WoW: Mists of Pandaria BETA- Part 2

Dive Bombing Moths!

So with the latest expansion, Mists of Pandaria, World of Warcraft is adding pet battles. So exciting! Doesn't it look it? Okay, so the pet battles aren't the most action packed addition to the game but they provide a new distraction for high-level players that has been missing for a while. This isn't to say that the pet battles aren't for new players, but the 100 gold price tag to get started is intentional to ensure that new players don't get sucked into what equates to be a mini-game. So, here's some details of how pet battles work and why they're a feature that WoW has needed for sometime.

WoW: Mists of Pandaria BETA- Part 1

I started playing World of Warcraft back in the summer of 2006 after graduating from high school and starting a minimum wage job, so I could afford the subscription. Believe it or not it was my wife (at that time, my girlfriend) who got me hooked on it, not the other way around. I had played in the beta for it but when it released, I never picked it up. Fast forward 6 years, I've been WoW-free for about a year, and a beta code lands in my lap. Of course, I had to start it up. I had the intention of reminding myself of why I'd stopped playing, laughing at the new Pandaran race. 'Lo and behold, I think I might be hooked again. Here's a couple changes in mechanics and systems that have me interested in the new expansion.

Deep Thoughts: Game Development by Gamers

Perhaps I've been unaware of unique phenomena among the gaming community or perhaps it's just something that's started to show up in the past half decade: Games being developed alongside the people who are going to play them. You can take DayZ for an example. Though it is currently just a mod in alpha testing, Dean 'rocket' Hall, the game's developer, has said that he's interested in turning it into a stand-alone game, not directly tied to ARMA or anything other game as it is currently (source). A game that is not being tested behind closed doors but  is open and available to the public, with an active community testing, commenting, blogging, and making videos about it. Other indie games have done similar, with Minecraft being a very well known example. The most interesting fact of this, at least in my opinion, is  that even already released titles like World of Warcraft are getting  into the idea.