Sometimes I dream of you...

And then I wake up in a cold sweat! Ok a little over the top maybe, but it's a little late in the game to be rational. Here I sit in the coldest winter I can remember, bundled up and locked inside and yet still no urges to return to Azeroth. Am I getting older? Wiser? Too mature maybe? I highly doubt it. Sure I played Star Wars Galaxies EMU for a few months to get my MORPG fix, my nicotine patch if you will but once I learned it would eventually reset I lost my drive to grind anymore. My Skyrim fascination lasted about a month I am embarrassed to say and unless Clash of Clans on my iPhone counts I am completely gameless. So I'm a little confused why WoW isn't calling my name and preying on my weakness. I do miss my pets, mostly Duck who I hope has not gotten so hungry he's eatten Ashtail. I heard a new expansion is coming to WoW, or maybe it's already here. If it's the last one before they end WoW surely I should jump in for the going away party? I'd love to know what if anything has changed in there since I last played. More rare pets to tempt me maybe? I'd hate to have it all end one day and regret not finishing it with a bang. So here I am throwing it to my blog to see if anyone still swings by, and maybe someone to make sense of the madness.

Yes I Stopped...

I know no post is needed but obviously I stopped playing quite a few months ago. It got a bit grindy and to be honest I just stopped feeling the urges. I don't know if Dakona will be coming back, I'd like to think it's only a matter of time before I do. However lately I've been deciding whether I want a PS4 or Xbox One and most importantly for the Blue-ray player but also for a bit of gaming. I've always been an Xbox girl but this could be the console that gets me over to Sony again. I haven't played Playstation since the original came out. I'm also thinking about grabbing a PSP Vita since it recently came out with a Walking Dead bundle and I absolutely love the Walking Dead so maybe I'll give it a go.

You might be asking yourself "Well how are you getting your gaming fix now that you've stopped playing WoW?" and that's probably not the question you were thinking but I've actually dusted off my brothers Skyrim game and given it the old college try. Never played one of these before and I'm only a few levels in and I'm not loving or hating it yet. So I don't predict I'll last very long but we shall see.

Thanks for checking in if you still do, I'll make updates as they happen for anyone interested and hopefully everyone is having a great summer.

Love
Amber

Manic Mondays!

Monday is the day I run around like it's Christmas Eve trying to get everything I should of done days ago finished before the night ends. Today was no different however I was a good girl this week and had done most of the heavy lifting early on. One of the last things on the list was Oondasta who I wasn't sure I would squeeze in this week. I put myself there Sunday night hoping to log in just as 3 raid groups were about to hog tie this big boy. No such luck on the groups but he was there waiting for me when I popped on. Considered soloing him but didn't think that would be fair to the rest of the sever so I patiently waited and within the hour the island was covered in troops. Not a fun fight I will say, luckily they brought him near the graveyard so the respawns were convenient. I was fortunate to loot a Belt of the Dying Diemetradon which is no mount but is a nice consolation to my huge repair bill I earned. Looking forward to a clean pallet tomorrow, lots to do, lots to see. I hope everyone has a productive week like I did. Cheerio!

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times

With a new patch comes new goodies and toys and as always the first thing I check for is new pets. Selecting my 25 partners in crime as you know was a hard and well thought out process, and like adding any new players to a team it means some existing ones have to go. It's gotten to the point now where I've bonded with most of my 25 pets. With two new pets added last week and one added today it has been both a joyous and difficult time, but I've managed to suck it up and solider on.

Since Pandaria I've added Patrannache the pretty in pink flamingo look-a-like who as a bird I normally wouldn't fancy but when you're screaming that much hot pink you've got my attention all day. I named her Pedal and I'm sure she won't see much time out of the stable, I do think it's a must for any lady hunters out there especially if you want your fellow raid members or guildmates to take notice. In a way it's a female hunters best version of cleavage :)

The second must have for me was Savage the White Pandaren Tiger. I think it's a unique rare and I am a sucker for blue eyes and Savage definitely has some beautiful baby blues. I named him Ukali for reasons of my own, not sure he's won a spot ahead of Pryde my Sambas or Bosco my Skarr but who knows what will happen. I should note these pets were tamed by tracking them down via foot prints on the ground and using flares to unstealth them. It wasn't extremely time consuming so maybe I got lucky. Hopefully this is just the start of more pets with blue eyes and if I can get my Siberian Husky look-a-like someday I'll be nothing but smiles.

