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BlizzCon 2010: Moonkin Hatchling mini-pet going on sale in November
There has been some data-mining in the past couple weeks which found mention of a Moonkin Hatchling in the beta game files. During the BlizzCon opening ceremonies, Mike Morhaime (Blizzard CEO) announced that this new vanity pet will be available for sale from the Blizzard store coming in November. We still don't have any idea how adorable this pet will look, but if it's anything like the other hatchling pets the cuteness will be epic. They also announced that their Pandaren Monk pet when it donated all proceeds to charity when it was first available made $1.1 million for the Make-a-Wish Foundation. We're curious if this is a sign of more charity vanity pets to come in the future as that will make a serious impact for almost any cause. BlizzCon 2010 is upon us! WoW Insider has all the latest news and information. We're bringing you liveblogging of the WoW panels, interviews with WoW celebrities and attendees and of course, lots of pictures of people in costumes. It's all here at WoW Insider!
15 Minutes of Fame: A rare and beautiful collection
From Hollywood celebrities to the guy next door, millions of people have made World of Warcraft a part of their lives. How do you play WoW? We're giving each approach its own 15 Minutes of Fame. Among the ranks of in-game item collectors (would a goblin call those players "acquisitionists"?), you'll find plenty of hardcore vanity pet fans. You'll find mount collectors. You'll find those poor, inventory-challenged souls who collect armor and dungeon sets. And then there is this collector, who's managed to collect all three -- and sweeps it together with a uniquely stylish twist. Meet Michelle, aka Drrum of Stormrage (US-A). If you were to ask vanity pet connoisseur Brian of WarcraftPets (aka Breanni, immortalized as Dalaran's cutie-pie pet supplies vendor and previously profiled here on 15 Minutes of Fame) for the name of a player who exemplifies the spirit of in-game collecting, Drrum's name pops out without a moment's hesitation. Once you take a look at the incredible gallery below, featuring Drrum with her pets (augmented with Papa Hummel's Old Fashioned Pet Biscuits), wearing coordinating armor and clothing sets and posing in appropriate locales -- well, there's no doubt you'll want to join us after the break to hear how Drrum puts all these collections together. %Gallery-104231%
Breakfast Topic: Which vanity pets have captured your heart?
This Breakfast Topic has been brought to you by Seed, the Aol guest writer program that brings your words to WoW Insider's pages. I have a confession to make. I collect vanity pets. I don't mean I grab the ones from my race's capital and then the ones that go with holidays. I mean I hunt them down, build them, buy them, and do quests I would rather skip because the reward is a pet I'll probably never have out. How did I end up this way? I guess it started in the Undercity, where I bought a cockroach. In Orgrimmar, I figured the cockroach might like a few snake friends. It wasn't long before I ran out of pets I could get that way, and I wasn't high enough level to get any pet-related quests yet. So I started pouring my gold into pets from the auction house. My gear was from quest rewards because I almost never got drops I could use and my gold was going to pets. I eventually started buying gear first, but I still have trouble forcing myself to buy enchants and consumables when there are pets to save up for. I have two favorite pets. One is my Dun Morogh Cub, which my husband bought and rode out to Coldridge Valley to give to me. That bear has been by my main's side since level 1. My other favorite is my Phoenix Hatchling. A friend said he'd run Magister's Terrace with me as many times as it took for me to get it. I was a level 70 hunter with BM spec, and he was a level 80 protection warrior. I just couldn't put out enough DPS for us to take down Kael'thas, so we called in another friend to help. It was my first time through there, and I left with a fiery bird flying along behind me! The one pet I really wish they would add is an Azerothian Schrödinger's Cat. It could be a reward from a quest involving gnomes or the D.E.H.T.A. The worg pup can be either black or brown when summoned, so a cat could have normal and skeletal models to switch between. Since you wouldn't know if the cat is alive or dead until you summon it, the Copenhagen interpretation of quantum mechanics implies it would be both alive and dead while unsummoned. Do you collect vanity pets? Which are your favorites? Is it too early in the day to think about quantum mechanics?
LotRO's radiance to be run over by a train and other future tidbits revealed
"We took Radiance outside, tied it up to some railroad tracks, and...well...I think you saw the end of this in Red Dead Redemption. Look for this in the future -‐ we will be removing Radiance from LotRO." Thus sayeth Turbine's Jen "Jalessa" Gordy, who confirmed that the controversial gear gating system is headed for a messy death. In the same WarCry developer chat, the team fielded a number of questions about where LotRO is headed after this week's mega-update. Some of the features in the works for Tolkien's digital offspring include a new raid, class changes for monster play, a barter item wallet, PvMP skirmishes, Isengard, additional minigames and -- yes -- vanity pets for all. The devs also admitted to slipping in a few pop culture mentions into the game, such as Firefly and Futurama references. And will there ever be any other hobbies than fishing in LotRO? Kate Paiz mused: "All of us devs really want to make golf next, but it's a tricky undertaking, so we don't have a timeline yet, but feel free to start practicing your backswings!" You can read the full transcript at A Casual Stroll to Mordor.
