Possible Blizzcon 2011 Pet

there's a new 4.2 PTR build and mmo-champion found a... murkablo? apparently it's a diablo-themed murloc pet, and quite possibly this year's blizzcon goodie.

then again, much like mini-thor was for SC2, this pet could very well be a diablo 3 collector's edition pet that can be attached to your battle.net account and used within WoW.

we'll have to wait and see!

here's a sneak peak from mmo-champion of what murkablo will look like.

i'll be honest, i haven't played diablo (except for the demos while at blizzcon) so i can't even fathom what murkablo's idle animations might be. i just hope they're awesome and will be ready in time for release unlike deathy... who was a very mixed up murloc and thought he was a grunty for a while. :P

ps: i know it's supposed to be read as "murk-ablo" like "di-ablo" is pronounced, but for some reason i can't stop saying "murk-a-blo" lol.

Bugs Begone

i banish thee back to whence you came! er.. or something like that. (i was never good at roleplay lol)

in any case, if you haven't been keeping up with my new twitter (*gasp* i'm a twittererer... uh, twitty? or is it twit? haha :P), i've been continuing with my testing of the new dailies on the PTR.

the initial dailies haven't been giving me any problems so far, but the newest ones that i've unlocked... well... let's just say if blizzard were handing out bottles of bug spray, players would need quite a few cans to get through some of those dailies. x_x

as noted in my accessing the 4.2 hyjal vendors post, after completing half of phase 2, you unlock more dailies that sort of chain from the previous ones. meaning, you must complete one set of dailies to open up a second chain of dailies and so forth. so yes, you will unlock more dailies after turning in 150 marks to either the shadow wardens or druids of the talon, but you won't be able to access them each day unless you complete the initial set of dailies first (each day). then again, who wouldn't do the first set if there are still a ton of marks to grind out?

anyway, think of it like a quest chain within a quest chain. that's the best way i can sum it up. it sounds complicated now, but once you're actually doing it, it's pretty linear and hard to miss.

for now, though, i've gone as far as i can go with the chain within the chain of dailies, so i'm just going to have to wait for a new PTR build to fix the bugs.

oh and just in case you haven't already figured out... FIRE BAD. VERY, VERY BAD. i recommend making that a mantra in preparation for the new daily zone in 4.2. :P

Accessing the 4.2 Hyjal Pet Vendors

Since the source of the Crimson Lasher and Hyjal Bear Cub has been confirmed by MMO-Champion now, I figured I'd start a post on the long (and possibly tedious road) to gaining access to the vendors that will sell the companions.

The following has been observed while on the PTR, but keep in mind the numbers and process could change before patch 4.2 goes live.


Total time required before being able to purchase the pets:

- about one month

Total number of marks of the world tree required:

- 570 marks

- Phase 1: 20 marks

- Phase 2 & 2.5: a total of 300 marks (150 marks for Shadow Wardens, 150 marks for Druids of the Talon)

- Phase 3 and on: a total of 250 marks (125 marks for Filling the Moonwell, 125 marks for Calling the Ancients) + another set of 125 marks for Additional Armaments if you desire a chance at the Searing Scorchling

Number of dailies and marks that can be earned per day/phase
Prerequisite: Complete the lvl 80 Hyjal quest chain up to and including Aessina's Miracle. After doing so, you can pick up the breadcrumb quest from a Stormwind or Orgrimmar Call Board that will lead you to Mount Hyjal. Note that you must be level 85 to start the new questing and daily hub.

Phase 1: 20 marks needed to proceed to phase 2

- initial quests grant 12 marks, need 8 more from dailies

- 3 dailies per day

- 4 marks total per day

Transition quest(s): Leyara oriented quests

Phase 2: 150 marks needed to proceed to phase 3 (Shadow Wardens), 150 marks needed to proceed to phase 3 (Druids of the Talon)

- transition quests grant 15 marks, need 285 more from dailies

- tip: be sure to head back to the Sanctuary of Malorne after completing the new dailies at Malfurion's Breach on the first day of entering the portal. There should be another quest that awards more marks.

- 4 dailies per day (MOUNT HYJAL area)

- 6 marks total per day

- 4 dailies per day (MALFURION'S BREACH area)

- 8 marks total per day

NOTE: At this point players may choose which sub-faction to turn in their first 150 marks to (Shadow Wardens or Druids of the Talon). Choosing one or the other will unlock a different set of dailies to complete, however, both daily chains should award the same total number of marks.

- tip: To take full advantage of the dailies, turn in the 150 to either Druids of the Talon or the Shadow Wardens as soon as you are able to. This will unlock even more dailies that will award even more marks each day.

