April 2011   « Archives | Current News »

Blizzard has surprised us yet again with more changes for companion pets in 4.1, and these changes are BIG!

Do you remember the old loyalty system for tamed hunter pets? Pets that were cared for gained loyalty and those that were neglected eventually abandoned their masters.

Well, if you've been craving a reward system for offering love and affection to your vanity pets, it's finally here! This new system is sure to distinguish the hardcore pet enthusiasts from the casual.

How Companions Earn Loyalty
Unlike Hunter pets that required a steady diet of specific foods and constant companionship, companions earn loyalty a little differently. To max out the loyalty for each of your companions, you can use emotes like /hug and /pet, as well as pet supplies — finally a good use for those Happy Pet Snacks!

We're still testing the numbers on the PTR, but so far it looks like pets earn more loyalty from pet snacks and playing fetch than from simple emotes. Play fetch or groom your companion and you'll nearly max out its loyalty. In comparison, you'd have to perform several different emotes to earn the same amount of loyalty. And with diminishing returns on said emotes, this can be a bit tedious.

The Companion Loyalty UI
The new UI shows your companions' loyalty levels under the companions tab of your spellbook. Each companion now shows a loyalty bar beneath its name. When you select a pet, you can see its loyalty level as a percentage.



Losing Loyalty
Your currently summoned companion loses a full bar of loyalty after roughly an hour of play. But giving it a /hug or a /love emote every few minutes will keep it in the green.

Unsummoned companions lose loyalty too, but at a much slower rate. It may take 8-10 hours before a companion drops into the red. But it's important to keep track of all of your companions and max out their loyalty levels whenever you have a chance. For those of you with larger collections, this could take a while.

Be Kind to Your Companions, Or Else...
So what happens when a pet's loyalty level drops to zero? I decided to test this out on my Moonkin Hatchling. No matter how attention-deprived it got, I simply ignored it and went about my usual business. Much like the neglected hunter pets of yore, when my Moonkin's loyalty level dropped to zero, I received the following message:

Your Moonkin Hatchling has run away. You have unlearned Moonkin Hatchling.

I immediately checked my spellbook.

Yep — it was gone.

I know some of you will be disappointed by this change. But there is a bright side: You can enjoy the process of farming and collecting your pets all over again! And next time, you'll probably take much better care of them too.

Loyalty Emotes and Pet Accessories
To prepare for 4.1, we've begun compiling a list of emotes and pet accessories that boost companion loyalty. If you don't want to lose any of your beloved pets, make sure you study this list well!

List of Loyalty Emotes and Pet Accessories »

IMPORTANT!
We've received some feedback (more like rants) about the new companion loyalty system coming in 4.1. For those of you who are worried about losing any of your pets, we have some important follow-up news.

Check the date of the story. Then click this link and scroll down.

'Nuff said.

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.

Happy Birthday to Us!
Today WarcraftPets celebrates its fourth anniversary! It's hard to believe that four years have already passed since the day WarcraftPets.com first came online. Back then, we were just a database site with a few guides and a small group of devoted followers. And today we're the #1 site for collectors of WoW companion pets!

It's been an exciting journey for all of us, but we wouldn't be here without you, WoW's best fansite community, bar none.

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

• The addition of more than 30 new companions added to our database
• An official addon for our site, WarcraftPets Express, to easily port your in-game collection to WarcraftPets
• World of Petcraft, our monthly comic dedicated to WoW companion collectors
• Our 2010 BlizzCon Meet and Greet
• A more streamlined pet collecting UI
• A hugely successful fundraising drive (thanks to all of you!)
• And most recently, our best April Fools' prank yet!

Our Continued Thanks
Thanks again to all of you for your support over the years, especially our Site MVPs who've been our biggest supporters time and again.

In the coming months, we've got even more in store for you. Patch 4.1 (coming very soon) brings with it more than 10 more new pets. Plus, it won't be long before we launch big updates to the site allowing users to track collections on multiple toons with a single account. And another contest is on the way too, so keep your eyes peeled!

