May 2011   « Archives | Current News »

Children's Week is here again! With so many pets available to collect, this is possibly the most widely anticipated World Event for pet collectors. And this year gives us even more pets to collect!

• Scooter the Snail, a beautifully colored snail
• Legs, a miniature marshwalker

Guide to Children's Week
All-new pets bring all-new quests as well. All of the Azeroth quests have been overhauled and their new replacements are quite a bit of fun! Check out our updated Guide to Children's Week for complete walkthroughs and maps for every quest in Azeroth, Outland and Northrend, both alliance and horde.

Northrend Rewards
Additionally, we'd like to remind you that the bug which prevented players from collecting both Northrend rewards last year has been fixed. It is now possible to do the other round of quests to receive the opposite reward. Good luck!

The Cenarion Hatchling was originally datamined from the PTR, however, it was initially nowhere to be found when patch 4.1 was released. We're glad to say that it has finally been revealed as a Blizzard PetStore item!

For Japan and Pacific Tsunami Relief Efforts
This in-game redeemable item costs $10 (US) or 10€ (EU). Between now and July 31, 2011, 100% of the profits will be donated to the American Red Cross to help provide assistance and rebuild lives affected by Japanese earthquake and tsunami.

Twins!
As many have already noted, this companion may look a little familiar. The Cenarion Hatchling does indeed have a twin, the Hippogryph Hatchling. So if you had been looking for a less expensive alternative than the TCG pet, look no further!

Thankfully Blizzard has fixed the Northrend Orphan quest so that players may finally obtain their second Dalaran companion, however a new bug has popped up with Children's Week.

Stormwind/Orgrimmar and Shattrath Quests
While many have been able to complete these quest lines and receive their rewards, some have hit a snag and are unable to receive either the last quest in the chain or even start the Shattrath one. Despite players being eligible, the stubborn orphan will (seemingly at random) not give some players the necessary quests.

Quest Resets
Blizzard has acknowledged that this is a known bug. After today's maintenance, some players are reporting that the Children's Week quests were reset for them and they were able to complete the questline again (and receive another pet reward). This may be due to Blizzard's attempt to fix the aforementioned bug afflicting random players. It should be noted that although the quests may have been reset, not all players will be able to complete the orphan quests a second time in the same year.

Recommended Work-Around
If the quest hasn't been reset for you, Blizzard recommends the following work-around:

"If the final quest in the Children's Week line for Azeroth or Shattrath has not reset, so you are unable to obtain a pet, please submit an in-game petition. Make sure you do the other quests leading up to the last one, a Game Master should be able to assist you to manually complete the quest."

We hope everyone will be able to enjoy and complete the in-game event in time, and suggest posting in the official Customer Support thread linked above if you have any further issues involving the Children's Week bug.

Both Wowhead and MMO-Champion have many goodies to share with us from the newly opened 4.2 PTR!

Four New Pets
Within the PTR datamined files, four new possible companions were discovered:

• Feline Familiar (bind on pick up)
• Fire Lasher (bind on use)
• Hyjal Bear Cub (bind on pick up)
• Dragonwrath Whelpling (bind to battle.net account)

Wowhead is reporting that the whelpling will be the guild reward upon completion of the new legendary weapon. If the other companion names are any indication, both the Hyjal Bear Cub and Fire Lasher might be from the new daily questing zone that will be released in patch 4.2. The official sources of these pets, however, have not been released yet.

We'll continue to keep everyone updated on the latest PTR news, and we look forward to more companion pet discoveries from the PTR in the near future!

UPDATE: The official dates for ranked 3v3 matches that count towards the 50 games necessary to earn the pet are June 8, 2011 - July 4, 2011.

If you missed your chance at an armored murloc pet in previous years, now's your chance! Murkimus the Gladiator returns for yet another year of games in Blizzard's special Arena Tournament.

The tournament starts on May 10, 2011 and ends on July 4, 2011, however registration is now open for North American residents. Registration for EU players should be opened shortly.

