#1 - Oct. 24, 2011, 2:47 p.m.
I’ve been a fan of the pandaren since I first learned about them years ago; the Asian-inspired vistas of Pandaria revealed at Blizzcon left me absolutely giddy and breathless. And the monk will certainly satisfy my every Bruce Lee/Jackie Chan fantasy I’ve had while playing WoW.
But after taking the time to consider and digest all the information, I think I’m honestly most excited by the pet battle system. I sincerely believe it could provide a whole new method of playing and enjoying the game separate from the MMO staples of questing, dungeoneering, and PVP. I do however have a couple of questions and a non-zero concern that I’d like addressed. I also understand that this feature is still in the planning/development stages, so I know that these questions may be difficult to answer effectively.
The questions are fairly simple and based mostly on popular games in the pet monster genre and my experiences with them;
1.) It was alluded to in the Mists of Pandaria Preview Panel that the individual pets would have “types” (an example was made of a theoretical master in Tanaris who specializes in mechanical mini-pets; the mock-up of the pet journal UI also seemed like it showed designators for pet types); is this true, and will, like in other play pet monster games, certain types of pets have advantages over other types? That’s one of the more engaging parts of the pet monster battle strategy, balancing the types of pets you carry so as to be ready for whatever you might face. Likewise, if the pets have types, will the moves/abilities/spells the pets can learn also have types?
2.) It was said that pets will have random stats. I take this to mean that two pets of the same breed (say, two Hyacinth Macaws for instance) may have different stats from one another. Will there be consumables sold by vendors, earned through winning battles, or crafted by cooks or alchemists that allow you to permanently raise or alter those pet stats? On the same note, will there be consumables to heal the pet or revive a fallen pet in the midst of a battle? Consumables for both battle and stat customization are staples of pet monster genre.
3.) On a similar note, will the pets be able to hold items that make their attacks more powerful? Collars or some such? And if so, will these items be earned via a vendor or crafted by PCs? I think I could actually see some of the less useful/vendor trash Fossil archaeology results being fun for this (e.g. the raptor feather, ect.).
4.) I love the idea of the wild pets! I’m super curious as to how this is planned to work. Given that pet battling is turn-based, will we go a la other pet monster games in to a little phased/instanced battle zone where we conduct the turn-based combat when we encounter a wild pet or will we have to do the turn-based combat out amidst the actual monsters around us who might bash us to death as our Curious Wolvar Pup rips the face off some unsuspecting little critter?
5.) The idea that I can catch new pets and battle them in the wild is ridiculously exciting! What will be the method of mechanism for collecting wild pets? Is it that once you beat them, you get the option to keep them, or will be there be some method of taming them that we’ll have to accomplish?
6.) Will there be some kind of toggle we can turn on and off to avoid wild pet encounters if we’re in a hurry, or are they like other mobs that we can see and avoid? I love having a companion pet following me at all times, but I’d kind of hate to have to stop and fight little wild pets all the time just because I have my Pheonix Hatchling out while on my way to a raid.
7.) Will there be some kind of leader board for the realm and beyond? It’d be kind of cool to look and see where you stand against anyone else on your realm and challenge them to a battle.
And finally, my concern; I’d really hate for this system to be implemented and then stagnate. One of the things that makes the pet monster game genre so enduring is that it’s constantly growing and evolving. Blizzard routinely adds new pets to the game (which is awesome, please never stop!), but new monsters are only part of the draw. Each new pet monster game evolves the genre somehow, either adding new challenges (masters/gyms/whatever) or new features.
I kind of worry that the pet battle system is something that might make it in and then never added to again. As much fun as I think this battle system has the potential to be, I think that would be a very sad thing. So I guess that leads to one more question;
8.) Does Blizzard plan to add new pet battle content as the game grows? Say a new “master challenge” or two each patch or some such or new pet abilities every so often?
Again, I understand that the system is very early in the development stages and that it’s probably not possible to answer all these questions fully, but any response would be absolutely appreciated. Thank you, Blizzard, for constantly adding and evolving the game in strange and unexpected ways! It’s a big part of why I continue to be an avid Blizzard fan and likely will be for some time to come!
