Shadow Raises Over $1.8 Million For Charity

Today Blizzard revealed that Shadow raised over $1.8 million for charity!

This amount includes sales from both the battle pet and the Shadow plushie (between September 2017 and December 2017). It would be interesting to see how much was raised from just pet sales, but I guess this will have to suffice.

In any case, it's wonderful that players helped raise so much for charitable causes.

Here's an updated list of money raised from battle pet (and accompanying plush) sales over the years:

• 2017 - Shadow (AND plushie) raised over $1.8 million for the American Red Cross Disaster Relief and the IFRC Disaster Relief Fund
• 2016 - Mischief (AND plushie) raised over $2.5 million for the Make-a-Wish Foundation
• 2015 - Brightpaw raised over $1.7 million for the Make-a-Wish Foundation
• 2014 - Argi raised over $1.9 million for the Red Cross Ebola Relief Efforts in Africa
• 2013 - Alterac Brew Pup raised over $1 million for the Make-a-Wish Foundation
• 2012 - Cinder Kitten raised over $2.3 million for the American Red Cross Superstorm Sandy relief efforts
• 2011 - Cenarion Hatchling raised over $1.9 million for the American Red Cross Japan Earthequake and Pacific Tsunami relief efforts
• 2010 - Moonkin Hatchling raised over $800,000 for the Make-a-Wish Foundation
• 2009 - Pandaren Monk raised over $1.1 million for the Make-a-Wish Foundation

Estimated total: $15,000,000*

*includes money raised from sales of non-battle pet items

Battle For Azeroth: Datamining First Look

Let the datamining commence! It's begun -- we're getting our first look at new and updated content coming next expansion. There's literally too much to post about, so I'll mainly provide links you can browse through at your own leisure.

As mentioned at BlizzCon 2017, updated pet models are in the works for BFA. And now we have some previews of what's to come. Here's a list of creature models that are getting high resolution updates:

• Cats
• Chickens
• Crabs
• Pigs
• Prairie Dogs
• Turtles
• And More!

In addition to updated models, there are completely new models. These haven't been confirmed they'll be collectible pets, but there are SO MANY that I absolutely HOPE will be battle pets! Dinosaurs, bumble bees, weird/odd larva/creepy looking things, hermit crabs, etc.

Check out many updated/new models in detail on Wowhead's BFA Mount and Creature Models page! Also check out MMO-Champion's BFA model page!

There are also tons of new icons that hint at new pets, but we'll have to wait and see.

So far I'm pretty overwhelmed with all of the new things. I've got a mental checklist going while looking through all the shiny models -- the majority of which I'd love to collect. There are some actual pets that have been datamined as well, but there's little to no information on those so far. I'm just enjoying all of the eye candy until we learn more! ^^;

Uuna's Continued Story In 7.3.5

Over the past day or two the WoW Secrets Finding Discord server has been hard at work discovering the secret of Uuna's story. Datamined dialogue from the 7.3.5 PTR was used as sort of a guide to point secret-searchers in the right direction. Still, it took some time and a lot of trial and error. I was of no help, as usual haha. I'm just not creative enough to solve puzzles and riddles like this, I guess.

Anyway, Uuna's story has finally been revealed and players can now progress through all necessary steps to learn more about this Draenei ghost child's fate. It's heart-wrenching and totally worth it. The scenario that you eventually travel to was one of the best I've experienced so far. Very atmospheric, spooky, and just a deep feeling of dread. Fitting for the quest and very nicely done!


In 'A Dark Place' *eerie noises*
Uuna's story comes in 2 parts. First part (~10 steps) is helping her prepare to fight the darkness, finding her, and then saving her from darkness. The second part (~8 steps) is taking Uuna on a 'World Tour' and visiting specific locations. Here's a TL;DR version of what to do.

Note: After step 6 in part 1, you will not be able to summon Uuna. She still appears in your Pet Journal, but attempting to call her out will result in an error, 'Uuna is missin.' Don't panic though, this is just temporary! Once you save her from darkness you can summon her again.

