Having Fun Again

So after a bit of a snag in my progression at the beginning of the week I was given a good uplifting from some comments and went back in there swinging. I got my first raid invite Wednesday evening. Invited as a trial it was my first time raiding in a 25 man raid since killing Archimonde in the Caverns of Time during The Burning Crusade. Pretty exciting stuff and perfect timing as I needed a good raid experience to pump me up, right? Well not so fast, it's still me we're talking about. I was hoping I'd be able to fly under the radar, not get killed by standing in something and at the very least stay middle of the pack on the DPS charts. Off to kill some monster named Altramedes in Blackwing Desent, I was feeling optimistic. A dozen wipes later and only beating the healers in DPS, I knew I was in over my head. Not completely useless I did catch on to the mechanics very quickly and I was able to strafe to the left with the group when I was suppose to, and fortunately for me only got skulled once where I had to strafe to the right away from the group. During the last few attempts I died twice randomly while being in the middle of the group. I still have no idea how it happened because I was moving at the exact same time as everyone else but I'm sure there is a valid reason even though of coarse I think it's because of my dumb luck. Either way it's embarrassing for one and obviously you don't want to stand out in that way especially when you're trying to make a good impression on your first raid with your new guild. Oh ya and it also kills your DPS when you're lying in a pool of your own uselessness. So after repeated wipes, not the which were solely my fault, it was only a matter of time before the frustration of the raid built and courses of action would be taken. Alas I was removed from the group, and I hearthed back to Orgrimmar with my tail between my legs. Thank god for my pets because without sentimental attachment I might have uninstalled the game and hid under my blankets for god knows how long. Ironically when he finally was killed some attempts later, Themios the Darkbringer dropped, not that I would of probably gotten it and certainly wouldn't have deserved it, but a little salt in the wound maybe nonetheless. I thought about shutting it down for the night and trying to forget about WoW but instead a funny thing happened. I started talking to my new friend Sephirothz, a warlock who just happens to appear in an earlier blog posting I made when I didn't know him yet as the one who gave me a reality check when I was so proud of my new Time-Lost mount until he strolled past in his Mimiron's Head. He along with another guild mate Williee, enjoy exploring older content and soloing bosses from earlier expansions and like me enjoy some of the smaller things in this game. The two of them ended up helping me get something I've wanted for a little while now and the last thing I needed for my final collection. More importantly they helped me get over a bad raiding night and I was able to spend the rest of Wednesday and Thursday putting solid hours into Dakona's progression. This entry is turning into a novel so check back with me tomorrow for the rest of the story. Ooooh cliffhanger!! Oh shush.

Hunter's Rant

Ok well it's been awhile so you knew it was coming. I've hit a progression wall and my frustration level is starting to ooze through the cracks. As a recap my progression has been this, I hit 85, geared up for heroics, started heroics, geared up for raids, now here I am. I've been running heroics consistently for about 3 weeks. My gear is fairly good, at least I think so. Here is where it stands as of today: http://us.battle.net/wow/en/character/scilla/dakona/simple

I'm about a week away from obtaining the trinket Fluid Death as I will soon have the 1,650 valor points needed to purchase it. I will be trying to get the other trinket I want, Tia's Grace in the meantime. I will also be keeping an eye out for Bracers of Some Consequence when I do Deadmines although it isn't considered crucial in my eyes. What is important is addressing the few holes in my gear that I feel need to be attended to. Like getting my Earthen Ring rep to exalted so I can get Signet of the Elder Council instead of being distracted with Ramkehen rep which I'm getting for some stupid camel I'll never ride. (Yes I'm almost Exalted so you know I'm going to finish it.) With a new trinket and ring I'll feel as "bestly" (not a real word I know) geared as I can be without entering a raid. I'm currently waiting for all the new patch commotion to settle down before seeing which new hunter's spec has reigned supreme. It's currently looking like Marksmanship will regain it's Lich King title. This is something I'm not happy about as I was starting to get the hang of the Survival rotation and I'm wondering if Beast Mastery will ever become relevant again... my stabled pets sure hope so.

