The Pet Hunter Diaries: Prepared For “Pandaria”

Dear Diary,

New Acquisitions: 4
Current Total: 155

Isn’t it amazing, how sometimes, even achieving a small, seemingly trivial goal can make you feel like a million bucks? I think because of this, some part of me will always be drawn to World of Warcraft — it is, in essence, a very goal-oriented game; there’s always something to be working towards, whether you’re a hardcore raider chasing heroic achievements, or simply like good old boring down-to-earth me, trying to collect 150 unique companion pets before the release of Mists of Pandaria.

In less than 24 hours, the expansion will launch, and I’m happy to report that I’ve completed what I set out to do well ahead of time, but why stop there? I’m sure I don’t have to tell you, a pet hunter’s job is never done. I’ve always been a rabid an enthusiastic collector of companion pets, which makes the upcoming pet capture-and-battle system feel like it’s right up my alley, but it’s also very exciting to see that more and more people are beginning to discover the joys of vanity pets, particularly those who have otherwise expressed little interest before.

For the last couple of WoW expansions I played until I reached the new level cap, and then stopped not long after that. I like raiding on occasion, but I’ve always been a proponent for more activity choices for endgame. Could pet hunting and battling be the answer to my ennui? That remains to be seen, but the last several weeks of doing nothing in game but focusing on amassing my pet collection has been very enlightening. Apparently, that alone has been enough for me to feel quite accomplished. But hey — I am, after all, your average everyday pet fiend.

I think I’ve done all I can pre-MoP for now. I’m sure that after Tuesday everyone’s pet collection including my own will explode, making the 150 unique pet achievement look like peanuts, but it was fun while it lasted. Now the question is, when I sit down to play tomorrow night, do I concentrate on starting my journey to level 90, roll a new Pandaren monk, or jump right into pet hunting? Choices, choices, choices.

And speaking of choices, I should also start thinking about assembling my pet battle team. The possibilities are endless:

• An all-flying ensemble? (Brilliant Kaliri, Firefly, Vampiric Batling)
• The Seasonal Squad? (Spirit of Summer, Peddlefeet, Feline Familiar)
• Mechs and robots? (Mechanical Chicken, Clockwork Gnome, Lil’ XT)
• Team We’re-So-Adorable-That-We’ll-Rip-Your-Face-Off-With-Our-Cuteness? (Lil’ Tarecgosa, Baby Blizzard Bear, Pint-Sized Pink Pachyderm)

That last one actually might not be such a bad idea, though the thought of someone beating up my little polar bear is too demoralizing and soul-crushing to even imagine; I just don’t know if I could take it.

To my fellow pet enthusiasts, see you all in Panda Land! It is my hope to meet you one day with honor on the pet battlefield.

Happy hunting,

MMOGC

Latest field notes and recently hunted pets:

Hyjal Bear Cub

Another baby bear! After two months doing Firelands dailies (didn’t always do them every day, that’s why it took longer) finally unlocked vendor to purchase this little guy. Probably obvious why I chose him first, as he is very cute, very cool. Having to spend more than 1000 gold to buy him, not so cool. Damn you, why do bear cubs have to be so stinkin’ adorable?

Crimson Lasher

Several days later, unlocked second Firelands vendor to buy this pet. What a PITA this event chain is. Another 1000+ gold down the hatch, but now have my own little Crimson Lasher. No, definitely not feeding it any more burning scorpid gunk.

Fox Kit

Spent weeks doing Tol Barad dailies, hoping for Alliance controlled every day in order for few extra commendations. Killed every Baradin Fox I came across, but after a pile of fox corpses still no luck. Screw it, finally just spent 200 commendations at the vendor for this pet and called it a day. Totally worth it. Has great dancing animation!

Mojo

Checked AH periodically for hex sticks, buying any I could find for 5 gold or less (go to hell, sellers who list for 25g) to use on forest frogs in heroic ZA. Kitty stealth solo run ftw! Got lucky on third run, using second to last hex stick left in inventory. Finally got my Mojo!

