Hunters Pet Highlight:

While aimlessly wandering around the Dwarven District of Stormwind, I caught sight of a somewhat unusual hunter pet. It appears to be some kind of Technicolor cat.

Preparation – where are we going?

The owner of the pet informed me, very kindly, that it came from “Eversong Woods”, now I want to see if I can find this interesting looking feline, and tame it to call my own.
Eversong Woods is the north-most point of the main land of Eastern Kingdoms, located north of Ghostlands. (Please note I am not using any guides to locating this pet).

Finding a way to Eversong Woods.

If you don't have the flight path to Ghostlands then the best way I found to reach “Eversong Woods” is by flying up to Eastern Plaguelands, then going through the portal at the most north point of Eastern Plaguelands through to the Ghostlands.

If you do have the flight path to Ghostlands then fly there from your nearest flight master.
One you are in Ghostlands continue north, you need to run straight through Ghostlands (you cannot fly) then running through to the next zone to the north –“Eversong Woods”.

Where to find this beast?

After 30 minutes or so of looking for a animal that I didn't even know the name of I came across an area with the kitty which I was looking for. They are known as the “Springpaw Stalker”.
Below is a map which I have taken from my screenshots showing the location clearly of where I found the “Springpaw Stalker”.

The beast has been tamed

I selected a “Springpaw Stalker” to tame, they are only level 6-7 and so are very easy to trap and tame, therefore call your very own.

I hope that you have enjoyed this guide to finding this unusual pet. I believe that it is unusual for any Alliance Hunter to own this pet as it is only obtainable in a dense Hoard area, and cannot be found in any alliance areas of the game.

Mount Spotlight: Tyrael’s Charger

I just wanted to write a little about this unique looking flying horse type mount now available in World of Warcraft since the release of patch 4.3: Hour of Twilight.
The “Tyrael’s Charger” mount is given to any player that subscribes for a 12 month game play subscription to the World of Warcraft. The payment can still be made monthly but it has to be for a minimum of 12 months, basically you don’t have to pay for the whole 12 months in one payment. Additional to this anyone who signs up for the 12 month gaming will also receive a free download of Diablo III when it becomes available.
This is obviously one of Blizzards attempts to retain its players to the game, as we know that over 1 million users of world of warcraft have simply stopped playing the game due to one reason or another.

Personal Opinion of the “Tyrael’s Charger” mount.

I personally think that the “Tyrael’s Charger” mount looks stunning (from a female perspective) it doesn't seem to have any special perks or anything but its still a pretty mount to take a look at or use. It is one of those things that is not necessary to play the game but would be very nice to own.

The conclusion – its a matter of opinion.

Is this Blizzards way of attempting to retain players by subconsciously tapping into the greed gene built into everyone who plays the game (myself included), thus forcing them into another guaranteed 12 months of payment, roughly working out to £108 a year from each player choosing to take this option, and guarantying them a new mount and the promise of a free download of another of their games if it ever gets released (Diablo 3)?.
Or is it a simple gesture of kindness with a free mount and game for every loyal player who signs up for the next year?

The decision is yours to make – comments are appreciated on this.

Darkmoon Faire Ended - Feast of Winter Veil Begins

Well the Darkmoon Faire has ended and I hope that you worked hard to earn your new mounts available by exchanging Darkmoon Faire Tokens. With the closure of the Darkmoon Faire Blizzard have sprung upon us the beginning of the Feast of Winter Veil.
From what I can see so far its not much different from the past years. I think that the “rescue dancer” quest and “recover the stolen presents” quest have been changed as I do not remember a giant Grinch being there last time.
The main hub of the “Feast of winter veil” is around Ironforge as that is where Blizzards version of Santa is hanging out.

Starting the festive quests

However you can start the festive quests at any major city such as Stormwind (where the festive NPC’s are hanging out near where the old entrance to the Auction house was (pre-cataclysm), at the caravan where the Elder character once stood in the Trade District.

Click on images to enlarge

Farming in the feast of winter veil

If you are a player who loves making gold the idea thing to do at this time is to Farm “Small Eggs” and collect “Ice Cold Milk” from mobs. I say this because one of the starting festive quests requires you to make “Gingerbread Cookies” and the ingredients include “Small Eggs” and a glass of “Ice cold milk” to give to Santa.

• Small Eggs currently sell for 3g 75s
• Ice Cold Milk currently sells for 84s                                              On my server
• Gingerbread Cookies sell for 5g 75s

Making Gingerbread Cookies for Santa

Remember that before you can make the gingerbread cookie you have to learn the cooking recipe first! I purchased the recipe several years ago originally however “Khole Jinglepocket” sells the recipe in Stormwind at the caravan shown in the above image.
Click on images to enlarge

The ingredients of “Gingerbread Cookies” are as follows and you need a cooking fire to create the cookies themselves. You will require 5 Gingerbread cookies and 1 glass of ice cold milk to give to Santa:

• 1x Small Egg
• 1x Holiday Spices (which can be bought from any festive vendor)

Patch 4.3 Hour of Twilight Goes Live

Well the hour of twilight has been forced upon us and the rein of terror of Deathwing has come to a close. Personally I think that its a good thing as quite frankly when my character is out mining in the middle of Burning Steppes and as my character is normally the only one there - Deathwing usually homes in on my character like a moth to a flame. 

