First off. Hi! It’s been a while guys! I doubt anyone remembers me, but I used to frequent here years ago.
Second, this doesn’t apply to me, as I have no issue farming wins, but new players should get a better reward for 10 pvp wins, as starting off can be difficult. I’ve been doing this quest for years and (I guess I haven’t been lucky) haven’t gotten even a flawless stone for several years. A flawless stone should be a guarantee and maybe spice the pot with some new treats to entice others to pvp.
I’d also like them to create more incentives to pet battle (both in pvp and pve). The dungeons were great as was the pet brawler achievement. What happened to the small amounts of love this mini game used to get?
We don’t have a dedicated dev anymore. All our content goes on the leftover’s table at this point beyond certain quota things, like launch tamers.
From what I’m seeing in TWW, they’re copy+pasting their playbook from DF. Which means you’ll get the initial 8 tamers (4 teams + 4 single-enemy) for 11.0, with 8 more added in a later patch to the initial zones, and potentially 4 per new zones (like the 4 battle in the Forbidden Reach & 4 in ZC).
I’m keeping my fingers crossed for everyone that a PvP revamp & rebalance happens, but I’m not going to hold my breath.
As for pacing, as of May 12th it’ll be a year since we saw any PvE battle content added, since we got nothing in the Emerald Dream.
Again, I’m hoping for better pacing near the end of TWW for ya’ll, and more attention for the system in general, but yeah.
I think it definitely could be if they spruced some things up. They did an introductory quest chain in DF that was a good start, but there are some barriers they could overcome if they’d just listen and realize not every aspect of the game needs a punishment factor.
They painted themselves into a corner with pet battles a long time ago. There are too many to collect and they’re usually not distinctive enough to be a fun goal to pursue.
They could let players level pets to epic, but that would be a huge hill to climb even for the big collectors who enjoy the system. It’s easier to just add a couple dozen “new” pets every patch and call it good. The last pet battle dungeon added was released in patch 8.3 (BfA).
A lot of the niche parts of WoW tend to be feast or famine. I mean, they took out the Brawler’s Guild completely in the Shadowlands pre-patch and it still hasn’t come back. Pet battling is so niche that it’s on the back-back-back burner.
Went the same route of Pokemon. You gotta add new ones to keep things fresh, but it becomes over saturated.
The peak of Pet Battles was MoP and WoD, but a big part of the popularity was that it was fresh (even pvp queues were instant as I farmed out 5000 pvp wins, now I can go an hour without a queue pop).
I kind of want them to give us something to really challenge our roster like a survival mode, but yeah, it’s certainly on the back burner now.
Personally, I had always hoped for some form of co-op content for pet battles. Something like 3 players working together to take down raid bosses in a pve setting, or 2v2 arena-esque matches for pvp. While I do appreciate that pb’s is a solo-focused mode in concept, it has generally felt like a rather lonely hobby apart from the time I spent participating in guild tournaments.
To complain a bit, I also find DF to be the lowest point for pb’s. Several pets were released unfinished with either retaining placeholder movesets that don’t fit the pet or having the wrong family assigned (Crystalline Mini-monster, Violet Violence, and most of the time rift pets). I am also not fond at all regarding the effect that power creep has had on pvp matches. Why were several weather-setting moves buffed to hit ridiculously hard? I have also never been a fan of the ever prevalent aoe moves, moreso the lack of viable counters to them. Also, I too have felt the pain of absurd queue times.
Sorry if I went off topic there. Also, welcome back.
That would be a cool fresh idea, but it would take a bit to nail. I remember even before pet battle dungeons, we used to float the concept of pet battle dungeons where it would take a group of players.
The quest needs a buff, but it’s not what ails PvP. Many players will do tamer quests for not much less of a reward.
It’s risky to generalize, but it seems like many battle pet fans tend to be older (I am 62), not terribly competitive and enjoy solo pursuits. While I don’t avoid PvP, I don’t do it much because it just isn’t fun.
Queue times tend to be long and the wait is often rewarded with some Meta team that’s hard to beat when you are on your game. Waiting 5 minutes for the queue to pop and then getting crushed isn’t my idea of fun. Especially when I suspect I could have been doing something I enjoy.
But the main problem is that there isn’t a lot of incentive to do it. I got the Trainer title almost 7 years ago. I’m over 2700 wins now, but the thought of trying to get to 5000 nauseates me. And there is no incentive to get there.
If they wanted to encourage PvP, they could give pets as rewards for certain milestones. Then, a lot more people would queue and it would be more fun. As it stands now, queueing outside of Sign of the Critter week isn’t much fun.
But as long as the game director is a former member of Elitist Jerks, I wouldn’t expect a lot of Pet Battle love. Too busy chasing E-Sports
One thing I did to hit the 5k was always grind on alts that weren’t max level. A pet battle win = a quest turn in experience. I’ve leveled “pacifist” monk and priest characters that are max level and have never killed a monster lol (going by pokemon logic).
I did most of my pet battling in my 20s and a lot of the community I played with were around my age range, but I’m sure it appeals to people who are older. It was daunting to me at the beginning, but it’s second nature now.
I’ve been waiting for a pvp pet mount, but I could see many complaining it was “locked out” for players who don’t want that content. (Much like how I HATED Plunderstorm, but had to grind out the 40 levels).
