Posts with tag pet-battles

Corefire Imp may be one of the underdogs out there in the battle pet world. I'm sure some pet battlers use this little troublemaker on teams, but sadly, I haven't seen him in many PvP battles. A diamond in the rough, I tell you! Corefire Imp has a chance to drop off of Magmadar in Molten Core. Collect the imp's 11 battle pet friends hiding in a few old world raids and earn the Raiding with Leashes achievement, which rewards the fabulous Mr. Bigglesworth. So, even if you're not interested in rotating the imp onto your teams, farming him up is worth it.

Corefire Imp is of the Humanoid family, but wields mostly Elemental attacks, with a few other types thrown in:

• Slot 1 Burn or Rush
• Slot 2 Immolation or Flamethrower
• Slot 3 Cauterize or Wild Magic

The real strength of Corefire Imp is that he makes a great tank. The imp's only weakness is to Undead attacks, which are relatively rare. The Humanoid passive -- recovering 4% maximum health every attack -- is what really wins in combination with his abilities. Let's take a closer look!

Patch 5.2, much like the Mists of Pandaria expansion overall, is practically dripping with content. There is content simply oozing out of Lor'themar Theron's over-sized pointy ears. Keeping track of it all is not the most fun thing in the world, and who wants to bother with that, anyway? If you're feeling a tad overwhelmed by it all, you're not alone, and post-its are not the only answer to your problem.

Over at the WoW subreddit, redditor mfontani did us disorganized messes a favor by plugging a guildmate's addon creations. User Saregon has several addons designed to help keep our pixellated lives just that little bit more tidy. Isle of Thunder Weekly Check will open a window to let you know which weekly events your character has completed, so you don't get confused across level 90s. In a similar vein, Daily Tamer Check tracks pet battle daily quest completions, so you don't have to. If you've been looking for a handy way to keep tabs on all this stuff, this may be the solution you've been seeking.

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Overnight, Blizzard rolled out a hotfix on all servers nerfing the obscenely high XP people were gaining from winning pet battles. You can no longer level characters to 89 in a matter of hours by hanging around capital cities battling level 1 pets.

Bashiok explains how and why they implemented the nerf.

Bashiok

We're in the process of updating the hotfixes blog with the recent changes to Pet Battle XP, but wanted to provide a bit more insight into why the changes were made and how XP is calculated.

• All buffs to player XP (heirlooms, enlightenment, guild bonus etc.) were bugged, these where hotfixed to work as expected.
• General player XP from pet battles was tuned too high, these numbers have been balanced accordingly.
• Player experience is granted based on a number of factors. These are player level, number of pet opponents, maximum pet opponent level and the level disparity between opponents pets and your pets.
• Our philosophy is that player XP from pet battles should be, in general, somewhat slower than normal questing.

source

While almost everyone agrees that it was not in the game's best interest to allow the ridiculously speedy leveling players were taking advantage of, the nerf at first seemed excessive. Whereas one could get 28K for winning a level 1 pet battle at level 60, this morning the same character got 900 to 2000. But as Bashiok describes above, the XP now scales appropriately according to level of the player and the pets in the battles.

I've been experimenting and I agree that they have succeeded in making pet battles slower than questing, but not a complete waste of time. If you are questing in a level appropriate area, taking time out to battle the wild pets in the same zone is definitely worth doing to add variety and experience to your endeavors.

Also, heirlooms, XP buffs, guild bonuses all still affect pet battle player XP, so do go take a ride on the Darkmoon Faire Carousel before you test the hotfix for yourself.

Did you take advantage of the insane leveling XP? I did only for a few levels. A grind's a grind, after all, and there are new islands to explore.

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We're getting reports of insane experience gains for players via winning pet battles. Because the XP being awarded was affected by heirlooms and XP buffs -- like the Darkmoon Faire Carousel buff -- people were leveling characters from 1 to 89 in a matter of hours. (Experience for pet battles stops at level 89 and you get a chance for Lesser Charms of Good Fortune, instead.)

Community Manager Zarhym had this to say on the subject on Thursday afternoon:

.@lordreinhart @cm_zarhym Yes, pet battles are rewarding more XP than intended right now. We're testing a hotfix to address this asap. :) - World of Warcraft (@Warcraft) March 7, 2013

The XP scales with your level and how close your pets are to the pets you defeat. XP is earned via battling pets in the wild, pet tamer NPCs, and other players in pet battle PvP. No experience is gained from pet battle duels or if your highest pet is more than 5 levels above the pets you are fighting. The amount received before the nerf was roughly what a character gets from completing the capital city cooking and fishing dailies.

Because you can get XP from battling level 1 wild pets, people were camping out in major cities and decimating the battle pet population while leveling their low level pets.

As of this morning, it looks like all realms have been hotfixed so that the experience is approximately 10% of what it was. We have no further official word on the nerf as of this writing, but we'll keep you posted.

Update: It looks like from the comments and my experimentation that the nerf is scaled. While it is no longer worth it to hang around Stormwind and kill level 1 pets, if you battle in level appropriate zones with level appropriate characters, the XP gain is still worthwhile.