Phase 2.5: turn in 150 marks to Druids of the Talon or Shadow Wardens, leaving 150 marks still needed for the other faction

- 25 marks total per day (includes new dailies + dailies from phase 2)

- all dailies from phase 2 are still available and still award the same number of marks

- NOTE: To access the new unlocked dailies, you must turn in 150 marks to either Druids of the Talon or the Shadow Wardens. You must also complete the dailies from phase 2 (at least MALFURION'S BREACH area dailies) to advance the daily chain into the newer area

- tip: If you choose Druids of the Talon, don't forget to do the escort quest (Need... Water... Badly...) that's found in the underground cave system. It will award 5 marks as well as unlock a daily. The NPC that offers the escort quest is at the very end of the cave system, just follow the path all the way down and you should see an exclamation mark on your mini-map.

If you choose Shadow Wardons, be sure to kill a Druid of the Flame. Once dead, the NPC will spawn a side quest that awards 5 marks as well as unlock a daily.

Phase 3: 125 marks needed for Filling the Moonwell (Crimson Lasher), 125 marks needed for Calling the Ancients (Hyjal Bear Cub), and 125 marks needed for Additional Armaments (must complete to access the vendor that has a chance to yield the Searing Scorchling from his cache)

- 15 dailies available total per day

- 26 marks total per day

Phase 3.5 and onward: turning in each set of 125 marks will unlock a vendor and more dailies/marks!

- completing Calling the Ancients unlocks a new daily that awards 3 marks per day

- unlocks the vendor for the Hyjal Bear Cub

- completing Additional Armaments unlocks 1 new daily that awards 2 marks total per day

- completing Filling the Moonwell unlocks a quest (no daily) that awards a one time lump sum of 10 marks

- unlocks the vendor for the Crimson Lasher

Upon completion of phase 2/2.5, phase 3 will unlock "new" dailies however they are not really new. They are instead part of the other branch of dailies (Druids of the Talon daily chain vs. Shadow Warden daily chain). In phase 3 you can only complete one group of dailies or the other, not both. Both sets of dailies should award the same number of marks total per day. Whether or not one is "easier" is up to each individual player to decide. You can try either chain during phase 3 each daily reset and decide for yourself! :)

At the very end, once all quests have been turned in and the storyline has been completed, you should earn about 30 marks (more or less) per day. Just enough to buy Zen'vorka's Cache for a chance at the Searing Scorchling!

Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong with any of the above information and/or let me know more details about this lengthy quest chain!

4.2 Vendor Pets

word along the grapevine is that the crimson lasher and hyjal bear cub will be purchasable vendor pets after unlocking some of the new NPCs in the mount hyjal/molten front quests.

atm i can't confirm this since i'm still pretty far away from the necessary number of marks of the world tree to unlock anything, and although wowhead and mmo-champion are both listing the NPCs that probably sell the two pets, neither site is listing the items that the NPCs will sell.

but it's not far fetched at all that these two will come from the new area/NPCs, so i'll just go ahead and update my list of new 4.2 pets with the information. if it changes i'll just edit it.

from what i gather, you'll need a total of 570 marks of the world tree to unlock the two vendors that sell the pet.

- 20 marks for phase 1
- a total of 300 marks for phase 2 (150 marks for shadow wardens, 150 marks for druids of the talon)
- and a total of 250 marks for phase 3 (125 marks for each of the vendor quests)

both the crimson lasher and hyjal bear cub will go for 1200g each.

hopefully wowhead and mmo-champion will update their databases soon so i don't have to go back and change anything. :P

thanks to all those that contacted me with the details on these two pets. :)

UPDATE: mmo-champion now has the vendors + what they will sell listed on their site. no confirmed prices yet, but i think it's safe to say the two pets will either go for a ridiculous amount of gold or even more marks of the world tree.

Jouster Questions

i'm only about halfway through the new jousting achievement on the PTR, but i'm hoping someone who's further along or has completed it can fill me in on the details about the 'unbeatable?' pterodactyl: beaten achievement reward.

- is the chirping box bind on pick up?
- is the jouster pet found inside the box bind on pick up?

stuff i should probably test: whether or not the new jousting daily is available for those who haven't completed the egg wave quest chain. i highly doubt it, but it wouldn't hurt to check it out. :)

UPDATE: just tested it out. yes, you have to complete at least the quest egg wave before the new jousting daily unlocks.

