Blizzcon Day One - Poké..what?!

First day of Blizzcon - over! Almost. :P

Blizzard dropped a huuuu~uge bombshell on us pet collectors today! If you haven't heard about it already, you can find the details about it here (MMO-Champion) and here (WarcraftPets).

There are still tons of unknowns and questions that need to be asked/answered, so I'm going to hold back on passing judgement until more information is released. It seems pretty interesting, though! I'll probably have more to say about it once I get back home.

Another less shocking reveal was that the Fetish Shaman will indeed be the D3 Collector's Edition WoW gift. (Doob called it!) For a preview of the pet, here's a picture that MMO-Champion took (it's kinda small). It's not much, but it will do for now. If you can't locate it, it's in the grey box on the far right (the green figure). Pretty neat!

The WarcraftPets meet up was a great experience. I enjoyed hearing all the pet stories people had and discussions about the new "PokeWoW". It was very satisfying to be surrounded by people who are as passionate about companion pets as I am! I'm sorry I didn't catch everyone's names/handles. :( Just know I definitely appreciated being in the company of awesome people. :)

PS: If you missed Breanni's announcement towards the end of the meet-up, there may be a random giveaway in the coming weeks involving the Blizzcon meet-and-greet sign-in sheet! :D

I have yet to redeem my Murkablo, but I'm going to save that for when I get home. There's still another full day of D3 and Panda play-testing that I want to do, so time to get some rest.

2011 Blizzcon WarcraftPets Meet-Up

WarcraftPets.com will be having a meet-and-greet during Blizzcon 2011! If you're attending Blizzcon, please stop by to say hello and meet the infamous Breanni in person. :D There might also be some giveaways so be sure to sign your WarcraftPets username on the sign-in sheet!

Details about the event:

WHEN: Friday, 4-5 PM
WHERE: Realm Meetings section
LOOK FOR: A WarcraftPets sign / admins wearing white WarcraftPets T-shirts

For more information, check out the Blizzcon meet-up announcement on WarcraftPets.com.

Needless to say I'll be in attendance lol. I'm pretty excited yet anxious! I've never been to a WarcraftPet meet-and-greet, so it's a bit difficult to imagine what to expect. I'll be honest, I'm not terribly great in large group settings since I'm more of a boring introvert. If you stop by, I'll probably be the awkward and shy admin hiding in the back. :P

Anyway, any updates over the next few days will probably be from Blizzcon, but they may be far and few between since I plan on keeping busy hanging out with guildmates and play testing D3 amongst other things. Hopefully if there are any big vanity pet announcements or discoveries, I'll be able to catch and cover it all.

So if you're attending Blizzcon, stop by the WarcraftPets meet-up! I look forward to meeting you. :) If you're watching from home, give me a poke either on my Twitter or a comment on one of my posts should any new pet news come up! I don't want to miss a thing even while I'm out in the "real world" lol. :P And if you're doing neither, happy pet collecting all the same!

Fly My Pretty, Fly!

Two words: Absolutely. Adorable.

I added both the Creepy Crate and the Feline Familiar to my collection tonight! Whew, those Tricky Treats were more plentiful than I had previously thought they would be, but it sure was a trip around the world and then some to get enough for the Feline Familiar.

Note: You should be able to gather PLENTY of Tricky Treats from just visiting all the candy buckets. This means you could buy both the Feline Familiar and the Little Wickerman (although the latter is NOT a true vanity pet) well before the in-game event ends.


The Creepy Crate has a lovely habit of eating EVERYTHING. LOL! So far it's eaten critters and even animals that aren't quite bite-sized. I've seen it eat a full grown cow and horse which is pretty impressive considering the size differences!

And as you can see from my screenshot above, the Feline Familiar is indeed the first flying feline (say that 10 times fast :P). If only you could use the broom mounts all year 'round to fly along with this pet. :(

I'm very satisfied with this revamp of the holiday! Not only does it offer pet collectors options for getting a hold of an old time favorite, the Sinister Squashling, there are also two new lovely and awesome pets to obtain. :D

And guess what? I'm done collecting both the new pets so now I can thoroughly enjoy myself at Blizzcon! Hooray! I still plan on logging in to do a few dailies to save up for that Little Wickerman, though. ;)

A Cat With a Hat and A Hungry Box

MMO-Champion has confirmed that both the Creepy Crate and Feline Familiar will be available this Hallow's End! YAY!

