Happy Holidays 2017

Wishing everyone a Happy Merry Season's Christmas Holidays!


Just a Tranquil Mechanical Yeti pal'ing around with the Globe Yeti. ;)

Don't forget to loot the presents under the Winter Veil tree in Ironforge and Orgrimmar (starting December 25).

Here's hoping that 2018 will be better, brighter, and filled with lots of fun new pets. May RNG be kind to us all.

Stay safe, be well, and happy collecting & battling. ❤

Thoughts On New Winter Veil Pet - Globe Yeti

Feast of Winter Veil has begun! There's a new pet to collect, the Globe Yeti. And what would a new pet be without its own controversial implementation?

Unlike the other Winter Veil pets, the Globe Yeti is a wild pet that has a somewhat unique spawn. It can only pop up within the giant snow globe in Ironforge and Orgrimmar during Winter Veil.

Despite being a wild pet, it doesn't appear as such on the mini-map, so catching it spawn will take a little more effort. I highly recommend making a macro to /tar Globe Yeti and then keybinding the "Interact With Target" function. This way you can quickly target and engage one in battle once it pops up.

On top of those things (and here's the kicker), only ONE spawns every ~30 minutes or so, making this 'first come, first serve' capture frustrating for some collectors. It's literally a race to see who can click and/or interact the fastest, not to mention additional competition due to connected/sharded realms (excluding RP realms; finding a low population RP server might be your best bet).

It's a pretty straight forward capture for some, and a less than enjoyable experience for others. Some collectors may not have time to camp the area, while others might not be lucky/quick enough to nab the Globe Yeti as it spawns.

I should also mention that I haven't seen it happen firsthand, but there's some concern that non-pet battlers are trolling by killing this wild pet as it pops up. If the Globe Yeti can be targeted and killed by player spells and abilities, that needs to be changed ASAP. With its limited spawning, it would be devastating to see one die because of another player deciding to AOE the area.

The in-game holiday event lasts for a little over 2 weeks, so hopefully there's enough time for everyone to collect a Globe Yeti of their own. But even so, it doesn't feel very good or festive to stress about collecting this battle pet before the event ends.

Personally, I think this spawn mechanic is interesting but could use some adjustments to make it less punishing for collectors. Especially since this is a limited-time pet.

I'd love to see the number of spawns increase incrementally as the event goes on, so by the end of Winter Veil there are multiple Globe Yetis up for collectors who are either unlucky or have time constraints. That or perhaps a reduced spawn timer.

I absolutely hope those looking to collect the Globe Yeti will be able to this year. Waiting an entire year for more to spawn is brutal. Granted, it could be worse. The Yeti could be depending on RNG *shudders*... so I'm certainly thankful that that's not the case.

There are a couple of things one can do to increase chances of collecting this pet.

1. Create a character on a low population, RP realm.

2. Make a /tar macro and use a keybind for the "Interact With Target" function.

I, and I'm sure many others, wouldn't mind if Blizzard gave a helping hand to spread the love a bit more though. 'Tis the season for giving and sharing, right? What better way to celebrate that than to ensure a fair and even distribution of this fun new companion? :)

7.3.5 PTR: New Pet, Pet PVP Achievements, and Uuna

UPDATE: More information on Mailemental can be found here. It's a reward from an achievement that you can earn once you've completed the initial questline. Getting the quest, though.... that could be the trickiest part!

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PTR testing has begun! There are three notable updates so far, but I'm sure we'll see more as future PTR builds get implemented.

New Pet
First and foremost, new pet! Mailemental, likely inspired by a suggestion made on the Bnet Pet Battle forums. Fun "postal service" themed abilities! The pet is even holding an envelope lol :D

7.3.5 PTR: New battle pet, Mailemental (unknown how we'll get it at this time), inspired by an idea from the Bnet Pet Battle forums! https://t.co/dVbc1nf3pl pic.twitter.com/aLw7OBmHz8

— Quintessence (@perksnpeeves) November 30, 2017

Currently the Pet Journal doesn't list how we'll obtain this pet. But according to datamined files, it looks like we might have to complete a questline that has us delivering mail around Azeroth...? It's unknown how we'll even get the quest though.

This comment may shed some light, as it implies there might be a breadcrumb prerequisite. The catch? It might have limited spawns in Dalaran. We'll have to wait and see.

My biggest hope is that the Mailemental will have an interaction that allows us to use it as a temporary mailbox, similar to the upgraded Argent Squire hehe. :P


New Pet PVP Achievements
Jodmos from the WarcraftPets forum discovered a new set of Pet PVP challenges, à la Family Familiar/Fighter.

Each achievement requires 10 queued PVP Pet Battle wins with a team of all level 25 pets from the same family. 10 achievements total, and the meta-achievement awards a nifty new tabard, Master Trainer's Tabard.

Personally, I'm glad it doesn't reward a new pet. But instead provides something new to strive for for pet PVP enthusiasts and a cosmetic reward for their efforts. It helps keep Pet Battles PVP optional for *PET* collectors, but still adds some content for those that do choose to enjoy that aspect of pets.


Uuna's Continuation Story?
!! SPOILER WARNING !! READ AT YOUR OWN RISK !!
Some datamined dialogue involving Uuna was discovered in the PTR files.
!! SPOILER WARNING !! READ AT YOUR OWN RISK !!

For those unaware, Uuna's backstory is that she died on Argus yet her soul was infused into an Ur'zul. When you "collect" her (or adopt), you're liberating her spirit from that monster.

In 7.3.5 we might see a continuation of Uuna's journey, although it's unclear when, where or how. Wowhead Site Director Perculia speculates that it might be related or part of the new allied race Lightforged Draenei questline.

Will we be able to help Uuna's spirit find peace? What happens if we do? Does she leave us forever? It's still early on in the testing phase, so we'll have to wait and see.

As always, everything above is subject to change and nothing is guaranteed to make it to live from the PTR.

I'm so excited to learn more! :)

UPDATE: Some ominous sounding Tweets from Developer Jeremy Feasel... the future may not be bright for Uuna...

You should find Uuna, before it's too late, imo.

— Jeremy Feasel (@Muffinus) December 4, 2017

To be honest, this was very difficult to write.

— Jeremy Feasel (@Muffinus) December 4, 2017

Hold her tight.
You never know
what darkness she sees.

— Jeremy Feasel (@Muffinus) December 4, 2017