The Lil' Legendary Pet

since pets from achievements is the biggest topic lately, i decided to check up on the achievement for lil' tarecgosa while on the PTR.

correct me if i'm wrong, but the way blizzard initially presented this companion was... misleading?

the actual achievement on the PTR says that the wielder of the new legendary must only be of honored reputation with the guild for the guild to unlock the pet.

that. is. it.

the way blizzard made it sound when first announcing this reward was that only the guild that earned/created the staff would receive the companion. however, the achievement seems to imply that any guild, regardless if they assisted in the staff's creation or not, can unlock the pet so long as they recruit a player with the legendary and said player reaches an honored reputation with that new guild.

if the latter is true, then this is quite possibly the worst way for blizzard to implement a pet reward. not only will it devalue and cheapen the companion, but it will also give the owner of the new caster dps weapon an opportunity to take advantage of pet collectors/guilds who wish to unlock the pet.

My Pretties From the PTR

brilliant kaliri reward for menagerie.


celestial dragon reward for littlest pet shop.
i can't wait to acquire these beauties on live servers! even my friend who's not interested in companions was remarking how extraordinary the celestial dragon is.

some details: both are flying pets, but so far only the celestial dragon has an on click vocalization and idle animation atm.

the celestial dragon idles about in that position while flying, but when on the ground, the baby dragon has a similar idle animation as previewed on wowhead.

the brilliant kaliri almost makes me wish my main were a hunter so i could tame its larger counterpart and have an entire family. oh well. :P

United Nations Achievement Update

along with the WONDERFUL news of the updated pet achievement rewards, it looks as though the united nations achievement may also be getting slightly revamped.

rather than just stating "raise 55 reputations to exalted" like it currently does, a new united nations achievement ID can be found on wowhead's PTR site.

this new version lists all(?) possible reputations; a whopping total of 80. this may indicate better tracking of exalted reputations and which ones have been fulfilled.

my hope is that this means that the achievement will FINALLY be fixed in 4.2, and i'll finally be able to purchase my very own dark phoenix hatchling. i'll be keeping my fingers and toes crossed.

Updated Achievement Rewards, Hooray!

blizzard's feeling generous for 4.2, eh?!

latest PTR build notes from mmo-champion:

- littlest pet shop now rewards celestial dragon (previously awarded nuts' acorn)
- menagerie now rewards brilliant kaliri (previously awarded magical pet biscuit)
- petting zoo now rewards nuts' acorn (previously awarded magical pet biscuit)

talk about a curve ball. did. not. see. that one. coming. it's a good thing, i promise! *insert massive amounts of squeeing and confetti throwing here*

it's good to finally see the celestial dragon will soon be available to players. it was datamined quite a while ago but never made it past that stage. i'm absolutely thrilled that blizzard finally decided where/when to release it.

i'm also very eager to find out what the brilliant kaliri will look like! the original kaliri creature found in outlands was a bit dull imo (although the ones found in the blade's edge mountains and terokkar forest were pretty colorful), so i'm hoping a "brilliant" version will mean a gorgeously colored bird.

UPDATE: wowhead has a 3D model of the celestial dragon. make sure your flash and/or java are up-to-date and go check out this little guys' neat idle animation. you'll be starry-eyed, i'm sure. (lame joke is lame lol)

Get Your Lances Ready

so far, so good. :D

two consecutive days of the jousting daily; that's good news! the chances of this daily being available to complete everyday is looking very good.

if it's true, then it should only take 10 days to complete the achievement, receive a chirping box, and acquire the jouster companion that you did not initially choose the first time around.

i hope everyone's ready for some "flap flap flap" lol. there's going to be a whole bunch of lance waving after 4.2 comes out.

now if only i could get my blue mini jouster to fight another player's jouster... then it will be a real jousting party!

Forgetful Me

i completely forgot about the new achievement coming in 4.2, the 'unbeatable?' pterodactyl: BEATEN.

all this time while waiting for the new hyjal and molten front dailies to reset, i could have also been doing the 10 dailies required to complete this achievement and see what's inside the box! eh, well there wasn't really any indication that it was ready to be tested, and when i initially logged onto the PTR the jousting daily wasn't even available yet. but this is just me making excuses, huh? :P

well, now i've started after reading a comment on wowhead about the chirping box reward does indeed awarding players with the jouster they did not pick the first time around. it would be very good news for all pet collectors if this is true and goes live with 4.2!

but i must confirm this for myself, damnit. so hopefully in 9 days i'll have my answer for my own eyes. some things i'd like to find out:

- what's in the box!
- is the daily available every day? or does the NPC offer the specific daily necessary (vigilance on wings) along with a varying number of other rotating dailies?
- will it take just 10 days? or will it take longer?

ahhh, so much waiting in between dailies!

