Day 1, All Rare, All Families

[Shalura]

I've been going over the list posted on the beta forums of current pets that will be made rare, and collating them as to pet families and/or availability of healing. Here is a list based on what I personally have collected. But most people with 100+ pets should have many of the same pets. I try to avoid TCG/Pet Store/Promotional pets except when there's no other choice. Feel free to add on any you think should be here.

Dragonkin
Any of the [color] whelplings, they will all be rare. The Emerald Whelpling has both good damage and good healing abilities.
Celestial Dragon, has good healing and damage.

Humanoid
Sadly, you have to go Pet Store or Promotional here.
Grunty, or any of the other promotional Murlocks like Deathy, Lurky, etc.
Moonkin Hatchling
Pandaren Monk

Flying
Brilliant Kaliri
Hyacinth Macaw
Firefly

Undead
Fossilized Hatchling
Frosty

Critter
Little Fawn, has great healing but weak damage
Nuts
Stinker

Magic
Disgusting Oozeling

Elemental
Elementium Geode
Pebble
Phoenix Hatchling
Dark Phoenix Hatchling

Beast
Panther Cub
Gundrak Hatchling
Lashtail Hatchling
Razzashi Hatchling

Aquatic
Magical Crawdad, healing and damage
Chuck/Muckbreath/Snarly/Toothy

Mechanical
Darkmoon Zepplin
Darkmoon Tonk

[GormanGhaste]

Thanks, this is handy.

[Cropher]

I'm not sure you're getting what the "rarity" means in regard to pet battles. I've been having fun (i.e. somewhat obsessed) with it. It's not how difficult it is to find/get the pet, it's the quality of the specific pet you get. The "drop", reward, and Blizzard-bought pets all seem to be standardized, that is, there's no variation in stats. For the "captured/capturable" pets, they have a range -- poor, common, uncommon, and rare. So you can find a poor quality Rat and a rare Rat, or a poor Jade Ooze and a rare Jade Ooze, etc., but there's only one set of stats for the Singing Sunflower, Guardian Cub, or Mechanical Squirrel.
For the families though it is a pain; the first dragonkin you can capture is the nether faerie dragon in Feralas, which isn't too bad, but the first humanoid you can capture is the Sporeling sprout, in Zangarmarsh, which is a level 18-ish pet that fights with two allies (so you need a good set of pets yourself to capture it).
The achievements, at least right now on beta, work from captured pets only, purchased/quest reward/looted pets don't seem to count.

--edited to adjust sporeling level (had it at 15, forgot that's the level of pets I sent after it not its level).

[Jadax]

I'm not sure you're getting what the "rarity" means in regard to pet battles. I've been having fun (i.e. somewhat obsessed) with it. It's not how difficult it is to find/get the pet, it's the quality of the specific pet you get. The "drop", reward, and Blizzard-bought pets all seem to be standardized, that is, there's no variation in stats.

That is changing. Some of the non-wild pets are having their rarities upgraded.

[Uraa]

Here is the original blue post for any who are looking for the list. As we're still in the beta, this is subject to change.

http://us.battle.net/wow/en/forum/topic/6080522555#1

Razzashi Hatchling (none of the other raptor hatchlings made the rare cut)

Just two spaces up from the Razzashi Hatchling is its cousin, the Gundrak Hatchling. Also, the Lashtail Hatchling is at the very bottom of the list.

[Cropher]

That is changing. Some of the non-wild pets are having their rarities upgraded.

Sort of. What's happening is that the stats of the non-captured pets are being adjusted, so that they're more in line with their world-rarity. E.g., anyone can get a Guardian Cub easily, so they have stats like a "common" captured pet, but it's hard to get a Gundrak raptor hatchling or a Sprite darter hatchling, so they have stats like a "rare" captured pet. It's cool, it'll be interesting to see how it all ends up...

[Shalura]

E.g., anyone can get a Guardian Cub easily, so they have stats like a "common" captured pet, but it's hard to get a Gundrak raptor hatchling or a Sprite darter hatchling, so they have stats like a "rare" captured pet. It's cool, it'll be interesting to see how it all ends up...

Guardian Cubs are on the "rare" list. All of the Pet Store & TCG pets are. All of the other vendor/quest/drop pets will be uncommon.

[Shalura]

For the families though it is a pain; the first dragonkin you can capture is the nether faerie dragon in Feralas, which isn't too bad, but the first humanoid you can capture is the Sporeling sprout, in Zangarmarsh, which is a level 18-ish pet that fights with two allies (so you need a good set of pets yourself to capture it).

I'm not sure what the first dragon is, but Nether Faerie Dragon is Flying type. And the lowest level humanoid is the Qiraji Guardling in Silithus @ 16 (I think).

[Cropher]

Hmm, hadn't realized the Quiraji guardling was humanoid. Have to go get one now... I wonder if "Summer" will officially be over by the time the xpac's released (or if they'll still be available for real). All the purchased pets as "rare" quality? That seems... unfortunate... to me. Ah well, I'm still spending far too much time on these (and getting too little sleep)... and this isn't even the "real" game yet...

[Shalura]

Yes, summer will be over by the time Mists is released. The only other wild humanoids are the Sporeling in Zangarmarsh, and the Flayer in Terokkar (not Hellfire).

[Imthedci]

I got my faerie dragon back when you had the alliance quest to raise it from an egg. I miss stuff like that...

[Jadax]

I got my faerie dragon back when you had the alliance quest to raise it from an egg. I miss stuff like that...

Different dragon
Same model, but the wild version is spectral.