Lesser Charms of Good Fortune to Drop from Rares in Patch 5.3 & Sahn Tidehunter Moved

With patch 5.3 just around the corner I figured I'd give a quick heads-up about a few of the changes that will be affecting rare spawns in Pandaria when it goes live.

The biggest change affecting all of the rares in Pandaria (minus the Zadalari Warscouts & Warbringers) is that they will all drop several Lesser Charms of Good Fortune now. I flew around the ptr killing each rare up, and every one dropped several charms. The amount seemed to be about 3-5 from each.

That isn't the only thing being added to their loot tables though, Blood-Soaked Invitations will also have a chance to drop off of the rares in Pandaria (minus the rares on Isle of Thunder). I'm not sure what the drop rate will be on them, but I had to kill about ten rares before I saw one. (Official patch notes)

I think this is a wonderful change. I'll admit, as much as I love pet battling I was getting a bit tired of it in order to get my Lesser Charms. It will also be nice to see people hunting these rares down again given this new incentive. I know I won't be flying by and leaving any of them alive any more when I come across one.

Also, the Big Blossom Excavation totally destroyed Sahn Tidehunter's Little pond in Vale of Eternal Blossoms. The poor guy had to move with his dead crab Carapin to the northern pond next to Mogu'shan Palace. He is shown at his new location in the screenshot below.

Sahn Tidehunter at his new location in patch 5.3

(And on a personal note - Our new girl baby turned one month old yesterday, and she's doing quite well. She went on her first road trip last week and she had a lot of fun. She absolutely LOVES bumpy car rides. I'm also fairly certain that I witnessed her first real smile this morning! ^-^)

A Precious Little Announcement

So I tried to find a cute baby night elf or draenei to take a screenshot of for this post, because I figured it would be more appropriate given the characters I play in game, however it just didn't happen. I actually couldn't find a baby draenei model anywhere. Where do draenei come from? Eggs? Then holy moly, the night elf one I found.. simply terrifying. So here is a cute human baby to preface my announcement.

That's right, if you haven't already guessed this post is all about baby! The hubby and I just welcomed our first child into the world last Thursday, April 18th. She weighed a healthy 6lbs 10ounces and measured in at about 20'' long. She's got a full head of dark brown (maybe even black) hair and her eyes are getting bluer each day. She's absolutely gorgeous and I must say, I'm totally in love. <3

That being said, activity on my end regarding this blog will be slowing down significantly for the next few weeks/months until we've established a nice routine with our new addition. I will still be answering questions/comments, etc.

Until my next post, (pre) Happy Children's Week!

Trove(s) of the Thunder King

Ahhhh treasure, who doesn't love finding a big honkin' treasure chest? I know I always get a little excited each time I run across one while playing. Well this post is all about treasure baby. No, not the typical treasure chests you'll find out in the world (although you should be looking for those too), but the actual chests you can find throughout the Isle of Thunder: Trove of the Thunder King.

Finding your first Trove of the Thunder King will land you the achievement Thunder Plunder which counts toward the meta-achievement: Stormbreaker.

These chests generally contain about 30 gold, a Shan'ze Ritual Stone, a Fortuitous Coffer (which will usually yield 1-3 Elder Charms of Good Fortune and a small chance at any one of the books required for the Zandalari Library Card Achievement). If you have not yet looted a Key to the Palace of Lei Shen since the weekly Tuesday reset from a rare or another source, there is a good chance you'll see one in your chest as well.

The Key to the Palace of Lei Shen will get you into the ultra fun, timed, single-player scenario Troves of the Thunder King, where there will be enough treasure to practically make your brain explode - but I'll leave that for another time.

So here's the deal with these chests: You can only see and loot a single Trove of the Thunder King once per week, per character. (Source) Now apparently there have been some rare instances where people have come across more than one in a week; it seems this has been when people have found chests within just a minute or so of one another - before the server has had a chance to flag that character complete for that week. That was never intended, and is apparently being worked on.

If you have multiple 90's and aren't sure if you've looted one of these chests yet this week, there is a quick way to see if you have. Simply copy and paste this command into chat:

/run print(IsQuestFlaggedCompleted(32609))

If you see a "1" in the chat window, that means you have looted a chest this week. If you see "nil", it means you have not yet looted a chest this week. (Source)

For those who use the addon tomtom, you can use a series of macros to add waypoints of all the chest locations found so far. (Waypoints taken from wowhead map on 4/7/13.)

