March 2015   « Archives | Current News »

Once again, we want to shine the community spotlight on someone who's doing something extraordinary for the pet collecting community.

Rusti , an avid WoW player and pet collector, took it upon herself to create the Azeroth Adoption Agency. Her vision is helping hundreds of virtual pets find loving homes in the collections of the players who need them most.

What is the Azeroth Adoption Agency?

Rusti explains:

"The Azeroth Adoption Agency is similar to an animal shelter in real life. We take in pets that people don't need and find homes for the ones that need them. This helps others to fill their collections with easier-to-collect pets, allowing them to focus on the harder-to-get ones.

"We occasionally have some really nice pets too, thanks to our amazing donators!"

How does it work?
"Anyone that joins is allowed to adopt pets. Our aim is to fulfill requests for pets that people don't have, provided that we have them in stock. So anyone that is interested need only do the following:

• Read over the information, then register an account at our official AAA Forums and make a post in the membership section to request membership. You must include your battle tag (for us to contact you). Requests that have not been posted in the official forums will be denied.
• Make a level 1 orc alt on the Bladefist server (US). (Any horde race or class is fine, as long as you're not in one of the secluded starter zones.) Run to Sen’jin Village and you can take the free flight to Orgrimmar from there.
• Once a staff member or myself has made contact, your level 1 alt will be invited into the guild where you can browse the pets, make requests or ask any questions."

How can people help?
"What keeps us moving is donated pets.

"Another account on WarcraftPets has been set up under the username AzerothAdoptions. People can view the pets we are accepting under the WANTED tab. Some pets we would never outright accept due to their value or difficulty to obtain. But there are plenty that are easier to get and less valuable that we tend to go through quickly.

"Without the wonderful donators, this would not be thriving so well. They are the heart and soul of the agency!"

More About Rusti















Get Involved!
To learn more about the Azeroth Adoption Agency and how you can donate your pets and adopt those in need of a home, visit the official forum thread:

Azeroth Adoption Agency: Rules & FAQ »

For the time being, the Azeroth Adoption Agency is limited to US players only. However, anyone is welcome to follow Rusti's lead and create an AAA chapter in their region.

Our thanks to Rusti for creating and operating this virtual organization that's dedicated to the union of altruism and pet collecting. Kudos to you and your many supporters! Keep up the amazing work!

DISCLAIMER: The Azeroth Adoption Agency is operated independently of WarcraftPets. If you have questions or concerns, please direct them to Rusti through the official thread.

We're thoroughly enjoying all of the new pets in the latest content patch. Here are a few additional 6.1 notes that you may have missed.

A Daily A Day
There are two new trainers in Patch 6.1, Erris the Collector (A) and Kura Thunderhoof (H). They will only periodically show up in your garrison, but don't let their tendency to travel discourage you from completing their quest each day.

If your garrison goes a day or two without a visit from these NPCs, the in-game Looking For Group tool is a great place to find them.

By using the Group Finder window and selecting Premade Groups, you can choose a Custom group and search for either traveling trainer (pictured above).

We also have a forum thread dedicated to those willing to share an invite for the daily, just in case the Group Finder tool doesn't return any results. But it has to be said that the in-game method is much more convenient!

It's been observed that these two NPCs exhibit some interesting behavior when it comes from traveling from garrison to garrison. If you pick up and complete their daily from someone else's garrison, Erris and Kura will remain in your garrison (and your alts' garrisons) for the rest of the day.

Best Erris or Kura in a Pet Battle and earn a visit! Even if you can't duel them a second time in the same day, you can always share the daily with a friend.

Menagerie Power-Leveling
Power-leveling pets through the Menagerie was essentially removed in 6.1, since experience from Menagerie Pet Battles was drastically reduced.

However, there is still one encounter to look forward to if you're looking to level pets while in your garrison; Squirt's team of Deebs, Tyri, Puzzle. This particular Menagerie battle has not been nerfed and grants pet experience equivalent to that of a Cataclysm or WotLK trainer.

We don't know why the Squirt battle remains unchanged in terms of experience, or whether or not this is merely an oversight on Blizzard's part. Needless to say, it might be worth spending some extra time battling Squirt's team when she visits!

