Mixed Feelings

ahh, beta. you are a curse as much as you are a blessing.

while i was doing my usual hunt for information on the new cataclysm companions for my list, i came across some changes to quests that i've already completed on the beta. normally any changes wouldn't bother me, but these changes included pet rewards. D:

so i have a choice to make: wait until the expansion goes live to do the finalized version of the quest and obtain my non-combat pet reward then. OR pick another toon on the beta, re-level up to the appropriate level, go through the quest chain to reach the specific quest and finally complete the quest to receive the new companion reward.

ahhh both are equally undesirable! >_< sigh. i guess this is what one must sacrifice in order to see other (new) goodies prior to release.

besides, one missed pet opportunity won't kill me right? ....right??!!?!?! x_x

Singing Sunflower

i just completed the quest chain to get the singing sunflower. if you've seen the video on how to complete the quests, then you're already slightly ahead of the game.

i'll be completely honest - i failed many times on the second quest and was extremely frustrated. i'm just not a tower defense type of player. it almost seemed as if i would never get this pet because of this. there may be many others out there who may struggle with this one so here are just some notes on how to (hopefully) make it that much easier for all the plants vs zombies noobs (like me!):

Staying Up-to-Date

in an attempt to keep myself as well as others organized and informed, i'm compiling a cataclysm companion pet list of all the NEW cuties that will/may be available to us in the expansion. you can find it here (click). the post is open for comments so feel free to help me add to the page with the latest pet news!

Dark Phoenix Hatchling Change

there's been a change to how this guild reward is obtained:

- United Nations: Raise 55 reputations to Exalted. Reward: Dark Phoenix Hatchling. (old = complete specific heroic dungeons while in a guild group. a "guild group" is 4 guildies out of 5 people in a party.)

this is good news for smaller guilds! it also makes both companion guild rewards available to just about anyone guilded, although it may take more time for guilds with less people contributing to the cause.

i approve of this change. it's not making it super easy to unlock but it is meeting players half way and giving guilds of various sizes some flexibility.

Even More Possible Pets

mmo-champ has even more new pets from the latest beta patch! those listed in bold are new:

- Deathy
- Guild Herald
- Guild Page
- Gold Mini Jouster
- Blue Mini Jouster
- Tiny Shale Spider
- Pebble
- Landro's Lil' XT
- Enchanted Lantern
- Magic Lamp
- Elementium Geode
- Mr. Grubbs
- Brazie's Sunflower

just a reminder: this IS the beta. not ALL companions and items will make it into the live release of cataclysm. all companions and items are subject to change as well. but moving along...

deathy, as we already know, is the blizzcon 2010 redeemable in-game item for either attending blizzcon or purchasing the live stream.

pebble has also been mentioned as a possible quest reward companion from a deepholm or a reputation reward via the therazane faction in deepholm.

AAAAAALL the other pets listed above are entirely new! let's take some guesses as to what these companions may entail yea? :D

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:

Cata Updates - Details

since i've been busy and a tad lazy to patch my beta client, i haven't been on the beta for some time. thankfully, WarcraftPets.com has been working hard on gathering the latest intel for us!

so far the newest updates to already announced pets are as follows:

- Dark Phoenix Hatchling (guild achievement required: Guild Cataclysm Dungeon Hero); 100g + X guild reputation

- Armadillo Pup (guild achievement required: Critter Kill Squad); 40s + X guild reputation

just to refresh your memory, a "guild group" under blizzard's terms is 4 guildies out of 5 people in a dungeon party. unfortunately, this means those who are in very intimate guilds but would like the dark phoenix hatchling will either need to recruit more to meet the 4/5 or join a larger guild.

another confirmed pet with (previously) very little information on was the Rustberg Seagull. WarcraftPets has discovered that upon the most recent beta patches, players will now need to be honored with their respective Tol Barad faction. the seagull will cost 60 Tol Barad Commendations.

and last but not least, the cataclysm engineering pets (personal world destroyer and de-weaponized mechanical companion) are learned at 475 from the engineering trainer. at this time these companions are still bind on pick up, meaning you must be an engineer to acquire/learn them. according to wowhead's cataclysm site, the mats for the two engineering pets are as follows:

- personal world destroyer: Cut Obsidian x2, Handful of Obsidian Bolts x2, Volatile Energy Converter

- de-weaponized mechanical companion: Cut Obsidian x2, Handful of Obsidian Bolts x2, Volatile Energy Converter

much of this could change since cataclysm is still in beta. but just in case.... i think i'm going to start saving up mats to power level engineering again! x_x

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!

M-O-A-R

this is the short and sweet version as i may have more comments at a later date and time when my brain is less in a fog. ^^;

because we asked for it and blizzard has obliged:

- Rumbling Rockling
- Swirling Stormling
- Whirling Waveling
- Fox Kit
- Clockwork Gnome
- Crawling Claw

- mmo-champ (under "Spell Diffs" section)

mmo-champ notes: "These changes are from the comparison of game files, they are not official changes and nothing is final until it's confirmed by Blizzard AND on live servers. It could be a simple test change, or me being stupid and not doing things properly."

my guess is the first three will turn out to be the missing elemental friends blizzard mentioned they would be adding come expansion.

fox kit is a baby fox... which many of us begged, pleaded, and offered their first child for. oh, wait... was i the only one who did that? :P

clockwork gnome. uhm. am i the only one who has strange ideas about this one? a windup little person... uhh. yea. i won't go there. :P think it'll count as a humanoid or will we be able to use a leash on this? hm..... we'll see!

and last but not least the crawling claw. could be a renamed version of the crawling hand pet that was datamined a little while ago. or maybe an animal version?

these last two intrigue me the most!

edit: clarification - the crawling claw will be obtained through archeology (mummified monkey paw)

Rustberg Seagull and Armadillo Update

WarcraftPets.com has a couple nice screenshots of the rustberg seagull as well as a preview of the possible armadillo companion!

the source of the armadillo is still unknown, however players have confirmed that a vendor in Tol Barad named Brazie sells the seagull for 4g. there may be a reputation needed to purchase the bird pet in future beta patches or upon the expansion release.

the seagull's as one would expect. i was hoping for a baby seagull but i'll take what i can get. :P the armadillo on the other hand, baby or not... this guy is adorable!

(please give him a rolled up ball animation, please give him a rolled up ball animation, please give him a rolled up ball animation, please give him a rolled up ball animation)

:P