Saturday, February 27, 2010

Not-So-Achieving Achievement

a question came to mind recently: are there currently enough in-game pets that are available to everyone and anyone to meet or even exceed the current pet achievements?

after some research and calculations, short answer: YES!

longer answer:

Friday, February 26, 2010

Thursday, February 25, 2010

The Long Wait

just checked my order status for the wind rider cub and gryphon hatchling. they've been shipped! i'm so excited even though i'm not entirely thrilled about the plushies. like i mentioned in another post, i'm considering giving the stuffed animals away to family or friends. who knows though, i may suddenly become attached once i actually come face to face with the little guys.

my guess for their arrival date is around the second week of march. yea, i chose the super-snail-mail option instead of the overnight delivery. can't blame me, i'm putting myself on a budget!

i'm so anxious, i hope they arrive in a timely manner. i've heard horror stories where blizzard store items were delivered waaa~ay past the due date. while i don't think this is a frequent occurrence, i still can't help but be a little nervous.

my worries won't be settled until plushies are in hand, and codes have been redeemed to the proper character. until then... *chews on lip*

Wednesday, February 24, 2010

Patch 3.3.3 - More New Stuff!

patch 3.3.3 just keeps turning up more and more pet goodies! the newest potential pet found on the PTR is the Celestial Dragon. MMO-Champ has it listed with the summon value of "Essence of Competition", so it's sounding as if it has the potential to be this year's olympic themed pet?

it looks pretty awesome! i just hope i don't have to PVP too hard to get it. >_<

other pet news is that the pet bombling and lil' smoky will no longer be bind on pick up. this means engineering is no longer required to obtain these two pets.

this one is kind of a win/lose in my book. i dropped one of my main professions, spent quite a bit of mats and gold lvl'ing engineering to the appropriate skill level, and after i crafted the pets, i dropped engineering and had to re-lvl my main profession again. all. in. one. day/night. so as you can imagine, i'm slightly disheartened that the two engineering pets will be easy for anyone to pick up after patch 3.3.3 goes live. the "special" quality of these two pets will be somewhat lost.

but for those who are new to pet collecting and/or don't have the drive/ability to pick up engineering just for the companions, this is most definitely a win. you can expect the AH to be flooded with engineering pets after the patch. heh.

still no word on the frigid frostling. it may be one of those datamined pets that blizzard doesn't go live with until months after being discovered. we'll see.

i'm not entirely sure how i should tag this post. the prospect of a new (and cool looking) 2010 olympic pet is definitely a perk, but the changes to the two engineering pets? eh... that one's a toss up for me.

Tuesday, February 23, 2010

Patch 3.3.3 - Holiday Bosses (Cont.)

after reading through the WoW forum post on the topic of the patch 3.3.3 changes to holiday bosses, i've come to the conclusion that there are two distinct sides to the argument as well as two distinct parties or groups rooting for each side.

one side, the side that favors the change, are those who are not part of a well-rounded, stable guild or do not have many friends in-game to help them with instance running.

while on the other side, the side that does not favor the change, are those who are part of a guild and are die-hard collectors of all things vanity.

Patch 3.3.3 - Changes to Holiday Bosses

wow.com has written up an article reporting a clarification on how patch 3.3.3 changes will affect holiday bosses.

i for one, am completely perturbed as to how this change will benefit players, specifically (pet) collectors. unless of course... this change actually means that we will have access to the holiday bosses all year 'round instead of only during a set amount of time..? (this is unlikely though)

anyway, the basics behind the change to seasonal bosses:
- you may only access the boss within the specific dungeon through the dungeon finder tool. using any other method will not allow access to seasonal bosses.

- you will only have one chance per day, per toon to receive vanity items off of seasonal bosses. think of it like random heroics and frost badges; the first holiday boss kill per day will reward you with a "holiday loot bag" that may or may not reward you with a vanity item. note: only the recipient of the loot bag may receive the contents of the loot bag, making "ninja'ing" impossible. (think of the new occulus loot bag)

- you may kill the boss multiple times a day, but only your first kill will reward you with the chance of a vanity item.

