Posts with tag pet-collecting

Patch 5.2 introduced the Isle of Thunder, but it also introduced some other things to explore. One of these things has some players absolutely mystified -- the Isle of Giants. Located in the northernmost reaches of Kun Lai, the island is home to a never ending stream of giant dinosaurs and the Zandalari Dinomancers that seek to capture them for their own purposes.

Why are the Zandalari so concerned with getting dinosaurs? Well, if you've wandered around on the Isle of Thunder or stepped into the Throne of Thunder, you'll see that the Zandalari are pretty keen on enslaving the dinosaurs and using them as mounts, pets, and even raid bosses. The bigger question on the mind of a lot of players, however, is why we should be concerned with the Isle of Giants at all.

With no quests, no portals, no lead-ins and no clear defined purpose besides the world raid boss Oondasta, why would we want to spend any extended amount of time on the island at all?

It may seem silly to complain about having more currency to spend, but players have been by and large unhappy with the caches of gold rewarded as an alternative for loot when killing a boss in Mists of Pandaria. The argument does have some weight, however; and it's also been addressed before, in a slightly different fashion. When boxes that dropped from holiday bosses were viewed as disappointing because they contained nothing other than points, those boxes were adjusted to add actual items.

And let's face it -- when you're given a box of something, you really expect something to be in that box. Gold just doesn't cut it. Apparently Blizzard agreed with this sentiment, and the caches, deemed "failbags" by some, have been adjusted on the PTR to offer something far more substantial, according to a post by Bashiok on the official forums.

Bashiok

The change is still in for the failbags to ... not be fail. They'll have a chance to contain things like very valuable grey items (essentially randomizing the gold you get from the bags), LFR versions of non-boss loot, Spirits of Harmony, consumables, pets and mounts, and... maybe some other stuff I forgot. Lots of things! Opening them should have some anticipation and surprise now. :)

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Trash drops, consumables, pets, and mounts? Count me in. This change ought to make getting that cache of items a heck of a lot more appealing to players. After all, if you get a surprise box of goodies, it ought to be full of fun!

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Several new pets have already been datamined from the 5.2 PTR, but Wowhead has dug up another trio to add to the pile. The Zandalari Anklerender, Zandalari Footslasher, and Zandalari Toenibbler have all been added to the latest list of items to hit the PTR. Although no models appear to be available for the critters just yet, the names suggest that they'll bear a resemblance to the Zandalari Kneebiter datamined just after the PTR files were discovered.

Despite not really knowing where the little guys are going to come from, how much they're going to cost, or how exactly they'll hold up in Pet Battles, I want them. I want them all. How can you not love the idea of having a legion of tiny little anklebiters at your beck and call? Honestly, the only thing I'm wondering is how they manage to keep their head held high when they're essentially wearing an eensy little brick as a helmet.

For more fun toys, pets, and other datamined items, check out the latest news post over on Wowhead.

Edit: The intrepid users over at Wowhead have not only dug up screenshots of the little guys, but more information on where to get them! You can find all four pets on the Isle of Giants, as a random drop from mobs.

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What's that Isle of Giants all about? Dinosaurs, apparently -- the island is crawling with an assortment of dinos that put Un'goro Crater to shame. But there doesn't appear to be any kind of quest hub on the island as of yet, with one small exception. Hidden in a cave on the western side of the island is a truly monstrous troll who looks like he's seen better days. Dataminers over at Wowhead dug up the details on this strange troll earlier today.

Ku'ma is a bone collector. What, exactly, he does with all the bones he collects is unclear -- perhaps he is planning on building one of those fabulous Zandalari boats when he has enough of them. However, you don't really want to ignore Ku'ma or his bone-loving ways, because he has plenty of rewards to offer to those that bring him bones. Lots of bones.

What kind of rewards? 10 bones will net you a Mote of Harmony. 100 will net you a Spirit of Harmony. If you get your hands on 1000 bones, you can turn them in for a Spectral Porcupette. And if you have the temerity to gather 9,999 bones ... you're rewarded with a mount. But not just any mount; the Reins of the Bone-White Primal Raptor, which is a dead ringer for the Ivory Raptor from the days of vanilla, long-gone from the game.

So just how hard is it to collect these bones? It's not as bad as you'd think. I decided to make a trip to the Isle of Giants to see for myself, and while the larger dinosaurs seem to be pretty daunting, the smaller ones weren't too difficult to solo. Once dead, they dropped four bones -- so gathering isn't quite the painful process that I'd imagined.

As it currently stands, getting a mount may take a while. But keep in mind that this is all PTR information, and these amounts may change by the time the patch hits. Regardless of whether or not the amount of bones required is altered, I'm pretty sure I know where I'll be when the patch goes live.

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Mists of Pandaria is here! The level cap has been raised to 90, many players have returned to Azeroth, and pet battles are taking the world by storm. Keep an eye out for all of the latest news, and check out our comprehensive guide to Mists of Pandaria for everything you'll ever need to know.

