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Breakfast Topic: What's your Pet Battle team?
What's your team? You know what I mean, the team you've made that you're proud of, the one you lead out with, the one you'd play all the time if it worked in every match-up. The one you're going to level first to 25. And, of course, what are they called? You can see my hastily formed team of Blizzard CMs in the header image, with the lovely Bashiok, Zarhym and Crithto rallying to take on my foes. This was in their early days. They're much more mighty now! Pokémon never really much appealed to me, so I'm not overly familiar with the whole format of this. Are there certain combos you're particularly likely to succeed with? Are your teams tactical or just adorable? I've obviously gone with the latter rather than the former, but what about you? Why are those pets your team? Do link us to screenshots in the comments, if there are any ones that really appeal, we'll tell you all about them in a future article!
New achievements coming up in patch 5.1
Along with all the other exciting patch 5.1 news, there's a few new achievements that have been discovered so far which you should know about. Do note that this is definitely not a finite nor guaranteed list, there could be more on the way. There are some changes to existing achievements, too, but we're only going to talk about the shiny new ones. They mostly relate to everyone's favorite new feature: Pet Battles. Firstly, there's I Choose You, which requires players to defeat Zen Master Aki. There's also Seek and Defeat, which requires players to hunt down and beat up 8 legendary pets. It's not clear whether these legendary pets will fill the same role as legendary weapons, but it sounds like a pretty cool addition to the existing pet battle set-up. Continuing in the same vein, there has finally been another mount collecting achievement added for all those mount lovers out there. We're Going to Need More Saddles sets the bar at a cool 150 mounts, 50 more than the current highest achievement. And lastly, there are two feats of strength: They're Both Footballs? requires you to own both the 2012 Winter Veil gift, the Pigskin, and the Foot Ball. To me, as a Brit, only one of those is a football. The second feat of strength is WoW's 9th Anniversary, which asks you to log in during that period. Simple! Mists of Pandaria is here! The level cap has been raised to 90, many players have returned to Azeroth, and pet battles are taking the world by storm. Keep an eye out for all of the latest news, and check out our comprehensive guide to Mists of Pandaria for everything you'll ever need to know.
How to choose between the same pets, but different stats
Something I was surprised to notice when I began collecting battle pets was that the stats were not always consistent within the same pet type. While Mr. Wiggles is always Mr. Wiggles, a rare Mouse does not necessarily have the same stats as another rare Mouse. The inconsistency of stats applies to both purchased pets, like Undercity Cockroaches, as well as wild pets, such as a Cheetah Cub. (Have you killed a cheetah so that you could capture her baby? I have. We are bad people.) At this time, many of us have more than three of quite a few battle pets. Extra quest pets, like Winter's Little Helper, can just be caged and sold (when cageable, of course), since they all have the same stats. but how do you choose which purchased pet you should keep? And what about the wild pets? I'll show you my favorite stat, and you can show me yours.
Are pet battles too inaccessible for new WoW players?
Recently there were some complaints on the official forums (shocking, right?) about how expensive pet battles are. The argument by many is that new players should have easier access to this feature. In the Pet Battle Q&A from about a week ago, Cory Stockton explained: Cory Stockton [ ... ] the 100g training cost is going to make it difficult for a new player to get caught up in Pet Battles super-early, and that's by design, because everyone should learn how to play World of Warcraft first. Having said that, a new alt that can get 100g from another character can start the Pet Battle system at level 5. source In answer to the more recent forum post, Zarhym reiterated: Zarhym The cost is there, in part, because pet battles are intended to be a fun mini-game, particularly for players who've been around a while and want some new ways to spend their time while logged in -- it's not a profession. The system isn't really targeted toward new players while they're focused on leveling and character progression. This is why there is a low level cap, but a buy-in barrier. It allows players with high-level characters and/or lots of alts easy access to the system, while reducing the risk of it being distracting or confusing for people just learning the core gameplay systems/mechanics. source More from Zarhym after the break.