Eligibility
To be eligible for the armored murloc pet, players must:

• Have an active World of Warcraft subscription and account that has been upgraded to the Cataclysm expansion.
• Register and pay a registration fee (€15/￡12 in Europe; $20 in North America; and NT$450 in the regions of Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Macau).
• Have a 3-member team (yourself included).
• Participate in at least 50 rated games within the last four weeks of the special Arena Tournament while on said team.

According to Blizzard:

The characters that players use to qualify for the above prizes must play all of their qualifying games on the same team and must remain on that team for the duration of the Arena Pass. If a player leaves their team at any time, it may void their eligibility by resetting the number of games needed to be played. The live characters players wish to receive the in-game prizes must be on the same account as the one registered for the Arena Pass.

Good luck and have fun to all those entering!

Enjoy our monthly web comic created for WoW pet collectors! We feature a new World of Petcraft strip on the first (or second in this case) Sunday of each month.




About the Artist
Meaghan McLaughlin is an aspiring artist and the author of "Nerds Illustrated." You can enjoy more of her work here.

MMO-Champion did some digging within the latest 4.2 PTR build. They are reporting that the Dragonwrath Whelpling has been renamed to Lil' Tarecgosa, but something even more interesting was discovered. A new... pet?

Creepy Crate: Right Click to summon and dismiss your... crate?

The crate companion is Bind on Pick Up, but its origins are still unknown. Needless to say, this may be as close as players will get to owning an item similar to the infamous Weighted Companion Cube!

Some undocumented changes and possible bugs managed to slip into patch 4.1.

Oracle Eggs Bugged
The Mysterious Eggs, that became available to open after three days (down from seven as of patch 4.0.3a), are bugged post patch 4.1. If the item "ripens" and becomes ready to open while the player is offline, it will disappear from the player's inventory. The disappearing egg is a known bug and developers are working on a fix, however there is currently no ETA on when the issue will be resolved. [source]

Amani Hex Stick Changes
Mojo can still be found within Zul'Aman despite the changes to the zone, but an additional change that was not mentioned in the patch notes involves the Hex Sticks.

Previously, the Amani Hex Sticks were tradable but did not persist if the player zoned out of the instance. Now the sticks remain in your bags and can even be sold on the Auction House.

Stealthy Companions
As of this patch, players are reporting that pets will stealth or go invisible with their owners. While your summoned pet will look the same and unchanged from your perspective, both you and your pet will disappear right before other players' eyes.

This seems to work with the following abilities: prowl (druid), stealth (rogue), and invisibility (mage). It does not work with the hunter ability camouflage or a night elf's shadowmeld.

Persisting Pets Getting Very Persistent
You may have noticed that not only companion pets have been more notably persistent after 4.1 was released. The persistent pet change seems to extend beyond vanity pets to some quest NPCs, such as the Orphaned Mammoth Calf, to the Innkeeper's Daughter who has been very intent on following players around!

It has been observed that players can also utilize this new feature with item-required summoned pets, such as Don Carlos' Famous Hat and Bloodsail Admiral's Hat. Although they are not classified as true vanity pets, they sure are behaving like them!

Your pet will initially disappear if you remove the item, but as long as you do not summon any other companion, if you log out and then log back in these two pets will re-appear even if you do not have the item equipped.

Intended Changes or Bugs?
We aren't sure if persisting Amani Hex Sticks was an intentional change or if it is something that Blizzard will revert. So if you are looking to satisfy a froggie-fix, it's recommended to get started sooner rather than later.

There is also no official word if companions stealthing alongside players as well as item-required persisting pets are actual features that were implemented or if they are simply bugs.

