The random musings of a casual World of Warcraft hunter who randomly raids, PvPs, and tracks pets. Apparently, you can't take the hunter out of the game or the hunter out of the player.
Good news for hunters looking to match their pet raptor with their Lashtail Hatchling minipet - patch 5.2 brings in the Fierce Anklebiters, who use that skin.
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Hey everyone, Kalliope here with the tiniest little raptors to ever learn how to open a door.
Patch 5.2 introduces a number of tiny tameable raptors who use the Lashtail Hatchling skin instead of the regular red raptor skin. The main differences are the eyes, the smoothed-out skin, and the lack of necklaces.
They shift to normal raptor size once tamed and gain the family ability tear armor, an armor debuff that stacks up to three times, capping at 12%.
The only raptors with this skin that are flagged tameable are the Fierce Anklebiters, who live in Za'Tual on the Isle of the Thunder King. They tend to travel in pairs or packs of three, but the extras shouldn't be a problem since they don't hit that hard.
For the most current information on the fierce anklebiters and other hunter pets, be sure to visit Petopia and the Petopia forums.
From the Isle of the Thunder King, this is Kalliope, showing you where the wild things are.
The Zandalari devilsaurs will greatly expand the popular devilsaur family in patch 5.2. No taming tricks here, though you might want to use freeze traps.
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Hey everyone! This is Kalliope, here to introduce you to the ferocious new devilsaurs that are coming in patch 5.2.
The Zandalari devilsaurs use a more detailed model than the old ones and have a few other slight differences, like their bumpier noses. Once tamed, they are typical devilsaurs, exotic pets with two abilities: terrifying roar, which provides a raidwide 5% critical strike buff, and monstrous bite, a healing debuff that lasts for eight seconds and does not stack with widow venom.
Almost all of the tameable devilsaurs spawn on the Isle of Giants, far north of Kun-Lai Summit. As with their dire horn neighbors, all of the devilsaurs are flagged as tameable. No one will be able to tame the adults until the next expansion when the level cap raises, but the level 90 babies can be tamed just fine.
One lone tameable devilsaur spawns on the Isle of the Thunder King: the mighty Kroshik. He is not a rare spawn, but is not always available to be tamed either. He goes through a complete life cycle over several days, from childhood, to adulthood, to death. Kroshik can only be tamed in his adult phase. On those days, he patrols Ihgaluk Crag, where the saurok kneel before him when he passes. Kroshik respawns within a minute or two after being tamed.
The Zandalari devilsaurs come in five colors, more than doubling the existing number of skin options. In a recent build change, the shading of the blue devilsaurs was made much darker. We don't know whether this change is intentional or not, so be sure to stick around for updates.
From the Isle of Giants, this is Kalliope, showing you where the wild things are.
Patch 5.2 brings an entirely new family into the mix, the dire horns. Hunters who want to tame them will need to be well-versed in dinomancy.
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Hey everyone! Kalliope here on the PTR's Isle of Giants, watching the brand new dire horns in action.
Dire horns, as a completely new pet family, are an unusual mid-expansion addition. Their family ability is reflective armor plating, which deflects all spells cast in front of the direhorn for six seconds. They are non-exotic pets, so any hunter who's met the prerequisite can tame them.
The hunter must learn how to tame direhorns from an Ancient Tome of Dinomancy. This book is bind on pickup and drops randomly from the dinomancers on the Isle of Giants. The knowledge is not account-wide; any alt hunters will have to get their own tomes before being able to tame a dire horn of their own.
A small handful of tameable dire horns live on the Isle of the Thunder King, accessible via the portal in the Shado-Pan camp in Townlong Steppes, but most of them are found here on the Isle of Giants, far to the north of Kun-Lai Summit. Every dire horn on the Isle of Giants is flagged as tameable, though half of them are level 91 and therefore will not be able to be tamed until the next expansion.
They come in five different tameable colors: white, red, orange, green, and blue. In a recent build change, the shading of a few of them became much darker. At this time, we don't know whether this change is intended or not, so stick around for updates.
From the Isle of Giants, this is Kalliope, showing you where the wild things are.
Meet the three spirit porcupines of patch 5.2: Degu, Gumi, and Hutia. If you didn't learn how to kite after Deth'tilac and Solix, these three will definitely put you through your paces.
Just remember:
FITE SPIRIT PORCUPINE FITE!
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Hey everyone! This is Kalliope, here to introduce you to the three exotic spirit porcupines who are coming in patch 5.2.
All three are neutral level 90 elites and each is a different color: Gumi is blue, Hutia is green, and Degu is the first ever red spirit beast.
