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Blood Pact: The future for pets
Every week Elizabeth Harper contributes Blood Pact, where she tries to share the joy of the Warlock class with her fellow players, Warlock or not. If you asked me, I'd say that pets are an integral part of the Warlock class. But I may be biased -- I do play a Demonology Warlock, which means my pets are more powerful and give me special buffs whenever I have them out. But even if you prefer Affliction or Destruction, you have to admit that pets are a useful asset: they add to our DPS, they can tank, they can buff us, they can crowd control.But our pets are hardly perfect. In raids, they're fragile enough to often die (except for the Imp, which can Phase Shift and stay out of trouble -- but while it's Phase Shifted, it can't really do anything useful besides provide its Blood Pact buff). And our upper-level pets, the Infernal and Doomguard, are impossible to control for more than a few minutes at a time. In fact, after level 40, the pet aspect of the class significantly tapers off -- we have four (or, for a Demonology Warlock, five) pets that each fill different purposes, but there's nothing new to come, and no exciting skills or abilities to help you on the road to level 70.So where should Warlock pets go in the future? Read on to hear about their problems and their possible solutions.
TU Darmstadt develops hopeful Aibo successor
It's no secret that robotic pets can bark right alongside the real deals, but unfortunately for those hoping to adopt an Aibo, the pickin's are indeed slim. While details on this one are admittedly scant, a photograph of a robotic dog prototype reportedly displays the brainchild of scientists at TU Darmstadt in Germany. The team had been working on said creation for six months prior to now, and is finally ready to present the pup to a "special audience" in a robot competition in Atlanta next week. Unfortunately, we've received no word on whether or not this canine is actually being bred for the mainstream, but we'll be sure to let you know if any litters crop up.[Via TheRawFeed]
Love Cat Life shows love for dogs, too
Specifically, Nintendogs. And more specifically, the cash generated by Nintendogs. Forgive us for being cynical, but Love Cat Life does look exceedingly familiar. But for our (hypothetical) pet simulator money, Love Cat Life wins over Nintendo's masterpiece, for mostly hilarious reasons: Simulated litterboxes Riding a little cat-sized truck over a ramp Meowing music game! We started off being sarcastic, but we just convinced ourselves. It was the music game that did it.
Blood Pact: What is a Warlock?, part 2
Every week Elizabeth Harper contributes Blood Pact, where she tries to share the joy of the Warlock class with her fellow players, Warlock or not.Warlocks are an unusual class -- difficult to define by any measure. When I first started playing, I sometimes had trouble getting into instance groups. The conversation would go something like this:Me: Hey, I saw you were looking for more for Scarlet Monastery. Can I join?Party leader: Well, we really wanted DPS...Me: I'm a Warlock -- I can DPS!Party leader: NM, we just found a Hunter.Me: But...!Now, I don't think I ran into this problem because the party leaders were always idiots. It's just that many players didn't have a clear idea of what a Warlock was or what they could do. Last week, I talked about the two of the most powerful tools in the Warlok's arsenal: DoTs and Fear. This week, I'm going to continue trying to define what a Warlock is by talking about the many things they bring to a group, starting with pets. Yes! You may not realize it, but Warlock pets aren't just for soloing -- they have stellar group utility.
Brando's USB-powered aquarium: for the fish owner to-be
If you've been eying one of those snazzy USB-enabled fish tanks of late, but are still a bit gun shy when it comes to taking care of a live animal, Brando's got you covered. The USB Interactive Aquarium looks to be the perfect device for the wannabe fish owner, as this completely USB-powered tank includes a pair of thoroughly fake fish that swim around using mechanical tails. The included software allows owners to feed, care for, and play with their robotic pets, and you can even get an underwater rave going by flipping the built-in LEDs off and on in rapid succession. Not a bad way to see if you're up to the real challenge, and for just $23, it's an inexpensive way to snag an office pet that's not needy on the weekends.
