Year of the Ox

Happy Year of the Ox! Wishing you good health, prosperity, and happiness. May RNG be in your favor.

Shadowlands: Calling and WQ Dependent Battle Pets

 List of Shadowlands battle pets that depend on certain active Calling(s) or WQs.

Note that even if you complete the Calling or WQ, it can still be active for other people. Callings last for 2-3 days, so treasure chests will "reset" daily, meaning additional chances.

Best way I've found to see what's active, even if I'm not personally on the quest, is Wowhead's "Today in WoW". Lower left shows which Calling is currently active.

CALLINGS

➨ Available only during "Do 3 WQs with your Trainee" Calling:

Lucy - drops from Dirty Glinting Object

Notes: This object is "dug up" by the Trainee that you're assigned to for this Calling. There are different named Trainees for each Covenant though, and it's random which one you're given each time. Only one named Trainee per Covenant can find the object for you. If they find one, they'll emote/say something. Your Trainee will stick around with you for the duration of the quest, so DON'T turn it in if you want more time to search for objects.

• Venthyr = Drippy
• Kyrian = Deos
• Night Fae = ??
• Necrolord = ??

 
➨ Available only during "Collect 3 Coins of Brokerage" and "Do WQs, loot treasures, kill rares in X zone" Callings:

Bastion

Gilded Wader - drops from Silver Strongbox

Maldraxxus

Skittering Venomspitter - drops from Sprouting Growth

Bubbling Pustule - drops from Slime-Coated Crate

Revendreth

Burdened Soul - drops from Secret Treasure

Trapped Stonefiend - drops from Bleakwood Chest

WORLD QUESTS

➨ Available during the A Stolen Stone Fiend WQ (Revendreth):

Dal - After completing the World Quest, speak with Penkle located behind the building to receive a Cage Key. Use the key to unlock the cage next to Penkle and collect this pet.

➨ Available during the Muck It Up WQ (Revendreth):

Primordial Bogling - Drops from the Bog Beast rare that has a chance to spawn during this WQ. If you complete the quest, stick around for the rare.

➨ Honorable mention goes to the Swarming Souls WQ (Revendreth):

Wrathling - Drops from the Manifestation of Wrath rare that has a chance to spawn during this WQ. If you complete the quest, stick around for the rare. HOWEVER this pet can also drop from a normal rare spawn, Prideful Hulk, so it's not exclusive to this WQ.

Shadowlands: Pets From Necrolord Abomination Factory, Kyrian Path of Ascension, & Venthyr The Ember Court

Just to round out my Covenant guides, I'm making this post to briefly explain the way the other 3 Covenants work for the 8 shared battle pets. Night Fae guide can be found here. Other Covenant-specific-earned and/or crafted pets won't be mentioned.

As a disclaimer, I'm combining these 3 into one post because Necrolord is straight forward, and I didn't test Kyrian and Venthyr much because of how annoying the testing experience was for that content on Beta. Night Fae had a lot of help in the way of testing - NPCs, vendors, abilities to skip time, etc. Meanwhile, Kyrian and Venthyr did not. These won't be very detailed sections, I'm afraid.

If there's anything I've missed or is incorrect, please let me know, thanks!

Shadowlands: Pets From The Queen's Conservatory (Night Fae)

There are ~8 pets that are shared across the four Covenants, obtained in different ways depending on which Covenant you're in. 

This overview explains how to obtain these battle pets as a member of the Night Fae.

Many thanks to @patf0rd for their help testing.

If there's anything I've missed or is incorrect, please let me know, thanks!

Covenant (Sanctum) Feature

The Covenant (or Sanctum) Feature that yields these pets is called The Queen's Conservatory. Think of it as a "talent" for your hall/sanctum, and it can be upgraded multiple times. Each Tier upgrade unlocks additional content and provides bonuses.

Once the feature is unlocked, you'll gain access to what I like to think of as a private garden atop one of the gigantic Ardenweald trees. In addition to growing plants, your ultimate goal is to help the dead (Spirits) grow enough to be able to transition back into the realm of the living (reincarnation).

You'll start out with a modest number of pods and plots to work with. As you apply upgrades more pods and plots will become available.

Each Tier upgrade costs an increasing amount of Reservoir Anima and Redeemed Souls, and will take an increasing amount of time to complete.

For the pets, you'll want The Queen's Conservatory, Tier 2 (Initial Growth) at the very least. This unlocks at least one Wildseed pod that is attached to two Catalyst plots. More is better, of course! Additional information on why this is the case listed below.