The Pet Hunter Diaries: Thrill Of The Hunt

Dear Diary,

New Acquisitions: 9
Current Total: 151

Every time I write to you I feel like a big nerd. Oh who am I kidding, I am a big nerd.

As you can see, I’ve reached my pre-World of Warcraft expansion goal of 150 unique pets. One reason for that is I made out like a bandit leveling the last 16 points I needed to max Archaeology. It was a pain in the ass, but I managed to score two pets and a mount out of it. Not bad for about an hour of work.

Another factor which helped a lot was the Darkmoon Faire which was in town last week. Can you believe it’s only been my second time at the Faire since it moved to Darkmoon Island? And the first time didn’t even really count because I was only able to catch the tail end of it for a day or two. And yet I’m pretty sure I can play all the effing games there in my sleep now, seeing as I did them every day on no less than six characters to be able to get all the pets at once (now that they’re account wide). It didn’t exactly happen this month, but it sure as hell will next month.

Of course I’m ecstatic about my achievement, but at the same time…I’m getting this nagging feeling in the back of my mind like I cheated a bit because three new additions were actually redeemed through loot cards from the WoW Trading Card Game (TCG). I debated, I debated, I debated, and finally caved and just bought these dirt cheap common cards off eBay.

Okay, so I know it was the wise choice. It’s really not much different from buying aesthetic items from a game’s item shop, no? Probably cheaper too. Prices ranged from $0.99 to $4.50, and as several people have pointed out to me already, considering the time investment and effort it requires for me to gain one pet in game these days, the price is definitely worth it.

Still, I’m loathe to spend real money on vanity pets, because if I didn’t I would have all the ones from the Blizzard store already. Right now I only own Lil’ XT because he was a free gift for being a former WoW Mobile Armory subscriber as well as the Pandaren Monk and Moonkin Hatchling because when I bought them a part of their proceeds went to charity. Otherwise, I would generally prefer to leave “buyable” pets out of my collection as that just feels a little like an easy way out. After all, it’s the hunt that counts, no? Although, I guess one can argue that the bidding war I had over a couple of these cards can also be considered a chase of sorts.

Dear Diary, not saying I won’t continue to pad my collection in the future with more real life purchases, but how ’bout we just promise not to make a habit of it? Okay, sounds good to me.

Happy hunting,

MMOGC

Latest field notes and recently hunted pets:

Curious Wolvar Pup

Am a big moron. Not really “new” pet, but missed being counted after patch 5.0.4 (this is why I write, D.) Thought only had Oracle pet, forgot had done Children’s Day quest a million years ago for this little guy on alt. Which alt? When? Who cares! Was nice surprise “bonus” pet, reward for helping some orphans.

Sea Pony

Nothing more irritating than fishing pets, but surprisingly painless. Random guy on dock beside me hooked him in 5-6 casts, made me want to jump and beat snot out of him to steal sea pony. Luckily fished up my own in about 60-70 casts. Urge to kill gone immediately. Only available during Darkmoon Faire from fishing off shores of island.

Darkmoon Monkey

Between this month’s tickets and last month’s paltry haul on main, had just enough to buy one Darkmoon pet before Faire left town. Chose monkey, because everybody loves monkeys. Especially monkeys wearing red fezzes. This is truth.

Clockwork Gnome

AKA Jeeves’ lazy cousin as he will not fix your armor, sell you stuff or do banking, just stand there looking pretty. Unbeknownst to me, project had been sitting in archaeology queue under Dwarf artifacts for who knows how long.

Voodoo Figurine

Another archaeology find, troll artifact. From description: “Often powered by flasks of mojo, troll sweat, the flesh of tribal enemies, or by DEVOURING TINY PORTIONS OF THEIR OWNERS’ SOULS.” Uh, crap, what? Wait, there’s more: “But don’t worry. Teeny, tiny little portions. You won’t even notice they’re gone.” Oh, good. Was worried for a sec there.

Sand Scarab

From WoW TCG expansion “Tomb of the Forgotten”. Very common and also cheapest of pet loot cards purchased. Maybe people don’t particularly like bugs? Admittedly, little guy is sort of creepy. Takes certain kind of love to appreciate insect bigger than your boot.

