pet-battles
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Tom Chilton talks mistakes and successes in WoW design
In case you hadn't heard, Gamescon is going on over in Germany, and Blizzard has a good chunk of representatives over there giving interviews, showing off Hearthstone, and talking about all kinds of stuff. If you're familiar with Blizzard interviews, one thing that becomes apparent over the years is the way they're willing to talk openly about design decisions that they consider to have been a mistake. You may remember the furious storm in a teacup that accompanied the statement that the implementation of Arena PvP was, in retrospect, something they regretted. Well, over at PCGamesN they've got a similarly candid interview up with Lead Designer Tom Chilton about the limitations of questing, dailies, and secondary professions.
Patch 5.4 PTR: More details on the Celestial Tournament
If you're interested in knowing more about patch 5.4's Celestial Tournament, Wowhead has the full details on this PTR petstraviganza. And while PTR details are always subject to change, here's what we know so far: You can compete in the tournament once a week through the quest The Celestial Tournament. The tournament has two rounds: in the first you fight against 3 pet trainers with 3 legendary battle pets each and in the second you're up against 4 legendary elite battle pets. These opponents are random and will change week to week, but expect to see familiar faces like Blingtron 4000 and Wrathion. For winning, you get a Celestial Coin, which can be used to buy unique pets and other items. Pet battle enthusiasts will also be pleased to know that patch 5.4 is packed with new battle pets: Wowhead has found over 20. Of the many new available pets, though, we're most on the lookout for our own Lil' Bling, who will clearly dazzle opponents into submission. Need even more juicy details about pet battles on the PTR? Check out Wowhead and WarcraftPets for the rest.
Celestial Tournament testing open
Calling all experienced and dedicated pet battles! Not too long ago we profiled the new Celestial Tournament, due to launch in patch 5.4, which will allow players who have at least 30 pets at level 25 to compete for various rewards, including still more pets! Well the tournament itself is now open for testing on the PTR. Head on over to Master Li on the Timeless Isle to get started, and make sure to give the developers your feedback. Of particular is Crithto's cautioning to make sure to cage your pets and put them in your bags before transferring your character to the PTR. It seems that the character transfer process can sometimes botch pet transfers and leave you without your favorite battle companion. Good luck to those pet battlers who will be testing their skills at the Celestial Tournament!
Breakfast Topic: Will you take your battle pets to the Celestial Tournament?
It's no secret: we love collecting battle pets. They're fun companions while you're running around exploring while battling and capturing pets can be a nice change of pace from the grind of leveling, dungeoning, or anything else we might be doing in game. And we have to admit we're intrigued by the idea of the Celestial Tournament, patch 5.4's new battle pet tournament. And the reward for winning this pet tournament? More pets, of course! Celestial Tournament victors walk away with Celestial Coins which can be used to purchase miniature August Celestial pets among other things. On the downside is that participation in the tournament requires 30 pets at level 25 -- which may not be a problem for pet addicts, but anyone who's been toying with battle pets on a more casual basis probably doesn't have those levels. What about you? Do you have enough high-level pets to get into the Celestial Tournament whenever patch 5.4 shows up? Or are you going to need to gear up your pet leveling to get there? Tell us whether you're going to be hitting up the Celestial Tournament -- and how close you are to getting there -- in the comments!
Patch 5.4 PTR: Celestial Tournament details
If you want to battle in the Celestial Tournament, you better be prepared! With the opening of the Timeless Isle, the Celestial Tournament is now available for testing -- for those that qualify. In order to compete, you must have 30 pets at level 25. For Pet Battle enthusiasts, this likely isn't much of a task -- for those of us not quite as dedicated, it may take a little longer to unlock the content. Players that prove themselves strong enough to succeed at the Celestial Tournament will be rewarded with Celestial Coins, which can then be used to purchase items from Master Li. This is also where you'll obtain the miniature August Celestial pets -- each costs 3 Celestial Coins to purchase. Along with the pets, Master Li has a few other items, including a Marked Flawless Battle-Stone that will allow you to upgrade any pet to Rare quality, regardless of pet family. Check out the gallery below for all of Master Li's goodies -- and if you're planning on playing with the Celestial Tournament when patch 5.4 goes live, make sure you've got as many pets leveled as possible! %Gallery-194132%
Patch 5.4 PTR: Crazy Cat Lady/Man title added
When the Crazy for Cats achievement was discovered on the PTR, the first thing players asked for was a title to go along with it. Namely, something to do with being a Crazy Cat Person. Good news! We got what we asked for: The Crazy Cat Lady and the Crazy Cat Man were both added as titles in the latest patch 5.4 PTR build. Keep in mind that you need 20 out of the 24 cats listed under the achievement. Overall, the achievement doesn't seem too difficult for a battle pet collector to earn, especially since one-third of the cats on the list are purchasable via NPCs. A few felines on the list are harder to come by, including the Nightsaber Cub and Spectral Tiger Cub from the TCG, and the Spectral Cub awarded to players participating in the Shanghai 2012 Battle.net World Championship. I'm crossing my fingers for the title off the bat when the patch drops!
