The Queue: It could all be about the pet battles on iPad

Welcome back to The Queue, the daily Q&A column in which the WoW Insider team answers your questions about the World of Warcraft. Adam Holisky (@adamholisky) will be your host today.

Welcome to another week of Warcraft -- let's talk about WoW today, shall we?

Sgracy asked:

Do you think they should allow the battle pet game to be separately available on iPad, etc? I think it would do really well like Hearthstone, and Blizzard could make money too. I subbed 1 year back and really liked collecting battle pets. Since there is no pokemon on mobile yet, it would do really good.

If Blizzard is going to bring pet battles to the iPad then now is the time. The game director of the new Pokemon games has said that an iOS port of Pokemon is a possibility. Investors, gamers, and 30-year-olds-who-still-identify-with-their-15-year-old-self have been clamoring for Pokemon on iOS since the iPhone was released. It seems that Nintendo will move in the direction eventually, especially with the release of the Pokemon TCG app.

If Blizzard is able to release pet battles on iOS, they'll get out ahead of Nintendo. That would be an absolutely huge coup and cement WoW and Blizzard in a whole new way. They're already doing this somewhat with Hearthstone, but they could entirely command the mobile gaming market with an offering like this.

jTrack asked:

I noticed DMF isn't on the calendar again until November of 2015. Bug? Or, should we really spend some DMF quality time now.

Just a bug. I have heard absolutely nothing to indicate that it's taking an extended break.

Drindaar asked:

Q4tQ: Has Blizzard ever stated why we can't use apostrophes in player, battle pet, or hunter pet names? I know it's a small thing, but it drives me nuts.

It's an older restriction, and my guess as a software developer is that it was to cut off any possibility of SQL attacks at the source (so to speak). Also we'd get character names like 'a'd'a'm'i's'c'o'o'l' and that'd be annoying as all can be.

Raidjoiner asked:

Q4TQ: With most people fairly dissatisfied with the way professions are playing out, what do you think should be done to make them more engaging? In my opinion, Blizz has done a wonderful job of making the game fun again ( of course your mileage may vary). So what can be done to at least make professions not feel so gated and slow?

I think Blizzard needs to find something to do with the mats that we're getting, and integrate the followers into the profession process more than they are. Fundamentally this might be too big of a change to make, but if you look at professions in other major MMOs, there's much more depth and interaction than just harvesting and clicking build. In Star Wars you send your 'companions' on missions to level up your professions, and in EverQuest II your professions are an entirely separate way to advance your character.

There's way to do this better, and I'm sure I'm not the only one with thoughts on the issue. Let's see what the soap boxes have to say today about this...

Have questions about the World of Warcraft? The WoW Insider crew is here with The Queue, our daily Q&A column. Leave your questions in the comments, and we'll do our best to answer 'em!