Hi everyone,
I’ve noticed over the last few years that pet battles have gone into maintenance mode. AKA there are a few world quests added, wild pets added to catch, and achievements. However there is very little discourse (from blizzard) about updates or improvements to the system outside of tweaks to stones, exp, etc. etc. Functionally pet battles are almost identical to how they were when they first launched in MOP, in 2012. For core gameplay, that’s totally fine. Players like what they like and you don’t want to shake it up for those that prefer gameplay they already know. Much like you wouldn’t turn a cracker barrel into a laser tag arena right under the noses of the senior citizens visiting there for brunch.
However, that doesn’t mean the system couldn’t use some innovation to breathe some new life into it. I know people want a pet battle phone app, but they also need to focus on the in-game system and I will shout into the void until it happens. I don’t want to see pet battles go the way of archaeology or mission tables. AKA an interesting feature that was slowly put into maintenance mode until it was largely forgotten about because it’s not a direct player power progression system.
A long time ago when I was at the blizzcon that announced WoD, I approached a dev whose name I have completely forgotten and asked about pet battle updates. He brought up how they wanted to introduce a breeding system. That eventually changed to them wanting to allow us to swap stats on pets. Which then evolved into potentially adding an epic quality upgrade stone. And then…nothing. Radio silence. Adding an epic quality level to pets was hated by the pet battle community so I get why they didn’t go with it. But there needs to be SOMETHING.
Just tossing some ideas at the wall but -
We could used a phased ‘ranch’ area in the major cities where we can actually see our collected pets running around. This has existed in previous expansions in some form or another, but players inevitably outgrow expansions as soon as a new one is released so putting content like that in major cities like stormwind or orgrimmar ensures it stays accessible and relevant.
We need a new alternate battle system. Dungeons and stuff are great, but what if there were a pet battle raid boss? AKA you send out 5 of your pets to face off against some terror. The current system has all the pets stand in a line and make turn based attacks until one dies and the next one comes in and repeats the cycle. If we’re going to have turn-based battles, why not make them all out? Make it a full on RPG party with 4-5 pets that we either issue commands to or have them auto-battle. Some people may not like the idea of auto-battle content but speaking as someone who plays a ton of mobile games, it works just fine as long as there’s still an elemental (in wow’s case, family) strengths/weaknesses system. And frankly I think if you want to attract new folks to the pet battle system, having a type of fight where a bunch of pets auto-battle a big bad and colorful stuff is flying in all directions is just entertaining enough and just interactive enough to work. Don’t believe me? Go look how popular idle games are on the apple/google store.
Secondly, we need a new type of family. I want to point out how poorly balanced the current amount of pets per family is (58 dragonkin types compared to 274 beasts come on.) but this system could stand a new type of pet family to keep things interesting. My thought is something like a ‘cosmic’ family that has no strengths/weaknesses against the other families. It stands on its own as an option for people who want to use generalized pets without diving into the strength/weaknesses system. Like a bike with training wheels. Usable by people just learning the system or by people like me who are lazy. Alternatively add 2 new families that are strong/weak to each other - light and dark being the obvious choices. So cosmic and aberrations or something along those lines.
Lastly, and probably most controversially, get rid of the leveling system or add more ways for people to get pets to 25 instantly. Is the challenge in pokemon leveling the mons themselves? No. The challenge is in endgame battles against other players. The leveling system is useless filler. Do not @ me about this and say “weh but then all my effort leveling my pets…” because trust me, I leveled plenty of pets myself. I don’t care. “I did it so everyone else should have to” is not an argument. At all. How do I know? Let me just gesticulate widely and nebulously at society. The system needs to be more accessible to everyone, and having tedium content-but-not-really like leveling prevents that. People can already do battles with level 1 pets at this point. What’s the logic behind keeping the leveling in? Busywork, that’s all it is. How about we ditch the busywork and get straight into the heads-up-sevenup funtimes that are actual battles that require strategy.
You look at a game like pokemon where levels still exist but are tertiary to the actual gameplay. Nobody cares about leveling a pokemon because in wifi or endgame battles, the game automatically sets levels to 50 or 100 depending on the setting. What people are concerned about are movesets, IVs, EVs, and abilities. A level 70 pokemon with a type advantage, good stats, and a good ability is going to have no problem wrecking things regardless of its level.
And you look at a game like monster rancher where levels DO NOT exist and you instead spend time raising individual stats in a gain/loss system to build a competent battling mon before its lifespan is up. I’m going to go ahead and hazard a guess that a lot of pet battlers in the community have a fondness for micro-management and sim style games. That is what the pet battle system should focus on.
And monster hunter stories…levels do matter a little in the storyline, but managing the battle system and type advantages matters even more, especially in endgame. Let me tell you about how I took my nergigante into a battle with Kulve Taroth and got my hunting horn handed to me.
I have plenty of other thoughts and ideas but this thread is long enough as it is. The long and short is that WoW’s pet battle mechanic was one of the first systems of its kind added to an MMO. Games like temtem, etc. didn’t come out until much later. So it’s in a uniquely special position to pioneer new ways for people to play with a much more condensed strategic system while also experiencing it with hundreds of thousands of other players. And in a way that’s not tied to primary character power progression, leaving it as a purely casual experience that can be as shallow or in-depth as players want it to be. Systems like this are exactly what the game needs right now, so please don’t throw it away by letting it continue to stagnate.
Thanks for coming to my TED talk on pet battles. The odds of me forgetting this thread exists are high, especially with Legends Arceus coming out soon. Some people reading this may know who I am already, so you know how to find me on social media if you need to reach me. Peace, love, and corgis ya’ll.