Ongoing Search for the Spectral Gryphon

[Golden]

I think you're giving Blizzard a lot of credit for making things interesting. When has a spirit beast ever done anything interesting besides look nice in an outdoor world?

Considering the crazy things they're making us do for this expansion's "rare spawn" mounts (Long-Forgotten Hippogryph, Fathom Dweller, Riddler's Mind Worm), I could absolutely see them doing something like that with the spirit beasts, too. I mean, just look at the way a couple of Feathermanes are found: disturbing some nest in Winterspring, killing other npcs to anger the rare spawn... That and the fact that the Spectral Gryphon has still not been discovered speaks volumes about them having thought of something that should really put us to work in order to find this one.

If the Spectral Gryphon or Gon were just lounging around like the older Spirit Beasts, they would've easily been found by now.

[Wain]

Some of the Cata SB tames were fairly tricky. I'd class that as interesting. Gara the void wolf had a pretty awesome storyline.

[soukyugurentai]

Yeah, I guess you're right.

If the Spectral Gryphon or Gon were just lounging around like the older Spirit Beasts, they would've easily been found by now.

WoW is absolutely huge. You can't say people have searched every nook and cranny. Just consider all the mines in Burning Crusade alone. For all we know, it can be way back in the corner of some mine somewhere.

[Golden]

Yes, because one pet being out in the open and the other stealthed anywhere within a seemingly random zone, all pets in this expansion should be expected to be equally simple. :P

Edit: I'm pretty sure Valnaaros stated earlier that every zone has been searched using target macros. Either it's indeed in some completely random deep cave stealthed (which I doubt - even Lightning Paw had some very good hints on where to find it, and here we have nothing), or we have to start trying more than just finding the npc in the flesh.

Honestly though, you're free to search any way you wish. I just don't appreciate the shooting down of any even remotely new idea simply because you don't think Blizz would invest so much creativity in a Hunter pet.

[Kurasu]

causing it to appear as a generic spirit until something would cause it to snap out of it.

I think you're giving Blizzard a lot of credit for making things interesting. When has a spirit beast ever done anything interesting besides look nice in an outdoor world?

One word: Gara.

[mpd_84]

At this point I'm kinda wondering if the gryphon and Gon aren't bugged/not actually spawning.
If they were in battle grounds someone probably would have seen them by now. Unless they're way off to the sides in Alterac or something.
Has anyone tried checking zones while using those new night potions yet? Kinda tempted to try it myself. Tempted to talk to the ghosts on Dark Moon Island too.

There are some untargetable spectral bat swarms at the Faire. I don't remember those being there before.They really stand out with the inky potion but it's not needed to see them.

[Kurasu]

That's a good thought. One would think they'd have *some* effect beyond just looking cool.

[mpd_84]

There's also that new cave near the Undead guy who mentions something a bit more dead and metal then the Tauren Chieftains band. I can't see much through the gap in the rocks though. Gonna check it out with my demon hunter.

Spectral sight doesn't show anything in the cave with or without the inky potions.

[SylviaDragon]

I think you're giving Blizzard a lot of credit for making things interesting. When has a spirit beast ever done anything interesting besides look nice in an outdoor world?

Honestly at this point we have more spirit beasts that require some elaborate trick to tame than we have spirit beasts with the standard "camp & cast" mechanic. So yeah, I can see them making some of these new pets at least semi elaborate.

Legion:
Fox is hidden in bushes with glowing eyes in a low level zone and remains stealthed.
Moose requires mountain climbing and fancy footwork to get to his secluded zone.

WoD:
Gara has a long, complicated secret quest line that took the community days to solve.

MoP:
All of the MoP spirit beasts required you to master their special mechanics and use your hunter skills to kite them down to the proper % before taming was allowed.

Cata:
All cata tames required you to do something special to avoid their extremely deadly mechanics in strange and elaborate ways. (such as striping naked or shooting them out of the sky and landing in the treetops with enough health left to survive some nasty hits.)

And lets not forget all of the other non spirit beast tames out there with challenges and whatnot built into them- often put there intentionally with hunters in mind. (Such as the green fire wolf, everything in the molten front, dire horns, mechanical pets, upcoming feathermanes- the list goes on.)


They seem to enjoy giving hunters a little extra something special every now and again since they know how much we love challenge tames. Although at this point I am pretty sure we are going to have to wait until we unlock the class mounts/ the new raid or something in order to find some of these new pets.