I won't spoil the whole story or write a full guide, but if you're interested in completing this "questchain" (you don't actually complete quests, just "triggers" aka requirements to move onto the next step) I highly recommend checking out the Secrets Discord server and the #secret-progress channel: https://discord.gg/wowsecrets

Alternatively, you can read this Wowhead Guide to Uuna's story for a full walkthrough of what to do.

I'm a little disappointed that part 2, step 2 is bugged for Alliance and Horde that have not completed all Suramar quests though. You enter the wrong phase of uninstanced Nighthold, meaning you can't complete this step until a hotfix is applied. I'm stuck for now, but expect it to be resolved soon.

There's some saltiness in the larger WoW community about the end reward. It's nothing flashy or huge. Essentially Uuna gets an updated appearance (pictured at the start of this post) and she will respond to the /hug emote once you've fully saved her and completed all necessary steps. Personally, I think it's a lovely touch and I adore her new look. Plus I enjoy free hugs. :)

I'm very happy that we've been given the opportunity to "save" Uuna and give her hope and a renewed light (literally hehe). There wasn't a gigantic reward at the end, but I'm 100% ok with that. The journey was fantastic and gave me all the feels. <3

Magical Saucer Collected - Fly My Pretties, Fly!

I finally did it. My Mage FINALLY completed her journey for the Magical Saucer toy, so now even my non-flying pets can follow me wherever I go. YAY!!

After collecting the other class pets, I took quite a long break from leveling and playing additional alts. I was unsure if my Mage would even see Broken Isles this expansion or if she would have to wait until Battle For Azeroth. Luckily, I was hit with a bout of boredom and picked up leveling her again.

Getting the AP to meet the requirements for the class mount storyline wasn't an issue in the slightest. I know many were concerned that grinding AP would be a massive pain for DK and Monk class pets, but with the catch-up mechanics in place... the AP didn't even register to me. I was well beyond the required weapon level by the time I unlocked the mount quest.

What REALLY took some patience and time investment was the simple act of leveling. Going from 1 to 110...oof. It's not that it was "hard" or anything. Heirlooms make life so much easier. It's just tedious. I've done and seen these quests multiple times before, so it's not exciting or new. Same thing, different character. The repetition is what made the process feel dragged out, for me at least.

But if you're determined, like I was, you push through the monotony and get to that sweet spot and before you know it, you're looking around for the class storyline and Broken Shore campaign lol. I also rediscovered my joy of Draenor leveling during my Mage's adventure. Flying around and finding/looting treasures for experience? Yes please!


It was all worth it! I love playing around with this toy, and it's coming in handy for taking better, eye-level screenshots. (I would still prefer a pedestal-type of toy for battle pets, but this will do for now :P) I've already done some experimenting with combining toys and buffs on 'mounted' pets hehe.


So for the time being, my class collecting adventure is done. Druid, Demon Hunter, Shaman, Warlock, Death Knight, Monk, Rogue, and now Mage... I can check off all these battle pet-related classes from my 'To Do' list. Hooray! Any alt that I level from here on out is purely for miscellaneous reasons (like collecting class mounts...? lol).

For anyone still working on pet-related classes, keep on keeping on! Just enjoy what you can while you can, and take it in stride. It's slow and boring and tedious at some parts, but the end result is worth it. Heirlooms make it go faster but aren't absolutely necessary (I only had the heirlooms that go up to level 90 because I was too cheap to upgrade to the 100 and 110 ones haha). Having some sort of music or video/movie streaming either on a second monitor, in the background or on TV can help make the time fly. And remember, you don't have to do it all at once. You can take breaks, long or short. Blizzard has stated that there are no plans to remove the class pet-related stuff.

Anyway, enough gushing. Time to just enjoy my new toy and a new way to have fun with my pets. :)

Happy Holidays 2017

Wishing everyone a Happy Merry Season's Christmas Holidays!


Just a Tranquil Mechanical Yeti pal'ing around with the Globe Yeti. ;)

Don't forget to loot the presents under the Winter Veil tree in Ironforge and Orgrimmar (starting December 25).

