April 2012   « Archives | Current News »

There were many new features released in the latest MoP beta build, but we saved the best for last!

We've found that various Pet Trainers have special items for sale that are just for companions. Show your pet some extra love by buying it awesome gear, a micropet, or even a stylish miniature mount!

"Bling" Out Your Pet
So far there are three types of items that Pet Trainers can sell. All items are Bind on Pick Up and are consumed when used (one time use). We currently don't know if these items will affect pet combat, but it's likely that they won't.

• [Lil' Gear] - 500 per piece (3 piece set)
• [Micropet] - 1,000 each
• [Mini Mount] - 5,000 each

Dress Up Your Pets
There are three pieces in the Lil' Gear set: a Lil' Headpiece (shown below on the Baby Blizzard Bear), a Lil' Weapon, and Lil' Armor. We suspect that each of these can be used on any battle-ready companion. In the current build, the Lil' Armor and Lil' Weapon are bugged.



Once equipped, the gear may appear differently on certain pets. For example, the Lil' Headpiece appears as the fiercely adorable helmet on the Baby Blizzard Bear, yet when another Lil' Headpiece is used on the Spirit of Summer, it becomes a glowing set of antlers. Neat!

Pets... for Your Pets?!
Along with armor and weapons, the Pet Trainers also sell —get this— micropets for your minipets!

Yes, soon your companions can have miniature critters of their very own. These "micropets" vary from butterflies to tiny birds and many other uniquely modeled creatures. Some are even companion-specific, like mechanical cat toys for cats. One of the cutest micropets we've discovered so far is the Moonkin Hatchling's: it's an Eggling!



When selected, the micropet's name is shown and underneath it says "[Pet name's] Companion" — absolutely adorable!

Riding in Style
Last but not least, why not have your best little friend follow you around in true equestrian style? Buy them their very own mini mounts!

There are only a few choices at the moment, including lil'e raptors and lil' tigers, but we expect that more mount types will be added in the future. In the screenshot below, Murky and the Darkmoon Monkey strut around on their stylish new rides!



We're guessing that the Mini Mounts can be used by nearly all pets (at least those that can battle). Have you ever seen a snake on the back of a pony? Priceless!

How These Items Work
To equip your companion with an item, simply summon the pet you'd like accessorize and right click on the item. Clicking it will consume the item and your pet will have it automatically equipped upon its next summon.

Although Pet Battles have not been implemented on the beta, we were able to equip many of these items on various pets. We assume this was allowed for testing purposes, because hovering over each item shows a prerequisite for using it.

Tiny Items, Huge Prerequisites
While you may purchase these items for a modest amount of gold, each item has a steep prerequisite before it can be used with one of your pets.

WARNING: These prerequisites are not for the faint of heart...

• Lil' Headpiece - companion must have 5,000 Pet Battle wins to equip
• Lil' Armor - companion must have 7,500 Pet Battle wins to equip
• Lil' Weapon - companion must have 10,000 Pet Battle wins to equip
• Micropets - companion must have 25,000 Pet Battle wins to equip
• Mini Mount - companion must have 50,000 Pet Battle wins to equip

We've done the math. It's going to take over 500 hours of pet battling to earn a single micropet and well over 1,000 hours to get a mini mount. But take heart — it will be a fun grind, right?

Right...?

*Ahem* So when you see anyone who's tricked out their companion even a little bit, you'll know that he or she is a true pet fanatic.

More To Come
Tomorrow we plan to have additional information and more screenshots of these special items, so be sure to check back then... on April 2^nd.

Yesterday we reported about how you could trick out your vanity pets in MoP. Today we have even more news and screenshots for you:





Yes, we're sorry to say that there will be no Micropets or Mini Mounts in MoP (at least none that we're aware of). But on the plus side, you won't have to "grind" your way through thousands upon thousands of pet battles to earn such items either.

So at least there's that.