3 more useful pet battle add-ons
I recently wrote about Pet Quality Glow, a wonderful add-on that tells you the quality of the pet during (not before) a pet battle. It's no longer listed as out of date, by the way. I highly recommend it. Suggestions from commenters and guildies have led me to three more pet battle add-ons that I now can't do without. Pet Battle Teams allows you to form teams that you can load up with a click. The interface is a little awkward in that you can accidentally overwrite any team as long as it is the one highlighted, without confirmation. Right clicking on the team will delete it, but a confirmation dialog does popup for that. Otherwise, whatever team you have loaded in your journal will determine whatever team is highlighted. I find Pet Battle Teams extremely useful for both leveling pets and collecting them. Don't judge me on the levels of my pets. You see, I've been collecting rather than doing the pet battle quests. I want to be the girl with the most rares.
Pet and Mount pane searchable in patch 5.1
The new mount panel is fantastic, and avoids many a noob moment like I had back when my paladin was brand new and had just learned to summon the class mount -- I couldn't find it, not realising that there was a "Mounts" tab in my spellbook. However, it has its downsides. I don't suffer from this that much, as I'm not a huge collector of mounts, pets, or anything for that matter. I only have about 70 mounts, and that's a very ambitious estimate indeed! For those of us who are serious collectors, pet and mount panes new and old suffered from a serious problem: a lack of searchability! Last night, in a Twitter conversation with Community Manager Zarhym, Lead Encounter Designer Cory "Mumper" Stockton said that a search function for mounts is "en-route for 5.1". Even with my measly 70 mounts and even fewer pets, I'm rejoicing. And, of course, glaring at the Abyssal Seahorse that mocks me from the top of my mount list. What else could Blizzard do to improve the basic UI? I'd love to see a similar search added to the spellbook. My shaman was very confused indeed at the loss of Earth Shield, and eventually discovered that it had been taken away from her until level 26. A search could have made it far easier to find that! And I'd love to see a favorites section in the mount and pet journals. Mostly to get rid of that pesky seahorse. [Edit: Thanks to all readers who pointed out that the pet pane is searchable already! I must write pieces immediately after titles so I don't forget key details!]
Pet Battle Q&A with Blizzard Devs
Amongst all the excitement about pandaren and monks, it's easy to forget about the arrival of Pet Battles with Mists of Pandaria in a few hours. Blizzard CM Kaivax is definitely not a forgetful soul, and has posted an in-depth interview with Lead Content Designer Cory "Mumper" Stockton. It's a great interview, in which Cory clarifies some design philosophy behind the Pet Battle system. The 100 gold cost, which makes pet battles pretty out of reach for new players, is intentional, and part of the design of the feature. As Cory says, everyon playing pet battles should be playing World of Warcraft first, and pet battles as an aside. It's an addon, an additional feature to make use of in your spare time, so Blizzard don't support players who only want to do pet battles. Once a new character reaches level five, though, as long as they have a generous benefactor they can get going and battle some pets right away. This also means, of course, that players on trial accounts will find it pretty impossible to play pet battles, as they can't trade, can't auction, and, even if you're thinking "I could vendor enough stuff to get to 100g", they have a cap of 10g. And trainers don't seem to accept instalments. Cory also clarifies some important points with regard to PvP realms, including what happens to your pets if you get killed, and what happens if you die while trying to capture a pet. And, he talks at some length about recent changes in the pet battle philosophy, and more to come in future! Hit the jump for the full post.
Comprehensive Battle Pet database from Alt:ernative
The Godmother over at Alt:ernative is a collector of the highest order, and so found herself being constantly asked by friends, guildmates, and even complete strangers like the author of this piece how to go about obtaining various pets for the pet battle system. So, rather than rest on her laurels, she went ahead and created the Minipets Database. What is the minipets database? It's a database of the 500 battle pets, and where to get them from. It also includes information on what type the pet is; so aquatic, flying, critter, beast and the like. And of course, it lets you know the pet's rarity, whether it's tradeable, and whether it can battle! The Godmother is also in the process of adding pictures and co-ordinates for every single pet in the database, but for now she's included enough information for the would-be pet collector to gather as many pets as they see fit. This is always going to be a work in progress as more pets are added and the Godmother fulfils her Pokémon philosophy and updates the database, but for the keen collector this is already a great resource. Join us after the break for the Godmother's Q&A about the database!
