Preserving Multiple Collections

As mentioned before, there are some pets that will be classified as "unique" and therefore players will only be allowed one in their Pet Journals. Players can have up to 3 of the companions that don't fall under any of the unique categories. But what if you have more than 3 individual pet collections on an account? Does that mean all that work will have been for naught?

The answer leans towards "no", and you will be able to preserve all that time and energy spent into acquiring multiples of the same pet across different characters.

"Pets will still be merged on MoP launch, but instead of placing them in your bags or mail they will be placed directly in your pet journal. You will be allowed to have more than 500 and 3x per pet during this process. Any pets that are flagged as unique will be merged into one and also placed in your journal. (Unique pets are from Achievements, Pet Store, Promotions and Guild) You will be able to cage any pets that are tradeable and you can release anything that you have more than one of.

A few examples:

A B.net account has a total of 6 Wolvar Pups across all of it's characters. On merge the B.net account would have 6 Wolvar Pups. This would be the only time an account is allowed to have more than 3x of a single pet.

A B.net account has a total of 3 Murky's from BlizzCon 2005 and 4 Nuts from the pet collection achievements across all of it's characters. (both unique pets) On merge the B.net account will have 1 Murky and 1 Nuts.

Hope that helps clear things up." - Mumper

The hard cap of 500 total and up to 3 of the same pet still stand, but it's good to see that there's an exception for the beginning of the merging transition. Many players put a lot of effort into their collections, so it would have been devastating for them had they lost all of that progress. Even if it's not a complete preservation of separate collections (since special unique pets will ultimately be merged into one) it seems like a fair compromise.

One last thing to note, though: Once you've had the chance to re-organize and clean up your new Pet Journal of duplicates and so on, you won't be able to go back above the hard cap of 500 total and 3 of the same companion.

"The limit is 500 but players will be allowed to exceed that during the launch transition. Once you drop back under it, you won't be able to go back over." - Mumper

More Beta Pet Battles Updates

Things seem to be slowing down or wrapping up in terms of beta news lately, but developers haven't forgotten about Pet Battles or companions! Here are the latest updates and changes.

"The only pets that are flagged as unique are in the categories listed below. This can of course change at any time, but this is what we are looking at for MoP release currently.

Achievement Pets
Blizzard Pet Store Pets
Promotional Pets
Guild Pets

Everything else will be allowed up to 3x of the same pet."
- source

I wonder if the TCG pets fall under the "Promotional Pets" category. It would be a real downer if they were since some players paid RL money to have multiple TCG companions on multiple toons. Unlike the Blizzard PetStore redeemable pets, the TCG ones are only mailed to one toon per code redemption. It would just be wrong if all those companions were squished into one when people paid for more than a single loot card.

While the devs have covered duplicate pets, what about the issue of having duplicates that you CAN'T GET RID OF? That might sound like blasphemy right, because I mean, you can never have too many companions eh? Well, if they plan on keeping the cap of 500 total pets (including duplicates) in your Pet Journal, most aren't going to want to keep those duplicate pets around. Yet last I checked, you can't cage or release some of them, which means clogged up pet slots. :\

Specifically quest reward companions. It seems punishing to have to skip over a quest on an alt just to avoid picking up the pet and accidentally adding it to your journal. But unless you can choose to remove any of duplicates and give them away/sell/vendor them, there's really no point in having more than one quest reward pet in your account-wide collection.

Hopefully they fix this or address it in the near future. Perhaps some sort of option at the Stable Master to help you "let go" of some duplicate pets that you wouldn't otherwise be able to remove from your journal? I don't know lol.

"We will be adding more diversity as we progress through the patches, it's something we know about it. You have to remember that most of the critters in the world were animals. We added as many new pets as we could without disrupting the general feel of the world. There is a unique pet in almost every zone in the game now. We took care to try and make these pets fit in the different family's. (undead, dragonkin, aquatic, elemental etc.)

This is just the beginning, we will be supporting the system with new updates every single patch." - source

I'm really glad that they plan on continuing to update and add to Pet Battles as time goes on. The minigame seems to have the potential for limitless features.

My biggest concern is replay-ability and whether or not it will become tedious and too "grindy" after leveling up your first few pet teams.

Adding more content when most players can't even get past max level for 2 teams is just asking for trouble. Rather than adding, perhaps changing, relocating, etc. might be more acceptable. I wouldn't mind seeing more than just critter, beast, and aquatic pets at low levels. Plus it seems like all the "cool" or interesting family types are the less encountered ones.

"A few updates:

- The bandage drop rate from Battle Pet Tamer quests has been increased significantly.
- The number of bandages dropped has been doubled.
- The stack limit has been increased to 10.
- We have reduced the cooldown on Revive Battle Pets to 8m.

We will be watching the cooldown feedback at this new value but we think that combined with the bandage drop rates, most players will be happy with the results. The increased chance at bandages are a great way to supplement any extra healing you may need while the heal is on cooldown." - source

Last but not least, an update to the healing and revive spell cooldown!

