March 2011   « Archives | Current News »

UPDATE: The Little Snail that was previously datamined has been renamed Scooter the Snail according to MMO-Champion's latest PTR notes. Scooter is currently listed as a reward from a Children's Week quest.

Lashtail Hatchling Added
MMO-Champion is reporting another new pet for us from the latest PTR update: Lashtail Hatchling has been added to the game.

If the name seems familiar, it is because the Lashtail Hatchling is currently a quest item for an amusing Horde and Alliance quest chain in Stranglethorn Vale. On live servers it is currently not a true vanity pet. However, with the addition of this item as a trainable spell in 4.1, it looks as though players will be able to keep an adorable little Lashtail Hatchling of their very own.

Hopefully we'll have more information on where and how this pet may be obtained soon, so 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.




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

The NPC that sells the Winterspring Cub on the PTR, Michelle De Rum, has a strikingly familiar name, doesn't she? Well if you have a strong sense of deja vu when it comes to this uniquely named NPC, it's because she's the namesake of one of the pet collecting community's most prominent collectors: Drrum!

About Drrum
Michelle (aka Drrum) is a long-time WarcraftPets MVP and pet collector. She maintains an awe-inspiring gallery of all her super sized non-combat pets and matching outfits, and was featured on WoW Insider's '15 Minutes of Fame' in October of 2010. According to Drrum's website, she accredits both WarcraftPets and WoW Insider's article for popularizing her gallery. And popular it must be, as it seems to have caught the eyes of Blizzard!

A Nod In the Right Direction
I can think of no one better suited to join the ranks of Breanni in becoming a NPC. Drrum's gallery is not only beautiful, it's inspiring to pet collectors and all WoW players. It shows that a little bit of patience and creativity can go a long way.

With this in-game tribute, the time, energy and dedication spent on her collection will be forever and appropriately immortalized. Not only will Drrum's namesake look like her character, this NPC even has a 'Drrum-approved' matching outfit that coordinates perfectly with her frostsaber cubs.

Patch 4.1 will be bringing pet collectors new achievements as well as a few new pets, but it looks like there will be changes and updates to older companions as well.

New Pet Sounds
Currently there are many companions on live servers who do not have any on-click vocalizations. However, there is a list on the Petopia Forums of vanity pets who have suddenly found their voices on the PTR. It will be interesting to see if these new pet sounds go live. I'd love to hear my Cockatiel finally make some chirping noises. For a bird, he's way too quiet!

Zul'Aman Change and Mojo
With the changes to Zul'Aman, many collectors are wondering if Mojo will still be available post-patch 4.1. At the moment there aren't any clear answers as to where and how Mojo will be acquired after 4.1 goes live. If you are seeking to solo-farm Mojo, now would definitely be the time to head out to Zul'Aman and pick him up.

We don't anticipate Blizzard removing Mojo completely, as they have shown their commitment and desire to keep the old school minipets in-game. However, much like a few companions were displaced during the old world revamp, we may have to simply wait for Mojo to be relocated if he's not found within the updated Zul'Aman instance post-patch.

UPDATE: Companions will also stay summoned through (most) zone changes, such as entering or exiting a dungeon.

The PTR has revealed yet another interesting change for companion pets. If a player logs out while a vanity pet is summoned, that same companion will already be summoned and present when the player logs back in on that character.

This seems to work for all non-combat pets, and is not restricted by any time duration. A player may be logged out for any number of hours or days, and as long as they had a pet summoned prior to logging out, that same companion will be there upon log in. Talk about "through thick and thin!" Or in this case, "through log out and log in."

Working As Intended?
Although this may be a neat feature on the PTR, we aren't certain if this is a bug or that this change to vanity pets will go live when patch 4.1 comes out. It's definitely something to be on the look out for in the future, though!

Legs: A Children's Week Reward
It was discovered earlier this month that Scooter the snail was added as a reward for the Stormwind and Orgrimmar Children's Week quest chain. Many wondered if any other orphan quest chains would receive a new companion reward as well.

The answer is: YES! Wowhead is now listing Legs as a reward for completing the Shattrath Children's Week quest.

It's unclear what type of pet Legs will be, however due to its item icon as well as its name, some have guessed that it might be a baby spore walker. We will have to wait until Children's Week to find out for sure!

At the moment, the Northrend orphan quest is unchanged. We are hoping for the best and that the bug preventing players from completing the chain (and ultimately adopting their second Northrend orphan) will be fixed for this year's in-game event.

Panther Cub Found
The Panther Cub's location has been discovered on the PTR. Currently, it is a reward from a quest found within the new Zul'Gurub quest chain.

The chain begins in Stormwind and Orgrimmar and will lead you into Stranglethorn Vale to hunt down Mauti, a black panther. You won't need to complete the full quest chain to acquire the pet, but you will need to complete the pre-requisite quests leading up to it.

Official Companion Preview
Blizzard released an official 4.1 preview. Included in their preview is an image of a few of the new upcoming companions. It features (from left to right) the Lashtail Hatchling, Nightsaber Cub, Winterspring Cub, Panther Cub, and Legs. With this image, it seems safe to say that legs will indeed be a baby spore walker.

3 More New Pets!
MMO-Champion has found three new pets in the most recent PTR build!

• Pterrordax Hatchling
• Voodoo Figurine
• Guardian Cub

There's currently limited information on how any of these companions will be obtained. However, the datamined summoning spells for both the Pterrordax and Voodoo pets have similar flavor text descriptions as other rare archaeology items, and may hint that these two will be discovered through this secondary profession (probably through the fossil and troll archaelogy branch). We will have to wait and see!

The latest patch notes for the PTR announced that a fix for the United Nations guild achievement would be implemented with Patch 4.1:

The guild achievements for earning exalted reputation with factions (Ambassador, Diplomacy, and United Nations) have been fixed to now correctly count cumulative guild members with exalted factions. Previously, these achievements would only count exalted factions on one guild member.

This fix is wonderful news for afflicted guilds, as many will be able to complete United Nations post-patch and unlock the Dark Phoenix Hatchling guild vendor reward!