The Pet Hunter Diaries: Azeroth Achieved!

Dear Diary,

New Acquisitions: 58
Current Total: 309

Believe me when I say you would not want to be one of my World of Warcraft battle pets. I would scream obscenities at you, put you through a grueling workout regime that would make you wish you’d never been born, then force you into violent fights with other pets over and over again until you’re beaten black and blue and unconscious. That’s exactly what I did with my stable of battle pets; I PT’ed those useless maggots (and some of them actually are maggots) until I had myself an elite team of bloodthirsty level 25s.

Only then did I feel ready to take on the bigwigs of the pet battling world. That’s how a few days ago I managed to unlock the pet battle dailies in Azeroth, accomplished by defeating all the battlemasters in Kalimdor and the Eastern Kingdoms. Getting to that point really wasn’t so difficult at all — especially if you’re actively hunting unique pets at the same time; the experience points roll in, and the levels simply fly by. Soon enough, I was ready to take the fight to Outland and Northrend.

As far as the hunt goes, I’m only missing the really hard-to-find Azerothian wild pets and those that only show up during certain conditions. I’d consider myself a patient person, but I’m still not about to fly to Stranglethorn every half hour to check if it’s raining. Speaking of patience, I’ve also taken to letting the game idle on my machine while I’m busy with my real life obligations during the day, occasionally throwing glances over my shoulder as I’m working around the house to see if a pet I’d been camping has finally decided to respawn. Pet collecting is like the perfect hobby for us compulsive multi-taskers.

Unfortunately, more people are also clueing in on the server reset trick. Sometimes I feel like I’m the only one who cares about pet battles, but that’s clearly not so. Last time I tried to log out and camp at a pet “hotspot” before a scheduled restart, there were about a dozen or so other people who had the same idea. Hopefully in about a few months things will get better as our group of pet-obsessives get what we need and move on.

I’ve begun to do the pet hunting exclusively on my Mage now, since being able to teleport to every major part of the game world is the only way to travel, especially now that I’m canvassing Outland and Northrend. One interesting thing to note, is that once you hit around level 20-22 with your team of battle pets, it looks like you’d be strong enough to tackle wild pets everywhere, including the Cataclysm zones and even into Pandaria.

Sad to report, Diary, that so far I’ve had very little luck hunting in Outland, and only slightly better luck in Northrend. There’s always one single pet exclusive to each zone there, and they’re almost always nigh impossible to find…

Happy hunting and until next time,

MMOGC

Latest field notes and recently hunted pets:

Once again, showcasing some of the more unique pets I’ve captured on my travels, because quite frankly I’m getting rather sick of all those variations of snakes, spiders, rabbits, squirrels, etc.

Pebble

To get this little guy you must complete achievement Rock Lover which involves doing Lost in the Deeps daily at the throne of Therazane in Deepholm 10 times. The catch is, some of the dailies there are random, changes every time. And whaddya know, apparently random = rare. I’d sat at 9/10 times completed for the past two months because that quest was never up, and I checked every day since I resubbed. No wonder I hardly ever see anyone with Pebble on my server.

Diemetradon Hatchling

Familiar to those who remember questing in Un’Goro Crater, which also happens to where I hunted this pet. They tag alongside the Diemetradon Elders that dwell there; a trick to get hatchlings to spawn if you don’t see them, kill Elders and wait for respawns with these little babies accompanying them. Very cool looking pet!

Sporeling Sprout

Obviously the pet exclusive to Zangarmarsh in Outland, doesn’t seem to be very abundant, but got lucky and bagged this pet as I was flying over Sporeggar and spotted him. Looks like I have graduated from being small-time poacher to Sporeling sprout abductor. I should feel bad, but he happened to be the Humanoid type pet I captured to gain Family Reunion achievement, so I don’t.

Fel Flame

Found in Shadowmoon Valley, it’s a great pity pet for those of us who were never lucky enough to get Searing Scorchling that drops off the ice lord boss that’s part of the Midsummer event, or who can’t be assed to grind more Firelands dailies to buy the caches with Marks of the World Tree for a chance at him.

Clefthoof Runt

Here we go with poaching baby animals from their parents again. Remember these guys from Nagrand? Seems pretty rare, but one day flew over a herd and there happened to be quite a few of these tagging along. A runt he may be, but he is still almost as big as my cat form.