Once tamed, the three porcupines are standard spirit beasts with the usual three abilities: spirit beast blessing, a mastery raid buff that scales with the hunter's level; spirit mend, a targetable heal over time that scales with the hunter's ranged attack power; and spirit walk, a stealth ability that grants a 20% damage bonus to the beast's first hit from stealth at the cost of 50% movement speed.
The trio's arrival was foreshadowed back in the Pandaria beta when well-known Blizzard developer Ghostcrawler responded to a post on the forums which asked for porcupines to remain tameable. Along with officially making porcupines a permanent family, he mentioned a spirit porcupine. Hunters weren't sure whether he was joking or not...until now.
The porcupines are the first rare hunter pets in Pandaria to sit out in the open. However, one does not simply walk up to a spirit porcupine and tame it. They may be easier to find than the previous Pandarian rares, but they are still challenge tames.
The triplets have the same basic taming mechanic, but each brings a unique twist that makes their tame different from the other two. Like Deth'tilac in the Molten Front, the spirit porcupines are strong-willed and must be damaged while kited until their health reaches 20% - only then can they be tamed. This time around, however, there are no pet sacrifice shortcuts to getting the beast's health down and serpent sting won't help keep it slowed.
Hutia sits in a circle of blue torches in the Jade Forest, just north of Greenstone Village. Her special ability is Spirit Heal, an interruptable heal that she can cast while moving. Unlike her brothers, Hutia can be rooted and scattershotted, which makes it easier to interrupt her while kiting her. You'll want to stay in range of Hutia to stop her heals, so kite her in circles around her spawn point. However, be careful with glaive toss - there are several neutral porcupines in the area.
Degu patrols between Crane Wing Refuge and Thunder Cleft on the north side of the Krasarang Wilds. He's the only one of the trio to move prior to being engaged. His special ability is barbed quill, a hard-hitting ranged attack that he'll cast on a single target that's too far away from him. Between that and his massive melee hits, the hunter is forced to continuously kite him in his dead zone. Degu doesn't make it easy, though - he stops moving to cast his quill, so be prepared to correct your range often. The cast breaks if the target steps back into Degu's dead zone, just like steady shot used to for hunters who got dead zoned by an opponent. Kiting Degu straight back along his path should keep you in range of him without getting meleed, which is especially important, since Degu's melee hits are stronger than those of his siblings - that means he can one shot you with a lucky crit. There are a couple of stealthed tigers hiding along his path, so be careful before pulling him.
Gumi sits north of One Keg in the Neverest Mountains of Kun-Lai Summit, not too far from the east side of Stompy's path. Gumi doesn't have a visible bonus ability like his siblings, but he does passively move faster than either of them. Between his speed boost and the rocky terrain, aspect of the cheetah is a must in order to kite him without dying. The hardest section is the first part of the kite, which involves going uphill via one of two paths. Once you get past that, the ground mostly levels out and you can just follow the main path. Hunters will likely find themselves halfway across the mountains before Gumi enters the tameable range.
Right now on the PTR, each of the porcupines respawns after about five or six minutes. This could just be for testing purposes, due to the nature of the challenge tames, so be sure to check back for updates.
For the most current information on Degu, Gumi, Hutia, and other hunter pets, be sure to visit Petopia and the Petopia forums.
From all over Pandaria, this is Kalliope, showing you where the wild things are.
Patch 5.2 brings exciting new tames on three different fronts: the Isle of Giants, the Isle of the Thunder King, and three different spots in Pandaria. This video gives a taste of things to come in upcoming videos, from the new dire horn family to the three spirit porcupines. Stay tuned!
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Hey everyone! This is Kalliope, here to give you a sneak peek at what's coming in patch 5.2.
There are two new islands, the Isle of Giants and the Isle of the Thunder King. Both are chock-full of dinosaurs, including the brand new dire horn family, several never-before-seen devilsaur skins, and the skin of a familiar little raptor friend. Oh, and if dinosaurs aren't your thing, there are a couple of shiny dragon turtles too. And that's just the beginning: there are also our first spirit beasts of the expansion - three of them! - each with their own challenging taming mechanic.
That's a whole lot to take in at once, so I'll be breaking everything down into several videos so you too will know where the wild things are. See you soon!
Disappointingly, but unsurprisingly, the latest build of the 5.2 patch on the PTR has marked the Gorishi grubs as untameable. If you want to tame one, you should hurry and do so before 5.2 hits live servers.
