1614 pets
There was a lot of great feedback and discussions about epic pets. Developers have reviewed player thoughts and concerns, and now have an official response regarding epic pets in Legion. [source]
Hi everyone!
First and foremost, thank you very much for testing pet battles in the Legion Alpha. We’ve heard your concerns and have decided not to move forward with epic pet battle stones in Legion.
To explain a bit about how we arrived at this point--
When designing rewards for the new battle pet features in Legion and the revamped pet store in Dalaran, we considered epic stones a potential direction to go. Some players are nearing the cap of max-level, all-rare pet teams, and we wanted to see if this space would satisfy their needs for a long-term future level of investment.
You have correctly identified a few of the issues that come up with this feature:
- New players now have a harder time catching up (though we could mitigate this by speeding up the early leveling process).
- Players with 600+ rare pets that felt as if they were nearing completion of their pet journal are back to having 600+ pets to level.
- Power Creep – older content is now easier, future content is harder for new players entering pet battles.
One of the things we like about pet battles is that much of the early content stays relevant through all of the expansions. Similarly, the collection aspect of battle pets works well when it’s wider (more pets to collect, more variety in abilities) rather than taller (more levels). Both of these are very good reasons to avoid adding epic pet stones.
This direction also pushes us to create content that tests max-level-pet-battlers in a way that is not purely numbers, but use of abilities, use of specific pets, and memorization of enemy strategies. The Celestial Tournament was a good example of pet battle content that rewarded a varied and filled pet stable. We have some exciting things in mind for future battles versus tamers!
It’s worth noting that this feature was not intended to replace any gameplay content. We’re working on all sorts of pet battle updates that we’d like to make in future patches.
Thanks again for all of your feedback. We really appreciate your great ideas and discussion!
Although epic pets will not be released in Legion, keep in mind that the idea could be revisited in the future should developers decide to take that route.
Thank you to the Blizzard Developers for taking all of the Pet Battle community's feedback into consideration, and we look forward to seeing the Pet Battle content planned for Legion!
Really glad to read they decided against it, would have difficult for new players to catch up but mostly I couldn't imagine getting all my pets to legendary level and pet pvp would just be unbalanced :) Glad they gave it a really good thought though!
Dammit. I was looking forward to this.
I see a lot complaining about the grind. I never upgraded my pets to Rare until the Garrison menagerie, and, frankly, that made it into no grind at all. 1 pet battle a day on two characters? Over the course of a year, it just took care of itself.
I was needing something new to work towards, and I was well sick of my pets always being two rarities below high-end NPC trainers.
Omg I'm so glad they skipped this! For me, im just up to around 500 pets at rare atm, stoped farming there for a new days/weeks. It would be a mindless grind to farm to epic. :)
I also like that they mentioned that it's relevant to keep the old pet content from previous expansions. It almost releavs that they will never implement epic/legendary pets for players. I like that.
I am so glad to remove the future grind of 730 pets from my brain.
Instead of the epic stone- what would be great would be a chance to win the pets that newer folks cannot get- such as back reward pets( bliz con esp.), expansion pets etc. Its very sad to know I can never catch up just because I started later in this game then others.
Just my 2¢, but I am happy on the battling aspect that i dont have to grind again and that i agree, it would make it unfair.
However, i am dissappointed my Hippogryph Hatchling is still going toonly be blue. I looted that thing from my 6th pack of cards and was beyond pissed my epic pet was downgraded.
Maybe in the future they can just add shiny purple vanity effect (max 10 or so per acct) that dosnt increase stats whatsoever, just makes them "epic" lvl 25s
Awesome they listened! I'm shocked!
I am glad that they aren't making epic stones because the grinding seems like I would be done! I do wish they would have a few epic pets that were a reward for some type of achievement or event that would be harder to get and that way, a coveted pet.
Phew, that's a relief. ;)
A way of balancing the two feelings, im my opinion, would be to allow a limited number (1 or 2) pets to become epic, while keeping the battle level at 25. The Epic would be more of an "Honored Title" type of position. A bit of the old wise elder who shares his knowledge and experience with the youngsters
I am both happy and diappointed in No Epic Pets. While it would be nice to have an epic or two, I am a more casual player and do not need the challenge of further leveling my (fewish) max levels higher.
That being said, I am disappointed because it would be nice to say "I've had this pet who has been around so long , it has become Epic"
Thats a very good news for me. I hope they give us way more pets space. I want to have 3 of each - best 3 breeds or all the possible if they have 2 or 3. *cheers*
I'm surprised they don't raise the level cap from 25 to 30 or something.
Thrilled to hear this!
Been away from forums for a while and didn't know they were considering this. I'm so glad I don't need to grind all my pets to epic. It's like adding more rep to all the factions I've grinded and calling it new content.
No thank you to simply adding more grinding.
Yes please to more innovative and creative ways to earn pets!
Little disappointed, however I absolutely understand the decision. I still don't have all my pets max level or rare quality lol. But I was looking forward to an entirely purple pet list in the very far off future. Either way can't wait for the new pets :D
I'm kind of disappointed about this announcement, but I can understand. I had returned to doing the menagerie daily on all 13 of my 100s to build up my charm collection in anticipation of the stones. My big question is, are they going to increase the number of pets allowed in your journal? I'm sitting at 988/1000 already and Legion should add quite a bit to that number. I'd hate to have to release pets (ie different skins, breeds) just to be able to catch the new ones.
Good. I've been working on my collection on/offfor years, with very limited time. Now that I'm almost done, something like epic stones would be way too overwhelming. I'd probably just give up. As they said, new pe are much better!
When I read Jeremy Feasel's post I thought it was someone flaming. They made Epic battlestone look hard to get and unbalanceing. With the overweming reponce was NO THANKS, which seemed to be the feedback they wanted.
I am just hoping they are not going to combine what I consider the worse bits of The Celestial Tournament and WoD tamer rewards (random bag) and end up with a once per account per week tournament which rewards a bag with random chance for a pet.
Maybe we can be a happy community again?
This topic seems more heated than politics
<3 to all fellow pet battlers
I'm glad to see the change. I'd much rather have content in the form of Celestial Tournament II or several bonus pet battle objectives in the new zones. Or even more Crimsonwing Moth/Sapphire Firefly kind of deals. Maybe new pet things for the Darkmoon Faire as well, there's two whole tents that are empty! It could be some epic petting zoo of pet battle danger.