So, Toresh and I recently leveled our Hunter/Priest alts, and, as I have always loved the Spirit Beast models, his hunting fever caught on to me.

To be perfectly honest, I didn’t spend a great deal of time camping each one – mostly just an insane amount of lucky timing – but today, I have finished my quest!

Loque’nahak, tamed 7th Dec, 9.40am (server time)
Did a few rounds looking for him, mostly at the gorilla spawns, but ended up finding him at the spawn South-West of the Nessingwary Base Camp when I decided to make a quick round just in case.

Gondria, tamed 8th Dec, 9.10am
I managed to get my Gondria spawn when I decided to do a quick check just after we dinged 77, on our way through to the Storm Peaks, and there she was, ready for the taming.

Arcturis, tamed 12th Dec, 6.20pm
A big thanks to Toresh for this one, as I requisitioned his laptop because we were baby-sitting my brother that night. Had a bit of trouble getting the wireless set up, but, as my luck turned out, he was right there when we managed to get online!

Skoll, tamed 14th Dec, 6.15am
I probably spent the longest on Skoll, several days flying between his spawn points in between running heroics – probably close to 20hrs worth of camping. Totally worth it, as he is absolutely gorgeous  <3

Toresh is now after Arcturis (and Loque still) – though I must admit I am rather disappointed that he will be abandoning Orthus to get him.

– Ariia

3.3 has just dropped and the servers are just coming back up. While they are coming up I am going to take some time and go over the patch notes for Hunters. Although there are not a lot of changes for us. There a few interesting changes we can look at.

Call Stabled Pet

I never really got why this was on a 30 minute cool down.  But I don’t think it makes that much of a difference. Although it will be nice to be able to call out a different spirit beast every 5 minutes. For raiding on the other hand, well it means nothing at all. For min, maxing you have to use a wolf, no matter what spec you are. This is something I don’t like and is a whole post in it’s self. The wolf is the new cat of BC.

Misdirection

Can you say wow! Its about time they fixed it. Now it no longer has charges, when you preform a threat-generating attack it will begin a 4 second timer. In that time all threat the hunter does will go to the friendly target. Also more than one hunter can misdirect at a time. No more having to work out what shot uses more than one charge, or having to have a rotation between all your hunters. Just cast it and unload everything you have.

Now casts as soon as you hit the button and your pet is in melee range. I haven’t really found this to be a problem but I’m sure this is a good change to all those who were having issues with it.

Pets

There is one big change for pets and a lot of smaller ones that I will let you read for yourself. That is the change to pet Avoidance. It is no longer a pet talent, this has been replaced and is now part of the base affect for your pets. Now we have Culling the Herd as our new pet talent. Which “increases pet and hunter damage by 1/2/3% for 10 seconds each time the pet deals a critical strike with Claw, Bite, or Smack”. More damage for hunters is always good. This is going to go along way to help us catch up to those warlocks and feral druids in damage.

Pet leveling has non also been increased. It is now up from 10% to 5%. So this will half the amount of experience your pet needs to level. Pets leveled pretty fast to me, but hey I was use to BC leveling for pets. Now is the time to get all those pets you ever wanted. You can now also changed your pets often and not care about how long it takes to level because it will be very fast.

I was a bit sad that there were no BM buffs to bring them in line with MM and SV. So I still can’t raid with my spirit beasts. The lost of just under 1000 dps is to much for me. Maybe one day I’ll be able to. But I’m guessing that is not going to be until the next expansion.

Good luck to all those heading into Ice Crown in the coming weeks. This is the final battle for Northernd. I hope you are up to challenge.

Full patch notes can be found here

Just a quick note that I have put Feed burner onto the Rss feed. So if it breaks it is not my fault.

Thats is all for now.