Lastly and most exciting for me is the new pets added with Patch 5.2. Some cool looking pets with nice colors most notably the Stegosaurus which come in different patterns. However what really caught my eye not surprisingly were the new spirit beasts added. Now I've never been a fan of porcupines but a chance to have the first red spectral pet was a definite must for me. Better known as "Degu" this porcupine is tamed much like the spiders in Molten Front and just like the spiders at Molten Front this little jerk gave me everything and more I could handle. You need to dps it down to 20% in order to tame it which is hard enough as you need to kite it while staying close enough that it won't use it's ranged attack on you, but far enough away that it can't maul you to death. If it gets two solid hits on you you're done like dinner. Luckily for me Degu was a fan of the blog and gave herself up after a few failed attempts.

I named her after the person who kicked my butt into going out and getting back into the groove, I love the color and even for a porcupine it's kinda cute. It's kinda of what Sonic is to hedgehogs except it's a porupi.. well you get the point. I've been playing survival and I still love Duck to much to replace him but I'm gonna show her off for a little while since I earned it and who knows maybe we'll bond. Other then pets Dakona has been grinding away in LFR and slowly upgrading her gear. I've yet to run into anyone who knows my blog while in LFR so keep a look out for me and be sure to say hi if you see me!

Still kicking... and screaming

They say curiosity killed the cat but it seems like I haven't used up all my nine lives yet. To be honest I've been playing Pandaria for about 3 weeks now. I was undecided if I should continue the blog because I was unsure how long I'd actually stick around... and not much has changed on that front.

I switched realms on a whim. I lost my partner in crime to retirement and the guild I was in had changed servers although I can't say I remember anyone that was in it anyways. I took Dakona to Laughing Skull (PVP) I really don't know if this server is good or bad. I wish I had something more to say about it.

Pandaria itself has been alright, I can't say I enjoyed leveling to 90 but then again I don't think many people do. I think because I missed the inital rush of everyone leveling their character I spent much of the time all alone in most zones. The benefits were few, my NPCscaner seemed to go off every other hour and I didn't have to fight with horde or alliance for specific kills. I found myself fustrated by how easily I was aggro'd and by how far I could be from mobs but would still catch their eye. Maybe it was because I smelt so good, who knows, but I definatly did let out more heavy sighs then I'm normally good for. I did enjoy most of the zones, the beautiful scenery was well done. The story lines were ok, it's hard not to find pandas adorable, especially the little ones.

One quest line had a touching moment where a panda family member had died and Mr Panda sought out her final resting place. I wish it wasn't 4am when I was motoring through the quests cause I think I missed out on a great moment. Hitting 90 was anti-climatic, the relief of finishing quests was nice but I found out quickly that once you do enough Heroics to upgrade your gear you only have two quick raids waiting for you. Add in a world boss that takes 10 minutes and you can pretty much max out your options in an hour and a half. Even with the engineering helm and the leatherworking chest piece, add in an epic or two from raids, I'm still not eligible for the other two raids. It looks like there's all kinds of dailies I can do, which we know I won't and there's something you can get that will help your chances of getting loot which really grinds my gears. Apparently the new patch will increase loot drop which I know I won't be complaining about but alas I hope something gives soon as I don't have much interest in logging in more than twice a week at the moment.

I'll give it another few weeks and see what happens, hoping they add some new rare pets or something that will kick my competitive parts in gear. If anyone has any suggestions or tips I'd love to hear them!

No Surprise!

Ok well it's no surprise I am not playing WoW at the moment. This is not uncommon as I usually take a long break when the warm summer weather arrives. I would like to apologize for not making this post sooner now that summer is coming to an end. I have not yet gotten the itch to get back to Azeroth but with the Fall on the horizon it will not be a shock if I am back to get baby Dakona finished and adult Dakona ready for the new expansion in the near future. If and when that happens I will be back to update my blog and I hope you will continue to check in from time to time. I want to thank those who have not given up on me and thank you to those who have made comments in the past few months.