My work schedule is not going to allow me to take part in raids. Even if I could duck out of work 20 minutes earlier I don't see my current DPS opening any doors for me anyways. For now it looks like I'll be trying to keep myself busy hoping for a random invite. I recently did Baradin Hold for the first time, finishing 3rd on the meters which hopefully will get me another invite sometime. At this point I'm trying hard to tread softly while building some sort of reliable reputation. Wiping a guild heroic's run by tagging a mob before jumping down in front of Corla in Blackrock Caverns isn't a good start. Here I was feeling all proud of myself for dismissing my pet before jumping down, I didn't care to see what shenanigans were going on behind me. One of my new guild-mates with a bit of nerd rage made sure I felt all the guilt and shame that should accompany such actions. Not the reputation I'm trying to build here but such is to be expected in the life of a huntard.

Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine's Day!

Ok so maybe not as exciting for some as others. This year I am in the "others" group and while hanging out in Orgimmar this morning around 4am I saw something that made my day. I decided to share it with my "not so enthusiastic about Valentine's Day" friends, and I hope you think it's as funny as I did.

All you need is a Bombay Cat and Stinker the Skunk. It is totally worth it =)

Hunter Guide: Heroic Grim Batol

This is my Hunter's Guide to Heroic Grim Batol. I'm going to try to get one done for each of the heroics in Cataclysm. If you're a hunter like me and want to know what to expect as you head into heroics then check them out. Being prepared goes a long way in helping your group get pass bosses without wiping. Hopefully this will be helpful!

Changes & News

It's been a busy sort of time for Dakona of late, hence the missing updates. I've been looking for new opportunities since the new year and I've been a bit reluntant to make any moves until yesterday when I joined my new guild "Stimulate". It's only the second guild I've been a part of since I came to Scilla at the beginning of Lich King. I'm currently on "Trail" which means I will have to hide my huntardness from them as best I can until I'm offically in. I did consider switching servers, but staying on Scilla was something I prefered and Stimulate who is first in raid progression on the horde side was about the only guild I had considered, so I'm feeling pretty fortunate right now.

As for updates, I got this little guy for doing random heroics with 100 players.

It was also my 50th pet which finally got me Stinker.

I also got a few new pets. I did some fly bys through Uldum the other night and saw a lot of people leveling in the area that Madexx spawns. I stayed in that area while waiting for heroics to pop but did not see him for 10 hours straight and was starting to wonder if maybe he had spawned while I was doing an instance. Around 6am as I was getting ready to head to bed when the NPCscan went off and I saw him.

He was really big while looking down on him from my flying mount but I was really disappointed how little he shrank once he was tamed. I had no idea what to name him so I just kept it as is. I don't expect to use this pet since he is a Tenacity pet. Poor Diesel is hardly used as it is but he will go into my collection and I am happy I got the Blue verison although the Red is fairly pretty as well.

I was saving Ghostcrawler til the last because I figured a) I don't like being under water, b) I don't like being under water for long periods of time and c) putting both a) and b) on the table at the same time was too much of a double wammy for me to deal with right now. However... I had to go discover Abyssal Maw: Throne of the Tides as it was the only one I hadn't yet. So I figured since I was in the area of  Abyssal Depths I would do a little drive by. It was morning on a weekday so the traffic was very low in the area, I was getting distracted by the new herbs I could pick when the NPCscan went off not even a half a lap in. I was almost disappointed for a second because I was so use to long enduring camp outs and I figured this one was going to be my Everest. I expected him to disappear as he has a stealth but I was able to get a freezing trap down and tame him without to much trouble.

No name for this guy yet either. It is a decent size and pretty but with all my other spirit beasts like Duck whining to get some action, I can't imagine this little guy will get much use. My final 25 pets are getting close to completion. I still have a few more to go and will make a video to show them off when completed. I do have another pet to share as some of you might have gotten a hint from the video I just put out but I've been having some fun with him lately and will share that with you very soon!

My First Video

So it's 3:30 am and I just finished my first video. It's just a little peek into the world of Dakona. Now that I have the hang of it I'll be looking to make more. Let me know what you think.

Sincere Thank You

I started this blog a month ago with no blogging experience and not a single clue what I was doing. Now a month later with 1100 page views, I feel like I'm starting to get my mojo going. I wanted to take a second to show my appreciation to those of you who have visited this blog and taken time out of your day to read some of my mumble jumble. I'm looking forward to February and sharing all the shenanigans I'm sure I'll be getting into. So again, thank you.

Capturing a Princess

During my quest to find new unique pets to add to my collection, I made my way over to the Temple of Ahn'Qiraj in search of the famous Princess Huhuran. This large silithid wasp is the fourth boss in the once epic AQ 40 dungeon. With the help of a friend I found her floating around a large room all by herself. I was able to tame her without much trouble.