To The Molten Front

i finished phase 1 of the hyjal dailies a couple days ago and now i'm working my way through phase 2. i'm not sure, but i think once i've collected a total of 300 marks and then some, i'll be able to unlock the vendors that sell the crimson lasher and hyjal bear cub.

needless to say... i've got a while to go. lol.

anyway, i'm keeping track of how many dailies are completable per day and the total number of marks you can collect each day. i'll probably post it all once i've finished all the phases. that is... if i can do it before the PTR is shut down and 4.2 is released. lol :P

I Be Punting Turtles

no, this post isn't about animal cruelty. there actually is a daily where you need to punt baby turtles into the water to save them. haha :P

i started on the PTR about a week behind everyone else, and i also was a bit late joining in on the new hyjal/dailies fun. but i'm going. lol. slow, but going.

on the upside, because i started a little later, i seem to have missed most of the bugs in the quests and zones. the only real issue that i've noticed so far was my insane FPS drop while on the thrall quest (in firelands portion), but i guess that's to be expected since it's technically a new-ish area and all.

anyway, i digress! since it's highly likely the crimson lasher and hyjal bear cub will be sold or found within hyjal, i'm currently working on getting enough marks of the world tree to unlock more of the hyjal NPCs and area. (if you haven't noticed already, the fire lasher spell was renamed to crimson lasher to match the item found in a previous PTR build. for some reason though, the hover over tooltip still reads fire lasher even though it takes you to the crimson lasher page... bah, details :P)

this is mainly for my reference for each phase, since there's really no better way to gather information than by seeing it first hand for yourself!

the first "unlocking" seems to cost 20 marks. there are 3 dailies per day that award a total of 4 marks per day. the initial quests to unlock the dailies will also award a total of 12, so you'll only need two more days before the first phase is completed.

from what i gather from other people, you'll need a total of some 300ish marks to unlock a certain number of NPCs/areas/more dailies/etc. it sounds daunting, but i don't think it'll be that bad. if it's for pets, i'll do it! honestly, the grind isn't so bad. it's the waiting in between each day that's the toughest. the daily reset couldn't be any slower! Q_Q

Just Call Me Chef Quintessence

quintessence, gourmet pet food chef! it has a nice ring to it lol.

a feedback post was made on the official PTR forums about the 100 and 125 achievement rewards. an interesting idea was suggested, and i'm totally in love with it!

[Magical Pet Biscuit Oven]

Use: Creates a Magical Pet Biscuit.

Cooldown: 24 hours.

how awesome would that be if we could create our own (bind on pick up) pet biscuits? a recipe to craft our own biscuits would be another way for players to cook their own biscuits, but i'm leaning towards an item with a cooldown on it mainly because i know some value the original papa hummel's old-fashioned pet biscuits quite a bit and have spent real life money to acquire them. most of us understand the disappointment that's caused when something you've cherished and put extra time, effort, or money into suddenly becomes tomorrow's vendor trash, right? it's never easy to see others receive something so easily that you actually had to work your butt off for.

i think the oven, with its cooldown that can be adjusted higher or lower by developers, would be a pretty good compromise. it would give players who can't buy the TCG loot cards access to the pet biscuits, but at a cost. not only will they have to collect a certain number of pets, the oven will also have a long cooldown. this should still make papa hummel's version a much more desirable and sought after item. everyone gets a chance, but everyone pays a price.

rather than awarding it for the 100 or 125 achievement, though, i suggest that it should be the reward for the 175 or 200 achievement. some may consider waiting that long for a cooldown or collecting that many pets is too extreme, but you have to remember that these pet biscuits aren't supposed to be a common occurrence. hell, i'm still clinging onto my biscuits that i snagged from a loot card because i don't want to waste them.

anyway, that's just my two cents. definitely check out the feedback post on the pet biscuit rewards. keep the discussion constructive, productive, mature and polite though. i'd love it if developers actually took us seriously and who knows? maybe we'll see some version of the oven or pet biscuit recipe in a future patch.

Some 4.2 Clues

while going through a routine check up on wowhead's PTR site, i discovered a new item: crimson lasher. there's no trainable spell attached to this item yet, but i'm pretty sure that this item will teach the fire lasher companion that was datamined from an earlier PTR build. if not, then it may be another new pet. the similarities between the item and the spell make it likely that they are one in the same, though.

another thing i noticed was how wowhead's PTR site categorized the creepy crate. when doing a search specifically for this... pet... it lists its source as a level 10(?) quest, the creepy crate. that's as far as this road leads atm, though. i'll be keeping my eye on this one for future updates.

speaking of crates and eyes...

mmo-champion's database has some rather intriguing creepy crate-related spells. it's starting to sound like this pet will have an interesting idle animation.

