WarcraftPets

New Pet! Fetish Shaman

Tue, 15 May 2012 01:22:00 EST

With the launch of Diablo III, the new Fetish Shaman is now live!

You can obtain a Fetish Shaman by picking up the Diablo III Collector's Edition, sold in stores in limited quantities beginning today.

The D3 Collector's Edition includes:

Diablo Skull and 4GB USB Soulstone
Exclusive In-Game Content (Diablo III Aesthetic Artifacts, StarCraft II Battle.net Portraits, along with the WoW Fetish Shaman pet)
Behind the Scenes Blu-Ray/DVD Set
The Art of Diablo III (book)
Diablo III Soundtrack (CD)

Be sure to get yours soon while supplies last!

MoP Beta: Three New Pets and The Black Market

Sat, 12 May 2012 17:53:00 EST

Ready for more delectable datamined previews from the recent beta build? Here they come!

New Pets
Three new BoP pets were discovered in the latest beta patch. It's unknown where these pets will come from at this time. [source]

Aqua Strider
Grinder
Hopling

A New Auction House
MMO-Champion has a small preview of a new Auction House coming in MoP - The Black Market. [source]

This new market will be used by NPCs to sell special items that are not normally sold for gold. An example would be the Ashes of Al'ar mount being sold by Mei Francis, a mount vendor.

Guess who will also be taking part in The Black Market? Breanni!

As seen in MMO-Champion's screenshot (reprinted above), this pet-loving gnome is expanding her business ventures and will be selling pets on this new AH.

It's still unclear which pets will be available through The Black Market. Better start saving up gold while waiting for a list of possible companions, though. Looks like the this market won't be cheap!

MoP Beta: Title Reward and New Children's Week Orphan

Fri, 11 May 2012 02:40:00 EST

UPDATE: The title "Tamer" has been replaced with "Zookeeper". [source]

The MoP beta is trucking along, and another build was recently released. There are some interesting changes and additions in the latest patch. [source]

Achievement Title Reward
Many have been requesting for a pet collecting title to proudly sport, and this request might be fulfilled in MoP!

The achievement Time To Open a Pet Store now rewards the title Tamer . It also now only requires 335 Pet Battle achievement points, down from 400. The achievement points necessary will probably encompass all achievements earned in the Pet Battles tab, including the three sub-categories - Collect, Battle, and Level.

New Children's Week Orphan
A Cooking School Bell was added recently, and as the tooltip indicates, this item appears to be an item used to summon a new orphan for next year's Children's Week.

It's likely that the orphan NPC will be a Pandaren child, and the quest chain will start in Pandaria. We will have to wait and see what the rewards will be for completing a new Children's Week quest chain, but maybe it will include a companion pet!

New Pet Battles Item
Another new item was discovered from the most recent patches. Datamining revealed a Battle Pet Bandage. It's currently unknown where this item comes from, and how the use of the pet bandage will be integrated into Pet Battles.

However, it does seem probable that pets will require healing and sometimes reviving between battles. [source]

Pet Battles Still WIP
Pet Battles are still not quite ready for testing, however there have been consistent updates and changes to the UI and the battling system with each beta patch. We will have more in depth coverage and details of Pet Battles once it is fully activated on the beta.

For those curious and would like to read more about Pet Battles in its current state, feel free to check out this blog post or the WarcraftPets forums.

MoP Beta: New Achievement Reward and Guild Pet

Thu, 10 May 2012 07:01:00 EST

Another beta patch was released and a new achievement reward was discovered! [source]

New Achievement Reward
Completing the achievement Pro Pet Mob (raise 75 pets to level 25) will reward players with a Singing Cricket.

Whether or not this pet will actually sing, like its name implies, is unknown. If it does, perhaps it will take song requests!

New Possible Guild Pet
The guild vendor was updated with some new items, including a new possible pet, the Thundering Cloud Serpent Hatchling. There is also a mount of similar name currently priced at 3,000 gold.

For the time being, the Thundering Cloud Serpent Hatchling does not have a sale price, and the item on the vendor appears to only be a placeholder. Much like the Dark Phoenix Hatchling, it's likely that this pet will be a reward for completing a guild achievement. We'll just have to wait and see which achievement will be necessary to unlock this mystical companion!

Account-Wide Achievements and Pets In MoP

Tue, 08 May 2012 16:30:00 EST

In a recently released official blog, Ghostcrawler expressed Blizzard's goal and intent for account-wide achievements. [source]

Pet-Related Achievements
According to Blizzard's current design model, a few achievements will be "account-only". For these achievements, it's unlikely to earn them on a single character, therefore:

...the cumulative work of all your characters on those criteria will count.

Under this guideline players could add to their progression or complete pet achievements such as Legendary Pet Battles (win 5,000 pet battles) on any of their characters.

This will definitely make it more convenient, but don't let that stop you from attempting to earn an achievement all on one toon should you desire to!

Faction-Specific Pets
Ghostcrawler also touches on the topic of faction-specific pets in his latest blog post. Note that there might be exceptions and this entire system is still a work in progress.

You also won’t be able to use a faction-specific pet, mount, or title on the wrong faction.

