This is the source.
Add in what we see in midnight is them changing many pets to get a cosmetic only thing, most pets cannot battle in the alpha.
The only achievements added are for missing stuff in old zones.
Sure it’s alpha, but the direction they’re going looks like they’re giving the battling part of pets a partial archeology treatment, which is very worrying.
The battling part is the fun part of the pets. And even for collecting, the skills are a big part of the flavor for me to play with them. Not having to battle to catch pets means the biggest reason you battle, to catch new pets or certain breeds, is going away.
Hell part of what keeps me going on remix is getting the new pets. The only one from that that doesn’t battle is Khadgars head, which has a sane lore reason to not battle (and even then, I was still sad it couldn’t when it came out, because funny)
Edit: Just realized another thing about pet battles: part of it is also using it to level characters. Fighting pets between fights is fun. I’ve even leveled characters entirely through pet battles to max level. Having to deal with the nerfed XP from leveling in old zones will ruin the final part of the grind for doing this in the future if wild battles are missing from midnight zones.
The XP from pet battles for my character is good, and is in a nice spot. Just how much the pet gets is awful. I’ve been playing this way all the since pandaria, and pet battles are a core part of the game for me.