also found on mmo-champion's database, some feline familiar spells. even one that suggests that it might have a broom attachment? flying kitty, anyone?

i don't know about anyone else, but i love the mystery and the chase of new pets and information surrounding them! playing pet detective can be pretty fun. :P

Nuts Knocks You Out!

the image above is faint and might be hard to make out, but what you're seeing is the result of a crazy little squirrel. yes, the new 150 pet achievement reward is indeed a squirrel! and he's nuts!

after patching, i logged onto the PTR to find nuts' acorn waiting for me in the mail sent by breanni herself. this companion is indeed a little squirrel, as many have speculated. he'll innocently wash his face and idle about... until he decides to hurl an acorn at your head! or any nearby head for that matter lol. he even had the nerve to throw nuts at the royal stormwind guard. there's even an awesome *thunk* noise when the acorn lands on its intended target!

note: while the animation looks like it stuns the target, the animation doesn't actually prevent or hinder movement.

i'm so excited to see this companion and i can't wait to acquire him once patch 4.2 goes live. of course, i have to remind myself that this is the PTR, things could change between now and when the patch is implemented, and not to get my hopes up too high, blah blah blah.

but i can't help myself! *bounces* perhaps this pet has started to rub off of me... and i too, am going... nuts. har har :P

4.2 Pet Achievement(s)

since i don't want this to get buried within my other rambles, repost of the update in my previous post!

mmo-champion has datamined another change to the pet-collecting achievements in the latest PTR build!

- 100 pets (petting zoo) - awards a magical pet biscuit (same as papa hummel's old-fashioned pet biscuit)

- 125 pets (menagerie) - awards a magical pet biscuit (same as papa hummel's old-fashioned pet biscuit)

- 150 pets (littlest pet shop) - nuts' acorn (i'm guessing most likely a squirrel pet)

the above isn't fully reflected on wowhead's ptr site yet, and mmo-champion has it mixed up on the list, but the tooltips should be accurate.

also, it hasn't been confirmed yet, but there's another new achievement that MIGHT award a pet:

- complete the 'vigilance on wings' daily quest in mount hyjal 10 times. (the 'unbeatable?' pterodactyl: BEATEN.) - awards a chirping box

i say "might" because so far the chirping box doesn't have a trainable spell attached to it (yet?) and that's as far as the tooltip goes. let's hope that blizzard turns it into a trainable item and we'll finally be able to receive a second jouster (maybe?) or even a new bird-like companion. i mean, it's a box! and it's chirping for a reason, right?

I'm On a Boat

or a horse. or a pig. no wait, i'm on the 4.2 PTR! finally!

after some errors, a few hours of fixing said errors, and then a few more hours of updating, i can finally start testing and previewing 4.2 content. hooray!

first thing that i observed on the PTR... two separate in-game mails from breanni! apparently both the newest 100 and 125 pet collecting achievements now have rewards attached to them (although wowhead does not reflect this atm).

for each of the above achievements, breanni seems to be mailing out one (1) pet biscuit with a note of encouragement to keep collecting.

note: the only achievement that i can confirm 100% has a reward attached to it on the PTR is the 125 pets achievement. since the achievement interface doesn't allow me to view the tiers below the highest earned, i can't actually see if the 100 pet achievement says that it specifically awards a pet biscuit as well. however, since i received two separate mails, each containing one biscuit, my best guess is that both 100 and 125 will award a biscuit upon completion.

it's not a pet or a title as many have requested for, but it's still better than nothing at all. plus it will be a nice treat for those who do no have access to the TCG loot card or item. :)

UPDATE: mmo-champion has datamined another change to the pet-collecting achievements in the latest PTR build!

- 100 pets (petting zoo) - awards a Magical Pet Biscuit (same as papa hummel's old-fashioned pet biscuit)

- 125 pets (menagerie) - awards a Magical Pet Biscuit (same as papa hummel's old-fashioned pet biscuit)

- 150 pets (littlest pet shop) - Nuts' Acorn (i'm guessing most likely a squirrel pet)

the above isn't fully reflected on wowhead's ptr site yet, and mmo-champion has it mixed up on the list, but the tooltips should be accurate.

PTR 4.2 Updates

mmo-champion found a... creepy crate (bind on pick up)? that one's going to be interesting if it goes live!

the "legendary" pet was also updated and renamed to lil' tarecgosa, although this change has not been reflected on wowhead's ptr site yet.

2011 Murkimus Reminder

to clarify things, blizzard has given us official dates to remember for those entering into this year's special arena tournament.

only games played between june 8, 2011 and july 4, 2011 will count towards the 50 games necessary to be eligible for the pet, murkimus. so mark your calendars and keep an eye on the date!