I hope everyone has had a great summer thus far and I hope you all squeeze out the last stretch of sunny weather left!

xoxo
Amber

Getting Distracte...err Closer

Oh how that warm weather calls to me. Yes it has been tough to log in these past few months but some snow yesterday had me running back to Azeroth with my tail between my legs. Adult Dakona has already retired to her summer slumber and I predict she will stay there until early fall. However baby Dakona refuses to go down and continues to crawl a long at a snails pace. She now has Borean Tundra, Howling Fjord, Grizzly Hills and Dragonblight under her belt. She is currently over half way through Zul'Drak and is itching to get to Sholazar Basin where her bestest friend awaits her. Baby Dakona stumbled across Har'koa who is the mate of Loque'nahak while questing this week.

Seeing Har'koa has been motivation to finish up the Halloween like Zul'Drak and get to the peaceful tranquility of Sholazar Basin. I have two spirit beasts on Team Dakona right now and will be hunting Loque the second I get there. I have XP capped myself at 80 to keep myself focused and will work hard to get myself to the next set of zones soon.

Tag I'm It?

I've seen this a few times on other blogs lately and was surprised when Sesamee tagged me on her blog Shooting Azeroth.

Apparently the premise is as follows:

• Go into your image folder
• Open the sixth sub-folder and choose the sixth image.
• Publish the image
• Challenge six new bloggers.
• Link to them.

 I didn't have six image sub-folders so I just took the sixth image in my screenshots folder. As a blogger I randomly take screenshots here and there when I think I see something worth snapping, so the photo that I am sharing has no real meaning to it.

It's just Dakona on her Time Lost Drake stopping for a rest. I don't know where that is... maybe Wetlands? I think it's a pretty picture, nice scenery.

Now the fun part is finding some fellow bloggers who haven't already been tagged, I'm a little late to the party but here are my tags:


http://piercing-shots.blogspot.com/

http://mindlesswow.blogspot.com/

New Adventures

Everyone's character looks like their age could be anywhere from 16-60 depending on the race you are. As a blood elf I fall at the younger end of that and I've sometimes wondered about the years "before" I took control of Dakona. Now I'm not much of a role player, but in order to have played this game for so long I've had to relate to Dakona and assume parts of myself are in her. Anyone who knows me, knows that I HATE questing. In fact Kecco my paladin and my original toon was leveled from 50 to 70 from only healing instances since I refused to play Retribution. I currently have every class that a blood elf can play with the exception of a warlock and all are level 85 with the exception of my priest who is level 80. How they each got leveled up is a mixture of "run throughts", which is when a high level friend clears out instances while you stand behind collecting free XP, battleground matches which I'm ashamed to admit were probably mostly afk'd while multitasking and instances when I got near 85. My point is, between six level 85 characters I probably did the same amount of quests that most people do on one toon. Dakona to date is still the only character of mine who did the level 80-85 quests and only because of the reputation I needed to get the shoulder and helm enchants. So again I reiterate, I hate questing.

Fast forward to a few months ago, and I'm sitting here wondering about the adventures that Dakona could of had and I wonder about her story. I don't know why, I guess I was having a weird day but I got this urge to create another Dakona and quest each zone as like a prelude to her life and giving her a past that I could associate with my main Dakona. Sounds like a bad movie I know, and here we have me, someone who hates questing, suddenly wanting to quest each zone while acquiring the Loremaster achievement a long the way. I had been visiting the Petopia web site on a regular bases and knew they had a guild on Nesingwary US that seemed like a good setting to keep me company during my adventures. As I created this younger Dakona I have to admit I did have doubts this sudden motivation would wear off shortly.

Five months later and I now find myself spending more time than ever playing this younger Dakona and having a blast doing so! Baby Dakona is now level 80 and has completed the questing achievements for Eastern Kingdon, Kalimdor and Outlands. I am currently working on Northrend and once finished will only have Cataclysm left. I can safely say I have done more quests on this toon than I have ever done on all the toons I've ever played since I started playing. Playing a baby Dakona has given me a chance to see all the parts of the game I had missed when I use to fly through the lower levels. I have bonded with some new pets and rekindled relationships with some old ones as well. I can't say it's been all roses as some of the zones brought me to my limit but I was able to prevail and now sit less than a dozen zones away from finishing.