MMO-Champion has discovered some changes to the most recently implemented pet collecting achievements (as well as a new tier and pet reward!) in the latest PTR build. [source]

• Petting Zoo - Collect 100 unique companion pets. Reward: Magical Pet Biscuits
• Menagerie - Collect 125 unique companion pets. Reward: Magical Pet Biscuits
• Littlest Pet Shop - Collect 150 unique companion pets. Reward: Nuts' Acorn

After further investigation on the PTR, players completing the Petting Zoo and Menagerie achievements will receive an in-game mail from our favorite gnome, Breanni, who sends her regards and encouragement to keep collecting. Along with this message, Breanni will send one (1) pet biscuit. The biscuit is a one time use item and will disappear once used on a non-combat pet.

New Pet Reward!
As its item name implies, the reward for Littlest Pet Shop is indeed... nuts! This companion is a little squirrel who will occasionally throw an acorn at a nearby NPC or player's head. Although there is a resulting stunned animation over the victim's head, this pet's antics won't actually daze or prevent movement.

Possible Companion Reward?
Not only will there be a new pet reward for the Littlest Pet Shop, MMO-Champion datamined another achievement that may also reward a pet. [source]

• The 'Unbeatable?' Pterodactyl: BEATEN. - Complete the Vigilance on Wings daily quest in Mount Hyjal 10 times. Reward: Chirping Box

So far it's unknown whether or not the Chirping Box will actually contain a companion, however we remain hopeful that the box is chirping for a reason. (C'mon second jouster!)

Updated Achievement Rewards
Found in the latest PTR build, MMO-Champion has some extremely exciting news for us. The 100, 125 and 150 pet achievement rewards have been updated! [source]

• Petting Zoo (100 pets) now rewards Nuts' Acorn
• Menagerie (125 pets) now rewards Brilliant Kaliri
• Littlest Pet Shop (150 pets) now rewards Celestial Dragon

Previously, the 100 and 125 pet achievements were found to award players with Magical Pet Biscuits on the PTR, while the 150 pet achievement awarded Nuts' Acorn. But I think we all knew Breanni was just teasing with those pet biscuits, right?

A Second Jouster!
Be sure to get your lances ready for some jousting in the next patch! As many have already speculated, the achievement, The 'Unbeatable?' Pterodactyl: BEATEN, does indeed award the mini-jouster that was not initially chosen by players upon completion of the original quest chain.

The daily, Vigilance on Wings, will be available in 4.2 from the same NPC found within The Flamewake portal in Mount Hyjal. After completing the achievement, players will be mailed a Chirping Box that will contain the mini-jouster pet.

A Daily Per Day
Unlike the long (and random) road to acquiring Pebble, the jousting daily will be consistently available, so this achievement should take a significantly less amount of time to complete.

MMO-Champion has confirmed what a few have already discovered on the PTR. The Crimson Lasher and Hyjal Bear Cub will be sold from the new NPCs that will be unlocked during the Firelands/Hyjal quest chain and dailies. [source]

The Crimson Lasher will be sold by Ayla Shadowstorm, while the Hyjal Bear Cub will be sold by Varlan Highbough. MMO-Champion does not list their sell prices, however we've received reports from players that the companions currently sell for 1,200 gold each on the PTR.

Unlocking the Vendors
To access these two NPCs, players will need to complete the prerequisite quest line and dailies to obtain enough Marks of the World Tree to advance through the lore and story of the area. Upon completion of the initial first two "phases" and transition quests, players will need to complete Filling the Moonwell and Calling the Ancients to fully unlock the vendors.

We will have more details about the companions and the long road to obtaining them in the near future, so stay tuned!

A new build is being applied to the PTR and within it MMO-Champion discovered a new baby murloc! [source]

Murkablo - Right Click to summon and dismiss Murkablo.

This neat little creature appears to be a Diablo-themed murloc. Many are already speculating that it might be found in this year's Blizzcon goodie bag. However, it's entirely possible that it might be a Diablo 3 Collector's Edition companion, much like the Mini Thor was the pet that accompanied the Starcraft 2 Collector's Edition. We'll just have to wait and see!