Sha'tari Defense Reputation Grinding and Sky Fry

I recently ground out my Sha'tari Defense reputation to Revered and purchased the Sky Fry pet. It was quite a long process but worth it! Although earning rep is straightforward, just kill related mobs - no quests, I figured I'd share my experience since I deviated from the standard path towards the end of my adventure.

The Sha'tari Defense faction is unlocked on the Alliance with a level 2 Trading Post. After building and upgrading, you can immediately start earning reputation by killing level 100 related mobs in Talador.

Initially, I just did the Apexis daily in Shattrath whenever it popped up. Assault on Shattrath Harbor involves non-elite mobs, while the Assault on the Heart of Shattrath involves killing elite mobs. The latter yields more rep but is obviously tougher since the elites hit harder and have more health. Thankfully, my OH was willing to help out which made the daily go by quicker.

Unfortunately, the daily itself doesn't reward reputation upon completion. Why it doesn't, I have no idea. It seems backwards to me that they wouldn't award rep. What am I earning Apexis crystals for if not the reputation items and pets? So Sha'tari Defense rep was slow grinding, since I only went to Shattrath to kill mobs on the days the associated daily was available.

It's totally possible to go out, kill the mobs, and earn reputation when the daily is NOT up, but I didn't felt very motivated. The lesser mobs reward 5 reputation each, and the rest range between that and the bigger mobs which reward 16 reputation. Shattrath is a fairly spread out area as well, which means time spent waiting for things to respawn or moving to another area. It just didn't feel very efficient or inspiring.

Still, I managed to grind my way to Friendly with the Sha'tari Defense just by heading to Shattrath on days the Apexis daily was located there. I was dreading getting to Honored and then to Revered, though. The daily isn't up every single day, and I just couldn't convince myself to travel to Shattrath on my own to kill things.

So I called upon my OH for some ideas. He looked it up and found another spot that awarded reputation per mob kill. North of Fort Wyrn, there's an orc base with normal and elite mobs (The Path of Glory). I vaguely recalled the area from beta, but didn't think it would be any better than Shattrath. How wrong I was!

The mob density is quite nice and the respawn rate is pretty good. There's not a lot of player traffic going through there, so there's almost always something for you to kill.


We started out by killing the normal mobs, following a circular path around the orc compound (as seen above), avoiding the elites because OMG 587K HP tightly packed together in a death ball. Each normal mob was only awarding a smidgen of reputation though, and this was starting to grate on our nerves. At the rate we were killing, it would take a really long time to reach Revered. We managed to get to Honored, though.

But this is when we decided to take a risk and just go for broke. Elite mobs or nothing! We started out killing the group of elites at the entrance of the path. My OH is a prot warrior and I'm a resto druid so he pretty much tanked the damage while I healed him. Eventually we moved on to two packs of elites, always using our garrison ability, Guardian Orb.

After experiencing two packs, we felt adventurous and challenged ourselves to take on even more. Traveling deeper into The Path of Glory, there's an army of elite Grom'kar Siegebreakers along with a few Grom'kar Warbeasts. Uuhhh, why not?!

It took us a few attempts to figure out how much was doable for us. We settled on two to three packs each pull, one pack being a pat in front of the cannon. Pulling more than that almost always resulted in our deaths as the damage was just too much for our current gear levels (650+).


(click to view larger image)
First pull = the pat that walks up to the cannon + the two groups next to the cannon. Second pull = the group directly in front of the warbeast.

The main thing was we had to wait 5 minutes between each pull for the Guardian Orb to come off of CD. This ability was vital to our success since neither of us had the damage to defeat all of the mobs in a timely manner, before our faces got smashed in by 30ish orcs. The downtime wasn't too terrible and it allowed for the groups to respawn in full.

Because these mobs were elite, they awarded 16 reputation each. YAY! In the end, we were earning roughly a bar every pull. Now THAT'S what I call reputation grinding! :D

It still took quite a few hours to finally get to Revered, and any slip-up or mistake was usually fatal. But we did it! We were just a group of two, so I imagine a bigger reputation grinding group could do even better. Either garrison ability would work well here.

It's a long journey if you're going at it alone, but if you can find a rep farming group that's headed to The Path of Glory, it will speed things up immensely. If you can get exalted with another Draenor faction (I recommend Steamwheedle Preservation Society because that's the easiest IMO) and upgrade your Trading Post to level 3 (perK: 20% faster reputation gain in Draenor), that helps too. I did it a bit backwards and upgraded my Trading Post AFTER I reached Revered with Sha'tari Defense. *derp* :P

As a side note, the Sky Fry was only uncommon quality when I added it to my Pet Journal. I wonder if this is a bug. I mean, it was a lot of work so it seems slightly anticlimactic that the pet needs a battlestone.

Is the Bone Wasp for horde the same? If someone who has purchased a Bone Wasp from the Laughing Skull Orcs vendor could let me know, that would be great. :)

Happy Holidays From Storm Peaks

Took a little vacation and treated my Snow Cub to a wintry wonderland in Snow Peaks. :)

Wishing everyone a safe, wonderful and pet-filled holiday season! ♥

Blizzard Store Pet Sales and Wowtcgloot Giveaways

Blizzard is having a limited time special sale on Store mounts and pets. 50% off (US AND EU) almost all mounts/pets (Argi and the new reaver mount not included)! Sale ends January 5, 2015, so there's still lots of time to buy a pet (or two...or three :P) either for yourself or as a gift for someone else.

If you're looking to round out your collection with a new store pet, now is probably the best time. Half off is a pretty damn good deal, and it's a rare occasion where almost ALL pets go on sale. Happy holidays to us? XD

Wowtcgloot.com Giveaways
Another special going on is from Wowtcgloot.com. They're holding a raffle that includes some rare/common TCG pet giveaways and a limited time sale that also includes TCG pet giveaways.

More information and details: Holiday Raffle (contest ends January 1, 2015) and Christmas Special (available while supplies last).

There are some neat TCG pets up for grabs.

Ethereal Soul-Trader
Bananas
Purple Puffer
Gusting Grimoire
Eye of the Legion
Spectral Tiger Cub
Purple Puffer
Murkablo (BlizzCon 2011 pet)

These pets aren't quite as rare as they once were, with all of the "dupes" and stuff going on. Still, if you can afford it and are interested, don't pass up a chance at winning one (or more?!) of these pets. :)


Edit: Wowhead Giveaways!
Wowhead just announced a giveaway as well. Prizes include the following pets:

Deathy (BlizzCon 2010 pet)
Gregarious Grell
Blossoming Ancient

Good luck to everyone entering!


Another edit: MMO-Champion Giveaways!
MMO-Champion announced their own giveaway that includes pets! This one has a fairly short deadline (ends December 25th), so enter quickly! More TCG pets!

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

Deathwatch Hatchling - A Generous Offer

Warstar from WarcraftPets recently posted that their guild is offering free invites to collectors for the Challenge Mode pet, Deathwatch Hatchling. The alliance guild is called Check Please and can be found on the US server Durotan-Ysera. For invites, contact Warstar (battletag can be found in the forum thread).

This is a really generous of Check Please, and I'm sure many collectors will be grateful for this offer! As a small reminder, you need to earn Revered with the guild and the pet costs 300 gold from the guild vendor. Also, if you do happen to join just for the pet, keep in mind that you're a guest in their guild. :)

I'm not sure if I'll be taking up Warstar on this kind offer; my guild will probably go for Guild Gold Challenge Modes eventually, so maybe I'll just wait for that. Then again, it's hard to resist collecting a pet that's just in reach!

Wood Wasp Colors

There aren't that many wild pets that come in multiple skins in WoD. So far, only the Thicket Skitterer and Icespine Hatchling have been confirmed to come in two different colors. But thanks to a heads up from Valianya, we can add another wild pet from Draenor to that list.

   
The Wood Wasp can come in two different colors, a light green and a dark green, as seen above. This came as quite a surprise to me since I've never seen the darker version in all of my pet battling adventures in Gorgrond. And I used that zone to farm a large portion of the (pre-nerf) 500 Draenor pet battles achievement! So as soon as I read the post on the WarcraftPets forum, I just had to see and collect one for myself.

The Wood Wasps flying around Ruins of the First Bastion area in Gorgrond all have the light green skin. It's hard to say whether or not they can spawn in as the primary pet with the dark green color (I've never encountered one), but it's definitely easier to find one of these if you find a Wood Wasp as a secondary in battle.

If you find a pet battle with a Wood Wasp as a secondary, just forfeit repeatedly until it shows up as the desired color. It took me many, MANY forfeits before I got the dark green wasp to join the battle.

Since pets lose a percentage of their health after each forfeit, the risky part was to make sure my pets had enough health to win the battle even after so many chain-forfeits. Thankfully, the Menagerie level 2 perk reduces the cooldown of Revive Pets to only 4 minutes while in Draenor. Plus I had some bandages on me, with a ton to spare on an alt.