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I started my Beasts of Fable quest line for the first time after 5.2 went live and was curious about how much experience a low level pet would receive when defeating an Elite Battle Pet. I was pretty excited. Would my newbie little Crawling Claw instantly complete most of his leveling journey?

Nope.

He earned 224 XP. Which, in the scope of battle pet leveling, is peanuts. Not even worth bringing a low level battle pet in to soak experience. But these are Elite Battle Pets! What's the dealio? Could it be a bug? I took to Twitter to find out, and was pleasantly surprised to receive an answer from Lead Content Designer Cory "Mumper" Stockton.

@kristin @cm_zarhym @ghostcrawler Yes, this is intended. They have higher drop rates for rare stones and alt panda pets.

- Cory Stockton (@mumper) March 7, 2013

So, we should just stick to power leveling battle pets elsewhere. At least we have a great chance to earn rare Battle-Stones and cute pandas while plowing through the Beasts of Fable.

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It is no longer a waste of leveling time to battle pets with lower level characters. With the advent of patch 5.2, players can now earn XP from pet battles. (If you're max level, you have a chance of getting Lesser Charms of Good Fortune instead.) All you have to do is participate in any pet battle -- other than dueling -- with your highest pet being no more than five levels above the pets you are fighting. This includes pet battle PvP, where you queue up from your pet journal, just not the pet battle duels you can do with friends ... or strangers, for that matter.

The experience is comparable to completing the capital city cooking and fishing quests. For example, my level 77 mage gets 27K XP from the Orgrimmar cooking dailies and gets 26K for fighting a battle with three level 1s vs. a level 2. The XP varies according to how much higher your highest pet that your battling with is above the pets you are fighting. A four level difference nets my mage about 21K XP. Whether you are battling other players, wild pets or tamers, the XP gained is consistent.

Is it worth it to try to level via pet battling? I would recommend questing, gathering, archaeology digging and battling pets in the same zone to maximize your leveling potential. But if you're in a gotta-catch-'em-all frenzy, as I sometimes am, you can battle pets with your leveling alts while still progressing more than just your pets.

I wouldn't be surprised if players tried to level while just pet battling. Will you be taking advantage of pet battle player XP?

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In the world of pet battles, there are two humanoid pets that reign supreme: the Pandaren Monk and the Flayer Youngling. There are competitors to the throne, but the monk and the flayer are your go-to dragonkin slayers in PvE pet battles. One of the two requires a purchase from the Blizzard Store, and while the other is a perfectly valid option, there's beauty in diversity. Why not be different? Why not break social norms and embrace the diversity inherent to the universe? Why not Peddlefeet?

Peddlefeet can be added to your pet journal by using a Truesilver Shafted Arrow, purchased for 40 Love Tokens at Lovely Merchants in capital cities across Azeroth. This item is only sold during Love is in the Air celebrations, which end February 23. You still have most of this week to pick up those 40 tokens, and it's just about the easiest thing in the world. You can either do Love is in the Air daily quests or murder hapless mobs (which award experience) for Lovely Charms, which can then be exchanged for Love Tokens. You have plenty of time. Do it!

Peddlefeet's dragonslaying abilities are as follows:

If you're into battle pets, the Darkmoon Faire needs to be on your monthly to-do list. Outside of the variety of pets and mounts available in exchange for Darkmoon Prize Tickets, Darkmoon Island is home to a few wild battle pets, including the Crow.

Here's a rundown of its abilities:

• Slot 1 Peck or Alpha Strike
• Slot 2 Squawk or Call Darkness
• Slot 3 Murder or Nocturnal Strike

We have some basic Flying-type abilities here, and between Peck and Alpha Strike, the latter is usually recommended. Even with a slower breed of Crow, the Flying family passive grants 50% extra speed above 50% health, so you can expect that extra hit from Alpha Strike. In slots 2 and 3, you have two paths to choose from. If you're going up against an Elemental battle pet with the Crow (not recommended), Squawk and Murder may be better choices, but against any other type, Call Darkness and Nocturnal Strike will be your powerhouse combo.

No, we aren't talking about hunters today: the battle pet system allows all of us to have and fight with pets through a special battle pet interface. And though you're not likely find mention of pet battles before you hit Pandaria, you can start participating in pet battles as early as level 5. And even if you aren't a fan of the "gotta catch 'em all!" game on which the system is modeled, we think pet battles are a fun break from leveling -- and since you're walking right by battle pets to collect and fight as you wander through each zone, why not have your battle pets advancing at the same time you are?

The concept behind battle pets is simple; your battle pets fight other battle pets throughout the game in a turn-based format, gaining levels (up to 25) and skills (each pet has 6). Whenever you see another battle pet -- or battle pet trainer -- you can fight to gain experience and, of course, the glory of victory. If that sounds interesting, let's get started on the road to becoming the fiercest pet tamer in Azeroth!

I find myself logged onto a different character every time I'm doing a round of pet battle dailies. It shouldn't be an issue, because pets are account bound, but there's just one little thing: Battle Pet Bandages. I never earn any on my main character -- maybe it's bad luck. It's very frustrating to end up with a defeated team, Revive Battle Pets on cooldown, and no stable master nearby. Oh, and no bandages!