/way 53.2, 24.6
/way 50.4, 27.3
/way 49.1, 27.2
/way 47.7, 25.7
/way 48.0, 29.3
/way 52.4, 37.0
/way 48.8, 43.0
/way 56.8, 45.7
/way 57.5, 48.6
/way 55.1, 49.1
/way 54.1, 53.6
/way 55.5, 53.7
/way 60.9, 53.6
/way 59.3, 56.8
/way 34.9, 47.6
/way 45.2, 50.7

/way 44.1, 56.1
/way 46.3, 57.5
/way 46.6, 61.6
/way 38.9, 54.7
/way 33.4, 57.5
/way 33.2, 60.5
/way 33.8, 60.5
/way 36.1, 58.5
/way 38.7, 59.6
/way 37.9, 61.0
/way 36.9, 60.7
/way 35.6, 63.7
/way 39.6, 64.9
/way 37.0, 68.1
/way 44.3, 67.5
/way 28.9, 80.8

/way 33.4, 76.3
/way 39.1, 76.8
/way 40.8, 74.7
/way 43.5, 78.6
/way 43.8, 82.8
/way 48.0, 82.1
/way 51.5, 89.6
/way 53.8, 82.7
/way 52.9, 77.3
/way 51.2, 74.8
/way 51.5, 74.0
/way 47.5, 72.5

When you have all of these waypoints in, your map will look like the one in the screenshot below. You will also be able to see the locations as you come up on them on your mini-map. Now some of these chests are located underground, in buildings etc., over at Wowpedia they have another map that shows which of these chests are under and above ground. Unfortunately the map is rather small and has about half of the known locations to date on it, but some may still find it helpful.

Trove of the Thunder King Locations

When you do find a chest, be aware that you cannot open it while in combat. Also, if you find one in the saurok area you will loose your Skin of the Saurok disguise when you try to open it. Those saurok are not very hospitable when they realize you aren't one of them.

Isle of Thunder Rares Spawns

There are a total of eleven rares on the Isle of Thunder. Ten of them are required for the achievement Champions of Lei Shen. They are all on very short re-spawn timers that seem to be between 30min to an hour, and certain rares become available after unlocking different Stages of progression on the Isle. (More info on that below.)

All of these rares (minus Ra'sha) share the new tapping system introduced in patch 5.2, where so long as you participate in killing the rare you will have access to it's loot. As more and more people join in on the fight, the mob's health pool will increase with each additional player. All in all, I think this new system is great, as it gives players around the Isle more time to get to each rare once it's been called out.

Each of these rares is guaranteed to drop a Tome of Valor worth 15 valor points each time you kill them. They will also drop a single Shan'ze Ritual Stone and a Key to the Palace of Lei Shen for an individual character once each week (so long as you haven't already looted the key elsewhere). Obtaining three ritual stones will unlock the group quest Setting the Trap, which will then lead to the weekly group quest Champions of the Thunder King. Obtaining a Key to the Palace of Lei Shen will unlock the weekly solo scenario Troves of the Thunder King where you will have five minutes to grab as much treasure as you can before the clock runs out.

These rares also have a very small chance to drop the item that begins the questline for warlocks to get their green fire; Sealed Tome of the Lost Legion. The tome seems to be roughly a 2-3% drop chance off of any one of the rares (minus Ra'sha), and can only be looted by warlocks. When combined with a Healthstone the item becomes The Codex of Xerrath, which starts the questline with An Unusual Tome.

So without further adieu, here are each of these rares listed below in the order they became accessible on the Isle. If you scroll further down the page I also have a slightly more up to date map showing exactly where they can be found.

Haywire Sunreaver Construct
NPCID: 50358
Coordinates: 48, 85
Location Description: Running along the shores in southwestern Ihgaluk Crag
Base Health: 10539k
Notable Loot: Sunreaver Micro-Sentry

Abilities: Haywire: Go Haywire! Deals 18500 to 21500 Nature damage to all enemies within 40 yards every 1 sec. for 20 sec and increases movement speed by 100%. (Ranged players can still dps him and not get hit, so long as you stay right at about 40 yards. Others should be able to heal through it. If you don't have heals, I recommend getting away from him for the 20 seconds he casts this.)