This is certainly a wonderful surprise and I really like the dark green Wood Wasp. If I had to choose, I'd pick that one over the light green one. I'm not sure why. :P

Nerf to Draenic Pet Battler Achievement

Blizzard announced a surprising decision today through their official developer Twitter account.

"Blueprint-unlocking Achievement "Draenic Pet Battler" now requires 150 battles instead of 500. Tooltip updated to match next patch."

For those that have yet to grind out the Draenor pet battles for a level 3 Menagerie, congrats! It should be quicker than ever now. :) And if you were in the process of grinding out the previously required 500, you might now meet the requirements for the blueprints. Hooray!

It's likely that some will be upset over this "nerf" to the achievement, having spent the time and energy to complete the 500 pet battles. And it's only natural to feel upset. No one wants to feel like they wasted their time on something. How you express that frustration is what matters.


The original achievement from WoD beta
Me? I'm ok with it, although I'm pretty shocked that the devs would lower the requirement yet again. Originally, 1000 Draenor pet battles was necessary to unlock the Menagerie 3 blueprints on the beta. After some discussion and pleas from the community, that number was halved to 500, just as WoD was released. This new value felt more on par with other level 3 garrison building blueprints, and I felt it was a solid compromise between 1000 and a free upgrade heh.

I can't help but wonder, why drop it down to 150 of all numbers? Why not halve it to 250? Or lower it only slightly to 400? What was the decision making process behind this change that eventually led to settling on one third of 500 pet battles? I'm curious to know because it feels like an arbitrary number. It may also affect how we, the players, view future pet battle achievements and grinds (but that's yet to be seen).

In the end, I'm happy for those that will have a much more manageable Menagerie experience now. I'm still somewhat in a state of disbelief so I can't say much more than that.

I think Lio summed it up best, "[...] I'm all ????? tho bc I didn't think 500 was too bananas & most of the angst I've seen is over Unlock quest."

Yup. Dat unlock quest lol.

Pilgrim's Bounty - Cluck Cluck, Goes the Chicken

Second day of Pilgrim's Bounty: Bush Chicken acquired! I was somewhat worried that I wouldn't have any luck getting this pet (without resorting to buying it off of the AH), so I'm relieved that I can check this pet off my list.


The Bush Chicken is a possible drop from the new reward bag, Pilgrim's Bounty, from the holiday dailies. The five dailies aren't account-wide so you can complete them on multiple characters. All you need is cooking, any skill level works. You can do the quests even with cooking 1; as you complete quests, you'll be required to cook different/more things which in turn raises your cooking skill.

I had to level cooking on a few of my toons, which was time consuming but worth it in the end. The only issue was the RNG. There were reports that some had the Bush Chicken drop on their first few toons, while others said they didn't get the pet until 8+ toons down the line.

In the end I was part of the latter camp, and after nothing on the first day (30+ bags, that's 6+ toons) I finally received my little chicken on the second day. :D

I won't go into any kind of guide or walk through, but here are some things that I observed while working my way through the dailies.

• You can level cooking to 300 with JUST the holiday food that's required for the dailies.

• While leveling cooking using the holiday recipes, don't vendor the food. You can save them and turn them in another day.

• Purchase extra materials from each city's vendor (mainly city specific materials; pumpkins, cranberries, sweet potatoes), cook them all at once, and save them to turn in the next day. The turkeys are a bit of a pain though, but easy enough to find/kill.

• Mages are a godsend! My OH and I teamed up and we made use of each other's mages heh.

• Chef's Hat makes things go by much faster. Especially if you're leveling cooking and need to make 100 pumpkin pies or whatever.

This might seem like a grind, with a relatively low drop rate, AND it's limited time (only one week) but the consolation is that it can be completed on multiple toons each day. As long as your character can learn cooking 300 (level restrictions may apply), you can have an army of toons farming this pet for you. It WILL eat up a large portion of your day, though, but little things like the Chef's Hat and mage portals help.

Overall, I'm satisfied. I put time and effort into collecting a pet and was eventually rewarded. Plus now I have a ton of toons with at least 300 cooking, if not higher! :P

Pet Collecting In Week Two of WoD

It's been a little while since my last post, but with good reason! I've been slowly but surely collecting the new WoD pets; there are roughly 30ish pet left for me to collect.

Some of my favorite/notable acquisitions this past week, three out of the seven Mastering the Menagerie pet drops, the OH gifted me the Draenei Micro Defender, and after many days of chasing around dig sites all over Draenor, I finally discovered and completed the Ancient Nest Guardian!


Ziri'ak Junior, grow up big and strong and maybe one day you'll go off on follower missions too. :P

I should also mention that I've collected the 10th anniversary pets, Molten Corgi and Hatespark the Tiny. The former is adorable, even if he butt scoots and leaves behind a hot mess lol.


Blizzard must really adore the corgi, though, because it's being mailed to ALL my characters that log into the game during the anniversary. You can only have one in your journal and you can't cage it; I feel bad about it but I've had to destroy the extras. :(


Hatespark, appropriately named
Hatespark the Tiny, as much as I don't want to talk about him, I feel I have to. This pet is going to fall under the same category as Lumpy did back in the day for me. Terrible collecting experience, left a bad impression on me, glad to have it in my pet army, but it will forever be stained with a not-so-nice memory.

This teeny fire elemental comes from Ragnaros, the last boss of the anniversary edition of Molten Core. The raid is 40 man and tuned for level 100 players (item level 615). Oh, but did I mention it's LFR only? So unless you have a full group of 40 friends/guildmates, you'll be pugging this raid. It's...not fun.

On the first day of the anniversary, I was excited and amped to head out into what I thought would be a nostalgic raid. Instead I faced a terrible bug (or player griefing), where you queued into a completely cleared Molten Core raid. Ragnaros was dead, no reason to be in there. That happened quite a few times initially. Eventually Blizzard sorted it out and prevented players from joining a completed MC, but by then I had already developed a bad impression of the event.

At some point I decided to brave the queue again, and my god. It's not pug friendly in the slightest. I lost track of how many times we wiped and how many hours I spent in there, just on my first run of MC LFR. Yes, I said first, because it was one of FOUR in one night.

You would think that after so much headache and time spent, the pet would be 100% drop, right? Nope. It's not even close to 100% drop rate. On the plus side, there's no loot lockout for the anniversary raid, so you can keep queuing for MC and still be eligible for loot each time. But after hours and HOURS of being in the cesspool that is LFR, no loot lockout isn't much of a consolation.

It's not even that I found the raid too difficult or anything. I think if it had been tuned down to say 10 or 20 man, and I could go in with ONLY guildmates and friends, it would have been a blast. Re-figuring out strats, laughing at each others' mistakes, and just remembering the old days.

But the fact that it's 40 man, and if you don't have that many for a full guild raid, you're force to pug...it's painful. The environment is just terrible; people yelling at each other and arguing over things. People who put only the barest minimal effort into it. And then there are griefers who are only there just to cause chaos and revel in others' anger and frustration. In one of the runs I was in, someone decided to pull an unnecessary pack of imps, wipe the raid, just so he could run to the wall behind the imps and mine a node. REALLY?!


I now know why this pet is named the way it is. If Molten Core LFR doesn't instill some sort of deep anger/hate within you, I tip my hat to you for your resilience.

After four runs, my OH took pity on me and decided to do something about my struggle. He purchased Hatespark the Tiny from the AH for about 15k (paid way too much in my opinion), and surprised me with it. I was very grateful but still upset over the experience at the same time.

It's supposed to be a fun event, right? A way to enjoy a celebration of the past decade of WoW. Yet it was so discouraging. The raid atmosphere AND the low drop rate on the pet. I can see a lot of collectors getting frustrated over this, eventually resorting to just purchasing it off the AH, which makes me sad because it would have been great to actually participate in something enjoyable and festive.

Anyway, I'm going to put it behind me now. As adorable as I think Hatespark is, I don't think I'll be bringing him out much. Unpleasant memories that are still too fresh in my mind. Glad that it's over and the pet's collected, disappointed that it was such a painful experience.

Quintessence vs. Quintessence (of Light)!

Oh boy. There's been a whirlwind of stuff going on. Between reaching level 100, upgrading my garrison to level 3, and of course, collecting pets...there's just SO MUCH. Do all the things!

I've completed a multitude of pet tasks since I last wrote; collected all of the Draenor wilds, defeated all of the Draenor trainers, built and upgraded my Menagerie to level 2, etc. As much as I'd love to log every single moment, it would take me far too long and there's a lot of other stuff I'd like get started on instead.

However, there's one moment I'd like to capture: Quintessence of Light visited my Menagerie today! :) This is the first time I've seen and battled her on live. She's a lot more difficult than what I remember from the beta, partially because her fight was incomplete during testing.


Anyway, because she's been updated since I last fought her, it took me a few attempts to finally find a strat that I'm satisfied with. It's probably not foolproof and RNG could interfere with a win, but I'm happy with it for now. With my terrible memory, I need to write it down.