She was named after Sarah Kerrigan from the Starcraft series, just in case anyone out there didn't think I was legit. Yes I have SC2 installed on my computer... and so what if I haven't actually played it yet. Shush. One thing I love the most about this pet is her size. Unlike so many pets I've come across she doesn't shrink and keeps her huge frame. I'm not sure you would want to use her in PvP as she makes for a pretty good target and she definitely isn't recommend for tighter instances as I found out while doing heroic Shadowfang Keep. She does take up a lot of space but for larger dungeons she is awesome and I recommend any hunter at level 85 test out their new camouflage skill and tame this beauty.

Preparing for Raids

Granted it's been less than a week since I hit 85 but already I'm looking ahead to making preparations for when I raid. I am still a few weeks away, maybe a little longer, maybe a little less from getting all my gear to that level but you can never start working towards that goal to soon. I also don't have a guild that would include me in any raids but to me that's just minor details right now. I've been hitting up heroics a lot recently, it's amazing what a gamble these turn out to be. Waiting 30-40 minutes does cut into my game time and having 2 of every 3 groups eventually disband due to wipes is frustrating. I've done my part by reading up and learning the bosses of each instance to the best of my ability. I figure if I know what I'm doing than that cuts the percentage of failure down a little. I've compiled my desired list for pre-raiding and I will be listing a few secondary options as well. This is based off my own perspective and doesn't necessary mean it's the best possible option for each slot. If you're not a hunter, I apologize as this blog entry will be completely boring and usless to you. Don't forget to take into account these items would need to be reforged to suit your own character.

* Pre-Raiding Check List *

Helm
1st) Wildhammer Riding Helm (H) - General Umbriss (Grim Batol)
2nd) Worgen's Hunter Helm (H) - Lord Godfrey (Shadowfang Keep)

Neck
1st) Pendant of the Lightless Grotto (H) - Ozruk (Stonecore)
2nd) Acorn of the Daughter Tree - Guardians of Hyjal (Revered)



Shoulders
1st) Bloodpetal Mantle (H) - Ammunae (Halls of Origination)
2nd) Wrap of the Valley Glades - Justice Points (1,650)


Back
1st) Dory's Finery - Random World Drop
2nd) Twitching Shadows (H) - Lord Obsidius (Blackrock Caverns)
3rd) Cape of the Brotherhood (H) - Captain Cookie (Deadmines)


Chest
1st) Wentletrap Vest - Neptulan's Cache (Throne of the Tides)
2nd) Vest of the True Companion - Justice Points (2,200)


Wrist
1st) Bracers of Some Consequence (H) - Vanessa Van Cleef (Deadmines)
2nd)  Elementium Scale Bracers (H) - Ozruk (Stonecore


Hands
1st) Traitor's Grips (H) - Baron Ashbury (Shadowfang Keep)
2nd) Wrasse Handwraps (H) - Lady Naz'jar (Throne of the Tides)

Waist

1st) Corded Viper Belt - Crafted (Leatherworking)
2nd) Belt of the Dim Forest - Justice Points (1,650)


Legs
1st) Balkar's Waders (H) - Prophet Barim (Lost City)
2nd) Hillside Striders - Justice Points (2,200)


Feet
1st) Treads of Malorne - Guardians of Hyjal (Exalted)
2nd) Moccasins of Verdurous Glooms - Valor Points (1,650)

Rings:
1st) Nautilus Ring (H) - Neptune's Cache (Throne of the Tides)
2nd) Ring of Dun Algaz (H) - Forgemaster Throngus (Grim Batol)
3rd) Ring of Blinding Stars (H) - Isiset (Hall of Origination)
4th) Skullcracker Ring (H) - Rom'ogg Bonecrusher (Blackrock Caverns)


Trinket:
1st) Fluid Death - Valor Points (1,650)
2nd) Tia's Grace (H) - Siamat (Lost City)
3rd) Key to Endless Chamber (H) - Corborus (Stonecore) [CHECK]


Ranged:
1st) Kickback 5000 - Crafted (Engineering) [CHECK]
2nd) Amber Messenger (H) - Lord Obsidius (Blackrock Caverns)


Two Hand:
1st) Rockslicer (H) - Admiral Ripsnarl (Deadmines)

2nd) Seliza's Spear (H) - General Husam (Lost City)




So there you have it, my checklist. I recommend always doing research regardless of what class you are before doing heroics. I think once you do the daily random for the Valor Points you should aim for the instances that drop the gear you need. My list is with 99% performance in mind and 1% of how cool I will look! Have fun out there and good luck!