Stunted Shardhorn

Another “runt” pet, one of the first Northrend pet I captured, native to Sholazar Basin. Has tendency to spawn inside trees that annoy me to no end! I had to put two or three out of their misery until I came across one I could battle. Always wanted a baby rhino.

Water Waveling

Quite a few of these at the water fields in Zul’Drak. Now I can run around and pretend to be a frost mage with my very own pet water elemental.

The Pet Hunter Diaries: Notes From The Great Azerothian Safari

Dear Diary,

New Acquisitions: 96
Current Total: 251

Uh, yeah. Just as I thought — it’s pet collecting madness after the release of World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria, as evidenced by my new acquisitions count and current total, which illustrates a huge jump in numbers from last week. There are so many new pets to hunt and collect.

My guess is, if I’d spent as much time leveling as I did pet hunting and battling this week, I would have reached level 90 by now. But it’s the perfect thing to do in the middle of an afternoon when your baby is napping. Or any time you have a moment to spare, really. What I’ve been doing is methodically going through Azeroth zone by zone, hitting the low level areas first and working my way up. Basically, the higher the level range of the zone, the higher level of the pets you’ll find in them. Here’s a good rule of thumb: if you can defeat the NPC trainer in one zone, then you are most likely good to go to move on to the next level bracket.

Other notes I’ve picked up from my great Azerothian safari:

• It’s all about the team! Team make-up is probably the most important aspect of pet battling, and you’ll probably find yourself constantly switching around and tweaking yours depending on the type of fight. At least, you should be. Always mix it up, and don’t be tempted or feel like you have to be stuck with the same 3-pet team.

• Consider leveling up at least one of each type of pet (e.g. Flying, Magic, Critter, etc.) because you never know when one of them will come in handy. Variety is key! I definitely would not recommend filling your team with three pets of the same type; it’s a bad idea, as evidenced by some of the NPC trainers you will no doubt tasked to defeat. For instance, I wiped the floor with the goblin Cassandra Kaboom, using a strong Elemental pet against all three of her Mechanicals. You don’t want the same thing to happen to you.

• If you’re going to be leveling at least one of each type of pet anyway, and seeing as there are 10 types all together, it’s perfect to level several teams in tandem. When looking for battles in one zone, rotating 3-4 teams also lets you take advantage of the 8min cooldown on your heal/revive pets ability, so no need to visit a stable master every time you get battered up. When one team gets low on health, simply switch to another one. This ensures you’ll have about a dozen pets all around the same level no matter where you go, also allowing for minimal downtime.

• Make sure to still keep a good number of pets at every level or level bracket. You never know when you’ll be traipsing through a lower level zone one day and see a wild pet that catches your eye, and you’ll want a battle pet at a similar level to capture it. This shouldn’t be too hard if you’ve been an avid hunter already, as pets keep their levels when you catch them.

• Admittedly, leveling pets can be a bit of a grind if that’s all you’re focusing on. The best way to make it not feel like one is by making it a hunting expedition. Time flies when you have a goal in mind, especially if that goal is adding a new unique pet to your collection. Still, even when you catch a new pet, why stop there? Chances are the quality of that pet can be improved, because you’ll probably be catching a lot of “Common” ones.

• Don’t settle for “Poor” quality! I certainly don’t. Hunting uncommon and rare quality pets can help you level up quick by keeping your mind off the grind. Kill all Common pets you encounter that you already own (there are addons out there that help let you know), and usually by the time you finally bag that your Uncommon or Rare, you would have gained a healthy amount of XP for your team(s).

• When you find you need to focus on leveling one particular pet, you will want to take it to a zone where there are wild pets appropriate to its level, but see if you can give it an advantage by choosing areas are that teeming with opponents that are weak against it. For example, when I found I needed to power level my Lil’ Tarecgosa, I took to the wilds of Feralas, where the Flying type Nether Faerie Dragons there were getting one-shotted by her strong Magic type attacks. The quick XP gain meant I was able to level her from 8-11 in a matter of minutes.

