Wednesday, June 29, 2011

4.2 is Live

And boy is there a lot of stuff.

Of course, as usual I am writing this from the office. Which means I can't log in and check out any of the new content (and server crashes, no doubt). There is a lot of stuff in this patch, as has been talked about around the community for the last couple of months.

The biggest question is: what ninja "fixes" did Blizzard slip in under the radar?

The most exciting addition is (for me, at least): the Molten Front daily quest hub. I simply cannot wait to head to Hyjal and start that epic journey.

Yesterday, our little one was sick. My wife looked after her in the morning and I went home just before lunchtime to look after her for the afternoon. Once she was asleep for her afternoon nap, it was a great opportunity to do a heroic. :)

The random heroic it gave me was Halls of Origination. Aside from a mouthy healer (obviously emboldened by the presence of two guildies), it was a good run. I just felt sorry for the two tanks we went through who got the short end of a temperamental treehugger's branch.

Surprisingly, I got Faster Than the Speed of Light, my first HoO achievement. I have hardly any achievements towards the meta, but so far I haven't actually tried to get any. It sure would be nice to be able to coincide with guildies to knock off a whole lot of those heroic achievements towards getting my drake!

Just before getting into the heroic, I finished Uldum, getting Brann's quest to meet him inside the very instance I later had selected for me. Which meant that I was also able to complete that quest chain too!

To top it all off, the 70 Valor Points that I got from the random pushed me to 1,000. Exactly 1,000. My Justice Points also shot up to about 3,400. Since with 4.2 they converted Valor to Justice to a cap of 4,000, before the end of the day I had to decide what to do with an extra 400 points. At first I considered getting the 346 caster helm, but then realised it was a complete waste of points. Then, I considered getting the PvP wand through conversion. But that too seemed like a bit of a waste since I don't currently PvP.

I actually settled for a Conquest Points conversion twice over, swapping out 500 VP for 500 CP, which in turn would have been converted to mere HP overnight. 500 "free" Honor Points is better than nothing. And when I can finally log into the game I will have 3,900 JP waiting for me to spend on my first 359 pieces (I'm thinking Melodious Slippers and Firelord's Robes)!

All in all, the time I had yesterday to play felt both very timely and very rewarding.

Next stop: continued Tol Barad dailies for the grind to Exalted, continued Vashj'ir questing to complete that zone (or those three zones, really), and a slow drive into the brand-spanking new and seriously awesome Molten Front to unlock all that new content and experience the whole Firelord and fire elemental plane storyline (minus the awesome-looking raid).

Who knows: perhaps I will have the chance to experience the original Cataclysm raid content a bit more, now that it has been nerfed. Not that it's such a big deal for me to see it, but if the opportunity arises, why not?

Here's to enjoying new content!

Peace.

Gaiwyn of Proudmoore

Tuesday, June 28, 2011

Collectibles: Tabards

Fingers crossed that one day tabards will have their very own tab, complete with visuals — much like mounts and companions — or are assigned to a dropdown/slideout box like titles. I vote for the former!

In either case, until that day we are stuck either destroying replaceable tabards to save space or simply hanging onto them and allowing them to take up precious bank and bag space.


There is a 25 tabards achievement but with so many tabards in the game these days, it shouldn't be too long before they introduce a 50 unique tabards achievement (probably next expansion). But which will come first: an achievement for collecting 50 tabards or a dedicated tabards tab?

In this post, I'm going to divide tabards into two sections: tabards that I have; and tabards that I want. As with my Vanity Pet lists, this will show which tabards are fairly easy to get and which ones take extra effort, luck or are just plain no longer obtainable.

My Tabard Collection

Tabards that I have
The following is a list of tabards that I actually have right now, either in my bags or in the bank:

Gilneas Tabard — purchased from a vendor; I plan to use it for reputation gain in dungeons
Green Trophy Tabard of the Illidari — a TBC quest; can be destroyed and the alternative chosen
Knight's Colors — originally available from at least PvP rank 6, now a mere 100 honor points
Loremaster's Colors — reward for completing The Loremaster
Private's Tabard — 50 honor points
Renowned Guild Tabard — guild rep is still a long, tedious grind, even with this equipped
Sporeggar Tabard — costs 10 Glowcaps
Tabard of Ramkahen — this will get my to exalted
Tabard of Summer Skies — the second tabard that can be destroyed and the alternative chosen
Tabard of the Achiever — all you need are 25 tabards!
Tabard of the Argent Dawn — I have a feeling I missed it the first time around, but Wrath changed that!
Tabard of the Earthen Ring — more Cata rep
Tabard of the Explorer — was Northrend really so big as to warrant an epic quality tabard?
Tabard of the Guardians of Hyjal — Cata rep
Tabard of Therazane — probably the trickiest Cata rep tabard to get
Tabard of the Wildhammer Clan

I also had the following TBC tabards, but destroyed them because they are easily purchasable for 70s each — if I was so inclined to buy them back:
Aldor Tabard
Cenarian Expedition Tabard
Consortium Tabard
Keepers of Time Tabard
Kurenai Tabard
Lower City Tabard
Ogri'la Tabard
Sha'tar Tabard
Skyguard Tabard
Tabard of the Shattered Sun — one of my favourite looking tabards

Tabards that I want
Mostly for the sake of completion to the extent that I am able, but especially if they introduce a 50 tabards achievement in future. Even if I am unable to get a handful of these (because a few are tricky to get hold of), next expansion there should be six or seven new reputation tabards to make up for what I don't end up getting.

For now, I don't intend to get any of these tabards, since they only take up space. But when we get that much anticipated tabards tab I will definitely add as many as I can to my collection. :)

Arathor Battle Tabard — requires exalted with League of Arathor followed by five captured bases — should be epic
Argent Crusader's Tabard — 50 Champion's Seals
Baradin's Wardens Tabard — doesn't grant reputation, unfortunately — costs 40 Tol Barad Commendations
Darnassus Tabard — 70s from Darnassus
Exodar Tabard — 7s from Exodar
Gnomeregan Tabard — 7s from Ironforge
Ironforge Tabard — 7s from Ironforge
Silver Covenant Tabard — 50 Champion's Seals
Silverwing Battle Tabard — costs 2,059 honor points
Stormpike Battle Tabard — costs 2,679 honor points
Stormwind Tabard — 7s from Stormwind
Tabard of Conquest — reward from a difficult achievement, but a very cool tabard
Tabard of the Scarlet Crusade — drops from Scarlet Trainees in Scarlet Monastery — might have had this in the past, but will have to go farm it again if I want it (and it is cool, so maybe one day I will — again)

With 31 tabards under my belt (or over my robe), two more easily swappable (destroy and get the alternative from the vendor), and a handful more easily purchasable; I'm well on the way towards that future 50 tabards achievement and nicely padding out my tabards tab — when it shows up.

Peace.

Gaiwyn of Proudmoore

Tuesday, June 21, 2011

Achievements: Reputations

Next up, I want to cover reputations. Namely, achieving exalted status with reputations in the game. Not all reputations give rewards or have any form of reason behind aiming for exalted status; but many do.


My Exalted Reputations
I've been at 38 exalted reputations ever since hitting exalted with Silver Covenant in Wrath. So yes: that means I haven't got a single exalted reputation since Cataclysm came. But I am definitely — slowly, but surely — working on it.

As for oldschool reps, I've been slowly working on some of those for years. It's just a matter of every now and then doing something to increase my reputation with any given faction that ultimately doesn't give any sort of reward or benefit.

