Thursday, June 29, 2017

7.3 PTR - Datamined New Pets and Models

UPDATE: Dibbler will NOT be from a Gnomeregan Pet Battle Dungeon. There's currently no indication that this dungeon will be in 7.3.

However, @patf0rd discovered where the Leprous Sack of Pet Supplies will come from, a new trainer!

Environeer Bert is a new trainer with an all mechanical team. He can be found in Gnomeregan, in the left tunnel after exiting the elevator. He offers the daily quest, 'Bert's Bots', which awards the new bag.

I went out to try out his battle and I have to say, I think it's a bit overtuned and buggy right now. As detailed in @patf0rd's @patf0rd's Wowhead comment comment, M-37's Firebomb ability does Elemental damage instead of Mechanical as advertised in the tooltip.

This combined with how hard some abilities hit makes me think this encounter is overtuned. Especially when compared to a similar all-single-pet family trainer, Crysa. The dot also targets pets that burrow/use evasion effects, which makes it even more brutal. I don't think the difficulty level matches how accessible Bert's daily is.

But we'll see what happens. The fight may need some tweaking, but overall it's an interesting battle! (Let's just not talk about the RNG bag though....)

-------------------------------

Blizzard was not joking when they said more content at a faster pace in Legion -- 7.3 PTR is already here! *whew*

As always, everything discovered/datamined from the PTR is subject to change before patch release. We're still very early on in the PTR testing, so some content may still be WIP or not yet available.

New content
  • 4 New pets:
    Dibbler - Drop from Leprous Sack of Pet Supplies (hint of upcoming Gnomeregan Pet Battle Dungeon?!)

    Ghost Shark - Pet Journal lists it as a vendor item from Nat Pagle fishing, but could be placeholder info

    Golden Retriever (datamined by Wowhead) - Unknown source

    Naxxy - Vendor pet during Hallow's End, costs 150 Tricky Treats
  • New Summon Random Favorite Pet Button in the Pet Journal
  • Datamined Australian Shepherd puppy models



This is just the tip of the iceberg, I'm sure. The Gnomeregan Pet Battle Dungeon hasn't been officially announced/released for testing/confirmed yet, but... *crosses fingers* ^^;

I can't wait to see what else 7.3 has in store for pet collectors and battlers!

Friday, June 23, 2017

Lament of a Non-PVPer - Brainstorming Ideas For More Accessible PVP Pets

Lately I've been diligently completing the PVP tower WQs on my main (alliance) and an alt (horde). But this hasn't always been the case -- I admit that up until this point, I haven't been keeping up with the PVP WQs. Like at all. And I fully recognize that it's because of my own laziness and aversion to anything PVP-related that I'm so behind on Prestige ranks (barely halfway to Prestige 2 on my alliance, and a little further on my horde).

I also realize that it's kind of silly to be so against Honor grinding this expansion when PVP tower WQs are available. They're more PVE than PVP. BUT! I must mention that I HAVE had someone of the opposite faction try to kill me at one of the PVP towers. Luckily I was on my Druid so it was fairly easy to run away. I couldn't go back to finish that WQ for a few hours though, for fear of being drawn into actual PVP again. And the free-for-all WQs? I don't even try.


Alliance Enthusiast - reward from Prestige rank 1

Anyway, all of this has made me realize how demoralizing this grind is. The desired end goal of this grind (Prestige 7 for the Dutiful Squire and Dutiful Gruntling) seems SO very far away for a non-PVPer that's lagging behind.

The end of Legion is probably still a ways off, but there's still some anxiety/panic for me when it comes to these PVP pets. So far, developers have offered up zero information on whether or not the current Prestige rewards will be available after this expansion ends and the next expansion begins.

Expansion-exclusive rewards would mean there's only so much time left to grind your face off to reach desired ranks. Added pressure of a deadline makes it even less enjoyable, especially for someone like me who didn't like this task to begin with.

What could developers do to make the PVP pets more accessible as we get later and later into Legion? Or even possibly after Legion? I took to Twitter and brainstormed a little with a couple of others!

