Call to Arms - Another Possible Pet

so far the only officially confirmed pets on the satchel of exotic mysteries loot table are the razzashi hatchling, cockatiel, and tiny sporebat. (note: even then, this may change once the patch is deployed.)

a speculated pet that may or may not be available through the call to arms feature is the cenarian hatchling.

after a quick scan of wowhead's PTR site, another pet that might be on the list of possible companions available from the goodie bag in 4.1 is the shimmering wyrmling.

not only is there a comment on wowhead suggesting that it is one of the pets obtainable through the new dungeon system, much like the tiny sporebat there is a new shimmering wyrmling item that does not have a reputation requirement on it, yet it teaches the same pet summoning spell (same ID) as the original shimmering wyrmling.

i still don't know whether or not the reputation necessary for the original versions of the pets will also be mandatory to use the new companion items. my guess is the answer is no, though, otherwise why not simply add the original pet items instead of implementing new ones with unique item IDs?

i have mixed feelings about the addition of rep-related companions to the satchel, just like i mixed feelings about the call to arms feature. part of me would like to see the reputation necessary continue to be mandatory before being able to learn the pet, but another part understands the tediousness of this idea. while on one hand adding these vanity pets to the goodie bag will completely devalue the original rep grind, multiple sources for (certain) pets is something that i do support. i guess pets that are probably not well-suited for this category just never crossed my mind. well, you can't have your cake and eat it too.

anyway, i've said it before, and i'll say it again, the simplest compromise in my eyes would be to just not add reputation pets to the loot table. blizzard has different ideas, though. it's something that will either work out or cause more upset.

initially the change to the bop engineering pets caused quite a stir, but over time i think people have generally either gotten used to it or have let the issue go as another one of those things that just cannot be reverted. have many forgotten? most likely not. but in an expansion like cataclysm where things are constantly being updated, changed, added and removed, you have to pick and choose your battles carefully to prevent yourself from getting burnt out.

we'll see which pets are actually in the call to arms reward bag once patch 4.1 is released, as well as their droprates. only then will i be able to solidify my opinion about the new feature.

Call to Arms: More Details

mmo-champion has a couple more details about the call to arms feature coming in 4.1:

- Call to Arms for more than one role can be active at a time.
- If everything seems balanced, there isn't any Call to Arms.

having more than one role being "called to arms" at any given time is definitely good news. somewhat. again, it's likely healers and tanks will be the least represented the majority of the time which will leave DPS out, but at least players may get a choice between healing or tanking (IF both roles are being called upon at the same time).

the second detail is a bit troubling, especially as a pet collector. the entire goal of this new system is to attempt to balance out the random dungeon finder roles, which would result in the shortening of queue times, yes?

so in the event that the call to arms feature is successful (i'm not saying there's a guarantee that it will be, there's no certainty that it will even work as intended), and soon there will be very few times when any role is ever called upon, what of the new pets on the satchel of exotic mysteries' loot table? (that is, IF any are even added to the new system's reward. currently, there is no official confirmation that a new pet has been added to the call to arms loot table.) will they just sit and go unobtainable due to the lack of any roles being called to arms?

Call to Arms - New Pet?

as of the latest PTR build, a new pet popped up: the cenarion hatchling.

while i do not have any personal or official confirmation of where this pet is from or how it's obtained yet, there is a comment on wowhead's PTR site stating that it will be one of the possible companions available from the new call to arms feature. the comment may or may not be accurate.

nonetheless it is... interesting. IF it's true, i think MANY will be quite upset.

from the summoning spell description, the cenarion hatchling sounds very similar to the hippogryph hatchling, which can be acquired only through the trading card game loot cards. these loot cards are rare and normally go for about $100+ on ebay, making them somewhat inaccessible to most players.

what does this mean? a pet such as this being added to the call to arms goodie bag loot table will mean quite a few players will want in on the reward. however, as i mentioned before, because tanks and healers will be the "least represented" in the random dungeon finder the majority of the time, this completely cuts pure DPS out of the picture and unable to try for this highly sought after companion. at least on their main collecting character, that is.

it also means that many hybrid classes may take on pivotal roles such as tanking and healing, even if they may not be qualified to do so. this will lead to an increase of potentially failing pug groups and player frustration. and for what? a shot at a rare (and new) companion.

it should also be noted that the tiny sporebat that was officially announced as a possible vanity pet reward from the call to arms goodie bag does NOT have a reputation requirement. the original tiny sporebat requires players to be exalted with sporeggar. although both items teach the same companion summoning spell (same spell ID), the two items are different and have unique item IDs. this indicates that players who receive the tiny sporebat via the call to arms system will not have to grind the sporeggar reputation to learn the pet.

overall if the above turns out to be true, i will have to side with the many who already disagree and are dissatisfied with the call to arms feature. not only does this have the high potential to negatively affect the PVE community, it also impacts the collecting community in an especially unfavorable way.

i'm hoping that at the very least, no new pets (such as the cenarion hatchling) will be added to the call to arms feature and the comment on wowhead was a premature one or is only applicable to the PTR. otherwise i may have to break out my angry tree macro again.