Posts with tag pet-battles

Every Thursday, The Overachiever shows you how to work toward those sweet achievement points. This week, it's myth-explodin' time.

Last week in the comment thread for OverAchiever: Achievements to do before it's too late, there were a few notes from readers who were worried that noncombat pet achievements were going to disappear in Mists of Pandaria. This shocked me, because I could have sworn I saw pet achievements flash across the screen during the spam I always get when I copy my main to a beta or PTR, and I hadn't been aware that these achievements were actually missing from the General category. I was also sure there would have been some pretty high-profile news about it if developers were planning to axe them. Especially with the introduction of Pet Battles, it seemed like a very strange time for Blizzard to get rid of related achievements.

Then again, these are also the people who put the Aldor Rise elevator and Warsong Gulch rep in the game, so we already know they're capable of real cruelty.

OverAchiever's pretty much pointless if I don't use it to investigate stuff that I could have warned readers about well in advance, and pets are serious business. So, another character copy onto the beta later, I have an answer for you about what's going on.

Whoa whoa whoa, why is Alex doing The Queue on Friday? Nobody likes that guy! Get out of here, Alex!

Never.

vocenoctum asked:

I know a lot of folks that don't currently play Warlocks will try it with Mists, hopefully the changes make it fun enough to play for many. Do you think the changes are big enough that some current lock's will leave the class? (I didn't play a paladin pre-cata, but know a couple ret pal's that just ditched the class as "being too different".)

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.

Pet Battles are now available after the most recent patch update to the Mists of Pandaria beta. We've seen a few pet additions lately. Let's dive in, shall we?

The pet pane has been updated. Selecting the different pets shows you aspects like types and different abilities. Many of your pets won't have a full list of abilities yet. Naturally, your pets will start off at level 1, and as you enter engagements, they'll gain levels and gain access to stronger abilities. It's important to use the creature type that will give you an advantage over your opponent.

Read on for more!

The latest Mists of Pandaria beta build has revealed over 100 new achievements, including about 60 (yes, 60!) related to Pet Battles. If you like your points, I hope you like your pets. There's also mention of a platinum level for challenge modes.

Some of the more interesting achievements:

• Realm First! Pandaren Ambassador This is the first guild realm-first achievement that involves reputation (non-guild), I believe.
• Guild Hardware - Platinum This one's new to me. Looks like Blizzard's adding a new tier for challenge modes above the gold tier that was previously announced. It's unknown if the rewards previously mentioned for gold will move to platinum or there are new shinies we haven't seen yet.
• Grand Master Pet Battler / Grand Master Pet Brawler If you were planning on cheesing -- erm, helping your friends with every Pet Battle achievement, might want to think again.
• Master Pet Hunter Collect all the things!
• Raise 75 pets to level 25 Once you've collected all the things, fill all the bars!

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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!

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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.

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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!

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For one reason or another, there was some fear recently that the Pet Battle feature announced at BlizzCon wouldn't make it into the release of Mists of Pandaria. Good news: It's in. We saw Pet Battles in action during the developer presentation at the beginning of the press tour. The feature isn't complete, but it has been implemented in-game in a playable state. We watched a Pet Battle showdown between Illidan Stormrage and the Lich King.

Each pet that you own can learn up to six abilities, but only three of them can be used in the turn-based battle, so you need to carefully assign which you plan to use. Pet Battles will have a queue system just like dungeons and Battlegrounds, with one small difference: you will never see the name of the player you're facing off against. Blizzard wanted to minimize the "shame of defeat" that tends to be a barrier to entry in PvP -- nobody likes feeling bad when they lose. You will never know who you've lost to, and they can't trash talk you during or afterwards. While your statistics page will keep track of your number of wins, it will not track your losses.

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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.

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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?

Sinister Squashlings. Oh my God, you guys. I wound up with so many Sinister Squashling pets during Hallow's End. They were a curse. A nightmare. Only the first one you get holds any value; each consecutive one that drops for you is simply a chore to delete. And since the drop rate of the pet was buffed through the roof, it seemed like every other candy grab or Headless Horseman attempt this year landed me another one.

If you're anything like me, a quick search of your bags will reveal five of the damn things you thought you deleted but apparently never did. Well, if that's the case, then we have good news for you: Holiday pets like the Sinister Squashling, the Feline Familiar, and the Captured Flame are seeing their bind on pickup disclaimers removed in patch 4.3. The means any leftover Squashlings currently in your possession can be unloaded on the Auction House in few weeks' time. And come Winter Veil, any excess pets you get can be similarly saved and later sold.

We haven't heard anything official yet from Blizzard about the change (hat tip to MMO-Champion for datamining this), but it seems like this is the first step toward the Mists of Pandaria dynamic of having all WoW pets be tradeable.

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Brace yourselves for what could be some of most exciting updates to the game recently with patch 4.3. Review the official patch notes, and then dig into what's ahead: new item storage options, cross-realm raiding, cosmetic armor skinning and your chance to battle the mighty Deathwing -- from astride his back!

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When we saw that Blizzard had registered the Mists of Pandaria trademark back in August, no one was sure what to think. Was it a sign of the next expansion, a WoW Trading Card Game pack, or simply Chris Metzen playing an elaborate prank on us all? It turns out that the first option was the correct one, but big fat pandas are not the only things we have to look forward to next year. Huge talent changes, the WoW version of Pokemon, scenarios and challenge modes, a new class (the monk), and even a free copy of Diablo 3 (with the new WoW annual pass) are all bundled into the next expansion. Which one of these interests you the most?

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The news is out -- we'll be playing Mists of Pandaria! Find out what's in store with an all-new talent system, peek over our shoulder at our Pandaren hands-on, and get ready to battle your companion pets against others. It's all here right at WoW Insider!

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Mists of Pandaria will be introducing Pet Battles. You will be able to use your companion pets to battle against each other. There will be leveling, items, teams and better ways to acquire your pets. Here are some highlights:

• The companion pets can attack wild pets and capture them to add to your collection.
• The battles will be turn-based.
• You will be able to customize your pets with names, items and builds.
• There will be Masters that you can fight and gain a Master Ability for your pet.
• As you collect pets, you can form them into teams to take into battle.
• Pets will be account-wide, including levels and customizations.
• Pets will be tradeable. You will be able to put them on the AH or give as gifts. So you can build up to high-level pets and sell them for high prices.
• All players will be able to access pet battles.
• You will be able to use almost all pets.

Looks like we will no longer be able to call our companions "non-combat" pets. Of course, all of these things are subject to change without notice. But this looks like a fun sub-game that many people will want to spend most of their time playing.

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The news is out -- we'll be playing Mists of Pandaria! Find out what's in store with an all-new talent system, peek over our shoulder at our Pandaren hands-on, and get ready to battle your companion pets against others. It's all here right at WoW Insider!

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