Here's hoping that 2018 will be better, brighter, and filled with lots of fun new pets. May RNG be kind to us all.

Stay safe, be well, and happy collecting & battling. ❤

Thoughts On New Winter Veil Pet - Globe Yeti

Feast of Winter Veil has begun! There's a new pet to collect, the Globe Yeti. And what would a new pet be without its own controversial implementation?

Unlike the other Winter Veil pets, the Globe Yeti is a wild pet that has a somewhat unique spawn. It can only pop up within the giant snow globe in Ironforge and Orgrimmar during Winter Veil.

Despite being a wild pet, it doesn't appear as such on the mini-map, so catching it spawn will take a little more effort. I highly recommend making a macro to /tar Globe Yeti and then keybinding the "Interact With Target" function. This way you can quickly target and engage one in battle once it pops up.

On top of those things (and here's the kicker), only ONE spawns every ~30 minutes or so, making this 'first come, first serve' capture frustrating for some collectors. It's literally a race to see who can click and/or interact the fastest, not to mention additional competition due to connected/sharded realms (excluding RP realms; finding a low population RP server might be your best bet).

It's a pretty straight forward capture for some, and a less than enjoyable experience for others. Some collectors may not have time to camp the area, while others might not be lucky/quick enough to nab the Globe Yeti as it spawns.

I should also mention that I haven't seen it happen firsthand, but there's some concern that non-pet battlers are trolling by killing this wild pet as it pops up. If the Globe Yeti can be targeted and killed by player spells and abilities, that needs to be changed ASAP. With its limited spawning, it would be devastating to see one die because of another player deciding to AOE the area.

The in-game holiday event lasts for a little over 2 weeks, so hopefully there's enough time for everyone to collect a Globe Yeti of their own. But even so, it doesn't feel very good or festive to stress about collecting this battle pet before the event ends.

Personally, I think this spawn mechanic is interesting but could use some adjustments to make it less punishing for collectors. Especially since this is a limited-time pet.

I'd love to see the number of spawns increase incrementally as the event goes on, so by the end of Winter Veil there are multiple Globe Yetis up for collectors who are either unlucky or have time constraints. That or perhaps a reduced spawn timer.

I absolutely hope those looking to collect the Globe Yeti will be able to this year. Waiting an entire year for more to spawn is brutal. Granted, it could be worse. The Yeti could be depending on RNG *shudders*... so I'm certainly thankful that that's not the case.

There are a couple of things one can do to increase chances of collecting this pet.

1. Create a character on a low population, RP realm.

2. Make a /tar macro and use a keybind for the "Interact With Target" function.

I, and I'm sure many others, wouldn't mind if Blizzard gave a helping hand to spread the love a bit more though. 'Tis the season for giving and sharing, right? What better way to celebrate that than to ensure a fair and even distribution of this fun new companion? :)

7.3.5 PTR: New Pet, Pet PVP Achievements, and Uuna

UPDATE: More information on Mailemental can be found here. It's a reward from an achievement that you can earn once you've completed the initial questline. Getting the quest, though.... that could be the trickiest part!

-----------------------------------

PTR testing has begun! There are three notable updates so far, but I'm sure we'll see more as future PTR builds get implemented.

New Pet
First and foremost, new pet! Mailemental, likely inspired by a suggestion made on the Bnet Pet Battle forums. Fun "postal service" themed abilities! The pet is even holding an envelope lol :D

7.3.5 PTR: New battle pet, Mailemental (unknown how we'll get it at this time), inspired by an idea from the Bnet Pet Battle forums! https://t.co/dVbc1nf3pl pic.twitter.com/aLw7OBmHz8

— Quintessence (@perksnpeeves) November 30, 2017

Currently the Pet Journal doesn't list how we'll obtain this pet. But according to datamined files, it looks like we might have to complete a questline that has us delivering mail around Azeroth...? It's unknown how we'll even get the quest though.

This comment may shed some light, as it implies there might be a breadcrumb prerequisite. The catch? It might have limited spawns in Dalaran. We'll have to wait and see.

