November 2012   « Archives | Current News »

There are currently two wild pets that only spawn during specific seasons. The Snowy Owl requires "winter", while the Qiraji Guardling requires "summer".

It was unclear when the start of winter would occur in-game, but reports are coming in that the Snowy Owl has finally started to appear in Winterspring!

This pet spawns all over the zone, usually near other wild pets such as Alpine Chipmunks and Alpine Hares. The Snowy Owl will be the primary pet in battle, and it's unknown if it can come as a secondary.

We'll have to wait and see when exactly summer will come around, but for now head over to Winterspring and find yourself a lovely snow-white owl.

The Darkmoon Faire is back in town, so don't forget to save up 90 tickets for the Darkmoon Hatchling (coming in 5.1)!

We checked out the PTR and said 'hello' to the newest Pet Tamer, Jeremy Feasel.

Besting the Best
Jeremy Feasel is a Master Pet Tamer located within the fairgrounds, across the way from the tonk daily area.

He has three epic quality level 25 pets on his team.

• Honky-Tonk (mechanical) - 1745 health, 294 attack, 280 speed
• Fezwick (beast) - 1570 health, 311 attack, 294 speed
• Judgement (magical) - 1587 health, 329 attack, 276 speed

Unlike other Pet Tamer quests, his quest is a daily and costs one Darkmoon Game Token each time you wish to battle him. You can challenge him once per day while the faire is up and running.

Completing his daily quest will reward you with some gold and Darkmoon Pet Supplies. This goodie bag has a chance to drop the new Darkmoon Eye, similar to one of Jeremy's pets!

In a recent Developer Q&A many topics were touched on, including Pet Battles. Here are the three Pet Battle questions and developer responses. [source]

Q: Currently Pet Battle are only between the same faction. Is it possible we'll allow cross-faction pet duels? Will we have a Spectator Mode for pet battles?
A: There are currently no plans to make Pet Battles cross-faction. There isn’t really a need to build in that functionality either, provided enough players are participating that the queue times aren’t long.

Q: Do we consider adding further music tracks to the pet battles? The current music playing during the battles gets a bit old after a while.
A: There is an option to turn off pet battle music specifically if you get sick of it. We don't have any plans at the moment to expand upon the existing pet battle music. We did shuffle 10 tracks into different playlists and added some logic to the way they play back though. Specifically, PvP battles have the more driving pieces, and the trainer/boss battles have longer tracks that are less likely to repeat during a fight. PvE (wild) has overlap with both of these, but is weighted more with the less intense music. It's minor, be we feel this improves the experience by tying each music piece more consistently to different types of battles.

Q: There are rumours about several UI improvements and other features being added in patch 5.1 for pet battles. Anything you can share on this?
A: Just as an example of something awesome we plan to do with the pets that drop from old raid bosses you can share, if you collect all of them you get an achievement that unlocks Mr. Bigglesworth from Naxxramas. To distinguish him from the standard Siamese cat model, we gave him some sweet frozen whiskers and a frost path behind his footsteps. He's Undead.

For a full transcript of the Q&A, click here.

Created by the GKick Network, the Global Pet Battle League is the first competitive WoW Pet Battle tournament. GKick explains the GPBL as follows:

Players from all over the U.S.A. and in many other nations can bring their roster of pets to participate in our bi-monthly tournaments. Up to 64 players will compete every other month for bragging rights and the title of GPBL Champion!

Here's how you can participate:

1.) Visit the Global Pet Battle League website for all necessary info.
2.) Be sure to read the RULES page in detail and make sure you can be available for the Qualification and Tournament dates listed on the main page.
3.) Once you understand the rules, click the "Register" link (top navigation) to enter your info and sign up.

Once we've received your registration, you'll be notified of the start time for qualification play (if necessary) and your seeding in the tournament bracket itself.

Official start times will be announced in December and sent to all registered participants. From there, all you need to do is show up with your roster of level 25 pets and get ready to battle!

So if you've been waiting for an opportunity to flex the muscles of your best Battle Pets in a competitive environment, be sure to sign up for season one of the GPBL. Best of luck!