To each and every one of you: Happy Collecting!

UPDATE: According to a clarification post, the Call to Arms goodie bag (Satchel of Exotic Mysteries) will be Bind on Account.

Blizzard announced that a new feature will be introduced in the upcoming patch 4.1, Dungeon Finder: Call to Arms.

In a Nutshell
This system is intended to help shorten level 85 heroic five-man queue times by rewarding players who take on roles that are least represented in the random dungeon finder. If eligible for the additional rewards, players will receive a goodie bag containing gold, gems, and possibly a vanity pet or even a rare mount.

"The pets offered come from a wide variety of sources, and include companions like the Razzashi Hatchling, Cockatiel, and Tiny Sporebat"

Only three pets have been announced as potential drops from the reward bag so far, but there are likely to be other companions in the loot table.

How to Qualify
To be eligible for the extra rewards and a chance at a vanity item, players will need to solo-queue as the role that is currently Called to Arms for a random level 85 five-man heroic dungeon, and kill the final boss of the instance. The random dungeon finder will announce which role (tanking, healing or DPS) qualifies for the goodie bag.

There is currently no cap or limit to how many times a player can qualify for the additional rewards each day. This potentially means another method of grinding or farming for a desired pet (albeit quite random) while working towards gearing up and experiencing five-mans at the same time!

In Blizzard's latest "Ask the Devs" segment, developers covered questions regarding achievements. Luckily for us, the question on every pet collector's mind, 'will there be a companion reward for the upcoming 4.1 pet achievements?' was answered!

A: Patch 4.1 has achievements for 100 and 125 companions. Those particular achievements don’t reward pets, but we’ll probably do another reward at some tier in the future, perhaps 150 or 200 pets.

While it's disappointing that there won't be any new pets tied with the 100 and 125 pet achievements, it's great to hear that there are indeed plans for future pet achievement tiers with possible rewards.

Due to the upcoming Zul'Aman changes, the whereabouts of Mojo post-patch were unclear. Thankfully, after some recent PTR testing, it was discovered that the Hex Stick, necessary to "discover" the companion, will continue to drop off of trash mobs even in the heroic five-man version of this dungeon. This is a strong indicator that Mojo will still drop from ZA.

Zul'Aman Changes
Players should note, however, that a large number of trash groups in Zul'Aman have been removed, possibly making the Hex Sticks a rarer drop. Mobs will also be level 85 elites, making it extremely difficult for players to solo-farm for Mojo.

Silver Lining
On the plus side, players are still able to trade the Hex Sticks with other players. Also, unlike before, the item seems to persist through zoning out of the instance. Whether or not this change will occur on live servers and impact the way Hex Sticks can be obtained is yet to be known.

Nope, no patch today.

But our friends at The Open Ticket did publish a humorous little post that's worth a look. This time they're having a bit of fun with vanity pets sold by the Blizzard Store...

Because anyone that pays $10 for a tiny pet will pay $20 for an even tinier pet.

Of course, none of these pets are real, but the laughs you enjoy will be.

Cute Over-Download »

We've partnered with WoWTCGLoot to bring you another great vanity pet pre-sale! Landro's Lichling (same skin as Lil' K.T.) is the new War of the Elements common loot that will be in stores beginning on Tuesday, April 26th. But why wait?

3 Reasons to Pre-Order Landro's Lichling
Pre-order now through Tuesday using the button at left (or this link), and not only will you receive Landro's Lichling, but here are three more excellent reasons to order today:

1. Amazing Loot Giveaway - Everyone who pre-orders will be eligible for a special loot giveaway. Prizes include:
   
   
   • [Mottled Drake]
   • [Soul-Trader Beacon]
   • [Spectral Tiger Cub]
   • [Banana Charm]
   • [Landro's Pet Box] x3
   
   
   How it works: After the 26th of April, WoWTCGLoot will randomly contact one purchaser who will have first pick of one of the above prizes. They'll continue to randomly select pre-order purchasers who will continue to choose one of the remaining loots. This will continue until all loots are claimed.
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 less than 400 codes available to collectors on a first-come, first-serve basis. Order today to secure your eligibility for the Loot Giveaway mentioned above. Plus you'll be able to redeem your Lichling the moment it becomes available in-game.