World of Petcraft #20

Mon, 07 May 2012 07:30:00 EST

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

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

New Children's Week Reward

Sun, 29 Apr 2012 04:43:00 EST

It's that time of year again - one of the best in-game holidays for pet collectors, Children's Week!

New Reward
Although there aren't any new companions for completing the seasonal quests, there is a new possible reward, Magical Pet Biscuits.

Each of the three Children's Week quest chains has the option of 25 pet biscuits as the final reward, or your choice of pets from previous years.

Using these biscuits will have the same enlarging effect on your vanity pet as Papa Hummel's Old-Fashioned Pet Biscuits. Zoning or logging off will remove the buff from your pet.

All Pets In One Year
Interested in obtaining all ten Children's Week companions in one year? WoW Insider has a great tip on how! [source]

Because pets will be shared across all your characters in MoP, by using multiple characters and choosing a different Children's Week pet reward for each one, by the time MoP is released you will have all these companions ready to go and explore Pandaria with. Genius!

Keep in mind, though, that you will need to be level appropriate for the Northrend and Outlands quest chains. The Shattrath quest chain requires at least level 60, and the Dalaran quest chain requires at least level 70.

Fun For All
Collecting all the companions in one year might not be for everyone, but thankfully the Children's Week companions will still be available next year.

If you've collected all the companions or have a couple more you would like to add to your collection, there's something for everyone during Children's Week. This in-game event lasts for only seven days, so be sure to check it out.

Don't forget to update your collection with your newest addition. Happy collecting everyone!

MoP Beta: Two New Pets

Fri, 27 Apr 2012 17:17:00 EST

Two new pets were datamined from the recent beta build, the Tiny Goldfish and the Feral Vermling. Both pets are currently tagged as Bind on Use. [source]

Acquiring the New Pets
Wowhead News is reporting that the Feral Vermling will be the reward upon completing the Master Pet Hunter achievement. [source]

And according to El's Extreme Anglin' the Tiny Goldfish will cost 250 gold and will require a reputation of at least honored with The Anglers faction. [source]

Better dust off that fishing gear and start practicing your cast!

MoP Beta: Early Pet Battles Preview

Thu, 26 Apr 2012 18:26:00 EST

Recently Pet Battles were enabled on the MoP beta and garnered much attention. Unfortunately, developers weren't quite ready for testing on this new feature, as Zarhym states in an official blue post. [source]

"While we've received a number of questions and some feedback regarding the pet battle system added in the last beta patch, we're in the process of disabling this feature. We know a lot of you are very anxious to test out pet battles, but it wasn't our intention to introduce them to the beta at this stage, as we don't yet feel they're in a solid enough state to allow for meaningful feedback.

One we're further along in development, we look forward to implementing pet battles and gathering your thoughts on the feature."

Pet Battles Will Return
Although battling will be temporarily turned off on the beta, Cory Stockton, a Lead Content Designer for WoW, tweeted the following messages in regards to Pet Battles:

"We are hoping to get it back on the servers soon, it's just way too early for meaningful feedback at this point." [source]

"I am working on a blog with lots of info on the system now. Hoping to have it up soon!" [source]

If you were unable to try out Pet Battles this time around, there will be plenty more opportunities in the near future for testing out this new feature! Also keep an eye out for an official Blizzard blog post about Pet Battles.

For those curious about what was discovered during this short preview of Pet Battles, head on over to the Pet Battles section of the WarcraftPets forums. But please keep in mind that testing for this feature was premature, so information gathered might not reflect the final version of how the system will work.

MoP: Pet Achievements and New Pets

Tue, 24 Apr 2012 20:54:00 EST

A new beta patch should be released soon, however, MMO-Champion and Wowhead News are already uncovering some interesting goodies from the upcoming patch!

60 New Pet Achievements
Quite a large list of pet-related achievements have been datamined from the latest beta build. [source]

Many are tiered achievements related to Pet Battles and Pet PVP Battles. There are some collecting achievements mixed in, however they mainly focus on the collection of (wild) battle pets. Other achievements include leveling pets, and capturing companions in specific zones.

Currently there aren't any rewards for the completion of these achievements, but this could change at any time.

Here's just a snippet of the many achievements discovered so far.

Grand Master Pet Battler - Win 1000 pet battles.
Legendary Pet Battler - Win 5000 pet battles.
No Favorites - Raise a pet of every family to level 25.
Family Reunion - Capture a battle pet from each family.

For the full list of pet achievements, check out the WarcraftPets forums.

Keep in mind that the list of achievements could be updated or altered in future patches and should not be taken as the final version.

5 New Pets
Pet achievements weren't the only things found in the latest beta patch - new pets were hiding in there as well! [source]

Fishy - Bind on Pick Up
Gilnean Raven
Red Cricket - Bind on Use
Shore Crab
Terrible Turnip - Bind on Use

There's no information on how any of these pets will be obtainable, however WowInsider speculates that the Terrible Turnip might be available through the Tiller Faction. Hopefully this companion won't be as ill-tempered as its name suggests, or else this vegetable might turn out to be an ingredient in someone's lunch!

