You Thought *Blank* Was Bad?

pyrite stonetender, you sir are evil. this npc is to cataclysm like old man barlo was to burning crusade, no doubt about it.

it's no wonder that pebble is part of an achievement. it's pure luck if you even see the daily offered more than once a week! at least this companion is guaranteed... eventually. it's just a matter of patience and time before one can complete the achievement. thankfully, the quest isn't difficult or else that would be a double facepalm from collectors all over.

blizzard has found a way around the whole "bugging" dailies technique by putting the rotating dailies on different NPCs. this pretty much ensures that the pebble daily cannot be picked up twice in a row unless the NPC actually offers it two consecutive days. or you're just that. good. and you're lightning fast as soon as dailies reset. i've yet to see it happen though. once it's been rotated out, it's out for the day.

besides waiting for the rare pebble daily to pop up, i've been going at archaeology relentlessly. specifically the tol'vir artifacts. the crawling claw is the last pet that this secondary profession has to offer me, but it too has been elusive.

rng plays a large part of archaeology, and i guess i've used up the majority of my luck. with 28 common tol'vir solves, i'm wondering how many more to go until the companion pops up as an artifact for me to piece together.

to quote coldplay: "Nobody said it was easy, No one ever said it would be this hard."

but on a less emo-note, this has officially become my archaeology theme song. "dig dig dig dig..."

Have a Good One

wishing all, big and small, happy holidays! have a safe and wonderful new year :)


p.s. - unfortunately father winter did not have any new pets under the holiday tree this year, but there is a new toy. ;)

MMO-Champion Giveaways #3

yes, in the spirit of giving, mmo-champion has yet another contest in which pet prizes will be awarded! for this contest the pets are:

- 1 x World of Warcraft® Pet: Lil' Ragnaros
- 1 x World of Warcraft® Pet: Moonkin Hatchling
- 1 x World of Warcraft® Pet: Pandaren Monk
- 1 x World of Warcraft® Pet: Lil' K.T.
- 1 x World of Warcraft® Pet: Lil’ XT

not to mention a whole bunch of other goodies including the TCG mounts, vanity items and other awesome prizes.

this time the goal is to show everyone how awesomely nice you can be. for rules and more info, check out their contest details page here: clickie.

good luck to all those entering!

WarcraftPets Contest

WarcraftPets.com is also having a contest giveaway tomorrow, thursday, december 23 at 1 PM (EST)! the pet prizes are:

- x1 tuskarr kite
- x8 landros' lil' xt

plus a grim campfire. all prizes courtesy of WoWTCG Loot!

to enter the contest, simply login into twitter and follow WarcraftPets. at 1 PM (EST) questions will start popping up and first person to answer correctly wins! contest questions will be posted throughout the day. be sure to include "@WarcraftPets" and your WarcraftPets.com username in your tweet along with your answer so we know who's who. :) one prize per member. good luck and happy holidays!

**update, dcember 23rd: congrats to everyone that won the twitter WarcraftPets contest! i hope you enjoyed the trivia :D

MMO-Champion Giveaways #2

mmo-champion has another contest giveaway! this time the main prizes are mounts, but 4th and 5th place are:

- 4th Place - Companion Pet Pack #1 - World of Warcraft Pet: Lil Ragnaros + World of Warcraft® Pet: Moonkin Hatchling
- 5th Place - Companion Pet Pack #2 - World of Warcraft® Pet: Pandaren Monk + World of Warcraft® Pet: Lil’ XT

all you have to do is write a really good guide. since there are more rules for this contest, head over to mmo-champ for more details.

good luck to anyone entering :D

MMO-Champion Giveaways

mmo-champion is having a "contest" with vanity pet prizes! here's a list of the pets that will be handed out:

- 1 x World of Warcraft® Pet: Lil Ragnaros
- 1 x World of Warcraft® Pet: Moonkin Hatchling
- 1 x World of Warcraft® Pet: Pandaren Monk
- 1 x World of Warcraft® Pet: Lil' K.T.
- 1 x World of Warcraft® Pet: Lil’ XT

plus there's a celestial steed and curse premium account(s) up for grabs.

in order to enter to possibly win, you'll need to use facebook and "like" the mmo-champion facebook page as well as their facebook contest page. winners will be randomly picked on sunday (december 19?).

if you missed it, here's the link to the mmo-champ page with more details: click!

An Early Present

i normally go through highs and lows when it comes to hunting for extra elusive pets. for a few weeks straight i may just go all out and farm for hours at a time each day, and then for the next few weeks take a breather to do something else. well after last week's grind on baradin foxes, i decided to take a small break from them this week. the PVP season just started, as did most school holidays, so i saw the increase of players as a sign to come back to the fox kit at a later date.

instead i put some time and energy into the archaeology pets! i already snagged the fossilized hatchling (first rare that i completed too!), so all that was left was the clockwork gnome and crawling claw. i've maxed out the profession, but still no sign of the claw. i did complete the gnome, though. :D

Baradin Fox Farming

I've spent my fair share of time on tol barad peninsula hunting for the very elusive fox kit, and have come to know the area like the back of my hand. I still haven't gotten my very own baby fox, but nevertheless, I figured I'd make it a little easier on those who haven't already memorized the area. Sharing is caring right? :)



Click on the image above to enlarge.
There are a total of 16 spawn points, and sometimes the foxes will re-spawn right after you've killed one.

Players should be careful when killing foxes just south of cape of lost hope since both the horde and alliance graveyards and rez spots are located there. if you play on a normal/PVE server, then ignore this piece of information. :P

So happy hunting everyone. Keep your spirits up even though I know it can be a real drag to have to endure both a very low drop rate and the potential for harassment and ganking (on PVP servers).

Back to the hunt!

Guild Page... Pet?

meet the guild page. he is one of the first non-combat pets that has a summoning cooldown. did i mention he's the first pet that's a grown freaking man? awkward!


currently i really don't see the point of this pet since he's just a vendor for the guild rewards, and most of the items have yet to be unlocked. not to mention there's a guild vendor conveniently located in stormwind and orgrimmar.

it is nice to have another vendor on hand, though. even if he only hangs around for five minutes and has an EIGHT HOUR summoning cooldown. i'm having trouble understanding the purpose of such a short duration with such a long cooldown. it makes me wonder where he goes for those 8 hours. probably the bar. i guess carrying a guild crest for 5 minutes at a time is hard work...? lol.

oh and ironically the guild page tries to sell you another guild page. it's a pyramid scheme, i tell you!

Success in the Nick of Time

hooray! i managed to get three more pets last night. one fairly early on in the evening, and two just before the server went down.

Winter Veil Soon

winter veil is coming soon and with it a relatively large number of pets to collect. (but not quite as many as the whopping 19 we received upon the cataclysm expansion!)

the biggest question on a pet collector's mind for this holiday season: will there be a new companion under the holiday tree on december 25? (presents from the tree won't be obtainable until the day of christmas unless blizzard has changed their philosophy on this from previous years.)

my hope is yes, there will be a shiny new pet for us to collect. then again, any other expectation from me would be odd, wouldn't it? :P "no, i don't want a pet! i want a new toy!" would be so out of character lol. oh, if that new toy were an item that allowed more than one non-combat pet out at a time, i think i could make an exception. haha but i digress.

speaking of shiny, finding the celestial dragon would be an absolute treat in my humble opinion. it sort of has that wintery, magical feel to it? wowhead is showing that this pet has been updated with its own item, so there is still some hope that this one may pop up sometime in the future for players to collect.

don't hold your breath though. as always, there are many companions that have models, spell IDs, item IDs, and hell, even screenshots, and yet are still unavailable on live servers for whatever reason blizzard sees fit.

although i recognize and know all of this, i'm still hopeful as many other players are too, i'm sure.

what other possible pets could be found underneath father winter's holiday tree this year? there's a long list of companions that have yet to find homes so blizzard is definitely not without ideas or options. let's just hope they pick one for us this year!