Gotta Catch Them All

I have Bieber Fever! No that's definitely not true, what I have is an addiction to taming pets. Call it Pokemon-syndrome or call it what you will, as a Hunter I have 25 stable slots available and I plan to use them all on the 25 best pets within the game. What I will do when I finally get these 25 pets, I have no idea, but for now it's certainly keeping me busy during the 30-40 minute waits between heroic queues. One thing I've enjoyed about camping rare spawns is the time I get to admire my Time-Lost Proto Drake as I'm flying around. Sure it sounds a little self absorbed but the novelty has yet to wear off. Also a side bonus has been the flower picking. Dakona is capped at 525 in Herbalism, and as a casual herbalist has picked over 500 herbs while camping rares. In fact leveling my Alchemy which is currently 495 is high up there on the agenda with all these unused herbs sitting in my bags.

I stuck around Twilight Highlands following my Sambas tame. I've been on a rather lucky streak of late and I wanted to see if that would carry over as I tried to find Karoma. As is often the case I save my camping til the off hours, usually between 1am and 8am. I enjoy the light traffic and feel my odds are increased if they do spawn. So similar to Sambas it only took a few nights until I bumped into Karoma during the wee hours of the morning. No fruit loop magic this time.

 I named him Serendipity, don't ask why, maybe it was because I had just watched the film a few days prior or maybe because I can't get my head around how it's possible to tame a spirit wolf. I'm sure if I took more time to ponder I would of found hundreds of better names given my fascination with tribal names and the spirit wolf being the ultimate gimmie. Serendipity "is a propensity for making fortunate discoveries while looking for something unrelated". It would of made for a better blog entry had I been looking for Sambas and found Karoma, but if my adventures become so boring that I have to start making things up... well I might have to stop blogging.

In other news, I'm proud to say Dakona now has three pieces of heroic gear and only has a few pieces left under 333 item level. I am definitely liking some heroics a lot more than others and will put out a review next week after I have a chance to endure them a few more times.

The Lion Sleeps Tonight

It hasn't been all lollipops and rainbows since hitting 85. I found out I needed an item level score of 329 before I could do heroics so I spent the last few days chipping away at that and have now finally been able to begin heroics. Spec'd in survival has been an adjustment but I'm slowing making process and my rankings on the damage meter is slowly increasing. Also increasing is my frustration level. Admittedly I don't have the most experience in trapping but I do have experience with it from The Burning Crusades era. I have now had two different situations where I have been blamed for pulling and trap failure. I learned that if I don't get my trap down before the tank pulls my chances of getting that mob trapped are very slim with all the AOE. So getting that trap down right when the tank is about to pull is stressful. I continue to ask for the tank to let me know when he's ready for me to trap but with so much trash in some instances there is always room for catastrophe. So I cannot say I am enjoying my heroic experience to date. People are just dying for an excuse to say "huntard". I can handle it.

However, my spirits have been lifted. I have been trying out different pets since I cannot use any of my exotic ones. I did think about Balto my lovely but he is so old now I've decided to let him rest in the stable as he drifts into his twilight years. I started out with Oceania my Angered Arakkoa Protector.

She is a lovely bird, as lovely as two headed ones go at least but I just wasn't feeling the connection. I decided to start hanging out in Twilight Highlands hoping to run into Sambas. I wasn't able to get the camping time in that I wanted cause of annoyances like work and social duties so I started camping a spot I thought was lucky, turning the NPCscan up loud and going to bed, assuming when he spawned the alarm would go off and I would jump out of bed for the tame. Sambas has 5 different spawn points so of course I was gambling. I did this for two nights, waking only once as some Alliance hunter was shooting me (I was flying to low) and I realized this probably wasn't going to be the best method. Monday morning after waking up I did a quick lap and settled into my spot. I went downstairs to get some Fruit Loops and when I came back I decided to do another lap while I waited for the milk to make them a little softer. Didn't see anything on my way through but on the way back my NPCscan went off. He was hard to spot since he doesn't stand out and is rather small. I trapped him and tamed him quite easily and was ecstatic to say the least.

 I named him Pryde which my friend Gokes said was cheesy but he is named after my favorite Marvel character Kitty Pryde AKA Shadowcat. He's instantly becomes my main pet and I've been really impressed as he reminds me a lot of Balto (Echeyakee) from the good ol' days.

