battle-pets
Latest
Breakfast Topic: How much farming is too much farming?
There's no MMO -- or game in general, really -- that doesn't have some grinding built in. After all, you need some reason to keep logging in after you've run out of quest rewards and dungeons to clear. But sometimes the grind you go through for achievements and collectables is just too much. So when do you decide that it's time to throw in the towel on your own grinds? Right now, I'm working on safari achievements, and I'm down to one pet left to catch in Eastern Kingdoms and one more in Kalimdor. Two more pets when I've already managed to pick up 360 unique pets shouldn't be that hard, right? Wrong. Right now I have alts camped to watch for rare spawns, and I log in now and then to sit and stare at my mini-map as if that will make them spawn faster. But this isn't exactly compelling gameplay -- in fact, this kind of tedium is the dead opposite of compelling. But I've gotten so close... I shouldn't give up with only a couple of pets to go, should I? So today let's talk grinds. How long have you ever spent farming or grinding for a particular bauble or achievement in-game? And just when do you decide that enough is enough?
Breakfast Topic: Have you caught 'em all?
I've been on a recent pet-hunting binge in World of Warcraft. Though I've always been a fan of collecting games, I'd avoided getting into this one because it seemed like once I got started started, I would feel compelled to catch everything... and that seemed like a tall order. Now that I'm actively working on WoW's safari achievements, I can tell I was right. In between rare spawn pets, pets that only spawn during certain weather conditions or certain times of day, and my horrible habit of accidentally killing pets I mean to catch (my Terrible Turnip isn't very high level yet), I'm pretty sure this is going to take approximately forever to finish. So I ask you, readers: are you, too, compelled to try to catch 'em all? And if so, how is your personal safari quest going? A note to anyone who hasn't started this crazy quest to catch every pet: don't start! Your sanity will thank you.
Patch 6.1 PTR: New Battle Pets and achievement
Battle Pet collectors have something to look forward to with Patch 6.1 -- new Battle Pets and a new achievement are being added, according to information Wowhead has datamined from the 6.1 PTR. New Battle Pets have been added to bosses in Sunwell Plateau, Black Temple, and Hyjal Summit, and another tier has been added to the raid-collecting achievement, Raiding With Leashes III: Drinkin' From the Sunwell. A dozen new pets have been added to the raids. Grotesque Statue Leviathan Egg Shard of Supremus Fragment of Anger Fragment of Suffering Fragment of Desire Sultry Grimoire Smelly Gravestone Hyjal Wisp Sunblade Rune of Activation Void Collar Servant's Bell Completing the raid collection achievement awards the Battle Pet K'ute, a mini-naaru. Thankfully, at this point in the game, all three of the Burning Crusade raids are easily soloable -- no unusual tricks that would require a second or third person, unless you want to bring a friend along. For Pet Battle enthusiasts, Patch 6.1 is already shaping up to be pretty sweet.
The Feast of Winter Veil begins tomorrow, December 16th
Every year, Greatfather Winter brings treats to all the good boys and girls of Azeroth, and this year is no exception. From December 16th until January 2nd, the Feast of Winter Veil teaches us all the true meaning of Winter Veil with a cavalcade of gifts and other fun things like toys. A variety of seasonal pets, achievements, and hats are yours for the taking, including the brand new Rotten Little Helper. For the complete skinny on what you can get and what you can do, Wowhead has this helpful guide. If you're looking for one of those toys for your toybox, a rare pet, or a hat from one of the bosses (with several new Draenor bosses as well) then you have until January 2nd to get started. May Greatfather Winter watch over you.
Getting started with pet battles in Warlords of Draenor
Though the basic battle pet system hasn't changed, if you're a pet collector heading into Warlords of Draenor you'll find plenty of new pets to collect, six new tamers to beat, daily battles at your garrison's menagerie, new achievements, and a new pet-centric currency. So where's a potential pet tamer to begin? We'll walk you through all of the pat battling Warlords has to offer. Find and fight Draenor's pet tamers There are six new tamers to battle in Draenor, one for every zone (excepting Tanaan and Ashran). You can fight each tamer once a day in exchange for 4 Pet Charms, which you can use to buy pet-centric gear at your garrison. In addition to fun toys like costumes and pet treats, you can buy bandages, and battle-stones. Amongst that gear, of the most interest to pet levelers will be: Marked Flawless Battle-Stones for 15 charms, Flawless Battle-Training Stones for 3 charms, and Mystery Bags which a random family battle-training stone for 2 charms. Here's who you'll need to fight (and where you'll need to go) for your pet charms: Cymre Brightblade, Gorgrond (51, 71): Strategy Ashlei, Shadowmoon Valley (50, 30): Strategy Vesharr, Spires of Arak (46, 46): Strategy Gargra, Frostfire Ridge (67, 64): Strategy Taralune, Talador (49, 81): Strategy Tarr the Terrible, Nagrand (56, 10): Strategy
Adopt new pet Argi for charity
Like in-game pets? Like helping people? Then Blizzard's latest charity pet, the goat-like Argi, is perfect. The pet is available in the Blizzard Store now for $10, 100% of which goes to support the American Red Cross's Ebola relief efforts. Argi is tiny enough to get lost in the tall grass of Shadowmoon Valley, occasionally trips over herself and falls face-first when running, and when left to idle too long will prance and leap in circles to burn off energy. In short, Argi is an adorable addition to any battle pet army. If adorable isn't your thing, however, Blizzard is also offering Argi bundled with a new mount: the Grinning Reaver. This reaver-style mount wears a skull mask (or at least we hope it's a mask) and will drive fear into the hearts of your enemies. (And possibly also your allies.) You can get Argi and the Grinning Reaver for $30 ($10 of which goes to charity) or the Grinning Reaver alone for $25.
