Several new pets are listed as well as news on what and where the wild pets are for the Eastern Kingdoms. There are a lot more of them than I would have expected. Still more details to come.

Every week, DeGei brings a fresh analysis on the upcoming Pet Battle System. In depth looks at possible features, pet interactions, and how you can prepare now.  Welcome, this, is Battle Center.

Pulled up an old screenshot I took in Wrath. Tier 9 should be the give away on that, but you can’t be too sure nowadays. Blizzard, when do we get a mount like this? Picture is completely unrelated to the topic I want to discuss, just didn’t have time to come up with something better. Unless you say that the Netherwing are a category of dragon that bears special examination, in the same way I will be examining the categories of pets we can see Blizzard leaning toward already.

These are the two images I will be referring to. You will remember them from a couple weeks ago.

On the list itself and on each ability we can see multiple obvious symbols. First we have the gears, so that pet type is Mechanical. This is a fairly common type, as there are a fair number of pets that Engineers can make. Next is the wolf head for beasts probably. Below that is Fire, as well as a water symbol on Chuck’s and the Yeti’s abilities, so each Element may be represented. The skull is next to the Crawling Claw may be linked some form of Demonic pets. We have a wing next to a parrot for all the birds. The De-Weaponized Rabbot has a rat ability, so Rodents, as well as a purple swirl for something Arcane.

What we don’t see are some of the smaller groupings. no form of dragon whelp, so they may or may not be their own class. None of the handful of insects or spiders. Lastly, none of the balloons or other objects, like the Creepy Crate (though I would guess Demonic on the latter).

So that gives some idea of how the pets will be split up, but they have stated they are planning on having an interplay between the classifications. I would make some guesses on this. Water over fire and beasts or birds over rodents would be likely. Demonic over arcane would be a mildly Warcraftian choice, as the Burning Legion is drawn to magic, maybe even being weak to each other would work. Fire or water may beat mechanicals. Dragons over the elements would be thematic, until the last patch anyway.

Again, I can only speculate and conjecture until we have more information from Blizzard. Feel free to give your own opinions of what should triumph over the other. See you all next week.

DeGei can be followed on Twitter @DeGeiDragon . His main is Zeluminati, a Draenei Prot Warrior with more experience at retro content than current. Also, she is getting pretty good at pet hunting.  Feel free to  email degeidragon@gmail.com with any questions or topics you would like to see covered.

Every week, DeGei brings a fresh analysis on the upcoming Pet Battle System. In depth looks at possible features, pet interactions, and how you can prepare now.  Welcome, this, is Battle Center.

Expect to see this image along with the “Foward Thinking” Tag used again in the future. This will be the sign I am not so much drawing conclusions as  brainstorming. I am going to present today a feature and use I would like to see for the upcoming Pet Battle System. Again, this is in no way based on anything from Blizzard directly. This is drawing from previous examples and even other games.

The inspiration I am drawing from today is the new and improved Darkmoon Faire. At the faire, we have a set of monthly quests for each profession, granting 5 skill points. This is a nice boost, only available for a limited time, but fairly easy to obtain. My idea combines this nice boost, with a little more challenge.

For starters, we know there will be “masters” spread around Azeroth who can be challenged to learn new pet abilities. We don’t know anything beyond that, what restrictions they will have, will their pets be max level or scalable, etc. Now, what if Blizzard added other “masters” of sorts, not ones who grant pet abilities, but ones who are experts of other professions, and, for a lore reason, use those skills to train pets. Tying pets to professions in a simple, yet fun way.

The concept would be a Profession Master for each Primary and Secondary Profession scattered around Azeroth. Each would only be able to challenged once a week, similar to the Wintergrasp and Tol Barad Victory quests, the difference being, if you lose, that master may not be challenged again. If you were to win, no other master may be challenged until the reset. A defeated master would offer a relatively simple quest offering 5 skill points.

These masters would not be pushovers. Each would have three maxed level pets with rounded ability choices. However, each would be based on their  profession. Examples would include the Herbalism master using plantlike pets, the Enchanting master using magical pets, and so forth. This would set them up with some form of weakness and predictability. This would mean alts would gain an advantage as they can just borrow the same team as the main and beat the master as well, as pets are planned to be shared. This would be negated by the fact that most players level different professions on alts, meaning a different team would probably be needed.

