The Spectral Porcupette

Spectral Porcupette

Finding easy-to-get pets that everyone doesn’t already have is a tough task. I’ve come across one that’s still relatively rare, and that’s the Spectral Porcupette, which is only owned by about 24% of the players who use Warcraft Pets. While he may not be the best pet for battles, he’s still a great in the looks department and only requires about an hour of time to obtain.

Start by heading to Pandaria. Once you’re there, fly north. And keep flying north until to are beyond Kun-Lai Summit. North of Kun-Lai is the Isle of Giants, a zone full of dinosaurs. These dinosaurs are level 90 elites that are pretty easy to kill when you hit level 100. The only mob you need to avoid is Oondasta, he still requires a group to kill.

Each mob on this islands drops Giant Dinosaur Bones. These bones are used for quests on the island. One of the quests, called “A Large Pile of Giant Dinosaur Bones” gives you the above mentioned Porcupette. This quest can be obtained from Ku’Ma, who is found around 28,58 in a cave. You’re required to collect 999 bones, which might seem tedious, but once you start killing you see the mobs dropping 5, 10, sometimes up to 20 bones at a time. Your biggest hurdle is tagging enemies before other player do, so I suggest heading up there during non-peak hours.

Zandalari Kneebiter

On top of the Porcupette, Direhorn Runts are also about a 1 in 60 drop off these mobs. They are great for some PvE battles and can also be sold on the auction house for around 500g. There are Troll Dinomancers on this island too, and they drop each of the four Zandalari Dinosaur pets.

Another rare drop from these dinosaurs is a Primal Egg. These eggs will hatch after 3 days and give you a rare ground mount.

More Easy To Get Battle Pets (Warlords of Draenor Edition)

A new expansion means there are a lot of new easy to get battle pets. Here’s a few to get you started.

Fruit Hunter – Follow your nose to this easy to get battle pet. Located around 64,65 in Frostfire Ridge. A Mysterious Egg can be collected in Grom’Gar just to the west of the daily pet battle tamer, Gargra. Inside this Mysterious Egg is your Fruit Hunter. Unfortunately you have to wait three days for the egg to hatch. It’s in an area with a bunch of level 90 enemies, so it’s obtainable by anyone who can get to the zone.

Brilliant Spore – This spikey ball is a drop off of Rotcap, who is located south/west of Veil Akraz in Spires of Arak, right around 38,27. He’s a level 97 rare mob, so plan accordingly depending on your level and skill.

Meadowstomper Calf – This little guy is a reward from the quest New Babies in Nagrand. You have to coax 5 Tenderhoof Meadowstompers back to Digrem Orebar, the quest giver. This quest is started at 79,52 in Nagrand, outside of the Ring of Trails. You’ll probably come across it while leveling.

Royal Peacock

Royal Peacock – The Royal Peacock is a reward from Draenor Safari, the achievement for collecting all the new wild pets introduced in Warlords of Draenor. It’s automatically added to your journal upon collecting the final pet.

Banned Pet Names

“Why can’t I name my pet Jennifer?” I wondered to myself, then in writing on Twitter. “That seems like an odd name to block. It’s one of the most common female names in The United States (at least in my generation), so why is it banned as a pet name in Warcraft?”

Naming pets is something I’ve been trying to do recently (see my post from October). I have over 500 total, so just naming my level 25 pets is the goal. Still, with over 200 of them, I’ve been getting behind lately.

There are a lot of names, most of obvious reasons, that you aren’t allowed to call your pets. The mature language filter blocks most of them, but it also blocks the name “Hot”. Sure, that can be used in obscene ways, but naming a pet “Hot Saucerman” isn’t vulgar. Another thing the game blocks is the word “The”. So naming something “The Choctaw” is also out of the question.

One last thing I’ve noticed gets blocked is naming something with three of the same letter in a row. Which I completely understand. You don’t want people naming their pets after website addresses and harassing other players with them. But it also prevents me from naming a pet Lrrr, after the space alien from Futurama. Perhaps blocking “www” from being in names would be a better move.

