October 2011   « Archives | Current News »

It was mentioned before that the Winter Helper companions have been updated with new animations. Along with learning new tricks, these feisty Helpers have some new cheeky comments to say when summoned outside the Winter Veil holiday.

They Say the Darnedest Things
These little gnomes are pretty upset when pulled away from their work and preparations for the upcoming Winter Veil event, so players will hear an earful when bringing these mini-pets out to play!

Both Winter's Little Helper and Father Winter's Helper will randomly make a remark from a small selection of 8 possible comments when summoned during non-Winter Veil days:

• Does it LOOK like the Feast of Winter Veil to you? Colored lights, decorations? No? Well, you know who has to MAKE all that stuff, right?!
• What the-? AGAIN?! Look, [class]. As much as I'd like to watch you punch monsters or mouthbreathe at the auction house or WHATEVER it is you do all year, I've got WORK to do.
• Look, [class]. Here's the thing. Toys and lights and bundles of holiday herbs don't make THEMSELVES, you know. So ENOUGH with the helper summoning, PLEASE.
• We'll need twenty thousand more cog wheels, and another... hey! You can't just summon me away like that!
• It's not Winter Veil yet, you know. I have WORK to do!
• What the-?! Why did you-?! I have TOYS to make!
• Whoah! Where's the workshop?! Summon me up a little later in the year, all right?
• So, did you hear about Helper 432-A? I heard that... what the-? HEY! We Helpers have WORK to do, you know!

Check out Wowhead News for screenshots of these sassy updated Helpers in action!

Once again we've partnered with WoWTCGLoot to bring you another great vanity pet loot pre-sale!

The Purple Puffer is the new Throne of the Tides common loot featuring a completely unique model: a puffer fish in a bubble which floats at your side. The TCG expansion is due out in stores October 11th (next Tuesday).

Why Pre-Order the Purple Puffer?
In addition to being one of the first players on your server to be followed around by a fish in a bubble, here are three more reasons to order today:

1. Rare Pet Loot Prize - Everyone who pre-orders a Purple Puffer will be entered into a random drawing to win a rare [Soul-Trader Beacon].
2. Orders Support WarcraftPets - What can be better than adding another easy-to-get pet to your collection? Helping your favorite pet collection website! A percentage of every pre-order helps support our site.
3. Limited Supply - We have a limited supply of loot codes available for preorder on a first-come, first-serve basis. Order today to secure your new pet and your entry in the Ethereal Soul-Trader loot giveaway before supplies run out!

The pre-sale will run through Tuesday, October 11, 2011. If you have any questions regarding the pre-sale or loot giveaway, please contact WoWTCGLoot.

NOTE: It's possible that the Purple Puffer may not be redeemable until patch 4.3 goes live. However, Cryptozoic (the game manufacturer) is doing what they can to prevent the loots from being delayed until then.

Happy collecting, and good luck!

Wowheadnews has a few lovely 3D model previews of a few pets that were datamined from the 4.3 PTR. The previews include the Sand Scarab, the Lunar Lantern (alliance), the Festival Lantern (horde), and last but not least... a "Chromatic Dragon Pet"! [source]

Chromatic Dragon Pet
Information on this curious mini-pet is next to none at the moment. This mysterious companion doesn't even have any distinguishable spell or item IDs yet.

Wowheadnews speculates that it will be the unlock-able guild reward for completing the 4.3 legendary weapon guild achievement, but until Blizzard is willing to offer up more details about the legendary quest chain and possible rewards, we'll just have to wait and see!

At long last, the adorable mini-pet version of the Winged Guardian will make its official appearance in the Blizzard PetStore in the coming weeks! Much like the other PetStore companions, the Guardian Cub will cost $10 (USD), however there are a few factors that will make this cub different in its use. [source]

In-Game Tradable PetStore Companion
Unlike previous mini-pets from the official Blizzard PetStore, the Guardian Cub will be the first PetStore pet that is tradable between characters in-game (after a short cool-down period). Blizzard has also announced that players who purchase this pet will be able to sell the companion item on the Auction House. This means players will have the option of purchasing the Guardian Cub for one of their characters using either real life money or in-game currency.