Patch 6.0.2 adds new pets for collecting
A few new pets have been added with patch 6.0.2 -- some far, far easier to come across than others. Completing all quests in the Blasted Lands will reward players with a title as well as the Iron Starlette, a miniature Iron Star of your very own. In addition, orc mobs in the Blasted Lands have a chance to drop the Time-Locked Box, which contains the often coveted but never before seen bronze whelpling. A couple of other pets are available, but whether or not they are obtainable is a good question. Those with a passion for collecting can now begin work on the achievement So. Many. Pets. -- it requires players to collect a whopping 600 unique pets, and rewards the beautiful blue Stormwing upon completion. And according to Warcraft Pets, the Sky-bo pet seems to have made its way into the Blingtron 4000 gift package -- whether or not this was intended isn't certain. Speaking of Warcraft Pets, Breanni's got some other useful information for pet collectors and Battle Pet enthusiasts. Patch 6.0.2 brought about some changes to hit and critical strike in regards to pet battles, and Breanni's got all the details on what's been changed, and how it affects pet brawling. For more about pets in 6.0.2, Warlords of Draenor, and beyond, be sure to check out Warcraft Pets, which also has a database detailing all new pets coming to the game with the expansion's release in November.
Get your Thundering Serpent Hatchling while you can
Challenge modes will be making an exit with the launch of Patch 6.0.2 -- players looking to get their Challenge Mode gear should do so before the patch hits. But one of the sometimes overlooked bonuses of Challenge Modes is going away as well. The Thundering Serpent Hatchling, a reward from the Challenge Conquerors: Gold - Guild Edition achievement, will also be taking its leave with the release of the patch, according to a tweet by Senior Game Designer Jonathan LeCraft. @CKarner The ability to buy the hatchling is going away in 6.0, so buy it now.- Jonathan LeCraft (@TheCrafticus) September 17, 2014 Players might not know about this sparky little Battle Pet, especially if they've recently joined a guild. The Thundering Serpent Hatchling isn't rewarded solely to the people that earned the achievement for the guild, it's a pet that is unlocked on the Guild Vendor. Anyone with at least Revered guild reputation can purchase it, but the serpent cannot at this time be caged -- which means you aren't going to find this little guy floating around on the Auction House. If you haven't picked him up yet, you might want to do so now -- because there's been no mention made of any possible future return.
Did you miss in Pandaria?: Hopling hunt
Stormstout Brewery is all about the beer, but the coolest item from this dungeon actually involves tea. Specifically, you'll need Ling-Ting's Favorite Tea, which "may cause the user to see strange things." Who is Ling-Ting? What is she into? We don't know, but we can guess. You can buy this tea from Auntie Stormstout at the beginning of the dungeon for 5 gold. I recommend buying more than one if you're going to try for this achievement during a run, since the buff only lasts 5 minutes. However, it's probably best to complete the dungeon first and go back so you aren't holding up the group. With the buff active, you can see Golden Hoplings scattered around the dungeon. Turning on nameplates allows for easier hop-spotting. Track Humanoids abilities also reveal the hoplings on your minimap. Another way to find them is to target and mark them with a macro: /target Golden Hopling /script SetRaidTarget("target",4) (Credit to Rakenaid on Wowhead.com) You need to find 30 hoplings. The final one sits underneath the mask of the defeated Yan-Zhu the Uncasked, assuming you've cleared the place. Once you find them all, you'll earn the Ling-Ting's Herbal Journey achievement, which is required for the Glory of the Pandaria Hero meta. You'll also receive the excellent Hopling pet in the mail. The only other way to get a virmen battle pet is to collect 250 pets for the Going to Need More Leashes achievement, which is much harder if you don't already have a large collection.
