Grunty, the Murloc Marine appears on the PTR
by Michael Sacco 
May 11th 2009 at 4:00PM
We've had WoW and Diablo 3-themed BlizzCon/Worldwide Invitational in-game pets already, so you might say "hell, it's about time" when we tell you that Grunty, a murloc in Space Marine power armor, is on its way.
MMO-Champion's Boubouille, head of the Romulan Data Miners Guild, discovered the pet's model while performing routine excavation on the newly-updated 3.1.2 patch files.
If I were a betting man, I'd say that all signs point to this being part of the BlizzCon goody bag as opposed to TCG loot, meaning there's even less of a chance for you to get it. Hope you're prepared to beat the queue to get one. Heck, I'm even considering trying to go after seeing this -- I can't wait to see the idle animations he gets. According to the screenshots, it looks like he even blasts the air with his flamethrower. For once, the fish will do the frying.
*puts on sunglasses, plays "Won't Get Fooled Again"*
Filed under: BlizzCon
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
rai May 11th 2009 4:04PM
never said this about anything they have put in the game so far, even the engie stuff...
but...
too much SciFi for warcraft...
Dhryke May 11th 2009 4:49PM
/agree
Deadly. Off. Topic. May 11th 2009 5:01PM
We could blame the gnomes.
Lab Monkey May 11th 2009 6:05PM
You'd think the people over at Games Workshop wouldn't be too happy with Blizz stealing their copyright material.
Riley May 11th 2009 6:23PM
Oh, is warhammer the only game with marines? I didn't realize that
SaintStryfe May 11th 2009 6:38PM
Lab Monkey: GW had their chance - if they hadn't let Blizz develop a full engine then pull their license to use Warhammer in it, then Blizz would have never developed Warcraft 1, which leads us to the game we're playing now.
GW has no one to blame but themselves.
vexis58 May 11th 2009 4:05PM
Aww, he's so adorable!
Blake May 11th 2009 4:16PM
That is AMAZING. Now I'll definitely try to get a ticket when they go on sale. Was debating whether or not to go (live 10 minutes from the convention center), but this cements it for me - if it is in fact in the goody bag.
100x better than that mount from last year.
joerendous May 11th 2009 4:33PM
haha Grunty got my 6
Jay in Oregon May 11th 2009 4:06PM
Holy crap, I want that. I never thought I'd see a murloc pet more awesome than Murkimus the Gladiator. Too bad I'll never get to Blizzcon...
/cry
Arktic May 11th 2009 4:22PM
Good News!
Direct TV will have a live internet stream for Non-DirectTV subscribers for $39.95. With the package comes a BlizzCon 2009 World of Warcraft in-game item.
So for about $40 you can buy yourself this pet perhaps???
Read about it and speculate at: http://www.blizzard.com/blizzcon/partners/directv.xml
blitzkrieg999 May 11th 2009 4:53PM
Reading the DirecTV promo page for BlizzCon, I'm unconvinced the non-Subscriber Stream Only package will include the in-game item. I sincerely hope its so, as I'll definitely jump on that... but I wouldn't be surprised if the non-Subscriber deal doesn't come with any perks :(
Stephen May 11th 2009 7:13PM
@blitzkrieg The press release stated that anyone ordering the event through either Directv or the internet stream would receive an in-game item.
tatsumasa May 11th 2009 4:08PM
:O
Mattimus May 11th 2009 4:07PM
They have a video of him over at MMO-Champion (for a while now, actually), and it's a machine gun, not a flamethrower.
Avan May 11th 2009 4:51PM
Actually, it's an assault rifle.
Darkfreak May 15th 2009 8:14AM
It's a gauss rifle ;)
"Grunty the murloc marine. This tiny terror is fully armored and comes equipped with a gauss rifle, which he’ll occasionally fire into the air to make sure no invisible spacecraft are swooping in to attack."
WNxSajuukCor May 11th 2009 4:08PM
I think it's more have to do with the Starcraft II beta coming soon. Seems a bit too soon to patch in the Blizzcon gift item in such a minor patch and there's been tons of hype to test the new Battle.net system between games and such and the beta is pretty much about a month away, if less.
This item I would say is a gift to those who get into the Starcraft II beta with WoW accounts attached to their Battle.net profile.
Eamil May 11th 2009 6:48PM
Blizzard has never, EVER done in-game rewards for beta testing. I seriously doubt they're going to start now. Your reward for beta testing is getting to see the game before everyone else, that's more than enough.
Akulbaka May 11th 2009 4:10PM
I can't wait to get one of these, I was getting Blizzcon streaming anyway