Pet Battles and Pet Trading Limitations

Sat, 21 Apr 2012 16:13:00 EST

MMO-Champion has a translated version of the WoW China Developers Q&A. Two notable questions related to pet trading and Pet Battles were answered. [source]

Will there be any rules about pet trading? Will we be able to trade pets of limited editions (like Panda Cub) or Blizzard Store pets （like Wind Rider Cub）? How about achievement pets?
We plan to allow players to trade Blizzard Store pets excluding Guardian Cub (because it's not BoP and it's unique). Collector's edition and other limited edition pets (like Mini Tyrael or BlizzCon pets) will not be tradable, either.

You said earlier that not all pets can take part in pet battle system. What are the exceptions?
Currently the exceptions are pets with humanoid children models. They will not be included in pet battle system. Nor will the Guardian Cub.

Keep in mind that these answers may differ on outside of China. We're still guessing that balloon pets (and other similar lifeless models) will not not be able to fight.

MoP: Pet Racial Passive Abilities

Fri, 20 Apr 2012 12:20:00 EST

The Pet Battles feature is still a work in progress and it has not been released on the MoP beta yet. However, there's more and more information being datamined about it with each beta patch.

Pets will not only have stats, levels, their very own special abilities (that are weak and strong against other specific pet types), but according to Wowhead News vanity pets will also be receiving racial passive abilities! [source]

Here's a list of each pet family type's passive ability so far.

Critters -- Elusive: Critters break out of crowd control effects more quickly.
Beasts -- Enrage: Beasts deal 25% extra damage below half health.
Humanoid -- Recovery: Humanoids recover 2% of their maximum health every time they attack.
Dragonkin -- Execute: Deals 50% additional damage to targets with less than 25% health.
Flying -- Swiftness: Flying creatures gain 50% extra speed while above 50% health.
Aquatic -- Purity: The duration of harmful damage over time effects is reduced on Aquatic pets.
Elemental -- Weather Immune: Elementals ignore all weather effects.
Undead -- Damned: Undead pets return to life for one round when killed.
Magical -- Spellshield: Magic pets cannot be dealt more than 50% of their maximum health in one attack.
Mechanical -- Failsafe: Comes back to life once per battle, returning to 25% health.

Remember that because this is still the beta testing phase, this list of racial passives might not be the final version.

World of Petcraft #19

Sun, 15 Apr 2012 09:00:00 EST

Enjoy our monthly web comic created for WoW pet collectors! We feature a new World of Petcraft strip during the first week of each month.

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

MoP Beta: Renaming Pets and Trading Pets

Fri, 13 Apr 2012 08:45:00 EST

MoP beta testing is coming along and things are constantly being added, removed, and changed. Here are the most notable features discovered in the recent beta patches.

What's in a Name?
After much anticipation, the ability to rename pets is available for testing on the beta! Renaming a pet is straightforward, but it can only be accomplished using the Pet Journal.

To rename a companion, right click on the pet's name in the Pet Journal and select the "rename" option in the drop-down menu. After confirming a new alias for the pet, the companion will show up under the new name in the Pet Journal (viewable by all characters). It will even sport its unique handle when summoned from the journal too!

Don't be alarmed if the companion is not listed in the same spot prior to its renaming. Since the Pet Journal sorts alphabetically, it will relocate the pet using the name you gave it.

Naming Limitations
Renaming a pet doesn't seem to impact or alter the spellbook version of the companion at the moment. When summoning the pet using the spellbook, it uses its default name and not the unique alias you've assigned it. It's not clear if this is intended or if this will change prior to the release of MoP.

There are a few restrictions when it comes to naming your pets. Players cannot use inappropriate or flagged names, and special characters, such as the @ and # symbols, are also not allowed. Spaces and the capitalization of letters seems to work fine, though.

Lastly, players are able to rename pets as many times as they wish, without penalty (for the time being).

That being said, with potentially over 400 pets to collect in the expansion, better start brainstorming unique names for your pets sooner rather than later!

Trading Pets
One feature that we may have to wait a while longer for is pet trading and selling. The latest beta patch gave us the first preview of how this feature might work, but it's by no means fully implemented.

Players on the beta can currently put companions located in their Pet Journals into Pet Cages. Doing so removes the pet from the journal (on all characters), and places it inside a Pet Cage which will show up in your inventory. When hovering over the cage, it will show the name and level of the companion inside.

Placing a companion into a cage and trading it to another player seems to have no effect on the pets found in your character's spellbook. We're not sure if this is intended or a bug as a result of the spellbook and Pet Journal acting as two independent collections. For a more detailed description of the pet cage in its current state, check out the Pet Cage Preview at Perks N Peeves.

As a small warning for those participating in the beta: placing a pet into a cage at this time might result in being unable to add it back into your Pet Journal. This feature is obviously still not fully implemented, and there are many bugs and missing components.

A Work In Progress
Pet trading and even renaming, as simple as it may seem, are still works in progress. There will be many updates in future beta patches. We look forward to testing it all out and bringing you the latest news, so stay tuned!