  • Reduce amount of Honor required for each Prestige rank
    I believe they did this for Prestige 1, but the others were increased. To make it take less time before the expansion ends, I think reducing the Honor required to reach each rank would help a lot.
  • Change requirements for PVP pets completely (not Legion-Prestige related) and make them available on a vendor
    Currently the pets are tied to Prestige 1 and 7, but what if the requirements were changed? Maybe complete a new quest? Or new achievement? And then you're allowed to purchase the pets off a vendor.
  • Make the pets cageable (I'm not a fan of this one in this specific situation)
    The reason why I'm not a fan of these pets being cageable is because developers seem to WANT them to be exclusive, and WANT us to participate in a specific activity to earn them. Cageable would go against that design philosophy.
  • Increase Honor gain (suggested by @noeldillabough)
    Increased Honor earned from simple PVP-related tasks would help a bunch. Coupled with lowered required Honor to reach each rank, would make the race to collect these pets before the end of the expansion less stressful.
  • Purchasable for Marks of Honor (and possibly a next expac-Prestige rank requirement? preferably reasonably low rank :P) (suggested by @liopleurodonic)
    This one seems most likely to happen -- remove the Legion-Prestige rewards, but you can still collect them by reaching X Prestige in the next expansion, and if you have enough Marks of Honor you can buy them using that currency. My concern is whether or not Marks of Honor will be reasonably collectible by non-PVPers like myself, and IF they attach a Prestige requirement to this, whether or not there will be a more "PVE" option to earn Honor like the PVP towers in Legion.

Those are just a few ideas on what could be implemented as either a catch-up mechanic or new method of collecting these pets. I'm sure there are many other good ideas out there. Who knows? Maybe developers already have something in store for us in the future.

Bottom line for me -- This grind is very discouraging and I sincerely hope there's a plan going forward to help PVP noobs like me, and to make sure the rewards are more accessible late in the expansion.

I'm doing the PVP tower WQs daily on two characters, not even Prestige rank 2 on either toon yet, and the end seems so far away. Add to that I Just. Don't. Know. How much time I have left to reach Prestige rank 7 before the end of the expansion and possibly the removal of the Prestige rewards.

If there's no time limit and the rewards will be available indefinitely, great! It won't be as nerve-wracking of a grind and maybe a catch-up mechanic won't be necessary.

But without having confirmation of one way or another....talk about a stressful endeavor. =\

Edit: Thanks to @Evolyn_Warcraft, here's a handy chart breaking down Honor earned and how much it will take to reach Prestige 7.

According to this, at the current rate I'm going (3 PVP towers a day which equals to 1035 Honor/day - using a Guild Battle Standard) it will take me approximately 339 days to reach Prestige 7, minus 1.5 Prestige ranks and give or take a few days.

That's almost an entire year.

If (and that's a big 'if' since there's no official word) these Prestige rewards are going away at the end of Legion and there are no catch-up mechanics or changes.... then I hope this expansion has more than a year left to go. T_T

Friday, June 16, 2017

Sun Darter Hatchling Found Thanks to WoW Secrets Discord

The WoW Secrets Discord has done it yet again, and I was fortunate enough to watch the adventure unfold.



Sun Darter Hatchling location has been discovered, and after an entire day of brainstorming, testing, and puzzle-doing...they unlocked how to collect this pet!

Here is the original Google Doc that documented their progress: Cavern of Consumption. Huge thanks to Sinnie for keeping this document up-to-date throughout the day.

I won't go into detail on every step necessary to collect this pet. A better guide will be posted on Wowhead soon, I'm sure. However, I will list the consumables you need in order to "solve" all of the puzzles inside the cave.

Edit: Here's a guide from the Secrets Discord channel, and a Wowhead guide/comment: here.

Consumables you'll need, in order as used inside the cave:

Do not click off any of the buffs. Just continue using consumables as necessary to bypass each obstacle.

If at the very end, in the cavern with the lake and egg, you cannot use your Scroll of Intellect -- only then should you click off all other buffs.

Good luck to everyone! And thank you to the dedicated detectives in the WoW Secrets Discord channel for figuring all of this out. It was a pleasure to watch everything slowly unfold. MVPs were those willing to gather/buy the materials to make many consumables and test things over and over. There are too many to name, but you know who you are. :)

And thank you to Blizzard devs for creating this interesting puzzle!!

