February 2008   « Archives | Current News »

It's that time of year again... love is in the air! (or at least it will be beginning on February 11.) And that means it's also time for all of you serious minipet collectors to get ready to begin farming for Peddlefeet, the tiny goblin cupid pet that only drops during this 6-day event.

Peddlefeet!

NEW PET! Patch 2.4 has hit the test realms and it looks like there will be some new treats for pet collectors! First up, the Phoenix Hatchling, a stunning new pet! This companion drops from Kael'thas Sunstrider in the new 5-man instance Magister's Terrace on Sunwell Isle. The second item of note is a possible Vanity Pet Bag. While there are no specific details on this item yet (size, rarity, source, etc.), I expect that it will be able to hold 24-28 vanity pets, perhaps more. Still, no one has confirmed the existence of such a bag yet, so it may be more rumor than fact.

If you're playing on the test realm and you learn more about a Vanity Pet Bag, please contact us and share all the juicy details!

The developers have replaced the played-time Adoration debuff with a real-time debuff. This change gives all of us collectors more options to farm for this elusive pet. As a result, I have completely reworked the Farming for Peddlefeet guide. If you're an altoholic like me, you're in for a treat!

NEW PETS! It looks like the Phoenix Hatchling won't be the only new pet in 2.4. The next major content patch finally gives us crocolisk pets, and these guys are adorable. All of these have been confirmed to drop via items obtained by completing new daily fishing quests.

• Chuck - a dark green baby crocolisk.
• Muckbreath - a yellowish-brown baby crocolisk.
• Snarly - a light green baby crocolisk.
• Toothy - a yellowish-brown baby crocolisk.

The drop rate for each of these new pets is something of a mystery. Feel free to contact us if you can share any details about their drop rates.

NEW FEATURE! Users are now able to specify whether they're collecting minipets on a single character versus multiple characters. This setting defaults to 'single characters', but can easily be changed here.

Additionally, our lists of Site MVPs and Top 50 Collections have been updated to display this setting with either a + or a • next to the total number of pets in the user's collection. When sorting by 'Pets Collected', users who collect pets with a single character (•) are ranked higher than those who've collected the same number with multiple characters (+).

The new option for specifying single-character versus multi-character collections now includes several validation routines. This ensures the validity of the collection when a user chooses the single-character option. Additionally, the list of the Top 50 Collections has been divided into two separate lists to commend the top 50 single- and multiple-character collectors.

NEW PET! Patch 2.4 offers a glimpse of things to come for this year's Midsummer Fire Festival event (June 21 - July 5). There's good news and bad news. Let's start with the good. There's a new pet you can get during the event—a Scorchling! It has a chance to drop from a 70+ boss known as Ahune. Much like the Headless Horseman, Ahune can be summoned in a dungeon (The Slave Pens in this case) via a daily quest which is only available for 15 days each year. Considering how difficult the Sinister Squashling was for collectors to farm, this fella could be very rare indeed.

Additionally, the quest that rewarded the Spirit of Summer is no longer available. However, the pet may now be purchased for 350 Burning Blossoms—a currency which is available via quests throughout the 15 day event.

The new build of the Public Test Realm (PTR) features many giant-sized minipets! Nothing special is necessary; simply login and summon your small pet and if it's effected by this bug, it will be upwards of 10 times its normal size. This feature is likely tied to Papa Hummel's Old-Fashioned Pet Biscuit, a consumable loot reward from the next CCG expansion that makes minipets grow to be very large. Here are a few screenies courtesy of Oli:

• Super-sized Speedy
• Whale-sized Willy
• Not-So-Tiny Spore Bat
• Gigantic Egbert
• Attack of the 50-Foot Minipets in Ironforge!
• Metacafe Video courtesy of Tachaeon