We'd like to extend a special thanks to Drrum for providing us with the artwork for our joke (including the images above). If you haven't done so yet, be sure to visit Drrum's Pets and Mounts Gallery, featuring the most beautifully coordinated screenshots of her extensive pet collection.

The Eastern Kingdoms and Kalimdor list of wild pets on our forums is growing ever bigger as each beta patch is deployed. So be sure to check out the WarcraftPets Forums for even more beta discussions and discoveries!

Here are some of the major updates from the beta that we've found.

Darkmoon Rabbit
The highly anticipated Darkmoon Rabbit finally made its first appearance now that the Darkmoon Faire is in full swing on the test servers. As many have already guessed, it is indeed a pet that drops from a creature of the same name that spawns in the Darkmoon Island Cave. Be warned, though! While the bunny may seem docile and cute, this is not your ordinary critter...



Currently, the Darkmoon Rabbit creature has 72 million health points, and although it only has one attack, it's quite a nasty one! Its ability is aptly named "HUGE, SHARPE TEETH!", a clear reference to the movie Monty Python and the Holy Grail. This ability puts a debuff on your character which will cause you to run in fear, lose control of your character for the duration of the debuff, and reduce healing effects done to you by 100%.

Oddly enough, this rabbit won't go after hunter or warlock pets at the moment. Needless to say, you may want to bring some friends to help you bring down this "foul, cruel, and bad-tempered rodent"!

It's unclear how players are going to eventually overcome this encounter, but once defeated, the Darkmoon Rabbit will drop one Bind on Use pet of the same name and award the achievement, That Rabbit's Dynamite!

Pet Achievements
Speaking of achievements, pet collecting achievements such as Littlest Pet Shop are currently not listed in the achievement window on the beta. However, it's highly likely that they are simply being relocated into the new Pet Battles achievement tab and will not be removed. We'll continue to closely monitor the achievements and report any updates on their status.

Account Wide and Individual Collections
There are currently two ways to view your companions in the beta, through your Pet Journal and in your spellbook companion tab. These seem to be two separate entities, though.

While the Pet Journal will grant access to your collection of companions on all characters, a toon's individual collection will still remain intact. For example, if you learn the Darkmoon Rabbit on one character, only that particular toon will have the pet in their spellbook. All other characters can still access and summon the pet through the Pet Journal, but it will not be added to their spellbook. This makes situations such as deleting a character with a unique pet learned only on that toon somewhat complicated, and we're unsure of the result in such a case.

It's unclear if the spellbook companion tab will remain in the game once the Pet Journal is fully implemented. It's also unknown what type of effects the removal of the companion tab will have on pet collecting achievements, since the achievements are currently tied with how many companions are found in your spellbook.

We're hoping to have more updates on this topic as well as more pet-related finds in the near future. Stay tuned!

5 Years of WarcraftPets
Today is our birthday and we're celebrating our 5^th anniversary! Exactly five years ago today WarcraftPets was launched.

For nearly half a decade, you've helped support us to make us the best site around for everything related to WoW vanity pets. We can't thank you enough.

So even though it's our birthday, we want YOU to enjoy some gifts!

Free Loot Giveaway!
To show you our thanks, we'll be giving away dozens of TCG loots all weekend long! Loot will be given out through a mix of trivia and random selection to those who follow our social feeds.

To participate, simply follow us on Twitter and like us on Facebook. Then keep an eye on our feeds through the afternoon hours today, Saturday and Sunday.

Doobjanka will be giving away loots on Twitter today, on Facebook tomorrow and on both sites Sunday. To be eligible to receive a loot prize, you'll need to provide your WarcraftPets username.

Year in Review
Since our last birthday, WarcraftPets has enjoyed a variety of milestones and new features:

• The addition of more than 30 new companions added to our database
• The launch of our official Facebook Fan Page
• Our 2011 BlizzCon Meet and Greet
• An entirely new back-end for our site, greatly improving performance and speed
• The addition of community forums (one of our most requested features)
• Several other new features, including Armory Import and the ability to easily compare collections
• Our rock-paper-scissors Pet Battles Mini-Game
• More than 15,000 new user accounts, bringing our total users to over 60,000
• And just this week, our most colorful April Fools' prank yet!

