Friday, August 31, 2012

A Scary Seed's Secret

Last night while tending to my farm on the beta, I looted an Ominous Seed! Naturally, I planted it right away.


Now all I have to do is wait for it to finish growing and harvest it at midnight tonight. Hopefully the rumors are true and it drops the Terrible Turnip for me. :)

Here are some extra details that may be significant or may not be:
- Droprate?
I got the achievement Till the Break of Dawn last night as well. I'm not sure if this means I also planted 100+ crops, or if the achievement counts each item received (crops are like herb nodes and can yield anywhere from 1 to 5 of that particular plant). Take that information however you please, but remember that each player will likely experience varying droprates.

- Increased chances?
The seed dropped from a crop (Green Cabbage Seeds) that I chose to plant not because of any recommendations from an NPC or anything like that, but because I needed the mats to continue leveling my cooking skill lol. So I can't confirm whether or not there's anything to boost the chances of looting an Ominous Seed. The trick may just be to keep on planting and harvesting until you find one.
It really does seem like a random drop from any of the crops you plant and harvest on your farm. I don't think reputation with the Tillers has any impact on your chances, but who knows?

Anyway, take this all with a grain of salt for now. More information from other sources will need to be gathered to get a better idea of the Ominous Seed.

I can't wait to check back tonight to see what I get!

Thursday, August 30, 2012

Itty-Bitty Withers

It looks like Withers received another update or is bugged (again) in the latest patch. He's shrunk down even more!

Here's what he looked like originally:


As you can see, Withers was nearly as tall as my nelf.

Post-patch 5.0.4, he's been sized down significantly, and when summoned Withers will be about the same size as the Teldrassil Sproutling now. I would say he comes up to about my nelf's knees (standing).


When Withers gets dehydrated and thirsty, he becomes even tinier than usual. He comes up about to about mid-shin when next to my nelf (standing).


He's not bugged anymore, btw, and will drink from a nearby water source which will cause him to regrow to his summoned size. The emote for him drinking seems to have disappeared, though.

Is this an intentional change? I don't know, but I kind of adore him in this new super mini-size. :P

WowInsider's Pet Party

In celebration of account-wide pets, WowInsider's It Came From the Blog guild is hosting a fun get-together to collect pets!
When: Friday, Aug. 31 at 11 p.m. EDT (8 p.m. PDT, 9 p.m. realm time).

Where: The courtyard of the Ruins of Lordaeron on Zangarmarsh (US-PvE-H).

Who: Any level Horde character, but you will be happier with a mount and some cash.

How: Ask any member of It came from the Blog for an invite, if you are not already in our family of guilds.

Some gold will be provided for those who are low on funds, as usual. We'll be shopping around the world (of Warcraft) and perhaps doing some questing and farming, time permitting.
Even if you don't have anymore pets to collect until MoP, it might be fun to join in and possibly help others find some companions. Spread the love of pets!

If I have the time, I may just tag along too for funsies. :) I've never been to one of these events though, so I might just be a brief lurker lol. We'll see!

Wednesday, August 29, 2012

Pets Will Not Be Automatically Removed

There's a rumor floating around that come MoP, if you have more than 3 of the same pet, those extras will automatically be removed.

According to a Tweet by game developer Mumper, THIS IS NOT THE CASE. Pets will not be removed and players will be able to retain duplicates for caging and trading.

However, if you have over 500 pets, you will still not be able to add any new pets to your journal. In order to learn a new one, you'll need to drop below the cap first. This hasn't and will not change.

Anyway, breathe easy collectors! You won't have to get rid of all your duplicates prior to MoP. So sit back, relax, plan for some reorganizing in MoP, but mainly enjoy your account-wide collection. Don't forget to start renaming those babies! :)

"New" Pets in Patch 5.0.4

This is just to consolidate information. Technically, the only new pet that's been released is the Lucky Quilen Cub, but the sources for the other two are recent changes that should be worth noting.

As of Patch 5.0.4:
- Lucky Quilen Cubs are being mailed to players that purchased the MoP Digital Deluxe Edition. Players that ordered the box CE version will have to wait to receive their copy of MoP to redeem their pet.

- Warbot and red/blue fuel can be purchased from the toy vendors in SW, Orgrimmar, and Dalaran.

- Fox Kit can be purchased from either faction vendor on Tol Barad Peninsula. Players must be exalted with their faction to buy this pet.
I think that's it? Again, nothing extraordinarily new. Just some changes and updates. All the new stuff will come once the expansion's released. :)

Tuesday, August 28, 2012

I'm a Stag

UPDATE: Toy vendors now sell the Warbot and the red/blue fuel! I guess Blizzard decided to sneak it in with the patch. :) Looks like we won't have to wait for MoP for battling bots lol.

So! Patch 5.0.4! No new pets, but a few interesting things to play around with. :)

Apparently the Lucky Quilen Cub and mount are being mailed to players that upgraded to the MoP Digital Deluxe Edition. Guess Blizzard forgot to turn off that portion of the patch? XD

This almost makes me want to buy the DDE for the expansion. Almost. Doing so would probably make me crave ALL the CE pets, and my wallet just wouldn't be able to handle that.