Won't Someone Think of the Children?!

dear blizzard,

although children's week 2011 is still a ways away, i'd like to state that i would greatly enjoy having new orphans to show around azeroth as well as new companions to collect from the quests. these activities are always interesting and fun... but only when working properly! :P

i implore you to please check and then double check any potential new quests for worgen/goblin orphans that you may be implementing in the future.

the northrend orphan bug was absolutely devastating for pet collectors who were very eager to give both the curious oracle hatchling and curious wolvar pup a home, only to discover they were unable to do so due to the quest being unrepeatable. (fixing this issue for 2011 would also be much appreciated!)

there's always room in a pet collector's home for more, and we welcome any and all. please don't let something like a miscalculated timer or bug get in the way of our very big hearts!


here's hoping for a bug-free children's week 2011,
quint

ps: could bubbles, little snail, and lizzy be the new pet rewards for children's week 2011? y/n? ;)

It's Not All Sunshine and Rainbows

there's been confirmation of the fox kit drop, so i've been hunting for it over the past couple of days. a total of about 10 hours has gone into the search, but still nothing.

i managed to find an endless amount of griefing in the PVP sense though. player versus player just is not my cup of tea so the prospect of farming for this pet really has me down and out.

i'm not sure what feels worse; my initial reaction when the new holiday dungeon boss system first released or the search for this pet (and ultimate run-ins with ganking and large parties of PVPers.) the former caused and the latter is causing an upset in my pet collecting enthusiasm. i can describe it as a sort of sinking feeling in my gut.

part of me is thankful that blizzard has offered a surprise for collectors, but then again i'm cursing the developers for the specifics of the surprise. the fox kit is bind on pick up. you will encounter some PVP, harassment, ganking, camping, etc. (although i'm not sure if this applies to non-PVP servers, but i wouldn't be surprised if it did since Tol Barad in general was intended to be a PVP area.) the extremely low drop rate and the very limited number of mobs to obtain it from. actually, the latter wouldn't bother me much at all, as i've gone through more than a few grindy searches for pets. however the former two details really compounds it all into a less than enjoyable situation.

some minor changes to how the pet can be acquired would definitely be appreciated, but i'm not really hoping for anything. had the pet been made to be bind on use instead, i would feel less gloomy about it all tbh. or even the ability to fly in the zone to escape some unwanted PVP situations.

this isn't to say i'm giving up. the stubborn side of me will press on despite the pessimism and melancholy that's overcome me. it's just one of those companions that you know you have to have, will suffer through endlessly for, and finally look back on and either see it all as a fond memory or come to despise the pet/situation.

i don't know how long it will take me to get this pet. the PVP really does cut down the efficiency of farming for it. i predict it will be one of the last to be checked off my list. i know my obsession and general compulsion to get the companion will overcome the discouraged state of mind that i'm currently in. perhaps i just need to give it some time.

Slowly But Surely

i've acquired a few more pets since the tiny shale spider, yay! a guildie of mine crafted and mailed me the de-weaponized mechanical companion. many thanks *hearts* :) and i caved and bought the elementium geode for a couple thousand off of the auction house. for some reason i just couldn't wait for that one. it's so awesome looking!

last but not least, i ground out archaeology for about 5-6 hours. it was tough to resist the urge to solve any of the artifacts until i reached 100 skill, at which point i went nuts and solved a bunch. i saved the fossil artifacts for last to solve to ensure that i had the highest possible skill, hoping that on the off chance that the higher your skill, the more likely you'll get a rare artifact to solve. and what do you know! either my plan succeeded or luck was on my side again. i nabbed the fossilized hatchling after i solved my second fossil artifact. since i also saved an entire continent with mainly fossil survey areas, i was able to finish off the hatchling really quickly.

today was my day #1 for the pebble achievement. i learned my lesson from the beta. this time around i'm manually keeping track of how many times i've done the daily since the achievement doesn't tally your completions for you. 9 more times to go! i just hope it's not bugged like it was on the beta. i never received pebble either from an NPC or in the mail. :(

there are still more to collect but those will come with determination, persistence and time. i'm looking forward to all of them! (well.. except maybe the rustberg seagull. even though it doesn't involve direct PVP, there's bound to be some due to the location and nature of the dailies required to get the pet. bleh.)

Another One Possibly Snuck In

fox kit?! comments on wowhead show that the official wow community website has this item listed as being dropped from fox creatures in tol barad peninsula.

no confirmed drop has been reported yet.

the pet is bind on pick up.. if it even exists. will be writing more later, and yes, i am sighing at the prospect of even more PVP.


update: after 4 hours of straight farming, all i've seen are two types of grey vendor trash from the fox creatures on the peninsula. this rumor is looking a bit dismal so far. not even an uncommon item has dropped yet. these foxes must have a teeny tiny loot table, or the chances of finding something other than claws or fangs are extremely low.

i'll have to come back again tomorrow to try some more.

One Down!

i spent a good chunk of tonight just sitting around in jadefang's cave, hoping she would spawn. between doing some cataclysm random dungeons and side quests in and around the caves... it was a very dull night.

nothing came of sitting around and waiting but at about 3 am tonight, i was reminded by my better half to go and check to see if the rarespawn was up. needless to say, i wasn't exactly all that hopeful but part of me (the collector part) couldn't resist the urge to at least try.

what do you know? lady luck was on my side! i'm now a proud owner of the tiny shale spider. the first pet on my list can officially be checked off now, and i can move on to finishing up leveling and gathering up all the other pets. :D

for anyone keeping track (for spawn timer purposes) - jadefang killed 3 AM (PST) on server kil'jaeden, december 8, 2010.

and on a side note with a tinge of sap: the tiny shale spider, whom i probably wouldn't have gotten tonight if it hadn't been for my better half encouraging me to check on jadefang's spawn, is my 143rd pet. totally unintentional. lol. (if you're not familiar with pager code, 143 stands for "i love you.") just something to add to my catalog of pet collecting memories. :)

A Chest Instead of a Spider

i went to visit jadefang today, but unfortunately she wasn't up. after zoning out of a queued instance back to her location, instead of finding a rare mob or no mob, a sturdy treasure chest spawned right in jadefang's spot. within it i found a blue item level 292 item. how very bizarre!

i haven't read of any other spawn point for jadefang yet, so i can only deduce that jadefang and a treasure chest are on possibly alternating spawn timers?

i'm going to continue checking back, but i don't foresee myself getting a hold of jadefang or the tiny shale spider any time soon. lol.

Deathwing's At Your Door

be ready to let him in! for those who ordered a collector's edition of cataclysm (and if you've received it already):

"You can attach a key if it happened to arrive early. It won't grant you access to anything Cataclysm until midnight PST.

(except the CE pet if you got it)" - Bashiok

so congrats! you can be a proud owner of lil' deathwing even before the expansion goes live. :D

right now i'm just counting down the hours before the mad dash to 85 and all the new pets! i have my check list ready as well as a tentative layout and plan of what zones i want to hit and which pets i'm hoping to collect first. the rest is up to blizzard and fate/RNG!

i'll likely be quiet for the next few days or at least until i hit 85. if there are new pets that were never discovered on beta, i'll probably note that and come back to write more about it after i reach level cap.

until then, i wish everyone the best, enjoy the new/old world, and happy collecting!

Showing Some Love

if you haven't visited WarcraftPets recently (as a pet collector, how could you not?! :P), you may be unaware of the site's recent struggle with handling the increased traffic it's gotten ever since patch 4.0.3. website creator and director, brain (also known as breanni), had to recently hire outside help with upgrading and optimizing the site. this was something that would obviously cost extra, especially if it had to be done before next week's expansion release.

it's only been about a day since a donation link was put up on the front news page of the website, yet the community has successfully doubled the amount of donations needed. in fact, the donations exceeded the goal in less than half a day of the initial posting!

it's absolutely heartwarming to see how understanding and giving the pet collecting community is. acts of generosity such as this really makes me take a step back and realize just how grateful i am to be apart of such a supportive, fun, friendly, and dedicated community.

pet collecting is still relatively small when compared to the larger groups in world of warcraft, but this overwhelming act of goodwill shows that we are indeed the most loyal and obsessed dedicated to the cause! ♥

A Plan of Action

cataclysm is less than a week away! it's so exciting yet a little overwhelming at the same time. there will be 17 possible pets to collect in the expansion, NOT including the ones that we really have no information about other than the name and any hidden surprise companions blizzard has in store for us. (also not including the TCG and CE pets)

still, 17 is quite a lot! i really need to sit down and think of my collecting strategy. unlike previous expansions, i'll have a head start since there's quite a bit of information on each of the known companions so far. where, how, etc. before, i just kind of just jumped straight into the deep end and hoped to float.

i'm going to make the most of the readily available information this time around, and write up a priority list for myself. i may have to enlist the help of some friends and/or alts for a few of these crafted pets. hm... that's something i'll have to work out later.

first things first, though. get. to. level. 85!

