If you have been reading DruidKitty for quite some time, you will remember my love for the plethora of Holiday Achievements and my many associated guide posts. The culmination of these in game Holidays and their Achievements is the grand meta achievement, “What A Long Strange Trip It’s Been“. And boy, oh boy, has it been a long strange trip.
I wish you all the best of luck in completing this achievement and a big gratz to everyone who is scooping up their Violet Proto-Drake this Holiday season!
I am still on my little blogging hiatus, as I am still not settled in to my new home yet (but almost!). But I did want to take the time to say THANK YOU to all my readers as today marks one year since my very first blog post here on DruidKitty. In that time the site has reached almost 40,000 views.
I can’t believe all that has changed in the past year. Hard to believe that in that time I went from playing the Wrath of the Lich King Beta to raiding with several amazing guilds that were on the top of their game and on top of progression, to finding myself back where I started – guildless again. I’m not sure my next step as far as WoW goes, but I would love to find myself back in a successful raiding guild once again.
Thanks to all my readers who have given me such love. I really hope to be back to writing for you all soon.
And to all my fellow bloggers, I hope you all can have such amazing years when it comes to blogging. What started out as just a hobby has become successful in my mind: If I have helped just one person through this blog, than it has been all worth it.
Thanks and Love to all, Kathoid
My life outside of WoW has become increasingly hectic the past few months, culminating in a move back to my home state next week. This added stress has been the foremost reason I have been neglecting maintaining DruidKitty with regular updates: I do still have a lot to say, and a lot of information I want to share, but I simply don’t have the time currently to put in to this blog.
For this reason I am officially going on hiatus until I am more settled in from my move. I am not retiring the blog, just simply taking a step back from it for some time.
I am not taking a break from WoW or Raiding with my guild, Concedo Nulli, at all. We are still forging ahead, stronger than ever. It is worth noting that we are still recruiting – please check out our website Concedo-Nulli.com for information on how you can join our winning team.
In the mean time, you can always check out my twitter updates here.
Thanks for all your love and support, and I hope to have new content for you all soon!
Kathoid
Due to the insanity that is my life right now, I have yet to delve completely into devouring the Patch 3.2 Notes. Needless to say, the thing I am most looking forward are the newly redesigned Feral Druid forms for both Night Elves and Tauren, and for both our bear-y best friends and we felines.
My first reaction to the new Night Elven kitty cat forms was: “YES! I can be a PINK cat!”! I have, quiet honestly, always wanted to be a pink cat. But after some thought, I was truly on the fence whether I really liked these new forms or not. I don’t know why I need to wear little bracers or why I have bells around my neck, and I was unsure if I liked all the color combinations. I was starting to feel like the Tauren got the better end of the staff on this one.
But as soon as I got onto the Public Test Realms I finally got to sink my claws into the new forms, first hand. After spending several hours with my future self, I am decidedly very happy about the changes. I have really only played around with the pink coloration. I had planned on playing with the other colors a bit, but I am so loving the pink kitty and have been traveling the world with her to see how different scenery and lighting affects how pink she really looks. I, of course, took many screenshots along the way, and will share them with you here.
If you are also PTR-ing it up, you can find me on Broxigar, both as “Kathoid” and as “Druidkitty”.
A side by side comparison of New Pink Kitty vs Old Kitty.
Stopping to sniff the flowers in Timbermaw.
Finally! Four toes to match out four-toed footprints!
New Pink Kitty running through Winterspring
Going for an RP stroll around Stormwind.
Decided to stop and take a quick dip in the Canals of Stormwind.
Run! Hogger is after us!!
In Duskwood, I slowed down for a breather.
If you have Berserking on your weapon, this is the fun color you will turn when it procs!
Rawr!
Woo. That was exhausting!
So as you can hopefully see, the lighting really affects the coloring of this new pink Kitty option. I will definetly be sticking with the pink once Patch 3.2 goes live!
If you would like me to check out a different color for you, or would like to see the Pink Kitty travel to your favorite destination in Azeroth, send me an email at DruidKitty AT gmail DOT com!
I know I have recently fallen back into being a lazy blogger and neglecting this blog some, but I certainly have not been neglecting World of Warcraft. After being on raiding hiatus for over a month, I’m back into the swing of things here on Khadgar-US raiding with my new guild <Concedo Nulli>.