Because of these unique factors, this pet item will have a one time use per character (single-use), and upon adding the Guardian Cub to your collection the item will disappear from your inventory. You can, however, hold more than one Guardian Cub item in your inventory at any given time.

For more detailed information on this unique bundle of cuteness, check out the official Guardian Cub sneak peek link above! We'll be adding the cub's pet profile to WarcraftPets soon, so check back in the coming weeks.

The TCG expansion deck, Throne of the Tides, was officially released this week, and with it came the Purple Puffer mini-pet. Unfortunately, players will not be able to redeem their loot codes for this companion until patch 4.3 goes live. This was confirmed by a blue poster earlier this evening. [source]

The items awarded from the latest TCG loot cards will be added to the game with the release of patch 4.3, so they can't be redeemed before the items exist.

We will add the Purple Puffer's pet profile to WarcraftPets after it is released in patch 4.3, so hang in there and stay tuned!

Enjoy our monthly web comic created for WoW pet collectors! We feature a new World of Petcraft strip on the first Sunday of each month. We're a little late this month — sorry!



About the Artist
Meaghan McLaughlin is an aspiring artist and the author of "Nerds Illustrated." You can enjoy more of her work here.

Two pets that were datamined in 4.2 have finally made their appearance! The Creepy Crate and Feline Familiar are two new companions that are available during this year's Hallow's End in-game event. [source]

Obtaining the Two New Pets
The Creepy Crate is a reward after completing a short quest chain (starts with Missing Heirlooms) that is obtainable from a NPC located in the Stormwind Trade District Inn and Orgrimmar Valley of Strength Inn. Upon closer inspection at the preview shown on MMO-Champion, this crate truly is creepy (and apparently hungry)!

The Feline Familiar can be purchased from the Hallow's End vendors. This witch hat-wearing, broom-riding kitty will cost 150 Tricky Treats. The treats can be obtained through the pumpkins at friendly inns as well as Hallow's End quests and dailies. Be sure to save up those candies since there are quite a few new treats being sold during this in-game holiday!

If you are attending Blizzcon this year, we have some special pet collector goodies and possible giveaways for you!

WarcraftPet's Meet-and-Greet!
The entire WarcraftPets admin team will be holding a casual and fun Meet-and-Greet at Blizzcon 2011. Come socialize with Breanni (Brian), Doobjanka (Curtis), Weena (James), and Quintessence (Amanda), as well as other fellow WarcraftPets community members and pet collectors. Our good friend from WoWTCGLoot.com, Steve, will also be joining us in the festivities. Add your WarcraftPets username to our sign-in sheet for a chance to receive some cool loot giveaways!

Our meet up is tentatively scheduled, but be sure to follow our Twitter just in case there are any last minute changes or announcements.

WHEN:  Friday, 4-5 PM
WHERE:  Realm Meetings section
LOOK FOR:  A WarcraftPets sign / admins wearing white WarcraftPets T-shirts

Everyone is welcome to stop by and say hello! We look forward to meeting you and putting a face with the username.

New BlizzCon FigurePet: Deathy
Much like last year's Blizzcon, this year FigurePrints will be presenting a new FigurePet. This year's feature figurine will be Deathy, a must have to add to any FigurePets collection, but supplies are limited so get him while he's "hot"! If you're attending BlizzCon, visit FigurePrints booth to purchase your Deathy FigurePet. If you've purchased the live stream, you might still be able to acquire him from the online BlizzCon store.

We look forward to seeing you at BlizzCon!

Today Blizzard revealed the next WoW expansion, Mists of Pandaria. A new playable race (Pandaren); new class (Monk); new level cap (90). But the news for pet collectors is utterly MIND-BLOWING...

Pets Will Battle à la Pokémon
In addition to the promise of TONS of new pets to collect, Blizzard has announced that companions will actually be able to LEVEL and FIGHT in the upcoming expansion. Players will even be able to customize their vanity pets with their own names, battle abilities, and items that will increase their pet's stats. All we can say is WOW!!!