Sunday, June 11, 2017

Patch 7.2.5 Pet Content

Patch 7.2.5 is set to release this coming Tuesday, June 13. Here's what pet collectors can expect/look forward to in the patch!

10 New pets! Some of which may not be available at the start of 7.2.5 though.

Deadmines Pet Battle Dungeon - 4 new pets
There are three new pets to purchase from the vendor using a new currency that's earned from the Challenge quest of the scenario, and an achievement pet for completing Pet Battle Challenge: Deadmines.


If you complete the Challenge Deadmines quest every single week, it should take you 6 weeks to collect all three vendor pets.

Here's an overview of the Deadmines Pet Battle Dungeon from the PTR.

Deaths of Chromie Scenario - 2 new pets
This is more complicated than the Deadmines Pet Dungeon and not as straight forward when it comes to collecting the pets, but this scenario has a chance to drop two new bronze dragon pets.

  • Both pets have a chance to drop from Time-Lost Wallet.
  • Time-Lost Wallet is only sometimes awarded from Sands of Time.
  • Sands of Time can occasionally drop from mobs inside the scenario and special Time Chests.

After earning enough reputation to reach rank 5 with Chromie (Bronze Ally), you can choose the tier 5 talent, Fortuitous. This increases the odds of looting Sands of Time, which in turn increases your chances of receiving Time-Lost Wallets.

Rogue pickpocketing - 2 new pets
Rogues get a short quest chain in their Order Hall. Completing it allows you to pickpocket a new currency, Coins of Air, from mobs on the Broken Isles. Griftah (in the Rogue Order Hall) sells two new pets for 10k Coins of Air each.

Tomb of Sargeras meta-achievement - 1 new pet
Completing Glory of the Tomb Raider awards one new pet. It can only be completed in Normal mode or higher.

The Tomb of Sargeras raid does not open up until June 20 (see raid release schedule here).

????????? - 1 new pet
Sun Darter Hatchling was added, however it's currently not collectible as far as we know.

There's little to no information on where this pet will come from. The Pet Journal says it drops from an Oddly-Colored Egg, but where can this egg be found?

The pet's flavor text might hint that we'll need to wait until Argus. "This unique species of faerie dragon is not usually found on Azeroth."

Friday, June 9, 2017

Activity-Exclusive Pets In Legion

A late addition was added to the 7.2.5 PTR. With the patch set to release next week, this pet really seems more like an afterthought than a well-thought out and planned reward.

The pet, Micronax, is earned by completing the meta-achievement Glory of the Tomb Raider. This achievement can only be done in Normal mode or higher. The pet is BoP and not cageable.

Needless to say, some pet collectors are not all that enthusiastic about this. Myself included; it really saddens me to see the community divided and/or feeling upset over how a pet is implemented.

This has been a long-time coming, but I think it's time to address the seeming trend in Legion. Activity-exclusive battle pets.

The direction of pets becoming more and more exclusive to a specific activity, with no other recourse other than to do said activity, is becoming exhausting and discouraging. It feels as if a certain balance between multiple gameplay factors has been lost or abandoned, and things are becoming too extreme.

Why is Micronax and the achievement it's tied to so disliked by some in the pet collecting community? What makes this situation any different from other achievement pets?

Micronax pushes the boundary of what collectors need to do to fulfill their style of gameplay. It's the FIRST pet reward from a raid meta-achievement. The closest exclusive pet from a group-achievement is Lagan. Even that pet was somewhat crossing the line for a few collectors, as it required the help of 4 other players in a Mythic dungeon. Many see Pet Battles and pet collecting as more of a "solo" and "casual" style of play. And Lagan put collectors in a position where they had to travel outside of that preferred style.

However, other achievement pets fit more inline with solo-gameplay. Zoom, for example, is a from a quirky achievement that can be completed alone OR with others.

The upcoming Micronax cannot be earned alone, at least for a few expansions. There's no option but to either wait that long or do the achievement yourself.

