She was finally losing her mind. That was the only thing that she could think of when she finished harvesting a gem node out in Yon Gorroth and caught sight of a non-native butterfly out of the corner of her eye. She swore the blasted thing was making rude antennae gestures at her, as well! "Next thing ye know, they'll be chasing ME around wi' a butterfly net!" Niami mumbled as she headed to craft for her new mission from the Flamebearers in the Unknown.
Her absent-minded responses as she handed in the products of her most recent craft must have convinced Flamebearer Taslana that not all was well in the generally-cheery world of Niami DenMother. "Mum? What's wrong?"
"Och. Ye'll nae believe me. I do nae e'en believe me. Mayhaps it be time tae totally hang up my rolling pin."
The Flamebearer responded, a frown creasing her forehead, "You're not prone to tall tales except when they are meant to be amusing for all, and this does not sound amusing. Please explain, as odd things happen around here all the time, and there may be some other explanation than you losing that sharp wit of yours."
Mum scratched her head with a sigh. "All right, but I tell ye, be ready to break oot th' butterfly nets an' the straightjacket o' tradeskilling! I keep seeing odd bugs an' critters out o' the corner o' me eye as I harvest. Critters that jus' do nae seem quite right frae th' area. I blink a time or twa, an' they be gone. Poof! Nae run off, or summat like that, but gone as if they were an imagination of my figment, if ye know what I mean."
The start of a chuckle started to escape Flamebearer Taslana before she managed to get it under control. At Mum's upset expression, she hurried to explain. "Those are special shiny critters, and most of us tended to see them after a certain amount of time spent out here. It takes a special sort to not only see them, but to also catch them."
"Ye mean I am meant tae catch them, and nobody is going tae chase after me wi' a net?"
"Well, I've heard you are quite the catch, but no, you're safe at the moment." Smiling as Mum's face turned as red as her hair, she continued on, "I believe Assistant Flamebearer Silverpot over there should have a Critter Collecting Starter Kit" that will give you a brief introduction to the phenomena, and an ability that you can use to catch them, if you are quick enough."
"Och! Thank ye! I may be old, but I'm nae slow yet!" Mum caroled with a smile and scampered toward Silvererpot. She had some bug-catching to do!
March 24, 2026 brings with it the release of the Gerion's Reckoning Game Update. In addition to a chunk of adventuring content, there is one new amalgamation tradeskill quest for those who finished the complete Raffik line, plus the new critter collection ability out in Rage of Cthurath overlands. This ability allows you to "catch" special critters to get a shiny from them, and the shinies are for eight new collections. (Seven regular collections of 13 pieces each, and one meta collection.) All completed collections earn a plushie and a suffix title.
In order to make use of the ability, crafters who have completed the tradeskill line from the Rage of Cthurath must first purchase the "Critter Collecting Starter Kit" from Assistant Flamebearer Silverpot for 50 Token of the Formless Crafter. (If you spent all your tokens on furniture already, you can do dailies to earn more, but also be sure to check crafting alts for some of this heirloom currency, and pass it off to your main harvester.) The kit contains the "Sweep for Critters" ability that autoscribes in the Abilities tab of your knowledge book when you open the kit. There is also a readable house-item book, the Void Guide to Critter Collecting: Volume I.
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Now that you have your ability, find some way to squeeeeeeeze it onto the hotbars that you normally use when harvesting in dangerous areas. (Mine were full in beta, and I had to juggle a bit so I could easily ctrl-click the ability instead of mouseclick.) Go out into Yon Gorroth, Oogothl Sprawl or the Unknown. Harvest every node completely, and wait for the following message to randomly appear in your chat box after finishing a node:
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Hopefully you haven't run off towards the next node in sight, as it takes a couple moments for the message to appear, if it is going to, as your arms and the net only reach so far! Use the critter collecting ability in the right spot before the bug goes poof a couple seconds later, to net yourself a node-type and zone-specific shiny.
Buh? Node-type and zone-specific? C'mon Mum, that is as clear as mud! Patience dear reader and let me explain. Each node type (dens, roots, gems, ores, etc.) has one collection tied to it. Four of those collection pieces will be found in one zone, four in another zone, and five in another zone, for a total of 13 collection pieces. Finish off all 13 of those collection pieces to earn a plushie, a title and a meta collection piece. For example, the Formless Fish collection will grant you an Undead Barracuda Plushie, a surname title of the Critter Enthusiast , and the Formless Fish meta collection piece. There are seven node types and thus seven base collections and the meta collection.
As a quick note, if you are in range of a node to harvest it, you should be in range of it for catching the critter as well, so you should be able to stand at the edge of the sometimes-dangerous waters to fish and to catch the fish shinies. There's no need to go swimming/healing/swimming like I did at first. :D
I do NOT have a complete list of which shinies go with which zone. (I am missing one or two from each list, as, well, last week was pretty rough on the real life front, and I didn't have enough time to go back and make full notes. I will publish what I have of a source list later, and hopefully be able to fill in the blanks.
What I DO have is the rest of the reward info.
| Formless Dens Aqueous Scrubber Plushie Surname: the Insect Fiend  |
Formless Fish Undead Barracuda Plush Surname: the Critter Enthusiast  |
Formless Gems Yellow Scorpion Plushie Surname: the Bug Collector  |
| Formless Lumber Blue Centipede Plushie Surname: the Bug Seekeror  |
Formless Ore Centipede Plushie Surname: the Bug Enthusiast  |
Formless Roots Ghostly Centipede Plushis Surname: Collector of Bugs  |
| Formless Shrubs Bee Plushie Surname: the Critter Collector  |
Formless Critters (meta collection) Ghost Wasp Plushie Surname: the Entomologist  |
YG=Yon Gorroth, OS=Oogothl Sprawl, U=the Unknown