• Pet hunting comes with a whole other set of rules, since your goal is not to kill, but to capture. Before you set out, it’s good to have a good mix of pets at varying levels on hand. Usually, a good rule of thumb is to have pets about 1-2 levels above the ones you hope to catch, meaning they are strong enough to not lose the fight, but at the same time they aren’t so strong that you’ll risk killing your opponent outright. Also, be careful not to use abilities that your targets are vulnerable to or you’ll risk doing too much damage, leading to a dead pet and a botched hunt.

• Also good to have are pets with “small” attacks (like leech life or abilities that do periodic every turn). They’re good for those annoying situations where you’ll get your opponent just a sliver of health above the threshold which activates the trapping ability, when all they need is a tiny little nudge to put them in the sweet spot (25-30% health range). Always look at the numbers, especially when your opponent goes under 50% health. Calculate the damage of your attacks, and pray you don’t get a freak crit that kills the pet you hope to capture.

• It’s also helpful to have a “tanky” pet on hand, one you can use to soak up damage between turns while you try and capture, because the truth is sometimes the trap misses. This can prevent your other pets from being whittled down and dying on you, because once they die they get no experience at all, no matter how much they participated.

• While I do prefer to level a bunch of pets at once and keeping them all at around the same level, admittedly it’s sometimes good to have along a “brute” that’s higher level than all the rest. They come in handy during those times where you find the need to completely and utterly destroy your opponent, without delicacy or any of the subtleties. Fighting against NPC battle trainers, for instance. Or, say, when you’ve caught the pet you were after and now that a second pet has joined the fight, you just want the battle to be over. Brutes are good as a back-up plan, and I find bears especially good for the job (Baby Blizzard Bear, Hyjal Bear Cub, etc.)

• I’m finding that each zone has at least one pet unique to them. Not always, but in general this is the case. Sometimes, that pet can be a bit hard to find. Maybe I just got lucky, but I wonder if server resets can be used to your advantage? All I know is, after days of hunting around the Wetlands for Tiny Bog Beast or Arathi Highlands for Tiny Twister and having no luck, one time I showed up in both places after a server reset and there were a bunch of them all over.

• Some pets will only come out during certain conditions. For example, Widow Spiderlings in Duskwood or Stone Armadillos in Desolace will only appear at night. Baby Apes in Cape of Stranglethorn only when it’s raining. When it comes to finding out information like this, sites like Warcraftpets.com are your friends.

• Once you get out of the starting zones, you’ll find most wild pet battles will consist of two opponents; you’ll get an alert that another pet has joined the battle after you engage, and it will sit in the sidelines until you defeat the first. Some wild pets only show up as the “second” pet of a team battle. I suspect the Snowshoe Hare in Hillsbrad Foothills may be one of these. Keep in mind, you can only capture one pet per battle.

Happy hunting,

MMOGC

Latest field notes and recently hunted pets:

Too many to list all of them, obviously. And anyway, most of them are the same variations of your common models of rabbits, mice, snakes and spiders, etc. Believe me, after a while, you get so sick of seeing rats and rabbits like in every zone you go. Anyway, I’m just going to showcase some of the more unique ones I’ve found on my travels, or a few that I personally like.

Lucky Quilen Cub

What the heck is a Quilen you ask? Apparently a lion dog thingy with disgustingly huge blue watery doe eyes. Finally got this after entering Collector’s Edition code to upgrade my game. Holy crap, this thing is so cute it’s ugly, didn’t even know that was possible. It kinda hurts just to look at it.

Giraffe Calf

No safari is complete without a giraffe. Caught this little (um, maybe not so little?) guy out in Southern Barrens among roving giraffe herds, just swooped in and stole him away from his parents. WoW has turned me into poacher. Next up is training him to become a killer in underground fighting ring. Anyway, pet is TALL. Towers over gnomes. Throw a pet treat that increases its size at it, and it also gets as big as a hunter pet. Got loads of comments.

Lost of Lordaeron

These ghosts are all over the place out in Tirisfal Glades, common but very cool model nonetheless. Also shows you can capture of some of the most unique and pretty pets right in the low level zones, like Gazelle Fawn in Mulgore or Ravager Hatchling in Bloodmyst Isle. Best looking pets are not always locked in later parts of game, though not sure how respectful it is to be able to capture and own and treat the spirits of the dead like…well, pets. Game has turned me into monster.