Ku'lai the Skyclaw <Ward of Beasts>
NPCID: 69996
Coordinates: 36, 82
Location Description: Patrols the beach south of Za'Tual
Base Health: 7167k, Pet: 1969k

Abilities: Bladewind: Spin around in a whirl of blades, inflicting 46250 to 53750 Physical damage to nearby enemies every 1 sec. for 10 sec. (This is easily avoidable  Simply move out of melee range when he starts spinning.)
Leaping Rend: Leaps at the target and slashes, causing the target to bleed for 20000 Physical damage every 1 sec. for 10 sec. (Ranged players - be sure to stand fairly close to him, he only seems to use this ability when your far, and it HURTS.)
Pet (Tamed Pterrorwing): Spirit Bond (So long as his pet is alive, Ku'lai will take half damage. KILL HIS PET FIRST.)

Progenitus <The Firstborn>
NPCID: 69997
Coordinates: 50, 74
Location Description: At the very top of the highest peak in Ihgaluk Crag. You will need Skin of the Saurok disguise to reach him.
Base Health: 7588k

Abilities: Evolution: Increases all damage dealt by 10%.
Mutagenic Burst: Inflicts 46250 to 53750 Nature damage to all enemies within 5 yards and knocks them up.
Unleash Blood: Inflicts 46250 to 53750 Nature damage to all enemies within 10 yards and knocks them back. (This ability can be a real killer, and quite literally because it can knock you off the mountain. Either stun him while he's casting it and run away, or position your back against the big dinosaur head.)

A note for pet classes: Use the "move to" option to keep your pet on the top of the mountain, especially if your pet has aggro. You can also put your pet on passive to keep Prog from chasing it down the mountainside if someone else is there tanking.

Mumta <Thief of Souls>
NPCID: 69664
Coordinates:
Location Description: On the top floor of The Hall of  the Grand Imperion in the Court of Bones.
Base Health: 6745k

Abilities: Darkest Darkness: Reduces healing taken by 99% for 20 sec.

Spirit Bolts: Deals Shadow damage to all nearby enemies every 0.5 sec.

Vengeful Spirit: Summons a vengeful spirit to assist the caster. (This is by far the most important thing to look out for while fighting him. If the vengeful spirit is coming after you - RUN AWAY. The spirit hits very very hard, but it can be kited and slowed and will eventually de-spawn.)

Goda
NPCID: 69998
Coordinates: 53, 53
Location Description: Standing inside of a tree in northeastern Diremoor, just south of the wall separating the next part of the zone.
Base Health: 10539k

Abilities: Crystalline Shield: Protects the caster in a crystalline shield, reducing magical damage taken by 10%. (This ability stacks, but can be purged, dispelled, etc.)
Shell Spin: Spins around for 10 sec , inflicting 92500 to 107500 Physical damage every 1 sec. to enemies within 10 yards and knocking them back. (This hits pretty hard, but is super easy to avoid. Just run away when he starts spinning.)

Al'tabim the All-Seeing
NPCID: 70000
Coordinates: 44, 31
Location Description: On the Northwestern shore next to a large cauldron.
Base Health: 6323k

Abilities: Meteor Shower: Summons a shower of meteors, dealing Fire damage at the impact locations.
Omen: Inflicts 400000 Shadow damage after 2 min. Leaving combat cancels the effect. (This debuff isn't much to worry about if multiple people are killing him and he goes down fast. If you are soloing him however, and your dps isn't high enough this debuff can be deadly. I imagine classes with some kind of damage absorption would fair better against this guy solo.)
Shadow Bolt Volley: Hurls missiles of dark magic, inflicting Shadow damage to nearby enemies.

God-Hulk Ramuk
NPCID: 69999
Coordinates: 60, 50
Location Description: In front of the stairs leading down to the gate to Stormsea Landing. (Becomes accessible during Stage 3)
Base Health: 8431k

Abilities: Blessing of Thunder: Call for the blessing of Lei Shen, increasing damage dealt by 100%, damage taken by 50%, and reducing movement speed by 50% for 15 sec.
Crouch: Crouch down into a ball, reducing incoming damage by 50% and healing for 5% of maximum health every 3 sec. for 20 sec. (This ability CAN and SHOULD be interrupted.)
Pound: Pound the ground, inflicting 138750 to 161250 Physical damage to enemies within 5 yards of the impact and knocking them back. (This has a cast time, just be sure to run away the moment it starts.)

Lu-Ban <The War Crafter>
NPCID: 70002
Coordinates: 54, 35
Location Description: At the Thunder Forges, standing in front of a large mogu statue and table with mogu weapons on it. (Becomes accessible during Stage 4.)
Base Health: 6745k

Abilities: Skyforged Hammers: Skyforged hammers inflict 27750 to 32250 Nature damage on melee attack.
Storm Bolt: Fling a hammer at a distant target, inflicting 138750 to 161250 Physical damage and stunning them for 3 sec. (He casts this when your further than 15 yards from him, so ranged players just don't stand too far away.)