TL;DR -
1. Upgrade Conservatory to Tier 2. (if you use your Spirits prior to this is up to you, but not worth it IMO)
2. Get 3 Wildseed Root Grain.
3. Place the 3 Wildseed Root Grain in dirt piles so that all three are touching 2 pods. (see image below, where the #4 is the area you're targeting, so those 3 connecting dirt piles + 2 pods)
4. Make sure the 2 pods have Wildseed Root Grain buffs each. (can click on them to check)
5. Insert the Spirit of your choice into each pod. (each category of Spirit has 2 possible pets each, Prideful = Venthyr-themed pets for example)
6. Wait for however many days for your Wildseed to mature. (can click on the pod to check its buff for time left)
7. Open the mature Wildseed, talk to the Spirit who will spawn a chest. Pet drops from the chest and NOT the Artisan Satchel that also appears in the chest.
8. Repeat until you get all the pets! Good Luck!

Shadowlands: Covenant Battle Pets

List of all Shadowlands battle pets that require a specific Covenant to obtain, and any additional requirements.

AFAIK, all of these pets can be summoned on any toon regardless of Covenant status, except Renown pets. Renown pets can only be summoned by members of their associated Covenant.

Note: There are 8 pets (marked with an asterisk* in each list) shared and available across all Covenants. How they're obtained will vary for each Covenant.

KYRIAN (13)

• Ruffle - Renown 27

• Grubby - Kyrian Campaign
  

final quest of the A Vessel of Ardenweald storyline

• Indigo - Sanctum Feature, Path of Ascension (tier 1?)

• Lost Featherling - ?? 

• Steward Featherling - Sanctum Feature, Path of Ascension (tier 1)

requires Inside the Park Home Run achievement 

• Bloodfeaster Spiderling* - Sanctum Feature, Path of Ascension (tier 1)

requires Itsy Bitsy Fighters achievement

• Brightscale Hatchling* - ??
  

• Corpulent Bonetusk* - Sanctum Feature, Path of Ascension (tier 1)

requires Itsy Bitsy Fighters achievement

• Dusty Sporeflutterer* - ??
  

• Pearlwing Heron* - Sanctum Feature, Path of Ascension (tier 1)

requires The Hoot of the Issue achievement

• Plaguelouse Larva* - ??
  

• Sable* - Sanctum Feature, Path of Ascension (tier 1)

requires Charmed, I'm Sure achievement

• Violet Dredwing Pup* - Sanctum Feature, Path of Ascension (tier 1)

requires Curse of Thirst achievement

 

TL;DR - Need to do for Kyrian pets:

• Earn Renown 27
  
• Complete "A Vessel of Ardenweald" storyline
  
• Path of Ascension Tier 1
• Achievements from Path of Ascension (may require upgrading past Tier 1)
  

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

NECROLORD (11)

• Jiggles - Renown 27

• Backbone - Sanctum Feature, Abomination Factory (tier 2)
  

• Mu'dud - Sanctum Feature, Abomination Factory (tier 4)

• Bloodfeaster Spiderling* - Sanctum Feature, Abomination Factory (tier 1)

requires Honored with Stitchmasters faction (Necrolord sub-faction)

• Brightscale Hatchling* - Sanctum Feature, Abomination Factory (tier 1)

requires Honored with Stitchmasters faction (Necrolord sub-faction)

• Corpulent Bonetusk* - Sanctum Feature, Abomination Factory (tier 1)

requires Honored with Stitchmasters faction (Necrolord sub-faction)

• Dusty Sporeflutterer* - Sanctum Feature, Abomination Factory (tier 1)

requires Honored with Stitchmasters faction (Necrolord sub-faction)

• Pearlwing Heron* - Sanctum Feature, Abomination Factory (tier 1)

requires Honored with Stitchmasters faction (Necrolord sub-faction)

• Plaguelouse Larva* - Sanctum Feature, Abomination Factory (tier 1)

requires Honored with Stitchmasters faction (Necrolord sub-faction)

• Sable* - Sanctum Feature, Abomination Factory (tier 1)

requires Honored with Stitchmasters faction (Necrolord sub-faction)

• Violet Dredwing Pup* - Sanctum Feature, Abomination Factory (tier 1)

requires Honored with Stitchmasters faction (Necrolord sub-faction)

 

TL;DR - Need to do for Necrolord pets:

