Generally in a development company, something like pet battles is initially designed by one person as a personal/side project and if it seems like something that can take off then it gets picked up and worked on.
Frankly pet battles are a nice little side game that myself and many others enjoy. I've never heard a single person that wants or cares about aerial combat. You seem really mad that the game has more variety now and is in a much more polished and better place.
---------- Post added 2013-05-21 at 02:49 PM ----------
Great post. These were all things I complained about at the time.
I've had fun in every single expansion and I've enjoyed all 8 years I've played this game for different reasons throughout its life, but Wrath had the most things I thought were terrible by a considerable margin.