It's not a complete removal of the cooldown like many players have been requesting, but I think it's a pretty sweet compromise. 10 minutes to 8 minutes might not seem like much of a reduction, but it really does make a difference.

Plus with the increased stacking and hopefully higher droprate of the Battle Pet Bandages, Pet Battle gameplay should be a lot smoother and the flow will hopefully be less clunky.

The next question is will this heal/revive cooldown still be tolerable after your first three pets reach max level and you start to level up a second team? Or at that point will it just be too much of a monotonous hassle?

Again, one of my biggest worries is a tiresome and seemingly endless grind, and if it will put off players after a while. Anything to curve Pet Battles from turning into what feels like a chore is welcome. Except coming up with a mechanic that fits in and doesn't break the system might be a challenge.

Guess we'll just have to see where this road takes us!

Wanderer's Festival Hatchling

There are currently quite a few wild pets that depend on certain situations before spawning, and one of the newer ones is the Wanderer's Festival Hatchling.

This companion actually requires the festival to be "in town", which happens on Sunday evenings starting at 9 PM (server time) and lasts roughly until 11 PM (server time).


The festivities occur on Turtle Beach in the Krasarang Wilds (northeast beach). You'll know you're in the right area and the right time if you see floating lanterns on the water just before the NPCs spawn.


The Pandaren will then come out from the jungle to the sand, set up bonfires, kegs, lanterns and set off fireworks near the giant turtle statue. At the same time, many little Wanderer's Festival Hatchlings will spawn on the beach, so be ready to battle and capture! :)

From Another Point of View

Just a disclaimer: No, I'm not against Pet Battles. Despite this cynical and seemingly negative write-up, I still think this minigame is going to be enjoyable (for the most part) and will give many players an alternative to the basic PVE and PVP modes of gameplay.

However, I do feel compelled to point out some of the feature's shortcomings and possible downfalls. How can Blizzard address these potential issues? I'm not sure yet, but the sooner a discussion starts, the sooner the brainstorming can begin.

There are many issues that Blizzard is attempting to address, such as the quality value of certain pets, the trade/selling of companions, and the world PVP aspect. These are and should be priorities, since they affect nearly all participants of Pet Battles. However, there are the less acknowledged concerns that shouldn't be forgotten.

EVERYONE REMAIN CALM

IF YOU LOVE THE FOX KIT, BUT HATE THE RNG SLAUGHTER GRIND, THEN THERE'S GOOD NEWS FOR YOU. AFTER YOU SEE THE CHANGE, YOU'LL KNOW WHY THE ALL CAPS INTRO IS WARRANTED.

"Just added the fox kit to some vendors... http://i.imgur.com/2NPxU.jpg" - source

*Ahem* See what I mean? :P

But yes, game designer Jonathan LeCraft, just Tweeted that. Judging by the image preview he also provided, it looks like the Fox Kit will require exalted with the Tol Barad Peninsula faction (horde or alliance), will be BoP, and cost 200 Tol Barad Commendations.

So while it won't be an absolute steal or easy-street, at least it will be a guaranteed grind rather than a RNG-based one.

I replied and asked if this change was for the end of Cataclysm or MoP, but there's no response or word on that yet. For now, it seems all up in the air and worst case scenario is that it doesn't even make it to live servers.

In other words: Don't hold your breath, yet. We'll have to wait and see.


In the meantime, keep up the good fight and continue your hunt for that elusive kit! It's well worth the wait and the hard work. The sigh of relief of not having to ever kill another Baradin Fox feels just as good as finally being able to cuddle your new pet for as long and as hard as you want. :)

For those that worry that this change will take away from their experience, look at it this way, the pet is still not a gimme. It will still take time to earn the reputation and currency, but the senseless RNG killing of foxes is just removed.

If you managed to farm up the Fox Kit using the "traditional" method, more power to ya! It's an experience no one can ever take away from you, and a feat that you can be personally proud of (or disgraced by... you fox-killer, you! :P It's ok. I'm guilty of it too).

Extra Change In Your Pocket.. Err Collection

WoW Insider recently wrote up an article that explains the potential gold benefits of having an account-wide pet collection.

I agree that this could be a way for players to earn some gold when starting out on a new server, and I think it seems like a smart way to establish yourself on a different server, where starting out might be tougher without some extra gold.

With your choices of what pets you can actually cage and sell/trade being limited though, your potential for game-breaking profits aren't too high, which means it's not like you'll be bringing down the server's economy with your influx of companions.

It would be like selling certain pets, as per usual, on your main toon's server. The market and demand would dictate the prices; the only difference is that the source of the pets wouldn't have originated from the server you're attempting to sell the companions on. And you'd be cutting out the middleman (Neutral AH), but that's not necessarily a bad thing, is it?

After thinking about it for a while, I really don't see a downside. Sure, already established players on certain realms might feel as though outsiders are randomly inserting themselves into "their" market, but that's going to happen even if pet collections weren't accound-wide. It might take a bit longer and be less convenient for that new neighbor in town, but it happens even now so it's not a new situation.