Lesser Voidcaller brings all the spirits to the yard
Since the introduction of the new Raiding with Leashes achievement, I've been farming the old BC raids for new pets. I've only managed to farm up about half, but I'm sure Lady RNG will be kind to me at some point. In my collecting adventures, I've come across a few battle pets that are so irresistibly cute that I could care less about abilities, pet family, or how to obtain them. Lesser Voidcaller definitely falls under that category because of its unique idle animation that summons small spirits. Lesser Voidcaller drops from High Astromancer Solarian in The Eye, so it's not tough to obtain. Before you engage the boss, be sure to at least kill the two packs patrolling the room, as the casters will use a mind control and force a reset. The entire room will pull with the boss if you don't clear it, but I've never had an issue AoEing everything, even on my squishier priest. Lesser Voidcaller is of the Magic family and its abilities are as follows: Slot 1 Shadow Shock or Nether Blast Slot 2 Siphon Life or Prismatic Barrier Slot 3 Curse of Doom or Drain Power
Patch 5.4 PTR: New pets, pet battle tournament, and more
In addition to Moon Moon, the dire wolf pet dropped by the new Darkmoon Faire boss mentioned earlier today, patch 5.4 already seems full of new content for pet battle aficionados. First is a datamined scenario currently titled The Celestial Tournament. As of now, the achievement for this tournament is listed under the Pet Battles subcategory, so it's very likely the pet battle tournament mentioned in the patch 5.4 patch notes. A new battle pet named Essence of Xuen provides some hint as to the rewards possible.
Lil' Bad Wolf packs a big punch against Critters
Real talk time: I've been feeling a bit agitated at the battle pet situation in patch 5.3. Naturally, I want to collect every new pet, but RNG is a cruel mistress. The new patch introduced an updated Raiding with Leashes achievement, which has players returning to the good old BC raids. BC was my favorite expansion, so I enjoy heading back to stomp all over Lady Vashj, especially. Which is good, because I've yet to see a pet drop from SSC. But I digress. Reader SpaceBard suggested a rundown of Lil' Bad Wolf, one of the ten new raid battle pets in 5.3. We live to serve. Farming Lil' Bad Wolf is plagued with RNG obstacles. First, the Red Riding Hood encounter must spawn during The Opera Event -- one of three possible outcomes -- and then, of course, the pet may or may not drop. This devilishly cute Humanoid's abilities are as follows: Slot 1 Claw or Counterstrike Slot 2 Mangle or Dodge Slot 3 Howl or Pounce
Blizzard soliciting more pet battle feedback
Last week, Blizzard was looking for feedback about possible changes to elemental and mechanical pets. This week, they have some proposed passive effect changes for patch 5.4 about which they'd like player responses. Crithto Thank you to everyone who has shared their feedback with us so far, we appreciate it. Based on some of the comments we've received, here is an updated list of potential changes we're hoping to include in Patch 5.4: The Magic passive now caps damage taken at 35% of maximum health, buffed from 40%. The Dragonkin passive effect now activates when the enemy is taken below 50% health, up from 25%. The Aquatic passive now reduces DOT damage by 50%, up from 25%. The Elemental passive effect now only affect negative, direct effects of weather (e.g. the accuracy reduction of Sandstorm won't be applied, but the damage reduction will). The Critter passive now makes critters completely immune to roots, stuns, and sleeps. Keep that feedback rollin' in! source Most of these look like pretty big buffs, but do battle pets need to be tweaked anymore? If you have an opinion, head over to the official forums and let Blizzard know what you think.
What's the best way to get Lesser Charms of Fortune?
