Just Keep Fishing, Fishing, Fishing

Thanks to a heads up from El, the new tiny carps in 5.2 are now listed in the PTR Pet Journal. Here are the possible locations from where they can be fished up.


Fished up in Vale of Eternal Blossoms



Fished up in The Jade Forest, Valley of the Four Winds, and Krasarang Wilds



Fished up in Townlong Steppes and Dread Wastes



Fished up in Kun-Lai Summit and oceans around Pandaria

They're all so lovely! I can't decide which color is my favorite. Maybe I'm somewhat partial to the red and white one? :P

According to El, fishing up one in the Vale of Eternal Blossoms took upwards of 400 casts, so hopefully these companions will be a challenge but not extraordinarily hard to get. When it comes to pets like these, persistence and determination is what will pay off in the end!

I wonder if the Ancient Pandaren Fishing Charm will increase my chances of fishing one of these pets up from a pool? XD

5.2 PTR: New Raptor Pets and Good Things Come In Fours

Three new raptor companions were datamined from the latest PTR build.

- Zandalari Anklerender
- Zandalari Footslasher
- Zandalari Toenibbler

Much like the Zandalari Kneebiter, these pets will also be Bind on Pick Up. I haven't checked the PTR yet, but I wouldn't be surprised if they also dropped from the Isle of Giants.

So let's do a quick recap of the quadruplets coming in patch 5.2:

- four new pandas
- four new tiny carps
- four new Zandalari raptors

And coming in close are the direhorn companions, of which there are only 3. But since they're unlikely to make it into the release of the upcoming patch, there may be some time yet for a fourth to suddenly pop up. ;)

What can we take away from all of this? Hm... Good things come in fours? :P

TCG Contest and Pre-sale

MMO-Champion is giving away some TCG pets (thanks to WoWTCGLoot)!

2 x Sand Scarab
2 x Purple Puffer
2 x Eye of the Legion
2 x Landro's Lil' XT
2 x Landro's Lichling

To enter, simply comment on the post linked above. You can earn additional entries by providing a useful comment and/or submitting a high quality screenshot to the WoWDB pages. More information and details on the contest page! The contest closes Friday, February 1st @ 11:59 PM EST, so don't delay in entering. :)

Speaking of TCG, WoWTCGLoot is holding their usual TCG pre-sale for the upcoming deck, Betrayal of the Guardian. This time the pet loot card is the Gusting Grimoire. Much like previous pre-sales, those that pre-order with WoWTCGLoot will have a chance to win a bonus loot card (which loot card has yet to be announced). Perhaps some extra incentive to get your order in early? :P

The Look-a-Like Challenge

Update: Look-a-like Challenge Part 2!

Ever since I completed the color-challenges, I've been wracking my brain with what to do for my next challenge. Sure there are still pets left to collect, leveling, battling, and upgrading to rare quality using stones. But those things can get tiring and tedious after a while. Same old day in and day out.

After playing around with some ideas, I finally came up with a new challenge: the look-a-like challenge.

So what does this entail? Basically I find ways to look like my pets! Be it items or abilities, anything that will make my character look similar to any of my companions.

Without realizing it, I actually started this new task a while ago as seen in the screenshot in this post.

In order to pull this off, I needed

1.) The help of a rogue friend and a mage friend
2.) Potion of Illusion and/or Ai-Li's Skymirror
3.) Misc items that transformed my character into fun things

There are quite a few pets that you can look similar to (a full list is behind the cut), but I've only taken some screenshots of the easiest/more interesting ones. Since there are so many pets, I may have missed some look-a-likes. Hopefully I've covered most of them, though!

One last thing, most if not all of the transformations resulted in a silenced state. To get around this, I used the Skymirror which not only granted me the ability to cast and do other things while transformed, but it also allowed me to keep the costume for longer. :D Unfortunately, even with the Skymirror, I couldn't mount or take a taxi. Luckily, I had a friend who had a two-seat mount. :)



Pet: Flayer Youngling
Look-a-like: Stonescythe Alpha
Notes: Rogue friend required, must have the minor glyph, Glyph of Disguise



Pet: Harpy Youngling
Look-a-like: Northspring Windcaller
Notes: Rogue friend required, must have the minor glyph, Glyph of Disguise