More Thoughts On CtA

as a fellow officer of my guild once said, "the dead horse, stop beating it."

except the call to arms satchel of exotic mysteries is something that i just can't seem to let go of. perhaps it's because it's so new? or maybe it's due to the mind boggling lack of... sense... in which the companions were placed into the loot bag.

i mean, compare them with the mounts where mainly rare dungeon mounts were added (plus the addition of two extra non-five-man mounts). pets? a whole host of them from nearly all categories were piled into the satchel of exotic mysteries, and it's something i'm still having trouble wrapping my head around.

Moonkin Hatchling Raises $800,000

blizzard recently released how much the moonkin hatchling sales raised for the make-a-wish foundation. $800,000! this is heartwarming news and it makes me look forward to the announcement of how much was raised from the cenarion hatchling sales.

blizzard has a video of the make-a-wish announcement, as well as a few clips of a day spent with some of the make-a-wish children and their families.

go blizzard and world of warcraft/pet collecting community! :)

4.2 PTR - So Soon!

gosh, it feels like just yesterday i was making posts about 4.1!

mmo-champion and wowhead both have news from the PTR for 4.2. four new pets have been discovered:

- feline familiar (bind on pick up)
- fire lasher (bind on use)
- hyjal bear cub (bind on pick up)
- dragonwrath whelpling (bind to battle.net account)

wowhead is reporting that the last one, the whelpling, will be the guild reward upon completion of the new legendary weapon.

it's not 100% clear where the other three will come from, but the name of the hyjal bear cub is probably a strong indication that it will be from hyjal or near/around that area. there is currently a quest involving the little bear cubs, so it's likely that this companion will either be the very same creatures involved in that quest or very similar to them.

the fire lasher sounds like it will be from the new daily quest zone, featured in 4.2 but we will have to wait and see.

the feline familiar... well anyone's guess is as good as mine on this one!

UPDATE: wowhead has neat 3D models of what might be the guardian cub and feline familiar(s)!

Insert Sparta-Themed Title Here

har har :P

but yes, it's that time of year again. the 2011 arena registration is now open for north american residents. the EU registration should be opened shortly. this special event will award eligible players with the murloc pet, murkimus the gladiator. the tournament will officially begin on may 10, 2011 and run until july 4, 2011.

to receive the pet, you will need to do the following:

- have an active world of warcraft subscription (must be upgraded to cataclysm status)
- register and pay the arena fee ($20.00 per person)
- create a team of 3 players (including yourself)
- participate in at least 50 rated 3v3 matches

some things to note:

- you must play all of your qualifying matches on a single team. if you or any of your team members leave your 3s team, it will likely reset your matches and void your eligibility for the pet.

- the arena tournament will run for 8 weeks. the first 4 weeks will be for practice and matches will not count towards the 50 needed to earn the pet. the final 4 weeks is when your matches will count. however, to be on the safe side, some players have designated the final 2 weeks for their arena games.

- players who are eligible for the pet will receive the companion on all toons on a single account.

- the pet will be mailed to your characters within 4 weeks after the end of the arena tournament.

good luck and have fun to all those entering!

MMO-Champion Lichling Giveaway

mmo-champion is also have a contest giveaway, but instead of giving out cenarion hatchlings, mmo-champion will be handing out landro's lichlings!

to be eligible simply take a screenshot of your character doing the emote /kiss to anyone in-game, upload the image to an online hosting site, and then post the uploaded image link in the post's comment section. (see link above!)

this contest ends thursday, may 5th at 11:00PM PST. good luck to all those entering!

A Change Or A Bug?

players have found an interesting undocumented change (or is it a bug?) that came along with 4.1. apparently, classes that can stealth or go invisible will have any non-combat pet they currently have out also go invisible/stealth along with them. to the player, their companion remains and looks perfectly normal, but to others, the pet as well as the player will disappear completely. note: this doesn't work with shadowmeld.

for rogues, druids, and mages, if you have a vanity pet out as you disappear with invisibility, stealth, or prowl, you can expect your friends and those around you to wonder where not only you went but also your pet. (i haven't tested this for the hunter camouflage ability.)

so far there hasn't been any official response from blizzard on this topic. there's no indication if this was an intended change or a bug that managed to slip into the release of 4.1.

for PVP'ers, this may be good news, as they will no longer have to worry about their companion giving their position away. (although it may take some getting use to, since to the player it may seem like your pet is still visible even when it's not.) for others, as this thread on the official wow forums shows, this change or bug is not as welcome.