Did you miss in Pandaria?: Carefully packaged rodents
As we approach the end of Mists, you may have characters with a vast pile of Lion's Landing/Domination Point Commissions from patch 5.1's Krasarang war clogging up your bags. Temporary world PvP boosts probably aren't of much interest these days, so here is a great way to spend them that will give you a more permanent reward. The Rodent Crate costs 2000 commissions. But what does it actually do? The tooltip doesn't specify. Using it will spawn Sumprush Rodents for one hour that can be battled and captured by anyone wandering by. Like other battle pets, they have a chance to be rare when you engage them. The crate is the only way to get this particular pet. If you haven't heard of these beaver-like rats, that may be because they are not part of the Pandaria Safari achievement. They have different abilities and colors than the similar Bucktooth Flapper from Jade Forest. Be sure to tell your friends when you're releasing the rodents so everyone can get one. The actual crate is so cute and weird when you place it down, I hope it becomes a Toybox item someday.
Warlords of Draenor: New mount and pet revealed
I'm personally not a big pet or mount person. I have the one mount I really ever use, I'm happy with it, and that's pretty much the beginning and end of it. But a lot of people (like my fantastic wife, for example) do like those things. And so, the news that Jonathan LeCraft revealed this weekend will undoubtedly make those people very, very happy - namely, that there will be a new mount for obtaining the 250 mounts achievement Mountacular, the Emerald Drake. Even more interesting to me, from a game history perspective, is the Time-Locked Box and its occupant, the Bronze Whelpling. This is a pet with, as one might expect, a long history within World of Warcraft. Fun fact: the bronze whelpling and its summon spell were created in 2004, but never made it into the game. - Jonathan LeCraft (@TheCrafticus) August 11, 2014 That's a long time to wait for a pet to be introduced. But at last it's here, right? Looking forward to both, at least from the perspective of a guy who wants people to be happy.
World of Warcraft's 10th anniversary preview
Ten years is a long time. Ten years ago, in 2004, I was 20 years old and entering my third semester of college--also entangled in endless piles of paperwork while I prepared to spend a year studying at the University of New South Wales in Sydney for the calender year 2005. Ten years ago, in November 2004, World of Warcraft officially launched. The mark that WoW has left on the gaming industry is indisputable--but we're not here for musing retrospectives. At least, not yet. We're here because there's going to be a whole bunch of fun in-game events to celebrate WoW's first decade of existence, and Blizzard has given us a lovely preview of what at least a few of them are.
The Queue: Kitty cat power hour
Welcome back to The Queue, the daily Q&A column in which the WoW Insider team answers your questions about the World of Warcraft. Alex Ziebart will be your host today. I tried to think of a clever intro for today's edition of The Queue, but I slept very little this weekend due to a sick cat. He has medication and should be just fine now, but ... wait, we're supposed to be talking about WoW. DerekNorman asked: I derped and accidentally let a cross-realm mail get deleted that contained a full set of leather heirloom gear for my alt. What are the chances that I could get it back if I open a ticket?
Leveling your battle pets into a formidable pet army
Last time, we covered a ton of details about how pet battles work -- but now it's time to put that knowledge into practice to get your pets leveled. It's tough starting at level 1 and building up a team of pets high enough level to collect the pets you might be interested in, much less pick up achievements like Taming the World (which grants you the Safari Hat that will help you level even more pets) or World Safari (which grants you the Zookeeper title). Getting your pets up to level 25 so you can take on anything the game can throw at you (pet battle-wise, at least) will take time -- but it's a somewhat less daunting task if you combine it with another in-game project. Are you working the loremaster achievement? Thinking of leveling another alt? Because you'll be traveling zone to zone, both of these are a great time to work in some battle pet leveling -- and since you get experience from winning pet battles, they can help with leveling, too. Wherever you are in your leveling journey, we can help you get closer to 25.
Battle pet basics to get you started building your pet collection
Though I started working on an article about how to collect battle pets much in the same vein as collecting titles and mounts... I quickly realized it was going to be a lot more complicated than that. Though you certainly can collect plenty of vanity pets by buying them, farming for drops, and getting achievements, the bulk of pet collecting in WoW needs to be done by capturing wild pets for yourself. So if you want to amass a fine collection of WoW pets, what you need to do is get into pet battling so you can find and capture your own pets. However, it's a daunting prospect if you're starting from level 1 and want to pick up pets from Northrend or Pandaria. We've already walked you through the very basics of starter battling and some tips on advancing through the levels, but today we'll walk you through the battle pet details you'll need to go from 1 to 25 and collect as many pets as you'd like along the way.
