Yay For Patch Day

Patch 4.3 is finally here! I've been busy all day with moving gear around, transmogging, raiding the new Dragon Soul raid, and of course playing with my new Purple Puffer. The rest of the new pets will have to wait until next week when the DMF comes into town, but there's still plenty of stuff for me to do!

I'm a little disappointed that the hearthing animation for the Winter's Little Helper and Father Winter's Helper didn't make it with the release of the patch. Instead of the helpers hearthing, it seems as though you send them back to their workshops with a bit of wintry and snowy magic. Oh well, it's still an interesting change. The Tiny Snowman disassembling shortly after being summoned still breaks my heart, though. :( Poor little guy.

Just to Whet Your Pet Appetite

GOOD NEWS EVERYONE! MMO-Champion is reporting that patch 4.3 should be out this coming Tuesday. *Insert nonsensical squee here* But of course, there's no guarantee and all we can do is bite our nails and anxiously wait and see.

Also, MMO-Champion has some screenshot previews of the last few pets that we haven't had much access to yet. They were datamined from the 4.3 files, but we probably won't see them any time soon.

These pets include:

- Soul of the Aspects (image)
- Fetish Shaman (image)
- Gregarious Grell (image)
- Sand Scarab (image)
- Lumpy (image)

If you missed previews of any of the other new pets datamined in 4.3, be sure to check out MMO-Champion's companion pet page that's linked above.

For a text only and less image intensive list of the new 4.3 datamined vanity pets, you can skim over my list of the upcoming pets.

WarcraftPets will have all the available pets' profiles ready to go on patch day, so you could just wait and be surprised too. :P

I know I shouldn't hold my breath in anticipation for this Tuesday, but I just can't help it now! MMO-Champion's "wrap up" of the next content patch is what I was waiting for before getting my hopes way up. Time to check and then double check that everything's in order for patch day. *Bounces away*

Waiting For Tuesday

It's still not clear if patch 4.3 will drop this coming Tuesday or the next, but so far it's looking more and more like the next content patch will go live during the first week of December (or even later). The PTR sounds as if it's still up and running (although I haven't checked recently), and normally the PTR is taken down a bit in advance before a new patch goes live. So based on that, and the fact that there was never a concrete date for 4.3 (just when the arena season would end, which is Nov. 29), it wouldn't be far fetched if the patch came in early December.

If that really is the case, that would put its release nearly in the middle of the Darkmoon Faire. It wouldn't be an ideal situation, since it would mean we'd miss out on a few days' worth of dailies (and dailies = tickets for pets), but the alternative would be the patch coming out after the faire has come and gone completely. At that point, we'd have to wait yet another month before we could access the new faire and get a chance at farming for the Sea Pony.

It's a less than ideal situation, but if I had to choose, the lesser of two evils seems like being able to enjoy half of the revamped DMF than none at all. Right...?

But all this pessimism may be unnecessary and the patch may very well come this Tuesday. So regardless if it's made official, I'm going to be ready for anything come Tuesday morning. What can I say? My Purple Puffer is waiting for me and all those new pets are just longing to join my critter family. :P

Next TCG Deck: Crown of the Heavens

According to Wowtcg, the next TCG deck, Crown of the Heavens, is set for release some time in February 2012.

It was discovered on the 4.3 PTR that the common pet loot card for this next deck will be the Gregarious Grell.

I'm looking forward to seeing how Blizzard approaches this pet, and if they give it any unique model/animations. Hopefully we won't have to wait too long for a preview of this upcoming companion. :P

No Patch This Week? Turkey For All!

Found an old screenshot of my hunter's pet and err.. a turkey. ;) So in honor of turkey week, and for all those Plump Turkeys with that uncanny sixth sense, have a safe and happy holiday week!

(We can haz patch 4.3 next week, y/y? 8D)

The Waiting Game - Endless Mode!

Now that the Darkmoon Faire is over, I haven't been spending as much time on the PTR. I really should be hunting for DMF artifacts since my characters got to keep the Adventurer's Guide from the faire, but I've been focusing my energy on finishing up my transmog sets on live servers. Silly me, and I have so little bag space as it is!