Always frustrating how he could take the time to go out of his way just to annoy me. Well since that is over hopefully there are more good things to come to the world of warcraft. 

You can view the official cut-scene of the downfall of "Deathwing" near the portals in Stormwind by clicking on "Chromie" near the left pillar in the picture.

Most people focus on the new PVP, raids, dungeons that new patches bring out but I prefer focusing on the littler things - small gestures that make playing worthwhile. This time round there is a brand new Darkmoon Faire with its own area and exclusive mounts and companions. 

So basically there are a good few new features presented to us with patch 4.3: Hour of Twilight. 

These include the following: 

Brand new Darkmoon Faire

I have written another post all about the brand new darkmoon faire experience so please check it out "here".  There is no point blabbering about repeating myself when there is a new page on it.

Transmogrification: 

You can now customise your apparel and weapons to look like any other item you have picked up. I have noticed that there are a few things you need to know when using transmogrification.

• Make sure you are wearing your best stat equipment but don't like the look of.
• Go to the transmogrification vendor and select the "shiny" item of the same type.
• Transmogrification will not effect the stats of your equipment / apparel only change the appearance to look like the item you combined with the equipped item. 

Void Storage: 

To be blunt, void storage is very expensive for what it actually is. It costs you gold to open an account, it costs you gold to put an item into void storage, it costs you gold to take an item out of you void storage.

Quite frankly I still prefer to use the bank and add large bags to it which is much cheaper than using void storage by a long way. However I understand that other players like to keep hold of their shiny items and not sell them so if you have a full bank then void storage is a great way to keep hold of your collectibles and unobtainables although it is at a price. 

Raid Finder Update: 

It appears that they have updated the raid finder. As I do not raid I don't have a clue what the old one looked like so I cannot say how it has changed, I'm sure that avid raiders will find it most useful when looking for a helpless town to go over and obliterate just because they are bored and need something to do for several hours. 

Valor Point changes: 

Another thing that I know little about are the in game currencies obtained by raiding, dungeons and such.  I am aware that originally there were several types of PVP currency - too many different types made it frustrating for players wanting to purchase certain PVP gear but found out after several hours of raids, dungeons etc that they earned the wrong type of currency. Blizzard have come to realise that its pretty stupid having so many currency types and it seems that they are planning and have started to narrow down the currency types obtained. Making it simpler and easier to understand. Quite frankly why people do PVP is beyond my understanding - its just not me. 

Darkmoon Faire Tickets: Old ones now useless.

One thing I did realise if you have any of the old darkmoon faire tickets they cannot be exchanged at the new vendors as its a different type of currency than before. So all your darkmoon faire old tickets obtained by several hours of game play over several years - now rendered useless. There is no way to exchange them for the new tickets at all. However don't throw them out just yet, maybe in the future Blizzard will write in a Darkmoon Faire old to new ticket exchange.... or maybe thats just wishful thinking. 

New Rogue Experience: Fangs of the Father

It appears that Blizzard have introduced a rogue only quest chain regarding Deathwing. Apparently rogues will have to travel far to reach their goals. There does seem to be a good reason for rogues to do this quest chain. Once completed the rogue player will obtain a pair of daggers that become more lethal against enemies over time, and with an added element of the Old Gods the player will be able to unravel a pair of wings from their own back while in combat. Is this a new way for Blizzard to keep players playing by making them roll out a Rogue if they do not already have one. Thus making them more money in the process? You decide.

11 New Tier 13 Armour Sets Released:

Blizzard have also added the new tier 13 armour sets to the world of warcraft with patch 4.3. One for each of the character classes on the game. As expected they look epic and most delightful. For more information on the tier 13 armour please click here.

Four new Raids and Dungeons:

Blizzard have given the PVP community four brand new raids and dungeons to play till their hearts content. Personally I hate PVP and so have no interest in the new raids etc, but I'm sure most players of World of Warcraft will go mad for this new content. 

The new raid and dungeons are: 

• Raid: Dragon Soul - click here for more information on this raid.
• Dungeon: End Time - click here for more information on this dungeon.
• Dungeon: Well of Eternity - click here for more information on this dungeon.
• Dungeon: Hour of Twilight - click here for more information on this dungeon.

Official Trailers for the latest patch: 

If you are looking for some official videos of the latest patch 4.3: hour of twilight then look no further, here they are all together for your viewing pleasure. 

