Mania’s Arcania

Final Name: Sukiyaki

Petlover, an aptly-named level 70 Blood Elf from the Turalyon realm, is looking for help naming a nether ray. She writes:

As my name suggests I love pets of all sorts and sizes (excluding spiders, yuck). After reaching level 70, I took some serious time to consider the pets I would like to use. I typically prefer solo play, but I also do instances and am starting to get into raiding. I tamed one of the Dire Ravens in Blade’s Edge for my solo pet, and later was able to acquire a bat from karazhan for raiding and group work. But the third pet has always stumped me.

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Saturday was the big day for hunter news at Blizzard’s World Wide Invitational in Paris, but now that the event is over we’ve got some reports filtering in from players who attended the event and went hands-on with Wrath of the Lich King.

One hunter (who wishes to remain nameless) wrote me today to let me know what he found:
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The Diablo III announcement wasn’t the only news to come out of Blizzard’s World Wide Invitational today in Paris. Indeed, there is plenty of news about the upcoming expansion, Wrath of the Lich King — and plenty of that is about hunters.

I’m still digging through all the reports from people on the spot looking for the tantalizing details, but here’s the major new stuff from my main news sources, WoW Insider and MMO Champion.

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I didn’t intend to be up this late, but since I was I’ve been tuning into the Blizzard World Wide Invitational in Paris (where it isn’t so late) to see what the big announcement is. Apparently, it’s Diablo III.

[edit] It doesn’t look to be an MMO, so although I’ll probably pick it up eventually I’m not as interested as I would be otherwise. *shrug*

A lot of people have been thinking (and blogging!) lately about the upcoming WoW expansion, Wrath of the Lich King. Personally I’ve been trying to avoid whipping myself into a frenzy of anticipation because it seems like I may have a while yet to wait before I get my hands on it — and I am notoriously bad at waiting.

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Final Name: Onryo

To round out the week we have a nice simple request for a pet name from Tshaya, a Draenei hunter from the Laughing Skull – U.S. realm.

Tshaya is a very serious young draenei who lost her entire family in the crash of the Exodar. She ran across a ghost saber while hunting naga, and knew that he would be a companion she could understand, and who would understand her, and so far, they’ve gotten along wonderfully. The only problem is, he’s been rather quiet on the name front.

I’m looking for something Greek or Russian sounding, since that seems to be the base for most of the draenei names, but somewhat short. Cat doesn’t seem to fit with some of the long mythological names I’ve found.

This isn’t even vaguely pet related, but nevertheless I think it’s neat. Blizzard has announced the Blizzard Authenticator, an electronic device that “offers enchaced security for World of Warcraft accounts”.

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Final Name: Jason

Apparently summer is the season of serpents! Today, Cogar is looking for assistance naming his serpent from the Wailing Caverns. Cogar writes:

I have traveled the vast regions of east Kalimdor, from Durotar to The Barrens, Ashenvale to the Enemy territory of Darkshore, and even to the grand grasslands of Mulgore. As I traveled I encountered beasts of unimaginable shape and sizes. From the swift Takk the Leaper to the majestic Mazzranache I have tamed all manner of beasts. Sadly no beast large or small, swift or powerful could stay long.

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Tim Howgego, better known to us as the person behind El’s Extreme Anglin’, has constructed a map of WoW communities — and we got an island!

Admitedly, it’s a tiny island in the absolute most niche-ward (bottom left) part of the map, but that’s fair: it’s hard to get much more niche than hunter pets.

The island is labeled ‘Mania’ but links to Petopia, presumably because Mania is shorter and fit better. Right next door is Breanni from Warcraft Pets, and then El herself. So we’re in good company!

The map — and the article that goes with it — is a fascinating look at how Tim sees the various online communities that surround WoW. You should definitely check it out!

Brewfest has apparently been activated on the Public Test Realm. This event normally occurs in October, but Blizzard has been activating some of their events early on the PTR to make sure they run smoothly. If you are done with the Midsummer Fire Festival on live, you might want to take an early look at Brewfest on the PTR.

Unfortunately, there is some bad news involving the Brewfest reward mounts. From now on, only Alliance characters will have access to a Brewfest Ram, while only Horde characters can get the new Brewfest Kodo. But I’ve already ranted about it on Warcraft Mounts so I’ll just point you over there for that.

Oh, also I hear that Arena Season 4 has started, whatever that means. *grin*

[edit] I forgot to mention that pre-made characters are now available on the PTR as well. Unfortunately, the queue for copies is currently full.