Openraid

Hello,

First of all,
I need to update the blog as it is outdated for some posts (it was put together during the Beta for the biggest part of it!). I'll get there eventually.

But, I got a very nice present from Openraid! I took part in one of their contest where they celebrate 200k members and won the first prize, which is a Tuskarr Kite!

A very big thank you for them, and the fantastic work they've been doing since it started. If you ever struggle to find a group for a raid, an achievement, a rare, or you want to be brave and meet people from other servers, give it a go!

But also, over the past 2 years, I've met a lot of players and raidleaders through raids I have joined on Openraid, and who are wonderful people I'd never met otherwise.  Of course, there have also been raids I'd rather forget about  *coughAmbershapercough*, but the good raids let you forget the bad ones :)

US Servers: Openraid US
EU Servers: Openraid EU

Time-Lost ... in time!

Today, I didn't manage to get into the raid team because I simply didn't realize it was time to whisper a guildie for an invite, and so they had 10 people and started the raid. I decided to go up to Northrend to find an Unborn Valkyr for one or the other person on my friendslist that was still after one.

After Crystalsong Forest, my path took me to the Storm Peaks. I thought to myself, "wouldn't it be nice to see time-lost again, now that I am absolutely not looking for it?" And, behold, on my way to the second spawnpoint of the Valkyr, he came flying over from the Ulduar spawn.

I switched the UI off and took the screenshots I wanted for a long time: Time-lost flying untagged, alive!

I then thought "tag, tag, hold for someone!" but wasn't sure how, and worried I might oneshot it, and then someone had already come along and killed it. Sorry Relli, sorry Aladur!

For those after it, here's a wonderful wealth of resource by Ponderance, the ultimate expert on Aeonaxx, Time-lost and more: TLPDresource.com.

Zandalari Warbringers

Ah, the new rares that came with patch 5.2... Seeing as I haven't done much apart from chasing these guys, I thought it's time for a post!

Zandalari Warbringers spawn in 5 continents in Pandaria. They have set spawn areas, and their respawn timer is fairly close, around 30 to 55 minutes. Expect to kill all, and by the time you killed the last one, you can already go back to the first spot where you started.

General area of the spawn locations

However, also expect a lot of competition! The Zandalari Warbringers drop not only satchels of spoils (small and large ones), which are the exact same that can drop from the regular rare champions in Pandaria, but they also drop insignias that are bind on account, and that give you 1000 rep with one of four Pandaria factions. With the guild perk and the commendations that you can obtain at revered from these factions, you can get 2200 rep on any alt, any level per insignia! That's the end of dailies as we know it. Factions include August Celestials, Shado-Pan, Golden Lotus and Klaxxi.

Warbringer in Jade Forest (Amber direhorn mount)

And lastly, the warbringers drop: a shiny direhorn mount! There are three colours available, and they always match the colour of the mount that the warbringer spawns on. I am still hoping for a Primal Jade Direhorn to drop.

Warbringer in Kun-Lai (Amber direhorn mount)

The warbringers used to be soloable by many classes, but due to a lot of griefing, Blizzard has decided to make them immune to interrupts, roots, snares, taunts and gripping. If you happen to be a blood dk, you can disregard this change, for everyone else, grab yourself a trusty friend or guildie, before you take on these guys.

Zandalari Warbringer in Townlong Steppes (Jade direhorn mount)

Zandalari Warbringer List of Spells:

 

Each warbringer has 4 spells at random out of 5 possible choices. You absolutely need to know what these spells do, so you can react accordingly.

• Horrific Visage:  This used to be a priority for interrupting, as it fears the target that has aggro for 8 seconds! Either ride it out, or use a trinket that can break fear. It can't be interrupted currently.
• Thunder Crush: Move out of the frontal cone. You can see a dark area on the ground before you get hit by it, but you have to be fast.
• Vengeful Spirit:  Don't let the spirit get near you, or anything that is attacking the warbringer. It hits very hard. Entangling Roots for druids is perfect for keeping the spirit at bay, slows work too, just keep a distance between it and yourself. It despawns after 20 seconds.
• Scarab Swarm: Just aoe the scarabs down.
• Meteor Shower: It helps if you move your camera so you see the area from above. They do damage when they land near you, but they usually fly quite far. They stay above the warbringer so you can't kite it away from the meteors.

Spawn Locations (work in progress)

Kun-Lai

Jade Forest

Townlong Steppes

Krasarang Wilds

Zandalari Warscouts

 

The warscouts that spawn along the warbringers are still very soloable, and provide some good training for tackling the warbringers. They each have 3 abilities of the 5 mentioned above, and drop the satchels as well as an insignia. They patrol around the general spawn area.

Pandaren Fishing Spear

This spear spawns directly behind the Pandaren Uncle Deming, on the central south beach in Krasarang Wilds.

As with the other lootable treasures, make sure you're not attacked, and keep an empty bag slot, and finally, don't move while you loot it! You can see it once per character, once it has been looted, successfully or not, it will despawn. However, you can loot it again on other characters, so you can have more than one in your possession.

Container: Pandaren Fishing Spear
Looted Item: Pandaren Fishing Spear

Barrel of Banana Infused Rum

This recipe is found in a barrel that spawns on the ship where Spriggin, the rare Hozen spawns, in Southern Krasarang Wilds on the island of Unga Ingoo.