• Earn Renown 27
• Abomination Factory Tier 1
• Abomination Factory Tier 2
• Abomination Factory Tier 4
• At least Honored with Stitchmasters
  

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

 

NIGHT FAE (16)

• Trootie - Renown 27

• Fun Guss - Unlock a vendor by completing storylines

requires Friendly with Marasmius faction (Night Fae sub-faction)

• Fuzzy Shimmermoth - Unlock a vendor by completing storylines

requires Friendly with Marasmius faction (Night Fae sub-faction)

• Gloober, as G'huun - Sanctum Feature, Anima Conductor (tier 1)

                    requires participation in at least 2 different Star Lake Amphitheater performances

• Leafadore - Sanctum Feature, Anima Conductor (tier 1)

requires participation in at least 3 different Star Lake Amphitheater performances

• Sir Reginald - Unlock a vendor by completing storylines

requires Friendly with Marasmius faction (Night Fae sub-faction)

• Stemmins - Vendor

requires Friendly with Court of Night faction (Night Fae sub-faction)

• Willowbreeze - Vendor

requires Friendly with Court of Night faction (Night Fae sub-faction)

• Bloodfeaster Spiderling* - Sanctum Feature, Queen's Conservatory (tier 2)
• Brightscale Hatchling* - Sanctum Feature, Queen's Conservatory (tier 2)
• Corpulent Bonetusk* - Sanctum Feature, Queen's Conservatory (tier 2)
• Dusty Sporeflutterer* - Sanctum Feature, Queen's Conservatory (tier 2)
• Pearlwing Heron* - Sanctum Feature, Queen's Conservatory (tier 2)
• Plaguelouse Larva* - Sanctum Feature, Queen's Conservatory (tier 2)
• Sable* - Sanctum Feature, Queen's Conservatory (tier 2)
• Violet Dredwing Pup* - Sanctum Feature, Queen's Conservatory (tier 2)

 

TL;DR - Need to do for Night Fae pets:

• Earn Renown 27
• Anima Conductor Tier 1
• Queen's Conservatory Tier 2
• At least Friendly with Marasmius
• At least Friendly with Court of Night
  

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

 

VENTHYR (13)

• Sinheart - Renown 27

• Battie - Vendor

requires Revered with The Ember Court (Venthyr sub-faction)

• Char - Sanctum Feature, The Ember Court (tier ?)
  

• Dredger Butler - Sanctum Feature, The Ember Court (tier 2)

• Stony - Sanctum Feature, Transport Network (tier 3)

• Bloodfeaster Spiderling* - Sanctum Feature, The Ember Court (tier 3)
• Brightscale Hatchling* - Sanctum Feature, The Ember Court (tier 3)
• Corpulent Bonetusk* - Sanctum Feature, The Ember Court (tier 3)
• Dusty Sporeflutterer* - Sanctum Feature, The Ember Court (tier 3)
• Pearlwing Heron* - Sanctum Feature, The Ember Court (tier 3)
• Plaguelouse Larva* - Sanctum Feature, The Ember Court (tier 3)
• Sable* - Sanctum Feature, The Ember Court (tier 3)
• Violet Dredwing Pup* - Sanctum Feature, The Ember Court (tier 3)

 

TL;DR - Need to do for Venthyr pets:

• Earn Renown 27
• The Ember Court Tier 2
• The Ember Court Tier 3
• Transport Network Tier 3
• At least Revered with The Ember Court
  

*CLOSED* - My WarcraftPets 10yr Anniversary Giveaway

Giveaway has ended. Keep this post up for for posterity's sake.

WINNERS:
@KerynWeylan - NA
@stormcrowned- EU

Congrats!

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

10 years ago I officially joined the WarcraftPets admin team. To celebrate a decade of volunteering I'm giving away one(1) Gryphon Hatchling code (NA-region) and one(1) Blizzard Store pet (EU-region).

The Gryphon Hatchling battle pet was part of a plushie-pet bundle sold from the Blizzard Store. They've since discontinued it, and it's unknown if/when either will be made available again.

Shadowlands: Battle Pets Details

Consolidating details on Shadowlands battle pets. All info from Beta and is subject to change.