Children's Week Bugged... Again

unfortunately this year's children's week hasn't been so swell for everyone as we had initially hoped. yes, there are new pets, yes, the northrend bug was fixed, but a new bug seems to have popped up. this one involves the stormwind/orgrimmar quest chain and the shattrath quests. some players have been unable to receive the final quest for the stormwind/orgrimmar quest, while others haven't been able to even start the shattrath questline despite being eligible to receive and complete the chain.

a blue poster has acknowledged that they are aware of the bug, but currently do not have an ETA on when it will be fixed:

"While I don't have any information available I can state that our QA team and Development are aware of this issue affecting some people. They are looking into and hope to have a resolution implemented as soon as possible."
- Vrakthris

there's no work-around that i know of at this time, but i'm hoping one does come up if blizzard cannot fix this devastating bug before the in-game event is over.

i don't know about everyone else, but i'd like to know why a bug like this has reared its ugly head all of a sudden. it was pretty easy to pinpoint the cause of the northrend orphan bug; the quest timer was simply not reset in time for players to complete a second time. however, unlike the nothrend issue, both stormwind/ogrimmar and shattrath questlines have been pretty stable in previous years, and nearly all players have been able to complete them. was it the major changes to this year's quests? that doesn't explain the shattrath bug, though, as it did not receive any update (other than the addition of a new pet reward) that i'm aware of. why is this bug afflicting only some and not all players? does it involve certain phasing, perhaps?

in any case, my heart goes out to my fellow pet collectors that are suffering from this issue, and i absolutely hope that it is resolved in time.

UPDATE: the thread linked above has been updated with a possible work-around. try destroying the orphan whistle and talking to the Matron to receive another one. hopefully that will help unlock the rest of the quests. understand that this may or may not work for everyone.

UPDATE #2: if the above work-around doesn't work for you - "If the final quest in the Children's Week line for Azeroth or Shattrath has not reset, so you are unable to obtain a pet, please submit an in-game petition. Make sure you do the other quests leading up to the last one, a Game Master should be able to assist you to manually complete the quest."

Diggin' Good Vibes

since it just doesn't feel right to leave my blog on such a serious, bittersweet note of my previous post, i'm going to indulge in more positive collecting news.

tonight, just a little before servers went down for maintenance, i finally finished the pterrordax hatchling! as silly as this sounds, i was absolutely terrified that i wouldn't be able to collect all the fragments in time, and upon waking up tomorrow i would find the hatchling missing from my archaeology spellbook. yea, sleep deprivation can do that to a person. :P

i'm so happy that i managed to squeeze out those last few fossil digsites and learn my new dino-pet, though. not only that, this particular rare also earned me the "professor" title and corresponding achievement! that was pure coincidence, btw. i wasn't really going for the title or achievement lol.

so i am done with the archaeology pets (for now)! it makes me wonder if i'm a masochist when i say that i can't wait for blizzard to release more companions through this secondary profession. collecting in this fashion truly is a grind and battle with RNG. i'm just grateful that those are the only two factors that i have to deal with, though. there's no time limit, no abnormally high or low cap, and no competition with or dependency on others. could improvements be made? well, yea. nothing is perfect. overall, though, i'm pretty satisfied. :)

and because servers are now down and i already have a few screenshots of the pterrordax hatchling, here's one taken while on the PTR. its expression amuses me to no end. :P

Getting Philosophical With Pets

wow. talk about opening a can of worms with the release of the cenarion hatchling. there are multiple debates that can be found circling around this one little companion pet. who would have known that it would cause such a stir within the collecting community and general world of warcraft population?

i guess it shouldn't come as a huge shock, though. paying for pets and whether or not a community is properly acknowledged in tangible means have always been hot topics.

as for me? well, after giving it some thought and reviewing my initial philosophical statement on the game (plus recognizing that i tend to over-simplify things), i've come to the conclusion that.. i'm just human. hah, a pretty strange conclusion concerning a non-combat pet, huh?

Wowhead Cenarion Hatchling Giveaway

can't afford the new cenarion hatchling? well wowhead's giving them away!

to be eligible, simply have a wowhead account, play on a US or EU world of warcraft server, and then comment with your most desired vanity pet on their post (linked above).

wowhead will be picking 3 winners on may 3rd, at noon PDT, so be sure to enter before the deadline! good luck to all those entering. :)

Found You, Cenarion Hatchling

the cenarion hatchling finally decided to come out of hiding! :P

the blizzard PetStore has a new baby to adopt! yes, it's the cenarion hatchling, an exact copy/twin of the hippogryph hatchling (vocalizations and everything).

the unique part about the new hatchling, though, is that between now and july 31, 2011, 100% of the profits will be donated to the american red cross to provide help and aid to japan and those affected by the japanese earthquake and tsunami.