2012 Arena Pass Registration Now Open

Wed, 11 Apr 2012 07:15:00 EST

UPDATE: Here is the schedule of the Arena Pass event. [source]

May 22 - Registration for the Arena Pass ends.
April 24 through May 8 - Practice Phase. Any matches played during these dates will not count towards the number required to earn the pet.
May 8 through June 5 - Ranked Ladder Phase. Any matches played during this time frame will count towards the number required to earn the pet.

Don't have Murkimus yet?

Well, here's your chance to collect him!

Registration for Blizzard's annual Arena Pass is now open for both North American and European regions. It will cost $20 USD or €15/£12 (per account) to sign up for this special event.

Things to Keep in Mind
Games haven't started yet, but here are some reminders about the Arena Pass event.

To be eligible for the pet, you must participate in at least 50 rated matches during a designated qualifying time period. Blizzard will likely announce the start and end dates of when matches count towards your rating.
While winning isn't required, it is highly recommended that all players make their best attempt at participating in the PVP event to the fullest. Intentionally losing may result in disqualification or a reset to the number of games necessary to qualify for the pet.
You must participate with a team of 3 (including yourself). If you or another player should leave your team at any point during the rated match time period, your played games will reset.
Murkimus will be mailed to eligible players on live realms roughly four to six weeks after the Arena Pass event concludes.
Your character that you wish to receive the pet on must be on the same account that you registered on for the Arena Pass.

For more information, check out the Arena Pass Frequently Asked Questions page.

Play With Fellow Collectors
If you're looking for a team and would like to play with others aiming for Murkimus as well, check out our forum thread for other WarcraftPets members seeking teams for the Arena Pass event. It's recommended that you include your playtime availability and a way to contact you to coordinate matches.

Good luck to everyone entering!

Soul of the Aspects Available From the Blizzard PetStore

Tue, 10 Apr 2012 13:45:00 EST

We've been waiting and wondering where the Soul of the Aspects would show up, and it's finally arrived!

As many may have already guessed, it's available from the Blizzard PetStore for $10 (USD), and once purchased is applied to all characters (current and future) for a single WoW license.

The EU version can be viewed here.

Happy Collecting!

WarcraftPets 5 Year Anniversary Giveaway!

Fri, 06 Apr 2012 02:00:00 EST

5 Years of WarcraftPets
Today is our birthday and we're celebrating our 5^th anniversary! Exactly five years ago today WarcraftPets was launched.

For nearly half a decade, you've helped support us to make us the best site around for everything related to WoW vanity pets. We can't thank you enough.

So even though it's our birthday, we want YOU to enjoy some gifts!

Free Loot Giveaway!
To show you our thanks, we'll be giving away dozens of TCG loots all weekend long! Loot will be given out through a mix of trivia and random selection to those who follow our social feeds.

To participate, simply follow us on Twitter and like us on Facebook. Then keep an eye on our feeds through the afternoon hours today, Saturday and Sunday.

Doobjanka will be giving away loots on Twitter today, on Facebook tomorrow and on both sites Sunday. To be eligible to receive a loot prize, you'll need to provide your WarcraftPets username.

Year in Review
Since our last birthday, WarcraftPets has enjoyed a variety of milestones and new features:

The addition of more than 30 new companions added to our database
The launch of our official Facebook Fan Page
Our 2011 BlizzCon Meet and Greet
An entirely new back-end for our site, greatly improving performance and speed
The addition of community forums (one of our most requested features)
Several other new features, including Armory Import and the ability to easily compare collections
Our rock-paper-scissors Pet Battles Mini-Game
More than 15,000 new user accounts, bringing our total users to over 60,000
And just this week, our most colorful April Fools' prank yet!

It's your continued support that keeps us evolving and growing. If you haven't done so yet, join the ranks of our site MVPs and GO GREEN!

To each and every one of you: Happy Collecting!

MoP Beta: Darkmoon Rabbit, Pet Achievements and More

Tue, 03 Apr 2012 14:45:00 EST

The Eastern Kingdoms and Kalimdor list of wild pets on our forums is growing ever bigger as each beta patch is deployed. So be sure to check out the WarcraftPets Forums for even more beta discussions and discoveries!

Here are some of the major updates from the beta that we've found.

Darkmoon Rabbit
The highly anticipated Darkmoon Rabbit finally made its first appearance now that the Darkmoon Faire is in full swing on the test servers. As many have already guessed, it is indeed a pet that drops from a creature of the same name that spawns in the Darkmoon Island Cave. Be warned, though! While the bunny may seem docile and cute, this is not your ordinary critter...

Currently, the Darkmoon Rabbit creature has 72 million health points, and although it only has one attack, it's quite a nasty one! Its ability is aptly named "HUGE, SHARPE TEETH!", a clear reference to the movie Monty Python and the Holy Grail. This ability puts a debuff on your character which will cause you to run in fear, lose control of your character for the duration of the debuff, and reduce healing effects done to you by 100%.

Oddly enough, this rabbit won't go after hunter or warlock pets at the moment. Needless to say, you may want to bring some friends to help you bring down this "foul, cruel, and bad-tempered rodent"!