PAX 2010: Counting down to LotRO's relaunch with Turbine
TweetWith the launch of Lord of the Rings Online's biggest patch to date a scant few days away, we touched base with Turbine's Aaron Campbell, Brian Aloisio, and Bob Hess at PAX Prime to see how their nerves are holding up at this point. It is, as Aloisio laughed, akin to launching the game all over again, and LotRO is definitely under close scrutiny because of it. Many players were surprised to hear that LotRO's free-to-play update was going live much sooner than anticipated, and we asked Campbell whether this was due to a preset schedule or better-than-anticipated beta feedback. He said that they weren't going to release it until it was ready, but by the team's reckoning, the beta process went so smoothly that there was no reason to delay any further. Compared to the betas for Shadows of Angmar, Mines of Moria and Siege of Mirkwood, the F2P beta -- according to Campbell -- was the most upbeat Turbine's ever had, with far more positive feedback than negative. Hit the jump to hear more and see the latest screenshots and video from PAX.
The Daily Grind: Are you a collector?
In most MMOs on the market today, there are several different classes and races. Even if you're in the rare game that arguably has neither, there are still skills to be leveled, achievements to be earned, missions to be played. For some people, all of these things are mostly means to an end. But others look at a list of ten classes, or nine races, or even eleven summon spells as a to-do list. If it can be leveled, they will level it; if it can be acquired, it will be theirs. The joy of MMOs is in part the fact that many goals are set by players, and the collectors do a marvelous job of setting one for themselves. Some goals, like collecting every little vanity pet in a game that offers them, can be accomplished as a side-goal to the core leveling process. Others, like leveling every class, can even require more character spaces than the game normally gives you. Do you have overarcing collection goals when you play games? What are they? Do they interfere with your normal play, or are they the whole reason you keep playing?
Photo Contest reminder: Show us your plushies
The Spawn got her Wind Rider Cub on Friday and it has since been slept with, rained on and taken for a ride with Barbie. His name is now Lionel and he has become good friends with Murky the Murloc. Together they embark on great adventures and battle the nefarious deeds of the Darth Vader Happy Meal toy. (Don't get me started on the fact that McDonalds believes that Star Wars is for boys and iCarly is for girls. Seriously.) Have you shown us your plushies yet? We have some really great entries already, but yours could be even better. You have until midnight, March 10th to send us your photos of your Plushie in the Wild and/or Plushie in Captivity. WoWTCGLoot.com has generously provided the loot codes for the prizes. All of the contest details are after the break.
New seasonal vanity pet, the Toxic Wasteling
Vanity pet collectors, rejoice! The Crown Chemical Co. apothecaries not only drop some pretty nice necklaces, they're also the source of a new vanity pet, the Toxic Wasteling. You may think this looks a lot like the Disgusting Oozeling, but there's a major difference -- rather than a debuff applied to your character, the Wasteling is a hungry little guy. So hungry in fact, that he'll eat random critters, and as he does, he grows in size. Check out the video to see the Toxic Wasteling in action -- and for those pet collectors wondering about the Truesilver Shafted Arrow for the Perma-Peddle achievement, he's now available on holiday vendors for the low price of 40 Love Tokens.