It brings a new incentive  to level pets, a way to speed the profession leveling process through lower levels, and challenging “bosses” for the pet battle system. I was going to post ideas for these masters, including names, victory and defeat quotes, and teams, but I rather leave that to you, the reader. Post your ideas in the comments, have some fun with it. I’ll post some of mine later in the week.

If you have any requests for topics drop me an email and I will do my best to give it a shot. It may be a few months before we hear anything more about the pet battling officially. Thanks for reading.

DeGei can be followed on Twitter @DeGeiDragon . His main is Zeluminati, a Draenei Prot Warrior with more experience at retro content than current. Also, she is getting pretty good at pet hunting.  Feel free to  email degeidragon@gmail.com with any questions or topics you would like to see covered.

Hey, guys! Just wanted to let you know that there probably won’t be a new Mary Score this week, and potentially next week either! So sorry! >.<;;

Between the new patch, being sick, holiday obligations and my day job, I just haven’t had the time or energy to sit down and pound out the next couple of chapters like I’d hoped.

I’m going to do my best to schedule some writing time this week. With any luck, you won’t have to wait too terribly long!

Blizzard has just rolled out a full break down of Companion Pets, Mounts, and how to get them in the latest patch, here.

This clarifies any questions on which mounts will be dropping from what bosses as well as confirms the expected holiday additions that have been data-mined.

Something to note, both the turtle and tonk pets are not listed on the Darkmoon Faire section. They were available on the PTR at the same price. Why have they been removed? Did the carnies have a craving for turtle soup? Did the Tonk mini-game run through more of the toys than expected? We will eagerly await Sunday and the first official week of the Darkmoon Faire on live servers.

Post opening after the break.

UPDATE: Both the Turtle and Tonk are now on the list! Rest easy my friends.

In addition to all the new armor that players can acquire from Valor Point vendors, the Hour of Twilight dungeons, and Deathwing and his minions in the Dragon Soul raid, patch 4.3 also boasts a variety of cool items for collectors and completionists alike.
From non-combat pets to mounts to weapons with a dash of Darkmoon Faire flavor, there’s a little something for everyone. To make sure you don’t miss out on any of these collectables, we’ve put together a list of all the new items featured in 4.3 so you can check out what’s available and where!

Purple Puffer Winners

Winner for Originality: MJ with his mini jouster blizzard bear cub.

Winner for Humorous: There is a tie

Kip giving Sleepy Willy a body. We got martians on the game thanks to him.

Neilaren and Murkablo had a misunderstanding, poor Neilaren got fried.

Winner for Difficulty: Skor showing off his victory at Heroic Ragnaros and showing Lil’ Ragnaros how not to behave.

Honorable Mention

Brandoncosta and his pirate scenario will receive a Pet Biscuit loot card code.

Ayvalenzephyr with a raid of Wind Rider Cubs will receive a Path of Cenarius loot card code.

Winners will be contacted by e-mail (check spam folder). Please reply to confirm that the prize was received, otherwise the prize will be void in a week from now.

Thank you everyone for participating and sending your screenshots with your companion, they were enjoyed by everyone.

Every week, DeGei brings a fresh analysis on the upcoming Pet Battle System. In depth looks at possible features, pet interactions, and how you can prepare now.  Welcome, this, is Battle Center.

Nothing like the beach at the sunset. This is the sunset of Cataclysm, 4.3 is upon us. Soon Mists of Pandaria will drop and we will enter a new world… of Warcraft. The Classes will change, the mechanics will change, and so too will the pet system. We have heard some of the goals for the new system, so I thought it would be a good idea to go over what we heard at Blizzcon for an idea of what to expect.

First we have heard that pets will be shared across account. That means there will be less of a market for rare pets. On the other hand, the battle system itself will increase the demand just slightly. The net effect may be players using alts to level pets, as Blizzard stated pet battling will give minor experience akin to gathering professions. The question about sharing is, how far reaching is it? Accountwide, server specific, or faction specific per server? If it is server or better I will be leveling a Horde alt just to finish off my Argent Tourney collection.

It has been stated they want players to be able to trade and sell leveled pets. This would be a change from the current system of a learned pet is learned. Being able to unlearn pets back into items opens other possibilities. Would it be possible to learn multiple copies of the same pet? If not could you carry multiple copies of “unlearned” pets in your bag and unlearn and relearn them as you level them? There will probably be a market for leveling more obscure or tough to obtain pets.