Infected Squirrel (P/B 1,2,2 - H/P would work just as well, possibly better)
Sprite Darter Hatchling (2,2,1)
Nether Faerie Dragon (S/S 2,2,1 - unsure about other breeds)

Round 1: Diseased Bite
Round 2: Creeping Fungus
Round 3: Corpse Explosion
Round 4: refresh Creeping Fungus
Round 5: Free swap in; Sprite Darter Hatchling - Moonfire
Round 6: Life Exchange
Round 7+: Arcane Blast with last two pets until Quintessence of Light dies

This will have to do for now until someone else comes out with a better strat. And, yes I'm aware of the "howl bomb" strat, but I didn't want to have to fall back on a default strategy to win. Maybe if I'm in a rush or if an encounter just can't be won any other way, I'll use it. If there's another method, though, I'd prefer it over the howl bomb. It's just more fun for me, and I don't feel like I'm cheesing the game.

Ok well, that's pretty much all that I wanted to catalog for now. There's more that I want to write about but my guildmates are calling me for more heroic dungeon runs. :)

First Pet Get and My Other Newest Additions

I collected my first pet yesterday while leveling in Shadowmoon Valley. Umbrafen Spore! As soon as I entered the area with the giant mushrooms, it instantly triggered what I would call a "pet-sense" lol. In reality, I simply remembered how troublesome it was on beta to figure out how to get to the object that drops the pet.


Needless to say, I talked my OH into coming with me to climb the mountain, and jump down onto the giant mushroom to collect the spore. He's not a pet collector, but looting treasures around Draenor rewards experience so... why not? :D hehe!

Why is this pet on a leash when you summon it out? I have no idea. Sure, the leash could just be an artifact of that time when its model was that of a balloon. But I'd like to think that it's tied down because it NEEDS to be. Ever heard of a dangerous spore? Well I have one (or two, or three) in my collection now. :P

I haven't been focusing too hard on getting pets. There are still quite a few I'm missing. My goal was to get started on my horde toon too, and get that Engineering and Tailoring going. But between the lag, queues, and disconnects, that hasn't really been an option. So I've just been leveling my main.

Other pets that I have managed to collect during my leveling adventure (in order of acquisition):

• Crimson Spore - Obtained while doing the early quests in Gorgrond. Again, made it a point to drag the OH for treasure! XD
• Mudback Calf - Captured while in Gorgrond. I remembered how rare these wild hippos were on beta, so as soon as I saw one I trapped it. Nevermind if it was poor quality, that's what battle-stones are for!
• Doom Bloom - I remembered the rare in a cave that drops this pet from the beta. Hey, rares give experience too! Feeeeeed me, Seymour
• Stonegrinder - Another treasure that I couldn't pass up. While I danced around lasers and stuff, the OH charged straight through lol. GEEZE.
• Teroclaw Hatchling - "Me: Come loot this nest! OH: Why? Is it a ques- oh..." haha
• Shadow Sporebat - Again, these were fairly rare on the beta. They only spawn in a teeny tiny little area of Talador, and they share spawns with other wild pets in the immediate area. First thing I did when I reached that area was capture the first one I saw.
• Flat-Tooth Calf - Same deal as the Mudback Calf. Didn't want to pass up the only one I saw!
• Kaliri Hatchling and Veilwatcher Hatchling - Finally traveled to Spires of Arak to level, and oh looook...a pet battle daily! And what do you know? The NPC sells a pet after you've defeated him. Bye bye 1k gold without any hesitation! :P

I haven't leveled any of them yet because I'm still trying to finish up leveling myself first lol. Hopefully server maintenance will end on time (not holding my breath :P), and I can get back to the grind and collecting pets. :)

So Long Pandaria, Hello Draenor

WoD is almost upon us. I'M EXCITED YET NERVOUS AT THE SAME TIME.

*ahem* Yes, so. My plan for launch night? I'll be leveling my main as much as possible, while parking a second (horde) toon at her garrison. It's going to be a challenge to multitask, but it seems necessary in WoD. So many things to collect from so many different aspects/areas of the game.

I've planned out my garrison progression for my alliance toon, so hopefully all goes to plan. My toons are all set up with their professions as well, although I'm sad to say that my horde Tailor is a bit behind. She can always play catch up in Draenor, but she won't be benefiting from having an already maxed profession at the very start. Oh well.

Some notable stuff that I want to log for future reference:

- Bronze Whelpling will still be available post-WoD release.

- Quest chain that rewards Iron Starlette is NOT going away once WoD is released. Pet will still be available post-expansion.

Am I ready for this new expansion? I want to say yes but...well, here's hoping! At the very least, my army of pets is ready to travel to the new world. :P

The Look-a-Like Challenge - Part 9

While going through the new transform spells coming in WoD (I'm making a list of possible future look-a-likes hehe), I saw a few spells that are currently available that I somehow overlooked. So...time to look like some pets! :D


Pet: Stinker or any of the wild skunks
Ability: Curse of the Skunk
Notes: Only Pandaren in the starting zone of The Wandering Isle can get this look. It can be obtained by traveling to The Singing Pools and finding the pool of water with a skunk sign in it. Walking into the water will transform you into a skunk, and leaving the water returns you to your normal state.



Pet: Jade Crane Chick or Azure Crane Chick
Ability: Curse of the Crane
Notes: Only Pandaren in the starting zone of The Wandering Isle can get this look. It can be obtained by traveling to The Singing Pools and finding the pool of water with a crane sign in it. Walking into the water will transform you into a crane, and leaving the water returns you to your normal state.



Pet: Chuck
Ability: Curse of the Crocodile
Notes: Only Pandaren in the starting zone of The Wandering Isle can get this look. It can be obtained by traveling to The Singing Pools and finding the pool of water with a crocolisk sign in it. Walking into the water will transform you into a crocolisk, and leaving the water returns you to your normal state.

It should be mentioned that you CAN use Skymirror on yourself when transformed into any of the above. This allows you to move about as whichever look-a-like without being constrained to The Singing Pools area, and you get to keep the costume for a bit longer. (The croco one is by far my favorite; it does an adorable roll mid-air when you jump! XD)

With this in mind, other players MIGHT be able to get the three above costumes if a Pandaren that's finished leveling in The Wandering Isle transforms into one of the above and uses Ai-Li's Skymirror on themselves just before choosing a faction and being ported to that city. I haven't tested this, though, so I don't know if the Skymirror's effects will persist through the whole RP.

If you can keep the Skymirror costume even after being ported off of the isle, anyone else with a Skymirror can also pick up the transformation.

A word of caution, if you do try this, remember that you can't go back to The Wandering Isle after you leave. This means you can really pick only one if you decide to port off the isle.

And yes, I leveled a Pandaren just to get to The Singing Pools. :P I'm debating whether or not I want to go one step further and test if I can pick a faction, keep my costume, and share it with friends. XD



Pet: Sprite Darter Hatchling
Ability: Archmage Nakada's A Nakada Special
Notes: As far as I know, only Alliance can get this costume. If you speak with Archmage Nakada in the Mage Quarter of Stormwind and accept the offer in his dialogue, he'll turn you into one of four transformations (with a 30 minute debuff; you can't spam him for different costumes until the debuff has worn off).

It only lasts for 5 minutes, but using a Skymirror will make it last longer.



Pet: Mana Wyrmling or Shimmering Wyrmling
Ability: Archmage Nakada's A Nakada Special
Notes: As far as I know, only Alliance can get this costume. If you speak with Archmage Nakada in the Mage Quarter of Stormwind and accept the offer in his dialogue, he'll turn you into one of four transformations (with a 30 minute debuff; you can't spam him for different costumes until the debuff has worn off).

It only lasts for 5 minutes, but using a Skymirror will make it last longer.



Pet: Kirin Tor Familiar
Ability: Archmage Nakada's A Nakada Special
Notes: As far as I know, only Alliance can get this costume. If you speak with Archmage Nakada in the Mage Quarter of Stormwind and accept the offer in his dialogue, he'll turn you into one of four transformations (with a 30 minute debuff; you can't spam him for different costumes until the debuff has worn off).

It only lasts for 5 minutes, but using a Skymirror will make it last longer.



Pet: Crawling Claw
Ability: Archmage Nakada's A Nakada Special
Notes: As far as I know, only Alliance can get this costume. If you speak with Archmage Nakada in the Mage Quarter of Stormwind and accept the offer in his dialogue, he'll turn you into one of four transformations (with a 30 minute debuff; you can't spam him for different costumes until the debuff has worn off).

It only lasts for 5 minutes, but using a Skymirror will make it last longer.

BlizzCon 2014 - Pet Stuff?

BlizzCon coverage of the livestream - pet stuff? Pet stuff please!

• Charity pet coming in December. 100% of the proceeds will go to the Red Cross Ebola relief effort.

More coming soon (hopefully!)