It's your continued support that keeps us evolving and growing. If you haven't done so yet, join the ranks of our site MVPs and GO GREEN!

To each and every one of you: Happy Collecting!

We've been waiting and wondering where the Soul of the Aspects would show up, and it's finally arrived!

As many may have already guessed, it's available from the Blizzard PetStore for $10 (USD), and once purchased is applied to all characters (current and future) for a single WoW license.

The EU version can be viewed here.

Happy Collecting!

UPDATE: Here is the schedule of the Arena Pass event. [source]

• May 22 - Registration for the Arena Pass ends.
• April 24 through May 8 - Practice Phase. Any matches played during these dates will not count towards the number required to earn the pet.
• May 8 through June 5 - Ranked Ladder Phase. Any matches played during this time frame will count towards the number required to earn the pet.

Don't have Murkimus yet?

Well, here's your chance to collect him!

Registration for Blizzard's annual Arena Pass is now open for both North American and European regions. It will cost $20 USD or €15/£12 (per account) to sign up for this special event.

Things to Keep in Mind
Games haven't started yet, but here are some reminders about the Arena Pass event.

• To be eligible for the pet, you must participate in at least 50 rated matches during a designated qualifying time period. Blizzard will likely announce the start and end dates of when matches count towards your rating.
• While winning isn't required, it is highly recommended that all players make their best attempt at participating in the PVP event to the fullest. Intentionally losing may result in disqualification or a reset to the number of games necessary to qualify for the pet.
• You must participate with a team of 3 (including yourself). If you or another player should leave your team at any point during the rated match time period, your played games will reset.
• Murkimus will be mailed to eligible players on live realms roughly four to six weeks after the Arena Pass event concludes.
• Your character that you wish to receive the pet on must be on the same account that you registered on for the Arena Pass.

For more information, check out the Arena Pass Frequently Asked Questions page.

Play With Fellow Collectors
If you're looking for a team and would like to play with others aiming for Murkimus as well, check out our forum thread for other WarcraftPets members seeking teams for the Arena Pass event. It's recommended that you include your playtime availability and a way to contact you to coordinate matches.

Good luck to everyone entering!

MoP beta testing is coming along and things are constantly being added, removed, and changed. Here are the most notable features discovered in the recent beta patches.

What's in a Name?
After much anticipation, the ability to rename pets is available for testing on the beta! Renaming a pet is straightforward, but it can only be accomplished using the Pet Journal.

To rename a companion, right click on the pet's name in the Pet Journal and select the "rename" option in the drop-down menu. After confirming a new alias for the pet, the companion will show up under the new name in the Pet Journal (viewable by all characters). It will even sport its unique handle when summoned from the journal too!



Don't be alarmed if the companion is not listed in the same spot prior to its renaming. Since the Pet Journal sorts alphabetically, it will relocate the pet using the name you gave it.

Naming Limitations
Renaming a pet doesn't seem to impact or alter the spellbook version of the companion at the moment. When summoning the pet using the spellbook, it uses its default name and not the unique alias you've assigned it. It's not clear if this is intended or if this will change prior to the release of MoP.

There are a few restrictions when it comes to naming your pets. Players cannot use inappropriate or flagged names, and special characters, such as the @ and # symbols, are also not allowed. Spaces and the capitalization of letters seems to work fine, though.

Lastly, players are able to rename pets as many times as they wish, without penalty (for the time being).

That being said, with potentially over 400 pets to collect in the expansion, better start brainstorming unique names for your pets sooner rather than later!

Trading Pets
One feature that we may have to wait a while longer for is pet trading and selling. The latest beta patch gave us the first preview of how this feature might work, but it's by no means fully implemented.