Instead, I think I'll save up for the SC2 CE. The Baneling looks so kick ass!

Anyway, so far I'm enjoying the challenge of coming up with names for all of my pets. I may skip over the ones that already have proper names, though.


Finally! Lumpy on my main. :D Still, this pet will forever be the black mark in my collection. It's the only pet that I didn't collect on my main toon. Sadness. :(

That's about it for patch day for me.

Oh but this is a thing lol.

Monday, August 27, 2012

Hoping For a Happy Patch Day

Bring on Patch 5.0.4! I'm nervous yet eager for the patch tomorrow. One might ask, "There won't be any new pets to collect, so what's there to be excited about?"

Well, for starters, I'll finally have access to Lumpy on my main toon! My druid was unlucky last year during Winter Veil, but my hunter managed to loot the pet. With account-wide pets, my druid will be able to summon Lumpy and enjoy.

Secondly, nicknames for pets! Actually, I haven't seen any official confirmation that the ability to rename pets will be available in Patch 5.0.4, but I'm guessing it will be since the new Pet Journal will be released. Renaming is done in the journal UI and doesn't require any extra special item or action, so since they're tied together, it would only make sense that renaming would be in once the Pet Journal is in, right? Hopefully I'm right, because I'm looking forward to giving my pets personalized names. :)

I'm planning on holding off on completely re-organizing my collection, though. Since caging won't be available until MoP, releasing pets will be the only way to bring your collection under the max cap (500).

But! Just in case some changes are made to which pets can be caged and traded, I don't want to risk losing any duplicate pets that I may have (which shouldn't be many since I don't collect on any other toon besides my main).

Instead, I think I'll just review my collection and write down a list of notes so come MoP I'll be ready to sort things out properly. Gotta get under that cap so I can add more pets to my journal!

In general, NEW STUFFS!! That's what I'm looking forward to lol. Crossing my fingers that it won't be too buggy or laggy and the patch will roll out on time and smoothly.

Sunday, August 26, 2012

Confusion About 5.0.4 Duplicate Pets

There's some confusion about how many duplicate pets collectors will be allowed to have post-patch.

Originally this is what developers announced:
- Day one migration from Cataclysm has been changed. You will now get all of your extra pets directly in the journal (rather than pet crates in your bags/mail) These pets will be allowed to exceed the 500 total/3x per pet limits for this one time event. Note that unique pets will be merged into one. - Mumper
However, since then, it appears that things have changed:
- All standard pets will be merged, with a limit of three per type. Players who currently have more than three of the same pet across their characters will see a total of three after the migration. Examples of standard pets: Orange Tabby Cat, Brown Prairie Dog, Crimson Whelpling. - Kaivax
It's unclear if the most recent blue post about duplicate pets is talking about it in general or if developers have really changed the plan going forward.

Players will still be allowed to exceed the cap of 500 for total pets right after Patch 5.0.4, but unless there's some clarification, we'll have to wait and see about the 3x companion cap.

Personally, I'm torn about the limits.

Saturday, August 25, 2012

Red Vs. Blue

Goldacc from WarcraftPets discovered where the Warbot and the Red and Blue Fuel might come from!


All three items are currently being sold from toy vendors in Dalaran and SW/Orgrimmar on the beta. The pet costs 400 gold and the fuel costs 20 silver.

Side note: I wasn't able to check if there are any differences between the original Warbot and the vendored one. The pet is unique, so I can't have more than one in my journal on the beta. I'm going to guess that there's no difference, though.

Finding it on a vendor is an interesting turn of events since the recipes for both the Warbot and the fuel still exist. Perhaps there will be two sources for these items - we'll be able to purchase it from the vendor or craft them ourselves? Or maybe the vendored pet and fuel are simply placeholders and for testing purposes, while the actual way of obtaining the Warbot and fuel will still be from Engineering and Cooking?

Things could change between now and release. We'll have to wait and see where this pet will wind up.

As far as I can tell, the Warbot and fuel won't be available until MoP, but maybe we'll get a surprise come Patch 5.0.4.

Oh and last but not least, two Warbots battling each other (not in an official Pet Battle, but just idling after being fueled up) don't reduce their health in the Pet Journal. Battling bots, go! ;)

Blizzard's Patch 5.0.4 Pet Notes

Blizzard released an official Patch 5.0.4 guide for pet collectors. I've already covered a lot of what is mentioned, but there are some new notes that should be kept in mind.
- The migration will not convert more than a total of 1500 pets for a player.

- Pets that can only be used by characters of the other faction will be greyed out.

Such pets can only be summoned by characters of the proper faction.

Examples include: Balloons, Moonkin Hatchlings.