Dakona finally hits 85!

I was hoping for fireworks... and maybe little gnomes to pop out of the ground and start dancing while we all did a slow motion high five together but alas a little high five to myself had to suffice. After grinding out level 84 (which seemed to be the most grueling) in Deepholm, I headed to Uldum for a bit on Wednesday night. I stayed for about an hour but couldn't get into the groove and wasn't enjoying myself. The quests didn't seem to flow as well as they did in Deepholm so I headed to Twilight Highlands while I inched my way closer to level 85. I ended up questing with a friend down the final stretch which definitely kept me motivated as Thursday night rolled over into Friday morning. All and all it wasn't to bad considering I've never been a fan of questing in the past.

I thought getting to 85 was the hard part cause no one told me what was waiting for me when I got there. Freshly noobed out at 85 I thought for sure I would be jumping straight into heroics. WRONG. Apparently you need to be a certain item level to even get into heroics, so I'm stuck doing regular instances until my gear is suitable. On the bright side it will allow me more practice at my new spec which I have no experience with. When I leveled from 80-85, I was spec'd in Beast Mastery, my favorite by far for two reasons:1) it allows me to let my pet do most of the work which for me is a good thing since I can then relax and take my time, and 2) more importantly it allows me to use Exotic pets, which in turn allows me to quest with my bestest friend in the whole world, Duck. But alas those days are temporarily suspended as I will now be spec'd in Survival, currently the best raiding spec.

My shooting rotation also had to change. I currently use Explosive Shot first with Black Arrow and Arcane Shot secondary. I use Cobra Shot in between as it regenerats my focus which seems to always be empty. I also make sure I use Kill Shot as soon as it's available. It's not a complex rotation, pretty simple once you find your groove.

My talent tree looks like this.

With the arrival of the latest patch around the corner this will probably all go out the window as the rumor seems to indicate that Marksmanship will bring the most DPS to hunters in raids. But for now I will be using this spec as I break into heroics and begin upgrading my gear. With any luck it will keep me in groups long enough to actually get gear. One slight tiny problem I've encountered so far... I can't use any of my favorite pets. All my cool pets that I love are either exotic which I can't use unless I'm spec'd Beast Mastery or are tenacity pets which I can't use since they are more for "tanking" rather than DPS. So I will definitely be looking into this ASAP!

Keeping it in the Family

One thing that I know for sure... finding pets in Northrend definitely a lot easier than the new Cataclysm areas. Also very peaceful for the most part. Dalaran is quite eerie now, I felt like I was in "I Am Legend" as I walked around, almost worse than Shattrath City. I had a few pets I still wanted to get on my list. One place I wasn't looking forward to going was back to Sholazar Basin, but I headed over anyways to see if I could spot any rares. Already having Loque'nahak I figured I had the hardest one already taken care of so as I circled around I was only really looking for Aotona and King Krush. I bumped into another Hunter I had met a few weeks back when I was looking for Gondria and he told me he had been looking for Loque'nahak for several hours. I told him I'd keep an eye out for him and he said he'd do the same for the others. I ended up logging Dakona out in the middle of Sholazar and brought my Rogue over to do some mining while I kept checking spawn points. Within 30 minutes I got a message telling me to come quick King Krush was up, and I quickly logged back on Dakona and flew over. Missing King Krush was impossible, this T-Rex looking thing is a monster before it's tamed. I quickly tamed him quite easily after only 1 fear and ta-da he was mine.

I named him Littlefoot after the Land Before Time movie which I still watch every time I see it on T.V. As you can see he is still quite large which I think is very cool. I ended up helping my Hunter friend look for Loque'nahak again (the least I could do) until he eventually turned in for bed. I'm not a big fan of birds personally so getting Aotona was never something high on my priority list so I decided instead to head out to the Grizzly Hills to catch what I figured would be the easiest spirit beast to tame, the mighty bear Arcturis. With only one spawn point how could you go wrong but listening to your mount's wings flap for 8 hours straight can drive you nuts. I actually took a nap in between with NPCscan turned up high so it would wake me but I ended up being there when he spawned at 6:00 am as I ate my Fruit Loops

I had this name reserved for awhile as it is one of my favorite names. Nanook is the Inuit word  for polar bear which was the master of all bears. They believed Nanook decided if hunters deserved success in hunting bears. Hopefully Nanook thinks I'm worthy.