Pet: Hopling
Look-a-like: Springtail Thumper
Notes: Rogue friend required, must have the minor glyph, Glyph of Disguise



Pet: Feral Vermling
Look-a-like: Springtail Gnasher
Notes: Rogue friend required, must have the minor glyph, Glyph of Disguise



Pet: Magical Crawdad
Look-a-like: Drysnap Pincer (thanks to Gorman for the tip!)
Notes: Rogue friend required, must have the minor glyph, Glyph of Disguise



Pet: Tranquil Mechanical Yeti
Look-a-like: Young Wendigo
Notes: Rogue friend required, must have the minor glyph, Glyph of Disguise


Pet: Murky
Look-a-like: Bluegill Oracle
Notes: Rogue friend required, must have the minor glyph, Glyph of Disguise



Pet: Kun-Lai Runt
Look-a-like: Icemane Yeti
Notes: Rogue friend required, must have the minor glyph, Glyph of Disguise


Pet: Curious Oracle Hatchling
Look-a-like: Mistwhisper Oracle
Notes: Rogue friend required, must have the minor glyph, Glyph of Disguise. Rogue must be hated with The Oracles in order to pick-pocket the NPCs.


Pet: Curious Wolvar Pup
Look-a-like: Frenzyheart Spearbearer
Item: Frenzyheart Brew
Notes: Rogue friend required for the Look-a-like. Must have the minor glyph, Glyph of Disguise. Rogue must also be hated with The Frenzyheart in order to pick-pocket the NPCs.



Pet: Cheetah Cub
Look-a-like: Druid Travel Form
Notes: Minor glyph, Glyph of the Cheetah, required.



Pet: Teldrassil Sproutling/Ruby Sapling
Look-a-like: Druid Tree Form
Notes: Minor glyph, Glyph of the Treant, required.



Pet: Moonkin Hatchling(s)
Look-a-like: Balance Druids



Pet: Cinder Kitten
Item: Fandral's Flamescythe or Burning Seed
Notes: Potion of Illusion or Ai-Li's Skymirror will make the transformation effect stick even if you unequip the staff.


Pet: Lil' Tarecgosa
Item: Dragonwrath, Tarecgosa's Rest
Notes: Potion of Illusion or Ai-Li's Skymirror will make the transformation effect stick even if you unequip the staff.


Pet: Panda Cub
Item: Magic Bamboo Shoot



Pet: Silithid Hatchling
Item: Blessing of the Old God



Pet: Darkmoon Monkey
Item: Wicked Wikket
Notes: There are multiple hozen transformations, so you may need to purchase and drink a few before turning into the monkey with a fez hat.


Pet(s): All Frogs
Ability: Shaman Hex or emoting "kiss" to Mojo
Notes: Rogue friend required for the hex. Must have the minor glyph Glyph of Disguise.



Pet: Tiny Snowman
Item: Winter Veil Disguise Kit



Pet(s): Mei Li Sparkler/Tiny Flamefly
Item: Underbelly Elixir



Pet(s): All Cockroaches
Item: Magic Eater



Pet: Scalded Basilisk Hatchling
Item: Magic Eater



Pet: Emerald Whelpling
Item: Magic Eater



Pet: Spirit of Summer
Item: Magic Eater


Pet(s): All Turkeys
Item: Turkey Shooter (Only available during Thanksgiving)


Pet: Winter's Little Helper
Ability: Little Helper transformation via Winter Wondervolt machine (Only available during Winter Veil)


Pet: Father Winter's Helper
Ability: Little Helper transformation via Winter Wondervolt machine (Only available during Winter Veil)


Pet(s): All Rabbits
Item: Tome of Polymorph: Rabbit (Only available during Noblegarden)
Notes: Rogue friend required, must have the minor glyph, Glyph of Disguise. Mage friend also required.


Pet(s): All Turtles
Item: Tome of Polymorph: Turtle
Notes: Rogue friend required, must have the minor glyph, Glyph of Disguise. Mage friend also required.



Pet: Bombay Cat
Item: Tome of Polymorph: Black Cat
Notes: Rogue friend required, must have the minor glyph, Glyph of Disguise. Mage friend also required.



Pet: Elwynn Lamb
Ability: Mage Polymorph
Notes: Rogue friend required, must have the minor glyph, Glyph of Disguise. Mage friend also required.



