Tuesday, November 30, 2010

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. :)

Monday, November 29, 2010

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. :)

Sunday, November 28, 2010

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.

Friday, November 26, 2010

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

Thursday, November 25, 2010

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!

Wednesday, November 24, 2010

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!

Tuesday, November 23, 2010

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.

Monday, November 22, 2010

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!

Friday, November 19, 2010

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)

Thursday, November 18, 2010

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. :(

Tuesday, November 16, 2010

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

Friday, November 12, 2010

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.

Thursday, November 11, 2010

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.

Wednesday, November 10, 2010

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

Tuesday, November 9, 2010

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.

Monday, November 8, 2010

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? :)

Sunday, November 7, 2010

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.

Thursday, November 4, 2010

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

Wednesday, November 3, 2010

'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.

Monday, November 1, 2010

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!!
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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.