Wednesday, February 15, 2017

Updates and Additional Thoughts on 7.2 Class Pets - At a Loss

UPDATE: Thanks to Adumbledore, there's now a DK/Monk pets feedback thread on the US Bnet 7.2 PTR forums.

Whether you're for or against these upcoming class pets, feel free to leave your feedback. Keep in mind that feedback will be better received and taken seriously if it's constructive, respectful, and on-topic.

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This week's PTR build added in the Death Knight and Monk class pets. To put it bluntly: I am not looking forward to these pets in their current iteration.

Disclaimer: I'm aware that this is the PTR and things could still change. Nothing is set in stone yet. I'm desperately hoping things will change for the better, and class pets will be implemented in a more collector-friendly manner. At the same time, I'm a pessimist at heart. So... there's that.

Both the DK and Monk pets are purchasable from Class Hall vendors. Each pet costs 10k Order Hall Resources each (DK's have 3 pets, so 30k total). BoP and not cageable.

To see the pets on the vendor, you need to complete the class mount questline. To purchase the pets, you need to meet the following requirements:

Death Knight pets (3 whelplings) -
Must empower and fully unlock all artifact weapon traits for each DK spec (Blood, Unholy, Frost). This includes the new traits added in 7.2. Each pet requires the corresponding fully unlocked artifact weapon.

Monk (Ban-Fu, Cub of Ban-Lu) -
Requires the achievement Power Ascended (empower and fully unlock all traits for one Monk artifact weapon).

Note: It's still unclear how the Rogue class pet will be obtained. The PTR Pet Journal still only states "Hall of Shadows". If anyone has a high level Rogue on the PTR and can try/test where Crackers is from, please let me know!


Feels Bad Man
I don't know what to say about these class pets at this point. It seems bonkers that Death Knights must farm artifact power to fully unlock talents for not just one but THREE artifact weapons. It seems a bit unreasonable to require fully unlocking traits for any artifact weapon, if I can be honest.

Sure, Artifact Knowledge is going to increase come 7.2, so each AP token thing will grant more AP per. But it still takes time and energy to go out and collect each token. WQs, dungeons, raids, etc. These activities still all require so much time. Especially for those playing with a time constraint. If DK or Monk aren't main characters, it'll be rough grinding the resources and AP just for the pet(s).

I was going to add arguments and logic to this post about why these pets shouldn't be so heavily gated behind seemingly unreasonable requirements, but I'm tired. Emotionally tired.

Since this PTR cycle started, I've argued for compromise when it comes to class pets. Add more exclusive pets? Ok. But consider the player-base that actually want these pets, and implement the pets in a way that doesn't completely alienate them. No need for "dumbing down" the game, just a few tweaks here and there so collectors don't feel completely discouraged/turned off.

There have been valid issues about class pets post-Legion and come next expansion. DKs and Monk will essentially be trapped in Legion, farming AP and resources in order to buy their class pets. If there's a weapon requirement for these companions, what will happen if we don't get to keep these artifact weapons in the next expansion?

I've discussed on Twitter at length the changing environment that is pet collecting. How once upon a time it was less like a job, and more like a quirky pastime. These days, compounded with the extreme content over-saturation in Legion (and gating and RNG among other things), many collectors seem to be burnt out. Or they've put collecting on hold indefinitely. Would-be collectors simply see it as too daunting of an activity and don't even bother.

The addition of new class pets with stringent requirements doesn't help. Gating these pets behind tasks that have nothing to do with pets or Pet Battles doesn't help.

I feel like I've said as much as I can, as logically and reasonably as possible.

Yet I can't shake the feeling that all that I've said is in vain. Am I simply yelling into the void? Is my point of view that of the majority? Or vocal minority? Have I surrounded myself in an echo chamber, where thoughts and ideas just bounce back without any real discussion? Am I not stating each point well enough? Is my mode for feedback incorrect; should I be directing it elsewhere?

If I'm being unreasonable about my dislike for these upcoming class pets, I'll gladly bite my tongue and back off on the subject. If my suggestions for compromise and not alienating pet collectors are out of line, I won't push the issue further.

The majority of myself feels that my point of view is not irrational though.

And then there's a small part of myself, the devil's advocate, that's insisting that I'm making a mountain out of a molehill. Perhaps it really won't be that bad.

Minus having to level each class that has a class pet.

Oh and having to contend with RNG for some of them.

Plus the gating behind certain Order Hall Advancements.

And can't forget about the steep resource price and artifact weapon requirements coming soon to a Class Hall near you.

Yea, sure. It won't be that bad. (Sorry for the sarcasm, but I feel so passionately about this whole situation that it's slowly turning into a sense of hopelessness/helplessness.)

So I don't know what to think anymore. Self-doubt, inner conflict, plus I'm incredibly discouraged and demoralized about the whole thing.

Do I hope that there's some future yet-to-be announced mechanic that will make collecting these pets viable next expansion and less tedious? Yes, absolutely. Even if there is, does it remove the fact that I still advocate compromise? No. I would still very much like to see these pets implemented in a gentler, more collector-friendly manner for those aiming to collect the pets in current content.