Stay Cool, Stay Classy

if you are a long-time wow player, you may remember a bug in vanilla that allowed players to summon "multiple" pets at once. it was actually just the player spamming the pet items (companions weren't learned spells back then) over and over again, which made it look like there were many, many vanity pets out at the same time.

well apparently there was a similar version of this bug that came with patch patch 4.0.3. (i believe it's been fixed now with patch 4.0.3a.) it was a much more extreme version of what you could do in vanilla, mind you. to the point of crashing a server, possibly getting suspended and/or banned, etc.

my initial thought when i first heard about it was "lawl, i have 140+ pets... i wonder what it would look like to have them all out at once." i'm sure this is the reaction of many players. sounds like a neat/funny idea, let's try it! however, after some thinking, i've come to the conclusion that it's not as cool as it sounds.

Moonkin Hatchling: A Thought

it clearly states on the PetStore that a horde toon will not be able to receive an alliance moonkin hatchling and vice versa. however, upon closer inspection, when you log into your character to receive the pet, rather than looting the item directly from your mail box, you instead loot a moonkin egg. i'm guessing this is so the moonkin rewarded to you from inside can be properly assigned a faction to match your toon upon obtaining.

but what if your toon were to faction change? would you receive a new moonkin hatchling of the opposite faction? if so, this could potentially mean that a single toon could have both versions at the same time. whether or not you'd be able to use both is something else. note that blizzard only states you can't RECEIVE your opposing faction's hatchling, and the PetStore doesn't mention anything about being able to USE your opposing faction's hatchling (should you somehow get one).

i'm not sure i have the guts (or the extra money lol) to test this all out, but hopefully someone will. maybe not for the sake of testing it, but hopefully by chance they will stumble across the answer and we'll all know one way or the other. :)

WarcraftPets Users: Collection Bug

for users of the WarcraftPets website, please see this post. a bug was discovered revolving around collections and the moonkin hatchlings.

if you are having trouble loading the page, here is the information and fix:

IMPORTANT! If you've already added one of the new Moonkin Hatchlings to your WarcraftPets collection prior to this morning (Tuesday, November 30, 2010), your collection is likely to be bugged.

The bug was caused by an error in our validation routine. The error's been fixed, but any single-character collections that included the Moonkin before our patch will require you to tweak your collection.

How To Fix Your Collection:

1. Go to Update My Collection.
2. Scroll down to your excluded pets (at the very bottom).
3. Find the Moonkin Hatchling you collected.
4. Click the {re-include} link at right.
5. FIXED!

An optional last step is to exclude the alternate version of the Moonkin Hatchling you're unable to collect. Some of you may already have done this. You can do this by clicking {exclude} next to the Moonkin you wish to exclude in your Wanted list, toward the top of the "Update My Collection" page.

admins are aware that the website is painfully slow at times and are working on a resolution. the goal is to have it back up to speed before the expansion is released. we're like addicts, we all need our vanity pet fix! haha. but seriously, thank you for your understanding and patience on this matter. :)

WarcraftPets Notice

if you're noticing some downtime or having difficulty loading pages, the website is undergoing some maintenance at the moment. with the release of new pets and the expansion soon to come, there has been a spiky increase of traffic. thank you for your continued patience and support on this matter!

Brainz... Brainzzz!

am i already performing insane experiments on my poor moonkin hatchling? did it somehow trip and fall and wind up with the most gruesome boo-boo ever?

it's actually the moonkin hatchling playing fetch with a fetch ball. yes, despite having arms and hands and even a beak, this pet is yet another that insists on using its head to pick up the ball. literally. it's quite comical, if not a little disturbing. it looks a lot like my pet managed to get open brain surgery and the surgeons forgot to re-attach its skull. :(

side note: lil' ragnaros, being the all powerful firelord that he is, refuses to play fetch. when attempting to throw a ball, an error will pop up. i guess he's not as amused by trivial little games as my other pets are.

They're Here! - Moonkin Hatchling & Lil' Ragnaros

the moonkin hatchling and lil' ragnaros are now available in the PetStore! remember: the blizzard store is regional, so NA users need to buy the digital downloads from the NA store, while EU users need to use the EU store and so on.

directly from the store:
Moonkin Hatchling -

"Fresh from the nest, the Moonkin Hatchling arrives in your mailbox wide-eyed and ready to explore the world. Featuring unique Horde and Alliance versions, this adorable hatchling occasionally plants flowers at your feet and gladly /dances with any willing partners.

All Alliance characters automatically receive the purple moonkin hatchling and all Horde characters automatically characters receive the brown moonkin hatchling. It is not possible to receive the Horde version of the Moonkin Hatching on an Alliance character or vice versa.

For every Moonkin Hatchling purchased from November 29 through December 31, 2010, Blizzard Entertainment will donate 50% of the $10 purchase price to the Make-A-Wish Foundation®."

Lil' Ragnaros -

"Get your guildmates fired up with Lil' Ragnaros, the mini-elemental lord. Not only can he serve as a cooking fire, but he'll also sporadically ignite nearby critters that wander too close to his burning form. As a being of pure elemental fire, he will even submerge into the world's molten core when you start moving and then reemerge next to you wherever you stop."

much like the pandaren monk sale, the moonkin pet will have half its proceeds go towards charity. both are completely worth the buy and the wait though. :)

Where Are the Moonkins?

despite there only being a couple days left in november, the much anticipated moonkin hatchlings still have not arrived in the blizzard PetStore. could this mean a delayed release for some time in december? or just a very last minute november sale?

this past week was a holiday for most living in the united states, so i suppose it's only natural that blizzard staff would still be in their turkey comas and post-thanksgiving sluggishness. i'm still feeling a bit lazy too. :P

hopefully the hatchlings (and can't forget about lil' ragnaros!) will arrive within the next week. with the expansion just a little over a week away, i'm hoping to see a bunch of little beaks and feathers running alongside players as they begin their adventure to 85. :)

oh and slightly off topic (if you haven't played assassin's creed brotherhood, feel free to skip this): whenever ezio initiates a recruit into full fledged assassin, he says a line in italian. each and every time, there's one word in that he says that sounds very similar to "moonkin." my boyfriend and i can't help but look at each other whenever he says it, repeat "moonkin" and then laugh.

Minor Cataclysm Update

mmo-champion recently posted a list of the cataclysm profession skill levels and corresponding recipes. oddly, they have the new engineering pets, the personal world destroyer and the de-weaponized mechanical companion, listed as requiring 495 engineering skill while wowhead lists both trainable recipes as 475 skill. which one will it be, i wonder.

like i said, minor cataclysm pet update is minor. :P

Murloc Pet Speculation

could it be? i finally... added murky to my collection...? the murloc is a lie, the murloc is a lie, the murloc is a lie! :(

more thoughts on the hardboiled egg "pet" and a screenshot or two behind the break!

White Kitten Is Unchanged

scratch one "missing" pet off the list! even with all the changes to stormwind, lil timmy is still spawning and he is still dutifully selling the white kitten. we can definitely expect him to continue wandering the not-so lonely streets of stormwind while looking for homes for his cats well into the expansion.

oh, and since he knew how hard i've been working for stormwind city, he actually offered me a discount (48 silver at exalted, what a deal!) for the pet but i had to decline. i only have room for one white kitten in my army, so better that this one find a proper home. :)


still don't believe me? feel free to wait at his spawn point for 3 hours or so. he'll show up eventually. :P

WarcraftPets Notice

admins at WarcraftPets.com are aware that the website is/has been slow lately. if you cannot access it or have trouble loading pages, please wait a few moments before trying again. we hope to have this issue resolved after the thanksgiving weekend. thank you for your patience!

Old World Pets

with all the talk about the new pets, there hasn't been much news about azeroth's older pets. this is largely due to the fact that collectors will need to actively spend large amounts of time hunting for them since blizzard isn't going to openly state if and where they've relocated many of the aged companions.

however, there are some rumors about a few of the "missing" pets (note: until there are more reports confirming the following, this information may be inaccurate and/or incomplete):

- hyacinth macaw: possible zone drop in STV.
- razzashi hatchling: possible zone drop in STV.
- black tabby: the murlocs in hillsbrad foothills may have stolen a few of these. or maybe this cat is a zone drop now.
- disgusting oozeling: shifting mireglob in swamp of sorrows may drop the oozing bags. try the worms in silithus too. rule of thumb seems to be any higher level ooze capable of dropping an item lvl 50 oozing bag should have the potential of dropping the disgusting oozeling.
- dark whelpling: the ebon whelps in wetlands is a good place to start looking. some of the whelps in badlands and burning steppes may also drop this one.
- azure whelpling: possible zone drop in winterspring.
- sprite darter hatchling (for alliance): possible zone drop in feralas. (unchanged for horde?)
- emerald whelpling: possibly from the noxious whelps in northern feralas.
- crimson whelpling: possible zone drop in wetlands.

some other pets that i'm still looking for more information on:

- smolderweb hatchling and its quest
- worg pup and its quest

hmm.. are there any other pets that seem to have been displaced after the patch?

if you have first hand experience/confirmation about any changes or updates to other existing pets and their drop locations, feel free to comment below or contact me on warcraftpets.com! a full screenshot of you looting the pet really helps as well!

the more we know as a community, the sooner we can mass our forces and confirm once and for all where these lovelies have wound up post-shattering!

