A Bittersweet Balloon

yes, this is another post about the new horde and alliance balloon non-combat pets. what can i say? i must be a kid at heart. :P

this will contain spoilers about the quest that rewards the balloon, so if you'd like to discover the quest for yourself, don't read on.

Hate to Burst Your Bubble.. er, Balloon

keen observers over at WarcraftPets.com noticed that in mmo-champion's screenshot of the new horde and alliance balloon companions, there were also balloons with the darkmoon faire logo on them.

also, these pets are bind on pick up rather than the traditional bind on battle.net account for extra special companions.

while i still think it would be awesome if these two new pets were offered as an anniversary gift from blizzard this year, so far there's strong evidence that they will most likely come from a (darkmoon faire?) vendor. see comments! XD or check out the updated 4.2 possible pets list!

UPDATE: in case you missed it, thanks to kezzy in the comments below, there is a confirmed source for the two balloon pets. :D new (low level) faction specific quests, blown away, will award a faction balloon. and no, unfortunately, you can't do your opposing faction's quest. (i just tried haha) also, the balloons are in the same boat as the tuskarr kite and dragon kite; they will disappear when you mount up. sadness!

Is Two Weeks Too Soon?

although the latest build of the PTR indicates it's nearing time for a release, and mmo-champion is predicting june 21 as patch day, there are still many nasty bugs that NEED to be worked out.

for the past 3 days on the PTR, the shadow warden set of dailies have been impossible to complete due to a devastating bug that pretty much prevents players from accessing the rest of the dailies and gaining marks of the world tree from that sub-faction.

with two new pets relying so heavily on these marks and unlocking phases and so on, being unable to complete or even access dailies is extremely frustrating. while you CAN choose to aid the druids of the talon instead (and i'm guessing earn the same number of marks per day), it would be absolutely heartbreaking for someone to unknowingly choose the "wrong" sub-faction to help first and get stuck with the set of dailies that is not completable due to the many bugs that still plague the new questing area.

needless to say, i'm not very confident about this patch right now. i truly hope it's all sorted out before the release.

i don't want to leave this post on such a sour note though, so... here's a nifty screenshot!


they make a cute pair, don't they?
ok, so they're not really flowers... more like lashers. and no, i'm not breeding them. the smaller one on the left is the crimson lasher, while the larger one on the right is actually from a thornling seed (note: not a true vanity pet). i kept a couple of these seeds in my bags from way back when dire maul was THE 5 man instance to farm because i knew they would come in handy one day! :P

One Balloon, Two! Red Balloon, Blue!

according to mmo-champion, blizzard devs snuck in TWO more possible pets for 4.2! this time we're getting... balloons?

- horde balloon
- alliance balloon

no idea where they will come from or how to obtain them. but part of me thinks that blizzard is planning a party of sorts. perhaps a... birthday party? wink, wink. :P

we'll have to wait for future announcements or hints on this one!

imo, i'd love to receive a fun balloon companion for blizzard's anniversary this year. my only worry: like the dragon kite and tuskarr kite, we won't be able to summon the balloons while mounted. that would definitely "deflate" my interest... har har. :P

So Close Yet Still So Far!

oh vendors, why do you tease me so? :(

in related news, just hopped onto the PTR a bit early to check other stuff out and noticed a new daily in the molten front area. perhaps another one to add to the list? maybe another mark to add to the total count that can be earned each day? or it could just be a new daily added to an existing rotation of dailies (ie: no change to the number of dailies available each day).

i'll have to wait and see once the dailies reset.

Miscount?

hm, so in a blue post made by lylirra in reference to the patch 4.2 dailies:

"(Just FYI, once everything is unlocked, you'll be able to pick up 17-18 quests in total from the new daily hubs.)"

- lylirra

i'm not sure what i'm missing, but i definitely didn't count 18 while testing on the PTR. more like 15 dailies per day, with a total of 29 marks that can be earned per day (click to view). then again, i only counted the dailies that awarded marks, not side or follow up quests that awarded only gold or chained to other quests.

but hearing that there might be more that i'm missing, i'll have to go back and recount now or else it will bug me nonstop. lol. it's not like i wasn't going to keep doing the dailies on the PTR anyway, though. i'm close to finally being able to preview the crimson lasher and hyjal bear cub for myself! /excited.

oh, the things i do for pets. :P

Waiting For Things to Heat Up

note: long winded post is long winded. i write a similar one up each year and will continue to do so because i think it's important that players don't forget. over time we may grow accustomed and complacent to how things are done/run in game, but it's important to understand different perspectives, how we got there and both the highs and lows we've had to go through while on the current path we walk.

there are about 2 weeks left until the anticipated/dreaded midsummer fire festival comes to azeroth. the entire event will last for just about 2 weeks itself, a little less if you're unable to squeeze in that first/last dungeon run for the holiday loot bag.