The OverAchiever: FAQ on pet battles and early achievements
Every Thursday, The Overachiever shows you how to work toward those sweet achievement points. This week, crush your enemies, see them driven before you, and hear the lamentations of their women. With turnips. I was an avid player of Pokemon Crystal and absolutely loved the game. It was hard not to when I had a Thick Club-armed Marowak with both Rock Slide and Bonemerang that hit everything like the fist of an angry god. Since Blizzard announced the new pet battle system for WoW, I have also been a fan of that -- never mind that it wasn't actually in the game until recently. If tear-assing around the world with a small, vicious creature that smites your enemies is wrong, I don't want to be right. The pet battle system went live on a recent beta build for Mists of Pandaria, but I was one of the players afflicted with the crash bug on entrance to the actual battles. Suffice it to say that it is difficult to evaluate something when you are driven offline by doing it. However, that was fixed, and even though a bunch of LUA errors are still driving me out of the game at times, I return with tidings of great joy for prospective owners of dynamite rabbits. You'll also find our early collection of pet battle posts helpful, although some of the information collected there has been overtaken by recent events. Warning for those browsing on mobile devices: This is an image-intensive article.
Mists of Pandaria Beta: StarCraft Baneling pet swarms into beta with more new pets, mounts
If you like pets and mounts (or are married to someone who does, as I am), then we have news for you from the latest Mists of Pandaria beta information from Wowhead. What, you may ask, are we looking at? The StarCraft II collector's edition Baneling pet. A new schematic to craft the Warbot pet and recipes to make the fuel for it. The achievement for 400 pet battle achievement points, Time to Open a Pet Store, now grants the Jade Tentacle pet. The Ancestral Phoenix Egg from challenge modes will allow you to chose what color of phoenix mount you want. August Celestials offer the Reins of the Thundering Ruby Cloud Serpent at exalted rep. Head on over to Wowhead News for the complete list of new stuff. 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!
Mists of Pandaria: Wild pets will not be tradable
Cory Stockton, aka Mumper, has announced that pets caught in the wild will no longer be tradable and that this will be the case when Mists of Pandaria launches. Mumper We just finished a pass making all pets that are caught via pet battles in the world non-tradeable. This means these pets cannot be put in cages for trading or posting on the AH. We felt that the option to buy these pets on the AH would take away from the exploration/collection gameplay of the system. This could always change in a future patch, but this is how it will go out with MoP. You should see the change in our next build. source In pet battles, tradable pets can be sold on the AH. Training and caging wild pets looked to be a lucrative endeavor, since the catchable pets spawn in various qualities such as poor and rare. Many buyers would have been happy to shell out their gold for a high-quality pet that they didn't have to grind for. As of right now on the beta, pet spawning locations tend to be heavily camped. It will be interesting to see how this plays out in cross-realm zones. [via alt:ternative] 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!
Blizzard unveils Pet Battles on the official MoP site -- and beta
Pet Battles are one of Mists of Pandaria's most anticipated features, and Blizzard's been taking their time implementing these furry free-for-alls to get the quality just right. Today the devs have unveiled a new Pet Battle system section on the MoP website highlighting the ins and outs of the system, including how you can get new pets in the wild, what Pet Battle stats mean, and more. The devs have stated in the past that pet battling is meant to be a mostly stress-free affair. You won't see the names of the people whose pets you battle, and the game will only keep track of your wins, not your losses. Don't expect to find bleeding-edge Pet Battle progression groups any time soon. That's the right call, though -- the game needs more fun, casual stuff to do, not less. Check out the Pet Battle guide, and if you have an MoP beta account, patch it today -- Pet Battles are playable! 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!