Backbreaker Uru
NPCID: 70001
Coordinates: 50, 25
Location Description: He patrols the back entrance of the Lightning Vein Mine. (Becomes accessible during stage 4.)
Base Health: 9275k

Abilities: Break Spine: Crush the target's spine, rooting them in place and reducing their chance to dodge and parry by 100% for 15 sec. (He uses this on his current target.)
Massive Stomp: Deals 185000 to 215000 Physical damage to all enemies within 30 yards. This ability only affects targets that are on the ground. (Combined with Break Spine, this ability can be very painful. All you need to do to not get hit is jump before he gets the cast off. If your his main target and your pinned down though, get ready to heal or use some defensive cd's.)

Molthor <The Gatekeeper>
NPCID: 70003
Coordinates: 62, 48 & 58, 35
Location Description: He has two spawn points. One of them is behind God-Hulk Ramuk on the overlook at Stormsea Landing. The other is in the back of the Swollen Vault. (Becomes accessible during stage 5.)
Base Health: 8010k

Abilities: Horrific Visage: Strikes fear in an enemy, causing it to flee in terror for 8 sec.
Scarab Swarm: Summons a bevy of scarabs to attack the enemy. (These can easily be aoe'd down.)
Thunder Crush: Crush enemies in a cone in front of the caster for 231250 to 268750 Nature damage. (Move out of this when you see it on the ground. It hurts. It looks like a grey thundercloud floating just above the ground.)

Click to Enlarge

Ra'sha (NOT part of the Champions of Lei Shen Achievement)
NPCID: 70530
Coordinates: 39, 81
Location Description: In the back of the cave by the water where the skeletal raptors are located. The cave is guarded by two elite Zandalari Execution Guards.
Base Health: 4075k
Notable Loot: Ra'sha's Sacrificial Dagger (Ra'sha does not share the same "tapping system" as the other rares in this zone. The first person/party to engage him will be the only ones able to loot him.)

Abilities: Bloodbolt: Inflicts damage to an enemy and reduces its movement speed for 4 sec.
Bloody Strike: An instant attack that deals 110% weapon damage.  Increases attack damage by 5%, but reduces chance to hit by 5%. Lasts 15 sec.
Mark of Blood: Place a Mark of Blood on an enemy.  Whenever the marked enemy deals damage to a target, that target is healed for 4% of its maximum health. Lasts for until cancelled. (Simply stop hitting him when he puts this debuff on you, otherwise the fight will go on forever.)

Although he isn't part of the Champions of Lei Shen achievement, he will still drop a guaranteed Tome of Valor and potentially a Shan'ze Ritual Stone. Unlike the other rares on the island he could also potentially drop a Small Bag of Zandalari Supplies or a Big Bag of Zandalari Supplies.

Helpful Addons:

IoTRares

Ever wonder what that addon is that has people calling out which rare is up, with info on the rare's location and % health left in general chat on the Isle? That is the addon IoTRares. Not only will it call out in general when you've targeted a rare, it also keeps track of when you've last seen each rare to more easily keep track of which ones will likely be spawning in next. Here is an example below of both what you'll see called out in general chat, and the timers for when each rare was last killed that only you will see.

What is nice about this addon is that it's not as "spammy" as you'd think it would be. When several people in an area working on one rare all have this same addon only one person will call out the progress on that rare in general. I've found this addon very helpful, as I know many others on my server have as well. You can download this addon from Curse. 

TomTom

If you use tomtom, you can simply add these waypoints to a macro for each of their spawn locations to show up on your map:

/way 35.0 82.0 Ku'lai

/way 51.3 71.2 Progenitus

/way 35.1 62.5 Mumta

/way 53.7 53.1 Goda

/way 61.5 49.6 Ramuk

/way 59.3 35.7 Molthor

/way 63.5 49.2 Molthor

/way 54.4 35.6 Lu-Ban

/way 44.7 29.7 Al'tabim 

/way 48.6 89.8 Haywire

/way 48.4 25.3 Backbreaker Uru

/way 39.4 81.6 Ra'sha

NPCScan

You can also add each of these rares into NPCScan, and it will pick them up so long as they aren't cached. You can add them quickly with these macros:

/npcscan add 50358 Haywire Sunreaver Construct

/npcscan add 69664 Mumta

/npcscan add 69996 Ku'lai the Skyclaw

/npcscan add 69998 Goda

/npcscan add 69997 Progenitus

/npcscan add 70000 Al'tabim the All-Seeing

/npcscan add 69999 God-Hulk Ramuk

/npcscan add 70001 Backbreaker Uru

/npcscan add 70002 Lu-Ban

/npcscan add 70003 Molthor

/npcscan add 70530 Ra'sha

Happy Hunting! :)

Fishin' for Rares: Krakkanon

Fishing, it's not something I usually talk about on my blog. Mainly because it's never had anything specifically to do with rares (the silver dragon kind) until just recently. Well, patch 5.2 sure added a lot to the fishing profession, and one of those things is a rare - that you can fish up!

Meet Krakkanon. He's a really, really BIG kraken that you can fish up in any of the new fish of the day locations throughout Pandaria.

If you haven't been keeping up on fishing since the patch, let me give you a brief overview of some of the changes. Each day there is now a new "fish of the day" location somewhere in Pandaria. The fish of the day locations contain tons and tons of very fast re-spawning pools of one kind of fish. The type of fish that the pools contain depends on what location the pools are in; and although the pools are named slightly differently, the fish caught are identical to the ones already existing in Pandaria.

The fish of the day location seems to be determined randomly, and resets at 3am PST. To find out where the fish of the day are located on any particular day, you can talk to the fishing trainer Ben of the Booming Voice. Ben is located just outside of Halfhill at 58.9, 46.9, standing beside the Gilding Stream.

When you talk to Ben, he'll tell you where the fish are migrating on that day and what type of fish can be caught there. If your lazy like myself, you can even ask him to mark the exact location on your map. When he marks your map it will show up like the little red x that you see on the left in the screenshot below.

Fish of the day location marked on World Map and Mini-Map

There are nine possible locations where the fish of the day could be. (I have marked all of them on the map below, as well as where you can find Ben of the Booming Voice.) When you get to the designated area, if you are tracking fishing pools your mini map should look something like the one in the screenshot above. You will also know your in the right spot because there will be several friendly npc's fishing there, including Salty El herself from El's Extreme Anglin'!

Possible fish of the day locations. Click map to Enlarge.

There will literally be more pools there than you can fish, and they will keep re-spawning at an accelerated rate. Fishing these pools is a nice fast way to stock up on fish you may be needing, and it's been reported that even the coveted Sea Turtle mount can be fished out of them! If you don't have a water-walking ability, I highly recommend getting the Angler's Fishing Raft to easily move between pools. Also, don't forget to use your Ancient Pandaren Fishing Charm if you have it, as it will allow you to stock up on those fish even faster! (More info on where to find the charm and other treasures in this post: Lost and Found Achievement: Where to Find Lost Treasures in Pandaria.)

Once in a while a larger than average size pool will spawn in, and this pool will have a different name than the smaller ones around it. In the screenshot below, we had been fishing from Sha-Touched Spinefish pools until this Large Pool of Sha-Touched Spinefish appeared. The large pools always contain the same type of fish as the other pools around it, however it will contain many more - we fished this pool for about 10 minutes before we finally got to the bottom of it.

Fishing a Large Pool for Krakkanon

When the large pool has finally been fished clean, a rare elite kraken named "Krakkanon" will appear. This rare has a massive health pool of about 20 Million hp. He will not automatically aggro when he spawns in, and he cannot be "tapped" by a single person. Any angler in the area who participates in killing him will be able to share in the reward.

Krakkanon has a very large hit-box, and he only uses two abilities - neither hit very hard. His two abilities are called Gurrggggle and Shpshhh. They are both dealt as frost damage. The most annoying this he does is a knock-back that will toss you into the air in a big spray of water, but it can be avoided. If you see a small pool of water forming under you, you will have a couple of seconds to move out of it before it errupts and tosses you into the air. He should be soloable by just about any class depending on your gear. (The only time I could really see this fight being difficult would be if it continued on for a very long time and he slowly whittled your health down.)

Once defeated, Krakkanon always seems to drop a 20-stack of the type of fish that spawn in that current location. He has a high chance to drop one of the "rare-catch" uncommon quality fish like the Flying Tiger Gourami, which starts a quest that can be handed in to Nat Pagle to increase your reputation with him. Krakkanon also has a pretty decent chance to drop Nat's Fishing Journal, a bind on account item that can be used to raise fishing on your alts. Until you reach revered with Nat pagle, this is the only way to acquire this item, and it will save you a lot of gold if you were planning on purchasing it. If he drops any of these items, anyone who attacked him will all get the same loot.