I checked out the forums and there are a few threads about banned pet names. Seems a lot of the names mentioned are no longer banned though, names such as Audrey, Sonic and Malcolm, yet others still remain. Jennifer, for one.

Soloing (or carrying a pet) On The Burning Pandaren Spirit

The Anubisath Idol is probably one of the best pets for PvE battles. It can be used to solo a couple tamers and is very usable to take down one or two pets on others. This time I’m going to walk you through soloing the Burning Pandaren Spirit with him in patch 5.4.

To get one of your own, head to the Temple of Ahn’Qiraj in southern Silithus. It’s a drop off Emperor Vek’lor. He’s part of the Twim Emperors boss, one of the more difficult battles in AQ, but is soloable with some persistence.

For my set up I take the Anubisath Idol with Crush, Stoneskin and Deflection in my first slot, a pet I’m carrying second and a third pet that’s strong against Fliers, in this case a Nordrassil Wisp. This third pet could also be a carry pet, but I like the security of having a pet that can take down BPS’s third pet, Glowy, in case of emergency. Any carry pets need to be able to take around 800 damage because Crimson’s Cyclone ability will hit them a couple times and BPS’s Immolate will deal an additional 300 or so.

Starting with your Anubisath Idol, cast Crush, Stoneskin, Deflection, Crush and repeat Crush until Crimson is dead. Ideally, you will miss on one of your attacks. This will take Deflection off cooldown for the first round of the Burning Pandaren Spirit. If not, don’t worry, you’ll still be fine. Don’t purposely pass a turn because if you miss after passing, you’ll screw up the plan.

If Deflection is off cooldown, cast it in the first round against the BPS, if not, just hit him with Crush. He always starts the battle with Conflagrate. Next, bring in your carry pet. BPS use your swap turn to heal then hit you with Immolate. Cast anything with your carry pet and swap back to your Anubisath Idol. For the next two rounds BPS will be casting nothing, so recast Stoneskin and wait for Conflagrate to be off cooldown so you can block it with Deflection, otherwise hit him with Crush.

If you have a second carry pet, repeat the process so this pet will only take minimal damage. When Glowy comes in you won’t need to dodge any of it’s attacks, just make sure you keep Stoneskin up and keep spamming Crush and you’ll finish him off with about half health.

And there you are, one more tamer you can carry a pet on.

Naming Your Battle Pets In World of Warcraft

I’ve been a proponent of naming all of my pets. Now, I currently have 486, so I haven’t named every one of them. What I have been able to do is name all of my level 25 pets, to which I currently have 140. To name this many pets, I’ve had to employ a number of techniques for original names. Here is a few I use.

• Clever Names – These are names that it might take the average player a few seconds to notice a relation between the name and pet. Examples: Bat named Man, Sandy Petrel named Gulliver and Westfall Chicken named Chauntecleer.
• Pop Culture References – These are the most common of my names. They’re pets named after video game characters, actors, musicians, songs, ect. Examples: Emerald Turtle named Trejo, Proto-Drake Whelp named Protoman and Arcane Eye named Leela.
• Podcasters – I’ve named quite a few pets after some of my favorite podcasters. Examples – Harpy Youngling named Freck, Little Fawn named Randy (Sklar) and Scourged Whelpling named JRY.
• Pornstars – It’s no secret, I’m a fan of boobies. Therefore, I’ve named a number of my pets after some of my favorite pornstars. Examples: Anubisath Idol named Talore, Mr. Grubs named Couture and Nexus Whelpling named Poppens.
• Random Words – This is my favorite. I was at my parents’ house a couple weeks ago and I was getting behind in naming my pets. So as we sat there talking, I was naming pets after random words that came up in conversation. Examples: Lil’ Bad Wolf named Seven, Mini Mindslayer named Thick and Snarly named Rock.
• Comedians – I’m a huge comedy nerd, so I’ve named a few after some of my favorite stand-up comdeians. Examples: Chrominius named Demetri, Ghostly Skull named Leary and Harbinger of Flame named Benson.
• Way Too Common – These are names that are obvious. I try to avoid them, but sometimes it easier to give in and just use them. Examples: Darkmoon Blimp named Goodyear,  Crow named Murder and Kun-Lai Runt named Smash.
• Related Named Pets – These are groups of 2-5 pets that all have related names. Examples – My group of Pandaren Spirits are named Inky, Pinky, Blinky and Clyde, I have an H.P. Lovecraft team (see photo above): Death Talon Whelpguard named Nyarlathotep, Snake named Yig and Tiny Bog Beast named Yog Sothoth and have three pets named after the hosts of The Caustic Soda Podcast: Stone Armadillo named Toren, Tideskipper named Fulghum and Wolpertinger named Leeson.