I have had some really emotional moments, including being appointed "Queen of the Orges" in Blade's Edge Mountains, which almost brought me to tears one night. After being appointed "Queen" I realized I was a few quests short of the achievement and had to go back and kill Orges to obtain a quest they dropped. I almost didn't make it cause it was so upsetting. Upon killing them they would say things like "Me honored... queen kill me", "Queen think... there really is... an Ogri'la?" I was torn up for weeks! Now I never look at Orges the same way and I take great honor in my Queen status.

I've run into all kinds of moments like this a long the way, most are happy including these little baby murlocs who followed me around for hours while I quested in Borean Tundra which I definitely enjoyed. I am now entering zones where rare spawns happen so I've had to try and stay focused while not wandering. Although I just finished Grizzly Hills where yes I did swing by and get Arcturis since he just happened to be up (wink). I've also started doing the Netherwing rep quests in order to obtain the Netherwing Drakes. I have no idea why, I guess anything I haven't done with my main Dakona I feel a need to explore.

For those wondering if I've been neglecting the "adult" Dakona, the answer is no, currently I am focusing on her gear and I've been doing LFR each week. I don't need anything anymore from LFR but I do it for the valor. I got super lucky this week while getting into a 10 man group for the first time I had a tier piece drop on 3 straight bosses and won the legs and shoulders. I also won the crossbow from Warlord Zon'ozz so I've been a happy camper for the last few days. I know this is a lengthy blog entry but this is what happens when I don't check in regularly. I do plan on updating baby Dakona's adventures and hopefully I don't burn out down the home stretch. I've had to turn off the XP option just so I stay focused. Getting near the end, there are certainly more distractions now than ever. Here's to finishing strong!

Update 2012

It's been a while since I checked in, but as I said at Christmas it's not due a lack of WoW activity. In fact this is turning into one of the most enjoyable periods of WoW I've had in ages. I'm still on the dying server of Scilla, and I joined a predominately all Asian guild that speaks very little English but I'm loving life and the new LFR set up. But the most exciting news is I have put together my transmo set!. It took about 5 Black Temple and 3 Hyjal runs to get everything but I finally got it all and I'm pretty stoked about it. I've come to hate Shamans in the last few months, having to roll against them for tier and of course the stealing of hunter gear by Shaman healers, so it's ironic I now look like one but after hours of research I think this is the best look for Dakona.

For those wondering where all the pieces came from, here it is.

Head: Mechanized Snow Goggles
Chest: Golden Links of Restoration
Shoulders: The Wavemender's Mantle
Hands: Spiritwalker Gauntlets
Waist: Naturalist's Preserving Cinch
Legs: Frozen Forest Kilt

I think I look pretty cool and I'm excited that the polearm from DS matches it perfectly as well. I'd love to get some opinions and I'm curious what any other hunters have come up with.

Merry Christmas!!!

I hope Santa was good to everyone. I've been slacking on the blog but I've been playing WoW more than ever. Lots of new updates and blogging for 2012 I promise. Thanks for visiting my blog this year and I look forward to the year ahead!

Dakona's Favorite 25 Pets

As a Hunter choosing your pet is like choosing a car or choosing a mate, everyone's taste is different and depending on your personality the pets you end up with are often a reflection of who you are as a person. You DPS whores won't understand, sure it's just pixels but it's also our partner in crime, our Robin, our Samwise Gamgee, our Donkey, you get the point... it's a Hunter thing.

With this last patch, the temptation of adding 10 possible new pets to our stables is pretty appealing. I personally added 4 which wasn't easy. I thought this would be a great time to post my favorite 25 pets within the world of Azeroth.

#25 - Ashtail

Barely making the cut was Ashtail. This cute little fox isn't very rare but it's skin is one of a kind. Not only is it beautiful but it also dances on command.

#24 - Echeyakee

One of only two white lions,  Echeyakee is a must for any low hunters when they hit level 15. Spawned when using an item only obtained in a quest this lion's skin can't be found again until you come across Sian-Rotam at level 53 in Winterspring. Hard not to have a soft spot for this beauty later on when reflecting on your lowbie days.