There are certain pets that will not be account-wide. Examples include: Guild Page, Guild Herald, Argent Squire, Argent Gruntling.
- Pets that your characters have learned are going to be merged, and will be account-wide thereafter.
Pets that are items will be unaffected.
- All of the characters on all [WoW] licenses will share all of the pets in that Battle.net Account.

- Only one player per Battle.net account can be in a Pet Battle at a time. Any other players on that account who are logged-in will be able to summon the shared pets as companions, but will not be able to enter Pet Battles.

- Kaivax
So if you have extra pets saved in your bank, such as holiday companions, I would wait to learn them AFTER Tuesday's patch or even after MoP. If you're looking to make some gold from these pets, remember that you won't be able to cage or trade any BoP pet until after MoP's release date.

Friday, August 24, 2012

Patch 5.0.4 Reminders

UPDATE: Here are more notes for Patch 5.0.4. These are official Blizzard reminders for Tuesday.

Here's what WILL BE included in next week's patch (5.0.4, aka: pre-MoP patch).
- New companion pet (and mount) UI. The original spellbook tab for companions will be gone. It will be replaced with the Pet Journal. The Pet Journal will have multiple functionality; it will be useful in Pet Battles to classic collecting and summoning of minipets.

- Account-wide collections. This will mean a merging of all collections into one that will be accessible by all characters on a WoW account.
Players with duplicate pets across different characters will find that up to three of the same pet will be added to their new Pet Journal. However, some unique pets will be combined into only one in the Pet Journal (such as achievement rewards).

During the merger, players will be allowed to have more than the allowed max cap of pets (500). After falling below 500, though, collections cannot go above the max cap of total pets again.
- Releasing pets. There will be a handful of pets that you won't be able to cage but might not want in your Pet Journal. You can remove these pets by releasing them.

- Renaming pets. Time to choose nicknames for all your companions! You can rename companions through the Pet Journal. After renaming it, it will retain that handle when you summon it so other players will see it too.

- The Fox Kit will be available for purchase on Tol Barad Peninsula for commendations. It can still be found as a low drop rate off of the foxes on the island, though.
Here's what will NOT be included in the pre-MoP patch.
- Pet Battles. We'll have to wait until the MoP release date to access this new ability and minigame. The upside is that players do NOT have to upgrade to MoP to participate.
Since Pet Battles won't be available, capturing wild pets won't be possible until MoP. We may see some critters around, but the most we'll be able to do for now is poke them lol.
- Caging pets. This ability won't be available until MoP.

- New non-wild pets. All the datamined new pets will have to wait until the expansion. Nothing new to collect until September!
If any of the above is incorrect, needs amending, or if I've forgotten to list something, please let me know! :)

Wednesday, August 22, 2012

More Comments On Pet Battles

In Wowhead's interview with John Lagrave (lead game producer) and Ion Hazzikostas (lead encounter designer) about MoP, Pet Battles was brought up.

The main points:
- It took months of development (five to be exact) and the minigame underwent many iterations and changes before Pet Battles was ready for testing in July.

- There's still the possibility of a mobile version of Pet Battles, but for now they are concentrating on fine-tuning, completing, and implementing the actual minigame.

- Pet Battles is meant to be "something for you and I to do while we’re waiting for a raid to get going or before a scenario or something like that".
There will probably be some complaints about the amount of time and resources that was put into a new feature that some see as trivial or too "kiddie" and "casual, but to each their own. It's all relative and subjective.

Whether or not this new feature deserves so much attention and development depends on your point of view. For some players, the minigame will be their main focus and goal, while others will only play it whenever there's nothing else to do.

In the end, we just have to have faith that Blizzard will do their best for all aspects of the game.

If anything, we should view the amount of work and effort put into Pet Battles as a sign that developers are really watching and listening. Big or small, each WoW community is taken into consideration, and their requests and desires are being heard. It might just take developers some time to get around to. :)

Sunday, August 19, 2012

Updated Art and Audio

From being our simple little followers to becoming the stars of their very own minigame, companion pets have come a long way since they were first implemented. And guess what? They're STILL being improved and updated!

Come MoP, be sure to take a look at the icons for many of the pets in the Pet Journal. There's new art for existing and new companions. The attention to detail is remarkable and really makes the journal "pop". :)

Another thing to check out is the updated sounds for both new and older pets. Many of them that previously didn't have any vocalizations have suddenly found their voices, while other pets have had their audio altered slightly.

I'm warning you though, there are A LOT of updated ones to go through. I've been tasked with previewing and gathering information on the updated pet sounds and I'm not even a quarter way through. XD

As a pet lover and collector, I definitely appreciate all the effort being put into Pet Battles and updating pets in general. Developers seem to be going the extra mile for companions.

It's also refreshing that the pet collecting community's questions and concerns are being heard and openly addressed. It's great to see some of the commonly requested features finally get implemented in some shape or form. I can't wait to name some of my pets, although I'm still working on coming up with nicknames for all of them. :P

All in all, I'm looking forward to the finalized version of MoP! I hope that Pet Battles and vanity pets will continue to receive an ample amount of developer attention, dedication and consideration as the expansion progresses.