When the new system goes live, if multiple of the same pet can be learned, will you gain multiple copies of pets you have on multiple characters? For example, I sent a spare Green Wing Macaw to my Rogue alt, do I get two of them? I wouldn’t expect multiples of the store bought pets that go across account, like Lil’ Ragnaros, but others should.

We also have to take into account, there will be two subdivisions of pets. One for the companions we already have and one for the wild creatures we encounter around Azeroth. Perhaps they will both function differently. The Wild Pets may be more lenient when it comes to having multiples as you wouldn’t want to restrict a player’s ability to nab something that has a random chance of appearing in a difficult to reach location.

Lot of things may change, how many pets you can learn, how you carry them, and maybe even the selling and trading interface. I have seen various people raise issue with the default Auction House interface. If the way pets can be sold is changing, to include levels and names, maybe the AH will have to change to match. This is a big system to affect, and it will have effects on other systems all around.

Going forward, I would recommend holding on to any spare copies of pets you don’t already know, at least until we have more details on how the system will change. We are heading to a different latitude in Azeroth, where Panda’s are the dominant species, we will have to change our attitudes to match. Be open to change and try not to complain. Things are going to get a little crazy with the new system, so learn to be a little crazy or you might go insane.

This article sends it’s regards to Mr. Jimmy Buffett, inspiration for the title and the attitude.

DeGei can be followed on Twitter @DeGeiDragon . His main is Zeluminati, a Draenei Prot Warrior with more experience at retro content than current. Also, she is getting pretty good at pet hunting.  Feel free to  email degeidragon@gmail.com with any questions or topics you would like to see covered.

Every Saturday, WoWPetBattles.com brings you Mary Score!; a serial fiction by Travis Marcum. Follow goblin adventurer Mary Travelmunch as she and her trusty mechanical chicken Freddie compete against the best pet trainers in Azeroth and beyond for the coveted Critter Cage Battle Network’s Illustrious Grand Master trophy!

“Damn it!”

The sound of the hurled wrench as it smashed the flower vase in the corner was only satisfying for a moment before regret settled in. The tension and frustration that had been tossed away with the angry flight of enormous iron tool all came rushing back as if tied by a rope, cleverly laced with fresh shame acquired somewhere along the its short distance home.

Mary groaned. She closed her eyes and rubbed at the bridge of her nose with grease-stained fingers, leaving thin lines of inky black on her greenish-blue face. The goblin’s temples throbbed and she found herself had rapidly unable to focus on the task at hand; repairing the damage to Freddie’s wing.

Spread out on the table in front of her, Mary’s clockwork fowl lay motionless. Several access hatches were opened wide and mechanical entrails had erupted from them like some kind of slow moving, industrial lava flow. Giga Grimtotem’s ravasuar hatchling had completely destroyed the inner-framework of the mechanical chicken’s wing mount. Shards of splintered wood, bent metal and torn wires had been left in tangled chaos amidst the gaping wound.

The problem wasn’t what Mila’wa had done to Freddie. By itself, the wing mount was something Mary could fix without too much difficulty, though finding the appropriate parts had been costly in Gadgetzan. The difficulty was everything else; to replace the damaged components and remount the wing required her to remove and then reassemble a maze of gears, belts and fans that the goblin huntress could barely divine the purpose of, let alone accurately recreate. The complexity of it all made Mary’s head spin.

“What have I gotten myself in to?” Mary sighed. Violet eyes turned toward the bedside table of her private suite, an extravagantly expensive luxury she could afford only because it was included as part of the prize of her preliminary victory. There the flickering candlelight gleamed off three glass bottles, beads of sweat trickling down their shapely forms in a vaguely seductive manner. Unspoken testimony that the fizzy, tangy liquid they contained would be both cool, refreshing and solve all of Mary’s problems. The familiar label on each bottle displayed a happy goblin with his arms raised above his head in discovery over the slogan, “Kaja’Cola – A hidden genius in every bottle!”

Kaja’Cola. Goblin idea juice; a single bottle made the drinker exponentially smarter… for a while, anyway. Since the eruption of Mount Kajaro, the precious liquid had become less common and therefore much, much more expensive.  The room had come complimentary with the three bottles; a clear indication that Woodwazzle intended for his Critter Cage Battle Network to be a very big deal, indeed.