New DMF Trainer, New Pet, Lots of RNG

A new trainer has arrived at the DMF, Christoph VonFeasel. He's apparently Jeremy Feasel's older brother? haha

Well, here's the start of another (possibly long) grind of attempts for the new pet, Syd the Squid. I've even enlisted the help of my OH by trading him my pets and then directing him on what to do for each match up lol. "No, no wait, hit Lift Off instead. Nooo you forgot to put Extra plating on." I'm sure he'll be glad when this is all over XD

Strategy (from WarcraftPets) for my own reference: Bronze Whelpling (SS 2,1,1) + Iron Starlette (HP 1,1,1) + Carry pet

• Tail Sweep
• Tail Sweep
• Lift Off
• Tail Sweep until Syd dies
• Early Advantage onto Mr. Pointy
• Swap to Carry pet once whelpling dies and thenswap immediately to starlette
• Windup
• Powerball
• Powerball (if Pointy's shield is still up)
• Windup once his shield is down
• Windup (against Otto)
• Superchange
• Windup

Month 1

Day 1a: no pet
Day 1b: no pet
Day 2: no pet
Day 3: no pet
Day 4: no pet
Day 5: no pet
Day 6: no pet
Day 7: no pet
Day 8: no pet

Month 2

Day 1a: no pet
Day 1b: no pet
Day 2: no pet
Day 3: no pet
Day 4: no pet
Day 5: no pet
Day 6: no pet
Day 7: no pet
Day 8: no pet

Month 3

Day 1a: no pet
Day 1b: no pet
Day 2: no pet
Day 3: Syd the Squid! :D

Busy, Busy November

Reminders for myself of upcoming WoW events. There's SO MUCH THIS MONTH!

• Sunday, November 2: DMF (new pet, Syd the Squid)
• Friday, November 7 & 8: BlizzCon 2014 (pet-related news coverage?!)
• Thursday, November 13: WoD release (all the things!)
• Friday, November 21: WoW's 10th Anniversary starts (two new pets, Molten Corgi and Hatespark the Tiny)
• Monday, November 24: Pilgrim's Bounty (new pet, Bush Chicken)

The DMF will last the entire week, so I just need to remember to do the daily every day. I plan on being on right as the faire opens up, so I can sneak in that extra daily before it resets. I may even enlist the help of my other half...after teaching him how to Pet Battle, that is lol. He was into Pokemon, it shouldn't be hard at all. :P

I'm hoping there will be some awesome pet-related news announced at BlizzCon. Developer Jeremy Feasel already hinted that they may share some info on the next Raiding With Leashes set of pets and achievement. Here's hoping we hear a lot about that and more. :D

I plan on going HAM once WoD comes out. Between release day and WoW's 10th anniversary, I'm probably going to try and level a few toons to max. The anniversary Molten Core raid where the pet drops from is level 100 only, so poop. 8 days to get as many toons to max, for as many tries for the pet as possible. Even if you can just re-queue over and over again, and still have a chance to have the pet drop for you on every single Ragnaros kill, having a number of max level toons will be helpful/necessary for other expansion activities anyway. TONS of new pets to collect!

After that, it's Pilgrim's Bounty. I still have no idea where the pet will come from since the Pet Journal is vague. Doesn't seem like it will be a pet from a vendor, so perhaps a quest? Wowhead hasn't listed any new Pilgrim's Bounty quests or rewards that I've seen, though. The only clue we have to go on is a Tweet made by Feasel a while back.

.@perculia Bug, you rescue it from a delicious doom during Pilgrim's Bounty :)

— Jeremy Feasel (@Muffinus) July 18, 2014

Sooo... we'll have to just wait and see.

In December it will quiet down a little, just in time for Xmas huh? The DMF will be back again, like clockwork. I don't recall seeing any new pets listed for this year's Feast of Winter Veil, although there are new toys.

Whew! It's going to be busy in-game for the next month or so. I'm excited while also a little anxious. Don't let me down, myself. Get those pets! :)

SAVAGE Grommloc!

Due to a migraine, I missed a doozy today -- Grommloc was finally mailed out to those that purchased a BlizzCon 2014 Virtual Ticket! Yay another pet to add to my army. :)


Grommloc supersized and fearing any who stand in his way
He doesn't have any idle animations, but he will do a small roar and fear wild pets and critters around him. The large groups of critters in Valley of the Four Winds is a good spot to watch him do his thing. Weaklings, flee puny critters! :P

I did try to get him to scare away some level 1 cows in Stormwind, but they didn't seem phased by Grommloc's savageness. Cows are fearless...? lol

I've yet to try out Grommloc in battles. I don't PVP so his breed (P/S) probably won't matter too much for me. Not even sure P/S is good for his set of abilities. But I suppose that's ok if it's not. Pets that cost RL money that are amazing in battles due to a strong breed + strong moveset can be controversial.

All pets in general are "must haves" for a collector, but a "pay-to-win" pet that changes the metagame upsets the balance and perceived fairness since some will be able to afford it while others won't.

So if Grommloc doesn't have a very good moveset and/or breed, I'm ok with that. It's fine if it's just a fun vanity pet that will hang out with you and scare away cowardly critters. :)

Besides, he's a murloc that has hair on his head. WTF. That's unique in itself XD

----------------------

And on an unrelated note, developer Jeremy Feasel dropped a hint of what's to come at BlizzCon. I'm excited and can't wait to learn more!

@perculia @gloriaboboria @liopleurodonic @undeadgoat @perksnpeeves @TheCrafticus We'll be there, with secret Raiding with Leashes III info..

— Jeremy Feasel (@Muffinus) November 1, 2014

Perks N Peeves Five Year Anniversary

It's been five years since I made my very first post. A lot has changed since then.

Originally, my intention was to maintain a personal blog that I could fill with all of my pet-related nonsense. It was to be casual, as indicated by my style of writing back then. Grammar? Formatting? Psh. This was my space, with my rules.

That changed when I shared my post on collecting Mr. Grubbs over at WarcraftPets. What I had discovered was really exciting to me, so I wanted to share it with as many collectors as possible. Something new, something interesting, and an all around neat discovery that wasn't as plain as day. I loved me some detective work and research (and I still do). :)

Before I knew it, Breanni had included my blog link in a WarcraftPets front page article. It was unexpected since I never imagined that anyone would take much notice of my writings. To have someone as notable and respected as Breanni include it on the front page of a website that I adored and frequented? I was shocked and humbled.

About two weeks later, I woke up one day and found that my image hosting account was over its limit. My blog was suddenly flooded with views and I couldn't figure out why. I soon found out that the extreme burst of traffic came from MMO-Champion. They had also included my post in their overview of the new Cataclysm pets.

I was absolutely bewildered, grateful and honestly a little terrified. All of this was happening out of the blue and I really didn't know what to make of it. So I did what felt right, and just plodded on with collecting and writing about my pet experiences.

I never imagined that my little obsession with vanity pets (which would then turn into battle pets) would eventually lead to volunteering at WarcraftPets. When Breanni contacted me about a trial position as Content Manager, I was so star-struck. I probably came off as an over-the-top fangirl haha.

My blog's changed because of all this, but I think it's for the better. The content is roughly the same, although I don't post as many personal entries on my pet collecting adventures anymore. Once WoD is released, I'll try to find the time to update more. Fun stuff featuring the new pets as I collect them, even though I've already posted screenshots from the beta.

In this teeny tiny portion of the internet, I've been able to share experiences and connect with other people. Expressing myself has never been easy for me, but here I can at least attempt to convey my thoughts without fear. There will be no scoffing at pets here! :P

I love to write, discover, and share. I'll continue to do so for as long as there are things to enthusiastically fawn over.

Writing this blog has led to some amazing opportunities and connections with awesome people of like-mind. Here's to another 5 years? If WoW lasts that long lol.

The Instance's Interview With Cory Stockton

Developer Cory Stockton (@mumper) recently did an interview with The Instance and Pet Battles was briefly discussed. Stockton touches on the design philosophy as well as Pet Battles on mobile devices. Here are the main (pet) points of the interview.

19:55 - Future of Pet Battles and design philosophy

• more about collecting, less about "a balanced fighter" style of gameplay
• goal is to add content to existing systems without "bloating it out"

33:30 - Rethinking design

• originally wild pets were cageable and could be sold on the AH, but that changed

36:15 - Pet Battles on IOS and Android

• something they've discussed about a lot, but if it doesn't add anything meaningful it's unlikely they will implement it
• difficult to translate Pet Battles to a mobile game without losing key features such as world exploration

The Look-a-Like Challenge - Part 8

I didn't expect to make another Look-a-Like Challenge post until after WoD was released, but ta-da! Hallow's End brought new goodies that made it possible. :D


Pet: Giant Bone Spider or Desert Spider
Item: Hallowed Wand - Spider (Only available during Hallow's End)



Pet: Jade Oozeling
Item: Hallowed Wand - Slime (Only available during Hallow's End)


This one isn't actually available yet since the pet can't be collected until WoD is released.

I couldn't pass up this chance to add this one to my list, though; I'd have to wait until next year if I didn't take advantage of the holiday event going on right now! So I ended up hopping onto the beta to snap this screenshot. :)


Pet: Weebomination
Item: Hallowed Wand - Abomination (Only available during Hallow's End)

Hallow's End Funsies

Happy Hallow's End! The updated in-game holiday is here, and I spent almost my entire day collecting the two new pets and enough Tricky Treats for 10 Yipp-Saron Costumes. Yep, it was a long day.

