Project Lore

Love is in the Air is over and done with, but not before I made a major mental lapse.  Amatera was kinda enough to remind us on Saturday that the seasonal event ended that night, but I hadn't acquired a single Love Token upon reading his PSA.  The event is far easier than in the past, but there was still a limit on the number of tokens one could acquire in a given day.  Unfortunately, the limit is lower than the amount required for a Truesilver Shafted Arrow.  I thought I had more time!  My rogue now has to stare at 30xLove Token in his bank for the next year.

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<wuss>Squeal!</wuss>

<man>I wasn't so hot on the premium Auction House Armory idea, WoW gold, or the Blizzard Store pets that came late last year, but Blizzard's latest premium content has me excited.  Blizzard announced a new pair of store-only vanity pets, and this time they will come with a real-life counterpart.  When you purchase a new Wind Rider Cub or theGryphon Hatchling a plushie - that's a stuffed animal - will be delivered to your door as part of the purchase.  The pets are available to both factions.

Being a pet collecting addict - still no oozling - purchasing these pets is a no brainer.  I didn't break down for a monk or Lil' KT because $10 is steep sum for a virtual pet.  Once I heard a plushie came included the kid in me began to perform his hissy-fit ritual.  My inner child is already on his back, ready to kick and scream if my fiscally conservative brain denies him.

Blizzard has kept the price point and release date ("weeks ahead") hush hush, much like the premium Auction House content.  Expect the financial damage to be higher than the previous vanity items.  As soon as we hear of either we'll let you know. 

Right now I've gotta run and clear some space on the bed for these guys to camp.  Good thing these winged beasts are too cute for Ms. iTZKooPA to say no.  Why isn't it socially acceptable for a full grown man to have stuffed animals anyways?  Who made that crazy rule?  What if I need something to throw?!

Yes, I know that technically speaking Blizzard is selling the plushie, and not the pets, but come on.  We all know which item is really going to move the other. 

I'll just leave that last HTML tag open.

It's that time of the year again, the week stretch where 80% of the WoW population tries to woo the other 20% with virtual candies, roses, affection, boss runs and poetry.  Oh, the poetry.  Love is in the Air started over the weekend, and I've already managed to grab one of the achievements.  Being the digital scrooge that I am I only actually care about two things Love is in the Air has to offer, Peddlefeet and Toxic Wasteling.

This year Peddlefeet is far easier to obtain.  Blizzard realized how god-awful-annoying it is to have achievement requirements based solely on the unfriendly RNG.  That means 2010's Peddlefeet, the goblin cupid, is purchasable with the reasonable sum of 40xLove Token.  It shouldn't take more than a day to farm for him.

The Toxic Wasteling, well that'll be another story entirely.  That little gremlin will require far more luck and time to acquire on average.  It is one of the random drops from the new Valentine's Day...I mean Love is in the Air boss, Apothecary Hummel.  The oozling is one of a few seasonal items that Hummel drops (I assume a Protip is coming soon for the fight). In additional to ilvl 226 necks we also have a rose for our mohawks, a gas mask, a sob-inducing item and an incredibly low shot at one of the coolest looking mounts in the game.

/me heads off to Shadowfang Keep.

I'm hunting Hummel mainly for the wasteling.  Just look at this tooltip description, "Do not feed toxic wasteling. Do not allow toxic wasteling to approach small animals. Do not touch, sniff, or even look at toxic wasteling for extended periods of time."  Sounds like it should be an interesting vanity pet.

I know some of you out there are nuts about seasonal events, so how much farther do you have until you get the meta achievement?  Anyone score the mount yet, or even see it drop?

P.S. Here's WoWHead's guide.



ProjectLorians were busy providing an assortment of original content the last few days and missed a few tidbits of news.  I figure that the mantra of "better late than never" applies, since we want to keep everyone well informed.  Or we could cope out and just say we were really checking our facts, thrice over.

According to a screenshot from the Enigma raiding guild on NA-Deathwing, the Lick King's last defenses will be accessible on February 2 (or February 3 for EU).  The Frostwing Halls houses two unknown bosses, Sister Svalna and Valithria Dreamwalker, and Sindragosa, the original frost wyrm.  Valithria, a captured green dragon, is going to be an interesting encounter.  Especially to those with fond memories of Dungeons and Dragons' combat variations.  Sindragosa is part of the lockout counter, along with Putricide, Lana'thel and the Lich King himself.

My guild is still stuck on Professor Putricide, and has not even attempted any of the Crimson Hall bosses (something I have disagreed with).  It's fairly obvious that we are falling behind, so I doubt Solidsamm will be seeing Sindragosa any time soon.

In other news, Solidsamm will be seeing a new non-combat pet shortly.  According to various sources, a Competitor's Souvenir has been added to the North American servers.  Unfortunately, no visual imagery or animations have been datamined as of press.  If you were around for the Summer Olympic games two years ago, you'll likely remember the Spirit of Competition vanity pet that was randomly awarded for participating in Battlegrounds.  It's worth noting that the tabard from the last olympics was called the Competitor's Tabard.  Either way, the closely named Competitor's Souvenir will likely be obtainable once the 2010 Winter Olympic games kick off on February 12.