Full list of New Shadowlands battle pets: https://www.warcraftpets.com/wow-pets/new/

Full list of Datamined Shadowlands battle pets: https://www.warcraftpets.com/wow-pets/unlisted/

Total Shadowlands Pets
135

Notes: *For Now* (see this Muffinus Tweet)

Family Breakdown
Dragonkin - 0
Mechanical - 1
Aquatic - 3
Humanoid - 8
Elemental - 12
Magic - 14
Undead - 19
Critter - 22
Beast - 22
Flying - 34 (+1?)

Notes: The question marks indicate the number of pets that are missing/hidden in the Pet Journal but could still be available in the future.

 

Wild Pets
Total: 25

Ardenweald - 6
Bastion - 8
Maldraxxus - 6
Revendreth - 5

 

Polished Pet Charms Needed
5250 PPC
- to buy twenty vendor pets @ 250 each + one item @ 250 for a crafted pet
Note: This value is if you acquire 8 shared Covenant pets only from the Kyrian Covenant, assuming the 3 missing Kyrian vendor pets can be unlocked later and purchased with charms

OR

3250 PPC
- to buy twelve vendor pets @ 250 each + one item @ 250 for a crafted pet
Note: This value is if you acquire 8 shared Covenant pets from any other Covenant other than Kyrian

 

Other Currency Needed
20 Argent Commendation (pre-patch)
99+ Infused Rubies
1000 Sinstone Fragments
25 Malleable Flesh
14000 Reservoir Anima (or 6000 Anima if you acquire eight pets from any other Covenant other than Necrolord)
120 Grateful Offering

Notes: Might need more than 99 Infused Rubies. I haven't been able to confirm, but testing on Beta leads me to believe that Venthyr members will need to buy Hand Crafted Mirror Repair Kit (20 rubies each) to repair broken mirrors for one of the battle pets.

 

Pets with Multiple Appearances
Crawbat (3 colors)
Dredger Butler (4 colors - can only collect 1)
Invertebrate Oil (2 colors)
Iridescent Ooze (3 colors, possible color-changer)
PHA7-YNX (3 colors )

Secret of Jenafur: IT'S OVER

It's done. They've solved it. Well, one person, actually (thank you for saving us Paul!). Jenafur's been found. BFA can finally come to an end. And yet, it feels like a bittersweet end.

Normally, if I don't enjoy a Secret, I simply don't participate. I've yet to obtain Lucid Nightmare or the Crimson Tidestallion. However, both of those involve mount rewards. I'm not a big mount collector, but I *am* a pet collector.

So Jenafur is/was different. I had to be invested in this damn cat. And at first it was interesting. Going from Amara to Crazy Cat Lady's house, eventually to Karazhan. This cat was taking us on an adventure! Then...we went no where for almost a year.

I've no problem with puzzles taking time, but from the start I had a feeling this one would be a struggle for the community. Not only was the reward obviously a battle pet (a not-so-enticing reward for most), BFA wasn't exactly a super popular expansion. I've noticed that most Secrets work due to brute-forcing and numbers. Have enough people trying enough theories at the same time, and someone is bound to come across the solution or part of it. This generally requires a lot of excitement about the Secret though, and a battle pet usually doesn't generate a lot of interest unfortunately.

In addition to lacking in numbers and interest, this puzzle was, to be blunt, implemented poorly. Once inside Karazhan players had an idea of what the next step was, but nothing was clear. It felt disjointed and missing cohesiveness. There weren't any indications if what you just did was the "right" thing or "wrong" thing. Which can make a puzzle VERY frustrating. Players knew what needed to be done, but had no direction on *how* to do it. Food, check. Something to do with music, check. Music staff? Maybe check. But what food, in what order, and where? We ended up at a dead end.

This went on for about a year. During that time there were hints dropped here and there, which initially gave players some direction. But then the hints just felt as if they were restating what we already knew.

There's also rumor/speculation that the Make-A-Wish girl had to "leak" the sheet music associated with this Secret to a friend, who then shared it with others, until it eventually made it to the Secrets community. Without this sheet music, it's possible we wouldn't have the solution today.

Speaking of sheet music, reading over how Paul solved this puzzle... it's just mind boggling to a layperson. I only have *very* basic understanding and knowledge of music, and I somewhat understood the whole food = notes, floor tiles = music staff. How they came to the final solution (which food to use and where to place) still boggles my mind though. So I'm just wondering how the hell someone with ZERO music knowledge was supposed to figure this puzzle out.

I'm also not fond of the fact that we needed external resources to aid in solving this Secret. I much prefer and enjoy puzzles that can be solved by just playing the game. The sheet music and hints felt necessary for this one, which just feels... not great.