The night would of ended there had I not logged back on my Rogue to move her from Sholazar Basin to Orgrimmar to smelt that ore she got and would you believe there sitting at the South Central spawn point was Loque'nahak strolling along? I couldn't make this up if I wanted to. I checked my friends list to see if that Hunter was online, he wasn't and at 6:00 am there were no hunters in Sholazar Basin. I thought about killing it briefly but as a Hunter I just couldn't do it. No hunters in the guild online, I did a quick /who hunter and began asking random people if they wanted to tame him. Between AFK responses and no responses at all I went looking for my friend on AOL who had helped me with my turtle remembering he only needed Loque'nahak for his final kill for the Frostbitten achievement. Not something I condone but I owe him. No response there either, I was beginning to find this all humorous. I even thought about taming him myself but seriously how big of a spoiled brat would I look if I was going around with two Loque'nahak's? I finally came up with the idea of getting on my friend Cassie's hunter and taming it for her. So that is what I did. I logged on her account and with no flight plans... flew from Warsong Hold to Sholazar and tamed easily, again all done with not a person in sight. Logged on 5:00 pm that night to break the tough news to my Hunter friend as him and 6 other hunters did laps. This game is full of ups and down.

Retribution!

I've been MIA for a few days so as you may have figured I'm bringing a little drama with me today. The weekend proved to be very busy but also very rewarding. Friday night I was very close to having a QQ party for myself. Sticking to my pledge to be 83 by the weekend I put in some solid hours and got there by Friday night. Having decided that I hate fighting crap under water, I got out of Vashj'ir once I had my under water mount quest done. I went to Deepholm to snoop around but it's very dark there and kinda scary. It was also midnight as well which didn't help the creepy vibe so I went back to Orgrimmar to be around people. I've been fiddling around with my interface a lot lately. Cursed and wowinterface are really good websites and I used youtube to get an idea of what they'd look like. I decided I'd head over and idle around Terrorpene's spawn point while I was messing around with my UI. One thing I noticed very quickly was how much traffic was in that area. I couldn't believe how many level 85's were just hanging out. They weren't hunters and they weren't fishing, they just came in the lava pit area and hung out for a bit before moving on. Paranoia tells me they might be taking a peek for Terrorpene but killing Terrorpene doesn't contribute to any achievement and could the 25g it drops really be enough incentive to make the trip all the way over here? I definately did not enjoy the company I was once seeking an hour previous. As 3:00am came around there were still 10-15 Horde players in Mount Hyjal, so I guessed times that by two if I included the Alliance side. That's up from about 5 that I usually see on a week day at this hour so I knew possible competition had been increased but I did feel good that I didn't see any hunters in the area since I had arrived. Around 3:30am I heard my NPCscan go off as I was changing the channel on my T.V. and I rushed over to my computer and saw the dot on my minimap right away. Flying hard towards it I could see sparks and spells going off from a distance. As soon as it came into focus I saw a level 85 mage fireballing it with all its might. I immediately started typing "Don't Kill It" which came out closer to "dpfnt mill it". He gave me a "?" but never paused for a second in his combat. A second later Terrorpene was dead and within 3 days I had watched two level 85s kill him while I watched from the sidelines helplessly. I was so angry when it happened, asking why's as if I expected some rational answer other than "cause I felt like it". He LOL's and portaled while I fumed. Too pissed off to even take a screen shot. I cried about it to some people and got back very little sympathy. Apparently this pity party was just a table for one. I went to bed soon after, mumbling and stewing as I fell asleep.

