This Is Why We Can't Have Nice Things

UPDATE: A hotfix was released so battlers can once again use both treats simultaneously. Yay for stacking battle pet experience buffs!

@WarcraftDevs: "We've just applied a hotfix that should make it possible for you to again feed your pet both a hot dog and a hamburger, as nature intended."

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A changed was noticed yesterday regarding pet treats.

Normally, battlers can use one Lesser Pet Treat with one Pet Treat for an additional experience boost. However, as of yesterday afternoon this is no longer the case. The treats do not stack at all (and there's been one report of the buff being removed from the character completely upon logging out and back in).

Because treat stacking (just one 25% + one 50% though) has been around since MoP, many wondered if this change was just a bug.

It turns out that someone discovered a way to stack the 50% treat all the way up to 1000% and then published this exploit online. (Won't name who or the site, as I don't want to promote it - if you're that curious, it's not that hard to find.) While one treat stacked with one other type was tolerated by developers, stacking so high was undeniably excessive and understandably worrying. So it would seem this nerf was a quick way to stomp out that particular unintended usage of treats.

This is a disheartening blow to battlers, especially during this Pet Battle Bonus Event week. Squirt will be making an appearance for NA on October 16th and many were looking forward to leveling lots of pets. Don't get me wrong, the Squirt method of pet leveling is still completely viable, but the experience gain won't be as lucrative as it would have been with one 25% treat stacked with one 50% treat. It just feels bad; it took but one person to ruin it for everyone else. :(

Another thing that I found notable that came up during the treat discussion - Lesser Pet Treats are now much less desirable and usable since they no longer stack with the better ones. I mean, if you can only have one experience boost buff, why choose the lower one when a higher one is available?

The Lesser treats drop pretty regularly from the Zookeeper shoulder enchant, which is great for newer battlers who have little to no access to the better treats. But for those that stocked up Lesser treats for the sole purpose of combining with the 50% one, perhaps an exchange rate at the pet vendor should be put into place. Hand in a few 25% treats for one 50% treat, so yenno, all of those Lesser ones don't just go to waste.

This bandaid fix for the exploit was extremely unexpected and sudden - it's unfortunate and feels rather unfair for those that were not exploiting and simply using a mechanic that has been around for as long as two types of treats have been in-game. Hopefully we see a better solution soon and battlers will be able to use both treats simultaneously again. Or something else is introduced as compromise.