NDA Lifted

mmo-champ announced that blizzard has officially started the cataclysm closed beta testing! everyone knows what this means, right? the NDA has been lifted!

"The Tester Agreement (NDA) has been lifted. Lots of stuff has changed since the testing originally started so there are a lot of new screenshots to take to show all of the updates." - Bornakk

in the coming days and weeks i'll be posting any news of cataclysm companion pets that i can find, including some screenshots. i'm very eager to see what everyone else has discovered on the beta :D

pet of the week will have to be put on hold for now, but with all the hub-bub about the frigid frostling, scorchling, the new (and terrible) loot bag system, and now the NDA being lifted... i think there's going to be enough material to write about for a few months at the very least. heh.

oh and the "rumored" non-combat pet 'withers'? consider it un-rumored. whether or not blizzard will release it come expansion, we'll just have to wait and see.

more on withers and any other new pets in the hours/days to come. stay tuned!

Frost Lord Log: Day 9

Frost Lord Log: Day 9
- frigid frostling. now let's never do that ever again. EVER.

Frost Lord Log: Day 8

Frost Lord Log: Day 8
- never thought i'd say this as a pet collector, but i hope they DON'T add more holiday pets. not as long as this system is around. no frigid frostling.

Frost Lord Log: Day 7

Frost Lord Log: Day 7
- OMG GUESS WHAT?! .... still no frigid frostling.

Frost Lord Log: Day 6

Frost Lord Log: Day 6
- nearly the half way point. still no frigid frostling.

(to quote a friend: "this really is just one big 'fuck you!' to collectors, huh?")

Frost Lord Log: Day 5

Frost Lord Log: Day 5
- not even the damn frostscythe. no frigid frostling.

RNG

i was thinking about RNG and when it's fun for collectors and when it's not. much of this post stems from my sentiment that blizzard is failing to see how hard collectors are willing to work for their companions, and instead is putting us through the hassle and pains of suffering through RNG with only a short amount of time to obtain a pet.

in some cases RNG can be fun or at the very least an interesting aspect of the collecting business. for example: grinding on mobs and wondering when that special item will drop. will it be on the next kill? how about the next one? maybe just one more! or if you just happen to feel going out and trying your luck and surprise, a new friend for you. for situations like these, RNG is pretty acceptable. while your chances and drop rates may vary from high to low, persistence and determination make it guaranteed that you will receive it eventually and in your time. the collector is in control here.

under different circumstances, RNG is more of a stress factor/pain than it is an enjoyable factor of the game. seasonal pets for example. the big word here being "seasonal"; available only for a limited amount of time each year. since there's only a small window to obtain any companions for the holiday, there's a lot of pressure to get the pet as quickly as possible. however with RNG AND a time limit standing in the way, even the most persistent, dedicated and determined collector may be screwed out of their ultimate goal. the collector has no control here.

Frost Lord Log: Day 4

Frost Lord Log: Day 4
- it's really hard to not get your hopes up each run. no frigid frostling.

Pet of the Week - Pengu

this week's pet review is of pengu, the kalu'ak penguin. as soon as i heard this would be a purchasable pet (provided that you have the correct reputation with the kalu'ak faction), i began the rep grind for him. it wasn't too difficult to reach exalted since there are repeatable dailies that just take some time to get to.

why i love it
i absolutely adore his penguin run. when i'm bored i pull out pengu, run around and watch him chase after me with his cute waddle.

another aspect of this companion that i love is when you target him and do /sexy, he may sometimes do a penguin slide! it's not a guaranteed emote like other pets, so there are times when i'm just sitting around dalaran spamming /sexy with pengu out. i'm sure i've annoyed quite a few people just to get him to do his slide. XD

what i would change
when wotlk first came out pengu was THE penguin pet, but unlike his (smaller) brother mr. chilly, pengu had red glossy eyes which made him seem a bit demonic and evil. i loved those eyes! it really made him unique when standing next to the other penguin pet. color me sad when i found out blizzard had plans to exorcise pengu. :( wish they hadn't and i wish they'd change him back.

Frost Lord Log: Day 3

Frost Lord Log: Day 3
- does ahune have pockets? no frigid frostling.

Blue Post Addresses Our Blues

"As is evident by now, Ahune’s Scorchling pet of yesteryear has been replaced with a new Frigid Frostling, but the Scorchling might just make an appearance elsewhere in the future. ;)" - Zarhym

"But as I said in this case, the Scorchling will return elsewhere along with some friends representing the remaining elements." - Zarhym

well that's good news for pet collectors. blizzard hasn't forgotten about us!

unless... they add the future "elemental" pets to the Blizzard PetStore. then we have an entirely different issue.