The rewards aren't super-spectacular for fishing up and killing this guy, but all in all I think it's a nice addition to the game and a great way to break up the monotonous task that fishing in wow can be.

Like Raptor Mounts? Spend some time on the Isle of Giants!

Ahhh mounts, who doesn't love em? Mounts, pets, titles, vanity items - they're the only things in game that will truly last patch after patch, and with each new expansion. Today I'm not going to talk about rare spawns, I'm just going to blab a little about some of these new mounts I'm loving in patch 5.2. Specifically - the Raptor mounts!

In patch 5.2 there were four new raptor mounts introduced to the game. All four of these mounts can be obtained by spending some time on Jurassic Park the Isle of Giants. Killing the dinosaurs on the isle will land you stacks and stacks of Giant Dinosaur Bones, which can ultimately be used to purchase Reins of the Bone-White Primal Raptor. This mount looks very similar to the Ivory Raptor, an Old School Ride that was taken out of the game in patch 1.4.

Bone-White Primal Raptor (Thank you to Arelae and Rickoutragos for posing for me!)

The larger, more difficult to kill dinosaurs drop more bones. For example, a Primal Devilsaur will land you anywhere between 35-45 bones, whereas a much easier to kill Young Primal Devilsaur will get you between 11-13 bones. Once you've collected 9,999 bones you can turn them in to Ku'ma <The Bone Collector>, to complete the quest A Mountain of Giant Dinosaur Bones. You'll find Ku'ma in a cave on the western side of the island. The quest reward is the previously mentioned sexy Bone-White Primal Raptor. You'll also receive a feat of strength called I've Got 9999 Problems but a Bone-White Primal Raptor Ain't One.

The larger dinosaurs have more health and deal a lot more damage, and will therefore require a group to kill. Their younger versions should be soloable by most classes depending on your gear. While farming for bones, it is very likely that at some point you will come across a Primal Egg. This egg will hatch into a Cracked Primal Egg  in three days time and will contain one of three different mounts: Reins of the Green Primal Raptor, Reins of the Red Primal Raptor or Reins of the Black Primal Raptor.

Primal Eggs can drop off of any dinosaur mob on the island. They have a higher chance to drop off of the larger mobs than the young ones though. The egg is unique, so once you have one in your bag you cannot  loot another one until the one you have hatches. The color mount that you will receive from the egg is completely random, and it is possible to see the same color more than once. I received my first Primal Egg from a Primordial Direhorn Hatchling, which I pretty much farmed exclusively. When the egg dropped, I had killed enough dinosaurs to collect 1,321 Giant Dinosaur Bones.

My first egg contained Reins of the Green Primal Raptor (pictured below). This guy kind of looks like an un-armored version of the no longer obtainable Swift Razzashi Raptor - the one mount I desperately wanted and farmed for but was never able to obtain before being taken out of the game pre-cataclysm. This guy's no substitute, but he's still pretty awesome looking.

Green Primal Raptor

Anyone who is familiar with the Savage Raptor TCG mount should notice the incredible similarities between it and the Red Primal Raptor. I'll admit, I was a little disappointed to find out that they looked so incredibly similar. The only difference between the two seems to be the saddle and reins color. Below you can see the Savage Raptor (left) and Red Primal Raptor (right) standing side-by-side for comparison. I personally think they should have made the Red Primal Raptor a little more, gee I dunno...red. Meh, oh well. At least bronze is in the red family.

Savage Raptor and Red Primal Raptor

I think my favorite of the three possible mounts from the cracked egg is the Black Primal Raptor (pictured below). He's got such purty blue eyes! ^-^ This mount looks fairly similar to the Venomhide Ravasaur mount obtainable by Horde characters for completing the quest They Grow Up So Fast.

Black Primal Raptor (thanks Reinoverall for posing for me!)

Primal Eggs can also be obtained from a couple of other sources outside of farming dinosaurs. The Shiny Pile of Refuse that drops from Oondasta, and Treasures of the Thunder King (from bosses in Throne of Thunder)  also have a small chance to contain an egg.

Ultimately, I really do like all of these new raptor mounts. Yes, even the Red Primal Raptor. As someone who plays predominantly Alliance, it's nice to have some more choices when it comes to raptor models now. I also love the fact that they are unarmored and feather-free. Don't get me wrong, some of the armored ones look fantastic - it's just that I REALLY like the less-frilly look.