Well, it feels like the devs really have been listening to the battle pet community, because they released a few quality of life updates on the PTR that (mostly) will make pet battlers happy campers.

• Battle Pet Bandages now stack and are Bind to Account.
• Level-capped players will now have a chance to earn Lesser Charms of Good Fortune after winning a pet battle versus a pet within 5 levels of the highest level pet on their team. Higher-level pets will offer a better chance to earn a charm.
• Winning a pet battle versus a team within 5 levels of the player's highest-level pet will now award player experience.

I'm so happy to see that pet bandages will be Bind to Account. Being able to funnel every precious bandage to one character will make things much easier -- especially for the altoholics out there. And three huge huzzahs to earning stuff while battling pets! It takes quite a bit of time to grind every pet battle achievement, even with power leveling newbie pets. So, earning rewards normally reserved for playing through PvE content turns pet battling into time well spent. I'm tempted to level a character solely through pet battles, now that winning one will grant player experience!

You can check out the full list of updated pet battle patch notes at the official site, but to make things easier we've compiled the complete list of notes after the break.

Now that MoP has been out for a few months, I find myself enjoying pet battles far more than I thought I would. That being said, it was only a matter of time before griefing made its way into this part of the game as well -- even if it is by turkeys. Yes, turkeys.

It all started with the rather harmless sounding "Triple Turkey." Unfortunately, it's not a sandwich I can nom on, but is instead something much more sinister in the world of pet battles. The Triple Turkey comp quickly became the flavor of the month for trolls in PvP pet battles, using abusing the irritating Food Coma ability to the max. If you've never encountered it before, Food Coma puts the opponent to sleep for two rounds, on a five round cooldown.

But that cooldown only applies to the turkey who casts it. So, we were left with creative individuals who would use Food Coma, swap to a second turkey, use Food Coma, swap, and so on.

Blogger and WoW artist Disciplinary Action has taken on the task of writing an idiot's guide to certain aspects of pet battles. Her guide sets out to provide a quick and dirty route to getting your hands on some of the achievements associated with pet battles, and does a great job.

She started with three level one pets, and spent some gold at the Auction House to get herself some level 20 ringers, then managed in the space of two days to get four pets from level 1 to level 25 -- not including the two level 20 pets -- as well as getting Continental Tamer, Taming Azeroth, which awards the title Tamer, and to make considerable progress towards the completion of World Safari, which awards the title Zookeeper. She already had two L25 pets, from a previous bout of battling.

Of course, with the seasonal elements of World Safari, she wasn't able to complete it within the space of two days. But by making wise choices she was able to progress on it while also dealing with the other taming-related achievements.

How did she do it? Do have a look at the blog post for all the details, especially the section on leveling three pets to 15 in an hour. There are several other hints and tips, but some key elements are laid out below. Bear in mind that you can't learn a caged pet of a level higher than your highest pet. Don't get carried away on the Auction House!

• Pick up two level 20 battle pets from the auction house (as long as you have a L20+ pet already), and use their strength to carry low-level pets through levels up to 15, then commence hunting for taming achievements.
• Use resources such as PetBattleArena or Wowhead's Battle Pet Map to maximize your pet gathering efficiency.
• Collect as many zone-specific pets as possible while moving through the world for Continental Tamer to contribute to World Safari.

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Mists of Pandaria is here! The level cap has been raised to 90, many players have returned to Azeroth, and pet battles are taking the world by storm. Keep an eye out for all of the latest news, and check out our comprehensive guide to Mists of Pandaria for everything you'll ever need to know.

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Have you ever read the great Pandaren book of fables? Pandaren pass these stories on to their cubs - stories of the cricket and the hawk, or the slow-moving turtle - to teach them lessons that they will find useful in life. What few cubs know is that these creatures exist, here, in Pandaria! Though the stories of their travels are made up, they are powerful denizens of this world. Should you happen upon them in your travels, you may test the might of your pets against their storied statures. Take on the fabled beasts!

Wowhead has published new information today on two quests from the patch 5.2 PTR, both with the same title, that allow the player to take on what's called an Elite Battle Pet. These quests are both known as Beasts of Fable, and the fact that one is a single quest, and one a daily quest, might imply that the quest becomes a daily after its first completion.

Commenter Ozlem states that the new Elite Pets are easy to spot thanks to their distinctive yellow pawprint icon replacing the standard green one. They add that these pets are of orange, or legendary quality, higher than the purple quality epic pets. Ozlem notes that so far he has found just one per zone, and listed out their spawn points. He adds that, fortunately, they cannot be killed at present.

What do the quests reward? The non-daily version awards a Red Panda pet, which you may recall Panser mentioning in her pre-PTR round-up, and the presumably subsequent daily versions award Fabled Pandaren Pet Supplies, which can contain a Mountain Panda, Sunfur Panda, or a Snowy Panda as well as the usual supplies.

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Mists of Pandaria is here! The level cap has been raised to 90, many players have returned to Azeroth, and pet battles are taking the world by storm. Keep an eye out for all of the latest news, and check out our comprehensive guide to Mists of Pandaria for everything you'll ever need to know.

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