*insert 'dot dot dot' here* :\

Things Get Hot Hot Hot

talk about sparking a fire within the pet collecting community:

"I'm afraid that the Scorchling does not appear to be available this year, folks. I cannot say for certain whether or not it will be made available in the future; however, we encourage you to share your thoughts on the Suggestions forum if you would like to see the Scorched Stone be obtainable in some other way." - source

due to its massively low drop rate previous years, many collectors were looking forward to hunting for the elusive scorchling pet this midsummer fire festival. there have been a few reports from players that they or their friends have witnessed or had the fiery companion still drop from ahune and/or the new satchel, but a blue has yet to confirm that maybe they were mistaken in their initial response and the scorchling is just an extremely low low low drop for 2010.

so the only "official" information that we have currently is the scorchling will not be available to players this year. sadness all around and a very poor decision/planning on blizzard's part.

the new seasonal boss dungeon system is also causing quite a ripple in the collecting community. i have yet to see a "this is a great idea!" comment over at warcraftpets.com or anywhere else for that matter. perhaps i just need to give it more time and wait to see how high (or low) of a drop rate the frigid frostling is from the satchel. it is, after all, only the second day of the in-game event.

initial reports suggest that the companion has about a 1 in 20 drop rate (5%), but hopefully that number will increase as the holiday progresses. i haven't done the math nor do i excel at calculating percentages, so i asked a friend of mine to give me an estimate of my chances for the new companion this year.

"sounds like about a 60%-67% chance for the entire event. you have an 'ok' chance of getting it."

while this doesn't exactly soothe my fears of not receiving the frigid frostling, it's some comfort... i guess.

Frost Lord Log: Day 2

Frost Lord Log: Day 2
- RNG is not fun. no frigid frostling.

Frost Lord Log: Day 1

i was inspired by a guildie's "bird log" while he was farming for the raven lord mount, so i've decided to start up a 14 day "frost lord log" (although my title doesn't sound as cool as his lol).

so without further ado..

Frost Lord Log: Day 1
- it's cold. no frigid frostling.

"Cold" News

mmo-champ reports that there will be a new midsummer fire festival companion:

- frigid frostling

it will drop from the new satchel of chilled goods obtained only once per day (first lord ahune kill each day). and yes, it's bind on pick up.

AHHHH!! *insert excitement yet disappointment here*

while i'm glad there's finally a new elemental pet to keep the scorchling company, i'm very anxious and uneasy about how high of a drop rate this new companion will be. i can only hope and pray that blizzard will be kind to us pet collectors. :(

reading through the wowhead comments on the frigid frostling, it seems as if this pet will make it snow on random players! how neat is that? i can't wait to see it in action with my own eyes.

again, best of luck everyone! i'll be knocking on wood, crossing my fingers and toes, and doing some sort of voodoo dance/magic for the RNG gods in hopes that i'll get the new frigid frostling before the end of this year's midsummer fire festival.

"Hot" News

the much anticipated midsummer fire festival is nearly upon us! this holiday brings with it the spirit of summer (purchasable for 350 burning blossoms) and scorchling (rare drop from lord ahune) companion pets. you can bet that i'll be checking out the festival to see if there are any new pets for this year.

also, the (less) awaited new holiday boss dungeon system will also be accompanying this year's in-game summer holiday. this is significant for pet collectors because as far as we know, the midsummer fire festival holiday boss is the only source for the scorchling companion.

recap on how the new holiday boss system will work:

Jumble of Updates

since i couldn't find the time to write up small posts for each little topic, i decided to just lump everything together into one post. ready for some randomness?! (ok, well coming from a pet blog, it can't be THAT random can it? lol.)

1.) back in april i mentioned a non-profit auction being held for the the Palos Verdes Peninsula Unified School District (PVPUSD). the ending and winning bid was $6,700.00! i hope they made good use of that donation, and i hope the winner enjoys their new non-combat companions plus other goodies.

2.) despite my interest in the thor mini-pet (available with purchase of the collector's edition of starcraft 2), my indecision got the better of me. as far as i know, most places have stopped taking pre-orders for the CE version. blizzard can only print so many of these, so pre-ordering them was bound to have only a short duration. well, i guess now all i can do is hope that the companion pet will not be connected to the battle.net account that the CE SC2 game is connected to. maybe then we'll see some decently priced thor pets up on ebay? i can only hope!

3.) and finally:

"Some of you guys are coming from the angle that players should take responsibility for not playing more than they want to. I agree with that of course, but I also think the game design should not be something that puts that kind of pressure on you. We don't want to make a game full of traps or temptations that you should have to resist. It's more fun, I think, if what the game asks of you is reasonable." - ghostcrawler

keep in mind when reading the rest of this post that this quote has been TAKEN OUT OF CONTEXT, and he is referring more to raiding than anything else.