Another Pre-Expansion Pet - Tiny Flamefly

It looks as though another new pet snuck into the patch! The Tiny Flamefly is a quest chain reward obtained from Burning Steppes. This pet is bind on pick up, and its model is a recolored copy of the Firefly.

TLDR - how to obtain the Tiny Flamefly:

step 1 - Head to Thorium Point in Searing Gorge and find the low level quest that sends you to Flamestar Post in Western Burning Steppes. OR you can try heading directly to Flamestar Post.

step 2 - Complete ALL quests from Flamestar Post. Once you've done this, you will be sent to Chiselgrip in Burning Steppes.

step 3 - Complete ALL quests from and associated with Chiselgrip. Once you've done this, you will be sent to either Flame Crest (horde) or Morgan's Vigil (alliance).

step 4 - Complete SEVEN! YUP! (alliance) or Not Fireflies, Flameflies (horde).

step 5 - Profit. :)

notes: Horde who are at war or hated with booty bay will need to raise their reputation with them before being able to complete the second to last quest for the flamefly.

Be careful not to destroy any of the quest items given to you while working on the quest chain as there is a chance you may need them further along the chain and will not be able to get them back later. Specifically the quest items received after starting on the Chiselgrip portion of the quest chain.

To begin the chain (if you are 80), you can pick up a breadcrumb quest from either a major city or from Thorium Point in Searing Gorge. This quest should send you first to Flamestar Post in Western Burning Steppes. Or you can try heading directly to Flamestar Post to see if there are quests that you can pick up without being sent there by another NPC. I haven't tried it yet, but let me know if there are quests readily available even without picking up and turning in the breadcrumb quest. Characters (of higher level) should be able to travel directly to Flamestar Post and pick up the chain from that quest hub.

Eventually you will be sent to the next quest hub in the zone, Chiselgrip. Once all quests have been completed your final destination will be Morgan's Vigil if you are alliance and I'm guessing Flame Crest for horde. An NPC will have a quest for you to capture 7 flameflies. The quest is called SEVEN! YUP! (alliance) and Not Fireflies, Flameflies (horde). Note: according to Kynole in the comments below, horde players will need to raise their reputation if you are hated with Booty Bay. One of the quest chain's NPC, Kibler, is part of the Booty Bay faction.

Upon completion you will be rewarded some gold, a choice between 4 uncommon items, and the flamefly companion. :) enjoy!

Thank you to the awesome users over at WarcraftPets.com for their reports on this pet!

Personal take on this new pet: It's cute and it will match well with the insect buff from an Underbelly Elixir. But! I would have preferred different coloring. Perhaps similar color scheme as Blacksting? In any case, I'm glad my firefly has a friend now! Too bad I still can't have more than one pet out at a time. Oh well, I guess I can just pretend that they're interacting with each other while hidden in my bags... talking about... insect-y... stuff? :P

Three New Family Members

yay for patch day! three new pets are available and ready to join collections. :)

i decided to go for mr. grubbs first since both withers and brazie's sunflower are guaranteed quest rewards.

there are a few reports that mr. grubbs may also be a static drop from the grub mobs in EPL as well as a drop from the hidden stash loot bags (obtainable only after completing the prerequisite quest chain). i haven't tested it out yet, but either method, be ready for the hunt! it shouldn't be quite as difficult as the disgusting oozeling, however, since the hidden stash has a chance to drop from ANY mob found within EPL so long as you have fiona's buff.

one possibility is that mr. grubbs can be obtained through either farming the grub creatures or doing the quest chain for the buff, but maybe the buff will increase your chances? it would make sense since it allows you to pick up the loot bags from ANY mob rather than being able to see mr. grubbs, which probably is only directly looted from carrion and devourer grubs. being able to kill any type of mob, anywhere and finding the pet definitely does give you an advantage over those that can only hope to find the pet straight from a specific type of creature.

i chose to do the quest for fiona's gift and didn't spend very much time farming and looting hidden stashes before i found the pet. perhaps i'll test out straight farming mobs/grubs on another character later this week to see if there's a notable difference.

next was brazie's sunflower. my other half, who loved PvZ, insisted that he help with that quest. so i happily let him take over and he did a splendid and quick job of finishing the quest for me. :P

last but not least, withers. i haven't fully completed the quest chain yet, but i'm enjoying going through new darkshore. it's so streamline and a pleasure to quest through now. i'm saddened that it's forever changed, but at the same time some new scenery keeps things interesting.

Patch 4.0.3a This Week?

mmo-champion's reporting that the shattering will occur this week of november 22nd. so, uh, that means TOMORROW. time to... panic mode?!

the majority of the new pets will very likely NOT be released with patch 4.0.3a. however, there's a high probability that there will be three companions that we may be able to get a start on after deathwing has had his way with azeroth:

- Mr. Grubbs (EPL)
- Brazie's Sunflower (Hillsbrand Foothills)
- Withers (Darkshore)

some info about obtaining each pet behind the cut! oh and my apologies if any of my information is incorrect or inaccurate.

beta =/= live servers, yea? :P

Minor Updates

i've made some minor updates to the cataclysm list of pets. when i say minor, i really mean.. minor. i think blizzard is slowly and surely winding down and getting ready for release. there's still no word on a few of the pets, but hopefully we'll find them lurking within the expansion.

oh and also..




i finally managed to get my hands on the two enchanting recipes/pets on the beta. they're quite large for lanterns and lamps and they WILL fly along with you. when clicked on they make this charming/annoying (depends on what type of in-game noises you like i guess lol) chiming noise. in case you're wondering, the blue one is the enchanted lantern (horde only recipe) while the purple one is the magic lamp (alliance only recipe).

and i know i've made the joke before (it's just such an easy one to make :P)... i love lamp!

Something to Consider

4.0.3a, aka the shattering/sundering, will bring about major world changes. zones will be altered forever as well as quests and items. zg as an instance will be disappearing, as will the items and mounts and reputation held within. the razzashi hatchling, however, will make a come back either sometime after 4.0.3a or in cataclysm.

this is all confirmed news, yes? yes.

but something that i never thought of has been brought up: zones will be changing, which means quests will be changing, which means NEW quests. there are a few pets that are available at lower levels in revamped zones that should be accessible WITHOUT purchasing or installing the expansion. will these quests/companions become available once 4.0.3a hits? reports from the PTR are indicating yes so far.

this means pet collectors may be getting an early treat and may be able to start collecting new companions even before the expansion. i don't have 100% confidence or confirmation that this will be true, so as always... DISCLAIMER DISCLAIMER DISCLAIMER! i stress the "maybe" so don't get your hopes up too high. this is food for thought, though.

even if there's no guarantee, you can bet that i'm definitely going to be checking out the zones post-shattering for the companions that do not require the expansion.

here is a list of the companions that can be obtained from zones that are readily accessible by most players before cataclysm:

- Mr. Grubbs (EPL)
- Brazie's Sunflower (Hillsbrand Foothills)
- Withers (Darkshore)

Just a Silly

another old screenshot found while cleaning up files. probably done out of boredom while hanging out in dalaran.


i honestly don't remember if i was the big cockroach or the small one lol. this screenshots says a lot about what i find amusing, doesn't it? i can't even count how many times i've spent eating a magic eater and then pulling out the corresponding pet just for fun. too bad there isn't a baby basilisk pet to match that shapeshift. :(

No Pet For WoW's 6th Anniversary

the game's 6th anniversary is coming up soon. instead of a pet or a mount, players who log in between november 30th and december 14th will be rewarded with just a feat of strength.