What's the best way to get Lesser Charms of Fortune every week? Although Blizzard recently reduced the amount of Lesser Charms of Fortune players need each week (by lowering the requirement for the weekly quest Mogu Coins of Fate from 90 charms to 50 charms) we've still got to get them somewhere. So what's the best way? Prior to patch 5.3, it seemed like everyone was swearing by pet battles. Players were claiming they'd earned hundreds to thousands of Lesser Charms just killing critters in Stormwind. A hotfix eventually nerfed the drop chance for Lesser Charms in lower level pet battles, but higher level pet battles are still rewarding charms to anyone who wants to put in the time. Is it still worth it? Patch 5.3 has also added a couple of changes to Lesser Charm collection to really mix up the equation. Level 90 creatures that are outdoors in the world now have a chance to drop Lesser Charms of Fortune, while rare spawns in Pandaria and bosses in Battlefield: Barrens are guaranteed to always drop the charms. The result of this? Hordes of players in Northern Barrens farming Lesser Charms off the new Kor'kron mobs there.
Blizzard soliciting feedback for pet battle changes
Community Manager Crithto took to the forums, asking for feedback about changes to the mechanical and elemental pet battle families. As of right now, elemental attacks have both an offensive and defensive advantage over mechanical, making it imbalanced compared to the other families. Blizzard proposes to change which families both types of pets have an advantage against: One set of changes proposes: Critters would replace elementals in taking less damage from mechanical attacks Dragonkin would replace critters in taking less damage from elemental attacks Elementals would replace dragonkin in taking less damage from flying attacks and the other: Elementals would replace aquatic pets in taking less damage from undead attacks Aquatic pets would replace elementals in taking less damage from mechanical attacks The second set of suggested changes would require less alteration to the current system and therefore has my vote. Do you have an opinion? If so, take advantage of Blizzard's request for player input and cast your vote in the forums. The full text of Crithto's post is after the break.
Patch 5.3: Known issue with pet licenses
Community manager Nethaera hit the official forums this afternoon to notify players of a known display issue with pet collections. The notice reads as follows: Known Pet License Issue We are currently aware of an issue in which upon logging into the game, it may appear that some pets are missing. A fix has been applied to address this issue, though it may take a few hours before pets appear on the pet list again properly. source In other words, while your pet pane may display that you're missing some pets you've previously acquired, they haven't actually been lost. By the time you read this, the issue may even have been resolved already. In either case, don't panic: your pets will return soon.
Patch 5.3's pet battle changes
If you haven't caught the pet battle fever yet, now's a great time to start. New rewards make pet battles a great way to help earn some of your raiding currency, such as Valor Points or Lesser Charms, and mechanics changes make the whole system more transparent and less frustrating. New rewards Tired of killing daily quest mobs for VP? Why not pet battle for it? All of the master tamers in Pandaria, as well as the Spirits and Beasts of Fable, now offer daily quests for their defeat that offer the standard XP, 5 VP and 2 Lesser Charms per turn-in. The Beasts of Fable quest has been split into three parts, giving you a total of 14 pet battles you can do daily for VP, charms, and a chance at a battle-stone. Those battle-stones should be more common as well, with "bad luck protection" added to the game. Every bag without a battle-stone increases the chances of the next bag containing one. If you're using pet battles to level alts, all the pet battle daily quests now award XP as well. All of these quests now show up on the map, so you can find them easily.
The Queue: Patch 5.3 comes
Welcome back to The Queue, the daily Q&A column in which the WoW Insider team answers your questions about the World of Warcraft. Alex Ziebart will be your host today. It's Monday. I'm tired. Let's do this. Nocjin asked: Are there any icons you've spent years not knowing what they actually are? It took me about 4 to realise that the cleave icon was not a parrot, and that there's a hand in the holy fire icon.
Son of Animus will tank all the things
Patch 5.2 introduced a slew of battle pets, with a few as rare drops from bosses in the new Throne of Thunder raid, including Living Sandling, Ji-Kun Hatchling, and Son of Animus. Recently, I was lucky enough to obtain Son of Animus, and it's quite a unique addition to my collection. I couldn't wait to level it! This breed 4 (4/14 or P/P) Mechanical pet uses abilities inspired by the boss that drops it, Dark Animus, and are as follows: Slot 1 Metal Fist or Batter Slot 2 Siphon Anima or Touch of the Animus Slot 3 Extra Plating or Interrupting Jolt
Select pet types may receive new passives in Pet Battles
Blizzard community managers Nakatoir and Crithto have recently announced potential changes coming to Elemental, Aquatic, Critter, and Magic passive abilities in the Pet Battle system. The Pet Battle system is still relatively new compared to the 8-year-old World of Warcraft and very much in flux. As pets and their abilities are buffed and nerfed, the system as a whole needs to adjust to accommodate those changes. The short version of these proposed changed are as follows: Elementals will lose their immunity to weather, instead taking reduced damage on their first round in play Critters will become completely immune to crowd control rather than reducing their duration to one round Magic pets cannot be dealt more than 35% of their health in one attack, changed from 40% Aquatic pets will reduce damage taken from Damage over Time effects by 50%, up from 25% Crithto and Nakatoir's full posts can be found behind the cut below.