Saturday, August 18, 2012

That's One Giant Cricket

If you have a bug or insect phobia, the Red Cricket companion from Sho might not be the pet for you lol. :P

When I summoned it, I was expecting to bring out a cute little cricket, much like the small critters that wander around Pandaria. Well I was wrong. Very, very wrong.


No, this image has not been edited (other than some slight coloration enhancements).

No, the Red Cricket is not under the influence of any pet enlarging biscuit, potion, spell or effect.

And no, I didn't use any camera tricks to alter depth/size perception. My character is standing right next to the pet.

This really IS its current size when summoned on the beta. I'm not sure if this is a bug (no pun intended, really!) or if this is how it will look once MoP is released.

It's HUGE! I was caught completely off guard by how enormous it turned out to be. What the hell has Sho been feeding this thing? Steroids are bad! :P

Well, good thing I'll be stocking up on Magical Mini-Treats. Looks like I'll be using them quite often whenever this companion comes out to play. XD Then again, the cricket's unusual size is starting to grow on me. I'm starting to adore its gigantic hopping as it moves around. :)

Edit: Here's an extra screenshot of the Red Cricket when compared next to one of the wild cricket pets.


As you can see, there's a significant size difference. The smaller version is what I THOUGHT I would be getting when I summoned the Red Cricket lol.

And bonus video footage of the Red Cricket while under the influence of a pet biscuit!

Craftable MoP Pets

UPDATE: Inscription kites are trainable and require skill level of at least 600.

The new MoP craftable pets were originally BoP, but they've been updated to Bind on Use. This is great news for players who don't have toons with the Engineering, JC, or Inscription professions! Now they won't have to power level these three professions just to get the pets. ;)

Although the companions themselves are BoU, the designs that teach players how to make the JC pets are still BoP. The Engineering schematic is BoU.

As for Inscription, it's not clear yet if the craftable kite pets from this profession will be trainable or require an actual recipe.

Where will these recipes come from? I have yet to find the source of the Engineering schematic. Since it's BoU, it could be a random world drop. Or maybe a limited item from a vendor. Well, I can only hope that I'll get lucky enough to either loot this recipe or find a superb deal for it on the AH. I probably shouldn't hold my breath, though. :P

According to a Wowhead comment, the designs for the JC pets might come from the Golden Lotus faction dailies that are unlocked at level 90 in the Vale of Eternal Blossoms. These dailies reward Treasures of the Vale, and the pet designs might drop from it.

Since both of these recipes are BoP, it's likely that you'll have to be a JC yourself to be able to loot and/or see them drop in the reward bag.

If this is the case, I guess I know which toon I'll be leveling after my druid main - my priest who happens to be a Jewelcrafter. All for two pets, lol! Or perhaps I can coax a JC guildmate of mine to do these dalies with me in hopes that the designs will drop for him so he can craft the pets for me. >:P

Friday, August 17, 2012

Eye of the Legion Release Date

All this talk about TCG pets reminded me that there's another loot card companion coming "soon", and that a release date was announced for it.

The Eye of the Legion will be the common loot card from the upcoming TCG expansion deck, Timewalkers: War of the Ancients. This deck should be available starting October 2, 2012, so expect to see the companion sometime around then.

It's been a while since I mentioned this pet, but it's basically another wanna-be warlock companion haha. Here's a preview of it from MMO-Champion. It looks pretty much like the warlock ability Eye of Kilrogg.

I can just imagine all the funsies warlocks are going to have with the Eye of the Legion and their Eye of Kilrogg. Having two identical floating eyeballs out at the same time? That's some great material for some neat screenshots right there!

I'm curious to find out what idle animations the Eye of the Legion will have, though. IF it has any, that is.

Epic eye lazer beam of death? Blinking lol?

Another Clone?

Another beta patch will be released soon-ish. In this next build, there's a strange pet that's being added. Or should I say re-added?

It's the Spectral Tiger Cub. If that sounds familiar, it's because this pet already exists. It's a rare TCG loot card that was released in 2009 (Scourgewar). The only notable difference between the new cub and the original are the item and spell ID's.

Old: item ID 49343, spell ID 68810
New: item ID 90953, spell ID 132759

This is either a bug or an additional/new source for the pet. Or some surprise that Blizzard has for us?

Some are already speculating that it will be another Blizzard PetStore companion, however, in previous situations where a TCG card model was re-used for a PetStore redeemable item, the pet's name was changed at least a little bit (TCG = Hippogryph Hatchling, PetStore = Cenarion Hatchling).

The only other example of a companion with two different item ID's but the same exact name is Murkimus. Even then, that pet teaches the same pet summoning spell.

Oh, I guess another example would be the Fox Kit, which is going to have an additional source in the upcoming pre-MoP patch. But in that pet's situation, the item has been changed/altered slightly to include the reputation requirement to purchase it from a vendor. The original does not have this text. Both teach the same pet summoning spell.

