I don't know if we've
mentioned this before, but even if we have, it's interesting enough to put out there again, I think. There is a dragon in the expansion that can be soloed, and drops a epic flying mount at 100% drop rate -- all you've got to do is find him. A few people have already nabbed the mount, and lots more are
on the hunt right now. The mob in question is
the Time-Lost Proto Drake: it's a rare elite spawn (but as I said, it's possible to solo it, especially at level 80) that shows up every six hours or so flying around the Storm Peaks. Unfortunately, none of the usual suspects have maps of where he's been seen yet, but we're hearing it's
around the southern part of the zone. When he goes down, he'll drop the mount, a good chunk of gold, some Frostweave, and
a random enchantment Talisman.
An interesting tactic on Blizzard's part -- on the one hand, this is definitely a big change from the huge questlines and rep grind from the netherdrakes: just kill this one dragon and you're guaranteed the mount. On the other hand, the rare spawn rate, and the fact that it is a 100% drop rate means there'll be a lot of competition, at first anyway, for the kill. But the good news is that the odds will only get better -- if you're willing to do some dragon hunting for a few hours and have some keen eyes for what's in the air, you could pick up one of the coolest flying mounts yet.
Tags: 100percent, dragon, drop, drop-rate, epic, epic-mount, flying-dragon, proto-drake, rare-spawn, spawn, time-lost-proto-drake
Filed under: Items, Analysis / Opinion, Fan stuff, Odds and ends, Blizzard, Expansions, Mounts, Wrath of the Lich King
Dec 3rd 2008 at 1:30PM 
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 5)
Excruciate Dec 3rd 2008 1:37PM
:(
Sharing this information on a place that so many people see will make it near impossible to find as everyone and their dog will be camping for it. Been camping and searching for 9 hours a day for the last week with no luck.
It's not every 6 hours. Not even close. It shares a spawn with other rares and the chance for it to spawn over these is very low. If only it really was that simple....
Arcaria Dec 3rd 2008 1:41PM
slow your roll there Skippy. It's not as if this is a big secret anymore.
Heilig Dec 3rd 2008 1:52PM
Hate to break it to you, man, but it WAS kind of a secret. You could count the number of people per server that know about this thing on one hand. I've seen five people with it on my server. I asked all of them how long they camped it. Every single one said they just saw it while they were questing and killed it.
That, my friend, just ended with this article. There will be hordes of people flying around his spawn site non-stop now.
Mephator Dec 3rd 2008 1:57PM
That's a pretty elitist attitude you've got there.
Nails Dec 3rd 2008 2:20PM
i had not heard of this mount or this mob until i saw this article. i can completely see why people who DID know about this before it was on WoWInsider would be pissed. now it's time to go steal this mob from someone else who knew about it before me! >:)
allyourdrakemountsarebelongtous
phox Dec 3rd 2008 2:48PM
LOL, most people have known about this for awhile, they just haven't bothered to try for it yet.
Naix Dec 3rd 2008 3:05PM
I got one on my DK. Its so bad ass! I am going to camp his spawn and kill him for fun.
Heilig Dec 3rd 2008 4:01PM
"That's a pretty elitist attitude you've got there."
It's elitist to be upset that something I actually had a chance at because of its relative unknown is now going to be broadly known and thus virtually impossible for me to get?
Fine, I'm elitist. You might want to check the definition of that word, though.
lightningjynx Dec 3rd 2008 4:55PM
@ Heilig
Elitism - The belief that certain persons or members of certain classes or groups deserve favored treatment by virtue of their perceived superiority, as in intellect, social status, or financial resources.
From your comments, it seems like those who knew about this mount prior to this article are more entitled to the kill of the rare. Besides, who cares? It is just a game. If you are that butt hurt about the fact that more people know about a rare drop then maybe it is time to take a break from the game.
Kor Dec 3rd 2008 1:36PM
Really Hope I can find him dragon FTW!!!
Deadly. Off. Topic. Dec 3rd 2008 4:32PM
I didn't know about this mob - doesn't mean I'm gonna go camp for it, but if I do see it flying around, at least I NOW know to target it first!
Hopefully if that ever happens, I can screw over that guy who thinks he's only entitled to it because he found out about it before the others did. ...if only to piss him off.
Usul Dec 3rd 2008 5:38PM
@Saiforune
Saiforune is a human mage that spawns only on the Azgalor-US PVP server.He can be farmed easily by combing the skies of Storm Peaks using a /tar Sai macro. He doesn't drop much loot but if you camp him long enough, a keyboard company will thank you for having to send him a much more sturdy replacement.
I actively encourage all Horde to partake in this wonderful event, and do whatever you can to ensure that Saiforune never, ever, ever gets this drop.
*HUGGLES*
anx Dec 4th 2008 9:12AM
Ugh. Rather upset that you guys had to share this with the less informed people. As if this game could get any easier for casuals.
Shadowhaxor Dec 3rd 2008 1:40PM
Are you freaking serious? Damn ;( I believe I saw this yesterday but totally ignored it :(
bendak Dec 3rd 2008 1:41PM
After much hunting and a lot of research this does not spawn every 6 hours. That is the typical timer for normal rare spawns. This particular one has more of a random timer - it can often take days before it spawns again. On the rare occasion more than 1 will be reported in a 24 hour period but usually its several days.
My advice after spending a combined 12-15 hours hunting it and not even seeing its corpse (though I did see another rare 4 times): don't bother. You could spend 100 hours straight and not even see it spawn, and you'd know because the corpse sticks around for 30 minutes. Also it has a rather large spawning area covering roughly half of storm peaks, and it flies anywhere from 30 - 100 yards in the sky so you have to get it close to a mountain side or train it to the ground (make sure you have slow fall) and also it likes to stay at range so if you're a melee class good luck.
My new strategy is to spam the macro whenever im flying through storm peaks for dailies or heroic runs, and if I get lucky, I get lucky. But it's not worth spending dozens or hundreds of hours on. Get the heroic achievement drake instead.
JPN Dec 3rd 2008 1:45PM
Can it be tracked in any way?
VSUReaper Dec 3rd 2008 1:50PM
Yeah, track dragonkin (or w/e stupid huntards have)
IMO, WOWInsider should not have done this post.... enough people were already hunting for this before, but now even more will be. Thanks for nothing.
Skas Dec 3rd 2008 1:53PM
QQ moar VSU
Tural Dec 3rd 2008 1:55PM
This article would bother me had I not given up long ago. I have yet to see a single person on my realm with it, and after camping it almost non-stop for 5 days in a row, I quit trying. I'll just hope in 5 days my egg gives me a green one.
bynde Dec 3rd 2008 2:48PM
Sound fun. I'm sure the competition for this thing is going to be impossible.