Bad Robot battle pet to come in 'a future patch'
Engineers who also like J.J. Abrams' Bad Robot Productions can rejoice in knowing they'll be able to craft this homage to the production house in World of Warcraft. No word yet on what's so bad about said little robot, but here he is regardless. Blizzard <3s Bad Robot One of the core values we live by here at Blizzard is "Embrace Your Inner Geek." We play countless games, we collect comics and card games, we love cutting-edge technology and computer hardware, we're fascinated by science and discovery, and many of us are movie buffs. Movies represent the combined imaginations of talented writers and visionaries, artists and operators, editors and producers, that can culminate in an awesome cinematic experience. It's with this motivation that we express our respect for JJ Abrams' Bad Robot Productions. Coming in a future patch, characters with the Engineering profession will be able to produce this mechanical homage to the company that brought us award-winning television shows like Lost and Fringe, and are continuing the epic Star Trek and forthcoming Star Wars film sagas. Everyone has a chance to get their hands on this pet, allowing them to show off their mutual appreciation for Bad Robot, and the stories they've brought to our TVs and movie screens. We hope everyone enjoys this new pet! source Mists of Pandaria is here! The level cap has been raised to 90, many players have returned to Azeroth, and pet battles are taking the world by storm. Keep an eye out for all of the latest news, and check out our comprehensive guide to Mists of Pandaria for everything you'll ever need to know.
Electrified Razortooth is an electric ball of cuteness and death
Several new battle pets accompanied the release of the Isle of Thunder and patch 5.2. While completing dailies or heading out to the Throne of Thunder, these new creatures may catch your eye. Shiny new models, huzzah! Electrified Razortooth spawns only as a primary pet on the Isle of Thunder, so while roaming around, keep your eyes open. They don't spawn as often as Swamp Croaker and Elder Python; you may have to make a few rounds to find one. The good news is, Electrified Razortooth is only available in one breed, and that means less time spent farming the ideal rare. Electrified Razortooth's abilities are mostly Elemental type, and are as follows: Slot 1 Rip or Jolt Slot 2 Paralyzing Shock or Lightning Shield Slot 3 Devour or Blood in the Water
Patch 5.3: Accuracy and damage changes to pet battles
One of the big things in turn based strategy games is the chance to hit/miss and crit. These are random, yet controlled, elements that directly lead to an interesting gaming experience; no matter what battle you go into there is a chance (however small you might make it) that you won't come out alive. It's a founding principle of RPGs -- from D&D to Pokemon. Pet battles, as they stand, have a relatively high amount of randomness. I think there are two ways to see it now. First, pay attention to your fight logs and average the number of hits/miss vs crits. You'll find this can fluctuate wildly between battles of the same pets using the same abilities. The other way to tell that there is a significant random element is to pay attention to how much health your pet lost after each battle -- sometimes it's a lot, othertimes it's not that much -- and this amount can vary wildly. In an extreme example, your pet might go from 100% to 10% health one battle, and then go from 100% to 90% the next (against the same pet and level). That's a lot of difference, and this tends to be less than fun. To fix things, Blizzard is reducing the randomness in pet battles through changes to the accuracy and damage output. Specifically they are removing the base 5% to dodge. This will serve to make things hit more often across the board. Since the 5% base to dodge has been removed, without additional changes many abilities had a 100% chance to hit. To correct this, some abilities now have a base chance to miss, but in return their damage has been increased. Also notable is that each pet will still have at least one ability that will have a 100% chance to hit. Some of the other highlights of the change coming up in patch 5.3: Hit chance will now be listed on abilities Crit chance has not been messed wth Higher level opponents will be easier to hit (miss chance per level down from 5% to 2%) Check out the full post over on Blizzard's site, along with a list of abilities that have had their hit chance reduced while their damage increased. Crithto also does a good job of explaining randomness in turn based games, it's worth a read.