My PvP Pet Battle Team

This post is part of the Warcraft Pet Foundry October Blogging Carnival. This month’s topic is “Your Best PvP Team”, and since I barely ever do PvP pet battles, I decided to just pick three pets that I think would be good for such battles.

#1 – Crimson Geode with Spark, Amplify Magic and Elementium Bolt.

#2 – Amber Moth with Alpha Strike, Cocoon Strike and Moth Dust

#3 – Tranquil Mechanical Yeti with Metal Fish, Call Lightning and Ion Cannon

I start battles with Crimson Geode and cast Elementium Bolt, then Amplify Magic, then Spark until Elementium Bolt is off cooldown. Then I restart the rotation until he’s dead.

Next I pull in Amber Moth and start with Cocoon Strike, then Moth Dust, then Alpha Strike until Cocoon Strike is off cooldown. Then I restart the rotation until he’s dead.

Finally I bring in the Tranquil Mechanical Yeti and start with Call Lightning, then Ion Cannon and after the two round recharge cast metal fist. Then I restart the rotation until he’s dead.

My Average Day

I log in as my Druid and check the mailbox. I collect the unsold items and money from the last time I played. I check for a pet XP buff and if I don’t have one present, I use a biscuit and equip my Safari hat. If I have less than 3 biscuits left, I grab the beast of fable quests and defeat them as I go, if I still have plenty I head for my first stop.

The Thundering Pandaren Spirit Tamer is stop #1. I use this strategy on him. Usually choosing a pet at or below level 23.

The next stop is Courageous Yon and this strategy. I use two level 24 pets, if I have them, or one that’s 23 or below.

Then I’m off to the Burning Pandaren Spirit Tamer. He goes down with this strategy. This one occasionally has to be tried more than once, depending on whether or not Harbinger of Flame‘s Jab misses at all. Slotting in one level 18 to 23 pet as my third.

Now I take the short flight to Seeker Zushi and take him out like this. Using most pets above like level 5 as my carry pet.

After this I head in the direction of Aki the Chosen and Derfus’ strategy for defeating him. Another level 23 or lower pet gaining a big chunk of XP here.

Southward I travel to Mo’ruk and defeat him like this. This strategy allows for any level pet to be used. Then it’s onward to Jade Forest…

…and Hyuna of the Shrines. She’s defeated with this strategy. Once again, any level pet works here.

Either after defeating her or Nutin, the last and in my opinion hardest of the Beasts of Fable, I’ll hearth back to the shrine and turn in my quests and take the portal to Stormwind. In a normal day I will get one class specific Flawless Battle-Stone and every other day I get a pet.

I hit the auction house and list anything that didn’t sell from the previous day and any pets I may have acquired from today’s rounds. The Pandaren Spirits sell well on my server, netting me around 1500-2000g. The Pandas will typically bring in around 500-800g. Then I check for any pets I don’t own. I have a list in Auctionator that searches for ones I’m missing and a note pad on my desk with the lowest price I’ve seen them listed for. Occasionally, I’ll find a deal that I can’t pass up. For example, today I got Lumpy for 700g. According to my notepad, the previous lowest price I’ve seen him for was 3500g. On most days this will be the end of my Warcraft day.