Purple Puffer

From WoW TCG expansion “Throne of the Tides”. Looks horrifyingly ugly on card illustration, but surprisingly cute in-game. Like Sea Pony, swims around in own little bubble which floats after owner, quite cruel if you think about it. Am disappointed that despite name, little guy does not have “puffing up” animation. Missed opportunity.

Gregarious Grell

From WoW TCG expansion “Crown of the Heavens”. Sports mullet, lots of piercings, and will look fantastic and right at home running beside warlock alt. Wait, Sand Scarab, Purple Puffer, Gregarious Grell. Purposeful alliteration? Or myself just slow to pick up on “old news”? Either way, I shall dub him Grayson.

Celestial Dragon

Received this latest escapee from the celestial menagerie for completing “Littlest Pet Shop” achievement, requiring possession of 150 unique companions. Since Patch 5.0.4, pet achievement rewards apparently no longer mailed as he appeared automagically in pet journal. Reward for collecting pets — even more pets. Go figure.

The Pet Hunter Diaries: The First Step Is Admitting I Have A Problem

Dear Diary,

They say it is coming; I can smell it in the winds. It has been a long time the hunt called to me, but I hear their voices now, the song of my dreams — and I have no choice but to heed. Look at me, they say. I’m so cute and cuddly! You want me in your collection. You know I’ll make the perfect companion. Time and time again, I have tried to turn away! But, dear Diary, as always…here I am.

Vanity pets. My love, my shame, my addiction. And in about a month’s time, it will only get worse. World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria is coming. Pet battles are coming. For self-proclaimed pet hunters such as myself, this new feature is both a blessing and a disaster. Perhaps it’s time to just give up this futile fight and embrace my inner obsessive pet collector. After all, I’ve played in the beta, and in it I’ve seen the time sink that is this new pet system — AKA my complete and utter ruination. And how better to embrace my imminent downfall than to document the entire process here like the gigantic nerd I am?

MoP might not be out yet, but the hunt is on. What does it say about me, when the first thing I did upon logging into my character for the first time in nearly a year, was to catch up on the new pets I have missed? Even though this is incredibly last minute of me, ever since I resubbed to WoW a few weeks ago I’d been working towards obtaining the “collect 150 unique pets” achievement — a not entirely unreasonable goal, or so I thought, seeing as I had last left off at 134.

Unfortunately, it might have been a tad too ambitious. Of the pets I have yet to collect, even the ones that don’t involve extreme good luck or paying an obscene amount of gold on the auction house require weeks to months of grinding, grinding, grinding. Again, what does it say about me when I will scorn grinding rep and dailies for gear, but will practically trip over my feet to do them if the end reward was a vanity pet instead? I am a sick, sick woman.

Latest hunting notes and recent pets:

Armadillo Pup

Was not even Revered with guild upon return to game, can imagine how long I have not played. Immediately bought this little guy upon hitting required rep. 50,000 dead critters needed to unlock pet, can somewhat recall going on rat killing spree in Deeprun Tram (just doing my part!) Seeing as I personally helped kill thousands of the little buggers towards guild achievement, I’d say I deserve this!

Guild Herald

Also bought at Revered rep with guild. Looks like full-sized male NPC, faction-exclusive companion, not battle pet. Too bad, as all I can picture now is this dude drop kicking my armadillo. On second thought, non-battle pet status probably good thing.

Rustberg Gull

This pet a result of almost two weeks dailies grinding for Baradin’s Wardens in Tol Barad. Alliance almost never wins there on server. Wanted to shoot self by time I was done. Unfortunately, 200 more commendations in my future, required for Fox Kit pet (now added to vendor). Oh well, better than farming and hoping for random drop. Might as well get to exalted on the way too.

Blue Mini Jouster

As pet collector, always thought Blizzard were bunch of shitheads for making you choose between getting Blue or Gold Mini Jouster as a reward for quest Egg Wave. Glad they made it daily, which if completed ten times awards you the Mini Jouster you did not choose in initial quest, allowing you to collect both. Thank you.

