World of Warcraft - Pet Battles

I've never played Pokemon, but I get the idea.  You catch pets and then battle them against each other.  It's apparently pretty addicting, hence the "Gotta catch 'em all" slogan.  World of Warcraft, always seeking to change and expand their repertoire  apparently saw something they liked or something they thought would resonate with their player base.  They have added pet battles with this most recent expansion, and it's pretty fun.

I suppose I owe you a bit of background.  Thus far in World of Warcraft, you could collect non-combat pets.  You can have one of these little guys out at a time, and they just kinda follow you around.  They're begun adding additional animations for some of them over the past year or so.  I was a bit obsessive about collecting them.  Where someone else would farm materials to make something, I would kill the same mobs over and over again, hoping for the pet I wanted to drop.*  Now, Blizzard has given me something to do with my pets!

Once you get your pet battle training, you can track critters that you can battle and capture.  They're easily spotted via your map, and the actual toon has a paw over its head so you know it can be battled.  There are different animals in different areas.  The best part is that I can expand my pet collection even further.  To further entice you, you can name the pets too!**

When you battle, your trap lights up when you are able to catch your opponent.  Sometimes, there is more than one animal to battle in a single fight.  You can only catch one per encounter, so you have to pick and choose.  Additionally, if you are defeated, you lose any pet that was trapped.

Should your pets expire, it's not the end of the world.  You can resurrect and heal all of your pets every eight minutes.  If you're impatient, you can also visit the stable master to have them healed for a fee.  There is no real danger in battle, just the possibility of lost time.***

Blizzard made a smart choice when they added pet battles with the most recent expansion.  They're a lot of fun, and if you're not interested in them, you don't have to participate.  I would suggest trying them out; just be careful to not get pulled in too deep.

*I am most proud of my hyacinth macaw, disgusting oozeling, and emerald whelpling.  It took me a lot of time to get them.  I was cussed out a lot when I was farming the macaw because lower level players needed the mobs for quests.  Muahahahahahah!

**I named my disgusting oozeling Squishface.

***Let's be realistic; all of WoW is lost time.  It's fun, but it ends up as lost time.