The OverAchiever: What we do and don't know about Pet Battles achievements
Every Thursday, The Overachiever shows you how to work toward those sweet achievement points. This week, you might as well come back next week. So here's the deal: This article's kinda stupid. I really wanted to write about pet battling this week, because if the idea of running around the world raining destruction on everything with a small animal of indeterminate origin doesn't appeal to you, then you are probably a communist. But pet battling has been functionally disabled on the Mists of Pandaria beta (you can only access it at level 90, and the current level restriction is 88), so all I can really do is nose around and dream of what's to come. If you want to skip this week's outing and return at a time when we're doing something a little more relevant or useful, I don't blame you. Go with blessings. And yet I still really wanna write about pet battling. My first pet in the game was a prairie dog sold by Halpa in Thunder Bluff. My next was a Black Tabby, which I camped Ambermill for the better part of two days to get off a now-vanished mob known as the Dalaran Spellscribe. While I have amassed in excess of 150 pets since then, the original two have accompanied me across the world into the darkest depths of the ocean and to the top of the highest mountain peaks. They were there when my guild sent Kil'Jaeden packing. They were there when I was alone in the darkness. They were there when the Lich King fell. They were there when I got my ass handed to me by a slightly less cooperative version of the Lich King. And by God, they're going to start pulling their fricking weight around here.
Mists of Pandaria: Pet Battle system details revealed
Wowhead News has done what many voices crying out in the wilderness demanded and gone through the Mists of Pandaria database, collecting details for the upcoming Pet Battle system. If you're eagerly, perhaps even impatiently waiting for information about what's coming, you can sate some of that curiosity with this guide covering new pets, pet abilities, and locations for collecting new pets in the wild. The folks at Warcraft Pets helped, too. There's a lot of detail to be had, including details on how the Pet Battle abilities are broken up (it's not quite grass type vs. fire type) and how to command your pets to be the very best. So head on over and check it out. 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!
Mists of Pandaria Beta: Where to find wild pets in the Eastern Kingdoms
The Pet Battle system is one of the most anticipated features of Mists of Pandaria, and the Warcraft Pets forums has uncovered some awesome wild pet information. Eastern Kingdoms seems to have been populated with some wild pets that eventually will be able to be fought and tamed in turn-based battles similar to a popular game we have all had contact with in the past. Some pets are unique to zones, such as the Adder in the Blasted Lands or the Swamp Moth found in the Swamp of Sorrows. Some pets even have a localized spawn location, like the Tiny Harvester in Westfall over by Fulbrow's Pumpkin Farm. Specialized spawn locations for very rare pets? I'm intrigued. Hit up the Warcraft Pets forums for a full list of wild pets that they've found so far. If you're fortunate enough to be in beta, lend a hand with their list. 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!
A vision of Mists of Pandaria's Pet Battles
Mists of Pandaria can't come soon enough as far as I'm concerned, and that anticipation is palpable. Hopefully we'll learn more about Pet Battles soon, especially with all of that hinted Pandaria information coming in the near future. Enterprising players have begun to create their own visions of the future of Pet Battles, including the above video that features an all-too-familiar scenario occurring in an all-too-unnatural place. Have you seen any other fan mockups of the upcoming Pet Battle system, whether humorous or realistic? Show off your favorites in the comments below.
Addon Spotlight: Get prepped for Pet Battles
Each week, WoW Insider's Mathew McCurley brings you a fresh look at reader-submitted UIs as well as Addon Spotlight, which focuses on the backbone of the WoW gameplay experience: the user interface. Everything from bags to bars, buttons to DPS meters and beyond -- your addons folder will never be the same. At this very moment, I am taking a break from running dungeons, farming for transmogrification equipment, because the instance counter has ticked to five in an hour and I just can't go back in. I am no stranger to farming and farming and farming for something that I want. As an MMO veteran, this is pretty commonplace and something we expect and understand as a fact of our MMO lives. With Pet Battles coming in Mists of Pandaria, those rare pets out in the world are becoming even bigger status symbols, when we gain the ability to finally show off, train, and battle those companions. Like most of my articles, it all started with an email from reader Josh: My question is there an addon that tracks and counts the number of mobs or certain mobs you kill? I'm starting to farm mobs for mini pets and just counting in my head gets boring (doesn't help my mind tends to wander). Thank you very much :) When I asked on Twitter for recommendations for an addon to feature this week, two addons stood out from the pack because of my current obsession with finding every rare pet left for me to catch and bosses just not dropping my transmog items. @Skolnik (of the immensely interesting podcast Warcraft Less Traveled) recommended Bunny Hunter, an addon that tracks statistics based on your farming sessions for rare pets and mounts that have low drop rates. Another addon I've been meaning to recommend, Rarity, lives in the same category, so why not package it all together?