Hippogryph Hatchling

Found my stack of WoW trading cards while cleaning the other day, including rare Thunderhead Hippogryph loot card. Forgot I had this. Used to play game with ex-boyfriend, thought the dirtbag had made off with this along with rest of my collection. Could have sold this for at least 50 bucks on eBay, but hey, recall that I am sick, sick woman who must have her pets.

Dark Phoenix Hatchling

Thanks to removal of guild rep weekly cap and number of dailies cap in latest patch (again, thank you), got exalted with guild earlier this week. Would have been another four weeks otherwise. Bought really awesome dark phoenix pet right away, as well as its big brother the dark phoenix flying mount.

Lil’ Tarecgosa

Also bought this little guy when hit Exalted rep with guild. Cutest pet ever (sorry, Baby Blizzard Bear), and definitely prettiest dragon whelp pet by far. Unlocked by guild achievement. Now currently one very adorable pet richer…but unfortunately about 1500 gold poorer.

Tiny Shale Spider

Doing Therazane dailies one night when NPC scan mod alerted me to Jadefang in Crumbling Depths. As luck would have it, had Underground Economy daily quest. Heart pounding, set bomb in order to be literally exploded ass-backwards into previously inaccessible ledge. Held my breath, heaved a sigh of relief to find Jadefang in back of cave, actually up and alive. Wasn’t for long. Looted Tiny Shale Spider. Did not expect to go camping for rare spawns, just lucky night.

As you can see, I was somewhat aided by Tuesday’s patch 5.0.4, which also brought along an overhaul to the current pet system. The spellbook companion tab is now replaced by a Pet Journal UI, and all pets and mounts become account-wide with the exception of faction-exclusives.

As a result, I sorely regret not working harder on pet collecting using my other characters in the past. Children’s Day pets? Could have done the quests on multiple characters and gotten them all in one year. Argent Tournament Horde-side pets? My Tauren could have done those ages ago. Darkmoon Faire? My army of alts could have been ticket farming for a pet each. I could have been well over 150 pets by now.

Oh well, as they say, water under the bridge. The important thing is, hunting has been busy yet fruitful. Two weeks ago I needed 16 more pets to meet my goal, but today we are up to 142 with only 8 to go. Dear Diary, I hope to be there the next time I write, or at least be a lot closer to 150. Much luck and best wishes to all the other pet enthusiasts out there embarking upon their own pet hunting safaris. If interested, feel free to check out my current collection. To use a turn of phrase coined by my lovely guildmate from across the pond, I’m always happy to talk shop with other fellow “Pet Pals.”

Happy hunting,

MMOGC

WoW: One Step At A Time

Archaeology – my current on-going project.

It’s no secret that I’m going to be plunging headfirst back into World of Warcraft later this fall when the Mists of Panderia expansion comes out (already preordered the Collector’s Edition), but I made my return to the game earlier than expected when I reactivated my subscription last week. I don’t plan on playing full-on until at least September, but I did want to give my guild a heads up as well as to reconnect with some old friends before coming back. Thus I’ve been casually hopping in and out of the game for the last few days, putting in some time during the day whenever I have it to spare.

I won’t lie; jumping back into WoW after a long absence is always a bit of a shock for me. As always, so much has changed and I find my knowledge of the game to be hopelessly outdated. New content has been added, and I inevitably find myself like a deer caught in the headlights, paralyzed with fear in the face of all this stuff that’s available for me to do. I’ve logged in before just to stand in the middle of the hustle and bustle of Stormwind and stare slack-jawed at the screen for several minutes. That’s how I get when I have no idea what to do with myself.

Still, that’s not always bad. I have many gripes about the WoW when it comes down to their brand of endgame gear grind, but one thing I’ve always appreciated about the game is its diverse offering of side activities and “fluff” things to do, even — or should I say, especially — on my level-capped main. When I have a max-level character, I’m generally used to trying to find activities to occupy my mind, not being inundated with them.

Here’s also where I feel obligated to bring up my love for achievements. For a completionist like me, nothing can beat the joy or satisfaction of being to knock them out one by one like items on a to-do list, so there’s that. But in WoW, I’ve found that they can also serve as helpful focus points for the times I feel overwhelmed and unsure where or how to start. They break the content up into organized and manageable chunks, and I get to work towards a doable goal. Now I log in, choose one, and off I go, while setting aside the rest as distractions (for the moment).