Pet: Mr. Wiggles
Ability: Mage Polymorph: Pig
Notes: Rogue friend required, must have the minor glyph, Glyph of Disguise. Mage friend also required.



Pet: Mr. Chilly
Ability: Mage Polymorph: Penguin
Notes: Rogue friend required, must have the minor glyph, Glyph of Disguise. Mage friend also required, must have the minor glyph, Glyph of the Penguin.



Pet: Bananas/Baby Ape
Ability: Mage Polymorph: Monkey
Notes: Rogue friend required, must have the minor glyph, Glyph of Disguise. Mage friend also required, must have the minor glyph, Glyph of the Monkey.



Pet: Baby Blizzard Bear
Ability: Mage Polymorph: Bear Cub
Notes: Rogue friend required, must have the minor glyph, Glyph of Disguise. Mage friend also required, must have the minor glyph, Glyph of the Bear Cub.



Pet: Clouded Hedgehog
Ability: Mage Polymorph: Porcupine
Notes: Rogue friend required, must have the minor glyph, Glyph of Disguise. Mage friend also required, must have the minor glyph, Glyph of the Porcupine.

Forfeit Penalty On Tamer Battles - Why and Why Not

Reasons why Tamer battles should not have the forfeit penalty attached to the encounters in 5.2:

- Forfeiting on a Tamer battle does not negatively impact anyone else's gameplay, unlike those that forfeit during wild matches in order to quickly find a certain pet. A Tamer match is between you and the NPC only, so a penalty wouldn't be helping anyone and only hurting the individual.

- Some Tamer battles are so finely tuned that losing a single turn because you're forced to swap (to avoid being at a huge disadvantage), would mean a high chance of a loss. Examples include but are not limited to: The Darkmoon Faire Tamer (Jeremy Feasel), Major Payne, many of the Pandaren Spirit Tamers, etc.

- Placing a penalty on the Tamer battles removes any large sense of control over the encounter that players have. There is already so much RNG involved, and too much RNG usually makes things more frustrating than fun. A balance needs to be struck where players feel like they have slight control over what happens, yet there's enough RNG so that they still have to react and respond accordingly and not just brainlessly plow through content. Being able to choose who you go up against first gives players that choice, but it doesn't necessarily ensure a win. We still have to battle with care; simply mashing buttons usually leads to an unsuccessful encounter with a Tamer.

- A forfeit penalty on Tamer battles wouldn't help those new to Pet Battles. Someone who's just starting out will already have the challenge of figuring out each Tamer's quirks and how to best approach them. Why throw in another possible disadvantage onto their plate? It makes it harder to jump into the game and feel really amped about it.

- There are so many Tamer dailies to go through each day. Placing a forfeit penalty on these specific types of battles will make doing all or even most of them even more time consuming. Not being able to predict/choose which pet your team goes up against first could mean many losses before a win on each Tamer. Losing that turn because you have to swap to a different pet really does make a difference in the outcome of a match. This means losing more often, which leads to having to spend more time than usual at each Tamer before defeating him/her, and by the time you're done, you may not have time for other battles.

- Players can genuinely forget to switch out abilities before a Tamer battle. Some use the same pets on multiple encounters, but use different attacks. Since the Pet Journal UI doesn't record and remember which abilities to use on each battle for each pet, players must manually set it up. Going through so many dailies each day, it's easy to forget that so and so needs to use this and that on Tamer 1, 4, and 7. With all of this in mind, some may have no choice but to forfeit during a Tamer battle. Of course with the penalty, that will mean they need to heal up their team even before the fight's begun. No one wants to start a match with a slightly damaged team.

Reasons why Tamer battles should have the forfeit penalty attached to the encounters in 5.2:

- It re-enforces intended gameplay. Forfeiting to find a certain pet isn't how Pet Battles was designed, so a penalty was implemented on wild battles. Yet if you take damage from fleeing a wild battle, your pet team should take damage when feeling from any battle.

Conclusion and possible resolutions/compromises
Maybe my view is too limited, but I see more reasons why there SHOULDN'T be a penalty on Tamer battles than why there should be one.

If there's to be a forfeit penalty, perhaps make each Tamer battle start with a static pet. Having the same one come out each time will reduce unpredictability, but at least players will feel somewhat empowered in that they know they can use X pet first without fear of losing their turn.