Get your own Ghost Saber
Petopia has posted a Ghost Saber gallery, featuring pictures of, as far as I know, the only translucent pet in the game. It looks like it's stealthed, but to everyone, all the time (of course, when it's stealthed to other players, it's invisible to them, but you know what I mean). The gallery has some fun shots of this very unique pet.Petopia promises a "how to" on where to get your own soon, but if you don't want to wait, apparently it spawns at level 19 or 20 from "Glowing Cat Figurines" in the northernmost Naga area in Darkshore. Find cat figurines on the ground (Dwarven treasure tracking will find them, apparently), open them up, and there's a chance that the Ghost Saber will spawn. Tame him and he's yours. He may die soon afterwards (since the spawn has a usual despawn time), but even if he does, you can simple ressurrect him as long as you've tamed him as your pet.The low level of the pet, unfortunately, doesn't really make it easy for hunters who are already high level (since to get this guy up to 70 from 20 would just take way too long). But if you find one that's 19, it's perfect for battleground twinks or up and coming Hunters who want a cool, different pet.
Zoombak's Pet Locator hits the FCC
We'll admit, Zoombak's a bit late the Fido tracking game, but we're sure that pet owners won't complain about a bit more competition in the pet location biz. According to documentation at the FCC, this here device is most effective on animals that weight 15 pounds or more, and essentially consists of a wireless transceiver and Li-ion cell wrapped within a semi-rugged, water resistant enclosure. The 73-gram box straps around your pet's neck and purportedly communicates with a variety of GSM bands in order to keep you notified about your animal's location. Unfortunately, details surrounding the actual operation of the device is still scant, but it shouldn't be too long now before Zoombak is cleared to offer these up for (straying) pet lovers everywhere.[Thanks, Rich]
New WoW site for non-combat pets
With the release of the latest WoW TCG expansion, a new in-game pet has arrived, Bananas the Monkey. Looking into this has led me to a wonderful site dedicated to collecting all the non-combat pets in Warcraft. And when I say "dedicated", I mean "look no further than this site."World of Warcraft Small Pet has checklists, FAQs, guides to getting pets exclusive to the opposing faction, screenshots, extensive information for each pet, you name it. Now, I have a fair collection of non-combat pets, mostly from seasonal events like the mechanical yeti from Winterveil and Willy from Children's Week. I also quested for the Sprite Darter Hatchling out of Feralas back when the zone was in my level range. But this site is for the serious collector.Check it out and then tell me: frightening obssession or one more kind of pleasant activity to pass the time in-game?
Tamagotchi movie to prove whether kids really will watch anything
Sure, we all feared this day might come, and while we had certainly hoped that the ten-year anniversary would mark the close of a craze that should have never happened, it looks like Bandai is going to milk this thing one more time. Of course, we saw new life in Tamagotchi land earlier this year, but in a new movie set to debut this December, several of the Tamagotchi characters will be thrilling youngsters and annoying parents by "befriending a human girl who shows up at their virtual home on a star." The animated picture will be distributed by Toho Company, and while we're not certain if this flick will actually make it to US soil, let's hope for all of our sakes that it stays fairly contained.
Today's driest game video: Seaman 2
GameTrailers shows off a few brief Seaman 2 videos, our collective pick for today's video. While not yet announced for release outside of Japan, Seaman 2 taps into the risky, creative side of gaming we laud. Admittedly, those gambles don't always pay off, but when they do, they're why we play games.The videos show a few people playing the game, even Japanese schoolgirls! And while we question the focus-group style of the clips -- the clips could have easily been created by an ad agency and actors -- they give a glimpse into this simian sequel to the previous underwater pet title.See the clips after the break.
Children's Week + Outland = new pets!
