Mists of Pandaria: Pet Battles
by Alex Ziebart 
Mar 19th 2012 at 3:01AM
Each pet that you own can learn up to six abilities, but only three of them can be used in the turn-based battle, so you need to carefully assign which you plan to use. Pet Battles will have a queue system just like dungeons and Battlegrounds, with one small difference: you will never see the name of the player you're facing off against. Blizzard wanted to minimize the "shame of defeat" that tends to be a barrier to entry in PvP -- nobody likes feeling bad when they lose. You will never know who you've lost to, and they can't trash talk you during or afterwards. While your statistics page will keep track of your number of wins, it will not track your losses.
Filed under: Mists of Pandaria
Reader Comments (Page 2 of 4)
razion Mar 19th 2012 3:44AM
I'm sad to see you won't be able to see your opponent's names when you fight in the new Pet Battle system. I was really hoping to be able to make some like-minded friends with Pet Battles (ie: with people are are just as obsessed with collecting them as I am). I really hope this becomes something I can toggle on and off, like showing the amount of times I've lost at Pet Battles so I can motivate myself to get better when I lose.
tydygunn Mar 19th 2012 4:11AM
While I agree to your positives, adding a toggle would defeat the purpose of not showing the opponent's name in the first place. Trolls and elitist jerks would keep theirs toggled and still bug you.
You could also mean that the toggle would show the other player your name, and you would only see theirs if they had their toggle on. If that's the case, I'll need some ketchup to help me eat my words. =]
Abbadon Mar 19th 2012 4:25AM
I pretty much agree with you.
It never, not once, crossed my mind that Pet Battles would be the cause of insults and hurt feelings. And if that were to happen, that's what reporting abuse or /ignore is for. Right?
I'm an older, mature player that was looking forward to the PBS. But now, it just seems like they're admitting that they intended it for small children all along. (Again, small children are the only ones that may not know how to report abuse or use /ignore in-game. Am I right again?)
And only tracking wins... "Here's your trophy for participating!!" /arg
Luotian Mar 19th 2012 10:11AM
While it had also never occurred to me that it could be used as a source of shame, I disagree with you all. Because regardless of how we want it perceived, other players are going to see it as childish *anyway*. Your rating in pet battles would be used to mock you incessantly, as a 'well, if you're not even good at THAT then you really need to l2p, n00b' (only more illiterate than I could ever be).
Stupid as it sounds, I could even see some Elitists refusing to allow you into a PuG raid because of that logic.
I think hiding loses is a good thing.
JattTheRogue Mar 19th 2012 12:30PM
@tydygunn: "While I agree to your positives, adding a toggle would defeat the purpose of not showing the opponent's name in the first place. Trolls and elitist jerks would keep theirs toggled and still bug you."
Not if it's a toggle on your end: i.e. - if you turn yours off, no one sees your name. The toggle could be letting other people see your name. That way each person would be able to be anonymous or have their name shown as they wished. And I just saw in your second paragraph that you saw that that could be the case, but whatever, I'm leaving this in my comment.
Like people said, this sort of boggles my mind. This is an MMO and is supposed to be social, but they're not going to let you see who you're playing with? I know it seems like a little thing, but that just puts a sour taste in my mouth. "The shame of defeat" being a barrier to entry? I have never, ever heard anyone say that. I know people who love PVP, who hate PVP, who will only PVP when I bug them to do so with me and who are indifferent but don't PVP, and not a single one has said they didn't want to play because they might lose. And after losses, no one's said, "I'm so ashamed, I can't PVP any more." They might complain or be frustrated, but even the people I know who get really nervous PVPing aren't worried about what people will think if they lose. The entire idea doesn't make much sense to me.
Drakkenfyre Mar 19th 2012 12:40PM
I understand the point of it, but wish they didn't hide the names either.
Too Wii multiplayer for me. You get random, faceless, nameless opponents if you don't use Wii and Friend Codes.
You might as well be playing bots in Super Smash Bros. Brawl if you do random online fights. In neither case can you even talk to them.
At least with the Wii, if both sides share their Wii and Friends codes, you can see the person's name and enter the same game.
They should have it where if someone is on your friend/Real ID list and vice-versa, you can queue up to fight each other. I guess they might have figured that would be used to boost wins.
Bobby Earl Mar 20th 2012 8:34AM
Ya, the whole hiding names and losses thing is just stupid IMO. Why not mask the names of all players in PvP situations too, if they don't want anyone to feel bad. The duelling outside city gates, which I feel is an environment especially conducive to trash talk, is a relatively civil affair on my server so I can't imagine pet battles being too much worse. If Blizzard really intends this to be for small children they should make it a separate free downloadable game that doesn't carry a Teen rating and make it free with every sub.
Also, when I get pwnd in a pet battle I'd like the option of seeking that player out for a rematch when I get more skilled, as I've often done in duels.
Luke Mar 19th 2012 3:52AM
I'm so looking forward to this. But I was hoping for way more info.
In any case if I'm reading this correctly it sounds like I can't battle my guild mates via direct challenges. I understand their reasoning behind the proposed system but I hope we can also challenge other players like a duel.
viciouspen Mar 19th 2012 3:53AM
Huh.
Their whole take on the shame of defeat is very intriguing.
either way you look at it, i think it's great that they're thinking about things like this.
You surprised me in a positive way blizz, congrats.
Noyou Mar 19th 2012 5:09AM
Yeah. I like that part of it. The less griefing and epeen wagging the better.
Ves Mar 19th 2012 4:00AM
Still no word if Wowkemon will have a properly developed combat system with a wide variety of different move effects, or if everything'll just know Tackle, Growl and one of Thundershock/Water Gun/Ember?
Everclear Mar 19th 2012 4:18AM
My trifecta of Grunty, Mini Thor and Personal World Destroyer can never lose.
Let's do this.
RetPallyJil Mar 19th 2012 2:19PM
Horse-hockey.
You cannot defeat the might that is Orange Tabby Cat!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
jazz.panther Mar 19th 2012 5:41PM
...until Magical Crawdad, Sea Pony and Purple Puffer drag them underwater until they rust and/or drown. :P
Salculd Mar 19th 2012 4:22AM
That screenshot makes me happy. I instantly formed a three-pet team once this feature was announced, but I had been worried that the name length limit might not accommodate a mechanical chicken named Mechascootaloo. It will!
Malkil Mar 19th 2012 4:24AM
Oddly enough, for a totally unrelated reason, I have a character named "Red". I pretty much have to purchase a race change to make my female worgen warrior a male human now, don't I?
dmberreth Mar 19th 2012 4:26AM
Queue-system for pet battles?
Now I have to go back to my guild and tell them we won't be hosting pet battle competitions for fun and prizes.
While not overly excited for the pet battles, I thought they would be fun - but it looks like they've all ready neutered anything that would have added that spark. If we can't see our opponent, it leads you to believe you'll never be able to challenge people directly.
Abbadon Mar 19th 2012 4:28AM
That was my take on it as well...
My guess at this point is that the majority of players are going to be upset with the way the PBS is being molded and will head to the Blizz forums as let them know!
Alex Ziebart Mar 19th 2012 4:37AM
I'm pretty sure you CAN challenge people in person.
Dementron Mar 19th 2012 5:02AM
There's a queue system for dungeons too, but that doesn't stop you from running them with your friends.
I'm not sure why people are interpreting an anonymous random queue as meaning you can't challenge people face-to-face as well.