Wilds to track down Bloodtooth.

This little guy is level 87 and the only epic red Pandarian turtle in the game. At first glance, he looks similar to the regular red turtles, but he has spikes and fins on his tail and shell that mark him as epic. These two models correspond to the regular and epic red dragon turtle mounts, though the regular one appears as purple in game until 5.1.

Like other tamed turtles, Bloodtooth gains the ability shell shield, which reduces all incoming damage to him by 50% for 12 seconds - it's basically shell shield wall.

Bloodtooth leaves muddy tracks on his path, which are rather large and contrast well with the light sandy beach. However, many of his tracks appear underwater, and these tracks aren't as easy to spot.

Bloodtooth's path roughly follows the southern coast of the zone, which means he enters the water quite often as he passes between sandbars and islands. Sometimes, he'll even submerge completely, the only one of the new rares to do so. Bloodtooth likes to drop visible tracks and then turn into the water, which can cause even the most attentive hunter to lose the trail.

Here on the beta, Bloodtooth appears to spawn every two to eight hours.

For the most current information on Bloodtooth and other hunter pets, be sure to visit Petopia and the Petopia forums.

From the coast of the Krasarang Wilds, this is Kalliope showing you where the wild things are.

Farewell, so long, and goodbye

The end of the beta is fast approaching, and with it comes the dreaded moment of saying goodbye to our beta pets. Some will be waiting for us next month in Pandaria when the expansion is officially released in September. Others will return to the wild for good, their journeying days at our sides over. But the hardest goodbyes will be for the pets who we will never (for the moment) be able to tame again.

IN MEMORIAM

One specific type of mushan was only very briefly flagged as a tameable crocolisk, but nonetheless won over numerous hunters' hearts.

A couple of yaks were briefly tameable as part of the goat family. This goodbye is the hardest for me personally, as Cadmus the red yak will thus far be unable to migrate into a mount form.

Manglemaw the baby crocolisk and a group of tiger cubs were also briefly flagged as tameable. Gigantic baby pets have thus far been unintended, so it was unsurprising that they were not an exception to the rule. On the plus side, both shall live on in minipet forms. (Chuck is the adorable equivalent of Manglemaw.)

This is the unfortunate downside of beta testing and getting attached.  But better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all.  Farewell, you kings and queens of beta.  You shall not be forgotten.