Official Trailer: Cataclysm: Patch 4.3 Hour of Twilight

Patch 4.3: Hour of Twilight - Darkmoon Faire 2011

Hour of Twilight: Review of the new Darkmoon Faire. 

Well the long awaited 4.3 patch known as Hour of Twilight has gone live on the public realms of World of Warcraft. Personally I have not yet fully investigated or looking into most features of the new patch. However I have noticed that with the new patch the "Darkmoon Faire" has been greatly improved and enhanced in several different ways.

Darkmoon Faire: has been moved to its own little island, where it is... I'm not entirely sure however you can quickly get there from any major town by clicking on a dark moon fair NPC and ask for them to take you there for a small 20 silver fee. I personally do this from Stormwind as that is where my character's home base is (hearthstone) which takes me to the portal to the darkmoon fair located in Eywynn forest.

Brief outlook on the new Darkmoon Faire

The Darkmoon Faire itself is very quirky with lots of daily quests by playing the mini-games such as tossing a hoop onto a turtles back, shooting targets, whacking gnolls with mallets, and even firing yourself out of a cannon to land in a hoop located in the waters edge of the "Darkmoon Faire". At least this time Blizzard are focusing more on the fun factor than the raiding and dungeons, which I'm sure most people play however I am not one of them.

Before you can play the daily mini-games you need some "Darkmoon Fair" tokens which can be bought near the entrance to the fair itself from a vendor in a tent. Apparently there is a cap on how many tokens you can buy but its usually enough to get you what you want from the faire itself. Darkmoon Faire Game Tokens can be purchase from Sazz Coincatcher and Zina Sharpworth.

Darkmoon Faire Tokens: Companions and mounts

Benefits of the "Darkmoon Faire" are your can exchange your tokens for prizes as before however this time there are two mounts up for grabs, a dancing bear and a bird type mount, which the name currently eludes me.

Additional to this there are several companion types also available from the vendor and balloons can be purchased from the balloon seller which is a gnome pushing a cart around.

Sea Pony: A companion obtained by fishing

A bonus for the fishermen and fisherwomen if you fish off the coast of "Darkmoon faire" you have 1 in 1000 chance of obtaining a delightful little "Sea pony" companion which is basically a small sea horse that follows you in a bubble of water.

Darkmoon Faire one time quests

There are quite a few interesting quests also available in the "Darkmoon Faire" area including fishing ones, cooking ones, engineering ones and even archaeology ones all of which give your increase skill points in the profession and of course "Darkmoon Faire" tickets which can be redeemed and one of the many vendors in the area.

PVP Area: 

Yes there does appear to be a PVP area within the Darkmoon fair itself, personally I hate PVP and I am just glad that they didn't focus on that like they normally do with events and patches. The PVP area is located on the right side in a massive tent, you cannot miss it.

Darkmoon Armour and Weapons: Replica Armor

I did notice that there is "Darkmoon Faire" equipment and apparel that can be purchased, I only briefly looked at them sold by the vendor there so I cannot elaborate on what is actually sold. I didn't see anything of interest personally as my own equipment (although not PVP or Epic) was much better than those being sold at the vendor. Im sure they may look sparkly which would encourage players to use the newly added Transmogrification feature of the game but thats all I can really say about that. Equipment and apparel are not personally one of my strong points. They can be purchased from "Baruma" and "Barum" the replica armour prize vendors.

Souvenirs, Toys, Balloons, Fireworks and more!

There are several other vendors of the Darkmoon fair which allow you to purchase fireworks, balloons, souvenir & toys and even a very cool ride on tiger. I think this was originally the "Sandbox Tiger" which was acquired in the Rage of the Firelands Trading cards. The NPC who sells the Tiger that you can ride on is Gelvas Grimgate.

Ride on Tiger: Darkmoon "Tiger"

You can purchase a ride on tiger from "Gelvas Grimgate" during the Darkmoon Faire. When you purchase the item you are given 10 of them and personally I think its awesome!

Zoo and Pony Rides.

As an additional note there is a large Zoo type exhibition ( or petting zoo) near the dock side of the Darkmoon Faire area. There are small ponies, goats and other animals  (which are not in fenced off areas) that you can ride around for free. Its really funny seeing your character dwarf a pony which pelts round the area looks like a million miles a hour due to its small legs but its actually only 100% mount speed. I did notice that the exhibition animals all have their own individual names which is a nice personal touch I think.

Overall opinion of the new darkmoon faire.

Overall I personally think that the new re-vamped "Darkmoon Faire" should be a overall success as it brings back the fun and enjoyment to the game and doesn't focus you just on the fighting and killing of creatures and mythical beings. Im glad Blizzard have realised that not all players of world of warcraft are excited when new PVP, dungeons and arenas are brought out as some of us never do them, its reassuring that they are trying to keep everyone entertained - lets hope they keep on doing this and maybe it will start bringing back people to the world of warcraft.