So the new addition of the Spectral Tiger Cub to the database is puzzling indeed!

Maybe it means something. Or maybe I'm just reading way too far into it. I can't wait to see which it is. I'm a bit nervous and excited at the same time. What have they done to my adorable little cub?! *bites nails*

Recent Updates, Consilidated

Do you like lists? I like lists. I especially love consolidated information in a list! So here's a giant list of the latest updates and changes for Pet Battles and collecting. :D
"We are getting down to the wire guys! Just wanted to give everyone a few updates on some system wide changes. Some of this info might have already been posted but I think it's useful to have it all in one place.

- We have made a game wide pass on pets that are obstructed. You should see MUCH less of these errors now. We will continue to remove these as we find them.

- We have dramatically reduced the XP required to level for pets after level 10.

- Catching any pet level 15 or under retains its current level.

- Catching a level 16-20 pet will lose 1 level.

- Catching a level 21-25 pet will lose 2 levels.

- Players are vulnerable to PVP while in a pet battle on PVP servers. We have added a buff that will reduce the amount of damage taken once you are broken out of battle by 50% for 3 seconds. PVE players are only affected if they are flagged or in an area that forces flagging. In addition, the exact pet you were fighting will respawn.

- A 3m cool-up is activated on login for the Revive Battle Pets spell. The same cool-up is applied to Stable Masters.

- The bandage drop rate from Battle Pet Tamer quests has been increased significantly.

- The number of pet bandages dropped has been doubled.

- The stack limit on pet bandages has been increased to 10.

- We have reduced the cooldown on Revive Battle Pets to 8m.

- The pet battle combat log has been moved to it's own chat tab.

- All pet battle tamer quests are account-wide. Both the dailys and the one-shots.

- We have removed the pet swap on pets dying in everything except PVP.

- The matchmaking system has been adjusted to favor battles with opponents of similar levels over queuing speed.

- When a pet battle queue pops, you will now have the option to accept or decline.

- Players will once again be able to engage in pet battles while in the pet battle queue.

- You can have up to x3 of any pet except for uniques. The pets in the following categories are unique: Achievements, Pet Store, Guild and Promotional. Note that TCG pets are not unique and will be tradeable.

- Pets caught through pet battles will not be tradeable. Note that many pets are still tradeable. (well over 150)

- Day one migration from Cataclysm has been changed. You will now get all of your extra pets directly in the journal (rather than pet crates in your bags/mail) These pets will be allowed to exceed the 500 total/3x per pet limits for this one time event. Note that unique pets will be merged into one.

- Release now works on any pet as long as you have more than one of that pet.

- Release will continue to work at all times on pets caught though battle.


- A number of pre-existing pets were upgrade to rare quality.
Again, a big thanks to everyone who has been helping us out with feedback on the beta. Your help is immensely appreciated!" - Mumper
Some thoughts and comments on a few of these updates after the break!

Thursday, August 16, 2012

Preserving Multiple Collections

As mentioned before, there are some pets that will be classified as "unique" and therefore players will only be allowed one in their Pet Journals. Players can have up to 3 of the companions that don't fall under any of the unique categories. But what if you have more than 3 individual pet collections on an account? Does that mean all that work will have been for naught?

The answer leans towards "no", and you will be able to preserve all that time and energy spent into acquiring multiples of the same pet across different characters.
"Pets will still be merged on MoP launch, but instead of placing them in your bags or mail they will be placed directly in your pet journal. You will be allowed to have more than 500 and 3x per pet during this process. Any pets that are flagged as unique will be merged into one and also placed in your journal. (Unique pets are from Achievements, Pet Store, Promotions and Guild) You will be able to cage any pets that are tradeable and you can release anything that you have more than one of.

A few examples:
A B.net account has a total of 6 Wolvar Pups across all of it's characters. On merge the B.net account would have 6 Wolvar Pups. This would be the only time an account is allowed to have more than 3x of a single pet.

A B.net account has a total of 3 Murky's from BlizzCon 2005 and 4 Nuts from the pet collection achievements across all of it's characters. (both unique pets) On merge the B.net account will have 1 Murky and 1 Nuts.
Hope that helps clear things up." - Mumper
The hard cap of 500 total and up to 3 of the same pet still stand, but it's good to see that there's an exception for the beginning of the merging transition. Many players put a lot of effort into their collections, so it would have been devastating for them had they lost all of that progress. Even if it's not a complete preservation of separate collections (since special unique pets will ultimately be merged into one) it seems like a fair compromise.

One last thing to note, though: Once you've had the chance to re-organize and clean up your new Pet Journal of duplicates and so on, you won't be able to go back above the hard cap of 500 total and 3 of the same companion.
"The limit is 500 but players will be allowed to exceed that during the launch transition. Once you drop back under it, you won't be able to go back over." - Mumper

Wednesday, August 15, 2012

More Beta Pet Battles Updates

Things seem to be slowing down or wrapping up in terms of beta news lately, but developers haven't forgotten about Pet Battles or companions! Here are the latest updates and changes.
"The only pets that are flagged as unique are in the categories listed below. This can of course change at any time, but this is what we are looking at for MoP release currently.