If I want to play some more, there are a number if things I might do. First of which would be switching to my Mage, currently level 87, and go around and level a few lower level pets on the tamers in Outland. Then either quest with him or go to the more difficult tamers, the ones in Northrend and Cataclysm zones, the ones that are harder to carry pets on.

I’ll also work on collecting more Raiding With Leashes pets. I have most of them, but duplicates sell pretty well, and it helps me afford some of the higher priced pets I’m missing. While running these old raids, I only collect green gear, cloth and money. The green pieces get disenchanted and sold as materials and the cloth gets turned into bags and listed.

P.S. While writing this, I sold a Sunfur Panda for 900g.

Carrying a Pet On Courageous Yon

Ever since patch 5.4 my strategy for carrying a pet on Farmer Nishi has been obsolete. This sent me on a mission to find a new tamer I can carry a pet on since that was my blog’s most popular post. Perhaps it was only popular because people have been having trouble defeating him since patch 5.4, who knows.

First off, I want to thank Derfis (@WoWDerfus) over at Will Pet Battle For Food for his strategy to carrying a pet on Grand Master Aki. This one is basically the same strategy with a different third pet.

I’ve come up with a technique that can carry one or two pets on Courageous Yon in Kun-Lai Summit. He’s located inside a cave in Kota Peak in the south western corner of the zone. The cave is at the top of the mountain and can only be accessed from the southern face.

The first slot will be the pet you’re carrying. It will only take about 150 damage, so just about any pet can go there. The second pet will be an Anubisath Idol with Crush, Stoneskin and Deflection. And your third pet is anything that is strong against Beasts. I choose a Tranquil Mechanical Yeti because he’s my go to for Beast fights. You probably won’t need this third pet, unless you make a mistake somewhere and just want a little insurance.

Yon starts with his pet Piqua. Use any one round ability with your carry pet. Piqua will attack with Squack, which only deals 100-150 damage and lowers your damage by 25% for three rounds. Which is fine because you will now swap in your Anubisath Idol.

There are three things to remember when using your Idol against all three of Yon’s pets:

1. The first two pets you face have two round attacks that charge on the first round. Piqua has Liftoff and Lapin has Burrow. When each of these attacks are selected you need to cast Deflection in the next round so you avoid the damage.
2. Always keep Stoneskin active. When it gets down to one round left, cast it again, unless it conflicts with the first rule. If you have an add-on that shows your opponent’s abilities, you can cast Stoneskin on the turn Liftoff or Burrow comes off of cooldown, because you know he will cast them in that round.
3. Attack with Crush, unless it conflicts with the first two rules.

If you do this you should have around 1000 health left when Yon’s third pet, Bleat comes in. His attacks are weak against your Idol’s, but Crush is weak against him. So you can either keep hitting him with Crush until he dies, or just bring in your strong against beasts pet. It’s entirely possible to kill all three of Yon’s pets with your Idol since they all have one of those Stampede like abilities that Stoneskin will block all the damage from and also prevent your pet from getting the double damage debuff.

So there you go. Now I wait for patch 5.5 when they change something on this battle to make this strategy obsolete too. Happy leveling.

Carrying A Pet On Farmer Nishi

UPDATE: AS OF 5.4 THIS IS NO LONGER A VIABLE STRATEGY

 

Here is how I carry a low level pet on Farmer Nishi. I usually take a level 23+ as my leveling pet because any pet above level 22 will make it to 25 in this battle with the XP bonus from the Safari Hat and a Lesser Pet Treat, you’ll get about 4556 XP. I’ve been able to take her down with many combinations of pets, but this specific combo is a lot faster than any other I’ve tried before.