Day 4

This day saw a few ups and downs, I had another Huntard walking around with his tamed Skoll at one of the spawn points, I saw a dead Skoll, first time I actually saw any sign of him. So I now know hes does exist. I also for the 3rd day in a row saw Vyragosa but this time I was the only one around and got the kill on her. On the bright side seeing the Skoll corpse gave me a time line to work with. Working on the assumption that spirit beasts have a 4-8 hour re-spawn timer I had a window to shot for. The only problem with this window was it was 3-5am in the morning. Well its not like I’m doing anything then anyway right? Who needs sleep anyway. So from 3am till around 7am I was back camping skoll’s spawns with 2 toons. But no sign of him. I came to the conclusion that he spawned in the gap I was catching up on some sleep between 1-3am. So at 7am I gave up and felt like crap so went to get some sleep for a few hours.

Day 5

I guess we have to call this day 5 now. I managed to get a few more hours sleep, before waking to start all over again. I walk to the office and log back into wow. To my surprise NPCScan goes off, and there he is, Skoll just standing there like he didn’t care that I have been after him for the last 4 days. Well there is only one thing to do then. I set down my trap, which of course doesn’t go off, so I decide to hit tame anyway because I’m to excited to wait for the cd on my trap. I do start to get a bit worried as my Heath starts to drop and fast. He actually hits hard.

But luckily my tame finishes before I bite the dust, and the long hunt has come to an end. Skoll is mine and I now have 2 out of the 3 spirit beasts.

Total time spent searching: 51 hours

Now to start the hunt for the mighty Loque’nahak.

Patch 3.3

If you haven’t kept up with the news Patch 3.3 will be droping next week. Ill try get a few posts in about the hunter changes, because there are a few that I am looking forward to. But for now, if you are after any more information on the patch, WOW head has a great run down on everything that is coming in patch 3.3.

Time spent searching: 12 hours

Yesterday was day 3 in my attempt to find Skoll, but again for a 3rd day I saw no sign of the blue wolf. Hopes of finding this great beast fade with every passing hour. How long can I keep this up for? I have no idea.

I did how ever see Vyragosa for a second day in a row, and again by the time I got to him he was dead on the ground. So I guess I can at least say I have seen a rare spawn. But some how that doesn’t lift my mood at all. Is there another spawn that has yet to be found and Skoll keeps spawning there?

I did have one ray of hope yesterday and that was late in the afternoon, I was flying back over to the Foot Steppes from the Snow Drift Plains, when npc scan went off and Skoll came up as the found mob, I thought to myself it was about dam time, but as I landed and tryed to engage him, I see he’s actually friendly. Some huntard who had already caught him awhile ago thought it would be funny if he hid in the trees and used eyes of the beast to walk him around the spawn point for a bit. Well Mr huntard I did not find it the least bit funny. I /w him and told him in not so nice language.

So far I have amassed 35 hours spent on this. Thats almost a good working week. There are a few people in the guild who think I actually spent the whole time in front of the computer. This is not the case. As I mentioned in my first post on this I’m using an addon call NPCScan to do all the hard work for me. This combined with NPCScanOverlay, means I can pretty much sit AFK most of the time and if skoll does spawn then it will play a very loud sound, which you can change to your liking. So all you need to do is turn the speakers up really loud and you can find something else to do. I return every now and then to un-afk myself so I don’t get kicked off the server.

How does it work you ask?

Well NPC scan checks every time a new entry is made in your creature cache to see if the NPC ID matches one of the rare spawns that can be found though out the game. Now there is a problem with this, tamable mobs such as spirit Beasts the ones we are hunting, have the same ID as the wild NPCs. Once a NPC has been found and cached NPCScan can no long distinguish new entires. So every time you go out to search you need to empty your wow creature cache. This is the only small and annoying thing about NPCScan. But if you remember to do this, this addon is second to none. Finding your cache can be a bit of a problem if you are not that hot with computers. But lucky over on curse they have a short guide on how to do it, also with a link to a guide if you are running windows vista or 7. On the bright side if you know how to use batch files, or windows power shell, you can write a script that either runs when you exit wow, or that just sits on your desktop for you to click and it will remove your creature case, without having to find it in your wow folder every time.

Now for some screen shots. This is what NPCScan looks like when you have found a mob (this is with the test feature). Of course you can’t hear the really loud noise, but I’m sure you can use your imagination.