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Hey guys, another quick update from Kalliope on the PTR, this time on the Gorishi grubs. As expected, the tamed grubs shrank in the latest build of the 5.2 patch and the wild ones are now no longer tameable. Like the amber parasites, if you want to tame one, do not hesitate to do so immediately. So far, it looks like hunters will get to keep their limited edition grubs, but if that changes, I'll let you know.
The first challenge tame of the Molten Front is Anthriss, the gorgeous yellow lava spider. We won't have to travel far to visit one of her brothers next week.
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Hey everyone! This is Kalliope, here in the Molten Front to introduce you to one of the rare challenge tame lava spiders - the electric yellow beauty, Anthriss.
Anthriss sits at the bottom of a ramp in the middle of the Molten Front, which makes her easy to spot - when she's there, that is. Anthriss has one of the simplest taming mechanics of all the challenge tames from patch 4.2, which makes seeing her spawned in the first place the real challenge.
Anthriss is level 85 in the wild and acts as a normal spider once tamed. The spider family ability is web, a five second root that can be cast from 30 yards away. This is especially appropriate for Anthriss, as she's the only one of the rare Molten Front spiders who actually webs players in the wild.
Her taming mechanic is simple: she fires searing webs at her victims, which places a powerful damage over time effect on her target. The damage can be nullified by submerging in a nearby lava pool, which does considerably less damage. Don't use the pool directly in front of her; it's not deep enough to swim in.
At level 90, hunters don't even have to use the lava to tame her, especially if they have the glyph of tame beast, which reduces the cast time to six seconds. Still, it's not wise to underestimate Anthriss. If you don't outlevel her, she still stands a good chance of killing you in a straight tame.
Like her brothers, Anthriss spawns every six to 18 hours.
For the most current information on Anthriss and other hunter pets, be sure to visit Petopia and the Petopia forums.
From the lava pools of the Molten Front, this is Kalliope showing you where the wild things are.
The first build of the 5.2 patch is now available on the PTR and with it comes the revelation that the amber parasites will no longer be tameable. If you want one, you'd better tame it before 5.2 hits live servers.
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Hey guys, quick update from Kalliope on the PTR on the amber parasites. As of the first build of the 5.2 patch, amber parasites are no longer tameable. If you want one of these maggots, you'd better tame one before the patch hits. We don't know when it's coming, but it will be relatively soon, so do NOT wait. Thus far, the Gorishi grubs are still okay, but they haven't had their size normalized yet either. I'll keep you posted on future developments. Stay tuned!
We continue our journey toward the Molten Front this week with a visit to Ankha and Magria, the spectral tigers of Mount Hyjal. That wraps up the rares of Mount Hyjal that were released in patch 4.2. Next week, we'll enter the Molten Front, where the other seven challenge tames reside.
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Hey everyone! Kalliope here in the Regrowth of Mount Hyjal, here to introduce you to the spirit beasts known as Ankha and Magria.
These two spectral kitties trade places with each other, sharing the same path, level, and special challenging taming mechanic. They are identical in every way except for their color: Ankha is white and Magria is blue.
Both cats are level 85 and have the three spirit beast pet abilities once tamed. Spirit beast blessing is a mastery raid buff that scales with the hunter's level, maxing out at 3000 at level 90. Their exotic ability is spirit mend, a targetable heal over time which scales with the hunter's ranged attack power. Their bonus ability, spirit walk, allows the beast to enter stealth mode with a 50% movement speed penalty, but grants a 20% damage bonus to her first attack from stealth.
If you haven't freed the four ancients in Mount Hyjal yet, then you won't even see the Regrowth on the map. It only replaces the Flamewake after you've completed the quest Aessina's Miracle - and even then, the cats won't be visible until you complete Through the Gates of Hell.
Like their neighbor Ban'thalos and most other spirit beasts, Ankha and Magria are neutral and won't attack until provoked - except for the occasional defenseless critter.
The challenge to taming them is surviving their damage buff, which increases power in relation to the target's armor. If you're wearing even one piece of gear that has armor on it, you'll die before the tame completes, even at level 90.
The solution is simple - remove all your gear that has armor on it. I opt to wear pieces with no armor for style points. You can still wield your weapon, which helps for positioning the cats away from the aggressive mobs moving around the area.
It's a coin flip to see whether it's Ankha or Magria who spawns - there's no pattern. One cat or the other will spawn around every 8 to 12 hours.
For the most current information on Ankha, Magria, and other hunter pets, be sure to visit Petopia and the Petopia forums.
Dodging fireballs in Mount Hyjal, this is Kalliope showing you where the wild things are.