More and more collectors are feeling pushed out/away from their preferred gameplay because of the extreme and exclusive direction Blizzard is taking with pets. Pets seem to be treated more like any other reward in Legion, rather than a mini-game localized to itself.

It's understandable that the developers want to encourage everyone to try new aspects of the game, but for a collector, Legion is starting to feel more like mandatory participation and not so much like encouragement.

I've heard multiple times throughout the community a growing sentiment that Blizzard would much rather push players into activities they may not wanted to participate in, instead of maintaining pet collecting. They feel coerced and forced into parts of the game when all they would like to do is collect pets/play solo.

For collectors, the pet IS the game, the goal, the activity. To gate this gameplay behind another activity that's completely unrelated...it's only a matter of time before it's just too demoralizing to continue. As Liopleurodonic once said, "...it's a lot easier to stay motivated when completion is an attainable goal."

I was really hoping that Micronax would be tied to the Glory achievement, but not directly like the title. My hope was that it would be similar to the MoP and WoD Challenge Mode pets, and collectors would be able to find a pet-friendly guild should they be unable to or unwilling to complete the achievement themselves. This would give collectors options, something that seems to be missing these days.

I think this is one of the reasons why collectors are starting to feel more alienated. The options are disappearing, and the number of pets in Legion where there's only one way to collect a pet is growing.

It's getting overwhelming. The carrot being so far away has left some collectors feeling like there's no point, no hope, not doable, why bother.

Do I think it's ok to have some exclusive pets? Sure. Some variation is nice and probably healthy for the game.

But I think there needs to be a balance with exclusive pets. Maybe make them tradeable or cageable in the future. Maybe add them to a number of different exclusive sources. Even better yet, keep the number of exclusive pets to a minimum, while providing an abundant number of pets readily available for all collectors.

Balance. Options. These would make situations like Micronax, the class exclusive pets, the PVP pets, feel better for many collectors. Sometimes that's what people need - even if it's all in their head, you can't understate how important it is to FEEL positive/hopeful about something.

Balance the RNG better with other factors. Requirements should be reasonable (as subjective as that is). Give collectors different ways to collect pets. Keep the number of exclusive pets small, allowing collectors to feel that there's much more they can actually accomplish rather than not.

I recognize that much of this post is entirely subjective. How one person views pet collecting in Legion may not be the same as how someone else sees it. My thoughts may not accurately reflect that of the entire community. I am merely pointing out my observations and thoughts on this matter.

My personal feelings about Micronax and similar activity-exclusive pets are more ambivalent. Part of me is not happy but is willing to accept it. Part of me is hopeful that there will be changes made along the way to help out collectors (pets changed to BoE and/or cageable). And part of me is deeply invested in the community and wants to see collectors happy and excited about a new pet, not upset and disappointed.

We, as pet collectors, need to admit and accept that the pet collecting environment is probably changing. Perhaps exclusive pets are just how things will be from here on out. Pets may not be just for Pet Battles anymore, and we may see more pets added as mere rewards for various activities.

We must consider that developers might be looking at a bigger picture, and these exclusive pets are intended as long-term gameplay. Content that doesn't have to be completed right away, and it's something that's perfect when there's not much else going on later down the line. It's also possible that they have plans for the future to make exclusive pets less exclusive and more inclusive.

However, I still hope that developers will acknowledge that some pet collectors are feeling very discouraged and alienated. That there's ongoing sentiment that pets are being used to force players into different aspects of the game, rather than in an already established mini-game. And that Blizzard will take all of this into consideration and possibly address these issues going forward with pets that are implemented in a more thoughtful and collector-friendly way.

Wednesday, June 7, 2017

Death Knight and Monk Class Pets - Final Thoughts?


I collected my third and last DK pet this evening, and I wanted to record my thoughts on the entire experience while it's still fresh in my mind.

Initially, the task to level up a character, gear up enough to complete all necessary quests and campaigns, and then collect enough AP to earn Concordance on not just one but THREE weapons -- all of this seemed like a very daunting task. Doable, but it's nothing like anything pet collectors have experienced before.