- you cannot summon in alts or friends to "farm" seasonal bosses for the vanity items anymore.
this is ridiculous considering the droprate of vanity items such as pets and the length of each seasonal in-game event.

Monday, February 22, 2010

Succumbing to Temptation

i spent $61 (including shipping/handling + tax) on both the Wind Rider Cub and Gryphon Hatchling today. X_x

Key features:
Available for a limited time only

Catch him now before this offer, like the Gryphon Hatchling/Wind Rider Cub, flies away!
yea, that made me "lol". what an effective marketing ploy. make any item a limited offer and you're bound to get an increase of sales for at least the first few weeks or so.

anyway, hopefully they will arrive in the mail within the next couple weeks. my order is still "pending" which can either mean they're flooded with orders or their inventory hasn't actually been stocked with plushies yet. we'll see how long it takes from start to finish.

i must ask myself, though, what's the difference between buying blizzard petstore pets and ebay'ed TCG pet loot cards? how do i justify buying one but not the other?

Pet of the Week - Westfall Chicken

today i'll be reviewing the westfall chicken. i remember this pet being fairly rare pre-bc since it was from a quest that was cleverly "hidden." the only reason i found out about it was after seeing someone in ironforge with the (formally known) prairie chicken, and then doing some research on how to obtain one of my own. it was quite fun spamming the emote at a chicken in westfall while all the lowbies were questing around me. they must have been so confused as to why on earth a druid would waste time playing with chickens. XD

why i love it
my favorite thing about this vanity pet is the way it's obtained. the westfall chicken is another example of how clever and sneaky blizzard can be. but that's ok in my book because i love easter eggs! (and easter... chickens? :P)

what i would change
being one of blizzard's earlier companion creations, this pet doesn't have an on-click vocalization! a mute chicken! the horror! so i would definitely give it a "squawk" or something chicken sounding.

as for idle animation... well maybe it's just me, but i think it would be cute if it periodically laid an egg. whether or not a chick hatched from said egg would be random.

Saturday, February 20, 2010

Feeding My Addiction

just when i thought there would be pet-news downtime, blizzard decides to surprise me with... more possible pets!

mmochamp has datamined 2 pets from the 3.3.3 PTR:
* Frigid Frostling
* Blue Clockwork Rocket Bot
and warcraftpets has announced that currently on the PTR, the blue clockwork rocket bot is a vendor pet in dalaran! that leaves us some room to speculate about the frigid frostling, but that's ok. who doesn't love to play "guess the pet"? :P

i love when they add a vendor pet + an unknown/drop or earned pet at the same time. even those who don't have the time or energy to farm and work for rarer pets get some love too. it's a nice balance for both hardcore collectors and casual collectors.

warcraftpets has also introduced a very interesting prospect that really caught my attention:
"If Blizzard simply replaces TCG pets with Pet Store pets, I'm sure many a pet collector will be very grateful!"
so very true and such a wonderful idea! why on earth didn't i think of this?

if they were to add all the TCG pets to the blizzard petstore, it would make them more widely available to all players (and possibly for less than the ebay prices). since they're supposed to be "rare", i wouldn't hold it against blizzard if they decided to up the price on the TCG pets in the petstore. it would probably still be cheaper than ebay though.

hooray for more pets just over the horizon! i feel i've been revived and renewed :)

Wednesday, February 17, 2010

The Future of Blizzard's TCG

UpperDeck made their official statement about the end of their contract with Blizzard. it's scheduled to conclude by the end of march.

normally this wouldn't bother me all that much since i was never really into the TCG. but this has piqued my interest mainly due to the fact that with UD no longer printing/shipping the cards by the end of march, will the companion pet loot cards suddenly jump in price? if blizzard has not started printing and shipping on their own by the time their contract ends with UD, will the loot cards suddenly become an even rarer commodity?