Here are some highlights:

• The battle system will work with most existing pets
• There will be new wild pets to collect
• The UI will include a "Pet Journal" which will tell you about every pet you can collect and where/how to find them (we hope you'll still drop by your favorite wow pet site )
• Many pets will become tradable (we're not sure how this will work yet)
• Pets will become account-wide (Yes — this is HUGE NEWS!)
• Pets win battles to earn experience and new abilities
• Create combat builds for each of your pets
• Level multiple pets to build your own fighting pet teams (teams are comprised of 3 pets)
• There will be both PvE & PvP battles
• Combat will be simple and turn-based
• There will be a queuing system to set up pet battles anytime
• Your characters will be able to learn "Master Abilities" to improve the combat bonuses of their pets

Again... WOW! This is COLOSSAL news for all of us pet collectors. We'll have additional news and some screenshots following BlizzCon, so check back early next week.

What all this means for the future of WoW pet collecting and WarcraftPets is unclear. But rest assured, we'll continue to be THE place to go for all of your pet collecting (and pet battling?) needs!

P.S. Want to talk more about this incredible news and get some cool pet loot to boot? Join us for our BlizzCon Meet-and-Greet at 4-5pm upstairs in Rm 204 (the Realm Meet-Up area). We'd love to see you in person.

BlizzCon 2011 has come and gone. Our team had a blast at the show and we're all stoked for the next expansion. With so much love coming to us pet collectors, who isn't?

Thanks for Stopping By!
We'd like to thank everyone who stopped by to hang with us at this year's Meet-and-Greet. We were happy to share some pet biscuits with the 50+ pet collectors who attended (courtesy of WoWTCGLoot).

Those of you who signed in with a valid WarcraftPets username will be included in a random drawing for some extra loot. The grand prize winner will receive none other than Bananas and the runner up will win an Epic Purple Shirt! Check out our Facebook and Twitter feeds in the days ahead for the winners.

BlizzCon 2011 Album
We've posted several BlizzCon pictures to Facebook (take a look!). We have some additional shots from the opening ceremony announcement of battling pets. We also have a few shots from the Meet-and-Greet and our annual Admin dinner.

Diablo 3 Collector's Edition Pet
The Diablo 3 Collector's Edition was announced during Blizzcon, but the announcement was unfortunately overshadowed by the huge news of the new pet battles coming in Mists of Pandaria. As many Diablo fans have already guessed, the World of Warcraft in-game redeemable item from the Collector's Edition of D3 will indeed be the Fetish Shaman.

This fierce looking companion can already be found in the 4.3 PTR datafiles, and will be Bind on Battle.net account.

It's likely only a limited number of D3 Collector's Edition copies will be sold, so keep an eye out for presales for the CE version of the game!

Soul of the Aspects
MMO-Champion did some digging within the latest PTR build and found yet another new pet — Soul of the Aspects. [source]

There's no information on where this companion will come from or how it will be obtained, however its item's icon has some striking similarities to the "Chromatic Dragon Pet" that can be previewed (in 3D even!) on Wowheadnews.

The Soul of the Aspects pet is currently listed as a Bind on Pick Up, blue quality (rare) item. Hopefully we'll have more information and a preview of this companion pet in the near future.

Blizzard recently held a Mists of Pandaria developer Q&A session. While most of the questions asked weren't pet-related, there were a few hidden gems concerning the upcoming pet battling feature.

Here's a summary of the pet-related Q&A, but check out Wowheadnews for the full transcript:

• Developers hope to implement experience gain from pet battles. Not enough to level just by participating in battles, but enough so players feel rewarded.
• Players will be able to toggle pet battle duel invites on and off just like normal duel invites.
• Players will be able to duel other players in pet battles, but there will also be a queuing system in which players can pet battle/duel other trainers of similar level.
• Pet battle combat = "simple combat system with some engaging depth."
• Possible pet battle spectating mode.
• Grasshopper pet is in the works for MoP!

Keep in mind that all of this is subject to change as developers continue working on the next expansion and the pet battle feature. We hope to hear more about the MoP pet battles and companion pets in general soon!