        
Collecting Widget the Departed and Cursed Birman was straight forward. It just took a buttload of time and patience. Travel time is a bitch, even with flying.

When I found out Perky Pug costume needed 150 Tricky Treats (same price as one of the new kitties), I decided to collect the two pets on my alts, rather than my main. If my main was still on the same server as my alts, I would have switched that around since the costumes aren't BoP, but alas.

In the end I split up the task of farming Tricky Treats between two alts. Pandaria, Northrend, Outland, then one of the daily quests and a Headless Horseman run was all I needed for one pet each alt. That freed up my main to go out and loot ALL of the candy buckets in the game so she could buy the pug costume. Priorities, damnit. Totally worth it though...


"I am the lucid dream"


In his (dog)house at R'lyeh Elwynn, Cthulhu Perky Pug waits dreaming.

Internet high-five if you get the reference. Love me some Lovecraft!

150 Tricky Treats buys you one bundle (x5) of Yipp-Saron Costumes, but I had enough to buy two bundles (x10). How could I NOT dump all my currency into this awesomeness?! :P

The costume lasts for as long as your pug is out. Loading, re-summoning, etc. removes the costume, sadly. If I could buy these outfits all year 'round (using gold or some other readily available currency), I wouldn't mind so much. But since I only have 10 (9 now since I used one for the screenshot lol) I'm sooo nervous to use them. I don't want to "waste" them accidentally. :(

Anyway, I absolutely love my little old-god haha. :D


Reaching another milestone
I finally earned So. Many. Pets. today!


Collecting the first kitty pushed my unique pets count up to 600, and Stormwing was immediately added to my Pet Journal. Gorgeous.

Part of me feels like I should maybe feel embarrassed for reaching this point, but I don't feel bad about it at all. Sure, I invest my time and energy into pixels in a game (that won't last forever), but it's something I wholeheartedly enjoy. It's not as if it's a quick and easy task either.

So with that in mind, I definitely feel accomplished and proud of this milestone, and I'm even looking forward to the next goal. XD


Doesn't seem quite right...
Last but not least, I don't know what happened post-patch 6.0 but the Feline Familiar seems to have lost her broom. :(


As amusing as I find this, I also really loved the Feline Familiar's adorable little broom. Hopefully floaty-air-kitty is just a bug and she'll get her mount back. I mentioned this to the devs on Twitter but we'll see.

Post-Patch 6.0 Post

Patch 6.0 arrived yesterday and there's been a whirlwind of stuff to do. From updating and adding 92 new pets to WarcraftPets, to getting the two new pets (and pining for the other two!)... I haven't had the time to take a breather and talk about the new pets on my blog. XD

I've collected the two pets that everyone can collect immediately, Iron Starlette and Bronze Whelpling, but I'm still waiting on a Sky-Bo from Blingtron 4000. Damn you little bot, giff me pet! :P I've even enlisted the help of my other half to pick up the daily and check for the pet. Nothing so far. :(

On the plus side, I have two starlettes and whelplings so far; two H/P mechs and an H/P and S/S dragonkin. I'm still doing the pre-expac event on all of my alts, so I'll probably end up with more of those. Hopefully I'll see some other breeds, as there's still discussion on what's better for the two new pets.

Once I collect Sky-Bo (or one other new pet) I'll meet the requirements for the achievement So. Many. Pets. and receive Stormwing. I can't wait! *squees*

Even if I don't manage to get lucky with the new engineering pet, I will most likely complete the achievement this weekend. Hallow's End starts and I'm crossing my fingers for the two new pets, Cursed Birman and Widget the Departed. If the in-game event features the updates, those two pets should be available. Yes please!

There's so much more to do in 6.0, but it was about time for something new! :P

WoD Faction Pets: Earning Revered

There will be 6 reputations that you'll want to earn at least Revered with in WoD. Each of the factions has a pet associated with it (two pets in one faction's case) that you can purchase for gold and Apexis Crystals.

I've found some invaluable Wowhead guides (linked below) to help explain the rep grinding process for each of the factions, since earning reputation isn't exactly the same as in previous expansions.

Some quests, no dailies, just grinding. Killing mobs generally grants 5 - 16 reputation (not taking into account reputation bonuses), depending on the difficulty of the creature killed.

• Council of Exarchs (Alliance) - Pet: Draenei Micro Defender

Summary: Just complete all of the related quests and you should be Revered by the end. If not, kill level 100 mobs in specific areas of Shadowmoon Valley (Draenor) for additional reputation.

• Frostwolf Orcs (Horde) - Pet: Frostwolf Pup

Summary: Just complete all of the related quests and you should be Revered by the end. If not, kill level 100 mobs in specific areas of Frostfire Ridge for additional reputation.

• Arakkoa Outcasts - Pet: Son of Sethe

Summary: Completing all of the related quests will get you Honored but you need to be Revered to purchase the pet. To earn the rest, kill level 100 mobs in specific areas of Spires of Arak.

• Steamwheedle Preservation Society - Pets: Albino River Calf and Forest Sproutling

Summary: Kill level 100 elite mobs in northern Nagrand (Draenor) and/or loot caches in the surrounding area to collect items to turn in for rep. Named elite mobs drop special items that reward an especially larger chunk of reputation.

• Sha'tari Defense (Alliance) - Pet: Sky Fry

Summary: No quests or dailies. Kill level 100 mobs in specific areas of Talador to earn reputation. Accessing the quartermaster requires a garrison Trading Post, level 2.

• Laughing Skull (Horde) - Pet: Bone Wasp

Summary: No quests or dailies. Kill level 100 mobs in specific areas of Gorgrond to earn reputation. Accessing the quartermaster requires a garrison Trading Post, level 2.

Confirmed and Possible 6.0 Pets

Patch 6.0 is just around the corner. Ready? I'm not! There are still many things to do for WarcraftPets in preparation for the patch and expansion. It's the last minute crunch to get it all done in time. x_x

So what will 6.0 have to offer us pet collectors? At least two new pets!

        
The two confirmed pets are the "Iron horde" pets, the Iron Starlette and Bronze Whelpling. You'll be able to collect these pets by participating in the pre-expansion content. Complete the quest chain for the starlette and kill some (or a lot) of Ironmarch orcs in Blasted Lands for the whelpling. Both pets are cageable.

Other pets that MIGHT be available in patch 6.0, but haven't been confirmed yet. The availability of these pets will all depend on whether or not the patch releases the new content for each in-game event.

• Cursed Burman and Widget the Departed - New Hallow's End pets
• Syd the Squid - New Darkmoon Faire pet

Grommloc, the BlizzCon 2014 pet, should also be available prior to the expansion's release since the convention is before the release date, but we'll see. I've got my Virtual Ticket, so I'm ready for at least that! XD

EDIT: Stormwing may also be available to collect in 6.0. You get this pet for completing So. Many. Pets. (collect 600 unique pets). On the PTR this achievement is present, but we'll see if it's released with the patch on live servers.

Beta Testers: Do You Have Any of These Pets?

I've started the process of adding the WoD pets into new pet profiles on WarcraftPets, but I'm missing some pets on the beta so my data is incomplete.

If you're on the beta and have any of the pets listed below, please get in contact with me either through Twitter, in this forum thread, a comment on this blog post, or a message on WarcraftPets. You can also mail/whisper Quintessence in-game on the PVE realms (leveling and the 100 premade server).

Albino River Calf
Ancient Nest Guardian
Bone Wasp
Deathwatch Hatchling
Eye of Observation
Forest Sproutling
Frostwolf Ghostpup
Land Shark
Lanticore Spawnling
Lil' Leftovers
Nightshade Sproutling
Ore Eater
Sea Calf
Sentinel's Companion
Servant of Demidos
Sky-Bo
Sky Fry
Son of Sethe

I have a few questions about the pets if you have the time to sit down and poke at it for a little bit. Information gathered will help make the new pet profiles on WarcraftPets more accurate and complete.

1.) What is the pet's quality when added to the Pet Journal?

2.) Does it make any noise when you click on it? When left alone to idle (periodic and/or constant noises)? When moving?

3.) Does it have any idle animations? What about interactions with other pets, critters, players, or the environment?

Any and all assistance is appreciated! :)

Preview of the Two New Pets Coming In Patch 6.0

With WoD being released in early November, it's only logical that the pre-expansion patch (6.0) will be coming out some time in October. My original plan was to hold off on spoiling the 6.0 content by playing on the PTR, but because of my own curiosity obligations to WarcraftPets, I needed to check out the details of the two new pets coming with the patch. *cough* Uhm, yea. Obligations. :P

Anyway, I went through the pre-expac quest chain. It was straight-forward and fairly easy. You don't truly appreciate the ability to fly until you don't have it, and after being on the beta for so long, it was as if the world was made 100 times more open and free.