Or don't implement the forfeit penalty for Tamer battles at all. Who is it really helping in the long run? It makes sense on wild battles, but in a one on one, semi-static Tamer battle, what exactly is the forfeit penalty doing? What does it accomplish other than frustrating players and negatively re-enforcing gameplay? It's unnecessary when there's no harm being done.

Anyway, these are just my thoughts on the matter, and developers will make the final decision. Perhaps it's too difficult to implement the penalty for wild battles but remove it for Tamer battles. Perhaps there are other reasons why a penalty needs to be placed on a semi-static, individually based, battle.

My hope is for compromise. Ok, give us the penalty on wild battles, but at least let us have some control during the tougher Tamer encounters. It doesn't have to be all or nothing, and while we'll gripe a bit about the penalty mechanic overall, I think many will appreciate the thought and sentiment if it wasn't applied to Tamer battles.

5.2 PTR - New Mechanics First Impressions

I decided to play around on the PTR today. The Isle of Thunder (formally known as The Lightning Isle but it is still referred to that in the Pet Journal) is open for exploring and pet battling.

There are four new wild pets available in this new zone.








The first three seem to be more common than the new frog, but rest assured the Swamp Croaker doesn't seem exceedingly rare like the Minfernal or other "rares".

Changes to Pet Battles
The new mechanics for battles are currently in place on the PTR, but may still be buggy and need some work. All part of the testing process. :)

Here's a summary of what I've found so far:

- Forfeit penalty is 10% damage to your active pet team. This might be bugged at the moment, since only the pet in slot 3 was taking consistent health reduction.

- Forfeiting will not despawn the wild pet, and it will respawn with the same team, same qualities, and same breed. I'm not sure about color/skins, but it's likely those will be the same as well.

- Killing the first pet and then forfeiting will not cause the other two to respawn on their own. The entire pet team will simply cease to exist if the first one is killed and you forfeit the match.

- Currently forfeiting a Tamer match WILL inflict the damage penalty onto your team. Hopefully this is temporary and Tamer battles will be excluded from this new mechanic.

I'm getting a somewhat clearer picture of how Pet Battles will be post-patch 5.2, but there's still time to iron out and refine a few things.

There's not a whole lot of agreement in the pet community whether or not the forfeit penalty is truly necessary. Some say yes, as it enforces intended gameplay, while others say no as it only adds a hindrance and many won't change how they play just because of a small factor like this. In other words: an unnecessary and overly punishing addition to Pet Battles.

Another thing to note is the respawning after forfeit feature is great and all, but it's somewhat misleading when paired with the concept that any pet you defeat in battle will never respawn.

This can lead some to believe that if you forfeit a wild battle after defeating the first two pets, the last one will respawn on its own or with a new team. So far this hasn't been the case. It might change in the future, but I'm not sure how likely that will be.

Last but not least, and this has been a major concern of mine, is the forfeit penalty affecting Tamer battles. If this is not temporary, and goes live, this will make many many collectors and battlers very upset.

It's no secret that you can forfeit a Tamer battle to get just the "right" line up, or switch out pets to get the right team. This doesn't necessarily ensure a win, but it does help. It prevents you from essentially losing a turn, simply because you need to switch to a different pet for a bigger advantage against the current Tamer pet on the battlefield.

With this new penalty, and if it's applied to Tamer battles, I don't think it will stop people from using the aforementioned method, but it will be quite annoying for many. Who knows, it might be so irritating that it may discourage some from Pet Battling altogether.

Well, we'll see. The PTR is still open so there's time for changes and updates (hopefully). More testing and feedback will help developers come to the fairest compromise between "fun" and intended gameplay.

EDIT: Mumper mentioned on Twitter that the forfeit penalty on Tamer battles is likely to stay but they'll continue to monitor the PTR.

This is disappointing news, but hopefully there's still a chance that this could change.

5.2 PTR: New Fishing Pets

"One fish, Two fish, Red fish, Blue fish,
Black fish, Blue fish, Old fish, New fish." - Dr. Seuss

5.2 PTR datamining has come up with four new fishing pets! All fish. :P

- Tiny Red Carp (BoP)
- Tiny Blue Carp (BoP)
- Tiny Green Carp (BoP)
- Tiny White Carp (BoP)

If these fish companions share the same model as the Tiny Goldfish and Fishy, we'll finally have all(?) the colors of this particular pet model. The skins are actually pretty lovely IMO, so I'm looking forward to collecting these four!