My biggest hope is that the Mailemental will have an interaction that allows us to use it as a temporary mailbox, similar to the upgraded Argent Squire hehe. :P


New Pet PVP Achievements
Jodmos from the WarcraftPets forum discovered a new set of Pet PVP challenges, à la Family Familiar/Fighter.

Each achievement requires 10 queued PVP Pet Battle wins with a team of all level 25 pets from the same family. 10 achievements total, and the meta-achievement awards a nifty new tabard, Master Trainer's Tabard.

Personally, I'm glad it doesn't reward a new pet. But instead provides something new to strive for for pet PVP enthusiasts and a cosmetic reward for their efforts. It helps keep Pet Battles PVP optional for *PET* collectors, but still adds some content for those that do choose to enjoy that aspect of pets.


Uuna's Continuation Story?
!! SPOILER WARNING !! READ AT YOUR OWN RISK !!
Some datamined dialogue involving Uuna was discovered in the PTR files.
!! SPOILER WARNING !! READ AT YOUR OWN RISK !!

For those unaware, Uuna's backstory is that she died on Argus yet her soul was infused into an Ur'zul. When you "collect" her (or adopt), you're liberating her spirit from that monster.

In 7.3.5 we might see a continuation of Uuna's journey, although it's unclear when, where or how. Wowhead Site Director Perculia speculates that it might be related or part of the new allied race Lightforged Draenei questline.

Will we be able to help Uuna's spirit find peace? What happens if we do? Does she leave us forever? It's still early on in the testing phase, so we'll have to wait and see.

As always, everything above is subject to change and nothing is guaranteed to make it to live from the PTR.

I'm so excited to learn more! :)

UPDATE: Some ominous sounding Tweets from Developer Jeremy Feasel... the future may not be bright for Uuna...

You should find Uuna, before it's too late, imo.

— Jeremy Feasel (@Muffinus) December 4, 2017

To be honest, this was very difficult to write.

— Jeremy Feasel (@Muffinus) December 4, 2017

Hold her tight.
You never know
what darkness she sees.

— Jeremy Feasel (@Muffinus) December 4, 2017

The Road to Prestige 7 Companions

I finally earned Prestige Rank 7 this past Thanksgiving holiday. Hooooooraaaay!

*many sighs of relief* It only took me... a year and 3 months lol.

Woot! Dutiful companions collected!
(ﾉ^ヮ^)ﾉ*:・ﾟ✧ pic.twitter.com/DDG5qGugNw

— Quintessence (@perksnpeeves) November 24, 2017

For those still working on and/or dreading the Prestige grind, don't take how long it took me to heart. I wasn't consistent and periodically took LOTS of time off from doing PVP WQs.

If you do 3 Towers plus at least 1 FFA WQ a day (with Battle Standard of Coordination dropped for all of them), it will take you roughly 178 days (or about 6 months) to reach Prestige 7 from scratch.

Here are some numbers (this Wowhead PVP guide is useful):

Prestige 1 - Alliance Enthusiast and Horde Fanatic

Honor 0 to Honor 50 (first time) = need 22,000 Honor

Prestige 7 - Dutiful Squire and Dutiful Gruntling

44,000 Honor for each Rank after x 6 Ranks = need 264,000 Honor

22,000 + 264,000 = need 286,000 Honor total


Honor Earned Daily

PVP Tower WQ = 345 (with Battle Standard)
PVP FFA WQ = 575 (with Battle Standard)

345 x 3 = 1035 + 575 = 1610 Honor earned daily

286000/1610 = ~178 days to Prestige 7

If you do battlegrounds/arenas, you can earn even more and the grind will go even quicker. However, the PVP WQs are just the basics and bare minimum.

6 months may seem like a long time, but considering the current estimation for the next expansion is some time summer of 2018, if you were to start the Prestige grind RIGHT NOW and stick with it, you should earn Prestige 7 before Battle For Azeroth.

Also, keep in mind that Blizzard's current plans are to keep these rewards post-Legion. They might not, however, be earned in the same method as currently, in BfA. We still don't know how they'll be awarded in the future, but at least we have peace of mind that they will not be Legion-exclusive.