Digging for Pets

"Many of the archaeology items are stored in your journal, not your bags, so inventory space shouldn't be a big problem. While many of the artifacts are only there for rewards, the rare finds run the gamut from unique toys to usable weapons to special pets." - ghostcrawler

archaeology will be a new secondary profession in cataclysm, so while it won't be a major or mandatory profession, i'll definitely be picking it up just to see what sort of "special pets" the devs have in store for us.

i can think of a few possible archaeology companions that would fit along the titan lore (i'm hoping that we get to see some new models instead of reskinned, sized-down, currently implemented creature models):

- miniature stone watchers
- miniature golems
- baby rock elementals

ok ok, so my imagination is limited to stone/earthy vanity pet at the moment, but who knows what other types we'll be able to unearth with the new profession!

my biggest question and concern is the rate at which we can discover the "rare" archaeology vanity pets and whether or not they will be profession specific or if they will be bind on use.

like i've mentioned before, i'm ok with grinding/farming for companions. it's time consuming and tedious work, but it feels so rewarding once you've got your little friend at the end. i'm wondering if archaeology will follow the same lines as world drop pets, or will there be specific qualifications that need to be met before being able to discover a "rare find" (besides the obvious skill level).

also yet to be seen is whether or not these pets will require you to have archaeology or can you simply wait until one goes on sale on the AH? (as a pet collector, why would you wait though?! :P) since this is a secondary profession, it's not absolutely vital or necessary for a party/raid/guild. those who don't have the time to level something optional or wish to just skip it altogether are free to do so, but i have a feeling that there will be some clamor of being left out if the vanity companions are profession specific.

hopefully we'll get more details on archaeology pets as the release of cataclysm draws closer and closer. some previews would be especially exciting!

Pet of the Week - Lil' K.T.

lil' k.t. was one of the first pets to be sold exclusively through blizzard's official online PetStore. he was gifted to me the first day blizzard announced the sale. needless to say i was ecstatic! :) and very grateful of course.

why i love it
the quality of this pet is just amazing. the detailed model, the animations, and the vocalizations. PLUS this pet interacts with the environment. lil' k.t. definitely satisfies my sadistic side. whenever i see his little frost bolt flying towards a critter, i can't help but cackle slightly myself.

my absolute favorite part about this companion? i love the way his head will randomly detach and do a full 360 spin while separated from his body. it's a subtle animation but it's a pretty unique one!

what i would change
being such a new pet and one that people must pay real life money to get it, he's a very well-rounded pet. i can't seem to think of anything i'd change at this time.

the price is cheaper than the TCG pets which makes it a steal, but because it does involve real money and not everyone can afford or will want to spend real money for lil' k.t., his "rarity" in game will still be pretty high. i would have preferred it if part of the proceeds from the sale of this pet went to more non-profit charities, but oh well. it's still a very satisfying vanity pet!

Warcraftpets.com Trivia Contest

WarcraftPets.com is having yet another contest! this time it's a trivia contest with TCG prizes. much like their previous contest you don't have to be a member of their website to participate (awesome but it's even more awesome if you are) and it doesn't require any fancy skill such as being the next picaso or shakespeare (YAY! oh but you do need a brain, one with good memory preferably :P).

since i'm such a stalker of the website, i've already filled out a trivia form and submitted it. 14 out of 15 correct! so CLOSE! i'm dying to know which question i got wrong and i'm ready to /headdesk because i just have a feeling it was one of the "DUH how could you not know that" questions. x_x well, i guess i have to wait until next week to find out. it's going to be bugging me until then.

i'm very doubtful i'll make it into the super elite group that got the most questions right since there sure are some hardcore pet collecting veterans out there (*shakes a fist at that one question*), but i'll keep my fingers and toes crossed.

reading over all the trivia questions really made me nostalgic. i had to think back pretty far to when pet collecting wasn't as big. all those memories between then and now, it was like watching a beautiful flower bloom. i couldn't help but smile at some of the questions. ahh, maybe i'm just a softy who has too many sentimental investments in this game/obsession. :P

well, good luck to everyone participating in the contest. i'm going to go knock on wood and try to do some voodoo dance or something in hopes that i at least make it to the random prize drawing! (and to chew my brain out over which question i might have gotten wrong lol.)

Argh

this week's extended maintenance really threw me off. i guess i'll be putting off writing up pet of the week until next week.

maybe blizzard will lift the NDA between now and then and we'll get to see some cataclysm goodies?! (one can only hope ^^ lol)

until next time, i leave you with this:

Pet of the Week - Dark Whelpling

the dark whelpling was one of the first in-game companion pet gifts that i received back in the day when pets were less sought after. not only was this pet rare, its uniqueness made it extremely pricey on the auction house too. so you can imagine my excitement and surprise upon seeing this little baby in my mailbox!

why i love it
my absolute favorite thing about the dark whelpling and all the whelplings in general is their awkward mid-flight spin. it almost looks like they're trying to chase their tails!

what i would change
i would add an animation to the whelplings. nothing fancy and i'd want to keep them unique from the onyxian whelpling, though. maybe have the dark whelpling yawn and upon doing so a small puff of fire (instead of a "deep breath") comes out of its mouth.

other than that, i wouldn't change it. oh, a small model upgrade would be cool since it does have a sort of boxy/pixel look at certain angles.