It will give you the recipe for Banana Infused Rum. Sadly, you can't move as a piratified hozen...

Container: Barrel of Banana Infused Rum
Looted Item: Recipe: Banana Infused Rum

Tablet of Ren Yun

This tablet spawns on top of Mount Neverest in Kun Lai Summit, right next to the statue of Ren Yun the Blind. When looted, it will give to able cooks the recipe for Four Senses Brew.

Tablet of Ren Yun

Container: Tablet of Ren Yun
Looted item: Tablet of Ren Yun

Staff of the Hidden Master

This pretty staff is found in the bamboo forest in Western Valley of the Four Winds, where the Hidden Master himself resides.

Staff of the Hidden Master

As with the other lootable treasures, make sure you're not attacked, and keep an empty bag slot, and finally, don't move while you loot it! You can see it once per character, once it has been looted, successfully or not, it will despawn. However, you can loot it again on other characters, so you can have more than one in your possession.

For TomTom users, the coordinates are as follows:

/way Valley of the Four Winds 15.4 29.1 Staff of the Hidden Master
/way Valley of the Four Winds 17.5 35.7 Staff of the Hidden Master
/way Valley of the Four Winds 19.1 37.9 Staff of the Hidden Master
/way Valley of the Four Winds 15.0 33.7 Staff of the Hidden Master
/way Valley of the Four Winds 19.0 42.5 Staff of the Hidden Master

Container:  Staff of the Hidden Master
Looted item: Staff of the Hidden Master

Ghostly Pandaren Craftsman

This ghost spawns next to one of several trees just East of the Heartland in the Valley of Four Winds. You have to interact with him, and make sure that you have one slot of bag space. He will give you the rather useless Ancient Pandaren Woodcutter after a short conversation. Once someone has spoken to him, he will despawn, so only one person can get the charm at a time. Moreover, there are some rampaging virmen in the area, make sure that you clear the area surrounding the craftsman before talking to him, as he may despawn when you get attacked during interaction.

 As he is an npc, you can add him into NPCscan, his ID is: 64191.

Ghostly Pandaren Fisherman

This ghost spawns on the shore of Cattail Lake in the Valley of Four Winds. You have to interact with him, and make sure that you have one slot of bag space. He will give you the Ancient Pandaren Fishing Charm after a short conversation. Once someone has spoken to him, he will despawn, so only one person can get the charm at a time.

Ancient Pandaren Fisherman

As he is an npc, you can add him into NPCscan: his ID is 64004.

Ancient Pandaren Mining Pick

Location: Jade Forest, inside Greenstone Quarry, the cave north of  Dawnstone Village.

The map of the cave

The cross marks the locations inside the quarry, where the mining pick can be found.
For TomTom users, the coordinates are as follows:

/way 33.53, 77.85
/way 64.40, 59.41
/way 46.26, 23.14
/way 37.21, 23.93
/way 64.33, 59.44

Make sure you activate them when you're inside the cave!

Container: Ancient Pandaren Mining Pick
Actual looted item: Ancient Pandaren Mining Pick

The Relic Hunter: an Introduction

As promised, I will feature all the rare objects and npc's of the Pandaria continent that belong to a series of achievements that, ultimately, will grant your character the title: "[Name], the Relic Hunter".

Now, becoming a relic hunter is not hard, all you need is patience. The items that account for the achievements used to have a long respawn timer, but that timer has been considerably shortened a few weeks ago. What I did, and what I suggest, is having a look every now and then, or when you happen to be in the area. You can also keep a character in one location, or log off in a location of an item you want to find. Sooner or later, you will have found them.

But first things first:

How do I become a relic hunter?

A good starting point is knowing the location of the treasures. There are a lot of helpful maps around, and wowhead guides are generally a good start. I will be making maps as this blog progresses, but for now, I will point you to the excellent guide of Balgair on Wowhead:

 One Man's Trash Is Another Man's Treasure: Riches of Pandaria

There are a lot of locations to remember, but luckily, there is an addon that adds them all to your map:

 Handynotes: Lost and Found Plugin

Now that you can see them on your ingame map, you can create yourself a route with the addon Routes and just link them all together, so you have a line on the minimap guiding you from one location to the other.

However, some of these rare treasures come in the form of npc's, which you can add to _npcscan:

• Jade Forest: Jade Warrior Statue: NPCscan ID: 64272
• Dread Wastes: Glinting Rapana Whelk: NPCscan ID: 65552
• Kun Lai Summit: Frozen Trail Packer: NPCscan ID: 64227
• Valley of the Four Winds: Ghostly Pandaren Craftsman: NPCscan ID: 64191
• Valley of the Four Winds: Ghostly Pandaren Fisherman: NPCscan ID: 64004

What do I need to keep in mind? 

 

When you mouse over one of the items, your cursor turns into a cogwheel. Before you right-click to loot the item, make sure that you cleared the area from any mobs that can attack you, and don't move at all while you loot: else the loot window that appears can close and the item despawns and is lost. 

You can also only loot (and see) an item once on a character, but you can loot it multiple times on different characters.

Which achievements are there?

 

You start off small, and move your way up:

1. Lost and Found 
2. Finder's Keepers 
3. One man's trash... 
4. ...Is another man's treasure 

That's all to know to start, happy hunting!