I won't go into the whole controversy around the final hint and how it was presented by the girl herself. Let's just say I have many thoughts on it. If you really want to know and we're mutuals, I might discuss it with you. Maybe.

All in all, I'm glad this one is over and done with. It required what felt like a lot of external help, which doesn't feel great.

I feel guilty for saying this, but I really did not enjoy this Secret. Both as a participant and as an observer. Participating felt more than just frustrating, it felt futile. Observing was cringe-worthy at best.

I hope some lessons were learned while the community spent almost a year (with help!) trying to figure this one out, only to have someone that doesn't even play WoW solve it. My hope is that future Secrets are not implemented in this manner. Any "hints" should be readily available in the game, and if the Secret isn't a popular one, the need for many different eyes and minds should be minimized as much as possible. Even a layperson should be able understand/solve it in that type of situation.

Anyway, go get yourself Jenafur. She will emote occasionally, and very rarely turn shadowy and sprout tentacles (pictured above) all while whispering ominous messages to you. At this point I'm on her side. Destroy it all Jenafur, destroy it all.

Shadowlands: Battle Pet Reskins vs. Unique Models

It's been a while since I last posted, eh?

Shadowlands stuff! Finally! There's not a lot of new Pet Battle content (yet), but there sure are a TON of upcoming battle pets. Over 100, last I checked.

I've been compiling a list of pet models for WarcraftPets' graphic artist (to help make it a little easier on her workload), so I figured I'd make a list of Shadowlands pet models that are reused/reskinned vs. unique Shadowlands models. For the curious. Just some small trivia heh.

Here is a list of battle pet models and the number of new pets that will use it (plus an example image of what the model looks like). It's not a full list detailing every single upcoming pet. More like a summary.

At the very end is the number of unique-model pets.  

N'Zoth Assaults - How Many Attempts Per Year?

I was curious how many chances we get at the drops from the 8.3 N'Zoth Invasion content per year, so I created a Google Calendar thing to figure out some estimates. Here are the results.

With the Black Empire Uldum assault starting on the first Tuesday of the year (NA region), and if using only 1 toon:

► Approx. 182 attempts for K'uddly & Corrupted Tentacle

► Approx. 183 days for Wicked Lurker

Can't really figure out how many attempts since it's random whether or not the rare that drops this pet will spawn.

► Approx. 104 OR 105 attempts for Rotbreath & Aqir Tunneler

The number varies slightly because it depends on which Minor Uldum assault starts at the beginning of every other week (Aqir or Amathet). For this year (2020 and includes first few days of 2021) it's roughly 104 attempts.

I'm not listing the Minor Vale assaults since there aren't any pets that drop from those, but if you're curious about other drops from those two events, it's about the same as the Minor Uldum assaults listed above.

For me, this puts a year into some perspective. It may feel long sometimes, but there aren't actually that many days. Life is short. We're prisoners of our own time/making. Existential crisis, yikes?

Anyway, with a low drop rate and only so many chances per year it's no wonder that a pet collector's only options are to either use A LOT of alts for additional attempts per day, or buy/trade the pets. A third option is to just keep playing for however long it takes to see the pet drop. I'm not a statistics major so I can't calculate how long, but Wowhead currently lists the drop rates as follows.

• K'uddly - 2.1% chance
• Corrupted Tentacle - 2.38% chance
• Wicked Lurker - 1.98% chance
• Rotbreath - 2.76% chance
• Aqir Tunneler - 0.97% chance

RNG is RNG though. I received the Wicked Lurker before the Corrupted Tentacle, despite the latter having a higher estimated drop rate. Experiences will vary, of course.

I don't know how I feel about this information. It's kind of grim, to be honest. I'm fortunate that I have time to get multiple alts attempting for the pets, plus my OH who is also able and willing to try for me. But for someone that doesn't have the time and can only use 1 toon... oof. I feel for them. This 8.3 experience is probably not very fun if all they're doing it for is the pets.

At the moment it almost feels as if it's designed with players like myself in mind - those with lots of alts to use. I mean, that's how you fight RNG, right? Just roll the dice more and more? But how do you keep players playing if their army of alts makes (relatively) quick work of the RNG? Just make the events limited on top of the already low drop rate (and random spawn in the case of Wicked Lurker's rare). In other words layered RNG.

I wish there was a better implementation of this type of content. There has to be a compromise somewhere so that both designers and players are content with the results. It feels unnecessarily unfair.