Tiny Harvester

All over Westfall, very commonly seen in the fields. Essentially miniature of annoying Harvester mobs that try to kill you, but starting out in the human lands it was first wild pet I saw that got me really excited about pet hunting. But also special to me as first catch of this pet also happened to be my first Rare. Very detailed and unique little pet.

Tiny Twister

We have pet models of earth elementals, fire elementals, etc. about time we get an air elemental pet. Found only around Circle of Outer Binding out in Arathi Highlands, but rarely seen because of possible long respawn times. Hunted for two days without seeing any until after server reset, and then there were many. Good luck if you go, and pray some jerk hasn’t caught or killed them all.

Tiny Bog Beast

Yet another “Tiny” pet. Also seems to be quite rare because of possibly long respawn times. Found in Wetlands around the Green Belt, northwest of Greenwarden’s Grove. Finally bagged myself one and only shortly after a server reset, may be harder to find but very awesome looking, well worth it to hunt.

Fishy

FISHY! Oooh, fishy fishy fishy fish! A fish, a fish, a fish, a fishy, oooh! Oooh, fishy, fishy, fishy fish! That went wherever I did go… My first pet quest reward out in Pandaria, that lives in a floating water bubble. To be the greatest pet hunter, quests must not be neglected!

Feral Vermling

And of course, the achievement reward for collecting 250 unique pets, a fairly easy one to do now these days. Kind of a scary-looking little bugger with its red eyes and evil smirk. I think it might be planning something…

My Panda Day

Happy pandas

Weeks even before World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria was released, I was already thinking about what I should be focusing on when the expansion went live. Should I jump right into pet battles? Should I start on leveling my main to level 90? Or should I roll a Pandaren and play around with a monk? As it turned out, I was able to fit in a bit of everything on the first day.

First things first — Pet. Battle. Trainer. Oh no, it’s all over, folks! All over! Pet battling is even more fun and addicting than I’d imagined! Within an hour I’d managed to add 25+ new pets to my collection, raised four or five different pets to level 6, and beat up several NPC pet battlemasters in the human area. And how do I feel about completely destroying a little girl and her pet rabbits, you ask? Pretty damn good, actually!

Next, I hopped onto my druid main for a couple hours of questing with my husband, heading into the Jade Forest to start on our journey to level 90. It is freakin’ gorgeous. I am also enjoying the MoP quests; so far, they feel a lot more robust than Cataclysm’s, in all sorts of different ways, e.g. story, content, impact, visuals, humor etc. (Socks!!! NOOOOO, SOCKS!)

At the end of the day, the Mercy Gaming guild got together and started Team Panda. I made my female red panda (tail and all) and named her Meilee, which is a bastardized spelling of Chinese pinyin characters for “Pretty” in Mandarin. How any and all variations of that name weren’t taken yet, I can’t imagine.

Together, we quested through the Pandaren starting area, and I finally had to put symbol markers on myself and my guildies to tell them apart from all the other big, fat, black and white pandas running all over the place. It also didn’t help that we were all monks wearing the same quest reward gear. Mint green dots everywhere on the mini-map!

I had myself a great time. While I can’t speak for my friends, I suspect they did too. The zone was visually stunning, the quests were fun and relatively unique. I don’t want to spoil it for anyone who might be rolling their own Pandaren one day, but suffice to say I was quite impressed. In the end we chose to join the Horde, and our modest little guild Red Solstice on the server Silvermoon is now up and running.

The nice thing is, after yesterday’s experiences I’ve decided I’m not going to concern myself too much with “focusing” on any one thing in-game anymore. I’m not in any rush, and there’s certainly nothing wrong with sampling a little bit of everything — in fact, I quite liked it.

The Pet Hunter Diaries: Prepared For “Pandaria”

Dear Diary,

New Acquisitions: 4
Current Total: 155

Isn’t it amazing, how sometimes, even achieving a small, seemingly trivial goal can make you feel like a million bucks? I think because of this, some part of me will always be drawn to World of Warcraft — it is, in essence, a very goal-oriented game; there’s always something to be working towards, whether you’re a hardcore raider chasing heroic achievements, or simply like good old boring down-to-earth me, trying to collect 150 unique companion pets before the release of Mists of Pandaria.

