Posts with tag devilsaur

I'm worried, WoW Insider readers. I love patch 5.2 and all of the dinosaurs improvements that have come with it, but in the patch's frenzy of dinosaur-fueled excitement I fear we're forgetting something... namely, the long and noble history of WoW's dinosaurs. Indeed, dinosaurs have roamed the game since patch 5.2 was nothing but a far-off dream in a developer's heart. Dinosaurs have been with WoW since launch day, and just so you don't forget the heroic dinosaurs who have brought us to this age of dino-popularity, today we're going to review the 10 best (or at least most memorable) dinosaurs in the game.

So pay attention, because there may be a test later.

A couple of weeks ago, Valnoth, lead world designer at Blizzard, reported that the Maelstrom is now "10 - 50x more epic." For some people, a giant whirlpool surrounded by lightning and crashing surf wasn't epic enough. What was clearly needed was a flying shark with a giant laser mounted on its head, being ridden by a dinosaur that was in turn being ridden by an undead wailing away on the guitar.

WoW.com has now exclusively learned that a video of a flying-laser-shark-dinosaur-guitar-wailing-mage is far more epic yet than that pitifully un-epic picture we posted last week, and we are happy to share this video with you.

Are you ready to rock?

If they make yet another sequel to everyone's favorite modern-day dinosaur movie, Jurassic Park, we at WoW Insider feel that the film would best be served by being shot entirely in World of Warcraft. The Devilsaur, of course, would have a starring role. And did we mention the zombies? Yes, such a cinematic jewel would, by necessity, feature zombies. We had a screenplay half-finished when this screenshot from Cinate of Sasquatch Vanguard on Azgalor arrived, showing us that our Jurassic Zombie concept had already been done, and better than we could have ever imagined it. In the meantime, our search for fame and glory continues. Raiders of the Lost Zombie, perhaps?

Do you have any unusual World of Warcraft images that are just collecting dust in your screenshots folder? We'd love to see it on Around Azeroth! Sharing your screenshot is as simple as e-mailing aroundazeroth@wow.com with a copy of your shot and a brief explanation of the scene. You could be featured here next!

Remember to include your player name, server and/or guild if you want it mentioned. We strongly prefer full screen shots without the UI showing -- use alt-Z to remove it. Please, no more battleground scoreboards.

Devilsaur:

This big red dino is a great Ferocity pet with a specialty in sustainable damage over time. Its Monstrous Bite builds up over a period of 30 seconds to an additional 9% damage on all the devilsaur's attacks. If your battle is going to last 30 seconds or less, though, you're not going to get the full benefit of that, especially if, as in PvP, there may be breaks of a few seconds in which the Monstrous Bite buff is not being reapplied, then your devilsaur will have to start over again. This makes me think that the best utility for a devilsaur is in instances, particularly on long boss fights where it can just wail on a target from start to finish. Just be sure that your tank doesn't mind the footsteps -- they're not as loud as the core hound, and they don't shake your friends' screens, but they could definitely get annoying sooner rather than later.

This was the first exotic pet that BRK caught on film, and it comes in shades of red, white and black. You'll find them all in Un'Goro Crater, except for one more in the northernmost Netherstorm biodome as well.

The closest non-exotic pet is the raptor, with a Savage Rend ability that does some bleed damage and boosts attack power if it critically hits. It has a nasty 1 minute cooldown though, which really limits its usefulness.

If you're a hunter, you're probably pretty excited about the new talents we're getting in Patch 3.0.2, not the least of which is the new Beast Mastery talent, appropriately enough called Beast Mastery. It gives you 4 extra talent points, and enables you to tame "exotic" pets that would otherwise be beyond your reach. But which exotic pet is right for you? Where can they be tamed? Are they really better than the regular pets?

There are seven exotic pets in all, but only five of them are available to us now:

• Chimaera
• Core Hound
• Devilsaur
• Silithid
• Worm

The Rhino and the Spirit Beast will only be available in Northrend once the expansion actually arrives next month. For now, we have the selection of exotic beasts that would become available to a level 60 hunter upon first clicking that 51st talent point, and reaching the pinnacle of his or her mastery of beasts. These pets are not necessarily set in stone, of course, and they will change a bit over the next month or so, though how much is still anyone's guess.

