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Posts with tag vanity-pets

HKO and WoW vanity pet comparison

I am very fond of collecting vanity pets in WoW. The Sprite Darter Hatchling is possible my favorite, though Mr. Wiggles is pretty cool too. While some of the pets do have some interesting animations, like the Mini Diablo and his flame breath, the only vanity pet that would actually do anything was the Battle Bot Clockwork Rocket Bot. And that got nerfed.

Vanity pets in HKO will be a bit more useful. It seems that not only will they follow you around, but some will also be extra bag space. I can't tell you how much I wish my WoW pets would carry stuff for me. Sanrio hints that they will have other uses as well.

How will you get pets in Hello Kitty Online? Some monsters will drop "pet cards" which will allow you to have that monster as your pet. Also, there will be a way to acquire some Sanrio characters as your pets. This may require a lot of reputation or perhaps an extended quest chain or both, judging from the use of "eventually" by Sanrio.

And you can also have other players as pets! Kinda. But that's another story.

Which Sanrio character would you want most as a pet? Do you wish you could have a Ragnaros pet carry your bags around? I know I do.

Blizzard Worldwide Invitational gets a goody bag

Preparations for the Blizzard Worldwide Invitational are in full swing. Tickets are on sale for the event, which will take place on June 28th and 29th in Paris, France. Of course, your ticket gives you access to both days, but what Blizzard event ticket wouldn't be complete without a good old fashioned goody bag? Blizzard goody bags usually contains some pretty awesome swag (check out the contents of the Blizzcon '07 goody bag if you need a refresher), and it looks like this bag won't be any different.

So far, Blizzard has revealed that you can expect to find a beta key for an upcoming Blizzard game and an exclusive in-game pet for the World of Warcraft in your bag. There's no word on which game the beta will be, which makes me wonder if it might even be an as yet unannounced title. After all, They've told us that Starcraft 2 and Wrath of the Lich King will be playable at the event, so it might be a bit late to hand out beta keys for those games. Then again, perhaps I'm just really, really wishing for a new Diablo game. They're keeping mum on the identity of the in-game pet so far as well. We've already had 2 Murloc-related rewards from the Blizzcons, so with Wrath of the Lich King coming out, perhaps we'll see a pet Gorloc. Then again, Murlocs might be a little played out, so I'm going to root for a penguin, I think. Blizzard's promised to reveal more about the contents of the goody bag as the date of the Invitational draws nearer, so hopefully we'll have more news for you on that front soon.

Of course, if the goody bag alone isn't quite enough, Blizzard's promised that there will be exclusive commemorative swag to win in contests or buy at the event as well, just like at last year's Blizzcon. Be sure to keep your browser tuned right here to WoW Insider, we'll let you in on all future loot announcements and all the Worldwide Invitational news as it happens.

Giant news from the PTR: A new build brings a new bug [UPDATED]

I think we're going to need a bigger bot.
A New build has just been pushed to the PTR. There's been some changes to Mage and Warlock talents according to World of Raids, including an addition of up to a 10% cast time reduction on Incinerate from the Warlock's Emberstorm Talent, the changing of the Mage Icy Veins talent to add 100% pushback resistance instead of 10% more chance for chilling effects to freeze the enemy, and a reduced chance to be hit for up to 4 seconds from the Mage Improved Blink talent.

For the raiders, the Sunwell Plateau raid is available again as well.

In addition, a rather amusing bug has popped up. The scaling has gone a bit wonky on the Test Server, and you can now find massive Clockwork Rocket Bots patrolling around next to oversized Kwee Q. Peddlefeets. Warlock pets also seem to have gotten a shot of Giant Growth Elixir as well, while the Ogres hanging out above Shattrath City have been shrunk. Hortus is aware of the bug, and (unfortunately) it will be fixed. So if you're on the PTR, enjoy your oversized pets while you can! And Mages and Warlocks, enjoy your new talent changes.

UPDATE: Other class changes have been noticed now as well. The 41-point Shaman Enhancement talent, Shamanistic rage, is no longer dispellable. In addition, the Warlock Lifetap spell now is now percentage-based. It converts 26% of max hp into 26% of max mana.

2.4 may herald new bag types

World of Raids has been releasing information by the bucket loads, and one intriguing little morsel has caught our eye: The addition of four new bag types, marked "Leatherworking Supplies," "Soulbound Equipment," "Vanity Pets," and a fourth one simply marked "Unused."

Almost any vanity pet fanatic will tell you that one of the hardest things to do is deciding what to delete to make room for your newest little friend, or which pet to take out of the bank and parade about when heading out to quest, grind, or raid. The idea of making vanity pets easier to store and carry has been one that's been a perennial topic of the suggestion boards and an issue dear to the hearts of every pet fanatic who's set up elaborate trade agreements with the other faction or spent countless hours in Zangarmarsh just to make sure they got ALL the vanity pets possible, and it looks as if Blizzard has finally answered their prayers.

The leatherworking supplies bag is a bit harder to pin down. We already have a leatherworking bag category, so this may be simply a shuffling of data.

As far as a soulbound items bag goes, if it simply allows any type of soulbound item or gear, and comes in sizes greater than the current 18 slot standard, this could be great salvation for any class who carries around an extra set of gear for various situations, be they a Druid with tank, DPS, and healing sets, or a raider with various resist sets.

Of course, we can't say for sure yet if these new categories will be used right away for Sunwell loot or recipes, or whether they're simply in reserve for possible future use, but the prospect of more bag space has this druid drooling.

Leveling an army of vanity pets


Finding new ways to level your characters is always a challenge. Exactly how many ways can you push through the same levels? Try a new race and class -- been there. Perhaps working with the opposite faction -- done that. Level without weapons or armor? Well that's been done too. In the waiting game between expansions and in the wake of the accelerated experience gain, players are looking for interesting gimmicks to get them interested in leveling again. I know I tried a second hunter, leveling with Beast Mastery, and had great fun until I realized that I created yet another duplicate character without a real use.

That's why I was interested when Sarial of The Uncommon Drop wrote in letting WoW Insider know about her goal to level a character in an unusual way. Her plan is to gain experience purely through the attainment of non-combat pets. There certainly are a plethora of vanity pets out there, and collecting them was once a passion I admit I spent a little too much bank space on.

As fascinating as this project might be, I'm not sure it can be done from level 1. The first non-combat pet in my recollection would be the one that drops from the Red Whelps in Wetlands after all. But Sarial will be grinding from level 40 to level 70 with her Blood Elf warlock, which seems to be a more reasonable range. There are certainly lots of pets out there to collect in zones around those levels. Would you ever consider leveling in this fashion?

[thanks Sarial!]


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