Blizzard recently announced that 100% of the proceeds from Cinder Kitten sales will be donated to the Red Cross Sandy relief effort. This charity will help aid those affected by the superstorm. [source]

This fiery kitten isn't available yet, but once it goes on sale it will be adoptable from the Pet Store for $10. Much like previous charity drives held by Blizzard, there will likely be a deadline for donations.

More information and details on when and how to adopt the Cinder Kitten will be coming in the near future.

Helping Out Now
Although the Cinder Kitten hasn't been released yet, there's still other ways you can help out the victims of Sandy.

WarcraftPets is still accepting donations that will not only support the website but also aid many affected by the superstorm. For the remainder of this week, 50% of every donation will be added to our own donation of $250 to the American Red Cross.

Whether you plan on purchasing a Cinder Kitten, or would like to donate to WarcraftPets, every little bit helps!

UPDATE: Thanks to your support, we've made a donation of $530 to the American Red Cross on behalf of WarcraftPets. A great BIG thanks to everyone who donated to WarcraftPets during the past two weeks. You guys are the greatest.

The relief efforts have only just begun, and there is still so much to rebuild. If you haven't donated yet, please click here and donate to the Red Cross today. They could really use your support.

November 2, 2012 - On Monday of this past week Hurricane Sandy made landfall in New Jersey. For me, the creator of WarcraftPets, it hit close to home... quite literally.

Our house is located less than 5 miles inland off the southern coast of NJ. For 24 hours, my wife and I, our 3-week-old daughter and our many pets, hunkered down in the basement waiting as the storm slowly passed above. It was surreal. The house shook for hours on end. But we were lucky. When it finally passed, we suffered only minimal damage.

Sadly, the same can't be said for tens of thousands of people along the Eastern seaboard.

Places I've visited throughout my entire life were utterly decimated by the power of Sandy: Seaside Heights (pictured), Atlantic City, Point Pleasant, Long Beach Island, Wildwood, and so many other seaside towns and vacation spots.

In addition, portions of New York City, one of the greatest metropolitan centers on Earth, remain in shambles.

A Call for Help
You've seen the pictures. You've seen videos on YouTube. You've seen the news. The situation is grim. The time to help is NOW.

As the founder of this site, I'm calling on everyone who sees this post to donate something — whatever you can afford — to the American Red Cross.



Support the Red Cross through WarcraftPets
At the end of next week, I'll be donating $250 to the American Red Cross on behalf of WarcraftPets. In addition to that amount, we'll donate 50% of every donation we receive over the next week.

Remember, when you donate $30 or more to support our site, you'll become a Site MVP and really stand out. In turn, we'll donate 50% of your donation and all donations we receive through November 10^th to the American Red Cross to support their ongoing disaster relief efforts.

Our thoughts and well-wishes go out to everyone affected by this national tragedy. May brighter skies prevail in the weeks and months ahead.

Blizzard announced the release date for Starcraft 2: Heart of the Swarm, March 12, 2012. However, you don't have to wait until then to obtain the the Baneling pet!

Collector's Edition and Digital Deluxe
The Collector's Edition of SC2: HotS comes with a number of extra goodies, including a World of Warcraft redeemable pet, the Baneling. More information on the CE box set can be found here.

Alternatively, you can pre-order the Digital Deluxe version which also includes the Baneling as part of the package. The Digital Deluxe does not include physical gifts such as artbooks, dvds, etc, and only comes with redeemable in-game items for WoW, SC2, and Diablo.

The Digital Deluxe costs $59.99 and can be purchased through Battle.net. If you have Starcraft 2 already attached to your account, there will be a green arrow indicating an upgrade is available.

After placing an order for the Digital Deluxe game, a little green companion will be waiting for you in your mailbox the next time you log into World of Warcraft!

Enjoy our monthly web comic created for WoW pet collectors! We feature a new World of Petcraft strip every month.


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

Our favorite gnome and site-creator, Breanni (a.k.a. Brian Brolin), recently did an interview with Rawrcast. It will air on the show this Sunday (November 18, 2012) at 1pm CST.

The hosts of Rawrcast describe the show as follows:

The Rawrcast Show is a weekly live show and podcast hosted by Haf (Rusty) and Stompalina (Denise). Together we cover game-related topics, news, opinions, and reviews. We often welcome guests who help to shape our in-game adventures, and our out-of-game community of WoW players.