So what makes each of these pets special? Let's have a look.

The latest Beta Build has hit the test servers, and there's a lot to report for Hunters. In particular, many of the announced changes we discussed in the last Scattered Shots went through. Aspect of the Beast now grants a melee AP buff, and Mongoose Bite is unlinked from dodge. Tranquilizing Shot now dispels magic effects, and Arcane Shot does not.

Most of the big notable changes however, center around pets, and specifically Beast Mastery. The 51 point talent is now implemented, and 5 extra talent points work. Chimeras and Devilsaurs are now exotic only. In addition, two new exotic pet families have been found: Worms and Silithids.

You can tame both the Dredge Striker and Dredge Crusher type worms in Silithus and the Jormungar worms in Northrend. For Silithids, only one "warrior" skin seems tamable, while the worker, wasp, and heavy tank type silithids are not tamable. The worms are Tenacity pets who feed on bread, cheese, and fungus and have a family skill called Acid Spit that does nature damage and reduces, while the silithid is a Cunning pet who feeds on meat and fungus and have an ability called Venom Web Spray that roots the target for 4 seconds and does nature damage.

I've added some screenshots of the new pets and their abilities to the gallery above. Also, if you're not impressed with any of the new exotic pet families so far, take heart. We've been told they're still working on the pets themselves.

Unfortunately, the rest of the pet-related news is less than amazing.

Daniel Howell contributes BigRedKitty, a column with strategies, tips and tricks for and about the Hunter class, sprinkled with a healthy dose of completely improper, sometimes libelous, personal commentary.

You've seen pics, maybe even a small movie or two, but have you seen a devilsaur up close and personal?

Well, except when they stomped and chomped you silly in Un'goro? /shudder

Here ya go, then! We tamed one and let it loose in Shattrath City and Nagrand, using all its abilities and letting it rip stuff up.

You are most welcome to download the presented YouTube version (212MB) movie by right-clicking here.

And if you're feeling particularly frisky and want to see this movie in its native format and in stereo, download the full-sized version (324MB) by right-clicking here.

Devilsaur-stompin' is best heard LOUD! We jacked up every sound option, including reverb, so you'll get the full Devilsaur Experience.

/shudder

And remember that the Monstrous Bite spell triggers the Monstrous Strength effect. Don't try to "learn" Monstrous Strength from a trainer or find it in the talent trees; it only comes with Monstrous Bite.

Another great big Thank You to the WoW Insider editors for allowing us to publish this movie both here and on our little blog at the same time!

You may recall a few days back that we told you about new stable slots coming with Wrath of the Lich King. It looks like Blizzard wasn't just whistling dixie, because they're in. When I was switching from my level 65 devilsaur to my beefier level 70 dire raven for a Nexus run over on the Beta server, I noticed that the stable boy was offering me two more stable slots!

The stables slots costs 50 gold for the third one, and 150 gold for the fourth one, giving you a total of 4 slots. This means you have room for one pet from each talent tree, plus a spot for a specialized pet (such as a scorpid for PvP) or an exotic pet (and yes, devilsaurs will be exotic only) or two.

Combine this with the abolishing of the need to tame pets simply to learn skills and auto leveling, and it continues to look like pet management should be easier, funner, and more efficient in Wrath.

Elizabeth is off having grand adventures at the airport today, so I'll be filling in for her on Ask a Beta Tester today. You may know me from such WoW Insider features as Know Your Lore, Ask a Lore Nerd, Hybrid Theory, and Bad Pop Culture References. Hm, wait, I think I imagined that last one... Anyway! I'll be fielding your questions today, and I apologize if I didn't get to yours. I had to pick and choose questions I actually knew a thing or two about, so I couldn't really answer class questions about classes I don't play or don't know very well.

If I didn't get to your question today, go ahead and ask it again today, and hopefully one of the other WoW Insider staff in the Wrath Beta will be able to answer it for you. Thanks, everyone!

juicyjuice asked: As I understand it, the Argent Dawn is making a reappearance in WotLK. Will players who spent a lot of time with the Argent Dawn pre-BC have a significant advantage over people who may not have much or any Argent Dawn rep when WotLK hits?