#23 - Angered Arakkoa Protector

Not a huge fan of birds but this majestic pet takes a bit of skill to acquire. After injuring a Lashh'an Wing Guard low enough in Blade's Edge Mountains, he will summon this bird at which time you can tame. I've never seen another hunter with this pet to date although I'm sure there are some out there.

#22 - Sunburst Adder

This one won't get many votes but for you fellow female hunters out there this snake is a must! There is not a single pet anywhere that radiates more pinkness and trust me after a little while this snake grows on you and you won't be able to escape it's adorable nature.







 #21 - Gezzarak the Huntress

Gezzarak isn't the prettiest girl at the party but she does play hard to get. Besides sharing my name this huntress is also one of a kind and taming her is no walk in the park. She is summoned through a quest chain in Terokkar Forest. I think every stable should have at least one warp stalker and Gezzarak is definitely worth the effort.






 #20 - Aotona

Again not much of a bird lover, I came across Aotona while searching for two other rares in Sholazar Basin. Aotona's colors stand out in a crowd and if you have a Hyacinth Macaw companion there is no better combo if you want to strut your stuff.


#19 - Madexx (Red)

Madexx comes in 5 different colors and while some people take which ever they are lucky enough to get, some prefer the one that suits them the best. For me it's the red one, not only is it the only Madexx with pink eyes it's also the one I think stands out the most.







#18 - Jadefang

Jadefang is a little tricky to get to but once you're there it's only a matter of time before he's yours. Tame him on the first go and on the second you can kill him for his miniature companion version. Jadefang is the rarest Shale Spider and the only green one.




#17 - Karkin

This crab gets points for being shiny and new but the competition with the tenacity pets in my stable are fierce due in part to rarely needing my pet to "tank" for me. So while he is extremely cute for a crab, he is worth adding to your collection but its doubtful he will see much time by  your side unless you take on a lot of solo adventures.




#16 - Oil-Stained Wolf

Acquiring this dirty mutt can be a little frustrating but perseverance does pay off and this glitch makes for one of the coolest animated pets in the game.There are some very good youtube videos on how to tame this wolf in Borean Tundra and if you're a sucker for dogs and wolves like I am, this one is a must.





#15 - Pogeyan

This is another favorite that gets bumped up a few spots but don't over look this unique pet. This is the best transition from Echeyakee when you hit level 28. Although rare you should be able to find Pogeyan without much trouble in Northern Stranglethorn. A shiny coat and glowing ember eyes, you will quickly fall in love with this kitty.

#14 - Ghostcrawler

Uh oh two crabs on the list, maybe I should see a doctor. It's hard not to love anything that is spectral and for that alone I think Ghostcrawler is worth adding to your collection. However with so many BM only pets I think there's just to many other pets that edge him out.





 #13 - Ban'thalos

Another pet who's value goes up if it wasn't restricted to the BM spec, Ban'thalos is an upgraded version of Olm the Wise. It takes a bit of an effort to figure out how to tame it but being one of the new rares you can't help but get swept up in the hype.






#12 - Karoma

This pet will always remind me of the Ancient Grimtotem Spirit Guide glitch. I think it would be my #1 if that was still the only way to get this ghost wolf. Regardless Karoma is very sharp looking and a must for all collectors.







#11 - Gondria

As a female hunter you can't ask for a better side kick than Gondria. It's purple glow is beautiful and unlike other long toothed cats this kitty has no plaque build up. Unfortunately Gondria gets bumped down a bit with the new tiger additions in patch 4.2.



#10 - Magria

Yes I know it's Gondria dressed in blue and if you want a green version then check out Ahnka. Like Madexx this is a preference thing and Magria's blue glow is my personal favorite. Perhaps the shiny and new factor plays into it barely edging out Gondria.




#9 - King Krush

Some people go crazy for Devilsaurs but me not so much. However I do have a soft spot for this one and I love that it keeps some of its size. This guy towers over me which helps it keep its tough guy image and keeps annoying Gnomes at a distance.