Pilgrim's Bounty is coming up as well as WoW's Anniversary. I'm not anticipating any new pets for either event, but my curiosity is bound to get the better of me. I'll be checking out both just in case Blizzard decides to surprise us with a new companion. (Not going to hold my breath though!)

Other than that, I'm just anxiously waiting for patch 4.3. Some speculate it will come before the week just before the 29th, others think it will go live on the 29th, while there are other theories that it will come either during the Darkmoon Faire or even after. All I know is that I'm eager for it to be released!! I need more bank space and new pets naaaaooo! :P

BTW, there's still no official word on the rogue legendary weapon guild achievement and if it will indeed award the Soul of the Aspects or not. Maybe Blizzard's saving that as the final surprise?

Waiting, waiting, waiting. We'll see!

Sea Pony - Limited Farming Time

Just confirmed on the 4.3 PTR that if you log out on the Darkmoon Island prior to the faire ending, you'll get teleported back to where you zoned into the island once you log back in after the faire ends. Boo. That means you can't access the island if the faire's not in town.

Looks like pet collectors will only have one week out of each month to farm for the Sea Pony. It shouldn't be too bad since the drop rate doesn't seem nearly as bad as say... the Fox Kit. Not to mention you can fish in relatively safe zones without fear of being ganked over and over, and there's really no threat of people "stealing" your kills.

Whether or not the limited farm time will make this pet more rare, I don't know yet. We'll have to wait and see what actual droprates are like once patch 4.3 is released (coming soon! yay).

Fifth & Sixth PTR DMF Pets

Today I purchased the last two pets on the PTR, the Darkmoon Cub and the Darkmoon Balloon. Just in time since the faire ends tomorrow!

Buying these last two on my alts left both toons with 0 tickets, so although I didn't start doing my dailies right as the DMF opened up (in other words, before dailies reset), I still earned enough tickets for exactly 2 out of the 6 new pets. Keep in mind that I also had to do all profession quests and the misc "test of strength" quest.

Both the cub and the balloon are exactly the same in terms of animation and sound as the other feline and balloon pets. Personally, I'd love to see the Darkmoon Cub go into "stalking" mode since he's supposed to be from a mysterious faire. As for the balloon... how about the eyeball actually moves and follows you around like the one in the large sign at the entrance of the faire? It might not be very practical to put a moving eyeball inside a balloon, though, but it'd be awesome if the DMF did!

Darkmoon Prize Tickets

Since I've been having trouble remembering the exact numbers and calculations for the Darkmoon Prize Tickets, I decided to consolidate all the information and write up something to remind myself.

Things may have changed since the PTR (when this post was written), so feel free to inform me in the comments of any corrections that need to be made or of any information that I may have missed!

Darkmoon Faire pets cost 90 Darkmoon Prize Tickets each.

Need a total of 540 tickets to purchase all six companions.

It will take at least 4 faires or 4 months for players to acquire all six pets. Results may vary.

Earning Tickets
• 5 Dailies (awards 1 ticket each)

- Tonk Commander
- The Humanoid Cannonball
- He Shoots, He Scores
- Target: Turtle
- It's Hammer Time

• 1 Account-wide Daily (awards 5 tickets)

- Darkmoon Pet Battle!

• 15 profession-based quests (may complete once per faire)

Main professions (award 4 tickets each)

- Alchemy
- Blacksmithing
- Engineering
- Enchanting
- Herbalism
- Inscription
- Jewelcrafting
- Leatherworking
- Mining
- Skinning
- Tailoring

Secondary professions (award 3 tickets each)

- Archaeology
- Fishing
- Cooking
- First Aid

NOTE: The quests/items listed below require players have a Darkmoon Adventurer's Guide in their inventory. Speak with a Darkmoon Faire Greeter to obtain a guide.