Mary found she had slid off her stool and started toward the tempting bottles before she’d stopped herself. A loud sigh fell from her lips and she shook her head vigorously to clear it both of the desire and the tingling rage that had begun to clutch at her chest once more. She turned her attention back to Freddie largely as an attempt to ignore the siren call of the Kaja; an effort that took more out of her than she cared to admit.

Yet again, Mary found herself surveying the small, scientific marvel. It was hard to believe her father had created something so sophisticated and intricate. But then again, Judik Travelmunch had been a truly gifted mind. Mary genuinely believed him to have been the smartest goblin ever born, though she was admittedly biased. His quick, analytical ability had made him one of the best Finders in Kezan history and he had unquestionably spearheaded dozens (if not hundreds) of technological advances before his fall from grace. Most impressively, he’d never drunk Kaja! Not even once!

And since his death, Mary hadn’t either. He’d always said she was smart enough without it. That she didn’t need it. That it was a crutch for weak minds with weak ideas. Under Judik’s supervision, Mary had studied engineering and even branched out in to the alchemical sister sciences. She’d even become a Finder, just like him. But bright and successful as she was, Mary knew she wasn’t as smart as Judik had been. And as much as she loved and idolized her father, there were times like now that she found she deeply envied and almost loathed him. He made intricate and complex ideas that she violently struggled with, seem so effortless. It had all come so naturally to him.

Why couldn’t it be that way for her?

“I don’t know what to do, Daddy,” Mary whispered.

Her reverie was interrupted by a knock at the door. Mary had just enough time to cover Freddie with her cast-off cloak and turn to face the entry as the door began to open. With sudden clarity, Woodwazzle’s threat loomed largely in her mind; though sunrise wasn’t for several hours, she wouldn’t put it past the elderly entrepreneur to ignore that little detail. The huntress reached for her back only to realize that her rifle was propped up against the bed on the other side of the room.

Mary cursed inwardly at her own stupidity. She now doubly regretted her earlier tantrum; at least her wrench would have made for a decent club.

<…to be continued!>

“Mary Score!” is © Travis A. Marcum 2011 and published on WoWPetBattles.com with permission; World of Warcraft and all related materials are © Blizzard Entertainment. Travis Marcum can be reached via email, Google+, Facebook or Twitter. His main is a goblin beast mastery Hunter on Earthern Ring-US and spends his time in-game raiding, collecting pets and trying to work the auction house. He’s owned every handheld Pokémon game. He’s trying to lose weight with diet and exercise. Let’s see how long that lasts, shall we?.

To fill a bit of space here, I would like to make some recommendations.

First, now would be the time to take a week or two break from WoW before 4.3. There are lots of good games recently released or releasing this month. Cutting down on WoW time at the very least helps prevent burn out.

Two, if you like video games in general, check out Nitpixels humorous weekly podcast about things going on in gaming, with a fair bit of derailment. They have occasional contests as well.

Third, Saints Row: The Third, try it, get it. This is a game about fun. If you don’t mind a bit of mature theming, check this one out. Their website has clips and info.

Take it easy, enjoy Thanksgivings all you Americans Out there (Go Packers). See you guys with a full article next week.

Every Saturday, WoWPetBattles.com brings you Mary Score!; a serial fiction by Travis Marcum. Follow goblin adventurer Mary Travelmunch as she and her trusty mechanical chicken Freddie compete against the best pet trainers in Azeroth and beyond for the coveted Critter Cage Battle Network’s Illustrious Grand Master trophy!

“Mila’wa! Destroy that toy!” The tauren’s vicious command came unexpectedly, ending the scoffing laughter without pause. The green reptile leapt forward with almost blinding speed and force; a high-pitched roar echoing out from between dozens of short, sharp fangs.

It might have caught a lesser combatant off-guard, but Mary reacted quickly. She’d come to expect such subterfuge from the Grimtotem tribe. “Defense pattern: zeta three, Freddie!”

The clockwork fowl answered his mistress with a loud squawk and briskly extended a wing forward to defend himself. Shimmering, truesilver feathers whirled outward from the outstretched appendage on dozens of little hinges and rotors, stopping abruptly and with a loud grinding noise so that they stood both straight up and straight down to form a tower-like shield.  The mechanical creature had just enough time to hide behind the wall of metal feathers and brace himself before the young ravasaur made contact. A loud screech and a modest shower of sparks erupted from the resulting clash of razor sharp talons against unforgiving metal. The impact left a small cloud of dust and sand in its wake.

