Project Lore

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.



If you are a regular to the Project Lore Blog then you probably already know my in-game addiction, non-combat pets.  The cute designs and animations of most of the vanity pets have allowed my love of animals IRL (I've owned or own ferrets, various aquatic beings, cats, dogs, turtles, and so on) to easily segway into the digital realm.  I was so bad in the early days of WoW that I had two bags dedicated to the useless little critters.  Image explaining my lack of fire pots to my hardcore raiding buddies because I grabbed my bag of cockroaches, cats and parrots (my first in-game pet) instead.  Woops. With the Midsummer Fire Festival back in action I've once again trudged off to Slave Pens to melt Ahune.  All in an attempt to score a Scorched Stone, that, according to WoWHead, has <2% chance of dropping.  I began my audacious task this morning with a bunch of guildies, and if the pet dropped our first round of attempts you better believe this post would have a much different tone.  Obviously, the mini MC mob continues to elude me.  And my attempts are already done for the day on Solidsamm. Here's the issue with Ahune, and the only piece of loot that keeps him interesting, people lie to get to him.  Don't believe me?  Just spam "LFG Ahune Must Have Summon" and see how many people will @ you who either A) have used their daily summon or B) haven't done the quick quests to get the summon yet.  The rule that I have always gone by, and been asked to comply with, is that if you don't have the summon (or can't provide one on an alt) then you aren't allowed in the group.  The last thing pet collectors would want is to lose the Scorched Stone roll, probably the only one they will see in the short time span, to a random unappreciative player who didn't even contribute an attempt.  But it's difficult to tell who actually has a summon left and who doesn't.  The only trick I've seen is to make sure that your quest log says everyone else in the party is on the same quest.  Not a flawless system, as they may not have picked it up yet.  Anyone have any other ideas? The moral of the story is that if you can't contribute a summon, then DO NOT GO TO AHUNE.  I am even referring to guildies.  If you aren't absolutely 100% positive that you can pass such a sought after item, then don't go under any circumstance.  At level 80, with a crappy non-80 healer, the encounter is ezmode (Ahune didn't scale up for Wrath), so they don't need your "help." Outside of the pet and the achievement, there is no reason to go to the Ice Lord.  Save yourself the drama and just sit it out. This has been a Public Service Announcement by Pet Lovers Everywhere (TM). Titles (Alliance/Horde) are not for me, but I am sure there are many of you out there already hard at work on your respected recognition.  Outside of Ahune's sacred gift I am working on a Captured Flame for the priest and enjoying the fire works, juggling and general summery fun that the Festival brings to Azeroth.  Perhaps I should work on my thievery...What are you goals? The Midsummer Fire Festival ends July 5.

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Nothing says "I love you" like getting shot by a dude with giant eyes and razor-sharp teeth.

Let's start this off with the most pressing matter, Love is in the Air.  Blizzard's take on Valentine's Day kicked off early wednesday morning aside an amusing bug.  I am sure those that logged in saw the server wide message that the "Ice Stone has melted."  The erroneous message stems from last year's Midsummer Fire Festival and the encounter with Lord Ahune.  The kicker is that Blizzard had no idea what was causing it, or how it slipped into 3.0.9.  It has taken Blizzard's superstar team over a day to track down the root of the problem, which will require a realm restart later today.  At least Kisirani had some fun with the flooding of Azeroth. For those of you looking to participate in the Love is in the Air seasonal, you best take a look at WoWHead's excellent guide.  If you are one of the hardcore achievers out there, then you are hopefully well on your way with Fool for Love for the meta-meta achievement, What a Long, Strange Trip Its Been. It is also worth a mentioning that the Lunar Festival commenced earlier this week. Unlike previous seasonal events, this is one that doesn't interest me, much.  Despite my general lack of excitement, the bastards at Blizzard made it pretty difficult for me to ignore the event entirely, due to the addition of an amusing non-combat pet.  I love those little useless distractions.  To obtain the pet, players are required to get jiggy with guards and/or NPCs of their factions for Gifts of Adoration.  If you are incredibly lucky, than a Truesilver Shafted Arrow will be found in there, otherwise you must wait an hour to try again.  I'll be going after gifts as often as possible, but I will leave the achievement grinding to Juggynaut.

Aww, he's so tough.

On the news front, the PvPers out there are probably ecstatic to hear that the World of Warcraft Arena Tournament will be returning for its second run.  The 2009 season has been updated to include Wrath's changes, pre-made level 80 characters, a prize pool of $200,000 and even in-game objects usable on the live realms like the “Vanquisher” title and this cute Murloc pet.  God, are they trying to make me fail at PvP on a global scale? Any one a Fool for Love yet?  Remember folks, the V-day event closes on Monday, so get a move on.  I am 0 for 5 in my endeavor for Kwee Q. Peddlefeet.  Any readers gonna sign-up for the Arena Tournament on the 17th?

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