I was, and still am, concerned about how many steps it takes to collect these pets. Even after finishing my ultimate goal of collecting all three DK pets, my point of view on the requirements for these pets is still shaky. I'm still undecided if it's too much for the average pet collector.

This is largely because my personal experience collecting these pets was relatively good, making me biased about the whole thing.

My own DK adventure was probably not average either. Instead of leveling to 110 and then waiting for AK40 to begin sinking AP into my weapons, I played my DK almost as much as my main. Even before AK40, I chased after all the AP that was available outside of raids and dungeons, and completed content as it was released. Every. Single. Day.

I know there are plenty of collectors who do not enjoy the class and/or do not have the time to play as I did. Looking at it from their perspective, collecting all three DK pets is indeed very intimidating. Again, doable but the carrot seems very far away. It's understandable how that can be demoralizing.

So in regards to the requirements for these class pets, I still can't say for certain whether or not I agree with how they were implemented, even after completing the task.

Do I think the requirements are too high or unfair? I don't know. I really don't know.

Is this task beyond that of a collector/player? Nope. It's doable. That's about as much as I can confirm without any bias.

Was it worth it? For me, yes. It's a unique experience that I'm sure I'll look back on and say, "I did that!" :)


Class #2 - Monk
I'm getting a better glimpse of the entire experience on my Monk.

She "took a break" once she reached 110 and completed the necessary prerequisite quests and storylines for the pet. Logging in mainly consisted of collecting/using follower mission rewards.

I believe I left her off at weapon level 30-35ish (all from miscellaneous AP rewards from leveling, questing, treasures, and follower missions), and only returned to play her once I was able to send her an AK40 Tome from my main toon.

With my Monk's AK at cap I'm only now beginning to collect AP in earnest. She's earned her mount and is diligently going through the Suramar for the (large) AP rewards.

Only a day after class mounts were unlocked and her weapon is already level 47. Much like my DK, my Monk's AP is mainly coming from quests, WQs and follower missions. Thankfully, Monk only needs one weapon with Concordance, unlike DK which needs three.

The increased AK is real boon IMO. It feels really good to see a huge amount of AP from a single token, filling up your weapon bar and alerting you that there are points to be spent. It's probably just psychological and all in my head, but I think this is what was needed to help make the "grind" more tolerable. Monk is not my preferred class, and I would much rather play other characters, but. This. Is. Doable.

If I didn't have as much time as I do, would I still feel the same way? Maybe. Maybe not.

I'd have to concede that yes, it can be accomplished overall. But the fact that the end result is SO far away due to time constraints or other factors... it makes it seem like it's NOT feasible.

But I want to reassure all collectors that it's an adventure like none other, and it's worth going for. If you enjoy collecting and love pets, just look at this as a long-term project. Developers have stated that there are no plans to remove the pets, so we'll hopefully have plenty of time (even post-Legion?) to collect everything.

Stay determined and dedicated. "Hard", "easy", whatever -- these terms are all relative and mean different things for different people. The bottom line is: It. Is. Doable. And YOU can do it!

Good luck to all and happy collecting. :)

Tuesday, June 6, 2017

Class Pets On June 6 + More This Month


DKs and Monks rejoice, today is your day! Starting today, players can earn their class mounts (if they've completed the prior quests in the Broken Shore campaign), which means unlocking class pets. Yay!

Here's a list of classes and their pets: Collecting Legion Class-Exclusive Pets (DK and Monk are toward the bottom of the page)

   

Note that reaching AK 25+ for Step 4 can be accomplished either through work orders or by buying an AK Tome on a character with higher AK.


More Events In June
There's more to this month than just class pets though - here's a quick reminder of all the pet-related events occurring in June. For a full list of all events, not just pet ones, check out Blizzard's official blog post.
  • June 6 - Class mounts (unlocks class pets for DK and Monk)
  • June 21 through June 27 - MoP Timewalking (2 pets)
  • June 21 through July 4 - Midsummer Fire Festival (1 NEW pet)
  • June 21 through September 23 - Summer begins (Qiraji Guardling starts spawning in Silithus)

Overall, what an exciting month for collectors! Wheee! :D
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Perks N Peeves by Quintessence is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.