Players on the beta can currently put companions located in their Pet Journals into Pet Cages. Doing so removes the pet from the journal (on all characters), and places it inside a Pet Cage which will show up in your inventory. When hovering over the cage, it will show the name and level of the companion inside.

Placing a companion into a cage and trading it to another player seems to have no effect on the pets found in your character's spellbook. We're not sure if this is intended or a bug as a result of the spellbook and Pet Journal acting as two independent collections. For a more detailed description of the pet cage in its current state, check out the Pet Cage Preview at Perks N Peeves.

As a small warning for those participating in the beta: placing a pet into a cage at this time might result in being unable to add it back into your Pet Journal. This feature is obviously still not fully implemented, and there are many bugs and missing components.

A Work In Progress
Pet trading and even renaming, as simple as it may seem, are still works in progress. There will be many updates in future beta patches. We look forward to testing it all out and bringing you the latest news, so stay tuned!

Enjoy our monthly web comic created for WoW pet collectors! We feature a new World of Petcraft strip during the first week of each month.



About the Artist
Meaghan McLaughlin is an aspiring artist and the author of "Nerds Illustrated." She's currently available to create custom artwork of your WoW characters for a modest fee.

The Pet Battles feature is still a work in progress and it has not been released on the MoP beta yet. However, there's more and more information being datamined about it with each beta patch.

Pets will not only have stats, levels, their very own special abilities (that are weak and strong against other specific pet types), but according to Wowhead News vanity pets will also be receiving racial passive abilities! [source]

Here's a list of each pet family type's passive ability so far.

• Critters -- Elusive: Critters break out of crowd control effects more quickly.
• Beasts -- Enrage: Beasts deal 25% extra damage below half health.
• Humanoid -- Recovery: Humanoids recover 2% of their maximum health every time they attack.
• Dragonkin -- Execute: Deals 50% additional damage to targets with less than 25% health.
• Flying -- Swiftness: Flying creatures gain 50% extra speed while above 50% health.
• Aquatic -- Purity: The duration of harmful damage over time effects is reduced on Aquatic pets.
• Elemental -- Weather Immune: Elementals ignore all weather effects.
• Undead -- Damned: Undead pets return to life for one round when killed.
• Magical -- Spellshield: Magic pets cannot be dealt more than 50% of their maximum health in one attack.
• Mechanical -- Failsafe: Comes back to life once per battle, returning to 25% health.

Remember that because this is still the beta testing phase, this list of racial passives might not be the final version.

MMO-Champion has a translated version of the WoW China Developers Q&A. Two notable questions related to pet trading and Pet Battles were answered. [source]

Will there be any rules about pet trading? Will we be able to trade pets of limited editions (like Panda Cub) or Blizzard Store pets （like Wind Rider Cub）? How about achievement pets?
We plan to allow players to trade Blizzard Store pets excluding Guardian Cub (because it's not BoP and it's unique). Collector's edition and other limited edition pets (like Mini Tyrael or BlizzCon pets) will not be tradable, either.

You said earlier that not all pets can take part in pet battle system. What are the exceptions?
Currently the exceptions are pets with humanoid children models. They will not be included in pet battle system. Nor will the Guardian Cub.

Keep in mind that these answers may differ on outside of China. We're still guessing that balloon pets (and other similar lifeless models) will not not be able to fight.

A new beta patch should be released soon, however, MMO-Champion and Wowhead News are already uncovering some interesting goodies from the upcoming patch!

60 New Pet Achievements
Quite a large list of pet-related achievements have been datamined from the latest beta build. [source]

Many are tiered achievements related to Pet Battles and Pet PVP Battles. There are some collecting achievements mixed in, however they mainly focus on the collection of (wild) battle pets. Other achievements include leveling pets, and capturing companions in specific zones.

Currently there aren't any rewards for the completion of these achievements, but this could change at any time.

Here's just a snippet of the many achievements discovered so far.

• Grand Master Pet Battler - Win 1000 pet battles.
• Legendary Pet Battler - Win 5000 pet battles.
• No Favorites - Raise a pet of every family to level 25.
• Family Reunion - Capture a battle pet from each family.