In less than 24 hours, the expansion will launch, and I’m happy to report that I’ve completed what I set out to do well ahead of time, but why stop there? I’m sure I don’t have to tell you, a pet hunter’s job is never done. I’ve always been a rabid an enthusiastic collector of companion pets, which makes the upcoming pet capture-and-battle system feel like it’s right up my alley, but it’s also very exciting to see that more and more people are beginning to discover the joys of vanity pets, particularly those who have otherwise expressed little interest before.

For the last couple of WoW expansions I played until I reached the new level cap, and then stopped not long after that. I like raiding on occasion, but I’ve always been a proponent for more activity choices for endgame. Could pet hunting and battling be the answer to my ennui? That remains to be seen, but the last several weeks of doing nothing in game but focusing on amassing my pet collection has been very enlightening. Apparently, that alone has been enough for me to feel quite accomplished. But hey — I am, after all, your average everyday pet fiend.

I think I’ve done all I can pre-MoP for now. I’m sure that after Tuesday everyone’s pet collection including my own will explode, making the 150 unique pet achievement look like peanuts, but it was fun while it lasted. Now the question is, when I sit down to play tomorrow night, do I concentrate on starting my journey to level 90, roll a new Pandaren monk, or jump right into pet hunting? Choices, choices, choices.

And speaking of choices, I should also start thinking about assembling my pet battle team. The possibilities are endless:

• An all-flying ensemble? (Brilliant Kaliri, Firefly, Vampiric Batling)
• The Seasonal Squad? (Spirit of Summer, Peddlefeet, Feline Familiar)
• Mechs and robots? (Mechanical Chicken, Clockwork Gnome, Lil’ XT)
• Team We’re-So-Adorable-That-We’ll-Rip-Your-Face-Off-With-Our-Cuteness? (Lil’ Tarecgosa, Baby Blizzard Bear, Pint-Sized Pink Pachyderm)

That last one actually might not be such a bad idea, though the thought of someone beating up my little polar bear is too demoralizing and soul-crushing to even imagine; I just don’t know if I could take it.

To my fellow pet enthusiasts, see you all in Panda Land! It is my hope to meet you one day with honor on the pet battlefield.

Happy hunting,

MMOGC

Latest field notes and recently hunted pets:

Hyjal Bear Cub

Another baby bear! After two months doing Firelands dailies (didn’t always do them every day, that’s why it took longer) finally unlocked vendor to purchase this little guy. Probably obvious why I chose him first, as he is very cute, very cool. Having to spend more than 1000 gold to buy him, not so cool. Damn you, why do bear cubs have to be so stinkin’ adorable?

Crimson Lasher

Several days later, unlocked second Firelands vendor to buy this pet. What a PITA this event chain is. Another 1000+ gold down the hatch, but now have my own little Crimson Lasher. No, definitely not feeding it any more burning scorpid gunk.

Fox Kit

Spent weeks doing Tol Barad dailies, hoping for Alliance controlled every day in order for few extra commendations. Killed every Baradin Fox I came across, but after a pile of fox corpses still no luck. Screw it, finally just spent 200 commendations at the vendor for this pet and called it a day. Totally worth it. Has great dancing animation!

Mojo

Checked AH periodically for hex sticks, buying any I could find for 5 gold or less (go to hell, sellers who list for 25g) to use on forest frogs in heroic ZA. Kitty stealth solo run ftw! Got lucky on third run, using second to last hex stick left in inventory. Finally got my Mojo!

The Faults Of Theramore

I’ll admit it; before this week, I knew very little about the new World of Warcraft scenarios that will be introduced with the Mists of Pandaria expansion. All right, so I don’t deny that I’ve had my head way too far up in the pet battle system to give any other upcoming feature much thought…

This changed Monday when the game went live with Theramore’s Fall, and I discovered that “instanced three-person group quest” pretty much describes scenarios in a nutshell, and no particular need for tanks or healers. The only difference is, objectives are given to you in stages, so you’ll have to complete them in order to move the story forward.

Yes, you heard that right. Story. My excitement level rose when I learned this, mindful of the rich and colorful lore behind the Warcraft franchise and pondering the many ways Blizzard can now use this new mode of story-telling to their advantage.