I slept til 4:00 pm the next day, 12 hours after the kill. I had plans Saturday night so I didn't even bother logging on. I went out to run some errands, showered, got ready and around 7:00 pm while waiting for my hair to dry I logged on, just so I could idle while I was pottering around my room. Would you believe it... once again the NPCscan goes off. I rushed over and saw him below me right away. Out of panic I quickly tagged him with a concussive shot (did nothing) and he returned the hello with a 10k hit before my pet could even get aggro on him. The plan was to put my pet on him to take the early fire blast hits and then I would dismiss and tame. Sounded good in my head except I didn't realize this turtle could sit there spamming a 10k fire blast at you all day if it wanted. I couldn't even get my pet dismissed before it was down and I followed quickly after another 2 hits from my new friend. Soon as I was down I went into acceptance mode almost sure by the time I got back there would be someone else there but as I arrived I did not see anyone. Round 2, I took my time a little more although I was still nervous and kept one eye on the sky for any new joiners. I sent my pet in and allowed it to get aggro while I kept mend pet refreshed. I tried to stall as long as I could to let my health get back up (no bandages ready for this huntard). When I saw I was losing the healing battled I flasked, hit life blood, deterrence and haste trinket before dismissing pet and began taming. It was definitely my best attempt but I lost the race to a turtle and was dead again. Now I'm really flustered and can't believe no one else has noticed he's up. For 7:00 pm on a Saturday with 30-40 people in the area, I was getting every chance the WoW gods could allow to make good on this and I was realizing very fast how I should of waited til I was 85 to get him. I got on AOL trying to track down a friend I thought might help. I spammed "come heal me, turtle up" and by luck alone he got the bat signal and was on his way. Keep in mind he had to start WoW, log on, and get his 81 Shaman to Mount Hyjal, all while I was sitting there hoping no one else would come. I did get ancy waiting and made a 3rd attempt, big mistake, now my res timer was a full 2 minutes. My Shaman friend arrived and as I tamed he healed. But the heals were interrupting my tame cast and soon we were both dead. Another 2 minutes for the res timer and I am now completely fustrated. I can't tame the bloody thing, its been about 10 minutes since he spawned and no one else has noticed and I know that isn't gonna hold out much longer. I knew I wasn't gonna give up til my gear was all red and I clicked on anything clickable as we went in for another attempt. I still don't know what he did to keep me alive cause I had my eyes closed for most of it but whatever he did worked and after the emotional roller-coaster he was finally mine.

I called him Diesel because up close he looks more like a truck than a turtle but he was definitely worth the aggravation. I now have 5 pets left in this new content I want to tame, all rares of coarse but I've decided I will definitely be waiting until I'm 85 before I begin that journey. I may however go back to Northred to see if I can find a few more family members. As for that Mage who killed Terrorpene the night before, I bumped into him in Orgrimmar Sunday night while he was browsing the auction house. I made sure I put Diesel right up on top of the auction house NPC so he couldn't miss it. Nothing like a little retribution before bed.

Signature

Oh Fustrations!

Ok I know I'm suppose to be leveling but it's after midnight and I figured what better time to go for a lucky Terrorpene taming then when there's no one else around. I decided to head over and take a look, and as I'm approaching my NPCscan goes off and I go into instant excitment mode, which lasted a total of 2 seconds as I saw this...

I see some level 85 shaman mounting up as I arrive and I'm quite pissed off knowing there is no reason other than sheer boredom for anyone to kill this pet. I asked him why he killed it, to which he replied, "It was talking %@&# to me." I realized then this guy was off his meds and didn't pursue any more conversation. Tough pill to swallow but at level 82 he would be a challenge to tame, even with my elixir and deterrence popped. More incentive to keep leveling but I will definitely be coming back to settle this score.

Am I Getting Fat?

Sure I've been a little heavy on the snacks this week but a girl needs her energy, especially camping those illusive rare pets but this is ridiculous! With a body like this I'll have to start forgoing the flying mount and start questing by foot. Good news is I officially completed all the quests I could find in Mount Hyjal, so now I'm off to Vashj'ir for a bit before I head to Deepholm. With any luck I'll be 83 by the end of the weekend.

Questing Sucks!

No rant here, I don't think anyone really enjoys questing. I did hit 82! Exciting stuff as my current pace of one level per week is a personal best. Small embarrassing realization today. Mount Hyjal is infact the same Hyjal as before Cataclysm. This breakthrough came as I stumbled into Ashenvale during a quest. All and all I have enjoyed my time in Mount Hyjal, I even got a new companion pet to add to my collection. I may end up staying here a little longer, I have my eye on taming Terrorpene although at my current level I may be in over my head, apparently he hits like a truck.

 I think I'll be heading to Vashj'ir next, if only to do the quests that will allow me to breathe underwater and obtain one of those underwater mounts for when I try to track down Ghostcrawler. Leveling as BM has been great, no issues with mob killing. I am excited for the changes with the new patch, I was not looking forward to learning how to be an SV hunter when I hit 85. I still think I won't be able to avoid the enviable. Oh and I found a new hobby! I like to go back to The Storm Peaks and give false hope to Alliance members by flying around on my Time-Lost Proto Drake. It's kinda mean but I've been ganked enough over the years to have my conscience clear.