Partially blinded by the stinging sand, the ravasaur spent a moment dazed and shaking his massive head with a mewled whimper that under any other circumstance would have made Mary’s heart ache. Freddie’s ability to deflect such a sudden and savage attack had clearly surprised both the ravasaur hatchling and his owner. Mary didn’t have to guess that the pair had won many duels using the same ferocious, albeit simple, technique. The thorium widgets that mounted the wing servos had snapped loudly under the weight of the raptor’s massive attack, though it didn’t seem her Grimtotem opponent had noticed that Freddie could no longer move his shield wing.

She only had a heartbeat or two before the shaman and her pet recovered. Fortunately, engineers weren’t particularly inhibited by sandstorms and that created an opportunity to press her advantage. Mary flipped a switch near her right temple and her goggles simply cut through the obscuring sand as if it weren’t there. It took the goblin less than a heartbeat to size up the situation and issue a command. “Attack pattern: delta seven!”

Freddie obediently leapt backward as compartments on either flank opened buzzed open, immediately revealing two goblin-designed rockets mounted on spring-loaded extender arms. The tauren shaman, having collected herself, commanded a burst of wind to blast away the sand, but not quickly enough. She could only react with widened eyes as the mechanical chicken literally rocketed forward. The impact of the resulting tackle hung in the air longer than ravasaur itself, who was knocked clear from the center of the Cage and collided soundly against the furthest wall.

“Mila’wa, no!” The tauren screamed and ran full hoof to her unconscious companion. She’d begun a healing song several steps before she ever reached her beaten pet. At least in her concern for the savage, green-scaled hatchling, Mary could respect her opponent. A little bit.

A very tiny, very little bit. But it was something, anyway.

The crowd had gone absolutely silent. The local champion had just been upset by a relative newcomer, after all. And a Travelmunch, no less! Sure, she was an adventurer, but…

And then the mass of spectators as one simply erupted with noise. Some excited and some startled. Some downright furious; having no doubt just lost a sizable bet or two. As if remembering his duty, the promoter of the event staggered in to the cage with a double-step and quickly moved to Mary’s side. He was an old, gaudily-dressed Steamwheedle goblin with grey-white hair and a surprisingly loud, gravelly voice that managed rise above the roar of the showgoers.

“Our new Cage preliminary champion, adventurer and Finder, Marcum Travelmunch!” The promoter shouted, grabbing Mary’s hand and lifting it in to the air. “And her mechanical chicken, Freddie!” The crowd burst in to sound once more, a mixture of cheers and jeers and catcalls. It all blended together in to a pounding, white thunder that danced around Mary’s green, pointed ears. Yet even at the center of all that noise, Mary clearly heard the promoter speak in a low tone, just loud enough to be shared between the two of them, lost to the crown in all the excitement.

“You can’t imagine how much gold you just cost me, little girl,” the promoter of the Critter Cage Battle Network, Glezbek Woodwazzle hissed.  “First the father, now the daughter — don’t you dare think for a moment I don’t know exactly what’s going on here, missy.” Woodwazzle squeezed Mary’s hand painfully as he waved it up in the air for the crowd, presenting their now champion. Though his words practically dripped with malice, the bright smile that was his public façade never faded. “That fool Noggenfogger may think he’s in charge here, but Gadgetzan is my town and the C.C.B.N. is my pool; stop pissing in it before I bury you in my desert. Capiche?”

Mary’s eyes widened, but before she could speak, the elderly goblin addressed the crowd again. “Three cheers for our new champion, Marcum Travelmunch! Here, here!” The crowd reacted in kind and the elderly goblin released Mary’s hand and with only a single bow to the crowd, left the cage. It only occurred to Mary after the fact that most of spectators were in fact chanting his name.

<…to be continued!>

“Mary Score!” is © Travis A. Marcum 2011 and published on WoWPetBattles.com with permission; World of Warcraft and all related materials are © Blizzard Entertainment. Travis Marcum can be reached via email, Google+, Facebook or Twitter. His main is a goblin beast mastery Hunter on Earthern Ring-US and spends his time in-game raiding, collecting pets and trying to work the auction house. He’s owned every handheld Pokémon game. He slept way too late after a night of partying with friends. Partying meaning playing D&D, not drinking. We’re a wild bunch!