If you have any questions regarding the pre-sale or WoWTCGLoot's special giveaway, please contact WoWTCGLoot directly. Good luck!

The much anticipated Patch 4.1 is finally here, and just in time for Children's Week!

4.1 Patch Notes for Pet Collectors
In case you missed them, here's a list of notable companion pet updates, changes and additions for 4.1.

• 8 new pets have arrived!
• Two new pet achievement tiers have been added: Petting Zoo and Menagerie.
• Two new Archaeology pets have been added: Pterrordax Hatchling (fossil branch) and Voodoo Figurine (troll branch).
• Two new Children's Week quest rewards have been added: Scooter the Snail (Stormwind and Orgrimmar reward) and Legs (Shattrath reward). Note: These pets will not be replacing any of the previously awarded companions. You will still be able to select pre-existing pets as your reward if you have not already chosen them.
• A new Trading Card Game common loot card is now redeemable in-game: Landro's Lichling.
• UPDATE: The United Nations achievement is, unfortunately, still bugged.
• Zul'Aman has been revamped as a heroic 5-man dungeon. Mojo still drops from the instance, however solo-farming might be extremely difficult, if not impossible.
• A new Call to Arms system has been added to the Random Dungeon Finder. Utilizing this feature could yield a vanity pet reward in the Satchel of Exotic Mysteries.
• 
  Blizzard has added an in-game tribute to Drrum, who's NPC namesake sells the Winterspring Cub. To celebrate this honor, Drrum has launched a WoW-related blog where she's running a super-fun Egg Hunt Contest with rare TCG loot card prizes! For details on how to enter, visit Drrum's new blog. Good luck!
• Summoned companions persist through most zoning as well as logging in and out.
• A few pets previously labeled as "Account Bound" have become "Battle.net Account Bound", making it possible to send certain companions across accounts as long as they are under the same Battle.net Account. Note: Players will still need to pay to server transfer characters on a single WoW account to send Battle.net Account Bound pets to characters on another server.
• The Crawling Claw has become Bind on Pick Up (previously Bind on Account).
• New vocalizations have been added to some older pets that previously did not have any on-click sounds.
• Many pets that previously only hovered alongside players have finally learned how to fly!
• Withers and the Teldrassil Sproutling have had their models fixed and no longer look like standard treants.

Whew, what a list! We hope that you're as excited about all the new companions as we are. So what are you waiting for? Patch 4.1 beckons!

As always, if you find a change or update that we may have missed or something in need of a correction, please contact us.

Blizzard has already begun to release information and previews of the next large content patch, 4.2. Within the latest updates, they announced that upon completion of a new legendary staff, the entire guild will be awarded with a non-combat pet.

"Those who complete the staff won’t be the only ones to receive a reward, though. As this task requires the dedication of an entire guild, upon completion of the staff all guild members will receive a unique non-combat pet to call their own."

A Different Direction
This is definitely a new and unique direction for vanity pets. Unlike the current guild achievements, where some guild participation is only moderately necessary, this new "legendary" companion may absolutely require not only guild participation but a guild raid as well. We will have to wait and see to hear more details about how this legendary staff and companion pet are obtained.

In the most recent patch, several more pets took to the skies to fly alongside their owners while they soared through the air on their flying mounts. Many of you have requested a list of which pets actually fly versus those that are still grounded.

For example, is Willy still a little too sleepy (or chubby) to lift off? You'd have to check his profile to find out.

At least, up until now...

New Mobility Filter!
We've added another filter type to our popular vanity pet filtering tool. Our new mobility filter joins the ranks of other useful filters, like binding and rarity, to quickly tell you:

• Which pets are grounded?
• Which pets hover, but don't fly?
• Which pets fly?

We hope you enjoy this new feature. As always, your feedback and suggestions are welcome.