The Creepy Crate quest chain can be started by speaking with an innkeeper in Stormwind or Orgrimmar. After completing the low level and short storyline, players will be prompted with a choice on how to end the chain. Regardless of which choice is made, you will still receive the crate pet. :D

And thankfully, the WoW armory was accurate and the Feline Familiar will cost 150 Tricky Treats. The Hallow's End vendors will be selling the witch-hat kitties. You can gather the treats through dailies, baggies (Headless Horseman holiday loot bag), and other various in-game Halloween events.

I'm not sure what the Feline Familiar animation is, but a cat in a witch hat riding on a mini-broom was datamined along with the Feline Familiar a while back. Could this indicate that this companion will be the first flying feline?! We'll have to wait and see. :)

The Creepy Crate... well there are reports of this pet having quite a hunger for other critters. Apparently it will "walk" over to a critter, and in a haze the critter will be promptly gobbled up. The only trace left behind is your box licking its lips and looking smugly satisfied.

There are still 5.5 (agonizing) hours left until my server starts celebrating Hallow's End, but I'm extremely excited. Midnight couldn't come any sooner!

Creative Juices

While browsing through the companion spell and item IDs on Wowhead, I was reminded of a few datamined pets that still haven't found their place in Azeroth. A few of them are all set with both spell and item IDs, but either because they're for GMs only or developers haven't found a good time/place to fit them in, they're still not available.

So I started to think, if I were to add these pets into the game, in what way would I make them obtainable? My options would be the traditional ways in which most items are made available: quest reward, random drop, vendor, or achievement reward. And then the sub-variation of each, such as random drop can either be world, zone, or specific mob drop.

Since I'm not a huge fan of RNG (but in small doses I don't mind it much), if I were a developer I think I would implement these MIA pets either as quest rewards or from a vendor.

Some of the most memorable quests that I've completed in-game revolve around pets. The lore and story really help to make a companion more of a personal gain and mean that much more. A pet that's a once in a toon's lifetime reward after a long journey can hold so much sentimental value if the player can connect with the quest chain well enough.

If I were to place a pet on a vendor, it would have to be done according to my specific specifications. :P For a holiday pet, the currency used wouldn't be too tedious or time-consuming to get. For an all year 'round vendor companion, I would add a small prerequisite such as a quest chain, a minimal amount of reputation, or maybe even a hidden vendor!

In the end, though, my ideal way would be to make it available as a reward after a wonderful, interactive, heartfelt storyline. It wouldn't be too long or too short, and it wouldn't involve too many repetitive and boring tasks. Oh, and depending on the pet and the story behind the quest chain, I wouldn't mind following the model of splitting up the chain (like in the Lashtail Hatchling's case) so that you can start it at a lower level, but have to "grow up" and wait until you're higher level to complete it and finally receive your pet.

Of course this is all easier said than done, and I'm sure I'd run into a lot of problems or even writers' block if I were to actually try and create a way to obtain a new pet. But sometimes it's fun to just imagine and think "what if" yenno? :)

Feline Familiar - How Long Will It Take?

UPDATE: Feline Familiar will take MUCH less time than I thought it would! Each pumpkin (marked with a yellow exclamation above it) inside a friendly inn that you visit will provide at least 2 tricky treats each (upon your first visit only). Add that to your first Headless Horseman kill for each day, and the quests/dailies that are available, and you can expect to obtain the newest kitty in one to two days (with some patience, dedication and time of course :P)! YAY!

Since I don't want to confuse anyone, the original (and ultimately inaccurate) post can be found after the jump!

Hallow's End - Two New Pets?

Thanks to a tip from Zoros on WarcraftPets.com, it's looking more and more likely that the Feline Familiar will indeed be a new pet available during next week's Hallow's End.

The new kitty pet is listed as costing 150 Tricky Treats on WoW's official armory database. Whether or not this currency and the number involved is accurate is yet to be seen, but it does indicate that whatever the cost, this pet will probably be sold by a Hallow's End vendor. Much like the Brewfest items, the Halloween items will probably require specific holiday currency, which will likely be obtainable through quests and dailies. I just hope there aren't too many neat things that interest me or else I'm going to have to spend more time doing dailies than hanging out at Blizzcon next weekend! :P

Another new pet that might be coming next week is the Creepy Crate. I did some investigating when this companion was first datamined, and found that it will probably be a reward from a new Hallow's End quest chain. The chain sounds like it will start with Missing Heirlooms and end with the quest Creepy Crate.

We'll have to wait until next week to find out if all of this information is correct, though, so do don't take my word for it just yet. In any case, I'm looking forward to checking out the revamped in-game holiday and any new possible pets that may come with it!