The Argent Dawn and parts of the Silver Hand are now operating as the Argent Crusade. I won't elaborate on that so we can avoid any spoilers on the front page here. So no, high Argent Dawn rep from WoW Classic will not give you any advantage in Wrath of the Lich King. However, it will probably play a role in an achievement or two, though it is a bit too early to say for sure whether that will be the case when Wrath hits retail.

As of the latest build, Beast Mastery, the 51 point Hunter talent in the tree of the same name that lets you tame "exotic" pets, remains unimplemented. However, it looks a sneak preview of the talent may have snuck into the patch all the same: Devilsaurs are now tamable!

The devilsaurs do shrink quite a bit, but are huge all the same -- I'd estimate the one I tamed was at least three times as tall as my dwarven hunter after taming. They also make a satisfying stomping sound as they run around behind you. They use the Ferocity talent tree (minus Charge for some reason), and eat meat.

They come with all the basic pet skills, use Bite for their focus dump, and have an extra family skill called Monstrous Bite. Monstrous Bite looks slightly unfinished, as there's only one rank, and it only hits for 4-6 damage. It's not completely bad though: It also has a buff on hit that increases the Devilsaur's damage done by 5% and stacks 3 times (It should be noted that Monstrous Bite's tooltip currently claims it boosts AP instead). In addition, the buff makes the devilsaur larger.

It should be noted too that Wowhead now lists chimeras as a pet category, complete with a family ability called Froststorm Breath. However, I could not personally tame the chimeras in Winterspring or Azshara.

[Thanks for the tip, Homelessbird!]

Player Ariochlee of the Ghostland realm was questing in Un'goro Crater when he came across this tree. And as anyone who spent any time in that jungle oasis in the desert knows, this is a sign that something large and prehistoric is sneaking up behind you to send you on a one way trip to the graveyard. Boy, I don't miss that place.

Do you have any unusual World of Warcraft images that are just collecting dust in your screenshots folder? Because we'd love to see it on Around Azeroth! Sharing your screenshot is as simple as e-mailing aroundazeroth@wow.com with a copy of your shot and a brief explanation of the scene. You could be featured here next!

Remember to include your player name, server and/or guild if you want it mentioned. We prefer full screen shots without the UI showing. And please, no more sunsets. This means you. I'm not kidding, yours is not the exception. No, really. Sigh.

Ah, the mighty devilsaur. I'm sure we've all been in the same position as reader RaydenUni of Destromath. Venturing into the beautiful Un'goro Crater, perhaps you're distracted by the scenery or some nasty creature attempting to bite you, and before you know it a massive devilsaur has quietly come up behind you. Soon enough you're a corpse and he's looking for his next snack. Visit scenic Un'Goro! Wish you were here!

Do you have a unique shot of Azeroth or Outland that you'd like to show off to the rest of the world? Tell us about it by e-mailing aroundazeroth@gmail.com! Or perhaps you'd just like to see more of your pics from Around Azeroth.

Macdaddy of Rexxar sends in this shot of the wily Devilsaur roaming about Un'goro crater. Can a Gnome outrun a Devilsaur? Perhaps so -- after all, why would the Devilsaur be motivated by such a tiny snack?

Do you have a unique shot of Azeroth that you'd like to show off to the rest of the world? Tell us about it by e-mailing aroundazeroth@gmail.com! You can attach a picture file or send us a link to one -- and don't worry about formatting, we'll take care of that part.

There are some beasts you'll encounter in Azeroth that you'll never quite forget. Not because they were massively scripted encounters of epic proportions, but because they managed to outwit you -- perhaps several times over. There you were, walking along, peacefully minding your own business, picking flowers in Un'Goro -- when suddenly a huge devilsaur appears behind you. (Devilsaurs are very stealthy for their size!) You try to run, naturally, but you can't escape the devilsaur's huge stride once he's sighted you, and he devours you in a single bite. Of course, the devilsaur is hardly the only beast in Azeroth to play such tricks -- and on most such creatures I vow to return at a later level for revenge. And what about you? Do you find yourself returning to zones ten levels later and avenging earlier deaths?