Warlords of Draenor: New battle pet models
Over the last few days we've all become intimately familiar with the new Molten Corgi pet and its model. Two more datamined battle pet models have joined it: the Grovestrider Hatchling and the Draenei Micro Defender. In addition, there's another new pet currently sans model: the Dwarf Gronnling. I am going to make an educated guess and say that this last pet probably looks like a teeny tiny gronn. If so, that'll be fantastic. I've always wanted one of those. The Grovestrider Hatchling is a fun, if pretty typical-looking small bird model with blue, green, and sliver feathers and red eyes. Of the two new models, the Draenei Micro Defender definitely steals the show. As one of the Wowhead commenters points out it looks like a little Protoss. It's got two shiny shields and some chic crystalline armor. I'm definitely going to try and get my grubby little paws on that thing as soon as I can. Images courtesy of Wowhead
Molten Corgi pet officially on the way
Players have been asking for a corgi pet in game for years, and they are finally getting their wish, according to a tweet made by Senior Game Designer Jonathan LeCraft earlier today. Screenshots were posted of a Molten Corgi -- a fiery pup that is every bit as adorable as you'd expect. Of course, the first question on everyone's mind was whether or not the pooch was, in fact, really going to be available. LeCraft tweeted again to reassure everyone that yes, this is in fact a real pet. As yet, we still don't know where players will obtain the pet, or if it will be an in-game or Blizzard Store item. For now, the announcement itself is good enough for me -- we'll likely get more details soon enough.
Qiraji Guardling pet now appearing on all realms
June 21 is the first official day of summer, and that means the Qiraji Guardling has begun spawning on all servers. Like its counterpart the Snowy Owl, this pet is only seasonally available, which means you've got a limited time to capture one for yourself. The Guardling spawns in southern Silithus, along the walls of Ahn'Qiraj -- both inside the entrance area, and just outside near the Scarab Wall. The pet spawns anywhere from poor to rare quality, and is always accompanied by two other critters, so make sure you've got a decent team put together before you set out. The Qiraji Guardling is on the list of required pets for the World Safari achievement and its associated Zookeeper title, so if you're looking to complete those achievements, you'll want to grab one of these pets while they are available. No need to hurry too quickly, though -- the Qiraji Guardling will keep spawning until the Autumnal Equinox, which falls on Tuesday, September 23 this year. Happy hunting!
Warlords of Draenor: New plushie Battle Pet
Wowhead discovered a new Battle Pet in Warlords of Draenor, and this one is guaranteed to be the cutest Battle Pet in your stable. The Elekk Plushie is exactly what it sounds like -- a plush version of an elekk, stitched together with love, if not any particular skill. The pet is tagged with a Profession: Tailoring label, suggesting that perhaps this little bundle of fluff will be crafted by tailors. The attacks, however, are the real treat here: Fluff Barrage, Take It, Plushie Rush, Cute As A Button, Who's the Best Elekk In The Whole World?, and Itchin' for a Stitchin'. They may sound cute, but here's the catch -- they're all imaginary attacks. Obviously a stuffed toy can't actually battle...but hey, we can pretend that it can, right? @perculia Well, it's a *regular* stuffed animal. Which means it just sits there and stares at you when you summon it.- Jonathan LeCraft (@TheCrafticus) June 11, 2014 The only working ability for the pet is Itchin' for a Stitchin', which will perform a pet swap. Other than that, the plushie just sits there. It's a plushie, what did you expect? However, Jonathan LeCraft later clarified on Twitter that while the plush is a joke, some might not find it funny, which means the squeezably soft little toy might not actually make it into the game. As a kid, I had countless stuffed animals, each of which was just as beloved as any pet I owned -- so I kind of hope the little guy makes it to release. I'd like to name him and summon him just like any other pet, regardless of whether or not he can actually fight. I'd love to see an achievement for actually getting the plush to level 25, while we're at it. What do you guys think? Do you want an Elekk Plushie of your very own?
WoW's 10th anniversary pet tribute to Hogger
In the past Blizzard has occasionally given out battle pets as gifts to players for logging in during the game's anniversary period. Previous anniversary rewards have included the Baby Blizzard Bear and Onyxian Whelpling. This year is an extra-special landmark: the 10th anniversary of WoW, and the 20th of the Warcraft franchise as a whole. As a result, we seem to be getting an extra-special battle pet, a humanoid called Hogs, who bears a strangely-similar aesthetic to that legend of lowbie leveling: Hogger. I love the choice of a Hogger tribute for the 10th anniversary pet. It's such a community touchstone for those of us who have played the game--if you've at any point leveled a human character, even to 10 or so, you've probably encountered Hogger. That may not be all of us, but it's many of us, and it's a great choice for the game's first decade of life. Here's to Hogs!
