PSA:
If you want your Phoenix Wishwing, start the grind NOW while the Cata Timewalking is here. It’s the only time you can get one of the required items for it.
I just completed the grind…and it was a grind…but the pet is cute.
I hear the pet sells well on the AH. You can get it only once per character…there, I saved you some heartache 
I meant to do this and completely forgot! TY for the reminder!!
Edited to Add: I got started on this right away after being reminded.
THE INERT PHOENIX ASH x 20 GRIND in UN’GORO CRATER
I checked for any Firelands raid groups and didn’t see any formed, so I went to Un’Goro Crater to begin that grind for the Inert Phoenix Ash x 20. All of the guides say that is the hardest part to finish. I found two things that the guides seem to get wrong (or things that have changed since the guides were made):
I got all 20 by grinding the Living Blaze and Scorching Elemental mobs in Un’Goro. Both types of mob dropped the item. I double and triple-checked. Both mobs drop it, not just the Scorching ones. I got roughly half off of Living Blazes and half from the Scorching Elemental mobs.
I don’t know if they have nerfed the droprate since the video guides were made, but it took me roughly 30 minutes to get my 20 ash, not “hours,” as some of the guides claim. It’s not a great droprate, but it’s not a dismal one, either. Just throw on a music playlist, and you’ll have these farmed in no time.
*Note: I seemed to be the only one out there farming them, so that worked in my favor, AND I am a druid so my mobility in this area was pretty insanely good as I can run around in travel form. Still. Any class could complete this grind much faster than the guides online led me to believe.
Absolutely this. And I’m super relieved Blizzard made that change! The original farm was brutal lol.
Glad to hear things are going smoothly for you so far!
I figured that was the deal.
I’m glad they changed it, too! I wanted people who might see the instructions and think, “Oh, no…I’m not doing all that over the weekend,” to know that it isn’t that bad anymore.
I like farming something with an audiobook on, but some folks just really can’t stand doing that, so they might decide not to go for it when faced with the prospect of a long grind.
I did the 10 sacred and 20 inert gather all in less than an hour. For me, the difficult bit will be finding a TW Firelands raid group.
That is today’s assignment.
Absolutely. I would never wish that farm on anyone.
People were complaining to bliz that the farm turned them all into jerks.
I started my grind about 2 months, and had to wait for Cata time walking to complete.
The ash in Un’Goro I guess I just committed to it and it didn’t see TOO bad to me.
Flying around the Spires to clock on crockpots wasn’t too bad either.
I found several raid groups pretty quickly using the finder to pug, but it took me two groups because the first just wasn’t too good and it fell apart, but the 2nd group was fun and funny and completely made up for the first group.
The complete GRIND for me was chasing down the BIRDS for the uncommon drop. I swear to you, it took me about 1.5 hours, on this druid (thank gosh it was my druid!). Just glad that is over!
I made a toon on a dead realm to farm the ash by myself…trying to get it on my normal realm was a no go when this first came out…so I found a dead realm and did it that way.