But days later, it appears that the Fall of Theramore scenario has been showered with rather unanimously tepid reviews. Personally, I was tempted to agree, even though the joy of being back to playing with my old WoW guild pretty much trumped every complaint I had — the fact that it was too short, not very inventive, and just in general lacked the oomph I would have expected from an expansion pre-launch event.

Still, because I’ve read Tides of War, the WoW novel that provides all the details behind this event, I didn’t notice anything amiss about the story until I saw Green Armadillo’s post, and then I realized that he’s absolutely right — if you haven’t read the book, you’ll have absolutely no bloody clue what it’s all about. So a mana bomb hits Theramore, a bunch of ships are burning, and Jaina Proudmoore’s hair is now white and she’s being scary. Okay. Since I’m Alliance, I only did that faction’s version of the scenario, but I looked up some videos of the Horde side, and things look even more confusing over there if you don’t know what’s going on.

Actually, now that I’ve taken some time to think further about it, even I’m slightly peeved at how everything in the book was hastily boiled down to a short cutscene and a couple lines of dialogue. Selling us short with explosions and cheap destruction is what this is, as so much of what made this a poignant, momentous event for Azeroth was completely left out. This isn’t fluff I’m talking about either; this is the actual whys-and-hows behind what’s happening, which you’d think would be relevant to the understanding of the story.

Also, call me crazy, but while a tie-in novel should give players more background and context into the story, I don’t think the most important and exciting scenes should be locked and hidden away behind its covers. Not to mention how people, you know, tend to get irritated when they have to shell out more money for pertinent additional story to a game they’re already paying monthly to play. (And I say this even as someone who reads a lot of game books, and enjoy doing so a lot.)

A longer instance with more explanation and detail seems to be what most players wanted out of the scenario, so if being story-driven was their goal, it’s clear that the opportunity and potential was squandered with this one. Fortunately, I’m pretty sure Blizzard is well aware they missed the mark with FoT, and hopefully future scenarios (at least ones that don’t have anything to do with limited-time events) won’t be so cut-and-dry. WoW has plenty of material to work with and now they have real way to deliver context with content; they just need to beef up the execution especially since a good story component has recently become something many gamers expect from their MMOs.

And finally, not that I’m frustrated about my bad luck of not getting anything else in my reward bags or anything, but…fireworks? Considering Theramore was just wiped off the map, a little harsh, no? Well, pretty, at least!

Read Lately: Jaina Proudmoore – Tides Of War

While I may play World of Warcraft off and on, one constant is my interest in the lore behind the game, an interest that extends to pretty much all MMOs I play, in fact. I’m always devouring every piece of lore and background information I can find, even if that means putting up with some not-so-well-written novels every once in a while. I’ve long discovered that looking for quality writing in most video game tie-in books is a lost cause.

Admittedly, I didn’t think Jaina Proudmoore: Tides of War was going to pose much of problem on that front, because I’m generally well-disposed towards author Christie Golden’s works. The book’s eponymous heroine is also a major WoW character that I’ve always liked and followed with interest.

Indeed, if you’ve kept track with WoW lore and characters as closely as I have in recent years, I think some of the events in ToW will impact you in more profound ways than if you hadn’t. The story reaches back in time to touch upon several important points in Jaina Proudmoore’s history, just as it looks to the future and hints at upcoming changes in the expansion Mists of Pandaria. It lays the groundwork in explaining how the Alliance and Horde will end up discovering the new continent, and why the two factions will be battling when they do.

Unless indicated (and it’s mostly just the end of this post), I’m going to be keeping this book review relatively spoiler-free, though I suspect the majority of WoW players are already aware of much of the novel’s background. As we all know, Garrosh Hellscream is now the leader of the Orcs and the Warchief of the Horde, and he has decidedly chosen to walk a much darker path than his predecessor Thrall. The much talked-about complete and utter destruction of Theramore is his responsibility, as are many other terrible actions in this novel, so you’ll probably despise him. Still, not everyone in the Horde shares his views, and this has resulted in a clear split within the faction. Somehow, I have a feeling that this dissension in the ranks will play an important part in a future story line.