#8 - Arcturis

It's just not every day you see a spectral bear which makes Arcturis a true one of a kind pet. Arcturis who similar to Jadefang is not hard to find if you have the time and some patience. It's hard not to love Arcturis, as far as personalities go, it always seems to be doing something and without it I would never of had a reason to pass through Grizzly Hills.




#7 - Skoll

A lot of people think Skoll is hands down the coolest looking pet in the game and I definitely see where they are coming from. Skoll's electric animation makes him stand out in a crowded city but being a BM pet I hardly see him around anymore. If BM pets become usable in all specs I could see this pet becoming the most popular pet in Azeroth.






#6 -  Deth'tilac

I hate spiders to the bone and yet here we have Deth'tilac at #6. I don't know what it is about this spider but I am hooked. I assume it is largely due to its purple skin which appeals to my feminine side but I absolutely adorable the way it looks beside me as I'm running around Orgrimmar. I don't endorse spiders but there are 5 new ones added from the last patch that might be worth considering.





#5 - Terrorpene

Every hunter has that one pet they pull out when they want to tank something big, for me it's always my  Terrorpene. Taming this turtle in Mount Hyjal was no walk in the park but perhaps along with Skoll is one of the most remarkable looking pets in the game.







#4 - Chromaggus

I love my Chromaggus a lot, which shouldn't come as a surprise since I made a video about it. The journey to him isn't extremely hard but does ward away any casual hunters who aren't willing to put in the effort which makes him fairly rare. There are only 5 different looking core hounds available in game and none are more predominate than Chromaggus.






#3 - Skarr

Each time new pets are introduced there always seems to be that one pet that becomes the most desirable. For me in the last patch it was Skarr. I always want a cat by my side when things get real and Skarr's made a home in my top 5 and hasn't left since being tamed.



#2 - Sambas

When Cataclysm was released Sambas was immediately the pet I wanted the most and after taming him, he rarely left my side. Sambas was my main raiding pet and still one of my most trusted. Although there's no fancy animations with Sambas, the clean and sleek look is one of my personal favorites. If you're a hunter, you have to have Sambas.



#1 - Loque'nahak

Sad to say but this wasn't even close. Loque'nahak is easily my favorite pet in the entire game. I've seen some haters out there but I don't know how anyone could dislike this gorgeous creature. Again it's unfortunate this is a BM only pet but this is a pet you would see a lot more of if BM became a viable raiding spec or if this pet could be used with the other available hunter specs. Love it or hate it, this pet is probably the most sought after pet in WoW history, from hunters looking to tame it, to meanies trying to kill it.

 So that's my favorite 25 pets and of course it's all based on individual preference but  I'd love to know what other hunters favorites are. I am always looking to find new pets and if anyone has any suggestions I'd love to hear them. Thanks!


I want to give a special  thanks to Daranara - Lightbringer US for the amazing signature she put together.

The Two Stragglers

Before I get into it, yes I did sorta learn MM, no I'm not good at it and no I don't like it. Not even a little.

Moving on... it's with great excitement I announce that my stable is now complete with 25 of the best pets in the game (in my opinion of course). With only two left on my list I was forunate to get them both on Tuesday only a few hours a part. The first was Ban'thalos, the BM Owl who closely beat out Olm the Wise for the only owl spot in my stable.

I spent a few hours late Monday night but came up empty, I did however find a nice camping spot between two antlers. I woke up late on Tuesday and once again logged on to hear my NPCspan going off. It flies really high so I took some advice from what I had read and dropped a freezing trap, mounted and flew straight up, waited for Ban'thalos to get in shooting range, dismounted, shot him and clicked on my Flexweave Underlay and waited for Ban'thalos to hit the trap. Once he was trapped the tame was easy cake. It took about 3 tries to get it right (first one because I wasn't in BM spec... duh).