J. Allen Brack talks to Wired about Pandaren and Pet Battles
J. Allen Brack, the production director for World of Warcraft, was interviewed by Wired.com about the upcoming expansion Mists of Pandaria, why Blizzard's introducing the Pandaren now, and what the future holds for the increasing number of expansions needed to be purchased in order to play an up-to-date version of the game. Brack says that the idea for the first neutral race actually was rooted in the Goblins for Cataclysm, since the Goblins would have made an excellent neutral race, but the team was adamant about giving the Alliance a more sinister race to play. The Goblins for the Horde filled the whimsical role nicely. The Pet Battle system coming with Mists of Pandaria is going to require a lot of tuning, according to Brack. The feel of the system is going to be much more "rock, papers, scissors" than "all-powerful rare pet wins the fight," giving a lot of hope to collectors out there who want to use some of the more esoteric companions in battle without having to always pull out the best pet. Finally, Brack made an important point about the "expansions every year" comment and goal of the development team. Brack explains that the concept is nice but not something feasible in the present time and that Blizzard has not been successful with rapidly turning out content. Cataclysm, it turns out, took longer to develop than any other expansion. You can read the full interview on Wired.com. World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria is the next expansion, raising the level cap to 90, introducing a brand new talent system, and bringing forth the long-lost Pandaren race to both Horde and Alliance. Check out the trailer and follow us for all the latest MoP news!
The Lawbringer: Gotta sue 'em all over the Pet Battle system?
Pop law abounds in The Lawbringer, your weekly dose of WoW, the law, video games and the MMO genre. Mathew McCurley takes you through the world running parallel to the games we love and enjoy, full of rules, regulations, pitfalls and traps. How about you hang out with us as we discuss some of the more esoteric aspects of the games we love to play? Remember in the last edition of Lawbringer, when I wrote that the majority of the questions post-BlizzCon 2011 were questions about panda people, whether Kung Fu Panda would sue, and how Pandaren are possible in China? Well, there was a third question: How can the Pet Battle system exist in World of Warcraft when it is so spiritually and mechanically similar to the underlying game mechanics of the Pokémon franchise? The truth is that it is and it isn't as similar as you might suspect, and the key factors in any copyright fight don't hold up a potential cause of action. From the BlizzCon presentation, we gleaned a good bit of information about the WoW Pet Battle system coming with Mists of Pandaria. Players have been collecting companion (or vanity) pets for years, little dudes and dudettes who follow your characters around looking cool, performing cute emotes, and acting as the occasional status symbol. Companion pets even became the first foray into Blizzard-accepted real-money gold buying with the Guardian Cub as an experiment in fighting gray-market gold selling. Companion pets have become their own meta-game in WoW despite the introduction of the actual meta-game Pet Battle system. Companion pets will now be at the center of a minigame of their own. After years of collecting and coveting, finally these pets will serve a purpose beyond looking adorable or annoying Dalaran with chilling screams of "NEW TOYS, FOR ME?!" Many players have noticed that the Pet Battle system bears a striking resemblance to the biggest pet battle system franchise ever created, Pokémon. Do you know what Pokémon is? I'm sure you know what Pokémon is.
Gold Capped: Pokemon pandas, the economy, and BlizzCon 2011
Every week, WoW Insider brings you Gold Capped, in which Fox Van Allen and Basil "Euripides" Berntsen aim to show you how to make money on the auction house. Feed Fox's ego by emailing him, tweeting him at @foxvanallen, or by participating in your city's Fox Van Allen 5K Walk to Support Leg Tension. Any time a new World of Warcraft expansion is announced, a flurry of information and speculation comes with it. For us auctioneers, the announcement of Mists of Pandaria at BlizzCon 2011 was no different. Pets, professions, and more -- Mists of Pandaria will going to bring plenty of major changes to the game's economy. To be sure, the Auction House wasn't the most talked-about aspect of WoW at this year's BlizzCon, at least directly. But when you consider how major the announcement of non-combat pet combat was and start considering how these pets will be fully tradeable ...