"There isn't a pet planned for this year, no. We plan to reserve this sort of celebratory bonus for the most notable milestones or events in the future." - Daxxarri

this is very disappointing news considering there have been two anniversaries where a companion pet was gifted to players that logged in for the anniversary. one of which doesn't seem like much of a "milestone" (4th anniversary).

this change to gift players with pets for more notable events (i'm guessing blizzard's thinking along the lines of 5th anniversary, 10th, 15th, and so on) is yet another curve ball. the inconsistency only makes players feel somewhat cheated and that something is being taken away from them.

something that was mentioned in the thread linked above is that blizzard has the time to create vanity pets to sell in the PetStore but not a free in-game gift for the celebration of another year of gaming success? that does seem a bit... shady, doesn't it? i'm sure blizzard has its reasons, but this is where i'm reminded of one of my older posts where i discuss pay-to-pet companions and the pros and cons of putting them on sale.

i have very little issue with the sale of vanity items as long as there is a balance that's maintained. the sale of pets is fine as long as the same detail and attention is paid to the companions that are free to obtain within the game. ("free" in the sense that you do not have to spend more than the usual subscription fee for a chance at obtaining it.)

in this situation one could argue that the balance IS being kept due to the large number of companions that will be "freely" available in the expansion. however, on the other hand, it could be said that although the developers do have quite a few planned pets for us in the future, players will still have to spend extra money in order to acquire/access them (paying for the expansion). to most, this does not fall in line with a balance of rl money pets vs free in-game pets.

in general, it just looks bad on blizzard's part no matter how the story is spun. another year of wow's success isn't considered a milestone? many players staying loyal and supporting a company and game for however long isn't noteworthy?

i'm pretty disappointed but that won't stop me from logging in for the game's anniversary. nor will it discourage me from purchasing the PetStore companions once they go on sale. my confidence in blizzard DOES waver in situations like these, but i will give them the benefit of the doubt for now. perhaps i just need more time to get a better view of the bigger picture. or perhaps i'm a blind fool who is being led by what some consider a money-hungry gaming cooperation. time will reveal all.

Patch 4.0.3 Today

**UPDATE: despite mmo-champion's report that deathy has been updated with this patch, he currently does not have his new animations and vocalizations.

the big question: is deathy finally cured? we won't know for sure until servers come back up after today's maintenance. mmo-champion is reporting that deathy should be updated with his new animations and vocalizations with patch 4.0.3. cross your fingers and knock on wood!

if you haven't already seen the preview of a rehabilitated deathy, check out the video. there's no sound unfortunately, but i can assure you he will sound much less like grunty and more like an angry murloc. (as he should since he's yenno, a wannabe deathwing right?) oh, and one last thing... he burps quite a bit. if you play with sound on, better get used to his habit of belching smoke rings!

just to refresh your memory, patch 4.0.3 is NOT the shattering. all zones will not be changing until 4.0.3a. rest assured that although zg will no longer exist as an instance zone after azeroth has made its transformation, the razzashi hatchling will be available in its new home eventually. there have been no other confirmed "missing" pets post-shattering, but if anything comes up you can be bet that i'll be posting about it asap.

another reminder is that the PetStore pets are likely to come out very soon. get your wallets ready if you plan on splurging on the moonkin hatchling(s) and lil' ragnaros! for those who don't feel all that comfortable spending more real money on a game, you can look forward to wow's 6th anniversary gift that should be heading our way near thanksgiving. there's no confirmation that it will be a pet, but we can hope! speaking of thanksgiving... ready for some plump turkey? :)

i hope everyone's ready for the massive flood of companions to collect in the expansion. less than a month to go! :D

Cata Engineering Pets Update

the engineering profession has been updated on the beta and it may take longer to level to the appropriate level to learn the de-weaponized mechanical companion and personal world destroyer. not too challenging, but not quite as simple/easy as it was when i wrote a previous post detailing these two pets.

both trainer learned recipes still require 475 engineering skill, but they have had their mats altered and now require more than just a few bars and bolts. one thing that many will be glad to hear is that the two companions are still bind on use. so start buddying up with your favorite engineer now! or start planning your way to 475 engineering skill if you happen to have the profession on your collector. ;P

Blue and Gold Mini Jouster Updates

in a previous post where i went over the blue mini jouster and gold mini jouster pets, i mentioned that there was no prerequisite in order to start the chain for the companions. however, mount hyjal has been refined and the quests have been updated since then.

you can no longer simply pick up the quests at the shrine of aviana upon entering mount hyjal. instead, you must complete the initial quest chain that's provided to you when you first discover the zone. after completing all quests up to the quest The Voice of Goldrinn (note: you don't actually have to complete this one; if you can pick it up then you are ready to head over to start the jouster chain), the quests at the shrine of aviana will unlock and you'll be able to start working on obtaining a mini jouster.

this information has been updated on the giant cataclysm pet list.

coming soon: will the blue and gold mini jousters fight each other?! are they still engaging in combat with random mobs?! once i finish up this quest chain, i'll have more information on these things. :)

**UPDATE: unfortunately, the gold and blue mini jousters still do not fight each other. also, blizzard has fixed the bug where the pets thought they were players. they no longer engage mobs nor are they flagged for pvp. however, they are still level 80 which is a pretty high level for a non-combat companion pet lol.

A Point of View

views and opinions in this post do not reflect that of warcraftpets.com, and are solely held by the author of this blog.

the thread in which a blue poster confirms that the razzashi hatchling will still be available post-shattering of azeroth is now 10 pages long and is likely to continue to grow.

you would think that the many pages were posts of thankful and grateful responses that this baby raptor will not be permanently going away, but after reading through a few pages, i've found that most are more upset than happy with this news.

there seem to be three major sides to this story: those who took the chance that the hatchling would disappear and put their gold on it, those who feel taking advantage (monetarily) of the pet's potential removal is greedy/wrong therefore those who sought to make a profit "got what they deserved", and those who find it unfair that the pet will make its way back into the game while the mounts from the same zone will not (at this time).

i'm not going to defend or argue any of the above, as each group of believers has their own valid points, but i must voice my disappointment in the general wow community.

The Pugs Take Over

after seeing a tweet from mmo-champion about a certain puppy taking over northshire on the beta, i had to check it out for myself. sure enough, i stumbled onto the most terrifying yet adorable sight ever..


they ranged from normal "pet-size" to medium to medium-large to gigantic. the larger ones had a stacking buff that read: "test grow - 7 days remaining." and yes, all of them are barking nonstop.


the funniest part about all of this is that there is a group of stormwind royal guard that pats right into the mob of perky pugs. i can just imagine what must be going through their minds as they ride through, 'i better not be assigned to poop-duty after this shift.' :P

Razzashi Hatchling Update

a blue posted on the new community forums about an hour ago:

"If you currently have the Razzashi Hatchling item in your inventory, you'll still be able to learn the pet spell at a later point in time. It's not like the pet is disappearing completely; it's just no longer dropping from its usual home in Zul'Gurub.

In fact, I can confirm that the Razzashi Hatchling, being a clever and resilient little reptile, has already found a new home, and will be migrating there shortly after the shattering. ;)" - Lylirra

so fear not collectors. it looks as though the razzashi hatchling will be making a comeback and the raptor hatchling collection will continue to remain intact. :)

random note: i absolutely love days like this where the pet news just keeps coming in like an endless wave haha.

Deathy Crashes the Moonkin Party

with all the talk and updates about the moonkin hatchling, i hope no one forgot about deathy! if you purchased the blizzcon 2010 live stream be sure to check your email. numerous players have started receiving their redeemable code for deathy, the deathwing-wanna-be murloc. i just got mine. :)

this is a very nice surprise to receive deathy a lot sooner than expected! quite frankly, i figured they would be sent out just a little before the expansion release date or after his animations/vocalizations were fixed. i guess the little guy got antsy so blizzard wanted to send him out before the whole lot of them started a murloc rebellion? :P

so yea, deathy is still unfinished and thinks he's grunty, but i adore him regardless. i love the last line of the in-game mail that deathy comes with:

"hey may loathe azeroth with a seething rage that knows no bounds, but he sure loves you!"

The Cuteness Continues

you thought a screenshot of them was cute? well wowhead now has 3D models of the moonkin hatchling and lil' ragnaros on their latest blog post. just try to resist their adorableness!

and i have to admit that i wasn't really all that taken with lil' ragnaros at first, but after seeing his 3D model... i'm suddenly overcome with a desire to cuddle the crap out of the mini-firelord. he thinks he's all big and bad, but he just really needs a hug. :P

**UPDATE: video previews are here! they only feature the three companion's animations. vocalizations will have to come later.

- alliance moonkin hatchling video
- horde moonkin hatchling video
- lil' ragnaros video

Four More Updates Plus One

according to wowhead's cataclysm beta blog, in the upcoming beta build (13277) the icons for tiny flamefly, bubbles, little snail, and lizzy have been changed and updated. this makes me hopeful that they will be prepped and ready to go for cataclysm, but we'll have to wait and see. even some companions with complete spell/item IDs, icons, etc. don't make the final cut and end up being put on hold or unavailable to players altogether. still.. i'm crossing my fingers! there's still no word on how these four companions may be obtained.

also noted on wowhead's recent post is a change to the crawling claw (available in cataclysm through the secondary tradeskill, archaeology). as of the next beta patch, it will be BIND ON ACCOUNT. i think this will be the first player created companion that is BoA. it must be a pretty difficult pet to obtain for blizzard to make it of epic quality and bind on account.