It's unclear how players are going to eventually overcome this encounter, but once defeated, the Darkmoon Rabbit will drop one Bind on Use pet of the same name and award the achievement, That Rabbit's Dynamite!

Pet Achievements
Speaking of achievements, pet collecting achievements such as Littlest Pet Shop are currently not listed in the achievement window on the beta. However, it's highly likely that they are simply being relocated into the new Pet Battles achievement tab and will not be removed. We'll continue to closely monitor the achievements and report any updates on their status.

Account Wide and Individual Collections
There are currently two ways to view your companions in the beta, through your Pet Journal and in your spellbook companion tab. These seem to be two separate entities, though.

While the Pet Journal will grant access to your collection of companions on all characters, a toon's individual collection will still remain intact. For example, if you learn the Darkmoon Rabbit on one character, only that particular toon will have the pet in their spellbook. All other characters can still access and summon the pet through the Pet Journal, but it will not be added to their spellbook. This makes situations such as deleting a character with a unique pet learned only on that toon somewhat complicated, and we're unsure of the result in such a case.

It's unclear if the spellbook companion tab will remain in the game once the Pet Journal is fully implemented. It's also unknown what type of effects the removal of the companion tab will have on pet collecting achievements, since the achievements are currently tied with how many companions are found in your spellbook.

We're hoping to have more updates on this topic as well as more pet-related finds in the near future. Stay tuned!

Follow Up: Trick Out your Vanity Pets

Mon, 02 Apr 2012 09:31:00 EST

Yesterday we reported about how you could trick out your vanity pets in MoP. Today we have even more news and screenshots for you:

Yes, we're sorry to say that there will be no Micropets or Mini Mounts in MoP (at least none that we're aware of). But on the plus side, you won't have to "grind" your way through thousands upon thousands of pet battles to earn such items either.

So at least there's that.

We'd like to extend a special thanks to Drrum for providing us with the artwork for our joke (including the images above). If you haven't done so yet, be sure to visit Drrum's Pets and Mounts Gallery, featuring the most beautifully coordinated screenshots of her extensive pet collection.

Feedback: Did you enjoy our 2012 April Fools' Day joke? Please take a few moments to share your comments: Send Feedback

Trick Out your Vanity Pets like Crazy in MoP!

Sun, 01 Apr 2012 07:30:00 EST

There were many new features released in the latest MoP beta build, but we saved the best for last!

We've found that various Pet Trainers have special items for sale that are just for companions. Show your pet some extra love by buying it awesome gear, a micropet, or even a stylish miniature mount!

"Bling" Out Your Pet
So far there are three types of items that Pet Trainers can sell. All items are Bind on Pick Up and are consumed when used (one time use). We currently don't know if these items will affect pet combat, but it's likely that they won't.

[Lil' Gear] - 500 per piece (3 piece set)
[Micropet] - 1,000 each
[Mini Mount] - 5,000 each

Dress Up Your Pets
There are three pieces in the Lil' Gear set: a Lil' Headpiece (shown below on the Baby Blizzard Bear), a Lil' Weapon, and Lil' Armor. We suspect that each of these can be used on any battle-ready companion. In the current build, the Lil' Armor and Lil' Weapon are bugged.

Once equipped, the gear may appear differently on certain pets. For example, the Lil' Headpiece appears as the fiercely adorable helmet on the Baby Blizzard Bear, yet when another Lil' Headpiece is used on the Spirit of Summer, it becomes a glowing set of antlers. Neat!

Pets... for Your Pets?!
Along with armor and weapons, the Pet Trainers also sell —get this— micropets for your minipets!

Yes, soon your companions can have miniature critters of their very own. These "micropets" vary from butterflies to tiny birds and many other uniquely modeled creatures. Some are even companion-specific, like mechanical cat toys for cats. One of the cutest micropets we've discovered so far is the Moonkin Hatchling's: it's an Eggling!

When selected, the micropet's name is shown and underneath it says "[Pet name's] Companion" — absolutely adorable!

Riding in Style
Last but not least, why not have your best little friend follow you around in true equestrian style? Buy them their very own mini mounts!

There are only a few choices at the moment, including lil'e raptors and lil' tigers, but we expect that more mount types will be added in the future. In the screenshot below, Murky and the Darkmoon Monkey strut around on their stylish new rides!

We're guessing that the Mini Mounts can be used by nearly all pets (at least those that can battle). Have you ever seen a snake on the back of a pony? Priceless!

How These Items Work
To equip your companion with an item, simply summon the pet you'd like accessorize and right click on the item. Clicking it will consume the item and your pet will have it automatically equipped upon its next summon.

Although Pet Battles have not been implemented on the beta, we were able to equip many of these items on various pets. We assume this was allowed for testing purposes, because hovering over each item shows a prerequisite for using it.

Tiny Items, Huge Prerequisites
While you may purchase these items for a modest amount of gold, each item has a steep prerequisite before it can be used with one of your pets.

WARNING: These prerequisites are not for the faint of heart...

