THIS IS SO STUPID. PLEASE DON’T DO THIS BLIZZ!!! This game gets worse every time it is dumbed down. We have pet abilities that leave pets with low health. Catching pets has always been very easy and not at all the barrier to entry for pet battles. The thing that keeps people from doing pet battles is pet leveling and the hurdle to get a collection of level 25 pets. The progression of different traps as upgrades was always a nice little touch. Please don’t make this change blizz. How could you only touch pet battles to make them more dumb and streamlined??? 
68 Likes
I am hoping that it’s just early in alpha and regular pet battles are coming soon. I play primarily for pet battling and it will be a huge disappointment if I can’t battle with or against new wild pets anymore 
Hopefully a blue post or blizz announcement comes very quickly!!!
34 Likes
Indeed.
This is a VERY upsetting report … IF true.
I also hope this is just some early Alpha weirdness. I can’t really believe any of the devs could eliminate the best part of pet battling for no reason at all
25 Likes
Where did you see/hear this?
https://www.twitch.tv/mrgm/clip/EsteemedThoughtfulIcecreamBCouch-D0s2HmYf-sTpnMrI
5 Likes
Well, that’s a terrible change.
Granted, it’s a 30 second clip, but it looks like all he captured were Commons. That sucks.
Now I’m scared that they’re just completely doing away with pet battling entirely, and now folks just have to run around and go, “Ooo, I want that critter,” and throw a cage. No more trainers, no more anything else. Yes, I’m doom and glooming, but are there any streamers out there that have shown any more of pet battling?
*edit: missed Garn’s post about how there’s new battling achievements. There goes a bit of worry on my part.
19 Likes
The items were White, but one of the pets was learned as Green
Still completely bad. No redeeming feature. No possible argument in favor.
14 Likes
Oh, so now it will be
- Throw cage.
- Open bag.
- Open new pet.
- Realize it’s not the rarity you’re hoping to catch.
- Open Pet Collection tab.
- Search for pet.
- Release Pet.
- Repeat.
As opposed to
- Start battle.
- See no pets at the rarity I want.
- Flee.
- Repeat.
This is better how? Heck, under the current system, even if the pet you saw in the world isn’t the rarity you want, it’s possible one of the backline pets are.
22 Likes
Yeah, that’s why I say there is no possible argument in favor. It’s not a trade-off; it makes every part of the pet hunt worse.
And a lot of datamined pets are coming up “This pet cannot battle”, which is also very worrying.
I don’t see the Kalimdor and onwards Family achievements as especially reassuring either. Do you really care about beating Julia Stevens or Zunta with three Level 25 Blues? I mean, maybe, if their pets scaled up to 25 …
24 Likes
I know Pet Battlers and Collectors aren’t your main focus Blizzard, but we’d really like some clarification on this.
I love pet battles, they’ve been one of the highlights of the game for me since MoP. It adds so much fun and versatility to my collection and gives me something to work toward. I would really hate to see the system simplified down to bare minimum, or removed entirely.
I know this is alpha and we don’t have any concrete information yet, maybe we’re jumping at shadows, but I felt it was important to voice my concern here as well since this is such a core part of my own gameplay.
34 Likes
> https://www.twitch.tv/bears_adventures/clip/ComfortablePlacidLatteMingLee-FbFQWk_b8hNCOd1t
I expect the interview will be on YouTube in some form in the next few days.
1 Like
RIP pet battles. Let’s start a metaphorical riot.
3 Likes
This is unfortunate for sure. Pet battles are one of my favorite things about WoW. Now its looking like just another +1 in the collection like mounts and toys. At least most pets had an extra purpose in the game than just being a collectable. It does make me reconsider spending real money on Gear Store or in game shop promotions now.
17 Likes
This makes breed hunting impossible.
I could care less about the rarity of the pet. Stones are a dime a dozen. But if you cant tell the breed of the pet until after you learn it, its going to be miserable to get the breed you want without going through all the additional hoops.
Take the new Bombshell crabs in Undermine. They finally made a wild pet that is on par with Blackfuse. But you need to have the H/H breed for a decent explosion.
If they were able to incorporate the breed in the tooltip data for the frontline pet when you mouse over that would be an amazing change. I cant tell you how many pets I’ve had to kill to force a respawn.
11 Likes
Breed hunting won’t be possible going forward, they are non combat pets now. No skills, abilities, or breeds.
9 Likes
I’d really like some clarification from Blizzard on what their plans are for Pet Battling in Midnight and in the future.
- No more wild pet battles? If true, very disappointing.
- Will majority of future pets be non-combat then?
- What about new Trainer/Tamer encounters/challenges?
- Is any new Pet Battling being scrapped entirely, leaving us with only old/existing content?
27 Likes
DEEPLY hoping this is just another interview whoopsie or Alpha issue. Pet battling is incredibly fun and a huge charm point for the game- it has gotten friends of mine to play that wouldn’t otherwise try WoW. I could totally understand the pets being flagged non-combat just being an Alpha thing (I can’t imagine assigning them all stats is high priority) but de-emphasizing pet battles as a whole would be tragic for so many players. Pet battling is one of those things that makes WoW stand out from other MMOs.
31 Likes
Seconding this opinion fully.
The pet battle system is a staple that has been part of WoW for a very long time and means much to many people, for some it’s one of the only things they actually do enjoy. I think this is a very poor idea, because it strips something away from the game without adding anything to it in a meaningful way. I really hope the pleas of the community are heard.
20 Likes
Chiming in to share concerns about any changes that are in the direction of nullifying pet battles or god forbid sunsetting or removing it as a feature. I love pet battles, I love collecting pets and catching pets. If there is any truth to what’s being discovered in alpha so far, Blizzard please reconsider.
15 Likes
There are upgrade stones, ya know!