To be eligible for the RAF rewards (battle pets and mounts), your recruit now only needs to apply 3 months of game time to their account. [source]
The pre-expansion patch is live this week! 8.0 adds many new pets (most will not be available until BFA launches) and achievements, higher resolution battle pet models, Pet Charm changes, and tuning adjustments to select pets and abilities. [source]
New Pets & Achievements
The Pet Journal has been updated to include 120 pets! Unfortunately, we'll have to wait for the expansion to collect the majority of these new additions. We'll be adding all of these new pets to the WarcraftPets database Soon™.
However, there are 5 new pets that are currently available... if you can meet the criteria, that is! All of these pets are rewarded from new achievements.
- Brutus - from Toybox Tycoon (collect 400 toys)
- Bucketshell - from Honor Level 400 (reach Honor Level 400, Alliance)
- Hearthy - from Master of Minions (collect 1000 unique pets) (pictured above)
- Rooter - from Pet Emporium (collect 800 unique pets)
- Sir Snips - from Honor Level 400 (reach Honor Level 400, Horde)
Learn more about 5 new pets!
A couple of the achievements listed above might be out of reach for the time being, such as earning Honor Level 400 for some players. Collectors will need to wait for BFA to obtain Hearthy, as there are currently not enough total unique pets to reach the associated achievement. We're definitely up for the challenge and can't wait to get started though!
Fluffier, Spikier, Cuter
On top of a bunch of new pets, Patch 8.0 includes updated pet models and skins.
These include, but are not limited to the following groups of pets.
- Beetles
- Cats
- Chickens
- Crabs
- Desert Spiders
- Frogs (pictured above)
- Grubs/Larva
- Marmots/Prairie Dogs (pictured above)
- Pigs (pictured above)
- Spiders
- Turtles (pictured above)
- Yetis
A handful of other pets were also updated — check out your Pet Journal to discover which ones! What are your thoughts on the new looks?
Due to the large number of revamped pets, it will take some time to update the images in the WarcraftPets database. We plan on doing this as soon as possible. Thank you for your understanding and patience and continued support!
Pet Charm Changes Live
We previously covered the announcement of Pet Battle currency changes — these changes are now live. Pet Charms have been renamed to Shiny Pet Charms, and Pet Battle consumables from the vendors now require Polished Pet Charms (not available until BFA).
The current currency can still be used to purchase existing battle pets and toys from vendors. However, pets and toys coming in the expansion will require the new currency. If you need to collect the pre-BFA vendor pets, don't worry. Legion World Quests (and likely the Boon of the Zookeeper) will continue to reward Shiny Pet Charms.
Pet Battle Tuning
It was announced in April of this year that some Pet Battle tuning would be made to a few pets and abilities. These changes are now live.
- Bone Serpent: swapped positions of Call Darkness and Lift Off
- Crow and Gilnean Raven: -200 power, +200 speed
- Cyclone: damage changed from 7 to 3-7
- Haunt: returns the pet at 50% health when sacrificed instead of 100%
- Teroclaw Hatchling: Dodge and Nature's Ward now occupy the same tier (as do Hawk Eye and Ravage)
Because of these changes, some Pet Battle strategies that utilize these pets or abilities may no longer work properly. Thankfully there are plenty of pets to choose from, so a new strategy shouldn't be too difficult to create/find.