Alliance Vanguard 999 / 999 — one of those meta-factions that hits exalted by default
Argent Crusade 999 / 999 — easy grind in Wrath
Argent Dawn 999 / 999 — revered in vanilla for my key to Naxx! Cauuuuldroooons >.<
Cenarion Circle 999 / 999 — this sure brings back memories; painful memories...
Cenarion Expedition 999 / 999 — a much friendlier grind than its predecessor
Darnassus 999 / 999 — cities; who needs em?
Exodar 999 / 999 — the Naaru like me as much as the Draenei
Explorers' League 999 / 999 — another Wrath faction
Gnomeregan 999 / 999 — another city grind back when cloth hand-ins were the norm
Honor Hold 999 / 999 — every Alliance player in TBC did this one easily enough
Ironforge 999 / 999 — I guess the Dwarves love me too
Keepers of Time 999/999 — a hard grind, if I remember right. Heroic Durnholde... O.O
Kirin Tor 999 / 999 — one of my earlier Wrath grinds. What else would a mage do?
Knights of the Ebon Blade 999 / 999 — for the sake of an exalted faction ;)
Kurenai 999 / 999 — ah yes, the notorious ogre-slaying and bead hand-ins. Friggin' Corky :D
Lower City 999 / 999 — t'was imperative. Keys, keys, keys. :/
Netherwing 999 / 999 — had to get those netherdrakes somehow. But oh, the daily grind!
Ogri'la 999 / 999 — the addition of questing for them was actually pretty cool
Sha'tari Skyguard 999 / 999 — see above and replace "netherdrake" with "undulating stingray beast"
Shattered Sun Offensive 999 / 999 — the one faction I reached exalted with on seven toons...
Sporeggar 999 / 999 — only for my Tiny Sporebat
Stormpike Guard 999 / 999 — easy to reach by default in vanilla PvP
Stormwind 999 / 999Represent!
The Aldor 999 / 999 — had to choose a side. No way I was grinding the rival faction after that...
The Consortium 999 / 999 — another TBC dungeon grind. Good times :)
The Frostborn 999 / 999 — another of those default Wrath factions
The Kalu'ak 999 / 999 — who doesn't want a cool fishing pole?
The Oracles 999 / 999 — think I chose wisely
The Sha'tar 999 / 999 — TBC grinds weren't always that thrilling :/
The Silver Covenant 999 / 999 — came easily enough through the Argent Tournament and universal dungeon rep
The Sons of Hodir 999 / 999 — took a while, but determination always wins through
The Violet Eye 999 / 999 — ah, Karazhan; where would we be today if it hadn't been for your haunted halls?
The Wyrmrest Accord 999 / 999 — Dragonblight wasn't that bad
Thorium Brotherhood 999 / 999 — the bar, the bar, the bar O.O
Timbermaw Hold 999 / 999 — ugh
Valiance Expedition 999 / 999 — yay for default Wrath factions ;)
Wintersaber Trainers 999 / 999well worth it
Zandalar Tribe 999 / 999 — glad this still counts towards my total! Bijous, anyone?

Reputations To Work On
There are a total of 18 factions that I have been working on for various periods of time. Some are as old as the game itself; while others were added in Cataclysm and have been a slow grind for me, considering my casual playstyle. Some of these I may never get to exalted, while others I will max out before the end of this year.

Ashtongue Deathsworn 13,793 / 21000 — must find more Black Temple runs some time
Baradin's Wardens 2,964 / 6,000 — only just started doing the dailies
Booty Bay 9,153 / 12,000 — one day, maybe?
Brood of Nozdormu 1,745 / 21,000 — and TAQ runs, too
Darkmoon Faire 2,060 / 6,000 — not in a hurry to hand in cards; or anything, for that matter
Everlook 6,134 / 12,000 — see: Booty Bay
Gadgetzan 7,773 / 12,000 — see: Everlook
Gilneas 192 / 21,000 — once I'm exalted with the other Cata factions I'll switch back to this tabard
Guardians of Hyjal 11,554 / 21,000 — not in a hurry, but it will come before the end of the expansion
Guild 3,281 / 21,000 — thank goodness for Renowned Guild Tabard!
Hydraxian Waterlords 14,954 / 21,000 — one of my longest-running rep grinds XD
Ramkahen 6,318 / 21,000 — currently wear the tabard in instances
Ratchet 7,902 / 12,000 — see: Gadgetzan
Silverwing Sentinels 4,398 / 12,000 — a very old and drawn-out grind!
The Earthen Ring 2,963 / 21,000 — too bad you can only equip one tabard at a time
The League of Arathor 2,015 / 12,000 — see: Silverwing Sentinels
Therazane 2,784 / 21,000 — If I try for Pebble, the tabard will be secondary
Wildhammer Clan 4,002 / 6,000 — plenty of questing left in Twilight Highlands

I still need seven exalted factions to get The Exalted. Hopefully I will be able to do that before the end of Cataclysm. ;)

The easiest factions for me to get are: Baradin's Wardens, Gilneas, Guardians of Hyjal, Ramkahen, The Earthen Ring, Therazane and Wildhammer Clan. That's because they either have tabards or dailies. I will also probably get exalted with my guild before being exalted with all seven of the former.