Thoughts On the Guardian Cub - Part 2

This is the second half of my original post about the Guardian Cub. All thoughts and views on the matter are solely my own and may not necessarily reflect the opinions of any community, organization or affiliation I may be apart of.

Justifying the Sale In General
Nevermind the cost vs use issue of the Guardian Cub. Let's talk about what the sale of this pet means in general for the direction of this game.

In the past Blizzard has stated that they will not sell gold or other game-changing items (such as PVE or PVP gear) that would give players a gameplay advantage over others. Many are speaking out about the "slippery slope" in which Blizzard is walking upon, and how this pet is just another sign of a downward spiral the game is falling into. What they mean is that the sale of this pet is pretty much Blizzard giving the ok to buy gold (as long as it's from Blizzard); spend real life cash on an item that you profit from in-game by selling it to someone else.

If you haven't read WowInsider's 'Gold Capped' article about the Guardian Cub or their 'Lawbringer' column on the matter, I recommend doing so. Both posts explain how this is NOT the first instance where Blizzard has pretty much said, 'It's ok if you make a profit (in-game) from this.' The articles also show us how this move on Blizzard's part is a positive direction for the game economy, since it puts gold farmers/sellers in direct competition with Blizzard itself. Anyone who plays this game knows just how detrimental and destructive gold farmers and sellers are in general, so any action taken to potentially put them out of business or slow them down should be welcomed.

This is the main reason why I can't confidently say that I'd prefer that this pet was not sold as is. Much of what both writers say is logical and true. The "slippery slope" is just something that seems inevitable, and rather than looking at it as a negative thing, I prefer to see it as just another change. The world is not a static place and neither is this game. It needs to evolve and adapt to survive, and if heading towards a "free to play" model is what it takes, then who are we to stop Blizzard from doing just that? The alternative would be that the game may eventually just become outdated and unsustainable under Blizzard's definitions, and then we wouldn't have any MMO to play period.

At the same time, I do agree with many that the way Blizzard is handling this and the Guardian Cub's release could be refined and thought out better. All new additions to the game are normally received with knee-jerk reactions and some hostility/objection, but in time most come to accept it. That doesn't mean Blizzard should ignore the pleas and cries of those who see serious flaw with this pet's current release plan. I would still recommend that the price be closely re-examined and perhaps altered to help slowly integrate the idea behind the Guardian Cub to those who are more resisting of the notion than others. A second version that is BoA and more in line with the previously released PetStore companions is also a great way to help ease the community into a gradual transition.

I can't say for sure how this pet will impact the game in the long run, and I still think there is some room for conversation, debate, and possible change before the release of this pet. If it is released as is, without any price or usage change, and no other version of it is released, will I be purchasing one? Most likely, yes. Again, part of me does not object to its release while another part would prefer to see a resolution and compromise for those who are less likely to be as understanding. Unless I'm convinced otherwise, I'll continue to maintain my 'on the fence' point of view until more information is gathered and examined.

Every Now and Then, Something Brings Me Back to How it Began

After checking out Blizzard's upcoming charity auction, I've been hit with a huge sense of nostalgia. I'm pretty attached to my server for many reasons, so finding it on the giant list of servers and seeing what the original piece of hardware that it ran on looks like... well let's just say I couldn't help but smirk a little. The stories that thing would tell if only it could talk.

My entire WoW experience was fortunate and lucky. I spent the entire duration on a single server surrounded by friends, acquaintances, and guildmates. The server that I'm still apart of holds many memories, from raiding, farming, questing, alts, silly games and contests, and last but not least pet collecting! I can only hope that there will be many more fond memories (and tons of companions to add to my army) to be had in the years to come.

Thoughts On the Guardian Cub - Part 1

I've given this a few days' worth of thought, have read through a chunk (but not all) of the comments/ideas/opinions on the forums, but I'm still somewhat on the fence about the Guardian Cub. I'm not 100% against the sale of the pet, but I do agree that there are things that do need to be addressed and reconsidered.

From what I can see, there are two major issues with this upcoming pet: the price/usability and what the release of this companion will mean for the game and its economy as a whole.

Before I go into my views on the matter, here's a refresher of what this new pet is all about:

- Purchasable from the official Blizzard PetStore for $10 (USD) OR for a gold amount in-game (gold prices will vary, depending on server economy).

- After brief (likely 1 hour) cooldown period, it is tradable and therefore sellable on the AH.

- Bind on equip, meaning it only has ONE use per item (multiple toons will require multiple purchases of the item).

Now that that's out of the way, on with the opinions! Note: All thoughts and views on the matter are solely my own and may not necessarily reflect the opinions of any community, organization or affiliation I may be apart of.