Mists of Pandaria Beta: Pet Journal marks the return of flavor text

Pet Battles is one of the more eagerly awaited new features to come with the Mists of Pandaria expansion. Non-combat pets have been around since the beginning of World of Warcraft, and players have been quietly collecting them as the years have gone on. But there wasn't really anything to do with the non-combat pets. They didn't have a purpose beyond following your character around. Pet Battles gives us something to do with our pets, finally making them an interactive part of the game itself.

I've been collecting pets since the very beginning, in the days when pets weren't listed on a tab, they were physical items that took up space in your bank. While I was incredibly happy when the pet tab was introduced in The Burning Crusade, there was a part of me that felt slightly nostalgic for one particular reason: the flavor text. Some pets had neat bits of flavor text included on the items used to summon them, and once the pet tab was introduced, all that flavor text went away.

In Mists of Pandaria, the pet tab has been changed to a full-on Pet Journal, complete with lists of pet abilities and types. I was delighted to see the Info tab, which not only lists where and how you can get the pet but includes some of that flavor text I'd been missing. Take a look at just a scant handful of the hundreds of new pieces of pet flavor text from the Pet Journal, including some new pets available with Mists of Pandaria, in the gallery below.

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It's open warfare between Alliance and Horde in Mists of Pandaria, World of Warcraft's next expansion. Jump into five new levels with new talents and class mechanics, try the new monk class, and create a pandaren character to ally with either Horde or Alliance. Look for expansion basics in our Mists FAQ, or dig into our spring press event coverage for more details!