My poor new owl will unfortunately collect dust with the rest of my BM pets but I'm definitely happy to stable her away until BM is one day relevant again. The last pet on my list was Deth'tilac and because I hate Molten Front this is one place I've been avoiding. Just before bed I did a little run though and sure enough Deth'tilac was there starring me down. Now as I've said I'm not a spider fan at all but it's hard not to admire this purple cuddle monster... yeah I know, it was hard to say cuddle there, but I'm really trying to love this spider. This tame has been solo'd by other hunters but I'm no where near that skilled and really wanted the extra help to give me the best shot. It was like 2am so there was hardly anyone around (not like it would matter much anyways), I know hardly anyone on the server so I figured it would be tough. I AOL'd my old side kick and luckily he was around and able to hop on his brothers healer. New to the guild I threw out an S.O.S in guild chat and surprisingly a guildie was up for the challenge. Now I didn't realize he loses health every time someone dies so this fight took about 15 minutes longer than it should have and I should have used a pet to continuously die instead of my poor partners. A few bumps and bruises later we did get it down below 18% or whatever it was and I was able to tame just before the spider killed me once last time.

This was defiantly the most exciting tame I've been a part of and without the help I wouldn't have been able to tame her. I named her Kerrigan which I know was my old wasp's name but I figure it works for a spider too, a bugs a bug. With no pets left to tame I'm pretty much left no choice but to work on my DPS. I am now spec'd in both survival and MM. I use survival when my DPS matters and I put some MM time in when it doesn't. I really hope I get the hang of MM sooner than later or any possible raid time might be going down the drain.

New Additions!

So apparently rare spawns are easy cake, or maybe I'm late to the party and everyone just has them already, or maybe my sever is dead, or maybe I'm the only one who gives a crap about pixels, either way I ended up with 3 of my desired new pets in less than 24 hours. A far cry from the 48 hours I had set aside which left me with a lot of Pepsi and chips untouched (which maybe is a good thing for me).

The first pet I really wanted was Magria in Mount Hyjal. Not going to lie I camped her for about 2 hours before I realized I needed to do some quests in order to actually be able to see her when she spawned. Sadly not the first time that has happen. In order to tame Magria/Ankha you need to have no armor equipped and be in BM spec. So I found it slightly amusing sitting on my mount in my birthday suit as I hovered over the area. I got lucky that Magria spawned and not Ankha, Magria has a blue tint as oppose to the green tint of Ankha. The tame was very simple and I named her Maltese after the Maltese tigers who also have a hint of blue in their coats.

The second pet I really wanted was Skarr. This meant going into Molten Front for the first time which I hate. That place is pure evil and you can't sit still for two minutes without something wanting to kill you. I did get pretty good at hopping from rock to rock. Again I can't lie, it did take several drops into the abyss until I got the hang of it. Here's one shot of my mount and I taking the long plunge.

Looks almost tranquil and relaxing a part for the expensive repair bill I racked up. I ran into a little problem on my way to camping Skarr, a gross green spider on speed kept me from getting there. After getting destroyed a few times by it I whipped out my brain and did some reading. The spider ended up being Kirix one of the new pets added and definitely not on my list of wants. However out of boredom I decided to tame it, you can only kill Dakona so many times until she snaps. I ended up finding a way to attack it, hit disengage, silencing shot and deterrence and tame beast and ended up with this...

I want to say it's kinda cool, I want to say it's cute, I want to say I love it... but I can't, it's a spider and it's icky! The only spider I am considering is Deth'tilac for two reasons, first he's one of the hardest pets to tame, or so I'm told and I love challenges and secondly and more importantly, it's purple. Anything that's purple or pink can't be bad so there is hope I will end up with a spider. For now this slimy green thing is just a temporary souvenir. With the spider out of the way I was able to set up shop for Skarr. I found a nice little spot in the middle that my NPCscan could cover both spots. I got a bite in the first hour expect it wasn't what I expected. I didn't even know about Karkin, the rare crab that spawns there as well. I'm not a fan of crabs (insert joke here) and I already have my Ghostcrawler from Abyssal Depths but this crab is rare and it does have a giant gem in it's back that appeals to any girl. Plus if is kinda cute and if you look at him closely he does say "omnomnom" over and over again. So I tamed him and named him Sebastian because it was 4am and I wasn't feeling too original. Now I can't help but hum "Under the Sea" everytime I see him.