• 1 misc quest (awards 10 tickets - may complete once per faire)

- Test Your Strength

• 9 Darkmoon Artifacts (may turn in each artifact only once per faire, but you may find multiple artifacts even if the faire is not in town so long as you have the Adventurer's Guide in your inventory)

One artifact that awards 15 tickets each

- A Treatise on Strategy (drop: level 85 heroic dungeons)

Five artifacts that award 10 tickets each

- Soothsayer's Runes (drop: level 85 raids)
- Ornate Weapon (drop: dungeons)
- Mysterious Grimoire (drop: dungeons)
- Monstrous Egg (drop: dungeons)
- Imbued Crystal (drop: dungeons)

Three artifacts that award 5 tickets each

- Adventurer's Journal (drop: battlegrounds)
- Banner of the Fallen (drop: battlegrounds)
- Captured Insignia (drop: battlegrounds)

NOTE(s): For some extra info on which bosses are likely to drop certain artifacts, check out this Wowhead comments page.

Dungeon and raid dropped artifacts can be sold and traded. Battleground drops may only be picked up by the player looting a slain opponents corpse, but they are Bind on Use and can be sold/traded.

Dungeon dropped artifacts are only found from level-appropriate content. A level 85 toon in a level 35 dungeon will not see any DMF artifacts drop even if bosses in that particular dungeon have a chance to drop an artifact.

• Extra Tickets
As noted in the comments below, surviving the Darkmoon Deathmatch and looting the chest will award 5 extra Darkmoon Prize Tickets. The chest spawns once every three hours, starting from midnight. Only one person may loot the chest.


Collecting the DMF Vendor Pets
Since pet collections are now account-wide, it's not necessary to acquire all 630 tickets on a single character. Utilizing alt characters to complete the dailies and other quests will speed up the process. Simply earn 90 tickets on multiple toons, and you will be able to add all of the pets to your collection in no time!

Because Mini-Pets Grow Up Too?

So, uh, remember Lizzy, a companion that was datamined in the past? Well... I think I found her? Or what appears to be a grown up version of her, that is! (Don't mind the little turtle in the pen, that's just my pet hogging screen time. :P) Apparently Lizzy's been hanging out at the faire all this time lol.

Note: In all seriousness, though, the whereabouts of Lizzy (the mini-pet) is still unknown. It's still a mystery if/when this companion will ever be available to players.

Fourth PTR DMF Pet

Another faire pet purchased on the 4.3 PTR, and still another recolored pet model. Regardless, the Darkmoon Turtle is still pretty cute! It'd be awesome if he raced against Speedy, though. I wonder who would win? :P

Only two more DMF pets on the PTR to go! Hopefully I got all my ducklings are in a row, and my calculations are correct. I should have enough tickets on two other characters to purchase the last two pets before the end of the faire (I started dailies late on two alts on the PTR), but we'll see.

Getting to Know Your Pets

WoWJuJu has a short list of "special" pets that have unique animations or interactions. Here's part 1 and part 2. For those seeking information on which companions respond to emotes or who they interact with, check those pages out.

In related news, WarcraftPets has future plans of hopefully implementing a filter feature so users can quickly find those "special" pets! It's a highly requested feature, and one that I hope makes it into the site. A filter for interactions will help make it easier and more convenient to look up certain pets, and will fill people in on just how awesome their mini-pets are. :D

I'm not sure if/when this new feature on WarcraftPets will be released, so keep an eye out for any updates to the website. It may turn out to be a guide rather than a search filter.

Darkmoon Faire Artifacts

UPDATE: Finally found a second artifact! Ornate Weapon dropped from the new Hour of Twilight heroic dungeon, off of the second boss. Unlike the bg artifact, where what you loot is what you get to keep, this artifact popped up as a standard uncommon item that party members could roll on. Both Need and Greed choices were available to click but I chose greed, so I'm not sure if it's actually possible to roll Need on it or not. Wowhead says that you cannot roll Need on it. I think only those with the DMF item that allows the acquisition of said items/artifacts could see/roll on it.

As mentioned in my previous post, little is known about the DMF artifacts atm other than each starts a quest that rewards Darkmoon Faire tickets (5, 10, or 15). Unfortunately, they appear to be a one time turn in per month, or "monthlies".

Going on a hunch after reading this Wowhead comment, I tried my luck with bgs instead of dungeons on the PTR. Despite not being an avid PVP'er and going in with full PVE gear, I managed to loot an Adventurer's Journal off a body! Yay! My first DMF artifact.