Now to go with NPC scan you also need to get NPCScan Overlay. This is a simple little tool that adds the spawn points of the rare NPCs to your World Map and Mini Map.

Time spent looking: 9 Hours

Today saw another attempt at finding Skoll. But again to no avail. I had Toresh posted at the snowdrift, and Arria at the foot steps. Toresh would make the trip to check the lake every 5 minutes or so. Again for another day no sign of this great spirit beast.

But there was some good news I did see Vyragosa. I didn’t get the tag though so missed out on the kill. That was ok as I was not after her anyway. I’m starting to think the blue wolf is a myth. Either that or it just does not want to spawn for me.

Maybe ill have to try again tomorrow. I have put to much time in now to give up right?

Ill leave you with a story I found a few days ago while looking for information on the mighty spirit beasts. I don’t normally like to repost stuff that is all ready on the internet, but I’m going to break my rule just this once because it is that dam good.

Good Evening fellow hunters…

This day, June 12, 2009, marks the day that I have completed my set of Spirit Beasts…for Gondria and I have bonded in the ancient rites known to all Azerothian Hunters!

Here are the details of my hunt for this elusive, and majestic beast…

I searched in the pre-dawn hours on Dark Iron, searching for signs of Gondria…I mounted my Swift Wind-rider to get a better picture of the scene from the air…and just north of the Altar of Rhunor, my pet Core Hound, Wraith, picked up the scent of another elusive beast, a dire spider known in dark whispers as “Terror Spinner”. I didn’t have to track him very far to spy his gargantuan bulk, which stood out in sharp contrast against the white snow.

Motioning to Wraith to attack, he sped off, hitting the grotesque insect with a blast of Lava, and slammed his considerable bulk into the spider’s thorax, stunning it. I unleashed a barrage of fire from my trusty rifle, a gift from an engineer friend who, if I can believe him, received a copy of the plans for the gun from the great hunter, Nesingwary himself. Round after round slammed into the beast, as Wraith mauled and tore at the spider’s underbelly. Soon, the great spider lay twitching, it’s gore staining the pristine snow for yards in every direction. Wraith trotted up to me, grinning in satisfaction in helping me slay yet another foe, yet he sensed something was different in me today…that my mind was elsewhere, and tilted his heads at odd angles as he stared up at me. He seemed to know that our time together was coming to an end…but accepted his fate as we began searching again for Gondria…

Just after noon, I transited the paths between the outpost at Zim’Torga and the great set of stairs leading upward to the Altar of Mam’Toth, and as I ventured around the northwestern side of the stairs, I sensed a great aura…and off, in the distance, barely perceptible against the drifted snows, I saw my first glimpse of the great spectral Tiger, Gondria. The descriptions I’d heard of him whispered by other hunters in The Filthy Animal in Dalaran paled in comparison to seeing him for the first time, and kneeling next to my friend and faithful core hound, Wraith, I removed the collars that bound him to me, and whispered, “Wraith, you have served me well, and your memory will be in my heart always, but now I release you of your bond to me…you are free to go home…where you belong.” He looked me with both sets of eyes, nodded as if in understanding, then licked my hand, and slowly trotted southward, disappearing as he faded from my sight.

I stalked Gondria swiftly, and, closing almost to where I could reach out and touch him, chose a freezing trap from my pack, placed it at my feet. Using the techniques shown me at an early stage in my training as a hunter in Durotar, I called out to him with my heart and soul, exerting my will and hoping that he would accept the bond that I wished to form with him. He growled and walked towards me, and as he reached me, stepped into the trap I’d laid for him just under the snow’s surface, magically freezing him in a block of ice. He froze, mid stride, and as our eyes locked, his will pushing back against mine, I could sense that he knew that I would win this battle of wills, and that we would walk together as one. After what seemed like an eternity, the trap thawed, and I could sense that he had found my soul pure, and ceased to resist me, and accepted me as his brother as the ritual bonding completed. I fed him until he was sated, as I sensed his hunger, and called forth the words of power bound to the hearthstone I carried with me, transporting us back to the Filthy Animal back in Dalaran, my hunt having reached it’s successful conclusion.”