The word on the Test Realm forums is that Children's Week has finally hit... in Outland! Apparently, much like the refugee children we've been escorting around from Stormwind and Orgrimarr, there are refugee children in Shattrath who also want to tag along with the heroes of their war. Thus far, there's been no report on any potential reputation gains as yet (which is what I'm screaming for) but screen shots of the cute new pets available from the quests have been posted. Apparently, you have your choice of "Sleepy" Willy, a baby Elekk, or Ethburt, as seen from left to right at the top of this post. I can't speak for anyone else, but I'm going to have a really hard time picking one. They're all so cute! [via the WoW LJ community]
Pet stress patch clues you in on Fido's emotional health
Let's face it, being a pet in the modern era is pretty tough -- our furry friends live under constant surveillance and face crippling self-esteem issues brought on by a society hell-bent on upgrading them, and even replacing them outright with videogames and robots. Adding to the list of products designed to relieve Fluffy from these terrible burdens, Japanese outfit Medical Life Care Giken claims to have invented a patch to measure the stress level of cats and dogs. Based on studies linking sweat production to stress, the pin-sized patch goes on your pet's paw and changes color based on how much sweat it detects, allowing you to schedule doggie-therapy sessions accordingly. While we're not certain why it took a multi-year partnership with researchers at Toyama University to develop a sweat-powered animal mood ring, we only hope that Giken is hard at work on the fish and turtle versions of this patch -- it's been looking mighty tense in that tank.[Via MedLaunches]
Disabled inventor crafts DinnerUp pet feeder
After a solid four-mile run on the Doggy Treadmill, it's not too tough to understand why Fido is famished, but for folks who are disabled in ways that make bending down or moving around in general difficult, getting the pet food from the pantry to the bowl has been a serious chore. Thanks to a retired engineer (who was stricken by cerebral palsy) that figured he better solve his own problem rather than wait for someone else, the DinnerUp apparatus was concocted, and now it's on the brink of commercialization. The device mounts onto a kitchen counter or door and relies on a hand crank / clutching system in order to lift the attached bowls to a level that's easy to reach, after which it's lowered back down to the anxious pets below. Currently, Ray Dinham is assembling the units himself and offloading them to "satisfied customers" for £70 ($140) apiece, but it shouldn't be long before the manufacturing is "outsourced to a UK-based firm" and these gain some serious worldwide traction.[Via BBC]
Guardian pets need a mind of their own
This forums thread points out something interesting about player "guardians." Not pets-- guardians like Shadowfiend (which a priest I know called his shadowfriend), the druids' treants, and my shaman's totem elementals. After players wonder why shadowfiends keep breaking shackles, Neth says something that made me do a double-take: shadowfiends, as guardians, have an actual AI that is supposed to go after non crowd-controlled targets first.That's news to me. I haven't spent a ton of time around shadowfiends, but in my experience, shaman and mage elementals and other "uncontrollable" pets (that's why they're called guardians) tend to go after anything that happens to be close to them. That's why they don't get popped when there's sheep or shackles around-- my guild could have used that fire elemental DPS on Moroes, but because it was so important to keep those shackles up, I've been saving the elemental for later. If there really is an AI (and if it works-- even Neth agrees that may not be the case at this point, though she says the shadowfiends on the PTR are supposed to be doing things right), then maybe we can start trusting summoned guardians not to touch CC'd targets until it's OK to do so.Of course, there's other ways around it-- normally, I just don't pop my pets out until I'm sure there's no more CC left to break, but my pets are leashed to my totem, so with careful positioning, I can still avoid CC. And I believe both mage and druid guardians are targeted-- they open fire on whatever you've got targeted at the time, right? But I'd love a little AI, or at least a little control, in something like my Searing Totem. If there's a CC'd target out there, it's not worth the trouble to drop it even for the extra DPS.
Forum post of the day: Pet demands
Wow, who knew Hunters were so unhappy with their pet situation? Zolberserker, of H-Eitrigg-US, has made an exceedingly long list of improvements he wants for Hunter pets, to be included in what he terms a "pet patch." These aren't mostly new demands, nor does he pretend them to be so, but it is a nice compilation of ideas. Some of the ones that caught my eye: Pet armor, giving pets simple proc bonuses or whatnot, preferably appearing on the pet. Saddles to make some pets mountable. I'm heavily against this, for obvious reasons (there's already too many free mounts in the game, Hunters already get a movement speed increase). Foods that give bonuses to pets (the Sporeling Snack is one such that is already in the game). Rare pets, including some doing non-physical damage. "All beasts and beast like pets should be tameable." Most of these, I'm sorry to say, seem a bit off to me. Pets are already quite powerful enough in PvP and solo PvE, and none of these address the problem of pets in group PvE. Although come to think of, the pet armor idea could be adapted to help them in group PvE: have pet armor give them a large amount of damage reduction (via straight armor, or dodge, or whatever), at the cost of reducing their movement speed. This would keep the armor from being overpowered in PvP, although it might make the pets a bit too good of off-tanks in groups. What do you guys think, those of you with more Hunter experience? What do pets need? Are pets really broken enough that a full "pet patch" is warranted?
