Collecting - More Than Just a Hobby

as this year's in-game valentine's holiday event comes to a close, i wonder about future in-game events. it's pretty apparent that the changed holiday loot system is still disliked by many (but it DOES have its supporters). whether or not blizzard plans on making additional changes to the system in the future... it's hard to say. my guess is that there won't be any further changes and this is just going to be the way it is. one chance per day, per toon for a holiday specific pet/item.

there are those in favor of this system, there are those who are against it, and there are some who don't really mind either way. whatever side you bat for (if any at all), there are some things that can be agreed upon: in general, collectors must combat the following factors when it comes to acquiring holiday pets..

- RNG
- limited time/duration
- limited number of attempts
- possibly obtaining a pet on the "wrong" toon

one or two of the above would be reasonable, however, collectors are dealing with all four obstacles (more if i'm forgetting any factors). it can cause quite a bit of anxiety for a player, especially if collecting/completion-ism is their chosen style of gameplay.

i'm probably beating a dead horse here, but here are some ideas on how blizzard can ease the stress and tension of the aforementioned hurdles that collectors are struggling with:

1. multiple ways to obtain a holiday pet

- in addition to a pet being a boss drop, perhaps have a holiday quest for it. or add it to a vendor for a high number of holiday tokens. or add it to the loot table of the holiday "bags" or other RNG based containers.

2. higher drop rate

- self explanatory.

3. holiday pets are BoA

- blizzard has already demonstrated their capability of making pets BoA (example: crawling claw). applying this one time use, BoA ability to holiday pets would make receiving it on a non-collecting toon or receiving multiple copies of the pet on the same toon less of a concern and headache for collectors.

i'm sure there are many other ideas to lessen the collecting stress during most holiday seasons, but these are the most prominent ones that come to mind.

the idea behind the above "solutions" isn't to make collecting easier. no, it is to recognize and acknowledge that collecting IS a style of gameplay, and as such, a player should have SOME form of control over that type of style.

much like PVE and PVP gameplay, encounters aren't solely based on RNG are they? you have factors that you, as the individual player, can control. have mana problems? you can do X Y Z to help with your regeneration. having trouble surviving burst? you can blow a cooldown or find ways to increase your hit points.

so what about collecting? for the most part collectors have a few ways of controlling what and when they collect items - buying, farming, and questing.

prior to the holiday loot system change, the collector's option was to farm or not to farm a holiday boss. not all players had this luxury, since there were some who did not have the many alts/friends that were necessary to continuously kill a holiday boss. the change to the holiday dungeon system is a welcome update in that respect. however, the loot system change to once per day, per person pretty much removes any control over collecting holiday pets that the collector previously had. what's left? RNG, limited amount of time, and limited number of attempts, all of which are out of the player's control.

in the end PVE and PVP don't exactly equate to collecting. the former two have quite a larger following and is the main focus of this game. but one can't completely ignore the collecting and completionism community. it has grown over the years and it SHOULD be recognized as a chosen style of play that makes the game fun for many players. that being said, like any type of gameplay it requires a certain level of controlability, rather than leaving it completely up to factors that are random and have no work-arounds.

until there is a higher regard for the pet collecting community, many will just have to endure each holiday and the corresponding pets that come with them. as i've mentioned multiple times since the implementation of the new holiday dungeon loot system, i do not wish to see anymore pets added to holiday bosses, at least until there are some changes or additions to give a player more control over their ability to collect X pet during X season.

collecting is part of this game. to put it in perspective in relation to a PVE or PVP style of gameplay: right now, as things are with the holiday boss-only pets, my character is currently CC'ed indefinitely and i have lost control over my toon. the only thing to do is sit, watch, wait, and hope that the RNG gods don't crush my fragile character's spirit while i am unable to do anything about it.