Mumper confirmed on Twitter that each one can be fished up from a "unique area" in Pandaria.

So four fishes, 7 zones in Pandaria, with countless "unique areas" within them. I hope El from El's Extreme Anglin' can shed some light on where each fish drops from! ;)

Sidenote: MMO-Champion has screenshots of what looks like 3 of the already discovered pets.

Going from left to right, Electrified Razortooth (wild), frogs/toads model and skin update, Ji-Kun Hatchling (raid dropped), Pierre (unknown source). Just my guesses!

5.2 PTR: Twitter updates

Some awesomesauce Twitter updates from Mumper. Both put me on cloud 9!

New frog model:
"I couldn't help it, he's just so awesome! #ribbit pic.twitter.com/yTQjKtEQ" - Mumper

PTR copes:
"Next PTR push, transferred characters will get a random set of 25 max level pets to test with. Aki quest also flagged complete. Should help!" - Mumper

YAY *squee*

Preview of Latest PTR Pets

UPDATE: Apparently the model for Ji'kun is a placeholder and will be updated in a future PTR build. Other pets will also be updated with sweeter models too.

Here are some previews of the latest datamined pets, plus an update on some previously discovered companions.

The other pets that were recently datamined were not added into the pet journal this PTR build, so maybe next udpate!


Raven-Lord-ish pet?! Finally?! :D



So... the actual creature, G'nathus, lives in the water. Does that mean his spawns will need a protective bubble once we adopt them into our pet families?



The updated skin on the Elder Python. Wowhead has a much better preview (in 3D no less!), so go check that out if you'd like to see this wild pet better.



It looks like the Electrified Razortooth might be getting an updated model. It still looks similar to the baby crocos, but it might have a nifty spine.

5.2 PTR: 5 More Pets

More pets have been datamined!

Ji-Kun Hatchling (BoP) - Drops from Ji-Kun in Throne of Thunder
Pygmy Direhorn (BoU)
Pierre
Direhorn Runt (BoU)
Spawn of G'nathus (BoU) - - Drops from Zandalari Dinomancer on Isle of Giants

The direhorn companions might be the replacement pet that Mumper mentioned on Twitter, after revealing that the Stunted Direhorn wouldn't be ready for 5.2.

The Stunted Direhorn must be amazing to warrant two similar pets as replacements! I can't wait to check them all out though. :)

Wowhead has a 3D model preview of what Pierre will probably look like. It's an animated stove!

Does this mean we should expect everything and the kitchen sink as pets in the future too? :P

I'm curious how we'll get the Spawn of G'nathus. If you're unaware, this pet seems as if it looks and shares a name with a level ?? elite that swims off the shore of Townlong Steppes. It looks like a giant eel.

I had a close encounter with this creature while exploring, and you can bet that I high-tailed it out of there as soon as I saw it lol. I hope we don't have to kill G'nathus for a chance at one of its babies.

Once I patch the PTR, there will hopefully some information on where these pets come from within the Pet Journal.

5.2 Pet Updates From Twitter

There's news about the 5.2 pets from Twitter. Mumper confirmed and clarified a few things about the new pets and Elite Pets.

RE: Stunted Direhorn

"Stunted Direhorn is not 5.2 anymore, most likely 5.3 at this point. We have a cool replacement though!"

I'm a bit sad that the triceratops companion won't be ready for 5.2. It's good to hear that it won't be abandoned forever though, and will hopefully make it into patch 5.3. I think I'll name mine Cera. ;) Internet high-five if you get the reference. XD


RE: Elite Pets despawning/level changing

"Despawn on elite pets is a bug, fixed in next build to work like normal tamers."

"Different levels each time is a bug, fixed in next build."

It sounds like the Elite Battle Pets will be like the Pandaren Spirit Tamers, but instead of getting one goodie bag from each "tamer", you'll only receive one for defeating all the Elite Pets.

My question now is just how long will it take to defeat all 8 each day? Dailies are starting to eat up quite a bit of time for a task that's supposed to be doable on a daily basis. On top of traveling to each of these new Elite Pets and then battling them, players will probably continue doing the other Grand Master dailies for a chance at Battle-Stones. Combine travel time with time necessary to go through an encounter with each pet team/pet, I don't know if I'll have much time to do any other dailies.