After receiving a great question about the artifacts in the comment section of my previous post, I tested to see if these items are tradable. The answer so far is: YES.

You can sell these items on the AH, mail them, and (although I haven't tried just yet) trade them. These artifacts are NOT Bind on Pick Up, so long as you don't right click it and accept its quest.

What does this mean for pet collectors?

This means that if you have an exceptional amount of gold to spare and these artifacts are all up on the AH, you could buy and turn in one of each artifact to the Darkmoon Faire each month (probably, but I haven't tested it yet, so don't take my word as fact), earning a max of 80 tickets on top of the other tickets gained from dailies and profession based quests. It would yield THREE pets each week the faire is in town (without the artifact turn ins, you only earn enough tickets each week to purchase two pets). This would cut down the time to acquire all 6 pets by one month (or by one faire week)! Instead of waiting for 3 faires to come to town, you'd only have to wait for 2!

I'm still unsure where all the artifacts come from and how high the droprates are, but this is huge news for those who are seeking efficiency and "ease".

Anyway, back to the PTR I go. I'm going to see if I can collect even more artifacts and find other possible drop locations. :D

Patch 4.3 "Soon"?

Here's an update on the status of patch 4.3 and an update of the possible progression of DMF pet acquisition:

Firstly, WoWInsider tweeted earlier tonight that patch 4.3 is planned to be released in the "next couple of weeks". I'm guessing this is info gleaned from the 3rd quarter 2011 Activision-Blizzard conference call. I'm hoping this means it will be released in time for next month's Darkmoon Faire! New pets are on the way, so hang in there. :)

Secondly, remember those Darkmoon Faire Artifacts that I mentioned in this post? The ones that start quests with the potential of awarding 5, 10, or 15 tickets? According to this Wowhead comment the artifacts and quests are a once per month deal and are not repeatable during the same week you turned your first one in.

Keep in mind that if you manage to collect one artifact from each "tier" (5, 10 or 15) of the DMF artifact, and IF you can turn in one or more (different artifact) from each tier, you could still significantly reduce the amount of time it will take to collect enough tickets to buy all 6 faire pets.

However, since these artifacts don't seem to be guaranteed and are possibly low drop rates, I don't feel confident enough to permanently integrate them into my estimation for how long it will take. My best guess is still about 3 months for all 6 pets, at a rate of 2 pets purchasable each week the faire is in town.

I'm still trying now and then to see if I can find an artifact for myself on the PTR, but no such luck yet. Either I'm not trying hard enough or these artifacts are pretty rare.

Anyway, with the next patch looming just over the horizon, I had better start working on getting everything updated and ready on WarcraftPets.com. Thankfully I'm not going in blindly, and the PTR is providing enough previews and information to create solid pet profiles for 4.3. :)

More PTR Darkmoon Faire Fun

I've been hanging around the petting zoo area at the Darkmoon Faire on the 4.3 PTR, hoping to see Breanni the NPC again, and I saw something that I couldn't resist taking a screenshot of.


This is one of the sweetest things I've seen in WoW in a while. Love little details such as this that the developers take time and care to implement. :)

I wonder what happened to Hornsley, from the old version of the Darkmoon Faire, though. Hope he was released back into the wild to rejoin his thunder lizard kind.

Edit: Apparently Hornsley grew up! His pen is currently occupied by Crush, though, so maybe they rotate in and out of that particular pen.

Also, thanks to a tip from this Petopia forum thread, be sure to /hug one of the Pygmy Cockatrice critters wandering around the petting zoo area. ;)

Second & Third PTR DMF Pets

Two more Darkmoon Faire pets purchased while on the PTR, the Darkmoon Monkey and the Darkmoon Tonk. Note: They were purchased on two alts since it's unlikely anyone could have enough tickets to purchase a second and third pet on a single toon just yet.

I still haven't seen any interesting idle animations from any of the DMF pets previewed on the PTR. It's a little disappointing since I can think of a few animations that would be appropriate for them.

The Darkmoon Monkey could throw fruit at nearby players or NPCs (much like Nuts throws acorns). Or maybe the Darkmoon Zeppelin and Darkmoon Tonk could shoot their canons at other toys such as the Toy Train Set or even the Clockwork Rocket Bots.