The fact that not all the achievements are “serious” is my favorite part about the WoW achievement system. They range from heroic challenges to stuffing yourself full with in-game candy, from catching a pile of fish to getting all mushy with woodland animals. I tend to forgo the PvP or dungeon-centric ones to tackle the exploration, crafting, and loremaster achievements, as well as the “frivolous” ones that involve in-game events or pet collecting.

The wide variety makes this game extremely attractive as a daytime MMO for me, when the availability and duration of my gaming sessions are solely determined by the sporadic napping patterns of my infant daughter. By the way, my little Princess Crank Monster hates to nap. Like, absolutely hates it. She’ll fight sleep every chance she gets, and will only stay snoozing anywhere from 15 minutes to just over an hour during her nap times in the day.

This actually makes WoW pretty perfect, because I never know exactly how long I have to play. Sure, dungeons and raids are out because as soon as the baby wakes up crying it means I’m off the game. Still, but one quick rundown of my achievement panel shows there’s plenty other things I can set out to work on and accomplish — activities I can pick up and do whenever I want, whether I’m on for five minutes or five hours. Until now, I think that’s always something I’ve taken for granted.

Datacron Tours Of The Galaxy

One month later, still have my sub to Star Wars: The Old Republic. Still working on leveling to 50. Still having a ball.

I’ve been meaning to save some of the specific content for levelcap. Mostly stuff not related to leveling like crafting, companion-management, and of course, the big one — datacron hunting. That and filling out my codex was something I’d anticipated doing at level 50, as it seems like it’ll be the most time-consuming goal on my SWTOR to-do list.

Of course, it didn’t work out that way. For the last two weekends, Republic Mercy Corps has been organizing datacron hunting tours. Curse my guild for being so fun and social. My fellow guildies can be so inconsiderate sometimes with their involvement and helpfulness.

The exercise is definitely an opportunity to foster communication and cooperation for any guild. It’s just like a corporate workplace team-building outing, except it’s fun and you don’t get the urge to kill yourself during and afterward. Admittedly, hunting for datacrons with close to twenty other people is infinitely more enjoyable than doing it by yourself (especially when clumsy-footed old me is always requiring rescue from Jedi Sages whenever I fail a jump or fall off some ledge).

The addition of datacrons is probably one of the better decisions BioWare has made in this regard. Whether you choose to hunt for the elusive shiny little cubes alone or with a group, it’s something I applaud because it’s an activity you can do anytime, even at endgame, that doesn’t involve grinding instances and repeating dailies to a disgusting and ridiculous degree.

The reason leveling has always been my favorite part of playing any MMO is simply because in most themepark-type games the first time through from 1 to levelcap is a process you can experience only once (for the sake of the argument, I’m ignoring my time beta). For example, I always remember the awe and wonder of stepping into a new zone for the first time, as subsequent visits will never be the same again. The other reason I like to take it nice and slow is because I never expect a new game’s endgame to be robust and I don’t usually see a pressing reason to get there until at least after the first big update. And speaking of updates, as much as I like doing flashpoints and am looking forward to doing ops, I wouldn’t mind if the future encompasses more than just instances and raids — say, stuff like datacrons and more content of that nature. With a good mix, I think I could be very happy.

My Pet Project

I’ll be completely frank here. I am totally weirded out by this:

And bear in mind I say this first as a diehard, hopelessly addicted, unreasonably compulsive vanity pet collector; and second as a once-upon-a-time fan of Pokemon.

Because let’s face it, as other astute spectators have already observed — this is PokeWoW. The more I read about World of Warcraft’s recently announced pet battle system — a pet index with which players can look up information about their pets’ skills and stats, venturing into the world to capture new pets, battles with other players’ pets or pets they encounter in the “wild”, battles with NPC “Masters”, leveling their pets and equipping them with new abilities and special items to benefit them in battle, etc. etc. etc. — the more it harkens me back to my pre-adolescent days with my Game Boy Color and copy of Pokemon Blue.