The first pet is whichever pet you will be grinding, anything with at least around 500 health, as it will take an initial attack and one more AoE attack throughout the battle. The next two should be a Tideskipper and a Tranquil Mechanical Yeti. On Tideskipper take Grasp, Tidal Wave and Geyser. On Yeti take Call Lightning and Supercharge, the ability in the first slot doesn’t matter, you won’t use it.

You will first face Siren, a elemental sunflower. Start the battle by using any attack from your leveling pet. After that swap him out for Tideskipper. First use Geyser, then attack with grasp until Siren is dead. Grasp does less damage than Crush, the other ability in Tideskipper’s first attack slot, but it also roots the enemy, which comes in handy after Geyser hits. Geyser will stun Siren, and if Siren isn’t rooted, Nishi will swap him out and bring in Toothbreaker, allowing for Siren’s Photosynthesis ability to regain most of it’s health.

Once Siren is dead, Toothbreaker comes in. With Tideskipper still active, cast Tidal Wave. Toothbreaker should be attacking first and will cast Sons of the Root, which causes him to submerge, becoming unattackable for 2 rounds. During this time, the Sons of the Root attack the opponent, dealing 77 Elemental damage each round. This attack is similar to Lil’ Ragnaros’s Sons of the Flame. Tidal Wave, while dealing a little damage to Farmer Nishi’s third pet, Brood of Mothallus, it’ll also clear out the Sons of the Root. Next cast Geyser again, then Tidal Wave one more time. Once Toothbreaker comes back above ground, cast Grasp and keep casting it until he’s dead.

Once Brood of Mothallus is active cast Geyser one more time. Next swap in your Tranquil Mechanical Yeti. Cast Super Charge then Call Lightning. After Call Lightning hits, the Geyser will hit, killing Brood of Mothallus and you’ll win. Below is a video of me employing this strategy.

Have fun grinding!

5 TV Comedies You Should Be Watching

And now for something completely different.

I’m as much a fan of comedy as I am a fan of Pet Battles, so I spend a lot of time watching comedy related TV shows. Here is a list of 5 comedy shows I’ve been enjoying that I think you guys might like too.

1. Nathan For You – Comedy Central

Profressional Comedian, Nathan Fielder (@nathanfielder on twitter) graduated from business school with “good” grades, now he wants to help small business improve their business with unconventional ideas. They’re usually things that will help in the short term, but something that is won’t sustain a long life. For example, he had a ice cream shop start selling a poo flavored ice cream. It got people in the door, just to see if it were true, but no one liked the flavor (obviously). Nathan has a dry sense of humor and he uses it to his advantage.

2. Billy on the Street – Fuse

Billy Eichner (@billyeichner on twitter) offers random people $1 if they can answer his biased pop culture trivia questions. The show often features celebrity cameos in games such as “Scream for an American Girl Doll” which featured Will Farrell. The show hinges on absurdity and the best moments are often when he catches someone off guard and then just runs away when they scream.

3. Whose Line Is It Anyway? – CW

The third iteration of Whose Line is now on the CW. This improv show is hosted by Aisha Tyler, and stars improvisational actors Wayne Brady (@waynebrady on twitter), Colin Mochrie (@colinmochrie on twitter), Ryan Stiles (not on twitter) and a fourth rotating cast member. They perform a variety of scenes where they make up everything on the spot with often funny consequences. If you’ve seen the show before, it’s basically the same, just with more celebrity guests. I think the old episodes were funnier, but I’m not complaining that’s there’s more Colin Mochrie on TV.

4. The Jeselnik Offensive – Comedy Central

Stand-up Comedian Anthony Jeselnik makes light of horrible news stories in the first part of the show, then for the rest of the show he invites some of his comedian friends to do the same. The second half is definitely the better part, with everyone playing off each other.

5. The League – FXX

Six friends and their escapades surrounding their fantasy football league. You do not need to be a fan of football to like this show, my wife loves it and hates football. It’s the only situational comedy on my list for a reason. It’s considered an ensemble comedy but none of the actors were that famous until after the show gained popularity.  This season starts on Wednesday, September 4th at 10:30.