i wasn't planning on purchasing any loot cards in the near future, however, in light of the possibility of a spike in price for a while, i may consider jumping on the bandwagon a lot earlier to take advantage of the relatively "cheap" prices now.

then again, i suppose it could go the other way and loot card prices could get even cheaper after blizzard begins their own TCG system.

part of me is nervously waiting for another announcement by either blizzard or UD about the printing/shipping status of the TCG once their contract is over.

talk about a collecting addiction, huh? x_x

Pet of the Week - Argent Squire

this week's pet of the week will feature the argent squire. i remember working towards getting this er... "pet". the grind was rough, but it was worth it. now i have a banker, mailbox, and vendor wherever i go!

why i love it
did i mention i have a banker, mailbox, and vendor wherever i go? :) yes, the upgrade was even more tedious to get than the argent squire himself, but i don't know where i'd be without the argent pony bridle. it comes in handy when i'm in the middle of nowhere, bags full, and not another person or mailbox in sight.

the fact that the squire mounts up when you're mounted makes it even better. gotta wonder though, where on earth did he get such a tiny pony? and how is it possible for him to ride bareback like that?!

what i would change
for starters i would lower the cooldown on the mailbox, banker, vendor option, and increase the amount of time that i have to speak with him about whichever option i've already chosen. perhaps 7 minutes for the mailbox, banker, vendor? with a cooldown of 2 hours instead of four? would that be so unreasonable?

another thing i would change is to give him the option of repairing too! gosh, you'd think that since he can visit a vendor he'd be able to find someone to repair my gear too. sure, he'd have to lug my shoulderpads, boots, gloves, etc. around. but isn't that what he's been trained to do? :P

also, the squire being a human boy is less than ideal for my female night elf. wouldn't it be more fitting if my squire were someone from my home city? someone trained and taught the ways of my kind to better assist me should i need the assistance? well, i guess that's just a minor detail.

Monday, February 15, 2010

Petless

how disappointing. looks like the lunar festival will continue to be one of the few companion-less in-game holidays. i can just imagine all the other holidays pointing and laughing at it. poor lunar festival. so left out. even day of the dead which lasts only a couple days has an event specific vanity pet. D:

there hasn't been any word on a winter Olympic themed pet or mount yet either. i'm hoping for a surprise after this week's tuesday maintenance though. we'll have to wait and see.

next in-game holiday will be nobelgarden and then children's week. i'm looking forward to both and the prospect of new vanity pets! especially children's week. i'll be completing my collection by picking up the wolvar pup. yay!

as for nobelgarden.. well we'll see if a new companion is in order for this seasonal event. at the moment, i can't imagine a better fit than the spring rabbit.

pet collecting really is such a strong addiction. whenever there are periods of time where are just no new pets to report on or discover, i feel a heavy sense of withdrawal. i wonder if i'm just weird.

Friday, February 12, 2010

Cataclysm CE Pet

with the news about the gryphon hatchling and the wind rider cub being official blizzard store items, and the toxic wasteling being the new love is in the air festival pet... what's left for the expansion's collector edition companion?

if blizzard chooses to follow in the same line as wratch of the lich king, a suitable companion for the next expansion's collector edition would probably be a whelp from the black dragon flight. or even baby deathwing himself!

when i think of the next expansion, i get an image of molten giants emerging from the cracked and torn landscape. perhaps a baby molten giant would also be a fitting CE pet?

there are really so many mobs/creatures that would go well with a "cataclysmic" expansion, but the biggest question is "am i going to buy the CE version to get the pet?"