Cuteness Overload

mmo-champion has official blizzard moonkin hatchlingS and lil' ragnaros previews! yup, you read right. hatchlings as in plural. there is a horde version and an alliance version of the baby moonkin.

it's still unknown whether or not there will be two versions of the moonkin hatchling for purchase or if it will be a single item that morphs faction to match whichever character you are currently learning it on. since wowhead has two item IDs for the moonkin hatchling, there's a strong possibility that there will be two separate hatchlings to purchase from the PetStore, but we'll have to wait and see. also, if there are two that you may buy, it's still unknown if you can learn both on a single character or if each one will be faction specific. i certainly hope my alliance druid can have both! she does not discriminate faction when it comes to pets. if she could adopt an argent gruntling, she would in a heartbeat! :)

blizzard will be announcing the release date for these PetStore pets as well as information on which charity the proceeds will be going to in the near future. so we can expect to see these three in the store soon!

all seriousness aside, let me take a moment to.. USE ALL CAPS AND EXCLAIM MY ADORATION FOR HOW CUTE THEY ARE! *ahem* but yes, they are quite the adorable little balls of feathers. i can only imagine what interesting animations they will have. will they do the classic moonkin dance? maybe moonfire critters? one of the images shows the alliance version up in the air which could indicate either a jump or an attempt at flying... though the latter's not very likely since moonkin don't fly! (fatties :P just kidding lol.)

and because i don't want to leave the firelord out, lil' ragnaros in all his mini-glory is looking pretty cool. i'm not sure, but it looks like he doesn't come with the legendary mace, sulfuras, hand of ragnaros. the model seems pretty similar, less impressive than the actual weapon though. well i guess you can't hand out an all powerful elemental lord with all his bells and whistles or you my wind up being his pet instead of the other way around. :P oh and i'll be very surprised if lil' ragnaros doesn't have a 'kill critters on sight' animation lol.

i absolutely cannot wait for these three pets to go on sale. there will be much squee-ing in this household on that day.

Cryptozoic Update

Cryptozoic has stated that:

"The common Loot card will be an alternate skin Lil XT as seen on the Blizzard store. Yes, the common Loot card is now a pet and this will continue with each set moving forward." - source

this is GREAT news for pet collectors if what they are implying is true. starting with the upcoming worldbreaker TCG expansion pack and continuing for every new expansion released thereafter, the common loot card will be a companion pet!

this will likely drive prices down a bit on the new TCG pets, but it may also mean higher availability. even if the pet cards are more accessible, i don't expect to see a bunch of the card game companions walking around azeroth like the flood of sparkle ponies.

on the flip side, a pet in the common slot for each expansion could also mean poorer quality TCG companions due to the demand for a new one every set as well as the less rare quality. we'll just have to wait and see how blizzard handles this change.

Landro's Lil' XT

wowtcgloot.com has confirmed that landro's lil' xt will indeed be a loot card from the upcoming TCG expansion: worldbreaker (releases mid-december). not only will it be available soon, wowtcgloot also states:

- [Landro's Lil' XT] 1/3

"This means for the first time ever there will be a permanent pet in the common loot position in an expansion."

so unlike many of the other TCG redeemable vanity pets, this particular one will be more common and probably less expensive. perhaps this is due to the fact that it's pretty much a copy of an already existing companion (lil' xt) that's available from the official PetStore? it certainly wouldn't make sense to me to make it a rare (and therefore pricier) loot card when you could just buy a very, very similar and likely cheaper version from the PetStore.

landro's lil' xt does have something that lil' xt doesn't have; flavor text!

"Use: A near-perfect, goblin-manufactured knockoff of the Wonderworks original."

it's quite rare to see anything outside of the usual "use: teaches you how to summon this companion" or "right click to summon and dismiss your (insert pet here)" now that all vanity pets are learnable spells.

so in terms of uniqueness, the TCG version of lil' xt does have something over most other pets, even if it's just a semi-renamed version of an existing companion. and who knows? maybe blizzard decided to add some new animation to it or different vocalizations. i could imagine the TCG version falling apart when attempting to imitate lil' xt's animations due to its "knockoff" qualities. how fun would that be? :)

Slowing Down

now that cataclysm is exactly one month away, i've been slowing waaaay down on the beta testing. most of the remaining companions that i have yet to see, test or collect on the beta are the ones that are pretty straight forward and don't really require anything special other than lots of time and energy. so i guess those last few may just have to wait until the live release of cataclysm for their very own screenshots. :P

i'll probably sort out a plan of action and prioritize which pets i'll be going after first in the expansion, as well as hunt down any last minute information on the companions that are still eluding the cataclysm pet list.

and it goes without saying, but i'm still anxiously waiting for the PetStore additions, my very own deathy code to redeem, and the 6th anniversary gift.

Four More?!

there have been quite a few bumps for the collecting community this past year, but we have to also keep in mind the gigantic flood of companions coming this winter and in cataclysm. give and take, ups and downs. can't have the good without the bad. :)

that being said, despite the recent pet peeves, i do feel slightly spoiled with so many pets heading our way, and to top it off... the developers probably have even more companions in mind and planned for the future!

bindar of warcraftpets found four new additions on wowhead's cataclysm site (added november 3, 2010) that have been categorized as companions:

- bubbles (might be a bubble pet? lol. or perhaps a nod to michael jackson's chimp?)
- little snail (a snail critter model does exist, and there was a brief moment when the guild rewards were released that a "pet snail" was datamined, so perhaps we should remain hopeful?)
- lizzy (i'm hoping this one is a baby warp stalker that are currently waddling about on the beta. lizzard... lizzy, it works!)
- tiny flamefly (finally a friend for the firefly?)

these four don't have unique item or spell IDs at the moment, so it's likely they're just placeholders or works in progress (for now). blizzard may add them in cataclysm or they may not. many pets have been discovered and datamined before but not all make the final cut. like many of the other speculated pets, we'll just have to wait and see.

even if there's a huge question mark about these four, i'm quite excited! especially for a possible vanity pet named lizzy. normally gender doesn't really concern me. male, female, other... non-combat pets are non-combat pets and i love them all. however, it would be nice to see a balancing out of the male to female pet ratio.

currently there's really only one other obviously female pet, winter's little helper. all of the other companions have either androgynous names/models or are obviously male, such as mr. chilly or the argent squire and argent gruntling or mr. wiggles and so on. there has yet to be a "mrs." or "ms." anything!

i could just assign a gender to the many non-gender specific pets if it bothers me that much, but it would be nice to see some female companions that were intended to be obviously female along with the male ones being pumped out, yenno? so i'm pretty hopeful for the "lizzy" pet. and yes, i know that "lizzy" may not even be an intended female name/companion, but it's the closest one out of all the pets so far. i'll take what i can get. :P

'Tis the Season to be Collecting

faa lala la laa, lala lalaaaa. oh wait. it's not christmas time yet! well it certainly feels like the holidays with all of the new (and old) companions coming our way.

mmo-champion has datamined two icons for the moonkin hatchling as well as an icon for lil' ragnaros from the most recent beta build. unfortunately, they've also discovered that lil' alexstrasza has been removed.

personally, i'm not all that bothered by the dragon aspect baby being made unavailable (for now) to players. lil' deathwing, i can understand since he's the main focus of this expansion. but other than him (and the onyxian whelping, who isn't really labeled as mini-onyxia herself... although it does behave a lot like momma dragon.. meh details :P), having a mini-dragon aspect as your pet just seemed kind of... odd. it took the mysticism and epic-ness out of the game somewhat. no one's supposed to be able to OWN an all powerful being like a dragon aspect!

anyway, back to the moonkin hatchlings. yes, two icons have been datamined; one horde and one alliance. still no sign of a model for the pet though, but blizzard did mention that it would be available in november so i guess we just need to wait a bit longer.

my biggest question is if there really will be two hatchlings to purchase, and if we'll be able to learn both versions on the same toon, regardless of what faction we play for. or will it be a new type of companion that morphs factions to match the current one you're on? (let's face it, people love their faction switching lol.) we'll see!

more holidays pets to look forward to this month as well as in december:

- plump turkey
- winter's little helper
- father winter's helper
- tiny snowman
- winter reindeer
- and hopefully a new pet under the holiday tree during the winter festival!
- last but not least, possibly a pet to celebrate world of warcraft's 6th anniversary

oh and, uhm, i think there was this thing called an expansion coming out december 7th? something like that? :P

so on top of all of the upcoming holiday pets there will be all new expansion companions to collect! talk about vanity pet collectors scoring big this winter haha. tons of pets to look forward to, and hopefully all goes well and as planned.