Last week was our first week raiding together as a guild, and we cleared 10 man Naxxramas in about 3 hours, OS +1, Malygos, and both bosses in Vault of Archavon, as well as jumped into 10 man Ulduar and downed 4 bosses and smacked around a 5th who most people had never seen before. We are growing very fast as a guild and I am hopefully we will step foot into 25s in just a few more weeks.
Like any new guild, we are of course short in a few departments. We have absolutely no Ranged DPS currently, and only have Shaman Healers. We are looking to buff up our numbers and are currently recruiting to fill up our rosters before we embark into 25 man raids:
<Concedo Nulli> means “never back down”. We are a raiding guild located on the Khadgar-US server, and are recruiting to rebuild our 25 man raiding team.
Our founding members are highly knowledgeable, skilled players from other servers who came together to create an exceptional new guild – where building a strong core raid team is just as important as progressing through content.
Both new and seasoned raiders of ALL CLASSES AND SPECS are welcomed to apply. Raid experience and gear are preferred; a strong drive and desire to be in a successful raiding guild, and a deep understanding of your class and game mechanics are a must. Must be a team player.
Currently, we have a VERY high need for RANGED DPS and non-shaman HEALERS. However, we are not full on most classes and welcome all applicants.
Our 10 mans are currently scheduled for 11:45pm-3:00am EST, Monday – Thursday. Our 25 man raids will be similarly scheduled.
Please visit our website at: http://www.concedo-nulli.com to fill out an application, or speak to one of our officers in game on the Khadgar-US Server: Kreeoni, Kathoid, Tracerec, Thespia, or Sahne.
As you can see, I am an officer in this guild, which is great because I have so sorely missed being one. I am also in charge of recruiting, so if you decide to apply to our fantastic guild, please mention me on your app! Also of note, is the fact that our Guild Leader is Kreeoni, who you probably know from my last post on Druid Glyphs that he co-wrote with me, and also from his Twitter and his Blog. As a guild we are pretty active on Twitter, and have had many Tweeters reroll new characters just to join in on the fun!
- – -
I have also finally broken down and purchased Dual-Specs and decided to go Resto instead of bear! I haven’t played around with healing, but I have certainly done alot of my favorite thing in Tree form: /DANCE!
Patch 3.1 brought a plethora of new things to the game, including several Feral Druid Glyph additions and changes. With the new options available to us, the choice of which glyphs are right for you can be a bit harder than before. Since Patch 3.1 also brought us the long awaited addition of Dual-Specs to World of Warcraft, there is no longer a need to put Cat and Bear Glyphs into the same Feral Druid build.
Just as I plan to do, I’m sure that many kitties are talenting bear as their secondary specs, so I have decided to ask an expert for his input on the matter of Feral Druid Glyphs for Bears. Expert Main Tank, fellow Blogger, WoW Twitterati member, and my very own Guild Leader, Kreeoni has graciously teamed up with me for this post, ensuring that we bring you the best knowledge and know-how that there is on the Feral Druid Glyphs out there for the picking.
Onto the Major Glyphs now, shall we?
Added in Patch 3.1. Increases the duration of Berserk from 15 seconds to 20 seconds total.
Kathoid: While this glyph is certainly more for cats than it is for bears, it is still not one that I include in my glyph selections. An extra 5 seconds of Berserk every 3 minutes is not enough extra DPS to make me select this glyph over another.
Kreeoni: This is of course more of a cat glyph, but it has its uses in bear form as well since we also use Berserk. If you are finding that threat is your biggest problem, this glyph may help you solve that issue. I wouldn’t really suggest using it otherwise though.
While this glyph wasn’t altered at all in Patch 3.1, since my last post on Feral Druid major glyphs there has been a change to Growl itself. Growl previously was considered a spell, requiring 17% hit in order to never miss. Growl is now considered a physical attack, requiring only 8% hit to never miss, so this glyph ensures that you will never miss a growl even with no hit rating.
Kreeoni: You should definitely have this. It makes it so that your growl will never miss regardless of your current stats. A poorly timed miss on a growl could spell a wipe. Making sure you never miss is important. I think the reason that this glyph isn’t one of the most popular is the fact that people have a lot of hit rating now and getting 8% hit isn’t hard. But it never hurts to make sure you are fully prepared in case you get a dumb debuff or broken armor (in which case you have other issues).
No changes in Patch 3.1. Solid tanking glyph.
Kreeoni: This one is pretty good. It increases healing effects on you when Frenzied Regeneration is active. Since Frenzied Regeneration is one of your “oh crap” buttons this can really help you stay alive just that much longer.
No change in Patch 3.1. Increases the duration of Mangle from 12 seconds to 18 seconds total.
Kathoid: Mangle is a cat’s best friend. It does damage and it increases damage by 30% from bleed effects for its duration. I love this glyph and highly recommend it in most situations. I personally do not use this glyph, because I seldom use Mangle as Kreeoni is my guild’s main tank and he is using Mangle constantly. Mangle (Cat) and Mangle (Bear) do not stack with each other but override each other, so there is no need to be spending my energy on Mangle. If your guild frequently uses a Bear for a MT, a better glyph may be better suited for you. Also, if your guild has two Feral DPS Druids, you may want to have one kitty get this glyph and be in charge of Mangling, and have the other select a different glyph instead.
Kreeoni: I personally think this glyph is pointless for bears. It increases the length that your mangle is up on the target. Having the Mangle debuff up on the target all the time is very important for bear tanking as well as cat dps, but as a bear you should be hitting mangle every time it is off of cooldown, especially if you didn’t spec into Improved Mangle. The only time this would be useful is if you were in a fight where you weren’t able to use your mangle before the debuff wore off frequently, or if you are finding that you are missing often and so therefore the debuff isn’t refreshing itself most of the time.
No change in Patch 3.1. Helps build threat when tanking groups.
Kreeoni: This is still the most popular choice for most bears, however it may not be as useful as before. It hits an extra target which is great news for people who multi-tank often. However, Ulduar has a reportedly lower amount of AoE trash so your multi-tanking opportunities are a little bit less. I personally have kept with this one for now because I still find myself tanking multiple mobs a decent amount of time. It also helps you better use your rage when offtanking. If you are going to spend that rage you might as well have it hit multiple targets. CC could be a consideration as it will break CC but common sense is a better solution to that problem.
No change in Patch 3.1. Leveling glyph.
Kathoid: This is purely a leveling glyph and I would not recommend it to any Feral Druid at level 80, whether or not you plan on raiding. While Rake is a very important attack maneuver, the ability to stun a target has no use at all to a level 80, for several reasons. Feral Swiftness will let you run faster to catch up if ever a mob runs from you. Infected Wounds will also slow the target, if you choose to spend your talent points there. And even if the mob does get far enough away from you, you have Feral Charge (Cat) to catch up to them in a split-second. This glyph also has no effect on PvP targets. Fleeing mobs have no chance against a Feral Cat Druid, even without this glyph.
No change in Patch 3.1. Increases the duration of Rip from 12 seconds to 16 seconds total. Stacks with T7 2 set bonus, to a total of 20 seconds.
Kathoid: This is a must have glyph if you are raiding. Rip is the finishing move you should be using, so long as you have Savage Roar active. The extra time added by this glyph gives you plenty of time to work through your rotations and not have to worry if you will have enough energy to re-up Rip once it is time to do so. If you have this glyph, Glyph of Shred, and the T7 2 set bonus, then you have a little more time to work a small Ferocious Bite into your rotation, depending on the situation. The other reason I love this glyph is in fights such as Malygos where the boss in temporarily unable to be melee hit, a properly timed Rip will last throughout the entire time the boss is out of reach.
Added in Patch 3.1. Increases Savage Roar’s bonus damage from 30% to a total of 33%.
Kathoid: This is also a must have for any Feral Cat Druids. As Savage Roar should constantly be up when on a boss fight, this will give you 3% more damage done overall. It is a no brainer to have this glyph if you are a Cat Druid.
Changed in Patch 3.1. Previously, this glyph increased damage against stunned or incapacitated targets by 20%.
Kathoid: Previous to Patch 3.1, this glyph was very lackluster, so this change was a very welcome one. Because Shred is the main combo point builders, and Rip is what you should be using your combo points on, this change to have Shred affect Rip made a lot of sense. With the Glyph of Rip and the T7 2 set bonus bringing the duration of Rip up to 20 seconds, this glyph gives the potential for a full 26 seconds of Rip.
Added in Patch 3.1. Increases Survival Instincts to grant you a total of 45% of your maximum health for 20 seconds.
Kathoid: While Survival Instincts is usable in Cat Form, this is not a glyph for kitties. We should never be taking so much damage that this would be useful.
Kreeoni: This gives you extra health on your large emergency button. Since they decreased the cooldown on Survival Instincts to 3 minutes this glyph is really nice. A better working emergency button helps you just that much more through enrages or other events of that nature. There have been none up on our server yet so I haven’t been able to get this one but it’s definitely the glyph I will be using soon.
Kathoid’s Major Glyphs for Cats: Glyph of Rip, Glyph of Savage Roar, Glyph of Shred.
Kreeoni’s Major Glyphs for Bears: Glyph of Growl, Glyph of Frenzied Regeneration, Glyph of Maul.
We hope this guide to Feral Druid major glyphs has been helpful to you in your own selection of choosing which glyphs are best for your own needs.
If you would like to read more from Kreeoni, you can check out his blog here.
The worst part of Noblegarden being pushed back this year was that it has overlapped with our current holiday, Children’s Week. I have decided not to write up my usual blog post regarding the holiday and it’s many achievements. This is due to a few factors, most being burnt out from the last holiday grind just a few days ago.
I am also embarking on a new project very soon, and have been preparing for that a great deal. I will have more information on my new project very soon.
For information on Children’s Week and its achievements, check out these websites:
Goodluck with the achievements!
Thanks for hopping on over to come celebrate the great Feast of Noblegarden with me! The meaning of the Holiday goes way beyond just collecting beautifully decorated eggs and eating chocolate (although I really do love that part); it is a time to come together as a community and share the joys of life and friendship. The event runs from Sunday, April 26th until Saturday, May 2nd.
Ok, ok. I know why you are all really here… it’s for the Achievements! Noblegarden is just another stop on this Long, Strange Trip to get our coveted Violet Proto-Drakes. I had a fairly easy time checking each achievement off the list, but I got an early start and kept on hunting until I got the last egg and the last achievement early this morning. It took me about four hours total, and I probably could have done it in less time – but I think that now it may take longer depending on how populated your server is and what times of the day or night you decide to start your egg hunt.
Timing isn’t everything, but it could certainly make this Holiday and its many achievements a little more enjoyable if you pick an off-peak time to work on it. Weekends, of course, will be busy no matter the time of day. My best bets would be late at night, in the mornings, and during times when most people are raiding. Look high and low for eggs! Sometimes they are hidden under benches, and sometimes they are on top of torches!
Where to? The Noblegarden festivities are going on in starting areas, in the small towns situated outside of the major cities. For Alliance, you can head to to Dolanaar, Azure Watch, Kharanos, or Goldshire. For Hordies, you can head to Bloodhoof Village, Brill, Falconwing Square, or Razor Hill. Once at your chosen location, you will find two quest givers with two simple quests. Make sure you pick up both quests before you start, because you can complete them simultaneously.
A Tisket, a Tasket, a Noblegarden Basket: Picking up this quest will give you a useful item that will help you complete the quests and achievements faster: an Egg Basket. This item makes you run faster for 10 seconds, with a 10 second cooldown. (You can only use it in the towns where there are eggs, during Noblegarden, so unfortunately you can’t use this to cap flags like woah in BGs.) For this quest, all you have to do is open up 10 eggs. Each Brightly Colored Egg will either give you Noblegarden Chocolate or a special prize. You need to hand in 10 of these Chocolates, and then you get to keep your Egg Basket!
The Great Egg Hunt: For this quest, all you need to do is open up eggs and receive 20 Brightly Colored Shell Fragments, which will drop from all the eggs you pick while you have this quest. This quest is also a daily quest, so if you decide to spread your festivities out over a few days you can have something extra to do, if you choose.. As a reward for this quest, you will receive a Blossoming Branch. Hang onto this, you will need it for an achievement later!
Now that you have gotten a hang of collecting Brightly Colored Eggs, its time to look over all the achievements needed for the Meta Achievement: Noble Gardener! You will need to open a lot of eggs to get all these achievements completed, on some counts about 350 or so. It’s not so much the chocolates that you are looking for, although you will need those, but the other special prizes they contain.
I Found One! – Find an egg! You already have one done, go you!
Chocoholic – Eat 100 Noblegarden Chocolates during Noblegarden. During this you will also complete Chocolate Lover (to eat 25).Yay Achievement points!