Lil' Headpiece - companion must have 5,000 Pet Battle wins to equip
Lil' Armor - companion must have 7,500 Pet Battle wins to equip
Lil' Weapon - companion must have 10,000 Pet Battle wins to equip
Micropets - companion must have 25,000 Pet Battle wins to equip
Mini Mount - companion must have 50,000 Pet Battle wins to equip

We've done the math. It's going to take over 500 hours of pet battling to earn a single micropet and well over 1,000 hours to get a mini mount. But take heart — it will be a fun grind, right?

Right...?

*Ahem* So when you see anyone who's tricked out their companion even a little bit, you'll know that he or she is a true pet fanatic.

More To Come
Tomorrow we plan to have additional information and more screenshots of these special items, so be sure to check back then... on April 2^nd.

MoP Beta: Pet Journal and Account-Wide Collections

Fri, 30 Mar 2012 06:45:00 EST

In the latest beta patch, Blizzard released an incomplete (yet mostly functional) Pet Journal and implemented account-wide pet collections. Along with these new features, many wild pets were added to Kalimdor and even a few new ones appeared in the Eastern Kingdoms.

Pet Journal Preview
The Pet Journal lists all available companions with the ones you currently do not own greyed out. Each pet has its very own viewable stats and abilities window, as well as a preview of what the companion model looks like.

You can utilize the Pet Journal for creating and previewing your team of three battle pets by dragging and dropping your desired companions into the three slots as seen in the video below.

In addition to being an integral part of Pet Battles, the Pet Journal is also used as a "stable" for all of your companions, and you can access your pets on all characters through the new journal.

Account-Wide Pet Collections
This feature is now available for testing. Here's what we've discovered about Account-Wide Collections so far:

You can access all pets in your collection on any character, even those of the opposite faction. (This may or may not be intended.)
At the moment, you can access all pets cross server too.
Faction-specific pets do not automatically turn into the companion of the faction you're accessing it from. For example: An alliance balloon will not become a horde balloon. Instead you must collect and learn both to have both pets in your collection.
Duplicate pets across multiple toons are merged into a single instance of the pet which is accessible through the Pet Journal. For example: If you have a Perky Pug on two characters, you will not have two Perky Pugs in your collection. Only one will be available in the journal.

Wild Pets List Updated
The list of all the Eastern Kingdoms Wild Pets and their locations have been updated on our forums. A Kalimdor Wild Pets thread is also growing in size as more pets are being discovered!

There are still some zones that haven't been populated with wild companions yet, but we expect those areas to be overflowing with critters in a future beta build.

Also, don't miss out on the gigantic list of all the possible pets listed in the Pet Journal on our forums! Keep in mind that many of these listed companions will probably not make it into the release of MoP as true vanity pets. We'll have to wait and see which ones make the cut and which ones will continue to be unavailable to players.

We'll keep these threads updated as changes are made to the Pet Journal and as more wild pets are added with each beta patch. Be sure to follow WarcraftPets on Twitter and Facebook for more frequent updates, screenshots and video as we continue combing the MoP beta for new pet goodies!

MoP Beta: New Pets, Wild Pets and More

Wed, 28 Mar 2012 07:00:00 EST

UPDATE: Two new BoP pets were datamined from the latest beta patch, a Sapphire Cub and Jade Owl. How they will be obtained is still unknown. [source]

Additionally, the Pet Journal is now available in the beta! We'll have additional news on this feature very soon. For now, read about the highlights in our forum:

Nearly a week has passed since the start of the Mists of Pandaria Beta. Pet Battles, collecting wild pets, account wide pets, pet renaming, and the ability to trade/sell BoP pets have not been fully implemented for testing yet.

However, we've found some awesome goodies during our initial run on the testing servers!

New Pets
The Darkmoon Rabbit is a new BoU pet of epic quality that was datamined the very first day of MoP beta. It's unknown how players will be able to obtain this companion, but there is an achievement (That Rabbit's Dynamite!) that requires players to "Slay the ferocious Darkmoon Rabbit". This achievement does not have any rewards attached to it at the moment, but we're not ruling it out as being tied to the pet in some way.

Other than the Darkmoon Rabbit, Wowhead found 5 more new potential companions hiding in the beta! So far these pets only have spell IDs. [source]

Beaver Yearling
Porcupette
Raccoon Kit
Tiny Water Strider
Otter Pup

Wild Battle Pets
Another new feature is the ability to track wild pets on the minimap! All critters flagged as "Wild Battle Pets" will show up as orange bunnies on the minimap (pictured above).

We've started a long list of known Wild Battle Pets on our forums:

Wild Pets by Zone (Eastern Kingdoms) »

Many of the critters share similar models to existing companions, but there are a few new zone-specific ones such as the Tiny Bog Beast found in the Wetlands and the Tiny Harvester found in Westfall.

So far only the Eastern Kingdoms seem to have been populated with these critters, and we'll have to wait to see what types of pets Kalimdor will have to offer.

Along with being able to track them, a new cursor icon is displayed when hovering your mouse over the actual critter (video below). Rather than a sword icon, players will see a new crosshair. Players can still attack and kill these critters, however right and left clicking (with and without a companion pet out) while using the crosshair icon only yields an error message at the moment.