In any case, I’m aware that Blizzard has a history of altering their characters with every new expansion, but that’s not always a good thing. Female characters (e.g. Tyrande Whisperwind, Sylvanas Windrunner) especially always seem to receive the short end of the stick in this regard, so I was initially worried that they were going to change Jaina in the same way.

The new Jaina.

My concerns were unfounded. Yes, Jaina is changed, but in my opinion, for the better! I mean, she witnessed her entire city being destroyed and all of her closest friends brutally murdered; I would have been angrier and more frustrated if she’d remained the vapid and naive pacifist sitting up in her little tower sipping tea and twiddling her thumbs while waiting for the day Alliance and Horde will lay down their arms and sing Kumbaya around a campfire. Instead, she has finally taken a stand. She’s still the strong and independent woman she was before, but now with an edge.

In truth, it was actually Jaina’s reaction to the aftermath that saved this book for me. As much as I like Christie Golden, I admit her writing style can be hit or miss; sometimes she’s so over the top with her WoW novels that the prose can be so contrived to the point of being borderline insulting. ToW was like this. In my heart, I’d almost given up on the book until I reached the story’s climax. After that, I just couldn’t stop reading.

Like I said, it wasn’t the writing, nor was it really the story’s events because much of it was already public knowledge. In fact, the best part of the book was the description of Jaina’s emotions — the grief, the suffering, the guilt and the rage — all of which were very raw and believable. Though her desire for revenge was frightening and terrible, I couldn’t help but sympathize and a part of me actually rooted for her to go through with her desperate need for vengeance. I even found myself liking Jaina more when she was ruthless and cold, because that’s when I felt a real personality starting to come through. It made her more real, which also makes her more likeable (at least in my eyes).

Jaina also seems to have finally gotten over pining for Arthas. Speaking of which, there is a small aspect of romance in ToW, though I felt it sometimes got in the way of the story (like standing in the middle of the ruins of Theramore is where you choose to share your first kiss? Come on!) Regardless, I’m hoping that she’s finally found someone worthy of her, because we all know poor Jaina’s had pretty bad luck in the past when it comes to boyfriends.

In sum, writing-wise Christie Golden has delivered much better, but if you can put up with the mediocre writing that’s almost “fan-fic-y” in its hokeyness, I recommend this for fans of WoW especially if you plan on heading into MoP. I’m sure you can always get the whole story by looking up some two-line summary on some wiki page, but the canvas of emotions and feelings that you get from this novel is what makes it worth reading.

Scenarios (“short, instanced adventures for three players that directly follow the stories and events in the open world”) are also going to be a new feature in the expansion, and I’m personally looking forward to experiencing the Fall of Theramore scenario that will be available in-game starting today. I’m not sure what to expect, but after reading ToW, at least lore-wise I’m prepared.

Warning: Spoiler territory ahead

I leave some final random thoughts here because of spoilers, and also because I just don’t think I can wrap up a discussion about this book without admitting how upset I felt over Rhonin’s death; I was surprised that it affected me even more than Theramore being wiped off the map. I’ve never particularly liked the way his character was written by Richard A. Knaak, but at the same time he was always much more than just “that leader of Dalaran guy standing in the Violet Citadel.” He was a father and a husband, which makes me sad now, wondering would happen to his wife Vereesa Windrunner (and god knows that family has seen its fair share of heartbreaks) and their half-elven twin sons.

The Pet Hunter Diaries: Thrill Of The Hunt

Dear Diary,

New Acquisitions: 9
Current Total: 151

Every time I write to you I feel like a big nerd. Oh who am I kidding, I am a big nerd.

As you can see, I’ve reached my pre-World of Warcraft expansion goal of 150 unique pets. One reason for that is I made out like a bandit leveling the last 16 points I needed to max Archaeology. It was a pain in the ass, but I managed to score two pets and a mount out of it. Not bad for about an hour of work.

Another factor which helped a lot was the Darkmoon Faire which was in town last week. Can you believe it’s only been my second time at the Faire since it moved to Darkmoon Island? And the first time didn’t even really count because I was only able to catch the tail end of it for a day or two. And yet I’m pretty sure I can play all the effing games there in my sleep now, seeing as I did them every day on no less than six characters to be able to get all the pets at once (now that they’re account wide). It didn’t exactly happen this month, but it sure as hell will next month.

