DeGei’s Battle Center: Changes in Latitudes, Changes in Attitudes
Every week, DeGei brings a fresh analysis on the upcoming Pet Battle System. In depth looks at possible features, pet interactions, and how you can prepare now. Welcome, this, is Battle Center.
Nothing like the beach at the sunset. This is the sunset of Cataclysm, 4.3 is upon us. Soon Mists of Pandaria will drop and we will enter a new world… of Warcraft. The Classes will change, the mechanics will change, and so too will the pet system. We have heard some of the goals for the new system, so I thought it would be a good idea to go over what we heard at Blizzcon for an idea of what to expect.
First we have heard that pets will be shared across account. That means there will be less of a market for rare pets. On the other hand, the battle system itself will increase the demand just slightly. The net effect may be players using alts to level pets, as Blizzard stated pet battling will give minor experience akin to gathering professions. The question about sharing is, how far reaching is it? Accountwide, server specific, or faction specific per server? If it is server or better I will be leveling a Horde alt just to finish off my Argent Tourney collection.
It has been stated they want players to be able to trade and sell leveled pets. This would be a change from the current system of a learned pet is learned. Being able to unlearn pets back into items opens other possibilities. Would it be possible to learn multiple copies of the same pet? If not could you carry multiple copies of “unlearned” pets in your bag and unlearn and relearn them as you level them? There will probably be a market for leveling more obscure or tough to obtain pets.
When the new system goes live, if multiple of the same pet can be learned, will you gain multiple copies of pets you have on multiple characters? For example, I sent a spare Green Wing Macaw to my Rogue alt, do I get two of them? I wouldn’t expect multiples of the store bought pets that go across account, like Lil’ Ragnaros, but others should.
We also have to take into account, there will be two subdivisions of pets. One for the companions we already have and one for the wild creatures we encounter around Azeroth. Perhaps they will both function differently. The Wild Pets may be more lenient when it comes to having multiples as you wouldn’t want to restrict a player’s ability to nab something that has a random chance of appearing in a difficult to reach location.
Lot of things may change, how many pets you can learn, how you carry them, and maybe even the selling and trading interface. I have seen various people raise issue with the default Auction House interface. If the way pets can be sold is changing, to include levels and names, maybe the AH will have to change to match. This is a big system to affect, and it will have effects on other systems all around.
Going forward, I would recommend holding on to any spare copies of pets you don’t already know, at least until we have more details on how the system will change. We are heading to a different latitude in Azeroth, where Panda’s are the dominant species, we will have to change our attitudes to match. Be open to change and try not to complain. Things are going to get a little crazy with the new system, so learn to be a little crazy or you might go insane.
This article sends it’s regards to Mr. Jimmy Buffett, inspiration for the title and the attitude.
DeGei can be followed on Twitter @DeGeiDragon . His main is Zeluminati, a Draenei Prot Warrior with more experience at retro content than current. Also, she is getting pretty good at pet hunting. Feel free to email [email protected] with any questions or topics you would like to see covered.
No Comments