We assume that all of these Wild Battle Pets will be collectible after using companions to fight them. But we're not 100% sure since pet battling hasn't been implemented on the beta yet. We'll just have to wait and see!

Pet Classes and Battle Abilities
Pets will fall into one of 10 possible pet classes. Each pet class has its own strengths and weaknesses when up against certain other companion classes.

Beasts (Beast attacks deal bonus damage to Critter companions and less damage to Humanoid and Flying companions.)
Critters (Critter attacks deal bonus damage to Humanoid companions and less damage to Beast and Flying companions.)
Dragons (Dragon attacks deal bonus damage to Flying companions and less damage to Water and Dragon companions.)
Flying (Flying attacks deal bonus damage to Mythical companions and less damage to Dragon and Flying companions.)
Mechanical (Mechanical attacks deal bonus damage to Humanoid companions and less damage to Mechanical and Water companions.)
Mythical (Mystical attacks deal bonus damage to Dragons and less damage to Animal and Mechanical companions.)
Water (Water attacks deal bonus damage to Mechanical and Dragon companions and less damage to Water and Humanoid companions.)
Elemental (no info yet)
Humanoid (no info yet)
Undead (no info yet)

Although Pet Battles aren't ready for testing yet, Wowhead has organized a list of possible spells and abilities for each class of battle-ready companions.

Pet Battles Achievements Tab

Lastly, there is a new Pet Battles tab in the achievement window, but it currently does not have any specific achievements listed. We expect this tab will be populated with interesting and fun Pet Battle goals in a future beta build.

More to Come...
It's still very early in the testing phase and much of the new Pet Battle content is unavailable, so many things could change. We'll be keeping a close eye on the wild pets as well as the other anticipated features. Be sure to check back for more beta updates!

MoP Beta has Begun!

Thu, 22 Mar 2012 00:25:00 EST

The first of many waves of invites for the Mists of Pandaria Beta have been sent out. However, we'd like to remind everyone to be wary of phishing attempts on your account. Hackers are more prevalent than ever and phishing emails can look very close to the real thing.

Here are some important tips from Blizzard on how to safely check if you have been sent a legitimate MoP beta invite:

How will I know if I’m selected?
We [Blizzard] will send you an email letting you know when you’re selected, but please be aware of phishing attempts. Some unscrupulous individuals send out falsified emails purporting to be from Blizzard, but are in fact meant to steal your login credentials. For more information on how to identify these emails please refer to our Battle.net Security site. One easy way to ensure your invite is legit is to avoid clicking on links in any invite emails you receive, and instead log in to your Battle.net account and see if you have a Mists of Pandaria beta license attached. If there’s no license, you can be sure the email you received was not from Blizzard. [source]

Attach an Authenticator: Get a Core Hound Pup!
Don't forget that along with practicing safe web browsing you can also attach an authenticator to your WoW account for added protection. Attaching a mobile or physical authenticator to your account will also award you with an adorable Core Hound Pup! What better way to protect your account than with the help of a fiercely loyal core hound?

With the beta starting you can expect some new companion pet news coming soon. Feel free to follow @WarcraftPets on Twitter and check our Facebook page for periodic updates as well!

Raising and Selling Companions In MoP

Wed, 21 Mar 2012 07:00:00 EST

Raising Your Own Companion
There aren't many details about this possible feature, however developers are considering allowing players to "grow" their own companions on the personal farms a la FarmVille style.

"Among the possible things you can work your green thumbs on are herbalism nodes, cooking ingredients, gifts for different NPCs that’ll raise your reputation with their faction, and non-combat pets." [source]

Selling and Buying Minipets
While it wasn't mentioned or confirmed during the Mists of Pandaria Press Tour, according to Bashiok's recent blog post, trading and selling leveled up companions may still be a planned feature for the upcoming expansion.

"I wasn’t a very avid pet collector before, but after battling some of my friends (and seeing how much some of the trained pets sell for on the auction house) my interest has definitely skyrocketed." [source]

Bashiok also hints at a new faction currency, Craftsman tokens, that can be used to buy faction items such as toys and vanity pets.

So put your farm hats on and be ready to haggle out prices with the locals and fellow pet collectors alike!

Mists of Pandaria: Press Tour Pet News

Mon, 19 Mar 2012 07:00:00 EST

Feeling a bit overwhelmed with all the information that was recently released about MoP? Curious about just the minipets and Pet Battles?

Well we've sifted through the walls of text and have all the pet-related news, just for you!

