Three New Goodies and 4.1 Previews

mmo-champion found THREE new possible pets in the latest PTR build:

- Pterrordax Hatchling
- Voodoo Figurine
- Guardian Cub

while we don't have any information on where or how or even if these will be available to players, both the pterrordax hatchling and voodoo figurine summoning spells have similar flavor text as other rare archaeology items. it seems very likely that these two companions will be discovered through this profession. possibly fossil and troll digsites? that would be my best guess! not a guess now since wowhead is listing both under the aforementioned branches. the hatchling will require 120 fossil fragments, and the figurine will require 100 troll fragments with 3 keystone slots. as with all things PTR, this may change before patch 4.1 is released.

there's already speculation on wowhead's PTR site that the guardian cub will be a small mini-pet version of the new mount that blizzard announced it would be releasing as a blizzard store item in the near future. we will have to wait and see on this one.

last but not least, blizzard released an official preview of some of the new pets coming in patch 4.1. going from left to right - lashtail hatchling, nightsaber cub, winterspring cub, panther cub, legs.

in light of this preview, there are a couple things that are highly likely:

1. patch 4.1 will be released before children's week (before may 1st)

2. the lashtail hatchling will indeed be available as a pet (and she'll look slightly different than the razasshi hatchling, yay!)

3. YES, legs will be a baby marshwalker

First Archaeology Pet - Beta

i finally finished my first archaeology rare artifact on the beta, and coincidentally it was my first archaeology companion too. whoo!


the fossilized hatchling became available for me to "solve" at around 200 archaeology skill. i don't know if this pet or any of the other rare artifacts are available at lower skill levels, or if they require 200+. i will have to leave that to the hardcore profession testers. i'm more of a hardcore pet tester. :P

i would have more to say but... the artifacts that are available to solve feel pretty random. there doesn't seem to be any "trick" to it other than to keep searching for fragments at dig sites and solving more and more artifacts until a rare one pops up for you to complete.

the archaeology companions will probably be last on my list of "to get" once the expansion is released (official release date: december 7th!!), due to the grindy nature of this secondary profession. there's so much travel time involved that i'm SO VERY grateful we'll be able to fly all over azeroth come catalcysm.

plus, being level 85 will make it that much easier once i start heading into the higher level zones to hunt at dig sites located there. trust me. i went into twilight highlands at around 82 because i saw a dig site was located there, and what a pain it was to dodge in and out of mobs just to get to the archaeology fragments!

anyway, a quick run down of this companion if you haven't already checked out my cataclysm pet list:

the fossilized hatchling..

- is a rare archaeology created companion
- requires 85 fossil fragments
- is bind on pick up

this companion also has raptor hatchling vocals (on click) very similar to that of the current baby raptors. it's only slightly different, and if you're not paying close enough attention you would probably confuse the fossilized hatchling's vocals for one of the other raptors.

last but not least... LOOK AT THE TEETH ON THIS LITTLE GUY! SO FIERCE!! *insert america's next top model tyra banks impression here*

Getting Down and Dirty

i finally decided to take the plunge and patch my beta client. it wasn't as bad as i thought it would be. heh.

anyway, archaeology! WOW. what a grind! i'm strangely addicted though. just a warning: at the time of this writing, it's VERY difficult to level up past 120 skill and it's VERY repetitive with a lot of travel time required. i would recommend waiting until you have your flying mount before attempting to level up this secondary profession. some of the dig sites are so spread out, i'm so grateful that we can fly everywhere!

i won't go into detail about how the profession is done (it's pretty straight forward once you test it out a couple times), but i will discuss the companion pets involved.

after "solving" about 20+ artifacts of multiple races/categories (night elf, troll, dwarven, fossil, etc.) and coming up with only grey items so far, i did some research and found out the following:

Archaeology Fun

mmo-champ has confirmed at least 3 archaeology companion pet rewards:

- Crawling Hand / Mummified Monkey Paw
- Clockwork Gnome
- Fossilized Hatchling

screenshots can be found in the companion pet section of their post that i've linked.

ah-ha! so that's where blizzard's decided to stick the crawling hand! (er... that didn't sound perverted to just me, did it? :P) i was thinking possibly a new halloween pet. but no, i think a mummy hand fits with archaeology much better.

but it makes you wonder... whatever happened to the rest of the body @_@

archaeology is shaping up to look like a really fun secondary tradeskill! there are so many vanity items tied to it that it's sure to keep collectors of all types busy for a while. i absolutely can't wait!

Digging for Pets

"Many of the archaeology items are stored in your journal, not your bags, so inventory space shouldn't be a big problem. While many of the artifacts are only there for rewards, the rare finds run the gamut from unique toys to usable weapons to special pets." - ghostcrawler

archaeology will be a new secondary profession in cataclysm, so while it won't be a major or mandatory profession, i'll definitely be picking it up just to see what sort of "special pets" the devs have in store for us.

i can think of a few possible archaeology companions that would fit along the titan lore (i'm hoping that we get to see some new models instead of reskinned, sized-down, currently implemented creature models):

- miniature stone watchers
- miniature golems
- baby rock elementals

ok ok, so my imagination is limited to stone/earthy vanity pet at the moment, but who knows what other types we'll be able to unearth with the new profession!

my biggest question and concern is the rate at which we can discover the "rare" archaeology vanity pets and whether or not they will be profession specific or if they will be bind on use.

like i've mentioned before, i'm ok with grinding/farming for companions. it's time consuming and tedious work, but it feels so rewarding once you've got your little friend at the end. i'm wondering if archaeology will follow the same lines as world drop pets, or will there be specific qualifications that need to be met before being able to discover a "rare find" (besides the obvious skill level).

also yet to be seen is whether or not these pets will require you to have archaeology or can you simply wait until one goes on sale on the AH? (as a pet collector, why would you wait though?! :P) since this is a secondary profession, it's not absolutely vital or necessary for a party/raid/guild. those who don't have the time to level something optional or wish to just skip it altogether are free to do so, but i have a feeling that there will be some clamor of being left out if the vanity companions are profession specific.

hopefully we'll get more details on archaeology pets as the release of cataclysm draws closer and closer. some previews would be especially exciting!