The Hunt for an Azure Whelpling

Of all the non-combat pets I decided to get, I had to pick the rarest one... /epic fail. Last week, I took my Paladin out to go and farm the Azure Whelpling (cause Earthen Ring's AH price is around 350-550g). Little did I know that it is a 1:1500 ratio (give or take a few hundred). Most have said that you are 99% guaranteed to get one if you kill 2000.

In any case, the mobs are level 50-54 elites. For you Paladin's out there, put on Cold Resistance aura! At level 70, you will rarely get hit with any frost attack. I never have to heal myself and if I do, it's a Flash. Next, make sure you have a good mana pool or bring a lot of water. I've run through over 100 purified dren drinks and that is trying to preserve mana. I can kill about 7-10 in between drinks. What I've done is set up a guy in any Outland inn to buy and mail out water if you run out.

If anyone wants to start enchanting from 150-300, this is the place to farm for greens. I've gained at least 70g in disenchanting materials. I am now set up from 225-275 (minimum). Also, each mob drops about 5-25s which adds up. I've farmed about 150g in just cash drops.

Without a real counter, I would guess I've killed over 1,000. Numerous greens, one blue, 150g but still no Azure Whelpling. I'm not giving up yet though! Once I get it, you'll know ;-)

So You're Thinking About Getting A Flying Mount?

After a year of the Burning Crusade, I have finally gathered enough gold to get my Flying Mount! I was a little sceptical at first. 1,000 gold just to be able to fly around in Outland? And that is for the slow mount... My friends told me not to get it. Their argument was that gold could be used better for professions. To give them props, they are right; it could have been used on my Tailoring/Enchanting Priest. However, after my last Nagrand farm run... the Flying Mount was worth it!

First of all, with Crusader Aura, it makes it fly faster and I never realized it until I threw it on. The 20% helps. Also, I never realized how much easier it is running through the zone. You have so many obstacles (such as lakes, rivers, and mountains) that get in your way which takes time to get around. One more great thing which I never thought of before getting the mount was all the trash mobs which I just fly right over! I wanted to go to Warmaul hill to summon Gurok. Having already had enough skulls, I just flew right over the mountain and found the summoning circle; bypassing all the ogres.

Another way Flying Mounts help is when you're trying to get your Mining and Herbalism up from 300-375. You can just put on your track, drop down to the node/flower, remount and move on. The last thing I have experienced is PVPing with the Flying Mount. It's very fun to fly around, see someone flagged and ghank them. What can I say? I need to have a little fun :-).

Now, this is going to cost you. Around 800 gold for the riding skill and 200 for the mount. For the casual gamer, that is a lot of money. Some people farm for Primals and others farm for Netherweave Cloth (my personal choice) to be able to afford the mount. Good news is, it is looking like we'll be able to use Flying Mounts in the later portions of Northrend. We've heard stories of blue dragon mounts. My guess would be that once you hit 80, you can automatically use your mount.