Ashes of Al'ar

Blizzard has not said anything about removing the phoenix mount drop from Kael'thas. They are only removing the Amani War Bear because it is garunteed from doing the full timed run. This is a rare drop, which means that even at level 80 it will be hard to get.

Many achievements will retroactively give you credit, not just Feats of Strength. Just thought I'd clear that up.

Finally got it last night! This mount has been my Holy Grail for WoW ever since I first saw it back in BC days, and I've been steadily farming it ever since then, first with a group (hoping desperately that I'd win the roll if it dropped, but it never did) and then solo at 90 on my two monks (this fight is really quite easy with a monk--Touch of Death makes quick work of Capernian, and the rest is cake). But every week I go, and every week I pause a moment before clicking the sparkly corpse and say a little prayer to the WoW gods that the RNG will favor me this week. And it never does.

So last night, I was off killing stuff and hunting treasure boxes on the Timeless Isle, and figured I'd just take a little break and do my weekly "bird does not exist" run out of force of habit. So over goes the monk, going through the motions. I'm barely paying attention to what I'm doing. I slice Kael up and don't even bother anymore to move away from Nether Beam because I can kill him from the air before it does serious damage. With Gravity Lapse still up and anxious to get back to Timeless Isle, I float down and click the corpse.

Tier, tier, Nether Vortex...same old thing...click the down arrow...

Wait...what's this little orange disk? I don't recognize that...and then my eyes shift to the right.

Ashes of Al'ar.

For a second, I don't even believe it. I'm seeing things. Then I quickly click on it--if it's a dream, dammit, I'm gonna grab it before it goes poof! And then the achievement pops up and I know it's not my mind playing cruel tricks.

At last! 37 kills on the monk, who knows how many on the mage and the DK, and bird is MINE!

Now all I gotta do is get the OH warglaive for my DK, the Zulian Panther, and Attumen's horse. But those can wait. I have my bird and I am a happy camper!