Achievement Pets
Blizzard Pet Store Pets
Promotional Pets
Guild Pets

Everything else will be allowed up to 3x of the same pet."

- source
I wonder if the TCG pets fall under the "Promotional Pets" category. It would be a real downer if they were since some players paid RL money to have multiple TCG companions on multiple toons. Unlike the Blizzard PetStore redeemable pets, the TCG ones are only mailed to one toon per code redemption. It would just be wrong if all those companions were squished into one when people paid for more than a single loot card.

While the devs have covered duplicate pets, what about the issue of having duplicates that you CAN'T GET RID OF? That might sound like blasphemy right, because I mean, you can never have too many companions eh? Well, if they plan on keeping the cap of 500 total pets (including duplicates) in your Pet Journal, most aren't going to want to keep those duplicate pets around. Yet last I checked, you can't cage or release some of them, which means clogged up pet slots. :\

Specifically quest reward companions. It seems punishing to have to skip over a quest on an alt just to avoid picking up the pet and accidentally adding it to your journal. But unless you can choose to remove any of duplicates and give them away/sell/vendor them, there's really no point in having more than one quest reward pet in your account-wide collection.

Hopefully they fix this or address it in the near future. Perhaps some sort of option at the Stable Master to help you "let go" of some duplicate pets that you wouldn't otherwise be able to remove from your journal? I don't know lol.
"We will be adding more diversity as we progress through the patches, it's something we know about it. You have to remember that most of the critters in the world were animals. We added as many new pets as we could without disrupting the general feel of the world. There is a unique pet in almost every zone in the game now. We took care to try and make these pets fit in the different family's. (undead, dragonkin, aquatic, elemental etc.)

This is just the beginning, we will be supporting the system with new updates every single patch."
- source
I'm really glad that they plan on continuing to update and add to Pet Battles as time goes on. The minigame seems to have the potential for limitless features.

My biggest concern is replay-ability and whether or not it will become tedious and too "grindy" after leveling up your first few pet teams.

Adding more content when most players can't even get past max level for 2 teams is just asking for trouble. Rather than adding, perhaps changing, relocating, etc. might be more acceptable. I wouldn't mind seeing more than just critter, beast, and aquatic pets at low levels. Plus it seems like all the "cool" or interesting family types are the less encountered ones.
"A few updates:

- The bandage drop rate from Battle Pet Tamer quests has been increased significantly.
- The number of bandages dropped has been doubled.
- The stack limit has been increased to 10.
- We have reduced the cooldown on Revive Battle Pets to 8m.

We will be watching the cooldown feedback at this new value but we think that combined with the bandage drop rates, most players will be happy with the results. The increased chance at bandages are a great way to supplement any extra healing you may need while the heal is on cooldown."
- source
Last but not least, an update to the healing and revive spell cooldown!

It's not a complete removal of the cooldown like many players have been requesting, but I think it's a pretty sweet compromise. 10 minutes to 8 minutes might not seem like much of a reduction, but it really does make a difference.

Plus with the increased stacking and hopefully higher droprate of the Battle Pet Bandages, Pet Battle gameplay should be a lot smoother and the flow will hopefully be less clunky.

The next question is will this heal/revive cooldown still be tolerable after your first three pets reach max level and you start to level up a second team? Or at that point will it just be too much of a monotonous hassle?

Again, one of my biggest worries is a tiresome and seemingly endless grind, and if it will put off players after a while. Anything to curve Pet Battles from turning into what feels like a chore is welcome. Except coming up with a mechanic that fits in and doesn't break the system might be a challenge.

Guess we'll just have to see where this road takes us!

Sunday, August 12, 2012

Wanderer's Festival Hatchling

There are currently quite a few wild pets that depend on certain situations before spawning, and one of the newer ones is the Wanderer's Festival Hatchling.

This companion actually requires the festival to be "in town", which happens on Sunday evenings starting at 9 PM (server time) and lasts roughly until 11 PM (server time).


The festivities occur on Turtle Beach in the Krasarang Wilds (northeast beach). You'll know you're in the right area and the right time if you see floating lanterns on the water just before the NPCs spawn.


The Pandaren will then come out from the jungle to the sand, set up bonfires, kegs, lanterns and set off fireworks near the giant turtle statue. At the same time, many little Wanderer's Festival Hatchlings will spawn on the beach, so be ready to battle and capture! :)

Saturday, August 11, 2012

From Another Point of View

Just a disclaimer: No, I'm not against Pet Battles. Despite this cynical and seemingly negative write-up, I still think this minigame is going to be enjoyable (for the most part) and will give many players an alternative to the basic PVE and PVP modes of gameplay.

However, I do feel compelled to point out some of the feature's shortcomings and possible downfalls. How can Blizzard address these potential issues? I'm not sure yet, but the sooner a discussion starts, the sooner the brainstorming can begin.