So after 10 hours I had three new pets. At this point it feels a little too easy and I'm not exactly feeling like I'm breaking a sweat here. I ended up calling it a night and grabbing some sleep. I did 8 hours and when I woke up I logged on still groggy to find Skarr looking right at me. Also looking at me was an Alliance Warrior who had Skarr targeted but wasn't moving. I'm not sure if he was just watching or waiting for his hunter friend to join him but I didn't waste anytime finding out. I immediately hopped on to a rock close to him (I'm awesome at it by now) and hit him once, then hit silencing shot, deterrence and began taming. It was almost poetic and I was even impressed at the smoothness.

I named him Bosco after one of my favorite TV characters Maurice Boscorelli. 10 points if you knew who that was without Goggling it. I took a shot of my Alliance friend who was nice enough to watch from the sidelines without interfering.

That's about everything that happen to me this week. Not extremely exciting and I know I probably should have been spending the time learning MM but what can I say, my mind wanders. I still have two pets left to get before I'm content. I will probably try to resist the temptation this week and focus on my game, hopefully I can put it together and not embarrass myself. I just have this feeling I'm forgetting something....oh well.

Making the Cut

I'm a few days back in the game and I'm starting to get comfortable. I'm not exactly looking forward to raiding again, well at least the first few raids. I joined a guild on Monday, its the third I've joined since moving to Scilla at the beginning of Lich King. I was considering a transfer and moving elsewhere but I found a guild I knew about before I took my break. This was the only guild I felt was worth staying on the server for. There's a few members I remembered from the beginning of summer who were always top notch when I was around them. I'm hoping the rest of the guild is similar. I have been stalling all week to buy some time. I am currently learning MM a spec I have never raided with. I really hope Survival jumps back up to the best raiding spec for hunters again soon. Heck if I'm hoping for things I might as well hope BM becomes relevant again. So basically I've been doing my best to play catch up all week. I have a feeling I won't be able to hide from the guild this week, and not only will I be doing my first Fireland raids, I'll also be doing them with a new spec. Not a small order for this huntard and I'm not afraid to pout about it. My next update could very well be news of my kicking from the guild, but I guess I've survived worse in the past.

Ok well QQing aside I did have some fun this week. I guess it's no surprise the first thing I did was hunt down some of these new pets I had not gotten a chance to meet yet. All of the other hunters must have already gotten their pets because I didn't see any competition in each of my camp outs. The toughest part was making cuts from my own family of pets first. I never got a chance to post my top 25 pet list and I guess it works out since four of them were sent back into the wild this week. There are 5 new pets that tickle my fancy, which means 5 of my current pets have to go. You might say "so what? its not that big a deal" but this decision literally took a few days of mulling over and I'm not going to lie, it was sad letting a few of them go.

First to go was Kerrigan. This decision was very easy as Blizzard has nerfed the size of this wasp from super big...

.. to super small. I got this pet when I tamed Princess Huhuran, the fourth boss in the Temple of Ahn'Qira. It wasn't exactly a cake walk and she was both unique and entertaining when doing Heroics in tight quarters like Shadowfang Keep. This pet use to be very special to me and one of my favorites but that ship has long sailed as Kerrigan was relegated to just another wasp.

The second pet cut was Kiviok my Mage Slayer I got from The Nexus. This is one of the best looking pets in the game and will be the first I re-tame if we hunters are given more stable slots (which I am not crying about don't worry.. I'm not that spoiled!) This wasn't a tough decision because they aren't rare and I can get another whenever I want. I did a lot of Heroics with Kiviok earlier in the year so I definitely will miss him the most.

The third pet who didn't make the cut was Gucci who I got when I tamed the rare spawn Grunter in Blasted Lands. I'm all for rare spawns but Grunter's skin isn't unique and although scary looking doesn't stand out. I didn't play much with Gucci so he wasn't that upsetting to part with, sorry Gucci!

Also not making the cut was my Death Ravager who I had only for his buff. Just barely making the cut was Swiper, my Ashtail who danced his way into sticking around. I still have to make one more cut and it looks like Olm the Wise will be going back into the wild. Hardly a rare spawn anymore with the lack of traffic in Felwood these days. I'm not a big fan of owls but he's definitely very pretty, however with Ban'thalos on my list I don't see much point in having both.

I'm a big sucker when it comes to hunting rare spawns so I was really looking forward to the challenge and excitement of adding new pets to my family. I had two straight days set aside for camping/hunting and I did not expect what was to come...