Anyway, I'm hoping someone discovers some awesome interactions and idle animations in the near future. But if the new faire companions don't have any, it's ok. They're still worth the time and effort to get imo. :)

Breanni Visits the Darkmoon Faire

While at the DMF on the PTR, I found the infamous Breanni NPC visiting the petting zoo! Concerned about her shop, I immediately traveled to Dalaran to see who was looking after the store while she was checking out the faire. Let's just say I was startled to find Breanni welcoming me into the store...


According to El's Tweet after I inquired about Breanni and her possible clone, random NPC visitors visit the faire at different intervals. How fitting that Breanni's first stop is the petting zoo portion of the faire? :D

It's still a mystery how Breanni managed to travel to and from her store in Dalaran in a matter of moments! Part of me is convinced that she has clones of herself running around Azeroth, just waiting to infiltrate all the cities with an army of mini-pets. :P

Aaaa~and /end silliness. XD

UPDATE: According to this Petopia thread, if you stick around long enough while Breanni's NPC is visiting the petting zoo, you'll hear her comment on the animals! Remind me to hang around a bit longer next time.

First PTR DMF Pet Purchased

I bought the Darkmoon Zeppelin last night on the PTR and it's a neat little companion. It doesn't really do anything that I can tell atm, which is a little disappointing considering it has this awesome looking mini-canon. Maybe it will be more lively once in the presence of another zeppelin pet, but for now it's just a fun little follower.

Up, Up, Here We Go

I'm currently working on 3 alts on the PTR to make sure I can buy all 6 pets in this one week that the DMF is in town. All the information gathered after purchasing all the pets will help towards creating the pet profiles over on WarcraftPets.com!

Previews of at least one to three pets should be coming soon. I'm still debating which pets I want to test out first. If they have any particularly neat animations, I'll probably take some video.

Anyway, while waiting for the dailies to roll over and while I'm working on that strength quest (whew, 250 mobs is a lot for a resto druid!), I decided to take some screenshots of the lovely balloon pets (even though they're NOT true vanity pets).


Flimsy Green Balloon


Flimsy Yellow Balloon
Although these balloons are NOT true vanity pets and require the DMF to be in town, these two "pets" are pretty endearing.

Take note of the vendor that sells these festive items, Carl Goodup. Does the name seem familiar? No? It's a nod to the Disney-Pixar movie "UP".


One of the main characters of the movie is named Carl. If there's anyone who's perfect for the job of selling balloons, it's Carl. :P


He's married to Ellie, who also seems to have inspired an NPC. Ellie Goodup can be found wandering the fairgrounds as well. I think I've seen her walking an exotic, giant cat on a leash a few times! She was definitely the feisty and adventurous one in the couple lol.

The movie is absolutely heartwarming and such a wonderful story, and I still can't watch it without tearing up during the first 10 minutes. I'm glad there are developers over at Blizzard who think so too, and thought it was worthy enough for not one but two NPC tributes.

I just love finding these little easter eggs and pop culture references in-game, especially in the least expected of places. Now if only there were an overly excitable puppy pet named "Dug" to go along with this Goodup family. :)

Come One, Come All - It's the Faire!

WarcraftPets has a news post that answers a lot of the general questions about the revamped Darkmoon Faire, and MMO-Champion has a great list of all the possible quests that reward tickets (needed to purchase the new Darkmoon Faire pets). Be sure to check both out. :)

For all 6 pets, a total of 540 Darkmoon Prize Tickets is required. Since ticket collecting seems very dynamic and probably depends on an individual's decision on how much time/energy they want to invest into saving up enough tickets, it's really tough to estimate how long it would take to acquire all 6 pets.

If the profession based quests and the "strength" quest is repeatable once per Darkmoon Faire week (in other words, once per month or a "monthly"), and you finish the max of all 6 trade-skill based quests plus complete the dailies every day (including the night the faire comes to town, before the dailies roll over), I estimate 2-3 DMF weeks before you can obtain all the pets. You could probably buy at least 2 pets each time the faire is in town.

Unfortunately it's note quite as clean cut as that, though.

Sea Pony!

