April 2018   « Archives | Current News »

We recently gained access to the Battle For Azeroth Alpha, and datamining has revealed some intriguing Pet Battle content... new pet families?!

5 New Sub-Categories & A Brand New Family
We've uncovered a handful of BFA pets that belong to a new set of sub-family categories. These pets still belong to the "main" pet family (Magic and the new sub-family Dark Magic, for example), however the new families seem to be unique and have an additional passive on top of their existing passive.

There are 5 of these new families so far. It's unclear if all 10 pet families will receive sub-categories. There is also a brand new family of pets, "Antlered"!

All pets appear to be Works In Progress, as their stats, movesets, and bonus family passives are missing or labeled as "PH" (placeholder).

What's for sure is that these new pets and families look interesting so far!

Dark Magic
Grim Watcher & Forbidden Knowledge

Fantastical Beast
Sniffler & Slytherius

Flightless Flying
Pengy & Ruffled Peahen

Bio-Mechanical
Lasereye & Locatus

Nekkid Humanoid
Lewd Lich & Flashy Fred

*NEW* Antlered
Horned Ham & Horny Toad (new model)

We can't wait to learn how we'll collect these pets! Perhaps we'll have more details tomorrow...

Yesterday we posted news about new pet families coming in Battle For Azeroth. The pets looked pretty... neat. *averts eyes from Nekkid Humanoids*



As far as we know, new pet families are not planned for the next expansion. Testing is still in the early stages, however, so we'll have to wait and see what Pet Battles has in store for us in Battle For Azeroth.

Inspiration
For this April Fool's, we pulled inspiration from the newly added Allied Races. These races are essentially factions that branched off from existing races (Draenei and then Lightforged Draenei, for example), so we wondered what would happen if the existing pet families received a similar treatment.

We even began brainstorming some secondary, bonus family passives for these new pets.

• Flightless Flying - Flying family passive plus 'Flightless Fury', deal 30% extra damage when below 50% health.
• Bio-Mechanical - Mechanical family passive plus 'Nano-Tech', recover 3% of max health if dealt damage this round.

Ultimately, we decided to omit these imaginary second passives to avoid making these pets appear too "real".

It was lots of fun making up new pets and passives — create some of your own and let us know!

Our thanks to Ooghra
We'd like to extend a big thank you to Ooghra, who created all of the April Fool's images, plus imagined up the "Antlered" pet family. Her work was also featured in our 2016 joke. Our April Fool's wouldn't be possible without this very talented artist!

Blizzard has announced the release date for Battle For Azeroth: August 14, 2018! [source]

Collectors that planned on getting the physical Collector's Edition but purchased the Digital Deluxe version of the expansion to receive the in-game rewards, rejoice! Details were revealed about upgrading to the Collector's Edition.

• If you bought the Standard OR Digital Deluxe copy of Battle for Azeroth and pre-ordered the Collector’s Edition, your Blizzard Balance credit will be the price you paid for the original copy.
• If you bought the Standard digital copy, upgraded to Digital Deluxe at a later date, then pre-ordered the Collector’s Edition of Battle for Azeroth, your Blizzard Balance credit will be the price you paid for the original Standard Edition.

BFA Pet Battle Content
Developers revealed in an interview with Tradechat that collection achievements will be getting some love in BFA. Watch the full interview here.

• Collection achievements will be increased in Battle for Azeroth (includes mounts and battle pets)

Additionally, developers previewed even more Pet Battle content during an interview with Hazelnuttygames! Watch the full interview here.

• New type of Pet Charm. This new charm will be used to purchase upgrade battlestones. Current Pet Charms can still be used to purchase existing rewards.
• Expansion will include new Pet Battle World Quests, "quirky things interspersed in the zones", plus new cats, chickens, and chicken hairstyles, as well as new pet ability mechanics for more hardcore players that are into pet PVE/PVP.
• Pet Battle Dungeons are in the works, however they will likely come later in the expansion.
• Blizzard does not want players to feel "forced" into pet PVP, however Family Brawler was a way to reward/challenge those interested in the activity while encouraging non-PVP'ers to try it.
• Pet PVP ranking/matchmaking system not quite the right fit for Pet Battles, likely not coming.
• More Family Familiar-esque achievements and challenges (minus the randomness of the Trainer spawning!)
• Reference to the Uuna questline and the new tech used to change a companion pet's appearance based on completed criteria and player actions. This tech may appear in Battle For Azeroth for other pets.

We can hardly wait for Battle For Azeroth! What Pet Battle content are you most excited for? Which Pet Dungeon do you think we'll be traveling to next? Let us know!

The latest Battle For Azeroth alpha build included a handful of new pets, plus new models. [source]

New Pets
Although BFA Pet Battles content is still a Work In Progress, some new faces popped up in the Pet Journal.

Here's a preview of a few found in the journal. Some have additional color variations but it's unknown if they will all be available to collect.


Pictured above, from top left to right:

• Francois
• Guardian Cobra Hatchling
• Lil' Tika
• Smoochums
• Spawn of Merektha
• Vengeful Chicken

There is also an adorable ferret pet, Poda (pictured right)! This cute critter comes in three other colors, however only the dark grey version is currently available.

Check out all BFA datamined pets!

Keep in mind that none of these pets are guaranteed to make it into the final version of the expansion, and some models and colors might never be collectible. We can only hope that we'll have a chance to obtain them all at some point.

New Models

Tired of moths? Good news! A lovely butterfly model with six different colors (pictured above) was added in the recent alpha patch.

And last but not least, a cute mummy (pictured right) was datamined.

It's unclear if these new models will be collectible. Who wouldn't want beautifully colored butterflies and an adorable mummy companion though?

UPDATE: Following the BFA Pet Battles changes/updates blue post, Game Developer Jeremy Feasel (aka: Muffinus) provides some insight on current Pet Battle philosophies. [source]

The Alpha recently transitioned into Beta, and it was revealed that BFA Pet Battle content will soon be available for testing.

In addition to this, some Pet Battle changes and updates were announced.

Pet Battle World Quests will soon begin showing up on both of the new continents. Similar to Legion, they will count towards your zone’s emissary, but this time around, the level of the pets opposing you will scale to the highest level pet on your team. This will allow a player with a team of only level 1 pets to take on the World Quest and get some battle pet experience. Please give them a shot with pets of all levels, and let us know how that goes for you.

We will be introducing a new currency in Battle for Azeroth that can be used to purchase a variety of things, so there's no need to hold on to those Pet Charms that are burning a hole in your pocket.

Several new pet battle mechanics are coming to Battle for Azeroth. Some of these will appear on enemy pets, and some on yours.

Check out the full blue post here. Here's a quick summary of the updates:

• BFA Pet Battle World Quests will level scale with your highest active pet (level scaling will not apply to wild battles)
• New pet currency (existing currency can still be used to purchase existing rewards)
• Several new Pet Battle mechanics
• Notable pets and abilities changed (Bone Serpent, Crow, Gilnean Raven, Teroclaw Hatchling, Cyclone, Haunt)

Feel free to test the upcoming BFA Pet Battle content on the Beta and provide some constructive feedback on the thread linked above.