((I am posting this topic in the general discussion forum because I want it visible to the widest & most diverse audience.))
Some in this forum might choose to denigrate my choice of how I play WOW - shocking right Yet it is important to me to speak out for a part of WOW that is not visible in this general forum.
Since I returned to WOW in 2019 after a few years away, my time in world has centered on the battle pets aspect of the game. I love it - the collecting; learning how to survive in the āmetaā of pvp play; and being a part of a community that is so generous with their time & encouragement of others who are learning the game. The online resources created by other battle pet enthusiasts are just brilliant imo.
I work in a high stress profession made even more so by the pandemic. For me, battle pets have been a great form of relaxation during the last crazy two years. They have motivated me to learn skills & follow quests that I might have never experienced is my basically solo style of play.
Like most parts of WOW, both pve and pvp pet battling take time to learn and can be extremely frustrating to those just starting out. The battle pet forums on other sites have some excellent ideas on how to preserve the challenge of the game, while making it more newbie friendly. A recent change with the Patch 9.1.5 made leveling b. pets a tiny bit faster & imo was much welcome!
While reading the introductory posts by Community Council members, I was encouraged to see a few enjoyed playing battle pets as part of their overall WOW experience. I am keeping my fingers crossed that at least one representative of the general battle pet players community is selected for the Council.
Honestly, how you play WoW is all up to your own choice, not others. You should play it the way that you enjoy it, and not the way others tell you to play it.
I fell out of love with battle pets, for battling. I still like to collect hard to get ones, and lord ajāqirai still wont drop his, but now that we have a toy that can make non-flying battle pets fly, I like to drag them behind me on flying mount, especially the weird looking ones, like the one The Forgotten drops.
I still maintain leveling up battle pets should no longer be a thing anymore. Think about it:
It made sense when pets were few and far between and so the focus was greater on what few we had. But now there are thousands.
It just provides an unecessary barrier to entry for new pet battlers.
No one really uses sub level 25 pets on anything remotely serious.
The only people using sub level 25 pets are doing it to try to cheese WQās which is not what Blizz intended gameplay wise.
Thereās a reason why pet max level hasnāt moved beyond 25 in years. Because Blizz knows Iām right. They know that increasing the max level will just mean everyone will make that the new standard. Essentially it means Blizz knows pet leveling is meaningless and anachronistic.
Keep the quality and the breed system. Delete the levels.
Good points Trustlvlfour! The leveling feels like one of the āgrindsā built into so many parts of the game. Wonder if the recent changes making it so much faster to level pets was partly inspired by the logic in your post. I easily cleared out a queue with over 100 pets in a couple of weeks. The quality of my play was only enhanced.
For years I detested the idea of pet battles and shunned those that liked them. Then in BfA, I found out you could get a bunch of extra Nazjatar rep with pet battles and unlock flying faster, so I tried them for the first time. Iāve been hooked ever since. I especially enjoy when new pet battles come out and figuring out how to beat them. I miss the tournaments and pet dungeons too - those were fun.
Do people actually do PVP pet battles still? I joined the queue for those a couple times during pet week and just sat in the queue for 45 minutes before I got bored and logged out.
Itās also worth mentioning that pets are a great way to make gold. If you can get new pets right when they come out they sell for a lotā¦made tons off bauble worms when 9.1 came out.
Thanks for mentioning this. THE QUEUE!! I have one, maybe two players in mine. The battle pet queue is a mystery. Why not combine existing queues? Seems like an easy solution to encourage game play, but I am no developer.
Love this part of the game and freely confess to a strong AH addiction
This character actually leveled from 45 to 58 on pet pvp gaining my āTrainerā title. I canāt even remember when I made this one but it sat idle through legion, bfa, and now itās a mission table shill.
As long as you arenāt saying pet battling should have a chance at dropping the best gear in the game I donāt think anyone minds that you enjoy pet battling.
It is a fun mini game and definitely a way to keep yourself occupied if you enjoy that content. It would be nice if they added some more for the enthusiasts.
I enjoy the battle pets part of WOW, in the following order: pvp; collecting; & pve
Aspects of collecting I enjoy = wild pet battles, dungeons, the WOW store, the auction house, LOVE LOVE LOVE short quests leading to a new pet like cute lil gurgl
Pet pvp team building - this is very rewarding, the search for effective team compositions
The strategy/theory of the game - so much to learn, so many amazing resources
Fighting a well balanced team (which does not equal 3 idols, 3 anomuli, etc . . . even when I am losing I get a sense of satisfaction from the fight, and learn from the other player
Pets that have novel abilities
Pets that have internal synergy or synergize well with other pets
FAST pets
Pet Battle week - love this, how great to have it more often
Surprise goodies that randomly appear in my bags - stones and pets. REALLY LOVE THIS ! It makes me laugh.
REALLY LOVE GETTING NEW PETS from events/hunts/trainer fights!!! Once or twice a year is ok, monthly would be amazing!
When a battle pet is part of a WOW game promotion
The new stone system as of Patch 9.1.5 is just great - I am clearing out my queue
I appreciate game developers playing attention to my favorite part of the game, in fact, the #1 reason I keep playing WOW
The community - both within this amazing site and spread across the web, people are incredibly helpful and have devoted so much time to making really useful resources to help learn the game
This list is by no means exhaustive, I will probably add to it as I think of more things.
WISH LIST (the top 3)
A more active & diverse battle queue.
Pets that are not so OP that they āstrangleā the game (this means team composition options shrink in order to stay viable) and discourage people from playing ((SOLUTION? It seems to simple, well first, maybe not make pets OP? Yet if they must exist, limit them to 1 per account. Many other pets are limited in this way, for example Son of Sethe ))
More effective responses and/or reporting options when a player keeps making obscene battle pet names.
I hate SL world quests so much that i have been doing my daily callings (even if they take 2-3 days to complete) with profession and pet battle WQ almost exclusively, i have come to really enjoy them
Iāve loved battle pets since they were introduced during the MoP expansion, and its the one activity that has kept me coming back. Sure, I enjoy questing, dungeons, playing the auction house but its pet battles that keep me coming back because they bring me much joy. While I understand that BPās are not for everyone, I encourage all players to give it a good go because you just never know how fun and relaxing it can be to just battle your lovely little pets, and work on your collection.
My sincere hope is that Blizzard will continue and expand improvements to this part of the game, I was very disappointed that there was not a new BP dungeon for Shadowlands but I hope in the future weāll see more BP dungeons. Also, I would like to see more mega-quests that take the player through a series of quests that culminate in an epic BP as rewards. Iām sure the extremely talented people who work on BPās, and the player who love them, can come up with quite a few wonderful adventures
Its funny, the boring leveling part of battle pets is what I like the most! I guess to each their own. In fact, when I run out of pets to level I will sell off a few of my level 25 pets and acquire new level 1 pets to start over With that said, I do like the new leveling changes they made.
I SO get that. When things are slow I go back and āupgradeā wild pets from the days when I was a clueless noob and did not understand breeds. Keep the Garrison All Hallows pets for āat homeā easy leveling. Like you, I love the recent leveling changes
Yet it is important to me to speak out for a part of WOW that is not visible in this general forum.
With that said, I do like the new leveling changes they made.