The storyline can be completed in a relatively short amount of time; you'll receive the Iron Starlette at the end. This pet is not bound on pick up and can be caged, so even if the 6.0 quest chain is removed once WoD is released, there may be a chance to find this pet on the AH. Or Blizzard might find another place for this pet, in the same way Gahz'rooki was moved from a vendor to a drop. In any case, if you *can* obtain it while the quest is available, why wouldn't you? :)


Some commentary on this pet: With the current breeds on the PTR and its moveset, some are speculating that the Iron Starlette could be the new Fluxfire Feline (pre-nerf).

If you're newer to Pet Battles and are unsure what all the fuss is about, when the mechanical feline (commonly referred to as FFF or FF) was first implemented, it came in a Power breed and had a moveset that made it possible to two shot most pets with startling ease. Naturally this upset the balance of the game, and the FFF had to be nerfed.

It's still unclear whether or not the starlette will sit in the same boat as the original FFF, but there's already some solid discussion on it over at the WarcraftPets forum. Thank goodness for the pet theory-crafters; I would be so oblivious and in the dark otherwise!

And on an aesthetic note, while the Iron Starlette is adorable (who wouldn't love their very own little fiery ball of death?), I'm really disappointed that it doesn't have any idle interaction. I would have loved to see it roll over and kill critters in a fiery blaze. Unfortunately, after sitting and staring at this pet while next to a critter on the PTR for some time, it didn't appear to do anything other than idle around. Maybe I'm wrong and maybe I didn't wait long enough. One can only hope that that's the case, but I doubt it (I waited for a damn long time!).


Bronze at last


The second new pet that will be available once patch 6.0 arrives is the Bronze Whelpling. Keeping in line with the other whelpling pets, she's a drop from the Iron Horde mobs in the 6.0 questing area (revamped Blasted Lands, level 90).

Initially, I wasn't sure if I should kill normal mobs or the elite ones, but in the end I just parked myself next to a group of normal Ironmarch Grunts and killed them for about 30 minutes (of course each person's experience will vary, I might have just been very lucky).

The mobs have a quick respawn time, so if you can find yourself a good spot with a few spawns nearby, you should rack up kills in no time. Even though I killed only grunts, I think any of the normal "Ironmarch" orcs in the area will have a chance to drop the pet.

It's unknown whether or not the Bronze Whelpling will stick around after the pre-expac content is over, but my guess is yes. Gahz'rooki is a pet with a similar history of being implemented during a world event content patch that led up to Siege of Orgrimmar, and once the content was removed the pet was relocated somewhere else in the world so that it would still be available to collect. I can't see any reason why the Bronze Whelpling wouldn't receive the same treatment. But even if the Bronze Whelpling was made no longer available as a drop, the pet is not bind on pick up and can be caged.

Whatever happens, I guess I'll be spending some time in Blasted Lands in October. I can't wait to collect another whelpling! :)

Detailed Garrison Progression For WoD

Blizzard recently released an informative article on garrison progression, Garrison Preview Part 2—All -Buildings Great and Small.

Some notable points that should be kept in mind:

- Level 1 blueprints all become available to you when your Garrison reaches Tier 2.

- Level 2 blueprints become available at different times depending on their size:

Small buildings: Reach level 96 or complete the Talador zone.
Medium buildings: Reach level 98 or complete the Spires of Arak zone.
Large buildings: Reach level 100 or complete the Nagrand zone.

- Level 3 blueprints become available as you complete certain achievements across Draenor.

- Level 3 blueprints are account-wide. Once you unlock one on a character, it’s available to all characters on your account.

Note: You don't actually have to complete the entire zone to unlock blueprints of your appropriate level. The blueprints on the vendor have a tooltip that reads, "Requires (zone) Outpost or level XX".


The outpost unlock often involves just the first quest chain of a zone, but will require a follow up storyline in one area (see below).


(Alliance) garrison progression in WoD:
The ultimate goals are to unlock and fully upgrade the Menagerie, plus open up and upgrade plots as soon as possible to start amassing materials to craft the pets. I went through 90-100 on beta again to record a specific itinerary.

1. Level 90-93 = Build level 1 garrison w/ 1 Large Plot + 1 Small plot

2. Level 91-93 = Upgrade garrison to level 2, Build another Large Plot + Small Plot

2a.) Level 92 = Fully unlock Mines, upgrade Mines to level 2

- level 2 blueprint requires level 2 garrison

3. Level 94-100 = Build and level current/existing plots, unlock other plots

3a.) Level 94 = Fully unlock Fishing shack, upgrade Fishing Shack level 2

- level 2 blueprint requires level 2 garrison
- start doing daily quest

3b.) Level 94-96 = Upgrade small plots to level 2

- blueprint requirement: complete Talador "Establishing your Outpost" storyline

3c.) Level 96 = Fully unlock Herb Garden, upgrade Herb Garden level 2

- level 2 blueprint requires level 2 garrison

3d.) 96-98 = Upgrade Medium plots to level 2

- blueprint requirement: complete Spires of Arak "Shadows Gather" storyline, go back to Veil Terokk, do followup quests there, go back to Southport, complete "Securing Southport" storyline

3e.) 98-100 = Upgrade Large plots

- blueprint requirement: complete Nagrand "The Might of Steel and Blood" storyline

4. Level 100 = Upgrade garrison to level 3

4a.) Unlock Menagerie, upgrade Menagerie to level 2

- start doing daily quest (can start at Menagerie level 1)

4b.) Upgrade Menagerie level 3, unlock Mastering the Menagerie daily

- blueprint requirement: Draenic Pet Battler achievement (can complete this at any level)

4c.) Upgrade all other plots to level 3

- level 3 blueprints require a specific achievement related to the plot/profession

Note: Although the Menagerie plot and NPC appears at the same time as the Mine, Herb Garden, and Fishing Shack, unlike these three, you can't actually pick up a quest to unlock it until your garrison is upgraded to level 3. This might be slightly confusing since the unlock quest, Pets Versus Pests, only requires level 98 to start and is advertised as such in most guides.

One would think that with a level requirement of 98, you could pick it up at 98 and open up the Menagerie at that point, right? Nope. The actual level needed for the Menagerie is 100, as that is the only time you can upgrade the garrison to level 3.

Hopefully I can stick fairly close to my proposed plan; I don't think there will be any extreme deviation. I should be all set for WoD :)

Crafting the Profession Pets In WoD

There will be quite a few pets that come from professions in WoD, and since my ultimate goal is to be self-sufficient in the expansion, I decided to review the necessary steps/stuff. I'll probably need to employ the help of my alts if I want to craft all the pets myself.

Just to clarify, I'm only looking at pets crafted with Blacksmithing, Engineering and Tailoring. I have yet to take a closer look at the pets from Mining, Herbalism, Archaeology, Fishing and Cooking.

And as always, things could change between this writing and WoD's release. :)


Blacksmithing Pet


The first pet is probably the "easiest" and most convenient pet to craft out of the three professions. Almost everything you need is right there at your fingertips at The Forge.

First you should probably build The Forge on a small plot inside your garrison. This will open up a vendor who sells recipes only available to characters with the Blacksmithing profession (includes the recipe for the pet).

Next, you must obtain Draenor Blacksmithing by either buying it with gold from The Forge vendor, or finding it as a world drop in Draenor. After that it's just a matter of collecting the mats to purchase the recipe that teaches you how to craft the pet, and then finally creating the pet itself!

★ Soul of the Forge recipe costs 1 Secret of Draenor Blacksmithing

- 5 True Iron Ore to craft the Secret (has a cooldown)

Crafting the pet needs:

- 10 Sorcerous Fire (byproduct of certain professions)

- 50 Truesteel Ingot (A and/or B)

A: Per crafted (has a cooldown)
- 20 True Iron Ore
- 10 Blackrock Ore

B: Per The Forge Work Order (completed every few hours, can queue up multiple orders)
- 5 True Iron Ore

Ore for the ingots can be collected by anyone, regardless if you have Mining as a profession, from the garrison Mine. Upgrading the Mine will open up more nodes and more Work Orders with a higher ore yield.

You automatically learn how to create Truesteel Ingots when you use the Draenor Blacksmithing recipe, but the ingots can also be obtained through Work Orders at The Forge (does not require you to have Blacksmithing as a profession but they are BoP). Utilizing both the orders and cooldown is probably the most efficient. The higher your Blacksmithing skill and the level of your Forge, the more ingots you'll receive per craft and Work Order.

Every so often, you'll receive Sorcerous Fire as a byproduct when creating Truesteel Ingots (crafted or Work Order). This is not guaranteed, though, and sometimes you'll receive Sorcerous Earth instead (hang onto those!) or no bonus material at all.

Sorcerous Fire isn't exclusive to Blacksmithing and The Forge. It can also be obtained from Alchemy (Alchemy Lab plot), Engineering (Engineering Works plot), and Enchanting (Enchanter's Study). If you build any of these plots but don't have the profession associated with it, you still have a chance to loot Sorcerous Fire from the Work Orders of each building. Much like Truesteel Ingots, the byproduct is not guaranteed and Sorcerous Fire shares its droprate with other "Sorcerous materials". Sorcerous Fire is not BoP, so you could buy/trade it as well.

In the end you really only need two plots to craft this pet, The Forge and perhaps the Mine (if you don't have access to a toon with Mining).