MoP Mini-Pet Updates

There will be about 100 wild pets from all over Azeroth to collect!
Account wide pets have been confirmed. All your characters will have access to all of your pets. This will cut down on switching between characters to level up a certain pet.
The pet UI will be updated to show you a list of all the pets you currently have and the pets that you don't have. In the case of the companions that you're missing, it will show you where to find those pets.
The pets that you own will have a corresponding "pet card" that will show all the information about said pet. Such information includes mini-pet health, level, attack, defense and movement speed values.
You will be able to rename all of your companions.
Developers are considering allowing players to grow their own mini-pets on personal farms within the Valley of the Four Winds. [source]

Pet Battles

Each mini-pet will have 6 abilities that players can choose pre-battle. Much like player leveling, as your companion levels up it will unlock more abilities. Also like a player talent tree, you can only choose one ability per row of talents for your pet.
Entering into a Pet Battle, you will see your opponent and the three pets you will be fighting against, but you will NOT see your opponent's name or be able to communicate with them.
While in a Pet Battle, you will be able to switch between the three pets you've chosen to fight, and they will dutifully run up to your opponent's pet to attack it.
Pets have four stats: health, attack, defense, and movement, which acts like an initiative roll, deciding who attacks first.
Challenging another player in the open world will switch you into a unique zoomed in view. Once combat is over it will return you to a normal gameplay camera view.
In addition to being able to queue into a queuing system and duel other players in the open world, there will be NPCs and critters that you can enter combat with to help level your mini-pets.
Unlike PVP, your Pet Battles stats will only show you how many games you've won. Information on losses will not be available.
Pet Battles using smartphone apps (World of Warcraft Remote) is something that Blizzard would like to implement someday.

There are still many questions left unanswered, such as will account wide pets allow access to cross faction companions? Is trading/selling leveled up BoP mini-pets still on the table for MoP? Information on how collecting a wild pet will work is still unknown as well.

We hope to bring you additional details about these topics, as well as further previews of Pet Battles in the near future, so stay tuned!

World of Petcraft #18

Sun, 04 Mar 2012 05:41:00 EST

Armory Bug: Darkmoon Balloon

Sat, 18 Feb 2012 09:32:00 EST

Currently the Companions & Mounts section of the WoW Armory is missing the Darkmoon Balloon, so it is not automatically being added to WarcraftPets member collections when using our Armory Import feature. Users who have acquired this pet will need to manually add it to their collections until the bug is resolved on Blizzard's end.

Also please be aware that pet collection numbers might be off by one when comparing a WarcraftPets collection to the stats in the character's armory profile, and keep this in mind before hastily reporting a false collection.

Thank you for your patience and cooperation, and we're sorry for the inconvenience this may cause. We hope the armory will be updated with the Darkmoon Balloon soon!

Withers Currently Bugged

Sun, 12 Feb 2012 14:55:00 EST

It's been brought to our attention that Withers is currently bugged. This pet is not responding to nearby water sources and regrowing to its full size as intended.

Get Well Soon Withers!
It appears that the bug was first reported back in December 2011, and although there hasn't been any official comment or word from Blizzard about the status of Withers, we remain hopeful and confident that developers are aware of this companion's ailment and that it will be addressed in a future patch.

Diablo 3 Release Date Delayed

Fri, 10 Feb 2012 00:00:00 EST

In the latest Quarter 4 Activision Blizzard Conference Call, Blizzard announced a tentative release time frame for Diablo 3. [source]

We've only ever said "early 2012". And we just decided we'd need until Q2 this week.

According to Diablofans.com, Quarter 2 (of 2012) places a possible release date sometime between April and June.

Collector's Edition Redeemable Pet
So how is this relevant to vanity pets in World of Warcraft? It was officially announced at Blizzcon 2011 that a WoW redeemable in-game mini-pet, the Fetish Shaman, would be part of the D3 Collector's Edition package!

For those eager to get a preview of this pet, MMO Champion has posted a video of the Fetish Shaman in action:

Keep in mind only a limited number of CE D3 games will be sold. To find out if pre-orders for the Collector's Edition are still available, inquire with a local video game shop or an online store such as Gamestop or Amazon.

So if you're a Diablo fan or only interested in adding the Fetish Shaman to your pet collection, keep your eyes peeled for a D3 release date! Hopefully it will be announced Soon™.

World of Petcraft #17

Sun, 05 Feb 2012 12:23:00 EST

Pet Battle Contest Winners

Fri, 03 Feb 2012 08:19:00 EST

Thanks again to everyone who participated in our Pet Battle Contest. We received nearly 250 submissions and so many of them were fantastic! We had a lot of fun playing and reviewing your pet battles.

Choosing the Winners
As was stated in the contest details, we choose ten (10) entries at random to be judged. We then reviewed those ten and chose a 1st place winner, 2nd place winner, and 3rd place winner based primarily on originality and creativity.

So without further ado, here are our winners!

1st Place: Drahken for Darkmoon Tonk vs Armadillo Pup vs Ghostly Skull
2nd Place: Furkel for Deathy vs Darkmoon Monkey vs Peddlefeet
3rd Place: Ghatanothoa for Worg Pup vs Fossilized Hatchling vs Argent Squire

Our seven random runners up are Licus, Matsumi, Mythmage, Orindal, Soadfreak, Tatou and Zarhan.

Congratulations to all of you! If you're one of our winners or a runner up, you'll be contacted via email to receive your prizes. If you don't receive an email within the next 24 hours, check your spam folder or feel free to contact us.

We hope everyone continues to enjoy our Pet Battle Mini-Game and creation tool. Our thanks to Weena for doing such an excellent job creating the game and interface.