His spawn time was almost exactly 8 hours after killing Terror Spinner this morning at 7:30AM server time on Dark Iron, finding and taming Gondria at approximately 12:35PM server time, at coordinates (63.1,42.7), on the northwestern side of the stairs.

I named him “Ineluki” (Storm King), and he now joins Loque’Nahak as well as The Kurken (White Core Hound) in my stable of exotic pets.

Total time of my hunt: Approximately 1 full day. You will find him…and you too will know the joy of having such a Regal companion by your side. Good Hunting!

Enth
80 Troll Hunter
Dark Iron

Taken from here.

Time spent searching: 14 hours

Ehh what the heck 14 hours spent searching. This is getting silly.

I searched high and low for the great beast that is Skoll. But to no avail. He was not to be found on this day. The really weird thing is I was having a good time till about hour 12. I have however started to go down hill. But have kept at it. It is almost time for bed.

Maybe tomorrow during my search I will post something on NPCScan. This is the single most important thing you need when looking at taming one of the mighty spirit beasts. Don’t use the macros, they are how could I put it pretty crap. But more on this tomorrow.

Until tomorrow I bid you fair well

Saturday was like any other day. I woke up ‘early’ as always, just before 10am. I head into the office and Ariia my partner is flying up to do the daily. When NPCScan goes off. She flies down kills the rare and countiues  on to the daily run. Normally I wouldn’t care but the rare was from Zul’Drak, where Gondria spawns.

I haven’t before this point spent any great time looking for any of the spirit beasts. But why not give it a go today. I know a rare in the area was killed at just before 10am, and they could well be linked on a 4-8 hour re-spawn timer.  So 3 hour after the kill I log on to the huntard and re-spec my pvp spec to good old BM. Ariia comes over and joins me for an hour or so before she gives up out of boredom.

About 2 hours in I was about to give up as we had to go out soon, and then bam. NPCScan starts going crazy. There she is, in all her glory, Gondria. I fumble around to try and dismiss the pet I have, lets face it no one like devilsaurs much anyway. I grab a trap and start to tame her. The whole time thinking some ass is going to fly in and kill her. It seems to takes forever but she  is mine.

Its funny how I never cared for Spirit beasts that much, because they seemed like far to much effort to get. But I now find myself camping Skoll’s known spawns. I have been bitten by the spirit beast bug. I must have them all.

This is going to be one long week.

So the first testing in ice crown is happening at the moment. I must say so far it is a pretty fun place to be. The trash leading up to the first boss is straight forward enough once you work out what each of them does. Lord Marrowgar himself is also straight forward.

Below is a quick run down on the trash leading up to and Lord Marrowgar himself on 10 man.

Trash:

• Spiders do a web wrap that must be broken.
• The casters hit for about 12000 on random targets so they need to be interrupted/stunlocked
• The big skelton guys cast a spell lock thats on a 4 second cast. Make sure u are not casting when it goes off.

Lord Marrowgar:

• Casts a fire which moves towards the outside of the room, pretty easy to avoid.
• Cast bone spike, that does damage to one person in the raid overtime (about 3000). While bonespike is under them they can not move or cast. They bone spike must be killed, to free them.
• Whirlwind, targets one member in the raid to go after. Does not hit very hard (around 3000). Pretty easy to heal though.
• He also casts Saber Lash an instant attack that hits the tank for 12-15k damage. Pretty easy to heal though but the healers need to be onto it.
• You will also have a debuff called The Frozen Throne’s chill, which does damage over time. From what I can tell its only about 100, and I was absorbing all of it. This does mean you can not eat or lock summon or mage table. You have to do this at the start of the instance.

So this s a pretty easy encounter. There are only a few things you need to do. Move away from fire. Kill the bone spikes when they are up.

Healers will need to heal who ever is in bone spike, and watch for when he hits the tank for a crap load and you will down him very easily.

I will finally leave you with a few screen shots: