Battle Pet: Twilight Iguana

In silence, I fly over the still waters that has engulfed the Thousand Needles and marvel at the destruction. The Cataclysm brought upon us by Deathwing has submerged the once parched canyon, rendering it virtually unrecognizable. Though I have passed by here many times in my travels, expediency has never allowed me a chance to really look... To remember...

I am hit by a sudden sense of loss as I pass over what was once the Shimmering Flats. Memories and regrets float to the surface. No more races. No more diamond dust sand. No more melting ice cream. I sigh and continue on my way.

The sun will set soon, and if I am to catch the Twilight Iguana, it would be best if I hurry.

I make my way to the cliffs; careful to avoid being spotted by nearby enemies. The Twilight camp is on the next rise, and there are sentries everywhere. Hoshiko, my Celestial dragon and faithful companion, snuffles as she is alerted by movement nearby. I tell her to ignore the scorpid, battle will come soon enough.

Sure enough, as soon as the reds and oranges of the Thousand Needles bleed into sand the color of angry bruises, I see my quarry. The Twilight Iguana blends easily into the blighted landscape. If I didn't notice it lunge for a bug, I would have missed it.

Landfall Patch 5.1 Pet Battles: Battle-stones!

The Hunt is on! Spawn of Onyxia in Wyrmbog.

One night I was out farming the Spawn of Onyxia battle pet. Normally, it is not a tiresome drop since it spawns fairly frequently. However, I spent a few hours out there trying to farm a rare quality pet. This endeavor also got me ganked by an opportunistic hunter while I jumped into a pet battle.

Not a happy face.

So you can imagine how happy I am that Battle-stones have finally dropped with Landfall 5.1 Patch. Granted, it won't be easy to get the battle-stones. They are a random drop from winning wild pet battles, and you get a better chance of getting a battle-stone if you win against a higher level pet. Luckily, most battle-stones are not soulbound and can be purchased at the Auction House.

Flawless Battle-Stone in the AH: 9999g!

Flawless Battle-Stones

Now if you are like me, and want rare quality pets, you will need a Flawless Battle-stone. This will directly upgrade your pet quality to rare! There are two kinds of Flawless Battle-stones: general and family specific.

Feeble attempt at farming a dragonkin specific Flawless Battle-stone.

The family specific Flawless Battle-Stone will drop from pets of that family. Can you imagine the grind for dragonkin family battle-stones? However if you are feeling lucky, there is another way to get family specific battle-stones: from pet trainers. Found in the Sack of Pet Supplies that you win from pet trainer battles, the family specific Flawless Battle-stones are all BoP. However, if you run out of trainers, note that the Darkmoon Pet Trainer is a daily during Darkmoon Faire!

Thankfully, I have pet battle fanatic friends like Lustkill to keep me posted since I've been slacking :)

Polished Battle-Stones

The Polished Battle-stones merely upgrade to Uncommon Quality (the green). If you don't have the gold, but are sitting on a mounting of Justice Points, then you can purchase general purpose Polished  Battle-stones for 1000 Justice Points. Of course, if you are like me, Polished Battle-stones are just not quite good enough since Uncommon Quality Battle Pets just doesn't make the grade.

Well, I'm off to farm more pets. Wish me luck! 

Fit Gamer?

I have a confession to make. I've been cheating on World of Warcraft... with another game.

Now I know it sounds like I'm making a big deal out of nothing. I mean, many gamers play more than just one game, right? Besides, WoW has lost subscribers to other up and coming MMOs and lil ol' me playing another game is not really blog worthy. Except this deals with something I'm pretty passionate about: fitness and a healthy lifestyle.

I once read an article in SHAPE magazine about how sitting for long periods of time can lead to blood clotting and other health risks related to poor circulation. Sure, gaming requires spending a large amount of time on your butt, but it doesn't mean a person is necessarily unfit. There are lots of games out there now that require movement and lots of physical activity. That's why I'm obsessed with Just Dance 4: I have fun and rack up mojo  while allowing me to get off my butt and get moving.

My favorite dance on JD4? "Maneater" by Nelly Furtado

If you are in vent with Lastknight and I'm not online, chances are you can hear me doing the dance thing in the background. Since I love dancing, but Lastknight does not; clubbing is pretty much out of the question. So Just Dance 4 has been my latest dance outlet. Of course, burning up to 1000 calories an hour doesn't hurt either.

What really makes JD4 rise above previous releases (besides the amazing dance selections) are the Just Sweat workouts. It's like you can customize your workouts based on your workout style and length.  Best of all, you can do as much or as little as you like. So if I'm feeling tired of farming and just want to get moving, I'll turn on JD4 and get my dance on.

Also from time to time I'll share quick exercise tips and healthy snack/meal options that are gamer-friendly. I think a big problem with people who just don't get enough exercise or eat healthy is that they don't have the time or just don't know how. Well, I'll share some of my tips with you now and then. Besides, what else will you do while you wait for your queue to pop?