Note: Pet is on Papa Hummel's Old-Fashioned Pet Biscuits; actual size of the pet is smaller.
Thanks to El's Extreme Anglin', the Sea Pony pet was confirmed as a fishing drop from open-water fishing on Darkmoon Island. The new zone requires a fishing skill of 75 for non-junk catches. With this knowledge in hand, I set out on the PTR to catch the Giant Sewer Rat version 2.0 lol.

About an hour and a half and 190ish fish later, Sea Pony! I took some video of what it looks like since the summoning for this companion's pretty unique. Not in the video: The Sea Pony flies alongside its owner.


I don't know if it's the name of the pet, it's large jewel-like eyes, or the little squeal vocalizations it makes when you click on it, but I find this pet absolutely adorable. :) It's just the sweetest little thing; I can't wait to fish and fish and fish for this companion in the next patch!

PS: I'm REALLY grateful that there's an area where you can fish for it that's considered sanctuary. I'd rather not fear for my life while trying to fish for hours on end for the Sea Pony. So thanks to the developers for this one!

Testing of DMF On PTR Begins!

This is day one of the DMF testing on the 4.3 PTR. YAY! Here's the rough and general info on the new pets so far:

- DMF vendor's name is Lhara

- 90 tickets per pet

- reputation is NOT required to purchase the pets

- you can earn at least 55 tickets on the first night

- old tickets CAN'T be used to purchase the pets, and are turned into "Tattered DMF Prize Tickets"

- dailies and profession based quests reward tickets (varying amounts, but usually 3-5 tickets each)

- 5 dailies reward 5 tickets each

- 6 profession quests reward 3 - 4 tickets each (unsure if these are NOT repeatable each day, but might be "monthlies")

- 1 "killing" quest rewards 10 tickets (unsure if this is NOT repeatable each day, but might be a "monthly")

- 9 Darkmoon Faire Artifacts that start quests which award tickets (unsure if these are repeatable)

- 3 artifacts award 5 tickets each
- 5 artifacts award 10 tickets each
- 1 artifact awards 15 tickets

Keep in mind this is the PTR, and numbers and amounts could change before the patch is released.

Follow me on Twitter if you want to keep up with the latest! Otherwise stay tuned for a full and more complete post on the new and revamped DMF and its pets.

Click the break for more screenshots of the new pets!

TCG Class Starter Decks - Release Date

Cryptozoic has announced that they are releasing the WoW TCG Fall 2011 Class Starter Decks on December 6, 2011. The decks will cost $10.99 (USD).

Unlike expansion decks, this special release will include card reprints from older decks and each class starter deck will be tuned so that new TCG players can pick one up and be ready to play.

Most notably (from a pet collector's point of view) is that the Fall 2011 Class Starter Deck will have a chance of yielding pet loot cards from previous expansions, namely the Spectral Tiger Cub and Dragon Kite, amongst other desirable loot cards! For more information about this product, you can read more about the Fall 2011 Class Starter Deck here.

I'm debating with myself whether or not I should try my luck with one of these starter decks. I've been itching for a Dragon Kite, but then again I should save up for future (guaranteed) pets. :P

4.3 PTR: Holiday Pets BoE

MMO-Champion is reporting a very interesting change that was discovered on the 4.3 PTR: many holiday pets are NOT Bind on Pick Up anymore! They are currently Bind on Equip on the PTR. :O

Here are the holiday pets have been noted to have changed to BoE:

- Spring Rabbit's Foot (Noblegarden)
- Truesilver Shafted Arrow (Love is in the Air)
- Captured Flame (Midsummer Festival)
- Sinister Squashling (Hallow's End)
- Pint-Sized Pink Pachyderm (Brewfest)
- Feline Familiar (Hallow's End)

MMO-Champion also notes that the Winter Veil pets have been changed as well, but just their tooltips have been altered. They've always been BoE:

- Green Helper Box (Winter Veil)
- Red Helper Box (Winter Veil)
- Jingling Bell (Winter Veil)
- Snowman Kit (Winter Veil)

As you can see, not all of the holiday pets are listed. Those that aren't included above may have also been changed to Bind on Equip, or they may not.

