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: An Overview of the MoP Rare Beasts

As we count down the days to Pandaria, I'll be taking you through a video tour of the nine rares who will be released with the expansion, starting with this overview.

Transcription:

Hey everyone, this is Kalliope from the Petopia forums, here to give you a quick look at the nine rare spawn beasts who will be awaiting hunters in Pandaria on September 25th.

Back in patch 4.2, hunters were treated to 10 challenge tames. Each beast required hunters to figure out its taming mechanics and successfully execute them. Trial and error could often prove fatal.

The first wave of rare Pandarian beasts may not be anywhere near as deadly, but they're just as cunning. They still test hunters' skills, but rather than requiring swift reflexes, their focus is on tracking.

All nine rares have the same basic mechanics. They wander around stealthed, leaving tracks on the ground that only hunters can see. Once a hunter finds the end of the trail, a well-placed flare will bring out the beast. You can then either tame the beast or mark it with Hunter's Mark. Marking gives you the option of taming the beast in a safer area or allowing you to follow it around for a while.

It may sound simple by comparison to the original challenge tames, but these wily creatures are quite good at avoiding capture. Half-buried or missing tracks can throw even the most seasoned hunter off the trail. Some of the beasts cross bodies of water to lose the hunters following them, while others completely change directions after dropping a track. A couple of them even phase out in parts of their zone if the hunter hasn't completed certain quests yet. And if none of those tactics work, there's always the old standby of walking through a whole bunch of aggressive mobs.

Those aren't the only big differences between the new rares and their predecessors. The most noticeable change is that only hunters can see the tracks or flare the beasts into visibility. That means that your only competition while hunting is other hunters.

The new rares are also marked with elite gold dragons rather than silver to further discourage others from attacking them even when they're visible.

I'll be introducing each of the new rare beasts individually in subsequent videos and have already created a guide with helpful tips and tricks to tracking them down. And for even more in-depth information on the rares of Pandaria, be sure to visit Petopia and its forums.

From the Valley of the Four Winds, this is Kalliope, inviting you to stick around and see where the wild things are.

Best-laid plans and wild things

When I started poking around on the beta, I figured I'd have time to wander around with my pets and share our adventures.  Instead, life took a left turn and real life interfered.  Things finally quieted down and then....the rare tameables came into play.  I've been on the forefront of the discoveries and tracking, but have been posting on Petopia rather than here, since it's been a team effort.

The fruits of our labor: http://forums.wow-petopia.com/viewtopic.php?f=39&t=18527

 I am so pleased with how that post turned out, and it continues to get better as it gets more refined.  And it was even featured on WoW Insider in Frostheim's Scattered Shots!  I've contributed to efforts that have been featured there before, but never as the compiling writer.  (Speaking of which, if you found your way here from there, hi and welcome to the insanity!)

On a personal level, I am afraid that I will be taming more of these rares on live than I'd like to.  I sort of backed into bonding with them; at first glance, the only ones I connected with were Stompy (the first I'd found <3) and Bristlespine (giant porcupine, c'mon).

I'm unsure if Pan would work as Stompy; I think I like Stompy better as himself.  Bristlespine is another matter.  I connected with his personality immediately.  With the revamp of Jade Forest, Calydonian's original spawn no longer exists, so I've been trying to figure out where he moved to.  Bristlespine would have worked...if he was red....which he is not.  But while following Bristle across Kun Lai, I noticed him pass through a herd of yaks and one red porcupine.  And I knew instantly that my path lies that way: Calydonian will be reborn as Bristlespine, then transfer into his red body, Hector-style.  It's a relief to know that he of all pets will be okay; he's the reason I'm still here.

As I got to know Patrannache, I realized that he is ridiculously difficult to track down, definitely one of the most difficult to spot.  So of course I'll have to do that trek on live for Eurydice.  Orpheus will settle for nothing less than a mate who's every bit as hard to track down as he is.  I am both looking forward to and dreading this hunt.

The one who truly has me confused is green Portent.  As if Hippomenes hasn't been through enough turmoil on the beta!  But the attachment green Portent has to me is ridiculous.  For the past couple of days, he's spawned green while I've been around/predicted it at least half a dozen times - no exaggeration.  Shades of Sambas - he appears to be stalking me, so of course I thought of Leo immediately.  I really like white organic quilen Hippomenes....and yet, I am very seriously considering that change.  Most likely, I won't decide until I see Portent for the first time when I'm 90 on live.  We shall see what destiny holds!