Day of the Dud

yes, this calls for the angry tree macro.
much like the northrend orphan quests, it would seem as if the day of the dead quest is similarly bugged. if you completed it last year, the NPCs will not offer it to you this year. what does it matter? this ONE and only quest offered during this 2 day in-game event is the only way to obtain the limited duration macabre marionette. once the holiday is over the pet item will disappear.

this is extremely disappointing. not only was the event bugged last year and many players didn't even receive a marionette before the event was over or had their pet item disappear early, now many of us won't be able to enjoy the marionette this year either.

i was really looking forward to hanging out with a little skeleton, maraca wielding, sombrero friend too.

at least they fixed the issue where your 12 hour costume would disappear once you got onto a flying mount. some sort of consolation i guess... sorta. not really.

hopefully all those who did not complete the quest last year enjoy their macabre marionette this year. treasure it while you can! :(

note: logging and zoning may cause the pet item to disappear earlier than it's supposed to. this was a common issue during last year's day of the dead event. there are already reports from players on the official forums that the issue may not have been resolved for this year's event. so again... treasure the little skeleton while you can!!

Deathy Needs Rehab

an amusing blue post in response to the obviously bugged deathy animations and vocalizations:

For those of you who attended or watched BlizzCon 2010 and claimed a Deathy pet, you may have noticed that he’s acting strange. In fact, he seems to think he’s Grunty the Murloc Marine. This is an unintended consequence of the groupthink from which all murlocs suffer. Deathy will be undergoing an extensive rehabilitation program and should be acting appropriately destructive once his idol, Deathwing, shatters the world in an upcoming patch that will debut prior to the release of World of Warcraft: Cataclysm. - Nethaera

this is not new news for most pet collectors, but it's good to have some official confirmation that deathy will be updated in upcoming patches (4.0.3 and 4.0.3a)!

i wonder what murloc rehabilitation consists of? group therapy, recreational swimming and... fish? :P

Beta Enchanting Pet Recipes Found

as of the most recent beta build, the magic lamp recipe can be purchased from an enchanting vendor in the twilight highlands for 20 hypnotic dust (new enchanting mat).

the vendor, a female draenei named senthii, is located in the starting alliance quest hub (highbank) area, but the zone is phased until you've completed the first set of quests for that area. once the alliance have "won" the small island, the vendors will become visible.

because the twilight highlands is a level 84-85 zone, this means that you will not be able to access these vendors until you've reached a minimum level of 84 to complete the quests for highbank.

the recipe is bind on pick up, however the companion pet created is NOT and therefore can be sold/given away. this is good news for all collectors since the recipes are faction specific, so the only way of obtaining a horde version of this pet if you're alliance would be through the neutral AH and likewise for the alliance one if you're horde.

and last but not least, i'm assuming that the horde equivalent of the alliance starting area in twilight highlands is where the enchanted lantern recipe will be sold, but i haven't confirmed this for myself yet.

well now i know what i'll be doing for the next few days! time to work on getting my enchanter up to level 84 as well as level her enchanting to 525 just so i can get a nifty screenshot of the magic lamp pet. :)

**UPDATE: as suspected, the horde equivalent of the magic lamp, the enchanted lantern recipe, can be purchased from a male blood elf NPC named fallanos within dragonmaw port in twilight highlands. much like the alliance version of this starting quest hub in the zone, you need to complete the first set of quests in order to be phased in properly and gain access to the vendor.

New TCG Pet Confirmed

wowtcgloot.com has found confirmation that landro's lil' xt will indeed be a new companion pet loot card found within the upcoming TCG expansion pack, worldbreaker. a screenshot of what the NPC, landro, has to offer was shown at blizzcon with the pet as well as a couple other items listed.

the only thing left to confirm is the appearance of this new pet. since the tooltip states: "A near-perfect, goblin-manufactured knockoff of the Wonderworks original" it's very likely that it will just be a model copy of the already existing lil' xt, but we'll see.

love him or hate him, it looks like copies of XT-002 Deconstructor will be doubling in numbers amongst the collecting community. that sneaky raid boss!

Pebble

i finally completed the achievement rock lover on the beta, however i think it's bugged at the moment. despite reloading and logging, i did not receive pebble as a reward for completing the achievement. i already submitted feedback on this issue, so it should be fixed prior to cataclysm being released, but here i was hoping that i would have a cute screenshot of my very own pebble for this write up. :( oh well.

how to obtain pebble is pretty straight forward, so here are just some updated tips:

Day of the Dead 2010

the in-game halloween festivities are coming to a close soon, and then the short two day in-game celebration of day of the dead will begin! it will be interesting to see if an actual companion pet will be released with this year's day of the dead.

last year's event was heavily bugged which was frustrating. many collectors were upset that they were unable to enjoy the company of the on use companion, the macabre marionette, because of the bug and therefore had no other opportunity to play with the pet due to the short duration of the event. what came as the biggest shock and disappointment for pet collectors was when it was discovered that the marionette wasn't a true vanity pet and would disappear once the in-game holiday was over.

hopefully the day of the dead glitches have been resolved in time for this year's version. that, and i'm hoping for an actual companion pet version of the macabre marionette! but i won't hold my breath :P

Because a Moose Wasn't Enough

breanni, site creator and owner of WarcraftPets.com, had the privilege of touring blizzard headquarters this past blizzcon weekend and even got to briefly speak with the infamous ghostcrawler about vanity pets!

some exciting things mentioned:

- baby seahorse pet (NYI - may or may not be released after cataclysm)
- renaming vanity pets in the same fashion that hunters can rename their pets (something for the faaaaar future, but not completely out of the question)

there you have it. ghostcrawler promised a moose. now add to that a baby seahorse pet and the ability to rename vanity pets. JUST KIDDING! :P

while there's no actual confirmation on when or even if the above will actually happen/be released, at least blizzard is considering it.

i absolutely can't wait to see if these ideas will pan out or if they will remain on the back burner indefinitely. i'm hoping for the former, but i understand that there are probably more pressing issues to address before something as whimsical as a feature to rename your companion pet is added into the game. plus this gives me plenty of time to come up with over 100 names to give to all my companions. :P

Pet Pathing

ever since patch 4.0.1, i've noticed pets having some trouble following their owners. not just vanity pets, but hunter pets, warlock pets, and any guardian or summoned creature. they seem to get stuck at certain points such as doorways, ramps, and other transitional areas where they had no problem walking through before. it's almost as if a "no pet" sign was placed and they dare not disobey lol.

since i haven't really been outside of dalaran lately, i can't say if this happens everywhere, but i do notice it occurring repeatedly within dalaran. specifically in the alliance inn, around the dalaran fountain, and within dalaran sewers. my companions just can't get past an invisible line and in the end i'm either forced to move out of range which despawns them or i have to dismiss and resummon them on the "safe" side.

other times they will do their best to make their way to me by doing a giant loop or lap around the area, as if there's something blocking them from taking the most direct route to me. my toxic wasteling felt the need to take an extra long run around the outer area to follow me around the dalaran fountain today.

it's pretty strange. or perhaps i just never noticed it before? my gut feeling says it's more of the former than the latter though. i never had any trouble coaxing a pet into the inn before, but ever since the patch... whether i'm going into the inn or heading out, they just seem to want to hang out in the doorway.

hopefully this will be resolved in the next patch or in the expansion. azeroth has always been such a pet friendly place, it would be a shame if companions were suddenly shunned and discriminated! :P

Awaiting Deathy

since i wasn't able to make it to blizzcon this year, i had to make do with the internet live stream. actually, it was actually quite pleasant to be able to watch nearly all the panels from the comfort of my own home. haha. but i do regret being unable to meet up with some guildies as well as the warcraftpets crew. :( hopefully next year.

another downside is that i'll have to wait a while longer before i can finally claim a deathy of my own. at the moment i hear his vocalizations are bugged and he's a bit grunty-ish. that should be updated and fixed with the next patch, though.