Gaiwyn of Proudmoore

Collectibles: Mounts

I was going to write about tabards next, but since Wowhead News did an article on mounts, I decided to roll with that instead.

  • Companion Pets
  • Tabards
  • Mounts
  • Titles
  • Reputations
  • Feats of Strength
  • Miscellaneous and Obsolete Items (ie. bank clutter)
  • and Soloing Old World Content

Collectibles: Mounts
Getting 100 mounts is not an easy feat. Some people have upwards of 125 mounts, but I've struggled to slog my way past 85. Having very few Cataclysm mounts yet (and no raid-related mounts from any iteration) doesn't help, mind you. But one day, perhaps I will eventually get there. And maybe my luck will change in instances, of which the only rare drop I have ever got on my mage is the Brewfest Ram — which is actually a rare holiday mount rather than a farmable instance drop. Other toons don't count (Brewfest Kodo on Selaena and Blue Proto-Drake on Zlaenya).

I'm going to break this down into mounts that I have — whether vendor-bought or acquired through various other means — and mounts that I want to eventually get. Since I don't spend real world money on in-game things, I'm going to ignore the TCG mounts and the ones that are available from the Blizzard Store. And since I doubt I will ever find the time to do things like past raid achievements or any sort of raiding, mounts acquired through raiding are also not within my grasp — and thus, not on my list.

I would highly recommend checking out the Mountain o' Mounts Guide for a breakdown of everything, in detail.

Warcraft Mounts: Gaiwyn's Collection

I have all vendor-bought mounts (excluding token-bought ones) and a good selection of other mounts, some of which require luck; others of which simply take a bit of effort. In all, it comes to 86 mounts, currently.

My wishlist (below the collection) includes rare drops, Argent Tournament mounts, PvP mounts, reputation mounts, and even achievement rewards. Total: 50 mounts. It will be a very long journey towards even making a dent in this, and many I will never get. But my next goal is to get 14 more mounts for my Blue Dragonhawk. ;)

When you collect mounts, even if your initial aim is to simply get the 100 mounts achievement, you do tend to end up having your favourites: whether it be style, animation, colours, or whatever. This means that it becomes more than simply a means to an end — it becomes a desire to have cool, interesting mounts that you can pick and choose from as you roam the world. Of course, some of the best mounts are also the most difficult to obtain, whether it be pure RNG or a really long grind. But one can dream!

I made this entry a lot shorter than the pets one. Listing all of the mounts I have or even just all of the mounts that I am aiming towards, would be a heck of a lot of unnecessary work, when Warcraft Mounts exists to track and link your collection and wishlist. ;)

Gaiwyn of Proudmoore

Monday, June 13, 2011

Collectibles: Companion Pets

Over the next few weeks, I will be tackling a separate blog post about each of the following:
  • Companion Pets
  • Tabards
  • Mounts
  • Titles
  • Reputations
  • Feats of Strength
  • Miscellaneous and Obsolete Items (ie. bank clutter)
  • and Soloing Old World Content

Collectibles: Companion Pets
Update: I have since increased my pet collection from 70 to 85! I bought a whole lot off the AH for a little over 2k, including the Horde-only Dragonhawks and the mats for my Magic Lamp. XD

I'd like to kick it off by talking about companion pets (aka vanity pets or simply just pets). I had already decided to write about this before reading the recent JMTC blog entry about Mechanical Yetis or the Wowhead News post about pets. The Wowhead News one is incredibly useful and I would like to point your attention there if you are even mildly interested in vanity pets. I know I am going to draw on it quite a bit to write this blog entry. Big thanks to perculia for writing that up!

Of course, a post about companion pets is not complete without mention of the number one website: Warcraft Pets. Go, have a browse if you haven't already — or even if you have many times in the past. I would highly recommend tracking your collection so you can see your progress outside of the game. For in-game collection progress, Collectinator is a good addon. Personally, I use Critter Caller in-game as well to randomly summon my vanity pets.

It's not that I have suddenly become interested in vanity pets; or that I am jumping on the achievement bandwagon. I have always had an interest in companions, but that interest has waxed and waned over the years. Of course, with the introduction of achievements to the game and many, many more pets added with each expansion and even some patches, I have built up my collection on and off. With piqued interest, I'm both writing this blog entry and attempting to build my collection even more: past the 70 pets I have thus far collected. Maybe even over 100 one day!