RE: Raid dropped pets

"Plan is to have bonus rolls work for raid boss pets. Currently 2 of those and one pet on raid trash."

"Currently plan is that they will drop as normal loot and on bonus rolls."

And last but not least, I find the raid dropped pets interesting at the very least. I'm not a fan of having vanity items drop in raids, but hopefully the way devs are implementing these will work out for everyone. If they drop in both LFR and normal/heroic, then they won't be exclusive to just raiders.

Being able to roll for a bonus loot/pet using Elder Charms sounds like a good way to handle it. Leave the RNG up to each individual, rather than having 25 fight over one pet.

But I'm curious how the "raid trash" dropped companion will work. What kind of droprate will it have? Need or Greed? Or just Greed? Cageable? These factors directly affect if placing a pet drop on raid trash is successful or not.

- If the drop rate is too low and 25 people have to roll, there will be a lot of frustration.

- If players can Need, there will ultimately be those that always Need and others who always Greed. Each side in the same raid always leads to conflict.

- If the pet is cageable, everyone will have a reason to select Need (if possible). Those who aren't pet collectors will want it simply to sell. These players could easily take advantage of the situation. It's not against the rules, nor is it "wrong", but it is frowned upon in the pet collecting community. Nabbing a companion from someone that will actually use it and adore it for the sake of earning some extra gold can be seen as underhanded and shady. It depends on your POV though. One person's "right" is another person's "wrong".

Well, we'll see. I have a few Elder Charms so I'll definitely try out the new raid LFR if and when it opens up on the PTR.

Anyway, just my thoughts so far!

Elite Battle Pets Quest and Daily

It was quite unexpected that the "elite pets" quest would reward an achievement that unlocks a daily quest of the same nature. Defeat elite pets each day? Does that mean they'll be commonly found?

Trin on Twitter found the answer on the PTR. Elite battle pets seem to be named that are specially marked with a yellow paw print instead of the standard green one.

This will make it loads easier to complete the daily each day, and obtain the Fabled Pandaren Pet Supplies reward. Many speculate that the other panda pets (other than the red one) will be random drops from the bag. It's entirely possible since their source is listed as a quest reward, much like the pandaren spirit pets.

If this is true, we'll likely be doing the elite battle pets daily for a while since there are 3 different panda companions to collect!

5.2 PTR: More Pet Previews

Finally got around to patching the PTR and checking out the new pets in the Pet Journal. Here are some previews and info on where you can obtain them.

There's a triceratops!


Reward from quest, Beasts of Fable



Reward from quest, Beasts of Fable



Reward from quest, Beasts of Fable



Reward from quest, A Large Pile of Giant Dinosaur Bones, on Isle of Giants



Drop from Isle of Giants



Drop from Sunreaver Constructs on The Lightning Isle



Drop from the Isle of Giants



Drop from Throne of Thunder
The new wild pets don't have any unique models, except for the Thundertail Flapper.

Must Love Dogs

My guild did an alt/unofficial 10 man raid tonight and got the Must Love Dogs achievement! :D Normally I'm not big on completing raid achievements, but since this was a fun run and it had to do with pets, I was all for it. XD


We used Magical Mini-Treats on all of the Perky Pugs for extra-super-cuteness. :)

5.2 PTR: 9 New Pets and a New Achievement

UPDATE: New wild pets too!

Elder Python
Electrified Razortooth
Swap Croaker
Thundertail Flapper

All of them are on the Isle of Lightning. They don't have very unique models so far (except for the Thundertail Flapper), but we'll see.

Wheee! 9 new pets and a new pet achievement datamined from the latest 5.2 PTR build.

Sunfur Panda - BoP
Snowy Panda - BoP
Mountain Panda - BoP
Spectral Porcupette - BoU
Stunted Direhorn - BoU
Sunreaver Micro-Sentry - BoP
Living Sandling - BoP
Zandalari Hatchling - BoP
Son of Animus - BoP

The Living Sandling was datamined from an earlier PTR patch, but now it has its very own item. :)

Once I patch the PTR and check out the Pet Journal, I'll update with details on where these pets might come from.