There are many issues that Blizzard is attempting to address, such as the quality value of certain pets, the trade/selling of companions, and the world PVP aspect. These are and should be priorities, since they affect nearly all participants of Pet Battles. However, there are the less acknowledged concerns that shouldn't be forgotten.

Wednesday, August 8, 2012

EVERYONE REMAIN CALM

IF YOU LOVE THE FOX KIT, BUT HATE THE RNG SLAUGHTER GRIND, THEN THERE'S GOOD NEWS FOR YOU. AFTER YOU SEE THE CHANGE, YOU'LL KNOW WHY THE ALL CAPS INTRO IS WARRANTED.
"Just added the fox kit to some vendors... http://i.imgur.com/2NPxU.jpg" - source
*Ahem* See what I mean? :P

But yes, game designer Jonathan LeCraft, just Tweeted that. Judging by the image preview he also provided, it looks like the Fox Kit will require exalted with the Tol Barad Peninsula faction (horde or alliance), will be BoP, and cost 200 Tol Barad Commendations.

So while it won't be an absolute steal or easy-street, at least it will be a guaranteed grind rather than a RNG-based one.

I replied and asked if this change was for the end of Cataclysm or MoP, but there's no response or word on that yet. For now, it seems all up in the air and worst case scenario is that it doesn't even make it to live servers.

In other words: Don't hold your breath, yet. We'll have to wait and see.


In the meantime, keep up the good fight and continue your hunt for that elusive kit! It's well worth the wait and the hard work. The sigh of relief of not having to ever kill another Baradin Fox feels just as good as finally being able to cuddle your new pet for as long and as hard as you want. :)

For those that worry that this change will take away from their experience, look at it this way, the pet is still not a gimme. It will still take time to earn the reputation and currency, but the senseless RNG killing of foxes is just removed.

If you managed to farm up the Fox Kit using the "traditional" method, more power to ya! It's an experience no one can ever take away from you, and a feat that you can be personally proud of (or disgraced by... you fox-killer, you! :P It's ok. I'm guilty of it too).

Tuesday, August 7, 2012

Extra Change In Your Pocket.. Err Collection

WoW Insider recently wrote up an article that explains the potential gold benefits of having an account-wide pet collection.

I agree that this could be a way for players to earn some gold when starting out on a new server, and I think it seems like a smart way to establish yourself on a different server, where starting out might be tougher without some extra gold.

With your choices of what pets you can actually cage and sell/trade being limited though, your potential for game-breaking profits aren't too high, which means it's not like you'll be bringing down the server's economy with your influx of companions.

It would be like selling certain pets, as per usual, on your main toon's server. The market and demand would dictate the prices; the only difference is that the source of the pets wouldn't have originated from the server you're attempting to sell the companions on. And you'd be cutting out the middleman (Neutral AH), but that's not necessarily a bad thing, is it?

After thinking about it for a while, I really don't see a downside. Sure, already established players on certain realms might feel as though outsiders are randomly inserting themselves into "their" market, but that's going to happen even if pet collections weren't accound-wide. It might take a bit longer and be less convenient for that new neighbor in town, but it happens even now so it's not a new situation.

If there's any downside, it's that the player investing in the pets to possibly sell on other servers might take a gold loss themselves. Each server has its own economy, one that fluctuates and will vary from other servers. Buying low and selling high is always a risk, but if someone is willing to put their money on it and makes a profit, then more power to them.

I'm a Farmer (The "Good" Kind)

I've become best friends with Sho, and she immediately sent me the Red Cricket. :D Unfortunately, it doesn't have an entry in the Pet Journal yet, so I don't think it's fully implemented at the moment. I'm holding off on learning the BoU item until I'm sure I can summon it. Don't want to risk losing this pet! :P

Now that I've earned best friend status with one NPC, my next focus will be Farmer Fung. Apparently he'll mail an Enigma Seed to all his best friends, and between this seed and the Ominous Seed (see previous post), one of them might have the chance of producing the Terrible Turnip.

I'd like to see if either one is a 100% droprate for the pet or not, but I need to get my hands on some of these hard to find seeds first!

Granted, I haven't been planting religiously or for very many days, but both seeds don't seem to have a very high droprate from any of the plants I've planted and harvested. This could be why the Terrible Turnip is labeled as a "zone drop" in the Pet Journal.

Either that or it's just a tiny bit much to include "it has a low chance to drop from a seed, that has a chance to drop from a plant that you have to grow" all in the journal description lol. "Zone drop" just seems so much cleaner, if not vague haha.

Well, even though I've managed to claim my first pet reward from my little farm, there's still the potential for another. This is going to definitely keep me farming for a while!

PS: Something I forgot to mention that's probably significant is that this entire "farming" minigame and reputation/friendship grind doesn't unlock until you're level 90. So if you're thinking of heading out to the valley and getting started as soon as you log into the expansion, be ready to be stared at weirdly by a bunch of Pandaren, wondering why you're begging for seeds and friendship. :P

Sunday, August 5, 2012

Another Reason to Tend to Your Garden

The Terrible Turnip might be listed as a zone drop, but the hunt for it might not be as vague or broad as implied.