Darkmoon Faire Racing Schedule
Last but not least, Blizzard announced a release schedule for the new Darkmoon Faire racing mini-game. [source]

According to the schedule, new racing features, achievements and rewards will unlock each month. The Race MiniZep (pictured right) will not be available until April's Darkmoon Faire.

Brush up and practice your racing skills; a new pet will be zooming into collections next month. Don't get left in the dust!

Their larger counterparts are known as "fearsome creatures made of pure nightmare", and hunting down this pet might prove to be just as nightmarish. Don't let that thought discourage you, though. This month we're covering everything you need to know about the Unborn Val'kyr!

Collecting the Unborn Val'kyr
The Unborn Val'kyr is a highly coveted wild pet, not only because of her one-of-a-kind look but she's also a powerhouse in Pet Battle PVE and PVP.

The rarity and randomness of spawns also adds to this pet's desirability, making it a prize find for any collector.

On top of all of this, the Unborn Val'kyr is currently the only wild pet with an idle interaction; she will resurrect any nearby dead critters (pictured right). She's an incredibly unique pet that isn't easy to find.

The Unborn Val'kyr has three specific spawn locations in each of the nine Northrend zones. This comes to a total of 27 possible spawn points. Normally only one Unborn Val'kyr will appear as a primary wild pet a single zone, however there have been a few reports on lower population servers where two pets were found in the same zone, at the same time.

The spawn timer for this pet can range anywhere from minutes to hours. It's speculated that a player's successful capture of one will positively influence the spawn rate of the next Val'kyr, possibly triggering a faster respawn in another zone.

There are a few methods to collecting an Unborn Val'kyr. The first is to simply linger in a zone or at a spawn point. Expect to wait a very long time if you take this approach; her spawns can be unpredictable!

Alternatively, instead of waiting around, you can follow a predetermined route to check on each of her possible locations. A /tar macro is helpful, so you can quickly check an area as you fly by. You do run the risk of missing a spawn while traveling though.

Another method is to create alts on different servers, or use the Group Finder tool to temporarily transfer yourself to another server.

The last trick to finding an Unborn Val'kyr is similar to the first method, however instead of using a single character, it requires multiple characters placed all across Northrend. Being able to quickly log over from toon to toon to check a location reduces the chance of missing an Unborn Val'kyr popping up while in transit.

However you decide to hunt for this pet, you'll want to check her abilities before having your pet cast the first attack. Although not as common as before, a wild Unborn Val'kyr using Unholy Ascension can commit (permanent) suicide, making it impossible to capture her. Restarting the battle, without having killed the Val'kyr, to get her to generate a different set of abilities is recommended if you don't want to risk your little angel of death.

Battling with the Unborn Val'kyr
The Unborn Val'kyr is gorgeous little pet that really gets the job done, if the job you need done is wrecking things with Undead carnage.

Her first slot features two no-frills Undead damage abilities: Shadow Shock and Shadow Slash. Oddly, due to some tinkering with numbers over the years, for now Shadow Shock is the clear choice. Both abilities have identical accuracy, cooldown and mechanics but Shadow Shock hits for a base one additional damage. Not a make or break, just something to be aware of.

The second slot features Siphon Life, a short, lackluster DoT with an equally lackluster flat (ie, not modified by damage dealt) heal per tick.


The better choice in most situations is Curse Of Doom, a long-term debuff which explodes for 620 damage after four rounds. This explosive debuff is paired extremely well with the third-slot ability Unholy Ascension (pictured above), which carries on long after the Val'kyr is gone. For a whopping nine rounds, Unholy Ascension debuffs all the pets on the opposing team for an additional 25% damage done per hit. Doing so will kill your Val'kyr permanently though, so use it strategically!

The last ability in the Unborn Val'kyr's moveset is Haunt. Haunt temporarily 'kills' your Val'kyr. It then adds a big DoT over four turns, which deals 150 damage per tick, nearly as much as Curse of Doom overall. Haunt has been a bit buggy since its launch, killing your Val'kyr anyway if it was dodged for a while, eg, but unless you have a specific plan, it has such amazing damage throughput it's worth the gamble.

Check out our forum thread discussion on the Unborn Val'kyr and submit your own thoughts on this pet.

Battling Discussion on the Unborn Val'kyr

Pet of the Month is co-written by Liopleurodon, an experienced pet battler and long-time WoW player. She maintains her own Pet Battle blog, comprised of pet analyses, team strategies and general thoughts on pets.