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Care for a fancy hat? Wowhead found some new models from the patch 5.1 PTR server, including a stunning array of fancy chapeaus courtesy of the Darkmoon Faire. Each has its own bizarre style, and some even include animations like flickering lights or bobbles that sway in the breeze. Wowhead has animated versions of all of the models so you can see the movements for yourself. How exactly one goes about obtaining these hats is unknown at this point, but you'll be able to find them at the Darkmoon Faire next patch.

In addition, MMO-Champion dug up some new pet models from the PTR, including clockwork bears, cats and dinosaurs as well as an adorable group of red panda models in an assortment of colors. There have been some changes to pets as well -- Mr. Bigglesworth is no longer a drop from Kel'Thuzad. Instead, he's a reward for completing the achievement Raiding With Leashes, which requires the collection of all the new pets that have been added to raids.

Since the new patch notes indicate players will no longer need to be in a raid group to enter pre-Mists of Pandaria raids, it should be even easier to get your hands on these new pets. Take a look at MMO-Champion for pet models, and head to Wowhead for the animated versions of all of the new hat models so you can see the movements for yourself.

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Mists of Pandaria is here! The level cap has been raised to 90, many players have returned to Azeroth, and pet battles are taking the world by storm. Keep an eye out for all of the latest news, and check out our comprehensive guide to Mists of Pandaria for everything you'll ever need to know.

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Just in case you haven't had your fill of pets, Lead Content Designer Cory Stockton dropped some news on Twitter and let us know that there will be more to find in patch 5.1. 12 new pets have been added to all four vanilla raids -- Molten Core, Blackwing Lair, Ahn'Qiraj, and Naxxramas. These pets will drop from bosses in the zones, and according to Stockton, the drop rates aren't bad at all, either.

And for those of you perking up at the mention of Naxxramas, you have every right to be excited. One of the pets offered is none other than Mr. Bigglesworth, Kel'Thuzad's beloved cat. Wowhead dug up the information on the rest of the pets, which included a Stitched Pup, Chrominius, and an Anubisath Idol among many others.

Not only is this a cool way to get some more pets out there in the mix, it's also a great reason to go run those old vanilla raids. Although Naxxramas moved to Northrend with Wrath, it was one of the original 40-man raids available back in vanilla. And despite its new location, Naxxramas is still soloable by most classes at level 90, although you can take a few friends along to make the jaunt a little easier. For a full list of available pets, check out Wowhead's list -- and if you aren't following Cory Stockton on Twitter, you're missing out on cool updates!

The Godmother over at Alt:ernative is a collector of the highest order, and so found herself being constantly asked by friends, guildmates, and even complete strangers like the author of this piece how to go about obtaining various pets for the pet battle system. So, rather than rest on her laurels, she went ahead and created the Minipets Database.

What is the minipets database? It's a database of the 500 battle pets, and where to get them from. It also includes information on what type the pet is; so aquatic, flying, critter, beast and the like. And of course, it lets you know the pet's rarity, whether it's tradeable, and whether it can battle!

The Godmother is also in the process of adding pictures and co-ordinates for every single pet in the database, but for now she's included enough information for the would-be pet collector to gather as many pets as they see fit. This is always going to be a work in progress as more pets are added and the Godmother fulfils her Pokémon philosophy and updates the database, but for the keen collector this is already a great resource.

Join us after the break for the Godmother's Q&A about the database!

While account-wide pets and mounts will be going live with patch 5.0.4, the exact process involved has still been somewhat muddled. Game Designer Cory "Mumper" Stockton clarified the process somewhat in a post about battle pets yesterday. While pets that are unique, such as achievement, pet store, promotional and guild pets, will be combined into one pet in your UI, others will have duplicates available.

Because of the nature of the merge, these duplicates will bypass the rule that only three pets of one type can be had with the new pet system. Any duplicates you have that can be caged will be tradeable, or you can simply release anything you don't wish to keep. This news should be a welcome relief to pet collectors who have multiples of the same pet on many different characters.

Mumper

Pets will still be merged on MoP launch, but instead of placing them in your bags or mail they will be placed directly in your pet journal. You will be allowed to have more than 500 and 3x per pet during this process. Any pets that are flagged as unique will be merged into one and also placed in your journal. (Unique pets are from Achievements, Pet Store, Promotions and Guild) You will be able to cage any pets that are tradeable and you can release anything that you have more than one of.

A few examples:

• A B.net account has a total of 6 Wolvar Pups across all of it's characters. On merge the B.net account would have 6 Wolvar Pups. This would be the only time an account is allowed to have more than 3x of a single pet.
• A B.net account has a total of 3 Murky's from BlizzCon 2005 and 4 Nuts from the pet collection achievements across all of it's characters. (both unique pets) On merge the B.net account will have 1 Murky and 1 Nuts.

Hope that helps clear things up.

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