If you can't earn these companions now, you *should* be ok and have the opportunity to (possibly in a different way) in the expansion. !!! DISCLAIMER !!!: THIS IS SUBJECT TO CHANGE AND NOT SET IN STONE; complete the Prestige grind or don't using your own discretion.

Some tips for grinding to Prestige 7:

Developer Q&A - RE: Prestige Rewards Post Legion

There was a live Developer Q&A today, and I'm just getting a chance to sit down and watch. No pet battle questions were directly answered, but we did get a bit of clarification on what will happen to the PVP Prestige pets post-Legion.

Here's a clip of when Game Director Ion Hazzikostas addresses Prestige. Keep in mind that this does NOT guarantee ANYTHING. If you watch earlier (couldn't clip the entire Prestige answer), he notes that they're still unsure but re-evaluating what to do with Prestige, Honor, and the whole thing in BfA. It does lean more toward making current Prestige rewards still available, even after this expansion is over. Perhaps in a different manner than how we obtain the rewards now, but still available.


"Regardless, we want to make sure the Prestige rewards that are currently available will still be available in whatever form we have in the future. We'll have more information to come basically."

This is better news than no news at all, IMO. I'm glad to hear that their current plan is to not simply retire the current rewards come BfA.

Even with this news, I still plan on finishing up my grind to Prestige 7 this month. I'm so close, I don't plan on quitting now. Today's developer response is great for others who may want to take it much more slowly though! If you're "behind" on the Prestige grind, that's ok! There's time. At least for now. Couldn't hurt to get started a little bit by little bit sooner instead of later though. ;)

You can watch the full Dev Q&A, or read about it on Wowhead.

Post-BlizzCon 2017

Another year and another wonderful BlizzCon! I was unable to attend this year, but was there in spirit and through the Virtual Ticket. All of the reveals had me excited yet overwhelemed. Blizzard always does such a good job with presentations, panels and cinematics that get you super pumped about their games. *_*

During the opening ceremony it was revealed that a plushie version of Shadow will be available in the near future, and proceeds up until the end of the year will be donated to disaster relief efforts. We also learned that over the years, fans have helped generate over $15 million for charitable causes. :O

In terms of Pet Battle announcements, Wowpedia had an interview with developer Jeremy Feasel and very briefly discussed the topic.

Pet Battle?

Yes, going to keep expanding dungeons. No ideas yet, but it's definitely coming
Pet battle WQs are cool, that may keep going on too
Plenty of uprez'd pet models, including a new big fat fluffy cat gorging itself on fish

The fluffy cat?

Both big fluffy cat with a big body and big face, and also a big fluffy face with a regular cat body

That's as much as we know for now. I'm sure once Battle for Azeroth testing/datamining begins we'll find out more.

I saw a couple of neat creatures during some of the WoW panels that I'm hoping will be battle pets in BfA. The little kid turtle... could that be Tottle?

We've spotted a few neat creatures we wouldn't mind collecting in WoW's next expansion - what new battle pets would you like to see? pic.twitter.com/riYIqELChV

— WarcraftPets (@WarcraftPets) November 3, 2017

Why yes, I'd like to adopt one of these weird-all-face-no-arms creature as a battle pet *puppy dog eyes* https://t.co/AK5FBDY9HQ pic.twitter.com/XaykfYBB8P

— Quintessence (@perksnpeeves) November 4, 2017

There are still quite a few unknowns about the upcoming expansion, and lots of questions that will need answering. As far as I can tell, most Pet Battle content will be unaffected by the system changes coming with BfA. I have to wonder how old-world farming for rares, mounts, pets, collectibles, etc. will be impacted by scaling though (if at all).

We'll have to wait and see how things play out. As with all things, it's a Work In Progress and things are Not Yet Final. ;)

Thank you to all the hardworking folks at Blizzard for bringing us another fun convention, and for their tireless, unending efforts to bring us the best games/content possible. It was a whirlwind of a weekend - time to unwind and let it all sink in! ^^;