7.1 PTR - Falcosaur Battle Pet Preview

NOTE: As of Patch 7.1 release the falcosaur WQ areas are a bit buggy, resulting in the Orphaned Hatchling not spawning even after defeating the Matriarch. It should appear as soon as you kill the Matriarch, but there are weird phasing issues in these questing areas that might be affecting the hatchling spawn for some and not others.

Here are some things you can try to troubleshoot:

- Re-zone (leave the questing area and come back)
- If in a group, drop group and reform
- If not in a group, find someone from your server that's in the same zone and create a group with them
- Relog
- Kill the Matriarch again (be sure to loot her body) and again and again...and again!

And if this wasn't clear already, the Orphaned Hatchling does not spawn directly on or next to the Matriarch. It has a static spawn in the quest area, sometimes fairly far away from the Matriarch's location. Using /tar orphan helps.

Also, yes, you can collect both falcosaur hatchlings in the same day. There is no cooldown for collecting them.

There is, however, an internal cooldown on the quests that the hatchlings give. It seems to be a day for most players.

It's possible to pick up additional quests if you have other level 110 characters, however this does not always work for everyone, and it's unclear if it's intended, a bug, or could be seen as an exploit. Blizzard has not commented on this. Attempt at your own discretion.

Just be patient - your pet is just a baby still, give it some time! :)

Good luck to everyone seeking these pets (and/or the mounts)!

Edit: If you're looking to collect just the mounts, be aware that 2 out of the 4 mounts will NOT be available until the Nighthold is released. The Direbeak and Bloodgazer questlines require boss kills in this upcoming raid zone.

The only 2 mounts currently available are Snowfeather and Sharptalon.

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Developer Jeremey Feasel reminded me yesterday that in addition to the RWLIV content coming in 7.1, there are baby flacosaurus pets to collect! And after testing on the PTR, I can definitely say that they are pretty unique pets, obtained in a unique way.

Four new falcosaur battle pets are coming in the 7.1 Patch:

• Bloodgazer Hatchling - Azsuna
• Direbeak Hatchling - Stormheim
• Sharptalon Hatchling - Val'sharah
• Snowfeather Hatchling - Highmountain

To obtain them, you must first have the World Quest for their area. Sharptalon Swarm! for the Sharptalon Hatchling, Direbeak Swarm! for the Direbeak Hatchling, and so on.

These WQs seem to be up for 2 days each, and more than one can be active at a time. I'm not sure what the respawn/cooldown time is for these quests.

If the World Quest for a specific type is not up, it doesn't seem possible to collect the pet of that species. This is because the Matriarch of the brood will not spawn, and she's the key to finding the orphaned hatchling.


Defeating a Matriarch of any of the four falcosaur species will spawn an orphaned hatchling nearby. (We're monsters, I know. Killing the mother just to scoop up the babies.)

I found using "/tar orphan" helpful, but they appear to be static spawns so once you know the location of one, you can return to the same spot for that species.

The orphan appears to remain spawned so long as the World Quest for its type is active and/or if you haven't collected it yet. You can leave the area and come back, and if the quest is still up the orphaned hatchling will still be there.

Interacting with the orphaned hatchling will initially yield nothing except flavor dialogue. But a hint was dropped on Twitter that each falcosaur pets' description in the Pet Journal might provide some insight.

Here are the descriptions for each of the falcosaur babies. Pay close attention to the underlined part.

• Bloodgazer Hatchling - "Though they may look fierce, the bloodgazer species of falcosaur has a beak that makes it predisposed to consuming fruits."

• Direbeak Hatchling - "Direbeak falcosaurs are heartier than other falcosaur species, but cannot smell as well. They prefer pungent meals and will often eat carrion that has been sitting in the sun for days."

• Sharptalon Hatchling - "Sharptalon falcosaurs can subsist entirely on a diet of small nuts and berries, and use their talons mostly for defense."