According to some comments on the beta forums and from WoWhead, this pet might be from your very own Tillers farm.

I can't confirm it yet, but it sounds as though certain plants have a chance to drop an Ominous Seed when harvested. Or maybe the vegetable depends on which plant Jogu recommends to plant? Anyway, the seed then produces (or has a chance to produce) the Terrible Turnip.

Either way, this PLUS the Red Cricket from Sho just gives us even more incentive to tend to our farms!

Sheesh, there's going to be so much to do in MoP. From Pet Battling, leveling, capturing, and collecting to reputation and profession grinding and farming - I wonder if I'm going to still have time left in the day to raid with my guild lol. :P

Edit: I just planted some Striped Melons, Scallions, and Jogu recommended some Pink Turnip for me, so we'll see what comes of it all!

Saturday, August 4, 2012

Why Are You So Cute?!

After defeating a Pet Tamer and receiving a Sack of Pet Supplies, I was ecstatic to find two Magical Mini-Treats inside!

Maybe I'm the only one who feels this way, but I love, LOVE small things. I know many players feel like companions should be bigger so they can be shown off and easily seen, but I lean more towards the smaller, the better mentality. Besides, these pets are for my enjoyment, not anyone else's, and I'm an absolute sucker for tiny cute things.

So naturally, I adore the Magical Mini-Treats. :)


Here's just a comparison between a normal sized Amethyst Shale Hatchling (on the left) and the same companion who's consumed a Magical Mini-Treat (on the right). Ahhh, the adorableness is overwhelming! XD

More Tweaks and Changes

Last week was quite... interesting... to say the least. Real life always knows how to be a party pooper heh. :P

Anyway, getting down to it, here are some notable changes to Pet Battles:
"We have made a few adjustments to the both the weakened by capture pets and the overall XP curve. Details below!

- Catching any pet level 15 or under retains its current level.
- Catching a level 16-20 pet will lose 1 level.
- Catching a level 21-25 pet will lose 2 levels.
- We have dramatically reduced the XP required to level for pets after level 10."
- Mumper

"We have reduced the cool down to 10m in the next build." - Mumper
I can't comment on the "weakened" and experience change yet since I haven't been able to capture or play Pet Battles for the past week, but it doesn't sound too punishing. At the very least, I'm glad that there are level ranges instead of a flat and static level reduction. THAT, I think, would be pretty devastating.

Imagine capturing a level 5 wild pet only to have it be reduced to a level 1 lol. People would be screaming bloody murder if that were indeed the case. So I'm glad developers took that into consideration.

The reduction to the healing/reviving spell is a nice touch, although I think dropping it down to 7 minutes would be a better compromise for everyone. As I mentioned when I first started testing Pet Battles, I can normally run with the same team of pets for about 2 - 4 battles (with opponents of appropriate level) before they seriously need a heal, otherwise I'd be gimping my odds of winning.

But in some situations whether it's just unfavorable RNG or a bad call on my part, I might need to heal up my pets after just one battle. Most of the time I don't run into this issue one right after another, but bad luck does happen. I haven't acquired any Pet Bandages yet, so I've been reliant on the spell and/or the Stable Master.

Dropping the CD of the spell to 7 might be a good compromise since it's still a long enough cooldown so that it can't be constantly used, but it might be short enough so that players don't feel like that string of bad luck is getting in their way of fun.

Or being able to MAKE your own Pet Bandages so players feel like they have more control over the healing of their pets would be another possible solution. Heck, even being able to purchase them from a vendor might be enough too.

To strike a good balance, there needs to be an adequate amount of player control along with RNG/attrition.

I think that's what the biggest issue is here. Players feel like they're at the mercy of a CD and can't move forward unless that CD is reduced even more or removed completely. It's like a mental block that prevents any fun from being had because, let's face it, no one likes to lose. Starting out a battle with 75% health instead of 100% puts your pet team at a slight disadvantage, therefore making the odds of possibly losing that much higher. The player doesn't really have a choice, though, unless they want to take the time to travel to a Stable Master, heal up, and then fly back. Except it's pretty inconvenient doing so, especially in some zones where the NPC is out in the middle of nowhere. Plus travel time is just not fun, period.

Not to mention if a player happens to come by a very rare wild pet that they have to capture, but their team is less than ready and they're out of Pet Bandages. I know I would be heartbroken if I had to pass up that chance or take the risk of someone else coming along to snipe the wild pet while I'm off in search of a Stable Master.

At least if we could make our own bandages for our pets, the responsibility wouldn't fall on anyone's shoulders but our own if we're unprepared.

Well, we'll see. I have yet to try out Pet Battles with all the changes.

Hopefully all the RL issues will be over and done with soon enough and I can get back to what I'm passionate about: the pets! :)
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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.