I just don't know what else/what more can I say to get my points across. I'm at a complete loss.

11 comments:

  1. Good god.
    I long ago accepted I'd never have every pet, because of the ones attached to Collector's Editions I'd never own or Blizzcons I didn't buy tickets to or countries I don't live in.

    But these class hall requirements are just insane. I'm a druid main and rarely find time for alts... I can't imagine leveling a DK or a monk to 110 and then getting their weapons fully empowered and so on and so forth just so I can get a few more pets to satisfy my completionist nature.

    I'm already demoralized by the thought.

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  2. I think you are entirely correct. Before Legion, it was possible for me to get reasonably obtain every pet (minus things tied to old promotions) with a single character.

    Even if I didn't raid much, or if my luck was bad, the pets were at least cageable and I could buy them off the AH. Now true, having multiple characters would make it easier to get some pets, but nothing stopped me from just grinding them out on my main.

    With Legion that's all changed. Now there's several pets that require me to spend time playing classes I don't enjoy or don't have time for, and that is killing my enthusiasm for collecting pets at all.

    The new ones are even worse, because now it's not just a matter of leveling an alt, but also taking it through the entire class campaign, gathering up 10k resources, AND maxing out multiple artifacts.

    I just can't, I just can't do it. I'm not even a hardcore raider, and it feels like I spend most of my free time on WoW working on things for my main. And they are generally enjoyable things, but they don't leave me time to work on alts.

    The only way I could find this acceptable is if the pets were cageable. At least then I could work out a deal with other collectors, or just buy them off of someone who doesn't care for pet.

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  3. I do wonder what is the thought process for cageable vs non cageable. What is Blizzard pet creater trying to solve or insprire? It seems that trying to make people alt players seem extreme when transmog should truly be the awards for that and class mount specific for just liking the class and artifact appearance for being great at the role of the class.

    It wasn't so long ago we had class specific pets and those are cageable. I find it hard that class pets shouldn't be the same.

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  4. I completely agree with everything that you said. What I don't understand, though, is how they go from having a simple pet to battle (like Shaman do) to this? What is the thought process behind that? It's bad enough that there are all of these pets scattered all over the different class order halls (thus requiring a level 100+ alt of almost every class), but the time commitment required for these (and especially the DK pets), is ridiculous. At that, you'll be spending so much time just trying to earn these pets that by the time you can actually obtain them and use them, you'll be burned out and won't really care. They'll feel less like a reward and more like a burden (Oh I have to level *that* pet too? Great...*sigh*).

    I guess I just want someone from Blizz to explain how or why they decided that this was an acceptable solution to placing these pets in order halls (especially when there are more acceptable alternatives).

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  5. This expansion was already very collector unfriendly when they made it so we have to level certain classes for some pets, added a pet that costs a ridiculous amount of gold, gated the PvP pets so that we have to grind out honor on both factions and hit multiple prestige levels, and then suddenly made Lagan uncageable, but being forced to level more alts and grind AP on them feels like such a screw you message to pet collectors. If they don't make these new pets at least cageable, then this is probably going to be the last nail in the coffin for me.

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  6. I mirror a lot of the other distress seen on this thread. Just last night my druid friend was wishing she could send me her druid pet. She's got four of them now chilling in her bank along with her extra cinder kittens and left sharks.

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  7. I simply have run out of spirit. I am finishing the grind for the Dutiful Squire but I won't devote any more time to creating and leveling characters for the sole purpose of earning a pet. That's not pet collecting, it's forced character collecting.
    It's seems like some nerdy, disliked basement dweller WOW employee was demoted to pet development and has taken all their life failures out on us.

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  8. I've tried to find a middle ground, but apparently, that conception doesn't exist in the humanity (or at least the Internet) anymore.

    If all classes had got grindy, but similar treatment, it would have been more acceptable as just a yet another group of nigh-unobtainable pets. But with that imbalance happening now, having already some of class hall pets, it's tantalising to think about the other ones.

    No, don't just give us order hall missions like for Corgnelius or something. The Dumbledore's thread had some nice ideas, save some more RNG maybe. ;-)

    Rewarding THAT level of dedication, would rather require another title. Or an eternal heirloom. Or an appearance set. In customisable colours imported from the guild crest creation.

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  9. I have followed you and respect you. what you have said about pet collection is right on point. It really isnt fun anymore and yes its a chore that i dread and avoid doing now

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  10. Agree with Herb Macy. This has moved from an interesting and enjoyable pastime ingame into something that is a lot more annoying. Smacks of Blizzard thinking, '"OK, how can we ruin another gameplay style?". I know it's not though. I've already resigned myself to not getting the higher prestige pets. It just came so far out of left field. An interesting minigame has now been tuned to 11 (or higher). I really can't see how this matches with the players who go in for this. A non hardcore activity has now become the most hardcore activity in game were you absolutely need to have max level characters of most classes and they also need to get their AP maxed on multiple weapons. What about time to actually play and enjoy the game?

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  11. Hi again, I've sent a mail to you. Sorry for a little disturbance.

    Perhaps I'm done.

    ReplyDelete

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