Tuesday, February 7, 2012

Say NO to Destroying Pets

Many pet collectors have their own opinions and/or pet peeves when it comes to the holiday loot bag dropped companions, but a big one this Love Is In the Air in-game event is getting the coveted Toxic Wasteling on a character that already owns it. Normally getting a pet such as this would be a wonderful occurrence... except that this pet is Bind on Pick Up and therefore useless if the character already has it in their collection.

This type of situation isn't localized to just this in-game holiday. All the seasonal events that drop a BoP pet from a once per day lot bag are continuing to drop the companion for toons regardless if they have it already or not.

So what's a collector to do? There are only two options in a situation like this: destroy the pet to reclaim the inventory slot, or bank it in hopes that it can one day be traded/sold to a fellow pet collector.

I know I'm not alone when I say that being left with these two options just feels wrong. These are special pets, available only for a handful of days out of the year, and with SO MANY factors working against it actually dropping for many players. Yet being such an extraordinary pet means that it will more than likely get destroyed if it's a duplicate all because of its simple BoP status. Doesn't this seem illogical? Such a shame? It's downright heartbreaking for a vanity pet lover and collector.

I've wracked my brain to determine the cons of making these pets Bind on Use or at the very least Bind on Account (single use), and the only reason I can think of as to why Blizzard continues to refuse to change the binding status of these pets is "rarity".

Yes, making the pets BoE would mean players could choose to sell/trade/give the pets away rather than force them to add it to their collection, destroy the item, or save it for a rainy day. But with the MANY other conditions that apply to these holiday loot bag dropped companions (such as limited number of attempts, limited amount of time per year, RNG, and low droprate), you'd think the rarity factor would be covered. In fact it seems downright overkill that on top of all those contributing rarity elements that these pets are BoP.

If these companions were BoE not only would duplicate pets be spared the fate of being put down, it would spread the vanity pet love and encourage other players to take part in collecting. It would also mean less broken collections since a player would then be able to send the pet to their main collector if they happened to receive the mini-pet on an alt.

At the very least, I'd argue that BoA (single use) would help cut down on the use of the "confirm delete" button and allow players to help keep collections together on a main collector.

In the end, I know many will argue that it "won't matter" since pets will be account wide in MoP. There's not much to say against that other than things could change and developers could scrap that idea at any moment or put so many restrictions on the feature that "account wide" may not really be "account wide" at all. But that's all still up in the air, and we could talk and debate ourselves black and blue in the face. We just don't know enough yet, so there's not much that can be said.

In the meantime, though, we CAN logically argue for a change to the holiday loot bag dropped pets. Even if it's just a small change. BoP to BoE/BoA (single use). An increased droprate. Multiple sources for acquisition. Purchasable with holiday currency. Making them farmable again.

Still, it seems the simplest and most logical compromise would be to make the pets BoE or at the very least BoA. Many of the other holiday pets have had their binding status changed, why not just change them all (holiday pets)? If companions will be tradable in MoP, then what's the harm of making them tradable sooner rather than later?

I can't speak for all pet collectors, but I don't want to have to destroy something so adorable. Stop forcing us to euthanize vanity pets Blizzard. :(

9 comments:

  1. *walks around with sign* "Say NO to euthanizing vanity pets!"

    I wish this was my problem. I can't even get the rare pets on alts :( My husband, on the other hand, gets them multiple times. It makes me sad.

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  2. I just got a Toxic Wasteling on my collector but refuse to delete it. I've held onto a lot of BoP holiday loot doubles (or things I can't use) in the hopes that someday, maybe, they'll change their mind.

    What annoys me the most is they brought back one of the rare pets- the Scorchling- and made it incredibly common. I was one of the lucky ones that got one from Ahune, but I wasn't upset they made it more common. I like for my fellow collectors to be able to get these things (since I know how heartbreaking it is to NOT get them). But if they're in favor of keeping things rare... why did they bring that one back at all? Why not keep it rare and unobtainable? Seems silly.

    Not to go on a different tangent, but I also wish they'd make the TCG pets BoE like they did with the mounts. Then I can pay a ton of gold for more to add to my collection- right now I have Bananas, and then all of the 'cheaper' ones. I'd love to get my hands on any of the other rare ones, but I'm just too much of a RL cheapskate to spend more money ;)

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  3. @Music-chan: Yet another reason why BoE pets would be beneficial! I know quite a few people who don't care for pets yet keep receiving them, often duplicates. They would be more than happy to give them up to actual pet collectors, but nope! Bind on Pick Up. :\

    @Saberella: My thoughts exactly! There seems to be some confusion and conflict on Blizzard's end on what "rare" is and how to implement it. The argument for keeping these pets BoP because of rarity is shaky at best.

    I'm torn about making all the TCG pets BoE. While I think it'd be a great idea to give collectors more options when it comes to obtaining these pets, I'm not entirely sure how it would impact the loot card sales. Would it make them even more expensive or would it help to reduce the RL price? Would the dollar amount for the pet translate properly to gold? Would this also fall under a more grey area of gold selling/buying, and would Blizzard be ok with it?

    Also, if Blizzard did make them BoE, I bet they'd make them single use only (like the Guardian Cub). Good thing, bad thing? For the price they're currently going for on Ebay? It's hard to say.

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  4. But the TCG pets are already single use pets ;) Much to my endless sadness... my alts want a Bananas, dang it.

    I could see the in-game prices of some of the more rare pets being astronomical (Spectral Tiger Cub, for instance), though I'd imagine the more common cards (Purple Puffer, Nightsaber, etc) going for only a few thousand (unless the RL cost jumps, which is possible if people suddenly see a profit in it). You're right, there's a lot of 'what ifs' involved!

    Now an important question- should I add 2 more pets from the DMF this month, or should I indulge in a new mount? My pet collecting side says 'more pets!' but I have so many and the remaining ones are cute, but reskins of things I already have... bah, decisions! Though I can't wait to pair up a Swift Love Strider on my hunter with the Mulgore Hatchling and her pet, Pinky :) I love when they add mounts that match pets!

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  5. @Saberella: Totally slipped my mind that the TCG pets are already single use. I think I got them confused with the Blizzard PetStore pets. If the TCG pets were account wide, maybe more people would invest in them... which would mean more money for Blizzard? Win/win? :P

    Since I'm not as big on mounts as I am on pets, of course I'd say PETS PETS PETS! XD But it's up to you. :) Thankfully all the DMF stuff is guaranteed, just a matter of time and energy put into gathering the tickets each month.

    If I weren't so focused on my main collector, I'd totally go for the Lovestrider + pink tallstrider pet + Mulgore Hatchling on my hunter. I love having all three match too. :)

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  6. I was jumped on a non collector to make some transmog and went into the holiday queue on a whim and the wasteling dropped. I am furious and sad. This is the second holiday only companion that has dropped for this toon and she isn't a collector. I refuse to learn it and it will stay in bank buried in rage.

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  7. I ended up with the dancing bear this month. I couldn't resist!

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  8. @Aithne: I'm hoping with every fiber of my being that Blizz developers will have a change of heart and make these BoP holiday pets BoE before MoP. If not... then I guess we're waiting until MoP to gain access to them (that is if "account wide" really means what we're guessing it means).

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  9. @Saberella: Congrats! I'm aiming for my second to last DMF pet at the end of this week. So excited! XD

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