Another thing to note is that the pets on the list are PURCHASABLE companions. They are the holiday pets that can be purchased from a seasonal vendor or from the AH. Pets such as the Frigid Frostling and Toxic Wasteling, which are currently exclusively found through the holiday loot bags after your first holiday boss kill of each day, are still showing as Bind on Pick Up on Wowhead's PTR database.

We'll have to wait and see whether or not this change to the holiday companions goes live. Blizzard could change their mind before the patch's release date. Or it could just be a very big bug, but it's unlikely since this change seems to span multiple in-game seasonal events.

I'm actually slightly looking forward to this change. It will mean I'll have to destroy fewer pets just because my character already knows them. Plus if this change goes live I think many of my alts will be receiving presents in the mail during specific holiday events! :P

Day One of Guardian Cub Sales

Well, it's been 24 hours since the Guardian Cub was released, and people have started posting them on the AH and advertising them in trade chat. So far the going rate on my server seems to be 10k to 15k gold. But as was pointed out on WarcraftPets' Facebook, anything above 5k is a rip off. And anything less than 3k is a great deal!

I'd say this is an accurate benchmark. Just yesterday a gold seller was spamming in trade chat that $15 (USD) would get you about 10k gold. So if we take the price of the Guardian Cub ($10), it should bring in at most 7k (and that's if you're not looking to make a profit, just a direct cash to gold conversion).

Anyway, this is just day one of sales. I'm not going to actively follow the price trend but I'm going to make a point to check up on how the cub sales are going from week to week. It's an interesting situation for a companion pet, and one of the first of its kind.

Giveaway Contests

Both Wowhead and MMO-Champion are doing giveaway contests for the new Guardian Cub! MMO-Champ has 15 cubs to hand out and Wowhead has 3 cubs.

Simply sign up and leave a comment on the threads linked above and you'll be in the running for the random drawing. MMO-Champion's contest ends 24 hours (starting from the date/time of the post), while Wowhead will be doing their random drawing 5 PM PDT on November 2nd.

Good luck to all those entering!

Guardian Cub In Stores Now

"Orphaned by its titan creators, the fledgling Guardian Cub has taken wing to look for a happy home."

Well let me be the first to say the titans must be crazy to let this cute little one go!

The infamous and somewhat controversial FIRST single-use PetStore companion is now for sale for $10 (USD).

It's a really simple purchase, and very straight forward. You choose which character to redeem the Guardian Cub on during the check-out process (BEFORE you pay). Of course after payment, you may need to wait a little bit before the item is mailed to you in-game. I'm currently waiting on my little guy. :)

Much like I mentioned before, IF Blizzard makes pets account wide in the future (hopefully in MoP) or at least accessible to all toons on a server, then this pet will effectively become just like the other PetStore companions (although I'm not sure if FUTURE characters made on the server after you add a cub to your collection will count or not). We'll have to wait and see on this feature, though.

Since this pet has a 24 hour cooldown on it before it can be traded or sold in-game, there aren't any up for sale on the AH yet. I'm curious to find out how people will price this pet and how long it will take before sales drop off and players stop selling it altogether.

In the meantime, I'm going to enjoy the company of my newest family member! :D

Shake Your Maraca

Hallow's End is over, but there's still one more holiday to celebrate before Pilgrim's Bounty. Day of the Dead!

This holiday awards you with the TEMPORARY pet, Macabre Marionette. Of course this means that this companion is not a true vanity pet, but it's absolutely adorable all the same. I certainly wish it was a true pet that I could add to my collection. :3

BTW, it looks as though the bug of previous years has been fixed, and you should be able to complete the quest that rewards the Macabre Marionette even if you've completed the quest a previous year.

Remember, in order to access the quest you must have your Bouquet of Orange Marigolds equipped. Use it to see the ghostly NPC of your race that hands out the quest. You can purchase a bouquet from the Day of the Dead vendor located next to Catrina.

Note: The event for humans (Stormwind) has MOVED from outside the major city to inside. A map of where Catrina and her festivities can be found here. A very fitting place, indeed. :)

A definite place to complete the quest is Dalaran if you're having trouble locating a spirit to give you the quest.