So what is the point of this blog post? At first, I wanted to talk about which pets are easily obtainable and which take a bit of effort but should still be obtainable by any player, given enough effort. And I wanted to compare those reasonably easily obtainable ones with ones that I would consider to be quite a challenge to find and collect. After reading the Warcraft News post, I figured I would tabulate what they have so elegantly submitted and just divide things into two categories: the pets that I have and how I got them; and the pets that I still hope to collect and how I will go about getting them.

See, the biggest difference between items in-game is whether they are BoP or BoE. If BoP you have to consider where it comes from: vendor, boss-drop, etc. If BoE, you have to consider where it comes from originally and how much you are willing to pay to buy it from someone who is selling the item.

Vanity pets are no different. When people farm for them, they are ecstatic when they finally get the pet to drop. With a little research, you can discover which ones you can buy straight out and which ones you will have to go out of your way to get: albeit farming, if that is your cup of tea; or, if you are a gold-making dabbler like me, the intent to buy rare pets, one pocketful of gold at a time.

My biggest recommendation if wanting to buy pets is to either get in quick now or wait until well after 4.2. Because with the new achievements, gold-makers and pet-sellers are going to be charging rather exorbitant prices for their rare pets for a while — rather than the usual extreme prices that those pets go for.

Ok, let's get started.

Vendor-bought pets that I have purchased
In this section, I cover all vendor-bought pets. That's pure cash (and in rare cases, some rep) and a little travel time to kickstart your vanity pet collection. One other thing to remember is that I am Alliance and I don't have a Horde toon, so Horde vendors are out for me. That doesn't prevent me from browsing the AH (neutral or Alliance) for Horde-only vendor pets, but it does mean they don't get listed here.

Albino SnakeBreanni, Dalaran
Ancona Chicken"Plucky" Johnson, Thousand Needles
Blue Clockwork Rocket BotJepetto Joybuzz, Dalaran
Blue Dragonhawk HatchlingDealer Rashaad, Netherstorm
Blue MothSixx, Exodar
Bombay CatDonni Anthania, Elwynn Forest
Brown RabbitDealer Rashaad, Netherstorm
Calico CatBreanni, Dalaran
CockatielNarkk, Stranglethorn Vale
CockroachDealer Rashaad, Netherstorm
Cornish Rex CatDonni Anthania, Elwynn Forest
Crimson SnakeDealer Rashaad, Netherstorm
Ghostly SkullDalahir, Dalaran
Great Horned OwlShylenai, Darnassus
Guild Page — requires honoured reputation with your guild
Hawk OwlShylenai, Darnassus
Mana WyrmlingDealer Rashaad, Netherstorm
Nether Ray FryGrella, Terokkar Forest
Obsidian HatchlingBreanni, Dalaran
Orange Tabby CatDonni Anthania, Elwynn Forest
PenguSairuk, Dragonblight or Tanaika, Howling Fjord
Red MothDealer Rashaad, Netherstorm
SenegalNarkk, Stranglethorn Vale or Dealer Rashaad, Netherstorm
Siamese CatDealer Rashaad, Netherstorm — I got this from Cookie in vanilla!
Silver Tabby CatDonni Anthania, Elwynn Forest
Snowshoe RabbitYarlyn Amberstill, Dun Morogh
White MothSixx, Exodar
Winterspring CubMichelle De Rum, Winterspring
Yellow MothSixx, Exodar

Total: 29

As you can see, there are a lot of vendor-bought pets. You can kick start or boost your collection quite easily by just zipping around to all of these vendors and grabbing them. The route you take is up to you. And now, onto:

Vendor-bought pets that I haven't purchased (and why)
Black Kingsnake — Horde
Brown Snake — Horde
Brown Prairie Dog — Horde
Golden Dragonhawk HatchlingUpdate: Added to collection!
Red Dragonhawk HatchlingUpdate: Added to collection!
Rustberg Gull — Haven't been to Tol Barad yet
Silver Dragonhawk HatchlingUpdate: Added to collection!
Tree Frog — Waiting for the Darkmoon Faire
White Kitten — Haven't tried to get it yet, either from Lil' Timmy's limited stock or the AH
Wood Frog — Waiting for the Darkmoon Faire

Total: 10

The Dragonhawks are neat, so I will probably try and get those bought those, but I'm not interested in snakes or prairie dogs... As for the others, it's just a matter of patience — Darkmoon Faire, Tol Barad dailies eventually, etc.