[Valnaaros]

Aye. Not just myself, but others have searched through most, if not all zones, using a targeting macro. If it were in the open and not stealthed, we would have found it. Shoot, I have traveled on foot through many zones and found nothing.

Wherever they are, it is nor obvious. Something spawns them, and we have no hints as to what.

[Xella]

I'm wondering if it's a half-Gara situation, where even though it's a spirit beast and not a feathermane, it requires you to have the tome of hybrid beasts in order to get the appropriate dialog option/see that an item is clickable. You could pat Gara as non-BM and without the berries in your inventory, but you couldn't go further. I kind of feel that way about the fel hippogryph too actually, though that one WOULD make slightly more sense to be gated behind the tome—I know people have checked Elisande's room (and a million other places) on live servers, but nobody has the tome on live servers yet either and iirc nobody really had a group available to them on the PTR where they COULD have the tome. Something like that.

That wouldn't explain Gon so much since raptors are already out there, and it does seem somewhat unlikely that Muffinus/anyone else on the dev team who puts these things together in their spare time would end up having that many puzzle-tames in one patch, but who knows?

[Valnaaros]

I can see maybe one puzzle tame, but not more than that.

[mpd_84]

Nothing in old or blown up Theramore with the inky potion/flairs. Maybe someone should ask if we can actually tame it yet or if we need to wait, despite it being in game?

[Rhyela]

I have a bad feeling that the "Lost" adjective will have nothing to do with its discovery or acquisition, kinda like how the "Long-Forgotten" hippogryph would never had made me think, "Gee, maybe it's related to randomly-spawned purple crystals!"

[Valnaaros]

No kidding...lol

[Rhyela]

After much careful deliberation, I believe I've made a discovery!

If you take Gon's name and make it backwards, it's nog. By itself, it's nothing out of the ordinary. However, we know that the spectral gryphon is "lost". What else do we lose a lot? Socks. And what are socks but just miniature stockings? So we have (egg) nog and lost (stockings). I know what you're thinking, "Rhyela, you're crazier than a sack of cats." But hear me out! Both of these beasts are spirits, and we have all heard the saying "The spirit of Christmas". Furthermore, the reward for the quest is a STOLEN present. Gon(e), Lost, and Stolen. Those conniving leper gnomes are up to no good! No good, I tell you! So, you see my friends, these two beasts will appear in the Alterac Mountains around Hillsbrad Foothills with their buddy Metzen this Winter's Veil, awaiting our heroic rescue!

Or, it could just be that none of us have any flippin' clue where they are.

[Valnaaros]

lol! Good theory there, Rhyela ;D

But I agree. I really have no idea. As I've said, I'm still looking when I can, but I am starting to grasp at straws.

[SpiritBinder]

I totally had a dream about this last night! There was a smell floating Isle, and it was sooooo high, and the sky box high limit was much higher than we knew about/realized. If you were far away enough you could just see it in the distance. I remember being all excited about it but could not fly yet... then I woke up before working out a way to get up there

[Wain]

After much careful deliberation, I believe I've made a discovery!

If you take Gon's name and make it backwards, it's nog. By itself, it's nothing out of the ordinary. However, we know that the spectral gryphon is "lost". What else do we lose a lot? Socks. And what are socks but just miniature stockings? So we have (egg) nog and lost (stockings). I know what you're thinking, "Rhyela, you're crazier than a sack of cats." But hear me out! Both of these beasts are spirits, and we have all heard the saying "The spirit of Christmas". Furthermore, the reward for the quest is a STOLEN present. Gon(e), Lost, and Stolen. Those conniving leper gnomes are up to no good! No good, I tell you! So, you see my friends, these two beasts will appear in the Alterac Mountains around Hillsbrad Foothills with their buddy Metzen this Winter's Veil, awaiting our heroic rescue!

Or, it could just be that none of us have any flippin' clue where they are.

Brilliant!! Now it all makes sense.

[Kurasu]

I totally had a dream about this last night! There was a smell floating Isle, and it was sooooo high, and the sky box high limit was much higher than we knew about/realized. If you were far away enough you could just see it in the distance. I remember being all excited about it but could not fly yet... then I woke up before working out a way to get up there

Well, flying only takes a little exploration and a little reputation now. It shouldn't be long before we're finding out whether your dream is accurate or not.

Only 10k more rep to go....