Of course I’m ecstatic about my achievement, but at the same time…I’m getting this nagging feeling in the back of my mind like I cheated a bit because three new additions were actually redeemed through loot cards from the WoW Trading Card Game (TCG). I debated, I debated, I debated, and finally caved and just bought these dirt cheap common cards off eBay.

Okay, so I know it was the wise choice. It’s really not much different from buying aesthetic items from a game’s item shop, no? Probably cheaper too. Prices ranged from $0.99 to $4.50, and as several people have pointed out to me already, considering the time investment and effort it requires for me to gain one pet in game these days, the price is definitely worth it.

Still, I’m loathe to spend real money on vanity pets, because if I didn’t I would have all the ones from the Blizzard store already. Right now I only own Lil’ XT because he was a free gift for being a former WoW Mobile Armory subscriber as well as the Pandaren Monk and Moonkin Hatchling because when I bought them a part of their proceeds went to charity. Otherwise, I would generally prefer to leave “buyable” pets out of my collection as that just feels a little like an easy way out. After all, it’s the hunt that counts, no? Although, I guess one can argue that the bidding war I had over a couple of these cards can also be considered a chase of sorts.

Dear Diary, not saying I won’t continue to pad my collection in the future with more real life purchases, but how ’bout we just promise not to make a habit of it? Okay, sounds good to me.

Happy hunting,

MMOGC

Latest field notes and recently hunted pets:

Curious Wolvar Pup

Am a big moron. Not really “new” pet, but missed being counted after patch 5.0.4 (this is why I write, D.) Thought only had Oracle pet, forgot had done Children’s Day quest a million years ago for this little guy on alt. Which alt? When? Who cares! Was nice surprise “bonus” pet, reward for helping some orphans.

Sea Pony

Nothing more irritating than fishing pets, but surprisingly painless. Random guy on dock beside me hooked him in 5-6 casts, made me want to jump and beat snot out of him to steal sea pony. Luckily fished up my own in about 60-70 casts. Urge to kill gone immediately. Only available during Darkmoon Faire from fishing off shores of island.

Darkmoon Monkey

Between this month’s tickets and last month’s paltry haul on main, had just enough to buy one Darkmoon pet before Faire left town. Chose monkey, because everybody loves monkeys. Especially monkeys wearing red fezzes. This is truth.

Clockwork Gnome

AKA Jeeves’ lazy cousin as he will not fix your armor, sell you stuff or do banking, just stand there looking pretty. Unbeknownst to me, project had been sitting in archaeology queue under Dwarf artifacts for who knows how long.

Voodoo Figurine

Another archaeology find, troll artifact. From description: “Often powered by flasks of mojo, troll sweat, the flesh of tribal enemies, or by DEVOURING TINY PORTIONS OF THEIR OWNERS’ SOULS.” Uh, crap, what? Wait, there’s more: “But don’t worry. Teeny, tiny little portions. You won’t even notice they’re gone.” Oh, good. Was worried for a sec there.

Sand Scarab

From WoW TCG expansion “Tomb of the Forgotten”. Very common and also cheapest of pet loot cards purchased. Maybe people don’t particularly like bugs? Admittedly, little guy is sort of creepy. Takes certain kind of love to appreciate insect bigger than your boot.

Purple Puffer

From WoW TCG expansion “Throne of the Tides”. Looks horrifyingly ugly on card illustration, but surprisingly cute in-game. Like Sea Pony, swims around in own little bubble which floats after owner, quite cruel if you think about it. Am disappointed that despite name, little guy does not have “puffing up” animation. Missed opportunity.

Gregarious Grell

From WoW TCG expansion “Crown of the Heavens”. Sports mullet, lots of piercings, and will look fantastic and right at home running beside warlock alt. Wait, Sand Scarab, Purple Puffer, Gregarious Grell. Purposeful alliteration? Or myself just slow to pick up on “old news”? Either way, I shall dub him Grayson.

Celestial Dragon

Received this latest escapee from the celestial menagerie for completing “Littlest Pet Shop” achievement, requiring possession of 150 unique companions. Since Patch 5.0.4, pet achievement rewards apparently no longer mailed as he appeared automagically in pet journal. Reward for collecting pets — even more pets. Go figure.