Ok, so those are vendor pets. Now:

Special pets and rare drops that I have acquired or purchased
Some of the following were limited time only pets, and are no longer obtainable. Others took a bit of time and effort to acquire, and still others are simply rare pets that I either was lucky enough to have drop or bought straight out.

Argent Squire — Did all the Argent Tournament stuff during Wrath
Baby Blizzard Bear — No longer obtainable — WoW's 4th Anniversary
Clockwork Gnome — My second Archaeology pet
Cobra Hatchling — from the egg while going for my Green Proto-Drake
Curious Oracle Hatchling — got this during the latest Children's Week
Curious Wolvar Pup — got this during last year's or the previous one's Children's Week
Elementium Geode — bought this for 300g last night, actually ;)
Fossilized Hatchling — my first Archaeology pet
Frigid Frostling probably last Midsummer, since I got married the previous year :)
Gold Mini Jouster — the one I didn't choose will be available from patch 4.2 for completing the quest 10 times!
Legs — added in this year's Children's Week, so guess when I got it?
Magical Crawdad — got it from my first (and only) Mr. Pinchy! Didn't take too long, considering
MiniwingSkywing, Terokkar Forest
Mr. Chilly — No longer obtainable — from merging my original WoW account with battle.net
Mr. Wiggles — Think I got him a couple of years ago...
Onyxian Whelpling — No longer obtainable — WoW's 5th Anniversary
Panther Cub — Level 85 Zandalar questline in STV. See this if you intend to do it.
Peanut — One of my oldest pets
Perky Pug — I also have this on my priest; both were obtained during Wrath
Phoenix Hatchling — I just got this guy the other night. Very happy when it dropped — currently my favourite pet!
Pint-sized Pink Pachyderm — Only just got him last Brewfest as I pushed for my Violet Proto-Drake
Razzashi Hatchling — I farmed a couple of these with my priest before ZG was initially removed; sold the other one
Scooter the Snail — This year's Children's Week, since he was also just added
Sinister Squashling — Had this one for a couple of years, at least
Smolderweb Hatchling — Got this from its original quest
Snarly — Good old droprate increase ;)
Speedy — one of my oldest and still one of my favourite pets
Spirit of Summer — Probably last year, since I got married the previous summer
Sprite Darter Hatchling — Got him from the original quest while going for Loremaster pre-Cata!
Stinker — Got him by default at 50 pets, obviously
Strand Crawler — If you do fishing dailies long enough...
Tickbird Hatchling — from the egg while going for my Green Proto-Drake
Tiny Flamefly — Recently did the questline that leads to this little guy. Neat!
Tiny Snowman — What did you get for Christmas?
Tiny Sporebat — This was a no-brainer, since I am also a rep whore ;)
Vampiric Battling — No longer obtainable; actually glad I went and got it when I did!
Westfall Chicken — One of the easiest quest pets to get
White Tickbird Hatchling — from the egg while going for my Green Proto-Drake
Wolpertinger — Does yours linger?
Worg Pup — Got it from the original quest

Total: 41

So that's quite a lot of rare pets already. Still, there are many, many more that I hope to get. Some are not quite as intriguing as others. My top picks would have to be the Dark Phoenix Hatchling and the Crawling Claw. So cool!