All things related to pets were discussed: Pet Battles, pet collecting, and the creation of Warcraftpets. Be sure to give it a listen!

Check out the Interview

UPDATE: We found a straggler! Another new wild pet, the Eternal Strider, was added to our database. This brings the total up to 37 new pets to collect!

In addition, players that completed the achievement Taming the World prior to Patch 5.1 may not receive the intended reward, the Safari Hat. Developers are looking into this bug and will hopefully have a fix soon.


Patch 5.1 is WoW's first major content patch for Mists of Pandaria, and boy is it packed with a ton of content for pet enthusiasts!

Below is just the tip of the iceberg. For a list of all the changes and new additions, check out the official notes on MMO-Champion.

36 New Pets to Collect!

• The Cinder Kitten will go on sale in the Blizzard Pet Store post-5.1 release. 100% of the proceeds will be donated to the Red Cross to help aid those affected by the superstorm, Sandy.
• There are four new Pandaren Spirit companions, available from the new Spirit Tamer daily reward bag.
• A new Tamer will be at the upcoming Darkmoon Faire, and his daily reward bag will have a chance to drop the Darkmoon Eye.
• In addition to this, the Darkmoon Faire pet vendor will have a new companion available for purchase.
• 12 new vanilla raid dropped pets!
• Tailors have a chance to create two new pets when transmuting cloth into Imperial Cloth.
• 13 new wild pets to capture!

View All New Pets

New Pet Battle Features

• The cap for total number of pets allowed in the Pet Journal has been raised from 500 to 650!
• The Pet Journal now has additional sorting options. You can sort by name, type, rarity, level and zone.
• Quality for all pets can also now be viewed in the Pet Journal.
• Tooltips on all pets have been updated to show how many of that particular pet you already own.
• Wold maps now show the pet level of each zone.
• The Pet Battle combat UI has been updated, and shows the quality of a wild pet once the battle starts.
• The UI will also show debuffs for pets not currently on the field, and the duration for those debuffs.
• Macros have been implemented that will allow you to summon a random companion or your favorites.
• A few achievements have been updated to offer a reward for completion, such as the Safari Hat for completing Taming the World!

Upgrading the Quality of Your Pets
Battle-Stones are a new item that can be used to directly upgrade your pets to uncommon (via Polished Battle-Stones) or rare (via Flawless Battle-Stones).

• There are two versions of each type of stone; general and family-specific. General Battle-Stones can be used to upgrade any pet to the quality designated by that stone, while family-specific stones may only be used on a specific pet type.
• Using a Battle-Stone on a pet level 15 or higher will cause the pet to lose 2 levels.
• Battle-Stones can be found in the Tamer daily reward bag, or awarded to you after defeating a wild pet in battle. Defeating a higher level pet increases your chances of getting a stone.
• Stones can also be purchased for 1,000 Justice Points.

Mists of Pandaria 50% Off!
If you have friends and family that have yet to upgrade and see all the wonders of Pandaria and travel to new lands to capture these awesome new pets, now's a great time to send them a gift!

Blizzard is having a special sale and the price of MoP has been cut in half. This sale will end on Thursday, November 29, 2012, so don't delay!

Patch 5.1 brought extensive Pet Battle UI improvements to WoW. Now that the dust has settled, we thought we'd tell you about several new features and UI improvements that came to WarcraftPets this week.

Pet Abilties, Here at Last!
Topping our list of updates is the addition of a searchable pet ability database!





You can also browse abilities by family or scroll through our A-Z ability index.

WarcraftPets UI Improvements



Content Updates
Speaking of breeds, those of you who still aren't clear on how exactly breeds affect pets and their stats will enjoy this first content update...

• WoW Pet Macros
• Recommended Pet Addons

More to Come...
We've got even more treats coming in December!

Soon you'll be able to track the quality, levels and stats of all of your collected pets. You'll also enjoy some additional collection stats, such as the percentage of rares you've collected, the average level of your pets, and more. A few of these stats will also work their way into our leaderboards.

If there's a feature you've been itching to see here on WarcraftPets, drop us a line—your suggestions are what make this site the best resource around for pet collectors (and pet battlers)!