Today's best friendiest video: Fable 2 dog
We previously covered Peter Molyneux's Fable 2 talk at GDC, and now the most-watched video at GameTrailers shows off Fable 2's dog, letting us take a closer look for tonight's video. Molyneux stresses not to scrutinize the graphics and that only the dog is worth looking at in the demo's current state. Overlooking the work left to be done, the dog seems to be well animated and deliver a lot of emotion; hopefully this companion will add more depth to the game.See the dog demo after the break.
iPod-compatible Pet Carrier
Did the Lifepop Stereo Pet Carrier really "steal the spotlight" at the Oscars? Unless you believe those wacky PR dudes (and who would?), probably not but it's a pretty cool iPod-compatible accessory. You can use it to carry around your pooch as he or she rocks out to your music, or whimpers in abject misery while listening to your Barry Manilow collection. It's basically a soft padded bad with built-in speakers and a mini-plug you can hook into your iPod. There's a fully zippered ventilated top so Fido will be able to breathe while groovin'. You might want to put away a few bucks to pay the pet therapist if there's a serious mismatch between your musical tastes and your dog's.
Blue Notes: Epic flight form and Hunter pet despawns
It looks like not only do Druids get the free flying mount we've all discussed, but they're going to get to quest for an epic flight form as well. From Ommra: We have upcoming development plans which we wanted to share now, as it could impact choices that Druids might make in the immediate future regarding flying mount riding skills or purchasing epic mounts: The regular Storm Crow form remains trainable at level 68 and moves at 60%. Also as previous, the normal flying mount skill comes with the form. An epic quest line will be going into an upcoming patch which will grant Druids an additional flying form with increased stats. The epic flying form will move at the epic rate of 280%, but basically fall under the same conditions as the previous flight form (i.e. can't run on the ground). However, the first prerequisite of the quest will require the epic flying mount riding skill, so it would not be a loss to Druids if they wish to purchase their epic flying mount skill now or in the near future. Obviously, one could then diversify their epic mounts beyond the Druid's casted epic form if they choose. I think it was the right move to make it required to train epic flying, since 5,000 gold, on top of the 1,000 from before, would be a little much for druids not to have to pay.And following up on the news about Warlock pets despawning when you flying-mount up, it looks like Hunter pets are getting the same treatment. Ommra again: This change should apply to hunter's pets in the same way.
GoPets: Konami does DS virtual pets ... on an island!
Arrr, says the pirate cat stranded on Konami's Vacation Island. Squeezing in somewhere between Nintendogs and Animal Crossing, GoPets is Konami's attempt to capture some of the virtual pet niche's market share on DS. Players will be tasked with nurturing the growth of either a virtual cat or dog, and then presumably must send their pets off to an anthropomorphized island community where minigames are the way of life.While derivative, GoPets will support the underused Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection, allowing pet groomers to share their experiences through a text-based chat system, complete with universal icons for cross-language communication -- it's unclear if friend codes must first be exchanged in order to chat (a requirement that has limited Animal Crossing's online mode). Apparently, the handheld version will also share some level of compatibility with a planned PC iteration of the GoPets franchise.
Blue Notes: LFG changes, Warlock pets to despawn on flight
It's no secret that a lot of people are unhappy with the new LFG system. Personally, I always use it, although I haven't had much luck with it. Usually I'll flag myself as LFG for some group quest and do a solo quest while waiting. After this, if I still don't have a group (as is usually the case), I go ahead and ask about it in General. Anyway, apparently the LFG tool is going to get better, and the old global LFG channel is not making a come-back. From Neth: While you haven't seen changes as of yet, we are working on some improvements that we would like to implement. I just can't tell you any more details about that as of this point in time however. You won't be seeing the old LFG channel reappear. By the way, did you know you can use /lfg and /lfm to call up the respective interface panes? True story, and useful for people like me who like to hide about as much UI as possible.
