Pet Care, Tricks, and Tips in "Free Realms"

Available for all players, pets in "Free Realms" may be dressed up and cared for. They can also perform special pet tricks!

Pets also serve another purpose though: pets will alert you when you approach special items like ore for mining, rare collection pieces, or NPCs for quests. Pets can also find and dig up special treasures - treasures you won't find any other way!

The ultimate reason to be a pet trainer though is for a speed boost; if your pet is at least 50% happy, you'll get a speed boost to help you zip through the world of "Free Realms!"

Pets previously were part of a special job called Pet Trainer, which was removed in late 2009. The quests and trick training that were part of this job have since been removed permanently.

The one thing every pet trainer in "Free Realms" needs is a pet. There are two major options for pets, dogs or cats, and there are different personalities to choose from as well. There are over 50 possibilities across the world! Some pets are members-only, meaning you need to have a paid subscription to own and use the pets.

All pets in "Free Realms" cost Station Cash (SC). Station Cash is a special currency used in "Free Realms" that can only be bought with real cash - so if you want a permanent pet, you're going to have to spend at least $5, the minimum amount of SC that can be purchased on Sony Online's website. The cheapest non-member pet is only 250 SC, though, so you can afford two pets, or a pet and other purchased items, with that $5.

All is not lost if you want to be a pet trainer and don't yet have the money to purchase a pet: all pets have an option for a 20 minute trial. However, you can only borrow a pet once every two hours, so if you want the benefits of owning a pet, you'll need to buy one.

Special vanity pets are also available. These pets don't do tricks, but come in a wide range including dragon, pony, raptor, owl, beetle, and more.

Pets in "Free Realms" need three special types of care:

• Grooming: Pets must be groomed with a combination of a brush and a shampoo. In the pet's menu, add these in the proper slots, and then click Clean. You'll have about 20 seconds to briskly clean your pet! Some shampoos have special effects.
• Feeding: Pets must be fed by using a bowl and pet food. Some pet food can have special effects.
• Play: Left click and hold down the mouse button when in play mode to give your pet attention and make them happy.

These three meters can be seen on the pet care screen, along with a fourth meter that measures a pet's overall happiness. A pet's happiness is determined by how well all three of these meters are filled.

While pets can continue to accompany you when they have not been cared for, they will not be happy unless you keep these meters full. Always take care of your pet - supplies are available at any adoption center!

Vanity pets do not need special care.

Cats and dogs both come with a list of tricks they can perform. While players previously needed to use the pet trainer job to teach pets tricks through gestures, all pets now come with these tricks.

Dogs:

• Speak
• Sit Up
• Roll Over
• Play Dead
• Peek-a-boo
• Handstand
• Dance

Cats:

• Speak
• Jump
• Box
• Dance
• Spin
• Handstand
• Play Dead

In a recent interview with Sony Online Entertainment, Massively got one hint about the return of the Pet Trainer Job:

Lastly, Free Realms fans are constantly lobbying for the return of the Pet Trainer job and the Vault. Is there a chance that either one will return?

We are not bringing back the pet trainer job as players previously knew it, but we've got something coming up in the next couple of months that players who were fans of the pet trainer, I'm betting, will enjoy even more. I'm going to be evil and leave it at that for now though! As for the vault items, yes, you can expect to see some of those start popping up as VIP rewards.

• Author's own experience.
• Free Realms Wiki (Zam), http://fr.zam.com/wiki/Category%3APets_%28FR%29
• Reahard, Jef, "PAX East 2011: Free Realms coming to the PS3 on March 29th", http://massively.joystiq.com/2011/03/11/free-realms-coming-to-the-ps3-on-march-29th/