5.3 Updates: No Heroic-Exclusive Pet and Updates On Pet Accuracy

There are a couple updates on 5.3 changes and additions.

First off, Mumper announced on Twitter that the Viscous Horror pet coming in 5.3 would no longer be a heroic-mode only drop. Instead, it will have a chance to drop on both normal and heroic versions of Primordius, Throne of Thunder. The other blob pet that comes from Primordius, Living Fluid, will only come from Primordius in LFR.

While I know some didn't mind the heroic-exclusive pet, I think many will appreciate the slight increase in chance that they too will receive the Viscous Horror at some point. This opens up the availability to many more players, which is great considering how many people are into Pet Battles now. Exclusive pets have their place, but I just don't think that place should originate from raiding.

Second update comes from the official Battle.net blog, where Crithto discusses the changes made to hit and accuracy in Pet Battles, as well as some updates on the consequences of altering these mechanics.

Here's a basic summary of what the post covers:

- Higher level pets have had the base 5% chance to dodge removed, and the chance to miss a higher level pet has been reduced from 5% to 2%. This essentially means you'll be more likely to hit when facing a high level pet (that's close to your pet's level range, I'm guessing).

- Because of the removal of the base chance to dodge, too many abilities had a 100% chance to hit which made them too strong. To keep things balanced, these attacks have had their damage increased, but have had their accuracy reduced. The specific numbers are as follows: damage increased by 5-15%, and accuracy reduced by 5-15%. Here is a list of the abilities that will be changed to fit this standard in 5.3:

Beam, Bow Shot, Breath
Broom, Burn, Chomp
Claw, Creepy Chomp, Crush
Diseased Bite, Emerald Bite, Feedback
Frost Breath, Frost Spit, Gauss Rifle
Holy Sword, Hoof, Infected Claw
Jab, Jade Claw, Metal Fist
Missile, Onyx Bite, Railgun
Scratch, Shadow Shock, Shadow Slash
Shadowflame, Smash, Snap
Stone Shot, Strike, Sulfuras Smash, Water Jet

- Finally, they haven't messed around with crit just yet.

It's hard to say how these changes will affect some pets and their attacks, and we'll just have to test them out and try different combinations come 5.3.

Overall, I'm glad to hear that misses and dodges will be less frequent though. Then again, that may also work against me since my own pets will have a lower chance to avoid damage without using a specific avoidance ability. :P