Fool for Love just got easier
Love is in the Air on most servers by now, and players should notice a substantial change in the way the event is being run this year. No longer do you have to furtively log on each hour on the hour during the course of the event in the hopes that you'll get that candy bag with that ONE piece of candy you need for the Be Mine! achievement. The candy bag, as well as all other random rewards from previous years are available on vendors in each capital city, and purchased with Love Tokens. How do you get the tokens? Well, you certainly don't have to run around begging people to give you cards and building gifts. This year, the tokens are available through daily quests. Since it's the first day of the event, we may not have seen all of the possible dailies, but here's the rundown on two of them: Remember the Gifts of Adoration? This year, faction leaders are looking for jewelry. You can turn in a Lovely Charm Bracelet to the faction leader of your choice for a Lovely Card that will give you an hour long buff, and 5 Love Tokens. The method used to obtain these bracelets? Kwee will give you a Lovely Charm Collector's Kit with the following flavor text: "Pliers, bone saw, scalpel and sundry other tools allow for the collection of Lovely Charms from worthwhile enemies. Collect 10 charms to make a bracelet!" Yes, you read that correctly. You murder beasts and creatures in your level range, and hack Lovely Charms off of their corpses. I'm thinking I love this event already. Other ways to obtain Love Tokens include the daily quest "A Perfect Puff of Perfume," which requires you to hose down ten players or NPC's with perfume. Vendors and city guards will work just as well as other players, so don't worry about running out of people to spray. This quest will also earn you 5 tokens. The changes so far to the event make it much, much simpler to get that coveted Fool For Love meta achievement, and should provide a welcome change to players used to the same old grind from previous years. Check out the gallery below for the complete list of items available on the vendors, and stay tuned for more Love is in the Air info as it comes in! %Gallery-84863%
Using the Corehound Pup to secure Guildbanks
Authenticator owners received a nice surprise in their mailboxes when Patch 3.3 dropped: the corehound pup pet. It's absolutely adorable and a completely unexpected bonus to having a secure account. But it has also caused much kvetching among those who feel they are too careful to ever need the authenticator. Pet envy caused some to sign up for the free application for their phone or buy the physical gadget in order to obtain the two-headed cutie. But they soon discovered that removing the authenticator from their accounts also removed the pet. Their loss can be your gain, however. One problem that many guilds have is that some of their high ranking members, with full bank access, have account security issues. When a guildbank gets raided by a hacker, it affects the entire guild -- not just the compromised account. One thing guild leaders can do to protect all members is require authenticators for bank access. Previous to patch 3.3, this was hard to prove. Now GLs can just ask to see your corehound pup.
Blizzard pet store now regional
In a short (but not necessarily sweet) announcement, Zarhym announced on the official forums that the recently opened Blizzard pet store are now regional. This means that pets purchased from, say, the European store can only be redeemed on European World of Warcraft accounts. He doesn't go into detail other than to say that pets that have already been purchased from one region and redeemed in another region are not affected by this change. While it's a curious move on the surface, it effectively restricts players from Europe purchasing their Pandaren Monk and Lil' K.T. from the US store where the pets are cheaper at $10 compared to €10 or £10 in the EU (roughly $15). Interestingly enough, the pets are priced at ₩12,000 in the Korean version of the store, which is about the same price as in the US ($10.3). It's unclear why the European version of the pets -- along with a few other Blizzard store items -- are more expensive, a fact that makes Turpster huff and puff and blow Azerothian houses down. Obvious business reasons aside, it also creates a minor inconvenience for people who would like to give the pets as gifts to players in other regions. However, considering that many vanity pet codes have been regional in the past, such as those given away during Blizzard special events, it's not a surprising move. Then again, this whole foray into microtransactions was a bit of a surprise, so we've learned to never underestimate those folks from Irvine.
Mr. Chilly is in the mail on Battle.net accounts
You have until November 11th to switch your account to Battle.net, but the penguin pets are already in-game. I converted my account when I was first able to (which has had its ups and downs) and I logged on this afternoon to find Mr. Chilly in my mailbox on all characters. Like most Blizzard promotional pets, they are Bind on Account and sent to every character you have on every realm. They are also collectible, in that they don't disappear from your inventory after you "learn" them. So, if you have already switched to Battle.net, log in and pick up your new little penguin buddy.
Patch 3.2 PTR: Finding the Raptor Pets
For those of us who like to collect stuff in WoW, one of the cooler announcements for patch 3.2 was the inclusion of a whole new set of raptor hatchling pets, dropped around the world by rare and elite raptors. Of course, it was also an announcement of dread for serious collectors who can tell horror stories of killing thousands upon thousands of slimes and dragons for rare pets before. But will it be all as bad as that? WoW fansites have been on the case.Mania, maven of Hunter pets, has also been looking into the drop rates and drop mobs, and has compiled a handy chart on her blog. Between Mania and the news on Warcraft Pets, it seems we can mostly confirm that the rare raptors (such as, for example, Takk the Leaper) will always drop their pets, while those that drop only off elites have a very rare drop rate more similar to the aforementioned slimes or dragons.
The Queue: Eight
Welcome back to The Queue, WoW Insider's daily Q&A column where the WoW Insider team answers your questions about the World of Warcraft. Alex Ziebart will be your host today.In yesterday's edition of The Queue, my partner in crime Adam Holisky did some speculation about Battlestar Galactica that was taken as a huge, massive spoiler. As far as I know, it wasn't actually a spoiler. I'm here to fix that. I'm here to give you a real, true spoiler. Are you ready for it?They shoot Old Yeller.hold up asked...Is the Realm First Ulduar Achievement based on completing Ulduar on Easy Mode or is it based on clearing the entire place including the optional Algalon "the Raid Destroyer"?
