by JR Cook - 9 years ago     show comments

Look. I know I promised you a guide on how to quickly level lowbie pets, kiddo. Guess what? That ain’t gonna happen. There, there, don’t cry. Ghostcrawler promised me a pony, but you don’t see me crying about it.

A thing of the past.

Patch 6.1 is the real villain here.

Why? Well, in 6.1 the experience gained from battling the Menagerie elite pets has been hit with the nerfbat. And not just any nerfbat. No, Blizzard went down to their deepest and darkest dungeon, the dungeon where ancient relics—either too powerful or too dangerous—are being kept hidden away from the world and forum trolls. Next to legendary weapons such as the Ashbringer and Frostmourne lies a small, inconspicuous, wooden crate. Underneath the dust and cobwebs, you’ll find but one commandment inscribed on the lid: “To the ground!”. I dare not describe the horrors that would be unleashed upon the world if one were to open that crate, but to open it would be much like opening Pandora’s box.

I think you all know what’s concealed within that crate.

That’s right. Ghostcrawler’s Nerfbat. And Blizzard used it.

In any case, that’s why we won’t be going over fast leveling strategies today. Instead, let’s have a look at the changes patch 6.1 brings for pet battles.

The good news

• The the quest for unlocking the Menagerie Pets Versus Pests has been nerfed. It is now a lot easier to complete it.
• Anyone who has tried to level their first team to 25 knows that it’s a bit of an uphill battle. This is why the quest Unearthed Magic is such a nice thing. It rewards an Ultimate Battle-Training Stone that will instantly level any pet from 1 to 25. You will only get one (1) stone per character so use it wisely. However, you can complete the quest on alts as well, which means you can get a team of three level 25 pets with relative ease (as long as you have alts that can access the quest).

All the pets, all the time

• First of all, there are new pets to be had. So many pets. A third installation of Raiding With Leashes has been added to the game. Completing it will reward you with a non-combat pet called K’ute. Yes, it’s a Naaru. It’s very peaceful and cute, and will only grace you with its presence and soft, melodic chimes. In other words, you cannot use it for pet battles.

A cute K’ute.

• Your garrison have a chance to be visited by wandering trainers (Kura Thunderhoof for Horde players, and Erris the Collector for Alliance players) that will offer a daily pet battle challenge. Critters of Draenor. If you defeat them you’ll be rewarded with Traveler’s Pet Supplies that have the chance to contain three new pets:

1. Bone Serpent
2. Young Talbuk
3. Slithershock Elver

• You don’t have to unlock the Menagerie for these trainers to visit your garrison, and you can battle them at a friend’s garrison on days when they haven’t shown up at your garrison.

Sexy Bone Serpent and sexy new draenei model.

Heroes of the Storm and the Darkmoon Faire

• Did you think I was done? There are two more pets to collect. Graves which is tagged as coming from a Heroes of the Storm promotion, and Race MiniZep that is the reward from the new racing event at the Darkmoon Faire.

Those of you keeping track will now know that there are eighteen new pets to collect, seventeen battle pets, and one non-combat pet. Patch 6.1 is shaping up to becoming a pretty busy time for pet battlers and collectors alike.