If there's any downside, it's that the player investing in the pets to possibly sell on other servers might take a gold loss themselves. Each server has its own economy, one that fluctuates and will vary from other servers. Buying low and selling high is always a risk, but if someone is willing to put their money on it and makes a profit, then more power to them.

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

Another Reason to Tend to Your Garden

The Terrible Turnip might be listed as a zone drop, but the hunt for it might not be as vague or broad as implied.

According to some comments on the beta forums and from WoWhead, this pet might be from your very own Tillers farm.

I can't confirm it yet, but it sounds as though certain plants have a chance to drop an Ominous Seed when harvested. Or maybe the vegetable depends on which plant Jogu recommends to plant? Anyway, the seed then produces (or has a chance to produce) the Terrible Turnip.

Either way, this PLUS the Red Cricket from Sho just gives us even more incentive to tend to our farms!

Sheesh, there's going to be so much to do in MoP. From Pet Battling, leveling, capturing, and collecting to reputation and profession grinding and farming - I wonder if I'm going to still have time left in the day to raid with my guild lol. :P

Edit: I just planted some Striped Melons, Scallions, and Jogu recommended some Pink Turnip for me, so we'll see what comes of it all!

Why Are You So Cute?!

After defeating a Pet Tamer and receiving a Sack of Pet Supplies, I was ecstatic to find two Magical Mini-Treats inside!

Maybe I'm the only one who feels this way, but I love, LOVE small things. I know many players feel like companions should be bigger so they can be shown off and easily seen, but I lean more towards the smaller, the better mentality. Besides, these pets are for my enjoyment, not anyone else's, and I'm an absolute sucker for tiny cute things.

So naturally, I adore the Magical Mini-Treats. :)


Here's just a comparison between a normal sized Amethyst Shale Hatchling (on the left) and the same companion who's consumed a Magical Mini-Treat (on the right). Ahhh, the adorableness is overwhelming! XD

More Tweaks and Changes

Last week was quite... interesting... to say the least. Real life always knows how to be a party pooper heh. :P

Anyway, getting down to it, here are some notable changes to Pet Battles:

"We have made a few adjustments to the both the weakened by capture pets and the overall XP curve. Details below!

- Catching any pet level 15 or under retains its current level.
- Catching a level 16-20 pet will lose 1 level.
- Catching a level 21-25 pet will lose 2 levels.
- We have dramatically reduced the XP required to level for pets after level 10." - Mumper

"We have reduced the cool down to 10m in the next build." - Mumper

I can't comment on the "weakened" and experience change yet since I haven't been able to capture or play Pet Battles for the past week, but it doesn't sound too punishing. At the very least, I'm glad that there are level ranges instead of a flat and static level reduction. THAT, I think, would be pretty devastating.

Imagine capturing a level 5 wild pet only to have it be reduced to a level 1 lol. People would be screaming bloody murder if that were indeed the case. So I'm glad developers took that into consideration.

The reduction to the healing/reviving spell is a nice touch, although I think dropping it down to 7 minutes would be a better compromise for everyone. As I mentioned when I first started testing Pet Battles, I can normally run with the same team of pets for about 2 - 4 battles (with opponents of appropriate level) before they seriously need a heal, otherwise I'd be gimping my odds of winning.

But in some situations whether it's just unfavorable RNG or a bad call on my part, I might need to heal up my pets after just one battle. Most of the time I don't run into this issue one right after another, but bad luck does happen. I haven't acquired any Pet Bandages yet, so I've been reliant on the spell and/or the Stable Master.

Dropping the CD of the spell to 7 might be a good compromise since it's still a long enough cooldown so that it can't be constantly used, but it might be short enough so that players don't feel like that string of bad luck is getting in their way of fun.

Or being able to MAKE your own Pet Bandages so players feel like they have more control over the healing of their pets would be another possible solution. Heck, even being able to purchase them from a vendor might be enough too.

To strike a good balance, there needs to be an adequate amount of player control along with RNG/attrition.

I think that's what the biggest issue is here. Players feel like they're at the mercy of a CD and can't move forward unless that CD is reduced even more or removed completely. It's like a mental block that prevents any fun from being had because, let's face it, no one likes to lose. Starting out a battle with 75% health instead of 100% puts your pet team at a slight disadvantage, therefore making the odds of possibly losing that much higher. The player doesn't really have a choice, though, unless they want to take the time to travel to a Stable Master, heal up, and then fly back. Except it's pretty inconvenient doing so, especially in some zones where the NPC is out in the middle of nowhere. Plus travel time is just not fun, period.

Not to mention if a player happens to come by a very rare wild pet that they have to capture, but their team is less than ready and they're out of Pet Bandages. I know I would be heartbroken if I had to pass up that chance or take the risk of someone else coming along to snipe the wild pet while I'm off in search of a Stable Master.

At least if we could make our own bandages for our pets, the responsibility wouldn't fall on anyone's shoulders but our own if we're unprepared.

Well, we'll see. I have yet to try out Pet Battles with all the changes.

Hopefully all the RL issues will be over and done with soon enough and I can get back to what I'm passionate about: the pets! :)