The Fabled Pandaren Tamer achievement will be for completing the "Elite Battle Pet" quest. This was confirmed by Mumper on Twitter. According to Wowhead, this quest will be account-wide. It doesn't list which pets we have to defeat yet, though. So that's still a mystery. ;)

Apparently defeating certain elite pets unlocks a daily after you've completed the initial quest. This daily rewards Fabled Pandaren Pet Supplies. Think the Spectral Porcupette will be inside? lol :P

Does this mean that these unique pets will be easy to find in the wild? Will they be in a set location? A "daily" implies that it should be repeatable every day, but that will depend largely on how difficult it is to find these elite pets.

There are some other items that might or might not be tied to companions somehow. These include and are not limited to: Primal Egg and Cracked Primal Egg.

This egg could lead to a similar pet reward like the Cracked Egg from Scholazar Basin. Or could it be the reward of a quest chain like the Jubling and (the original/vanilla) Sprite Darter Hatchling quests? Either way, I hope it yields a pet. :)

Prematurely Dropped From Battle

Well that was... something. I spent way more time on the DMF Tamer than necessary, all because of a persistent bug.

What happens is that the game will drop you mid-battle, and your pets never receive any experience, end-of-battle recovery healing, and the quest to defeat any Tamer you're currently up against never completes. It's not a forfeit or early win; essentially, you're prematurely kicked out of the pet battle.

This bug has been around for some time now, but doesn't seem to occur too frequently. At least that's what I thought.

I didn't have any problems late last night when I challenged the DMF Tamer, but this morning... WOW. Only after being dropped from battle 5 times in a row, relogging once, switching realms, was I finally able to win the battle. I SHOULD have won it on the first try, but this extremely irritating bug decided to rear its nasty head and refuse to leave me alone.

During the 5 attempts where I was prematurely dropped from battle I was using the Mechanical Dragonling, Fel Flame, and Darkmoon Zeppelin. Perhaps it's one of those pets that's triggering the glitch?

I was also switching between pets either late or prematurely each time a new opponent came onto the field. So for example, when my Fel Flame bested the tonk and the eye came onto the battlefield, I would dot up the eye first before swapping to my second pet.

I don't know if this also played a factor in whether or not the bug occurred, but after switching out the Darkmoon Zeppelin for the Clockwork Gnome AND not swapping pets out late or early, was I finally able to finish the battle. This was on the 6th attempt.

Note: Not swapping out late/early means that I waited until I defeated one opponent and the next one came out before switching pets. So it was always 1 on 1, and each of my pets was up against only one pet. During the stuns, I passed and didn't switch.

So just a few tips if you're also experiencing this bug:

- Try a different pet team.

- Don't switch out pets early or late.

- Just keep banging your head against it until you win.

I'm glad that I finally managed to complete the entire match. Never have I been so frustrated with a Tamer battle before And not because the battle was difficult, but because the battle was incompletable!

Preview of the New 5.2 Pets

The PTR hasn't been updated with the new Pet Battle changes yet, but I did find the source of the three datamined companions.

According to the Pet Journal, the Gusting Grimoire will indeed be the common loot card from the next TCG expansion deck, Betrayal of the Guardian.

As you can see in the screenshot below, it looks a lot like the Lofty Libram; it just has a different color scheme.


The Gusting Grimoire has a different set of starting abilities (1, 2, and 4) though. Its level 10, 15 and 20 attacks are the same as the libram's.

level 1 - Fel Immolate
level 2 - Agony
level 4 - Meteor Strike

The second datamined pet is the Living Sandling. Apparently, it's a drop from the Throne of Thunder. Wowhead categorizes it as a raid zone, which is new for a pet. Never before have we had a companion pet drop from current tier content.

This could change since I have yet to find the pet item that teaches this companion. But then again, that item might not yet be implemented.


Here are it's abilities:

level 1 - Slicing Wind
level 2 - Flyby
level 4 - Cyclone
level 10 - Wild Winds
level 15 - Bash
level 20 - Sandstorm

Last but not least, the Red Panda is a reward from a quest, "Boss Pet Battles". This is obviously only a placeholder name for the quest, since it doesn't exist yet.


The Red Panda might still be a work in progress, since it's currently categorized as a Humanoid with many humanoid attacks similar to the Curious Oracle Hatchling.

We'll have to wait for another update before we can get a better preview of these pets and the changes to Pet Battles.