February 2009   « Archives | Current News »

NEW GUIDE! Ever since the Achievements system was introduced in late 2008, I for one have been completely hooked. Whether trying to catch a rare fish toward the Salty title or soloing classic dungeons for the fun of it, there is always something interesting to work on. Of particular interest to WarcraftPets fans are several vanity pet-related achievements. While most of these achievements simply award points that, so far, are good only for bragging rights, a couple actually reward the player with a new companion!

So the next time you log into WoW and can't decide what to do, look no further than your Achievements tab (and our Vanity Pet Achievements guide, of course!)

Many of you have been writing in asking for information about this year's Children's Week and whether there will be new Northrend quests with new pet rewards to choose from. Unfortunately, we simply don't know. While we have not seen any clues yet, such as orphans in Dalaran or an update to the Children's Week achievements, it may simply be too early to tell, as the event is still three months away. Hopefully the next PTR will shed some light.

In the meantime, rest assured that we will let you know as soon as we receive any new information. And I'll just keep crossing my fingers for new baby Gorloc, Wolvar and Tuskarr pets!

NEW PET! Blizzard recently announced that a new Armored Murloc pet will become available in the 2009 WoW Arena Tournament. Starting February 17, players can sign up to participate in this competition where a total of $200,000 in cash prizes is at stake. More importantly (at least to PvP noobs like myself who have no chance of winning the top prizes), the Armored Murloc pet can be earned simply by participating in the tournament.

UPDATE: More details have been released about the Arena Tournament. The Armored Murloc will be awarded to anyone participating in the minimum number of required matches on the tournament realm. Also, it looks like the pet will be bind-on-account, as it may be associated with characters on the player's account:

Each Eligible Participant that competes in two hundred (200) matches during the final four weeks of the Qualification round of the Tournament shall be eligible to receive a unique, in-game “pet,” that the Eligible Participant may associate with characters on the World of Warcraft account registered by the Eligible Participant. The pet will be mailed to the character designated by the Eligible Participant during the registration process within four weeks following the Qualification Round of the Tournament.

Registration is now open for North America and Europe. Good luck!

A lot of exciting PTR news is coming in, including many pet-related changes. A list of all newly reported pets is shown below (note: these are all unconfirmed at the moment).

Argent Tournament Pets
A new world event, The Argent Tournament, will bring many new challenges, quests, achievements and rewards, including many new pets! Players can earn the right to represent each race's faction in the tournament, with the highest achievement being able to represent all of the races. In recognition of your efforts you will receive Champion's Seals, which you can use to purchase items such as pets, tabards, mounts and gear from the quartermasters.

Northrend Children's Week Pets
For everyone who was wondering about and hoping for new Northrend pets for Children's Week, it looks like there will be Gorloc and Wolvar orphans to care for. And for everyone who does a good job, there are pet counterparts of these critters to be awarded!

Noblegarden Pet
A new achievement for Noblegarden has popped up: "Spring Fling - Find your pet Spring Rabbit another one to love in each of the towns listed below." So it looks like we will all be getting bunnies for Easter!

Murkimus the Gladiator
Finally, the Armored Murloc, for which many of us will battle tirelessly for weeks, has a name - Murkimus the Gladiator!

Complete List - 19 new pets in 3.1 (unconfirmed):

• Spring Rabbit
• Plump Turkey
• Teldrassil Sproutling
• Tirisfal Batling
• Dun Morogh Cub
• Durotar Scorpion
• Alarming Clockbot
• Elwynn Lamb
• Mulgore Hatchling
• Ammen Vale Lashling
• Strand Crawler
• Enchanted Broom
• Argent Squire
• Mechanopeep
• Argent Gruntling
• Curious Gorloc Hatchling
• Curious Wolvar Pup
• Murkimus the Gladiator
• Sen'jin Fetish

 

EU players have more reason to rejoice with another chance (actually, three chances) to win a pet Gurky. In celebration of WoW's four year anniversary in Europe, Blizzard is holding three contests. All you need to do is design a T-shirt, submit fan art, or answer a five question lore quiz!

The grand prize for each contest includes a Dell XPS M1730 gaming laptop, a Gurky key, a murloc plushy, and free game time. Four second place winners from each contest will win the same prize package minus the laptop. The contests end March 1st, so don't delay. Good luck all you lucky EU members!

UPDATE: We would like to suggest another option for finding teammates for the tournament: simply join the WarcraftPets channel when you log onto the tournament realm (type /join WarcraftPets). Here you can find other murloc-desperate, pet-loving players to hang out and chat with, even if you already have a complete team. Good luck, everyone!

I know many of you are as excited as we are for the new Armored Murloc pet (and probably just as anxious about having to participate in 200 matches in the Arena Tournament). Some of you have expressed concern about joining the tournament due to a lack of arena experience. Well, let me be the first to admit that I am terrible at PvP, but I'm not going to let that stop me, and neither should you!

WarcraftPets' Community Comments and messaging system provide a great way to find murloc-hungry teammates for the tournament. We recommend that you edit your own comment and list what kind of partners you're seeking (i.e. whether you're only interested in the pet or wanting to seriously compete too) and what times you're available to play. You may need to update your comment every few days to make sure it stays visible (but please do not update more often than once per day - spamming is frowned upon). Good luck, and we'll see you on the battlefield!

Here is some helpful information to clarify some misconceptions.

• The tournament will take place on separate tournament realms, independent of the realm you play on.
• You will be creating a new level 80 character (or up to 3 different characters) on the tournament realm, with plenty of gold to buy your armor, enchants, gems, glyphs, etc.
• You must complete 200 games on a single character and on the same team to receive the murloc pet (which should not be confused with the team needing to complete 200 games to qualify for the next round of the tournament).
• To earn the murloc pet, the 200 games must be completed during the last four weeks of the qualification period, after team ratings are reset to 1,500 on or about March 10th (the prior two weeks of practice starting Feb. 24th do not count).

 

We have more pet-related news to share from the PTR. Apparently, Breanni is expanding her line of merchandise to include a new Red Ribbon Pet Leash and the Brown Snake pet (in limited supply). The leash sells for 1g35s (without faction discount) and is not consumed. Here is a video of the leash in action, courtesy of one of our members. As you can see, it is another fun cosmetic addition to help you proudly display your treasured pets.

So far, the Brown Snake is the only pet we've seen pop up for sale in Breanni's shop, although she does have quite a few creatures on display there. The 45g price tag may seem a bit steep, but you must consider the cost to import this exotic critter all the way from Durotar! Hopefully we will see more pets for sale from Breanni in the future. As always, you can count on WarcraftPets to keep you updated.