this festival really hits a nerve for many pet collectors. why? mainly due to the shocking and unexpected changes it has undergone in the previous years. first was the removal of the beloved and highly sought after searing scorchling (still has yet to make a reappearance in-game), which was replaced by the frigid frostling. then came the new holiday loot system in which players could only attempt to obtain holiday boss vanity items (companion pets included) exactly once per day, per toon. and no, unlike the call to arms satchel of exotic mysteries, the holiday bag is NOT bind on account (at least it hasn't been thus far).

although it wasn't the only in-game event that was affected by the changed holiday system, pets were also displaced/replaced pretty much out of the blue. this left pet collectors shaken up, and bit untrusting of the future and longevity of any holiday dropped companion.

which is understandable. the searing scorchling's sudden disappearance from the holiday made it very clear that blizzard could and would pull the plug on any pet without any warning. add to that that pet collectors only have a limited time each year to try for these seasonal companions... well you can see why it's more of a stressful than fun and enjoyable time of year for some players, yea?

i'm still quite unsatisfied and not in favor of the holiday loot system. for any player who's chosen path is to collect pets, there's absolutely nothing they can do during each event each year to increase their chances even slightly. no control whatsoever. it's very frustrating and demoralizing. with the way it currently is, i'm actually glad that no new holiday dropped pets have been added since the release of cataclysm.

one thing that blizzard could do to attempt to ease the strain would be to make the holiday loot bags bind on account in the same way the satchel of exotic mysteries is also BoA. it may give collectors with eligible alts some hope that if they do manage to snag a pet on a character that's not their collecting main, they can send it to the correct toon which would help maintain their collection and keep it intact. more than a few collectors would definitely appreciate a change such as this.

it would only be a small compromise, but a compromise nonetheless. i'm not saying it would erase what has already happened, make everyone forget the past, and everything will be sunshine and rainbows, but it would at least be a sign that blizzard is taking the needs of even the smaller gameplay communities into consideration and implementing means for them to play in their chosen style within the game.

Murloc Identity Confusion

many will remember when deathy thought he was grunty for a while. although he had the model and the looks of deathwing, he was shooting and sounding like a murloc marine.

well, mmo-champion found some of the idle animations for murkablo and guess what? murkablo seems to think he's deathy! sorta. click to view each video:

- deathy animations
- murkablo animations

if you pay close attention, murkablo DOES have a couple extra animations, so it's not quite a carbon copy of deathy, but it's pretty damn close imo.

the only recommendation i can give to these murlocs with this new identity crisis issue is intense therapy and rehabilitation sessions! lol.

hopefully blizzard will update this new pet with unique animations, but it is understandable that since he is a murloc of fire and flame that he would also have a fiery themed animation. and what's better than breathing fire and blowing smoke rings? perhaps blizzard needs some ideas and inspiration. :P

More On Hyjal Dailies

i finally turned in the last part of phase 2/2.5 on the PTR. unfortunately, since the dailies were somewhat buggy while i was working my way through them, i can't confidently track the number of marks from here on out.

fortunately, i'm finally on phase 3 which is the two vendor specific quests. i'm 99% sure that at least one new daily that's unlocked. the other new dailies that are now available to me... well i'm not sure if they're "new" or the resulting daily chain of completing the other reputation branch.

remember: blizzard wanted us to be able to choose our path for this new quest line. i chose to complete the daily chain for druids of the talon first and then the shadow wardens as part of phase 2.5 it's possible that if i had done it the other way around, i might have started these "new" dailies as part of phase 2 first.

i'll have to do more testing, but for now i can't say how many dailies and how many marks can be earned per day. actual numbers will have to wait until dailies reset.

a "worst case scenario" situation: 250 marks are needed to fully unlock both vendors. you start out with zero (this is hypothetical and i'm not sure that it's the case; you may actually start out with quite a few left over marks from phase 2 and 2.5), but the transition quests will award 5 marks, so you actually need 245. if you can earn only the same number of marks as phase 2 and 2.5 (27 marks per day), it will take about 9 - 10 days to finish up. it's not bad at all.

personally, i doubt blizzard would make phase 3 award LESS marks than the previous ones, so i'm using 27 as a baseline. we'll see, though. i'll have more after i can go through all of them tomorrow.

Hyjal Vendor Dailies Update

i've updated my post with an estimation of how long it will take to reach the part of the new hyjal questline where you can start collecting marks for the vendor specific quests (filling the moonwell and calling the ancients).

i'm about 4 days away from finishing phase 2.5, so we'll see what comes after that. i expect either another transition (that may or may not reward more marks) and then the two vendor specific quests. new dailies might be unlocked after that, but if not then a final total of 27 marks can be earned each day for filling the moonwell and calling the ancients quests. if the latter is true, you can expect to unlock the vendors in about 9 - 10 days (or just a little over one week).

that would bring this entire ordeal journey to about one month and a week (give or take a few days) before being able to purchase the crimson lasher and hyjal bear cub.

if more dailies ARE unlocked for phase 3, then just estimate the entire process to be slightly less than a month.

sounds like a long time, eh? it'll probably go by faster than expected. the worst part will be the waiting between each daily reset imo. :P