That's One Giant Cricket

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

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


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

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

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

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

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

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

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


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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Why You Want to Befriend the Tillers NPCs

UPDATE: According to El, after becoming best friends with Sho, she will mail a Chirping Package to you which yields the Red Cricket.

MMO-Champion has a preview of "WoW-ville" (play on Farmville), and previously datamined pet was revealed as a reward for taking part in raising your friendship with the Tillers NPCs!

I haven't tested it yet, but it sounds like after reaching a certain amount of friendship with either one (might be a specific NPC? not sure) or more NPC, they will mail you the Red Cricket (Bind on Use)!

Note: This isn't actually the Red Cricket, but I'm guessing it will have a similar model.

The cricket model is really awesome, so I'm definitely going to work towards getting this cute little insect. Plus the whole concept of raising a farm in WoW seems pretty interesting and intriguing.

El from El's Extreme Anglin', has a Tillers Farming guide that might help you get started.

If Farmville was never your style, El also recently Tweeted that unlike Farmville, "WoW-ville" doesn't really have the social inter-dependence aspect.

It sounds like the Tillers farming gameplay is worth a try at the very least!