there's also an interesting youtube video of deathy's (possible) soon to come animations. i'm not too sure how accurate the video is, though. i missed the blizzcon art panel, but apparently there was a preview during that segment? rumor has it that it's pretty awesome. but i'll just have to be patient and wait. 6 - 8 weeks isn't that long... is it? haha. we'll see how long i can hold out before i start anxiously ripping out hair. :P

NEW Charity Pet!

moonkin hatchling coming in november!

alright, now that i've had some time to settle down and gather my thoughts, yes! michael morhaime announced at the opening ceremony of blizzcon that the moonkin hatchling will be available for purchase at the official PetStore in november. also, either part or all of the proceeds from this new companion will go to a (yet to be named) nonprofit charity in the same fashion as the pandaren monk.

speaking of which...

over 1.1 million dollars was donated to the make a wish foundation through pandaren monk purchases! so not only did many of us receive a new awesome addition to our collection, we were part of that 1.1 million dollar cause for a greater good. it's really heartwarming to think of it that way. :)

i'm so happy to see blizzard continuing this trend of donations to nonprofit charities through outlets such as vanity items and sales. collectors, while a small portion of the total in-game wow community, will really go that extra mile for something desired to complete a collection. this can be utilized for good or for evil. *queue the sinister villain theme music* however, blizzard's recognition of our overly zealous nature for all things vanity, and channeling some of that energy towards a beneficial entity such as the make a wish foundation is considered "good" in my book *queue the heroic 'saves the day' theme music* kudos to blizzard on this one!

and just because i can... doesn't it just make you swell with pride to be apart of an in-game community who gets a special announcement during the opening ceremony of blizzcon? :P just kidding, just kidding haha. but seriously, collectors are awesome. :)

Land Shark

i was on the beta trying for the rustberg seagull (again) and while attempting to complete one of the "kill this guy" dailies, guess what i discovered? a level 85 elite shark named tank. but this is no ordinary shark. he's got over 100k hp AND he can swim (uh.. walk? flop?) on land!

i saw him swimming around northern tol barad and thought, 'i should be safe here just on the edge of the water. at worst he may agro onto me and then evade bug.'

how wrong i was.

this badass shark literally swam up onto the beach, and when i proceeded to run he followed me further inland! it was quite a sight to see a gigantic elite shark named tank swimming on land while chomping my tiny druid. needless to say i died but i was too amused to care.

what was the point of this post again? oh yea. rustberg seagull. i'm probably undergeared or these dailies are meant to be done in a group, but wow i feel as though i'm beating my head against the wall for this companion! the dailies are quite tough since the mobs hit pretty hard, have a lot of hp, and have such a quick respawn time. when the expansion goes live, the rustberg seagull may just have to wait the longest before i get around to working for him.

anyway next time i'll have to post some screenshots of mr. tank and his on-land prowess. hmm... if an elite shark can make it up onto land, does that mean pet collectors can finally hope to see the baby shark pet that was datamined pre-wotlk? :P

Only Time Will Tell

i wonder if the headless horseman mount droprate was increased this year. i've seen quite a few since the in-game halloween festival started, and more players seem to be looting it from their pumpkin loot bags.

if its droprate was indeed increased, hopefully next year's midsummer fire festival's frigid frostling gets the same treatment. it would mean that blizzard did hear collector's pleas and cries, and that pet collectors just happened to be this past year's guinea pigs for the new holiday loot system. it would be unfortunate if that were truly the case, but at the same time it's commendable that the pet collecting community handled it so well imo. :) hopefully we got through to blizzard and our concerns, ideas, and suggestions were seriously considered and maybe even implemented for the holidays to come.

am i completely at ease and confident in the next new holiday boss pet? not quite, no. the anxiety that droprates were not or will not be adjusted is still there, as well as the usual stress that comes with the desire for a limited time pet. but seeing so many receive the headless horseman mount this year does give me hope that things will work out for collectors. if we're willing to compromise maybe blizzard will be too. things are always better when both sides are willing and able to cooperate rather than fight each other on every point.

anyway, i wish those going for the sinister squashling good luck! remember, you can obtain it by trick or treating at an innkeeper and by looting it from a pumpkin loot bag (received after your first headless horseman kill each day). two ways to get the pet, double the chances!

Guild Herald and... Moonkin Pet?!

mmo-champion has found a possible upcoming beta build (13202). some changes were made on how the guild herald is obtained:

- Profit Sharing now requires 100,000 gold, up from 50,000 gold. Now rewards the Guild Herald companion pet.

- Saving For A Rainy Day now requires 200,000 gold, up from 100,000 gold. No longer rewards the Guild Herald companion pet.

oh and did i mention...

- Moonkin Hatchling - Right Click to summon or dismiss a Moonkin Hatchling.

*_* yes, you read that right. a moonkin hatchling. if i didn't know better, i'd think 'extremely late april fool's joke? or.. an extremely early one?'

no other information on this pet yet, but you can be sure i'll be stalking all the beta databases and the beta itself in an attempt to find out more!

Excited Yet?

oh blizzard, why do you tease me so? during my usual routine of checking up on the remaining cataclysm pets that there is still very little information on, i came across other unmentioned and unknown companion items and spells on wowhead, mmo-champion, and even the official wowarmory.

some of these items and spells were ones that i've seen before, such as the baby shark. if you remember pre-wotlk, this little one was datamined from test servers but never released with the live version of the expansion. (with good reason. poor guy doesn't have an on-land survival suit yet!)

along with older unreleased pets, there are some new ones that have yet to be confirmed to be even potential future companions. they could be Game Master only pets, things blizzard developers are just toying around with or working on, or teasers for vanity pet obsessed people like me. :P

i'm really eager to find out more, but part of me is also anticipating some surprise releases in cataclysm. maybe one of these miscellaneous pets will end up being a vendor pet added in at the very last minute? or a quest reward? a world drop? every once in a while, even someone as detail oriented, meticulous, and inflexible like me enjoys a neat curve ball.

nothing can truly be confirmed yet, so more waiting and more testing, i suppose. still.. it's quite enthralling to see how many semi-confirmed companions there are, and then add to that list the unconfirmed pets. there are just so many!

it can seem overwhelming, but once you break it down, find out all the details and necessary information needed to collect each one, things start to seem clearer. anxiety, while never really fully removed, turns into excitement, and that's when you know you're ready to take on the task of collecting them all.

cataclysm is sure looking like it's going to be a pet collector's dream expansion!

I Love Lamp

both the enchanting formulas for the enchanted lantern and magic lamp pets now require 525 skill (previously 500 skill). the materials needed to craft the two companions have also been updated on wowhead.

how the recipes are obtained is still unknown, but wowhead and mmo-champion are still showing both of them as faction specific. the magic lamp for alliance, and the enchanted lantern for horde.

and if you're wondering about the title of this post, no i'm not in love with alliance or the alliance version. it's from the movie 'anchorman' with will ferrell. it's late and i'm all silly with so many pet updates! :P

Whelplings in Cataclysm

in response to an inquiry about the future of the whelp companions (azure, crimson, emerald, and dark), a blue states:

"We're in the process of finding new homes for each of these whelps. While we've not settled on where just yet, it looks like we'll be able to keep them as non-combat companions.

This is subject to change, of course, but the house-hunting appears to be going well. (We'll keep you updated should our relocation plans change.)" - Lylirra

just to be on the safe side though, i would still recommend keeping the whelplings closer to the top of your "to-get" priority list (with the razzashi hatchling as #1 of course). but for now, breathe a sigh of relief because this is great news for collectors.

thank you blizzard, for keeping us updated and letting us know sooner rather than later!

Cataclysm Engineering Pets!

after being unable to train engineering for a while due to the stormwind trainer being bugged (or maybe he just doesn't like my haircut), i received a tip from verissi (thank you!) to head to outlands and try the engineering trainer located there.

well what do you know? i finally managed to train engineering!

that's not even the best news. i can't even contain my excitement, and i must keep reminding myself that this IS still beta so things could change but...




do you see what i see? the de-weaponized mechanical companion and the personal world destroyer are NOT bind on pick up as of beta build 13189! *insert nonsensical fits of joy here*

Pebble & Tiny Shale Spider Updates

**update - oh and the colossal gyreworm will "eat" you if you get too close to it now, so be wary when visiting the crumbling depths!

in a previous post about the tiny shale spider i mentioned that 7 therazane dailies are offered each day. 5 are constants while the remaining 2 dailies are from a group of dailies that are on rotation.

i've found a new daily that i previously did not see in rotation (i did see it as a quest though), so there may be more than 4 dailies in rotation.

i mention this because with more dailies that are possibly rotated in and out, the chances of getting both the pebble daily and the tiny shale spider daily are lowered even more than previously thought.