For the full list of pet achievements, check out the WarcraftPets forums.

Keep in mind that the list of achievements could be updated or altered in future patches and should not be taken as the final version.

5 New Pets
Pet achievements weren't the only things found in the latest beta patch - new pets were hiding in there as well! [source]

• Fishy - Bind on Pick Up
• Gilnean Raven
• Red Cricket - Bind on Use
• Shore Crab
• Terrible Turnip - Bind on Use

There's no information on how any of these pets will be obtainable, however WowInsider speculates that the Terrible Turnip might be available through the Tiller Faction. Hopefully this companion won't be as ill-tempered as its name suggests, or else this vegetable might turn out to be an ingredient in someone's lunch!

Recently Pet Battles were enabled on the MoP beta and garnered much attention. Unfortunately, developers weren't quite ready for testing on this new feature, as Zarhym states in an official blue post. [source]

"While we've received a number of questions and some feedback regarding the pet battle system added in the last beta patch, we're in the process of disabling this feature. We know a lot of you are very anxious to test out pet battles, but it wasn't our intention to introduce them to the beta at this stage, as we don't yet feel they're in a solid enough state to allow for meaningful feedback.

One we're further along in development, we look forward to implementing pet battles and gathering your thoughts on the feature."



Pet Battles Will Return
Although battling will be temporarily turned off on the beta, Cory Stockton, a Lead Content Designer for WoW, tweeted the following messages in regards to Pet Battles:

"We are hoping to get it back on the servers soon, it's just way too early for meaningful feedback at this point." [source]

"I am working on a blog with lots of info on the system now. Hoping to have it up soon!" [source]

If you were unable to try out Pet Battles this time around, there will be plenty more opportunities in the near future for testing out this new feature! Also keep an eye out for an official Blizzard blog post about Pet Battles.

For those curious about what was discovered during this short preview of Pet Battles, head on over to the Pet Battles section of the WarcraftPets forums. But please keep in mind that testing for this feature was premature, so information gathered might not reflect the final version of how the system will work.

Two new pets were datamined from the recent beta build, the Tiny Goldfish and the Feral Vermling. Both pets are currently tagged as Bind on Use. [source]

Acquiring the New Pets
Wowhead News is reporting that the Feral Vermling will be the reward upon completing the Master Pet Hunter achievement. [source]

And according to El's Extreme Anglin' the Tiny Goldfish will cost 250 gold and will require a reputation of at least honored with The Anglers faction. [source]

Better dust off that fishing gear and start practicing your cast!

It's that time of year again - one of the best in-game holidays for pet collectors, Children's Week!

New Reward
Although there aren't any new companions for completing the seasonal quests, there is a new possible reward, Magical Pet Biscuits.

Each of the three Children's Week quest chains has the option of 25 pet biscuits as the final reward, or your choice of pets from previous years.

Using these biscuits will have the same enlarging effect on your vanity pet as Papa Hummel's Old-Fashioned Pet Biscuits. Zoning or logging off will remove the buff from your pet.

All Pets In One Year
Interested in obtaining all ten Children's Week companions in one year? WoW Insider has a great tip on how! [source]

Because pets will be shared across all your characters in MoP, by using multiple characters and choosing a different Children's Week pet reward for each one, by the time MoP is released you will have all these companions ready to go and explore Pandaria with. Genius!

Keep in mind, though, that you will need to be level appropriate for the Northrend and Outlands quest chains. The Shattrath quest chain requires at least level 60, and the Dalaran quest chain requires at least level 70.

Fun For All
Collecting all the companions in one year might not be for everyone, but thankfully the Children's Week companions will still be available next year.

If you've collected all the companions or have a couple more you would like to add to your collection, there's something for everyone during Children's Week. This in-game event lasts for only seven days, so be sure to check it out.

Don't forget to update your collection with your newest addition. Happy collecting everyone!