Spring Fling – Find your pet Spring Rabbit another one to “love” in each of the four towns where your faction is celebrating Noblegarden. There are two ways to get your bunny, and it doesn’t matter to the achievement Gods which one you choose. You can either farm eggs endlessly until you get one to drop, or you can farm 100 eggs and buy it from the vendor. In the course of getting all my eggs I actually got two bunnies. My first was less than a half hour into egg hunting. All you have to do to have your bunny “fall in love” is have him out, he will make quick work of everything else on his own.
Noble Garden – While you are passing through Stormwind, on your way to Goldshire, make sure you complete this one. You have to place a Brightly Colored Egg down in Stormwind. You can buy these eggs from the Noblegarden Vendors for 5 chocolates. Don’t forget to open up your own egg once you drop it down. I’ve heard of people getting something they needed from their own eggs. They have the same chances to drop items as regular eggs.
Shake Your Bunny-Maker – Using Spring Flowers, you have to place bunny ears on female characters of at least level 18 of each race. While you are running around getting the Spring Fling achievement, keep your eyes out for the rarer females of your own faction, like Female Dwarves. For your opposite faction, Dalaran seems to work very well. You can sit outside their part of the city and hope one will pass on by. The hardest for me to find were Troll and Orc females. Someone also mentioned to me that you could do this in a Battleground as well. You can get your Spring Flowers the same way as your bunny; either from egg drops, or by purchasing them from the vendor for 50 Chocolates.
Blushing Bride – While you are wearing a White Tuxedo Shirt and Black Tuxedo Pants, kiss someone who is wearing an Elegant Dress. All these clothing items drop from eggs, can be purchased from the Noblegarden vendor, or can be traded because they aren’t soulbound. There are also achievements Sunday’s Finest and Dressed for the Occasion for getting these items from the eggs, although these achievements are not needed to complete the Meta Achievement.
These next two require some traveling, so grab a traveling buddy, because you’ll need a friend for the first one.
Hard Boiled - Lay an egg in Un’Goro Crater’s Golakka Hot Springs as a rabbit. To become a rabbit, you need a friend with a Blossoming Branch. Remember that from earlier, and how I told you to hang onto it? Here’s where it comes into play. Un’Goro is pretty far away from everything else it seems at first glance. But here is my great tip on how to get there faster, for level 80s. Have you and your traveling buddy go to Sholozar Basin. There is a portal in the southern part of the Basin that will take you to Un’Goro. Switch into cat form to lessen your fall damage, or use slowfall or the like, and jump your way down into the Crater. Once you get to the Hot Spring, on the western side, cast your Blossoming Branch on your friend, and have them do the same for you. Once you are a bunny, just wait until you “lay an egg”, and you’ve got the achievement. Now, head up to the flight path before you think of pressing on your hearthstone.
Desert Rose – Use Spring Robes to plant a flower in each of these deserts: The Badlands, Desolace, Silithus, Tanaris, and Thousand Needles. You can get the Robes from eggs or from the vendor. This is the one thing I didn’t have drop for me, so I spent the required 50 Chocolates to pick it up.
Some extra tips for Egg Hunting:
Yes, I have done it again! I have lost much needed sleep to do the best possible research I can, all for you, my dear readers! It took me only 4 & 1/2 hours to complete, but here you have it: Kathoid the Noble!
Tomorrow, after I catch up on all those Zzzs, I will post my tips and tricks on getting you to the Noble (title) of your dreams!
Sleep tight!
I haven’t been able to put as much time into my Baby Tauren Druid as I had thought I would, due to raiding and patch 3.1 related activities. But today I finally sat down and set out to accomplish the first big task as a Feral Druid: Bear Form!
I waited until I was level 12 until I set out to do the quest, mostly because I was in the middle of a bunch of quests that I wanted to complete before heading off to Thunder Bluff for the first time. The city is beautiful and wonderfully detailed, but I still get completely lost when trying to navigate it. I’m sure I felt the same about Darnassus upon my first visit, so I think it will just take some time to remember where everything is.
This is how I have spent my talent points so far:
I think once I ding level 20 and get Cat Form I will respec my talent points around some. At level 12, I’m not sure if it really matters where you spend your points, so long as you keep in mind that you will have a few respecs down the road.
I’m taking a break for a little bit on my Cow Druid for a bit now, seeing as I have a raid this evening, and it supposed to be an absolutely beautiful weekend here.
So I leave you with this question about Tauren. If I’m a lady cow, how come my Bear Form has a beard?