• Snowfeather Hatchling - "Snowfeather falcosaur hatchlings instinctively flee to nearby adults when threatened. The species is particularly fond of large prey."

Each falcosaur has a special type of food that they respond to. Bring it the right food and you'll get a wonderful reward!


So after brainstorming for a while and trying out different items (and failing a lot) for the Direbeak and Sharptalon Hatchlings, I got lucky and purchased the right food for the Bloodgazer Hatchling. As the Pet Journal noted, they enjoy fruit. But not just any fruit, Azsunian Grapes!


Perhaps the food each falcosaur is native to the zone they're found in? With that in mind I searched for different foods purchasable in Val'sharah for the Sharptalon Hatchling. There weren't any nuts to be found, but there were a few different kinds of berries. And what do you know? It took some of my Dried Bilberries!

I'm not sure if each hatchling will only accept a specific food, or if a variety of nommies are ok so long as they fall into their preferred food category.

That's as far as I've gone in terms of collecting these baby dino-birds. The orphaned Direbeak despawned on me since the WQ timed out, and I've yet to see the Snowfeather quest pop up. This leaves me some time to brainstorm what food to bring for each falcosaur though. My current guesses are Pungent Vrykul Gamalost or Pungent and Moldy Gamalost and Charcoaled Elderhorn. Stinky cheeses and large game fits their description right? :P

UPDATE: Orphaned Snowfeather loves some Smoked Elderhorn. And Orphaned Direbeak likes Pungent Vrykul Gamalost.

But wait, there's more! These hatchlings aren't just for collecting, there are quests to complete as well. They remind me a little of the Children's Week orphan quest chains.


After adding these pets to your Pet Journal and then summoning it out, the hatchlings will each have a quest for you. Level them up to 25!

Leveling it to max will complete the quest. The hatchlings require a nap time after each adventure (there seems to be an internal cooldown on the quests), but your hatchling will eventually have a new task for you.


I only have two out of the four falcosaurs, so I can't be certain -- but it seems each one has a slightly different quest chain. You can have different quests active at the same time. After leveling each one to 25, I received the following:

- The Smell of Draenei - Bloodgazer (take your Bloodgazer to Exodar Inn)

- The Smell of Night Elves - Sharptalon (take your Sharptalon to Darnassus Inn)

What happens after completing this quest? I'm not sure. My hatchlings are currently worn out and need a break from all the traveling. I'll be sure to update once a new quest pops up for me though!

UPDATE: The quest chains seem to follow this pattern

1. Level the hatchling to 25.
2. Take your falcosaur hatchling to one of the major cities of your faction.
3. Defeat 3 specific wild pets using your hatchling.
4. Complete 5 World Quests with the hatchling summoned out for a specific zone.
5. Start and complete 3 Pet Battle WQs with the hatchling as primary pet and summoned out.
6. Complete 1 Rare Elite WQ with the hatchling summoned out.
7. Defeat 3 specific wild pets using your hatchling. (different ones than #3)
8. Complete 3 PVP WQs with hatchling summoned out.
9. Buy an item from Dalaran for the hatchling.
10. Defeat 3 specific wild pets using the hatchling plus 2 pets of a specific pet family.
11. Defeat a dungeon boss with the hatchling summoned out (any mode).
12. Defeat 3 specific wild pets using the hatchling plus 2 pets of a specific pet family.
13. Defeat a Raid boss with the hatchling summoned out (any mode?).
Reward: Ultimate Battle-Training Stone
...but apparently that's not the last quest and there's more!

One of the quests on PTR for the falcosaur hatchling is to give it a dirty spoon. Reward is the spoon in toy form lol. pic.twitter.com/jIqLPFNK2s

— Quintessence (@perksnpeeves) October 7, 2016

Update:
14. Complete 3 Pet Battle WQs with the hatchling plus 2 pets of a specific pet family.
15. Return the hatchling to its original home.