my answer would be a hesitant no. i've yet to buy any of the CE so i feel as though all those special pets should be off limits to me. the TCG and blizzard online store bug has already bitten me in the butt, and it's quite frustrating (especially for my wallet). i'd much rather stay away from shelling out even more money if possible. =\

then again... if they come up with a vanity pet just so amazing i cannot pass up, perhaps i can ask great father winter for a CE version of the next expansion :P

Wednesday, February 10, 2010

Oops!

with all the excitement and surprises that came along with this year's love is in the air in game festival, i completely forgot to write up pet of the week! i guess another review of a companion pet will have to wait until next week.

on a side note: my newest hobby is taking the toxic wasteling down to dalaran sewers to "visit" the rats and turtles.

oh and raise your hand if you wish two toxic wastelings would combine like on the rotface encounter to become a bigger ooze! *raises hand*

Money Sinkhole

blizzard and wow.com just announced that soon there will be two new plushies to buy in blizzard's official online store. these plushies will have matching companion pet codes attached to both. a wind rider cub for the horde plush, and a gryphon hatchling for the alliance plush. of course people of either faction can purchase both should they wish to.

there is still some time before the actual release of the two new items, and before blizzard places an official price tag on them, i hope they think carefully and deeply about the path they are taking.

Sunday, February 7, 2010

Warning: Do Not Feed the Wasteling

the toxic wasteling in all its glory!
the "before" picture is the wasteling's size after eating 3 rats.



the "after" picture is its size when full of rats plus a pet biscuit.


thanks to my guildies for participating in these screenshots with me :) note: no humanoids were harmed in the taking of these pictures. lucky for us, the wasteling does not have a taste for people.

Love Is In the Air!

this year's valentine's day seasonal is spectacular and full of lovely surprises.

i adore the newest addition to my vanity pet family. after a few runs, the Toxic Wasteling dropped for us. much love to my guildies who passed for me. thank you so much :)

unlike the disgusting oozeling, the toxic wasteling has a lighter color and has no aura. they are both the same size... at first.

the toxic wasteling is a really fun pet. he'll literally pounce on nearby critters without reserve. his appetite is truly an amazing sight to be seen, as he NEVER stops eating! after 3 critters, he stops growing though. but add a pet biscuit... and giant wasteling is indeed very giant.

i'm ecstatic that blizzard added this pet to live servers. i had lost all hope in ever seeing it since there was little to no news about the wasteling. it's definitely a pet fit for a mad scientist. :)

in other news: it looks as though blizzard has nearly completely revamped the love is in the air in game festival. the new quests are pretty interesting; my favorite being the running goblin. stormwind's new "love boats" are pretty neat as well!

and last but not least, i think all pet collectors can rejoice now that peddlefeet can be bought with 40 tokens. no more waking up at random hours of the night/day in order to combat the RNG gods!

Tuesday, February 2, 2010

Pet of the Week - Baby Blizzard Bear

this week's review is about the baby blizzard bear (and it's also a day late >_<). this pet was handed out to all players who logged in on blizzard's 4th anniversary and is account bound. this means any future characters that i create on my realm will receive this little guy in the mail, courtesy of one of my other alts ;)

the baby blizzard bear's model is a recycled skin from poley.

why i love it
it's a small, furry ball of white fluff! from his oversized paws to his tiny black eyes, the baby blizzard bear is adorable. plus he matches perfectly with the big blizzard bear mount.

what i would change
being a representative for blizzard's anniversary, i would have expected some sort of indication that this vanity pet is entirely unique to blizzard. instead, this companion looks relatively... common. it's behaviors are pretty tame in comparison to some of the other pets.

i would add an animation exclusive to this vanity pet to give it a more exceptional quality. perhaps when idle, it will spontaneously burst into dance (modeled after the druid bear form dance animation)?

with a new (idle) animation, it would balance out its re-used model and become a less common companion. it's cute as it is, but for being such a "rare" 4 year anniversary gift, it's quite... boring.. which is probably why i don't take this pet out very often.
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Perks N Peeves by Quintessence is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.