And here we go:

Special pets and rare drops that I can and want to eventually get
Many rare pets are a 1/1000 zone or specific mob-type drop; some are a 100% drop from rare spawns; and others are limited in some way or acquired through various other means other than buying straight from vendors — or even the AH, in some cases. Whatever the case, I hope to farm or buy a lot of these non-vendor pets over a long period of time. :)

Ammen Vale Lashling — Champion's Seals or AH
Armadillo PupUpdate: Added to collection!!
Azure Whelpling — farm or AH (expensive)
Black Tabby Cat — farm or AH (expensive)
Blue Mini Jouster — In 4.2, I will do the quest 10x for this
Cenarion Hatchling — Just a matter of convincing my wife that it's for a good cause (100% goes to Japan disaster relief until 31 July 2011)
Chuck — Outland fishing daily + luck
Crawling Claw — Lots and lots of Archaeology ahead...
Dark Phoenix — Still a long way off from exalted with my guild :(
Dark Whelpling — farm or AH (expensive)
Darting HatchlingUpdate: Added to collection!
Deviate Hatchling — farm or AH (expensive)
De-Weaponized Mechanical Companion — guildie or AH (not a bad price)
Disgusting Oozeling — farm or AH (usually expensive)
Dun Morogh Cub — Champion's Seals or AH
Egbert — future Children's Week
Elwynn Lamb — Champion's Seals or AH
Tiny Emerald Whelpling — farm or AH (expensive)
Father Winter's Helper — Christmas + luck
Firefly — farm or AH (very expensive)
Fox Kit — low on my priority list, since it can only be farmed
Green Wing MacawUpdate: Added to collection!
Guild HeraldUpdate: Added to collection!
Gundrak Hatchling — farm or AH (expensive)
Hyacinth Macaw — definitely one of the more expensive pets, but also one of the most beautiful
Jubling — gotta wait for the Darkmoon Faire to do the quest
Kirin Tor Familiar — very difficult to get, but I'll look for the books now and then
Lashtail Hatchling — I can't wait to go into ZG and get her back! I shall cry tears of joy XD
Leaping HatchlingUpdate: Added to collection!
Lifelike Toad — the recipe is rare so the pet is rare
Lil' SmokyUpdate: Added to collection!
Little FawnUpdate: Acquired by default at 75 pets!
Magic Lamp** — Update: Crafted and added to collection!
Mechanical ChickenUpdate: Restored and added to collection!
Mechanical SquirrelUpdate: Added to collection!
Mechanopeep — Champion's Seals or AH
Mojo — probably have to do ZG/ZA a few times
Mr. GrubbsUpdate: Farmed and added to collection!
Muckbreath — Outland fishing + luck
Pebble — have to do Lost in the Deeps 10x
Peddlefeet — maybe next Valentine's Day
Personal World Destroyer — hope to grab when available
Pet BomblingUpdate: Added to collection!
Plump Turkey — better luck getting the achievement this year...
Proto-Drake Whelpback to the eggs...
Pterrordax Hatchlingmore bacon stri- I mean, incentive to dig up fossils ;)
Ravasaur Hatchling — farm or AH (expensive)
Razormaw HatchlingUpdate: Added to collection!
Searing Scorchling — unsure where this will come from when (if) it gets added back in
Shimmering Wyrmling — Champion's Seals or AH
Singing Sunflowerhave to do questline, starting with Basic Botany
Teldrassil Sproutling — Champion's Seals or AH
Tiny Shale Spider — very rare and hard to farm, but I want it! [Guide]
Toothy — Outland fishing + luck
Toxic Wasteling — Valentine's Day + luck
Tranquil Mechanical Yeti — waiting for a good AH deal
Voodoo Figurine — it will come in time with more Archaeology — a lot more
Whiskers the Rat — a future Children's Week
Willy — really gross but maybe in a future Children's Week
Winter Reindeer — Christmas + luck
Winter's Little Helper — Christmas + luck
Withershave to do questline, starting with The Last Wave of Survivors (long questline)

Total: 61

** Wowbrief Gold-making Tip: The Magic Lamp could be a gold-maker in 4.2, with increased interest in pet collecting. At current Heavenly Shard prices it is a tad pricey to make, but the profit should still be good. :)

And that about sums it all up. I can get got a few of the "rarer" pets as soon as I get got home, provided they are as they were still available. As you can see, it takes a lot of effort to get quite a number of them if you don't buy them straight off the AH (depending on cost and availability, of course). In all, I could end up with 130-140 pets. By the time I get some of the festival-only ones and some of the more expensive or very hard to farm ones, more pets will have been added to the game, too.

I am currently aiming for easily reached 75, but after exceeding that, I will be and am now on the fast track to 100. It is still a great deal of effort away, but much closer than that elusive 125!

Good luck to anyone who benefits from my list and summaries. ;)

Gaiwyn of Proudmoore