note: remember that when purchasing ANY in-game redeemable item from the PetStore, that you are purchasing from your region specific store. the codes bought from the US store cannot be applied to a EU WoW account and vice versa.

i've already stated my views on selling a companion for such a somber matter as the japanese disasters. however, i do have to agree with those who have pointed out that any help, regardless of how it's obtained, is better than none at all. at the very least, i'm very glad to see blizzard went all in with this donation. 50% of profits just wouldn't seem right.

some may argue that this sale comes too little too late, but i think blizzard was smart on holding off a bit before selling this type of product in an effort to help the earthquake and tsunami victims. with the passage of time, there's less of a controversy over the sale of a companion for such a serious cause.

another plus to this pet, is that those who are unable to afford the original hippogryph companion may actually have a chance to own one now too. :)

finally, yes, it's a bit "lazy mode" for blizzard to reuse an existing model and skin/coloring for a PetStore item, but my hope is that we'll see an update in a future patch. even if the model doesn't change, i'd like to at least see different coloring. being a cenarion hatchling, you'd think that it would at least look more like an actual cenarion hippogryph right? :P

ps: maybe it's because i'm a druid and i have deep ties with the cenarion circle and moonglade, but the message that was attached with the pet was especially touching for me. i'm moved that keeper remulos' words can be applied to both real life and in game. well done, blizzard. :)

We Love WarcraftPets... A Lot!

if WarcraftPets.com seems a bit slow or sluggish, don't panic. just give each page a few moments to load. with the start of children's week plus the addition of 4.1 new pets, the site traffic has gotten a lot more intense.

in terms of pet collecting interest, it's a good thing! yay for more people taking note of companions and getting obsessed into collecting!

on the downside, though, that means our favorite vanity pet website will be taking harder hits for the next few days. be patient with it. everyone will get their chance to show their collection and the site some love!

tip: if you don't have the time to wait for each page to fully load, try updating your collection or visiting during off-peak hours (early morning or late night).

Call to Arms - A Bit Buggy

nevermind the awkward placement of a jumble of companions on the call to arms loot table; there seems to be some confusion as to when and how the satchel of exotic mysteries will be awarded. it's already been stated that you will be eligible if you queue for a role that is currently being "called to arms", but what if that role is no longer listed just as you are finishing up the dungeon? will you still receive a reward?

there are mixed responses so far. some have said yes, they received their satchel even though their role was no longer the least represented when they completed the heroic instance. others have said no, and they had to submit a ticket in which a gamemaster said they are aware of a possible bug that prevents some players from receiving their goodie bag despite having queued at the appropriate role-call.

in my personal experience, if i remember correctly, i queued as a healer and joined a group, and even though at the end of the run healers were no longer being called to arms, i still received the satchel of exotic mysteries.

because this system is still very new, there are bound to be bugs and glitches. hopefully blizzard resolves them soon since if the incentive to draw more into a certain role isn't working properly and consistently, then there's really no incentive is there?

i still have mixed feelings about this new feature. i'm really not fond of the way they just kind of (mindlessly) dumped a bunch of companions into the loot table, and i'm somewhat skeptical if the rewards are actually making a difference in the number of SUCCESSFUL pugs being ran on a daily basis. (reducing queue times is one thing, but if the ratio of successful groups to failing groups has increased despite the shortened queues times... it really defeats the purpose, doesn't it?) the mounts seem to be the hottest items other than flasks and the gold, so i have to wonder, was it really necessary to add a jumble of pets into the bag as well?

Happiest Time of the Year

i don't think many other holidays can rival children's week as "best time of the year" for pet collectors.

but yes, it's that time again! two new companions to collect and collectors can FINALLY adopt their second nothrend pet. :D (just remember that the dalaran one comes in the mail, so don't be alarmed if it doesn't show up right away.)


i'm absolutely ecstatic about the new pets. i've always wanted a baby marsh walker and little snail! although, i have to admit that this snail's not all that little. not to mention he's pretty quick for what's normally a slow moving creature. :P


and i can't forget about my new curious wolvar pup. i'm sorry you had to wait so long for me! now that you're here, though, we'll go on grand adventures together. :)


if you have yet to do the new stormwind/orgrimmar children's week quests, what are you waiting for? the alliance one was pretty neat, and i'm sure the horde quests are just as interesting. i had to sigh at my orphan at the end, though. i ended up chasing him around for a bit before i could finish lol. he just wouldn't sit still while he was flying the kite, and i needed to pick up the last quest before i could complete the chain! insert the rolling of eyes here. kids. not so much my thing. :P

pets, on the other hand... totally my thing! :D happy collecting to all the collectors out there.