Posts with tag Mounts

Patch 5.2 introduced the Isle of Thunder, but it also introduced some other things to explore. One of these things has some players absolutely mystified -- the Isle of Giants. Located in the northernmost reaches of Kun Lai, the island is home to a never ending stream of giant dinosaurs and the Zandalari Dinomancers that seek to capture them for their own purposes.

Why are the Zandalari so concerned with getting dinosaurs? Well, if you've wandered around on the Isle of Thunder or stepped into the Throne of Thunder, you'll see that the Zandalari are pretty keen on enslaving the dinosaurs and using them as mounts, pets, and even raid bosses. The bigger question on the mind of a lot of players, however, is why we should be concerned with the Isle of Giants at all.

With no quests, no portals, no lead-ins and no clear defined purpose besides the world raid boss Oondasta, why would we want to spend any extended amount of time on the island at all?

It may seem silly to complain about having more currency to spend, but players have been by and large unhappy with the caches of gold rewarded as an alternative for loot when killing a boss in Mists of Pandaria. The argument does have some weight, however; and it's also been addressed before, in a slightly different fashion. When boxes that dropped from holiday bosses were viewed as disappointing because they contained nothing other than points, those boxes were adjusted to add actual items.

And let's face it -- when you're given a box of something, you really expect something to be in that box. Gold just doesn't cut it. Apparently Blizzard agreed with this sentiment, and the caches, deemed "failbags" by some, have been adjusted on the PTR to offer something far more substantial, according to a post by Bashiok on the official forums.

Bashiok

The change is still in for the failbags to ... not be fail. They'll have a chance to contain things like very valuable grey items (essentially randomizing the gold you get from the bags), LFR versions of non-boss loot, Spirits of Harmony, consumables, pets and mounts, and... maybe some other stuff I forgot. Lots of things! Opening them should have some anticipation and surprise now. :)

source

Trash drops, consumables, pets, and mounts? Count me in. This change ought to make getting that cache of items a heck of a lot more appealing to players. After all, if you get a surprise box of goodies, it ought to be full of fun!

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What's that Isle of Giants all about? Dinosaurs, apparently -- the island is crawling with an assortment of dinos that put Un'goro Crater to shame. But there doesn't appear to be any kind of quest hub on the island as of yet, with one small exception. Hidden in a cave on the western side of the island is a truly monstrous troll who looks like he's seen better days. Dataminers over at Wowhead dug up the details on this strange troll earlier today.

Ku'ma is a bone collector. What, exactly, he does with all the bones he collects is unclear -- perhaps he is planning on building one of those fabulous Zandalari boats when he has enough of them. However, you don't really want to ignore Ku'ma or his bone-loving ways, because he has plenty of rewards to offer to those that bring him bones. Lots of bones.

What kind of rewards? 10 bones will net you a Mote of Harmony. 100 will net you a Spirit of Harmony. If you get your hands on 1000 bones, you can turn them in for a Spectral Porcupette. And if you have the temerity to gather 9,999 bones ... you're rewarded with a mount. But not just any mount; the Reins of the Bone-White Primal Raptor, which is a dead ringer for the Ivory Raptor from the days of vanilla, long-gone from the game.

So just how hard is it to collect these bones? It's not as bad as you'd think. I decided to make a trip to the Isle of Giants to see for myself, and while the larger dinosaurs seem to be pretty daunting, the smaller ones weren't too difficult to solo. Once dead, they dropped four bones -- so gathering isn't quite the painful process that I'd imagined.

As it currently stands, getting a mount may take a while. But keep in mind that this is all PTR information, and these amounts may change by the time the patch hits. Regardless of whether or not the amount of bones required is altered, I'm pretty sure I know where I'll be when the patch goes live.

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Mists of Pandaria is here! The level cap has been raised to 90, many players have returned to Azeroth, and pet battles are taking the world by storm. Keep an eye out for all of the latest news, and check out our comprehensive guide to Mists of Pandaria for everything you'll ever need to know.

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Perculia of Wowhead recently posted an update about undocumented changes and vanity items, which included some new information on what was and wasn't on the Black Market Auction House, as far as mounts, pets and items. Perculia's update included the Sun-Lute of the Phoenix King, as used by Sig Nicious of the Elite Tauren Chieftains, but also the Reins of the Plagued Proto-Drake, which was a reward for completing Glory of the Raider back in Wrath of the Lich King. If you were wondering what else is sold on the Black Market Auction House, you can check out Wowhead's full list.

While the "axe" is a fun item, the one likely to cause more of a stir is the Reins of the Plagued Proto-Drake. As Wowhead notes, this reward was removed from the game after the arrival of tier 8, and has therefore long been unavailable to players who didn't get the achievement before that time. So, since the arrival of Ulduar, that drake has been completely unavailable to new players until now.

This raises a question which has been, and no doubt will continue to be, a hot topic of conversation surrounding the Black Market Auction House. Should old items such as these, which were a trophy for completing a fairly tricky achievement when it was relevant, now be available to players on the Black Market Auction House?