Engineering Pets


I would rate the Engineering pets as the second "easiest" out of the bunch. You'll need to have at least Engineering skill level 50 due to the requirement of an Arclight Spanner in the schematics OR access to a Gnomish Army Knife.

In the same fashion as the Blacksmithing pet, you'll want to build the Engineering Works. The vendor will sell budding Engineers Draenor Engineering for gold as well as the schematics for the pets for 1 Secret of Draenor Engineering each. Learning this will teach you all the recipes you'll need to craft the pets, but not the schematics for the pets themselves.

Note: If you build the Engineering plot even though you don't know the profession, the NPC will be able to craft these pets for you once you upgrade the Engineering Works to level 3. This seems to be the only plot that will craft the pets for you if you don't have the profession.

★ Lifelike Mechanical Frostboar schematic costs 1 Secret of Draenor Engineering

- 5 True Iron Ore to craft the Secret (has a cooldown)

Crafting the pet needs:

- 40 Sumptuous Fur

- 50 Gearspring Parts (A and/or B)

A: Per crafted (has a cooldown)
- 10 True Iron Ore
- 10 Blackrock Ore

B: Per Engineering Works Work Order (completed every few hours, can queue up multiple orders)
- 2 True Iron Ore
- 2 Blackrock Ore 

★ Mechanical Axebeak schematic costs 1 Secret of Draenor Engineering

- 5 True Iron Ore to craft the Secret (has a cooldown)

Crafting the pet needs:

- 50 Gearspring Parts (A and/or B)

A: Per crafted (has a cooldown)
- 10 True Iron Ore
- 10 Blackrock Ore

B: Per Engineering Works Work Order (completed every few hours, can queue up multiple orders)
- 2 True Iron Ore
- 2 Blackrock Ore 

★ Mechanical Scorpid schematic costs 1 Secret of Draenor Engineering

- 5 True Iron Ore to craft the Secret (has a cooldown)

Crafting the pet needs:

- 10 Blackrock Ore

- 30 Gearspring Parts (A and/or B)

A: Per crafted (has a cooldown)
- 10 True Iron Ore
- 10 Blackrock Ore

B: Per Engineering Works Work Order (completed every few hours, can queue up multiple orders)
- 2 True Iron Ore
- 2 Blackrock Ore 

As mentioned above, the recipes to craft these pets requires an Arclight Spanner OR a Gnomish Army Knife/Ultimate Gnomish Army Knife/Ultimate Gnomish Army Knife.

An anvil is also necessary to create the Gearspring Parts. One option is to build The Forge, but if you'd rather not use up another small plot, you can always run over to the Mine inside your garrison and find an anvil there. Additionally, you can always craft/buy a Thermal Anvil of your own.

Ore can be collected by anyone, regardless if you have Mining as a profession, from the garrison Mine. Upgrading the Mine will open up more nodes and more Work Orders with a higher ore yield.

The Sumptuous Fur has a chance to drop from mobs around Draenor, but if you build a Barn you can trap Talbuks and Wolves to begin Work Orders for fur. The fur isn't BoP so you could buy/trade it too. The way I see it though, is you'll need to build a Barn to collect the Pygmy Cow on at least one toon, so why not make use of the Work Orders while you're at it? XD


Tailoring Pet


I consider this last one the toughest out of all the crafted profession pets mentioned in this post. Why is it more difficult to craft the Elekk Plushie? Who knows, but my guess is you need to save up a lot of love and magic to fill its insides with. :P

Using the same process as the other two, you will need to build the Tailoring Emporium in a small plot, purchase Draenor Tailoring, learn it and then get started on collecting the mats.

★ Elekk Plushie pattern costs 5 Secrets of Draenor Tailoring

- 5 Sumptuous Fur each Secret (has a cooldown)

Crafting the pet needs:

- 10 Sorcerous Earth (byproduct of certain professions)

- 50 Hexweave Cloth (A and/or B)

A: Per crafted (has a cooldown)
- 20 Sumptuous Fur
- 10 Gorgrond Flytrap

B: Per Tailoring Emporium Work Order (completed every few hours, can queue up multiple orders)
- 5 Sumptuous Fur

Unlike the other two professions, you need to make five secrets before you can even learn how to craft the Elekk Plushie. This results in a five day wait due to the crafting cooldown on the Secret. Yikes.

On top of this, if you want to maximize your daily yield of Hexweave Cloth (by utilizing both the crafting cooldown and Work Order), you'll also need to unlock the Herb Garden in your garrison. Anyone can pick herbs there, regardless if you have the Herbalism skill or not. Upgrading the garden opens up more nodes for you to pick, but the Gorgrond Flytrap isn't guaranteed to spawn in your Herb Garden. You can also place Work Orders for herbs, at the cost of 5 Draenic Seeds each order.

The Sumptuous Fur has a chance to drop from mobs around Draenor, but if you build a Barn you can trap Talbuks and Wolves to begin Work Orders for fur. The fur isn't BoP so you could buy/trade it too.

The Sorcerous Earth used in the recipe may be a little tricky to obtain. Unlike Blacksmithing which is fairly self-sustaining, Tailoring will need to rely on other professions for this material.

Sorcerous Earth is a byproduct of Blacksmithing (The Forge plot), Inscription (Scribe's Quarters plot), Leatherworking (The Tannery plot), and Jewelcrafting (Gem Boutique plot). If you build any of these plots but don't have the profession associated with it, you still have a chance to loot Sorcerous Earth from the Work Orders of each building. Sorcerous Earth isn't a guaranteed drop and it shares its droprate with other "Sorcerous materials". Sorcerous Earth is not BoP, so you could buy/trade it as well.


Extra Notes
All of these pets can be crafted by characters with the appropriate professions of any skill level. I dropped Alchemy and picked up Blacksmithing on the beta, and despite only having a skill of 1, I was still able to start working towards making the Soul of the Forge.

The only profession that *might* be skill dependent is Engineering, because of the Arclight Spanner. There is a work around for that though, but that's only if you can get your hands on a Gnomish Army Knife.

All recipes can be purchased in your faction's city in Ashran (once you've completed the initial zone quests) in addition to the plots in your garrison. The cost should be the same at both places.

Recommended miscellaneous plots:

- Mines
- Herb Garden
- Barn

You'll want to unlock and upgrade your Mine as soon as you can since the majority of the crafted pets require ore. I would place the Herb Garden as second or even third in priority, the Barn possibly being more essential than the garden because of fur Work Orders.

When upgrading either the Mine or the Herb Garden, be sure you go through and loot all of the nodes first. Once you level the plot up to the next tier, it will spawn a new set of nodes even if the day hasn't reset/rolled over yet.

Profession skill level, plot level, and whether or not you've assigned an appropriate follower to your profession plot -- all of these factors help determine how many mats you use/receive each time you place a Work Order or use the crafting cooldown. Higher skill and higher plot level means better yield.

And last but not least, here's a quick list regarding "Sorcerous stuff". With Fire and Earth coming from multiple professions, it gives us a little more freedom to build what we want and what's appropriate for each toon.

Sorcerous Fire - Alchemy, Blacksmithing, Engineering, Enchanting

Sorcerous Earth - Blacksmithing, Inscription, Leatherworking, Jewelcrafting

Depending on which buildings you set up in your garrison, you'll need different materials to start each profession's Work Order.

We get a total of three small plots in the garrison. If you're ok with giving up the Salvage Yard and Storehouse, you could have one plot dedicated to the profession that crafts the pet, one for your secondary profession (if it's not Herbalism, Mining or Skinning), and the last plot would exist to help supply more materials to craft the pet from the first plot. It's entirely up to you, though!

Progressing On the Beta - Cows, Spores, and Dailies

I've accomplished quite a bit on the beta recently, mostly thanks to the information shared by the collecting/battling community! :)

Moo, damnit


The first bit of collecting occurred when I received a Tweet about a certain little cow. Thanks to @JiangWing I was quickly a happy owner of the Pygmy Cow.

You can collect this pet once you've upgraded you garrison Barn to level 3. A special mug will spawn on either the first or second floor, and looting it will yield the pet.


I found mine on the second floor, but there was no obvious way up. You need to use some creative mechanics; the engineering goblin glider comes to mind. But I'm no engineer so I used Wing's recommendation and built a level 2 Gnomish Gearworks. The main thing I was looking for with the gearworks was the XD-57 "Bullseye" Guided Rocket Kit. The item you can loot from this plot changes each day, so I was lucky that the rocket spawned that particular day!


Using the rocket, I managed to get up onto the second floor and collected my adorable little cow. The mug that you're looking for doesn't have any type of glow or indication that it can be looted, until you hover over it with your cursor. As mentioned before, it can spawn on the first floor as well. Usually among the other mug props, so I would be sure to check each one of those if you can't find it on the second floor.


Seeing stars spores
I finally got around to collecting the different spore pets of Draenor. There are currently only three available, two of which required some time to find.

The first one is a drop from a rarespawn named Rotcap. It's a straight forward find, and there's already a Wowhead map to help you find him. :P Rotcap drops the Brilliant Spore.

