GRUBTHOR ! ! !

I’ve been pretty busy the past week with work related tasks, so I haven’t had much time to post. I’ve not played much this past week either, but I did manage to add yet another rare spawn to my list of been there, done that.

Although I had been casually looking for Aotona for the past few weeks, that was not it. Nor was it Gondria. One Spirit Beast is enough for me. I like Loque’nahak’s skin better anyway, but that’s just me.

The rare spawn I Hunted down was none other than…

GRUBTHOR ! ! !

Wha… Who..? What the heck is a Grubthor..?!

Grubthor is a rare spawn worm that resides in Silithus.

Anyone who’s followed this blog for awhile knows that I’m a freak when it comes to the rares. Taming a common pet is just no fun for me. So, after trying out a worm to see if it was going to be FTW for PvP, I realized it most definitely was.

Once I decided that a worm was going to be a permanent addition to my stable, the next step was to find out where the rare ones were hiding, preferably one(s) with rare skin. Since I’d never been interested in taming a worm before, I had no clue what skins were available, or if rare worms were even in-game.

The next step was to do what I always do when researching pets and their rareness factor. I headed over to Petopia of course. Much to my delight, there happens to be not one, but two rare spawn worms in the game. Both of which have the same skin, and along with Spawn of Fankriss, are the only gold worms in the game. However, Spawn of Fankriss is supposedly untamable, therefore making the other two rare worms the only ones possessing this unique skin.

I can’t verify whether or not Spawn of Fankriss can be tamed. Wowhead’s claiming it can be tamed, but Petopia is saying no. If any Hunters have bothered trying to tame this pet, please let me know.

Sure, my previous Disembodied Jormungar was already level 80 and pretty cool looking in his own right, but that’s not good enough. For me, a pet that I intend on keeping around has to have some special significance attached to it. First and foremost, it has to be a rare spawn. Secondly, I also prefer that it’s the only pet in-game with a particular skin.

Hunters are the only class which have the ability to further distinguish themsleves from other characters by choosing which pet(s) to use. I like to take full advantage of that. While some Hunters view a pet as just another piece of gear, and prefer to avoid the hassle of camping a rare or leveling a unique pet, I see it as a must. Any pet that gets added to my stable requires me to go on a mission to obtain, and almost always requires me to spend time leveling them.

I actually enjoy the pet leveling process. Not only does it make getting them to my level so much more rewarding, but it also forces me to farm mats and gold, something I don’t do all that often. Like I said, a lot of Hunters won’t bother with a unique pet because usually you’ll have to grind out the last five levels, but I’m happy for that fact. It’s a primary reason while I’ll be the only Hunter in Dalaran sporting a giant maggot by my side. 😉

Ok, so back to the worm topic… The only two rare worms in game are Oozeworm in Dustwallow Marsh, and Grubthor in Silithus. Now apparently Oozeworm is one of the rarer rares in the game, spawning only once every day or two. Since I hopped a ship to Menethil to get to Kalimdor anyway, I scouted Dustwallow first to see if he was around. No dice, so on to Silithus.

Since Kalimdor, especially Silithus, is pretty void of players for the most part, it was no surprise that Grubthor was up roaming around. I just rode up and claimed him as my giant beetle grub buddy. He’s level 78 and rising. I should have him to 80 by tonight.

I was able to grind out one level at my previously mentioned favorite pet leveling place, but the area is a zoo now. Last time I was there I was competing with one Demo Warlock bot. It wasn’t really much competition, as I was pretty much stealing all of its kills, plus it made the leveling more fun. This go around however, there were 2 Lock bots and an Unholy DK bot. With 3 bots, plus the occasional live player that would wander in, it was getting too ridiculous so I moved on to a new area.

Taking the advice of one of my posters here, I spent the next two levels grinding it out in the cave northwest of Brunnhildar Villlage, and just south of where the Time-Lost Proto Drake spawns. The cave is full of Water Elementals which drop nice goodies, not to mention I didn’t encounter one other player the entire time. I’ll be heading back there tonight.

This post is getting much longer than I’d intended for it to be, so I’m going to chop it in half. Stick around for part two, which will go into more detail about the worm and its advantages in PvP.