A Big Surprise!

So I left a big cliff hanger at the end of my blog last night fully knowing the 5 people who probably read it between then and now would be frantically checking my blog waiting for my story to be finished. Well I can't let you suffer anymore friends! Actually the real reason I didn't add this to my blog was cause of the whole content factor. Stuff doesn't usually happen to me very often but this blog must be my lucky charm cause it has been exciting lately. I digress....

Picking up from the story last night, I had just tamed two spirit beasts and was still feeling the high even though it was 2:00 am. Storm Peaks were looking rather dead so I decided to continue picking some flowers since I was there. I started heading towards where Dirkee spawns just out of boredom. As I was coming over the hill towards Snowdrift Plains my NPCscan went off scaring the crap out of me and I couldn't believe what I saw...

I immediately panicked and dismounted trying to shoot it from the ground... bad idea. I realized that wasn't going to work so I mounted up and flew into it until I got his attention. Bringing him to the ground it was just basic click click kill from there. Being as it was 2:00 am there was no one to brag all this to I kept the celebration contained in my room.. I did a little dance, made a little love, ya know basically got down tonight. I took a few pictures and headed to Orgrimmar to show off my new Time-Lost Proto Drake, unfortunately no one seemed to care. I tried again around noon with a bigger audience and some guy came by on his Mimiron's Head to give me a reality check, reminding me I wasn't THAT cool.

 Overall I'm still pretty happy, I have my flying mount I can feel proud in, I just need a ground mount now to match but I'm working on some ideas. Oh and if you're wondering if I was planning on staying 81 forever, the answer is no. I know, I know, I've been preoccupied of late but leveling is  now priority #1 this weekend. I plan to do more than just show and tell here, I promise!

Two More Members Join The Family

Last night was incredible! It was full of emotional roller coasters and excitement. Let me first introduce two new members to the Dakona family. After getting Duck (Loque'nahak) I figured my next trip should be out to Zul'Drak where Gondria spawns. His spawn points are a little closer together than Loque'nahaks are in Sholazar Basin so I was looking forward to putting in less effort. Turns out it's about the same, little less distance between the spawn points but the path you travel takes a bit more concentration, which also could of been a result of me watching 30 Rock on DVD while flying. (Just in case you're wondering, it was a Christmas gift, not an official fan yet). After about an hour I came across Terror Spinner. I thought briefly about taming it, but after getting a closer look it just grossed me out to much. I hate spiders so I did what I always do when I find one... I killed it. I  heard spiders are good for PvP but who are we kidding, I'm not going to PvP anytime soon. After another hour of searching I took a little break and headed to the Grizzly Hills to see if Arcturis was around, he's the spirit beast bear. When I got there I noticed another Hunter was camping above his spawn point so we chatted for a few minutes and I headed back to Zul'Drak. As I was entering the zone I noticed a yellow dot out of place, and immediately I swooped down and there she was.

Being 81 she was pretty easy to tame, I even had a near by cat attacking me at the same time and it did nothing to disrubt the taming process. Easy peasy lemon squeezy. I was pretty excited to get Hannai, she looks like some mystic saber tooth tiger, so beautiful . I guess I was feeling the effects of the adrenaline rush although it could of had something to do with my messed up sleeping pattern of late, but I knew even though it was 1:00 am there was no way I was going to be able to fall asleep. So I decided to try my luck out in The Storm Peaks hoping maybe since no one else was there from the Horde side I might get lucky and find Skoll. I hit all the spawn points and rested near Brunhildar Village where I've been told he spawns a lot these days. I did a quick Time Lost Proto Drake lap to see if it was my lucky night and after a full loop had made my way back to Brunhildar Village where there pacing back and forth was Skoll!

I had to chuckle, this one almost felt too easy. I was all prepared for the challenge of a 12 hour keep awake-a-thon but I was definitely happy nonetheless. To get two spirit beasts in one night put me over the moon. I named him "Amarok", which is the name of a gigantic wolf in Inuit mythology. It is said to hunt down and devour anyone foolish enough to hunt alone at night. Unlike real wolves who hunt in packs, Amarok hunts alone, like me. I thought it was fitting since I rarely play during the day and always find myself playing late at night when most are sleeping. So after two spirit beasts in one night I knew I'd be up for awhile longer so I grabbed another diet Coke and started picking flowers in Storm Peaks since I was already here. What I didn't expect was what happend next.