The second and third spore pets were a bit harder to collect. They require some jumping around and can be obtained by looting spore-like objects found in their respective zones.

Crimson Spore comes from a Strange Spore in Gorgrond. A map to indicate where to look doesn't exist yet, so I had to go by descriptions detailed by other players. Here's the location of the spore on the map:


(click image to enlarge)
You'll find protruding red fungus things on the side of the cliff. The Strange Spore can be found on one of those "fungus stairs", and is fairly easy to get to. Jumping around is your friend. :)

The last spore, Umbrafen Spore, was the hardest to find and reach. It's located in Shadowmoon Valley, and can also be looted from a Strange Spore. Head to Elodor, and follow the road all the way up the mountain. Climb as far as you can up the mountain located north-west of Elodor, and then jump down to the largest mushroom nearby. Here's a map so you can see which mushroom I'm talking about:


(click image to enlarge)
It took me a few tries to actually find it, but the jumping portion was easy. This spore was tricky because I couldn't actually see the lootable object from a distance and I had to be practically on top of it to finally spot it. There was a lot of guessing, jumping, not finding anything on one mushroom, and then climbing the mountain to start all over again.

The spore pets are lovely in color, but they have a balloon-type syndrome. That is, instead of free floating like a spore should, they're currently tied to a rope (like a balloon). Hopefully that will be sorted out prior to WoD's release. XD


Ding! One thousand


The last bit of progression I've made on the beta is probably the biggest one. I finally unlocked the level 3 Menagerie! Whew. After collecting all of the available wild pets, I still had about 300 Draenor pet battles to complete. Using a tip from @patf0rd about single pet fights that still existed, I cheesed the rest of my way to 1000.

Once I finished the achievement, I purchased the level 3 blueprint and was all set to take a firsthand look at the new daily quest. It completely replaces the previous daily quest available from the level 1 and 2 Menagerie, but only for your toons that upgrade to Menagerie level 3. Side note, once you've unlocked the blueprints, all of your characters can purchase it (regardless of faction) if eligible. Hooray for only having to complete the achievement once!

Mastering the Menagerie has the same objectives as the daily it replaces, but the rewards are much better. In addition to the same number of Pet Charms, you also have a chance to loot one of seven new pets from the Big Bag of Pet Supplies. The pets don't have a 100% droprate and seem to be randomized (they don't correspond to the pet you have to defeat for that day).

Oddly enough, the daily isn't account-wide so if you have multiple high level toons with a level 3 Menagerie, you can increase your chances of getting the new pets. Another reason why WoD is feeling more and more like the expansion that "forces" us to spread our time across many different characters. But that's a different discussion. ;P


Doing the daily on two toons the first day (an alliance and a horde) only netted me one pet, the Sunfire Kaliri. Absolutely gorgeous!




On the second day, I scored two pets, one from each daily reward bag. Puddle Terror and Ghastly Kid.

These pets ARE cageable, so I expect to see these pets up on the AH quite a bit. I'm sure if you power through and reach level 3 Menagerie early in the expansion (and on multiple toons), you could make some decent gold by selling these MtM pets. I don't play the AH all that much, though, so I'll probably just hang onto the pets and any duplicates I get. Maybe I'll hand them out as gifts? :)

If undergoing the 1k Draenor pet battles grind doesn't sound like it's something you want to do, you could just wait until these pets pop up for sale. I don't think there's any prerequisite to add them to your Pet Journal. They probably won't be cheap initially; it's up to each collector to determine which one is worse: 1k battles or paying an arm and leg. For me, I'll probably just do the grind.

There are only seven MtM pets unfortunately, so I can't imagine this content will last us for very long. Especially for those that have many characters that complete the daily. Blizzard could always add more pets as drops from the daily to keep us interested, but that's probably only a temporary solution. We'll see what happens.

Possibly Problematic (Wild) Pets In WoD

UPDATE: The Bone Serpent was removed from the Pet Journal in a recent beta patch. So while we won't have to worry about finding it, we'll also lose out on a really awesome looking wild pet. :( :( :(

Being the compelled collector that I am, I decided to dive in and go for the 1k achievement on the beta to unlock the level 3 Menagerie blueprints. Since I need to grind my face off on wild battles, I figured I might as well kill two birds with one stone and collect all the WoD wild pets.

For only one dedicated night of collecting, I'd say I was very successful. I managed to collect all but a few wild pets from Draenor. The conditions on beta are ideal for collecting, though, so I don't expect my experience on live servers to be as lucky/quick. With more competition it will probably take more time to just find the new pets.

Unfortunately in a few cases, even without a ton of collectors searching for the same thing I was, some of the wild pets gave me trouble.

What a Pain in my...


If my experience on the beta is any indication of what it will be like on live, there are three wild pets (maybe more) that might give collectors a headache in WoD.

- Axebeak Hatchling
- Bone Serpent
- Shadow Sporebat

The main issue with the first two is that despite searching all over the respective zones that the pets should have appeared in, I couldn't find a single location where either spawned. Not even a critter (non-battle pet) version. It's possible that the Axebeak Hatchling and Bone Serpent may only come as secondaries in battle, but I find that a little silly.

Both zones have appropriate places where they could spawn. Why implement them as exclusive secondaries when there's all this real estate for them to wander around?

The entire southern half of Gorgrond is a jungle that's filled with other birds, some of which are even wild pets too (Junglebeak). And there's a cluster of actual (bone) wind serpent mobs in Spires of Arak (they share the same model as the pet). It's a wonder to me that neither seemed to appear near any of these likely locations.

Perhaps they haven't been fully implemented yet? Did I somehow miss them? Was someone else clearing them out faster than I could spot them? Or maybe they're just really, really rare?

I have a problem with the last explanation, though. Even with the rarer wild pets of Draenor, there is usually some indication of where they could spawn. All you have to do is find the non-battle pet version of them to get an idea of where to hunt. The exceptions, of course, being the Axebeak Hatchling and Bone Serpent. They were nowhere to be found in any form when I looked. Maybe they're the new Minfernal/Unborn Val'kyr? I cringe at the thought...

Oh, speaking of non-battle pet versions of wild pets...

In the end I did manage to find a Shadow Sporebat, but only after many hours of fruitless looking and waiting. This particular pet gave me trouble for a couple of reasons.

Firstly, it's spawn location. The sporebat seems to appear alongside its larger counterpart, the Zangarra Sporebat. These mobs can only be found in the tiny little area in north-eastern Talador, Zangarra. And when I say tiny, I mean tiny (compared to other zones/areas). With such little space, there's probably only a limited number of spawns for that area.

Secondly, there ARE non-battle pet versions of the Shadow Sporebat hovering around the area. That's the only reason I knew to check there. But do they share spawns with the actual pets? I really don't know.

I decided to take it upon myself to try and coax the spawning of actual pet versions by killing off the critters. One would hope that by doing this, it would free up "slots" for the real pets to spawn in, right? Unfortunately, that didn't seem to help.

Another method that some collectors swear by is killing off the mobs associated with the pet. I didn't need to since Zangarra was full of people questing and therefore killing the Zangarra Sporebats for me.

Absolutely no battle pets were spawning. Not even miscellaneous wild pets, such as snails, rats, etc. It was only after I had left the area and checked back hours later that I found one lone Shadow Sporebat and managed to collect it.

I'm not a designer or developer so I don't know the finer details of how spawning works, but to me the tiny area in which the sporebat could spawn coupled with possibly sharing a spawn rate/timer with non-pet versions both made it very difficult to collect this particular pet. Not to mention that since there's a lot of traffic in that spot, questing and what not in such an enclosed area, it's possible that any pets that DID manage to spawn were instantly casualties of player versus mob battle.

Needless to say it was very frustrating, and this situation might end up applying to a few other wild pets as well.


From what I've observed, many of the wild pets that only spawn near/around their larger counterparts (the hippos for example) tend to have a similar problem as the Shadow Sporebat. It's not quite as bad for most of them since there are more areas in which they can appear (it's still limited for the hippos though since they only appear around bodies of inland water), but there were A LOT of non-pet versions wandering around. As adorable as they are, I was fairly annoyed whenever I came across one that I couldn't actually interact/battle with.

It would be nice if there was some official confirmation on whether or not killing the mobs and the non-pet versions actually helps the spawn rate. In some situations I did away with both, while in others I let both be and just hoped to come back and find a pet to battle. I really can't say which method worked better; both were equally aggravating because neither seemed to have any impact at all.

Anyway, these are just the few exceptions to the norm. And it's possible that I just happened to be extremely (like a million times) unlucky. Perhaps others will have a better experience with the aforementioned pets, and easily find their spawn locations. (Please let me know if you do!)

My overall experience with collecting wild pets in Draenor was good. The majority of pets spawned in logical areas, so it wasn't that hard to find them. I expect that due to higher competition on live servers there will be fewer spawns up, and the quality of spawned pets not as ideal (most were rare on beta). But that can be overcome with some patience and dedication. That's collecting in a nutshell for ya, I guess? ;P