Tyrael's Normal, Boring, Pose I was absolutely ecstatic when it came to light that Grunty, BlizzCon 2009's exclusive pet, and the Zergling, one of the possible three pets from the World of Warcraft Collector's Edition, tangled.  Much to my surprise, both of the pets mixed it up StarCraft style, not just Grunty.  That means that someone, somewhere, deep in the bowels of Blizzard took the time to go back and edit the Zergling's properties to attack his foe.  Yep, the doggie actually attacks, and kills Grunty in a messy death animation if he gets the better of the space marine.  It's an incredibly minor, but brilliant bit of content. The intergalactic tango only whet my appetite for further (no longer) non-combat pet interactions.  My prayers, and previous complaints have been answered, kinda.  Tyrael, the archangel from the Worldwide Invitational in 2008 is getting some added interactions.  Tyrael will now increase his repertoire two fold, adding the ability to fall asleep (and be stirred awake) to his list of skills.  The little guy is a very light sleeper, constantly rolling over and fidgeting during his Zzz's.  Previously the tiny angel would only fold his arms and dance.  Okay, still not that impressive, but at least it sucks less.  Plus, there could be more animations that just haven't been discovered yet. If you want to see the new animations you can head over to this post, which tipped me off in the first place.  Although his animations remain on the low side - and lack any sort of sound - at least Blizzard has shown they are willing to edit old pets, again.  Now if only those few Tyrael holders could meet up with those few mini Diablo holders - also from the original Collector's Edition - then we may be in for some more cross-title mayhem. Have I told you that I love vanity pets?

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Non-combat, Vanity, Companion pets.  Call them whatever you want, these fluffy critters make me coo like a school girl and giddy as if a new Hello Kitty product was announced.  It's a sad state of affairs, but I'll admit that my manhood goes right out the window whenever I happen upon a fluffy animal, in game or out.  Consider me the male Elmyra. I blame Boubouille for my further emasculation.  The game file spelunking, PTR canvasing leader of MMO-Champion has dug up new information for us once again.  The weekend update unveiled fifteen or so non-combat pets (my name of choice) that are going to be added to Azeroth in the upcoming Call of the Crusade patch.  In a move to keep me from staying up for two weeks straight, Blizzard will be releasing the dozen plus pets over the course of the patch, rather than unleashing them all at once. We'll start with the unknowns before moving on to the previously revealed critters.

• The Macabre Marionette is a new pet rumored to be linked to the upcoming Day of the Dead seasonal event.  A mini skeletal pirate isn't exactly my idea of a companion, but I'll take it.
• The Calico Cat is the first of a feline triple threat.  She's nothing special, your standard cat model with a new paint job, but everyone lovesCalicos.  Currently the multi-colored kitty is not available from the Crazy Cat Lady on the PTR, so its location remains unknown.
• If you are one to shy away from the mutant cat due to allergies, then you will be happy to know that Patch 3.2 will be bringing not one, but two hypoallergenic furballs.  They are to come in stone forms, Onyx and Jade.  The rocky members of species catus have been attached to separate achievements.

On to the known beasts.

• Northrend's Children's Week will bring lil' game hunters either a Curious Wolvar Pup or a Curious Oracle Hatchling.  Neither looks like they can top the cutest pet currently in the game, Egbert, but I'll be flying around Northrend anyways.
• The Shimmering Wyrmling gives players something to look forward to when they hit exalted with the Silver Covenant or The Sunreavers.  A feat many of us have already accomplished thanks to The Argent Tournament.  "Freebies" are nice.
• Last, but certainly not least, is a collection of what could be the cutest pets ever viewed since the application of the wide angle lens on animals, mini big-headed Raptors.  There's a total of seven of them available as drops off of rare raptors throughout Azeroth and in instances.  The promised eighth velociraptor can be purchased for 50 gold from Breanni.  Seven farmable pets at once.  There goes a week, of sleep.

They may not be furry, still covered in their eggs or exactly cuddly, but damn if those killer dinosaurs aren't cute.  I can't really decide which reduces my manliness the most, thus the first I will far for, but I think I have it narrowed down to two.  It will either be the ZG raptor, since I could solo it, or the Leaping dino, for the off chance that the animation is amazing.  You can check out the rest of the carnivorous beasts and where to get them at the full post. It's nice to see Blizzard paying more attention to all those mount collectors out there.  I just hope they keep up the good artistic work by allowing the developers time to fully animate the beasts, giving each animal its own personality.  I've already got the Wyrmling in the bag, as I assume many of you do.  Who's going to be farming raptors, cats and keeping orphans busy with me? "I'm gonna hug you and kiss you and love you forever (and never use you up)." - Elmyra

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Project Lore's Dr. Dorkins finds a few new friends in this episode of Achievementology. Stay tuned and watch what Zand has for you.

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