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February 2015   « Archives | Current News »

Patch 6.1 PTR: Heroes of the Storm Pet and Hogs

February 05, 2015
A recent 6.1 PTR patch was released and there's a new pet that's tied to the game Heroes of the Storm. [source]

Be a Hero, Earn a Pet
The previously datamined pet "My Special Pet" has finally been updated in the latest PTR build. Its new name is Graves and it will come from a Heroes of the Storm promotion.

There's currently no information on what the promotion will entail. It's possible that it could be similar to the Hearthstone achievement, where players must win a set number of games before earning the reward.

Heroes of the Storm is a game developed by Blizzard that is currently in beta. It will be free-to-play once it is officially released; hopefully acquiring the pet will not require any additional purchases.

We look forward to learning more about Graves and how players will be able to obtain this pet. Better brush up on our Heroes gameplay, just in case!

Hogs Still Unavailable
Hogs
There was some confusion over MMO-Champion's datamining of the recent PTR patch, as Hogs suddenly popped up on the radar again.

Hogs was originally implemented as the reward from the 10th anniversary Victory in Hillsbrad achievement, but was removed prior to the event's release. Although it was mentioned that this pet might appear in a future patch, no additional information of when or where was given.

With this sudden re-appearance in the PTR data, there was concern that it would be retroactively rewarded for an achievement that's no longer obtainable.

However, Community Manager Bashiok has clarified the situation.

It's old data. The "Hogs" mini-Hogger pet is not a reward from that achievement, and we'll correct it in the next PTR build. We haven't determined yet if/when he'll be obtainable, or from what source.

This is a relief for many collectors. There is still a desire to collect Hogs, so hopefully he finds his way into our collections in the future.
Posted by Quintessence

Argi Adoptions Generate Over $1.9 Million For Charity

February 13, 2015
Argi charity results
Blizzard recently announced that Argi sales raised over $1.9 million for charity. [source]

Last holiday season, Blizzard had a special Argi adoption sale. For the month of December up until December 31, 2014, 100% of the adoption proceeds would be donated to the Red Cross to help with the Ebola relief efforts.

In the end, over $1.9 million was raised; a substantial amount! Those that adopted Argi during the sale not only acquired an adorable little spacegoat companion, but also helped out a great cause.
Posted by Quintessence

Lunar & Festival Lantern — Pets of the Month: February 2015

February 19, 2015
Pet of the Month: Lunar and Festival Lantern

The Lunar Festival celebrations have us glowing with excitement, so we're featuring not one but two pets in this Pet of the Month — it's the Lunar and Festival Lantern.

Collecting the Lunar and Festival Lantern
Lunar and Festival Lantern
The Lunar Lantern and Festival Lantern (both pictured right) can be purchased from Valadar Starsong in Moonglade during the Lunar Festival.

Each pet costs 50 Coins of Ancestry. Keep in mind that these pets are faction-specific; Alliance can only purchase the Lunar Lantern and Horde the Festival Lantern from the vendor. You can collect and summon both pets, however, regardless of faction.

To earn enough to purchase a lantern, you'll need to talk with some special NPCs, called Elders, located around Azeroth. They can be found in Kalimdor, Eastern Kingdoms, Northrend and Cataclysm zones. Speaking with an Elder will reward one Coin of Ancestry along with a Lucky Red Envelope.

Tracking down each Elder isn't too complicated (check out Wowhead's Lunar Festival Guide for the location of all Elders), but it will take some time.

You'll need to visit more than one continent to earn 50 coins. Visiting just Kalimdor, Eastern Kingdoms and Cataclysm Elders will yield enough Coins of Ancestry to purchase a Lunar or Festival Lantern. If you have a flying mount, traveling around should be a breeze, but still fairly time-consuming. Note that it's not necessary to visit every single Elder on either continent, and it's possible to earn 50 coins without taking a detour into dungeons.

If your character is lower level it's still possible to reach some of the Elders to pay your respects. Wowhead's 50 Easy Elders: Getting the Lunar Festival Pet guide provides information for both Alliance and Horde on how to reach each Elder, with or without a flying mount.

The Lunar and Festival Lantern are both cageable, so if you don't have a lot of time to trek across Azeroth or would just prefer not to, you can also find these two luminous pets on the Auction House.

Both pets are uncommon when added to the Pet Journal, so be sure to have some Battle-Stones ready for them.

Battling with the Lunar and Festival Lantern
The good news about these hot holiday pets is that these two have identical moves, stats and breeds. If you're only collecting to fight, you only need to grab one of these two magical lamps.

The Festival and Lunar Lanterns' first slot features the straightforward magic spell Beam, and the Lanterns' only non-Magic offense, the elemental Burn. Burn averages out to deal slightly more damage than Beam, but Burn has a range of damages so every turn is more of a dice roll.

The second slot brings out the Lanterns' single weather ability, Illuminate, which causes Sunny Day. Neither Lantern has any self-synergy move to use Sunny Day to its advantage, though you could always pull in a partner.

Festival Lantern using Flash
However, speaking of synergy the other ability in the second slot, Flash (pictured above), works wonderfully in concert with the third slot ability, Light. Light deals just under 300 damage with double damage if the opponent is blinded and Flash deals a little damage and blinds the opponent for two rounds. These two moves work well together, but the combo is quite easily dodged in PVP.

The last ability in these pets' movesets is Soul Ward, which has a very short 3 round cooldown and blocks the opponent's next attack. This shield lasts indefinitely, so if your opponent stalls with their offense it just makes things better for you. While they're waiting, all your cooldowns are coming back up. And then, before they know it, they just got torched by a Lantern.

Check out our forum thread discussion on the Lunar and Festival Lantern and submit your own thoughts on these pets.

Battling Discussion on the Lunar and Festival Lantern

Pet of the Month is co-written by Liopleurodon, an experienced pet battler and long-time WoW player. She maintains her own Pet Battle blog, comprised of pet analyses, team strategies and general thoughts on pets.
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Patch 6.1 is Live: New Pets, Trainers, and Menagerie Changes

February 24, 2015
6.1 is Live with 18 New Pets!
Patch 6.1 is live and there are new pets to collect, trainers to defeat, and Menagerie changes. Check it out! [source]

18 New Pets

Graves


View All New Pets

New Features and Changes

  • The difficulty of all Menagerie-related battles has been reduced (including the unlock quest Pets Versus Pests). Pets are no longer legendary quality.
  • Along with difficulty, experience gained from Menagerie battles has also been reduced.
  • A new quest from the Menagerie NPC, Unearthed Magic, rewards a new Battle-Stone, Ultimate Battle-Training Stone. Only level 100 characters with a level 3 garrison can access this quest, and it can only be completed once per character.
  • All Battle-Training Stones are now BoA.
  • Pet Charms are now also BoA and they stack to 1000. Hooray for bag space!
  • The Sea Calf is finally available from Nat Pagle for 50 Lucky Coins. It currently doesn't require reputation with Pagle, but this may change.
  • A new traveling trainer, Erris the Collector (A) and Kura Thunderhoof will occasionally visit your garrison Menagerie and offer the daily quest Critters of Draenor. These new NPCs will not appear every day, and not all characters will experience a visit on the same day. Each battle might be slightly different than the last, as they have a total of five different pet teams and their pets can "swap" between their six predetermined abilities.


With so many new pets to collect in Patch 6.1, which pet are you most excited to collect? We're torn between all 13 Raiding With Leashes III pets!
Posted by Quintessence

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