Addon Spotlight: Livestock
Every weekend (well, almost every weekend), Addon Spotlight takes a look at the little bits of Lua and XML that make our interfaces special. From bar mods to unit frames and beyond, if it goes in your Addons folder, we'll cover it here. Mounts and vanity pets are a bigger part of many people's WoW than ever before. They don't take up any space in our bags (yay!), there are achievements for them (meh!), and there are a lot of cool ones to find (even if the raven mount keeps eluding me and the rest of my guildies). However, Blizzard's interface for these summonable beasts leaves a lot to be desired. Livestock is here to fill that gap. It aims to handle all your vanity-pet and mount related needs, with the following features: Buttons to choose a pet or mount to summon Buttons to summon a random pet or mount Can ensure that you always have a pet out (i.e. resummon on zoning in to an instance, ressing, etc.) "Smart mount" feature to choose flying/ground mounts as appropriate Keybindings for all important function This last feature is the one that makes it viable for me; if I have to click to mount up, I'm not going to use your mod.
Lil' Game Hunter achievement now set to 75 pets
In patch 3.0.8 there is a new achievement call the Lil' Game Hunter, which you get upon collecting a very large number of pets. The achievement gets you the pet pictured above, a little fawn. He's cute, and hopefully won't stop in his tracks when he sees my motorcycle's headlight.Previously the achievement required getting a total of 100 vanity pets, however that total has now been lowered to 75. That is much more accessible for people to achieve, and really requires just a little bit of farming and AH watching. Definitely within the grasp of more people than when it was 100, which would have required more-or-less getting your hands on some super rare pets and/or ebayed TCG loot cards (a subject which some feel is borderline ethical).Click on the above image to get a better view of the fawn, and start collecting now!I plan on taking him for a walk through Elwynn Forest when I get him.For help with tracking your non-combat pet collection, head on over to the most excellent Warcraftpets.com.
Ghostcrawler on dual specs and loot tied to achievements
So sayeth the Ghostcrawler and so we shall listen. He spoke today regarding a few issues that are of prime importance to many players. However instead of long rants or detailed analysis on the issues of raiding difficulty, dual specs, and achievements he presented them in bullet points.First dual specs, a topic hot on everyone's mind. He provided some new insight into how things will work. In particular he said that "It will be trivial to do in town. You will also be able to do it out of towns, but not as trivially." This is new information and should make everyone tingle with gleeful anticipation at how trivial it might be to switch specs while in Dalaran.He also makes mention of things we already knew. They are aiming to allow people to swap glyphs and action bars with the dual spec feature, and that it should be along ideally in the next major content patch.That patch cannot come soon enough.In addition to the dual spec information, Ghostcrawler went into some points on raid difficulty. While there isn't any really new in terms of how difficult the raiding environment is (or isn't) and what may lie in store for the future (a harder Ulduar raid zone), there is some new news about loot tied to achievements.
The Oracles' Mysterious Egg is a must-get for pet and mount collectors
If you're still trying to decide whether to grind rep with the Oracles or the Frenzyheart in Sholozar Basin, here's something that might make up your mind: The Mysterious Egg, a reputation reward at revered with the Oracles. You'll have to keep the egg on you for 7 days, but at the end of those 7 days, it will hatch into a few things. Most of the time, the egg will be a "dud," and you get an Aged Yolk. Some of the other possibilities, however, are pretty dang cool.
Five old world vanity pets you may have missed
It's a good time to be a pet collector. We're getting recognition, cool toys for our pets, and even an achievement series especially for us. If you're new to the world of pet collecting, or have just dabbled in it so far though, you may be struggling a bit to get those last few pets for the achievement. In the spirit of helping out my fellow pet enthusiasts, here's a few rarer or lesser known old world pets that you might have overlooked, especially if you started the game after Burning Crusade.
Mounts and Vanity Pets in Patch 3.0.2
One of the coolest changes in Patch 3.0.2 is the way mounts and vanity pets work. Done as a way to save bag space, this is great news for collectors and might even spur other players to start collecting, too. On live servers, pets and mounts summoned through the use of an item. When tomorrow's patch goes live, these pets and mounts will become consumable, single-charge items that teach you a spell to summon the relevant pet or mount. The pet or mount will then disappear from your inventory. Don't panic, those simply become spells that you will be able to access through your Character panel. There's a tab there labeled 'Pets', which will contain two sub-tabs called 'Companions' and 'Mounts'. Selected pets and mounts will be previewed in the window, and you can easily drag your pet and mount spells to your hotbars. Pets are instant cast spells that can be cast while moving and activate the GCD. You can create macros and key bindings for pets and mounts just as you would any other spell. %Gallery-34349%