Those were good times. I still have a soft spot in my heart for Pokemon.

But I’m still weirded out by this.

Try as I might, I can’t put my finger on why. Given my history, I should be over the moon excited, and I’m fond of new distractions, after all. When Mists of Pandaria comes out, and I inevitably go back to World of Warcraft for my standard post-expansion two-to-three-months stint, I’ll probably jump right into the new pet battle system, play the heck out of it, and love every minute. And yet, as I admit this, a part of my identity as a pet addict/collector has just died a little inside.

You have to understand, back when I was still playing WoW and deep in the grips of my pet obsession, you’d be hard-pressed to get me on the gear treadmill grinding emblems for, say, a new epic chest piece. But whisper the magic words (“There’s a new vanity pet…”) and I would be in that dungeon day and night if I had to, gladly repeating it 500 times if it meant a chance at adding a new adorable little creature to my collection. For a new vanity pet, I would travel to the ends of Azeroth. I would spend untold amounts of gold. I would do heroics with a thousand crappy PuGs. I would PvP in the Eye of the Storm naked.

And I did all this…just because. I’ve always been attracted to the little frivolities in my MMOs and enjoyed collecting pets more than I liked getting epic loot. I never had a reason to collect pets, and never really needed one. They served absolutely no purpose than simply following me around and looking cute, and I was perfectly fine with that. It was pointless fun, but in its pointlessness it must have meant something to me.

With WoW:MoP things will change, as with the new battle system there will now be a “reason” tacked on to pet collecting. I predict the new feature will be wildly popular, and like I said, despite my current lackadaisical attitude, I’m sure when I actually get my hands on it I’ll probably love it. I suppose too, that even though I haven’t been back in WoW for a while, I can be glad I amassed a respectable arsenal of pets before I left. But one thing is certain, and that is I’ll never approach pet collecting in WoW the same way again.

Vanity Insanity

Gritty Kitty

I have a confession to make — I really dislike dailies. I don’t like the tedious, repetitive nature of them, and most of the time they drive me bonkers. So why, then, did I so diligently do the Rift “prelude to the Spoils of War” dailies every single night for the last week without fail?

Because of the rewards. And not just any kind of reward. They got me with the only thing that would make me give a crap — the promise of rare artifacts, and a shot at a new companion pet (which I still haven’t had any luck with so far, I might add). I swear, any kind of fluff or collectible but especially the vanity items like pets, they get me every single time. It’s getting a little embarrassing.

Still, this aspect of an MMO is like a side game that gives me a different kind of satisfaction. In World of Warcraft, I liked collecting vanity pets because of the wide variety of them in game as well as the achievements for obtaining them. In Lord of the Rings Online, I fell in love with all the pretty cosmetic outfits. In Rift, I like how finding artifacts, picking them up and slotting them into your collections feels like filling in the empty spaces in your display case. I suppose I have the Pokemon syndrome; whether it takes hours or days of farming, spending ridiculous amounts of gold on the auction house, jumping through the hoops, or yes, doing a bunch of pain-in-the-ass dailies, I just can’t fight the urge to collect “worthless” junk.

The way I see it, just because it’s fluff doesn’t make it less valuable than say, a fancy sword or a rare helm off some raid boss. If it takes me time and effort to obtain and item, then that item has value to me, simple as that. Sometimes I find that the collectibles are even more dear to me; the sentimental value is there because more often than not, these items are things I went out of my way to get, and not just an incidental reward or a means to an end. Things like vanity pets, for instance, also stay in my character’s record and don’t go away, and the meaning of the collection never changes from patch to patch, or expansion to expansion, even as I’ve gone through gear sets many times over. Oh, and they’re cute. Mustn’t forget that.

I know some people just don’t see a point, and that’s fair. But to me, there’s more to playing an MMO than simply doing things that will benefit your character directly. I like gear drops and loot too, but sometimes I like the fluff stuff even more — thus explaining my current motivations for getting off my butt and actually doing the dailies in Rift. The moral of the story is, I could care less about grinding for special badges or fancy stat-ridden epics, but offer me collectibles and vanity items and, Trion, I’m putty in your hands.