MoP coming to a close - What's your opinion on pet battles?

[Aventhos]

never really got into it, I did about 10 matches or so and then never past the battle master in elywnn forest. I just as much log off and do RL if this is all that is left to me in wow. (which is the case this late in the xpac)

[Teddybearavenger]

I have to admit, this awakened the collector in me again. I absolutely loved this implementation and it's something that keeps me busy outside of heroic raids these days. How do you people feel about it?

It's a complete waste of time. It makes no sense for it to be in the game. It has no sense on anything. I get that they wanted pets to have a point since they just walk with us but this was really ridiculous and unneeded. I'd remove it in a heart beat for real interesting side content. For example a way to have hearthstone and wow related with each other. Certain pets that become mounts via quests? things as such. We have pokemon for what they wanted to implement, and pet battles looks like a very dumbed down version of a very old game... It's a chick side game. Just like this expansion where every girl hopped in happyness while the old gamers (including some girls) went wtf is this shit expansion??? So yea pet battles -10/10 delete / 0 to give.

[Warlord Booty]

I really enjoy it. I've wasted so much time on them, but also leveled so many toons this way as well. Waiting on a queue etc battle battle battle! I've slowed down considerable with 5.4, but have farmed the ToT drops and TLI and SoO drops. I just haven't really leveled those.

[Arrashi]

I like it, probably one of better features brought by MoP. Its kinda sad that later PvE challenges require you to have set of very specific pets (and dice in you favour).

[undeadrogue]

Fun, but sort of frustrating. I don't actively pet battle (haven't done the Celestial tournament thing yet) but was leveling up a bunch between ToT & when SoO was released. A good thing to do when I'm super-bored - it's basically tied w/ those annoying collect 20 archeology things for me.
I'll admit the Raiding w/ Leashes achievs got me back into those old raids again/farming bosses I'd forgotten about - so I'd say I like it overall. But, what really got me stopping was the bugginess of that Beast of Fables quest - it kept resetting after I'd beaten them... so annoying.

[Azwing]

I have very mixed feelings.

I have battled quite a bit and collected a lot of pets. So, I've gotten my fun from them. I've been an avid collector for a long time (the first pet I ever had drop was a Crimson Whelpling back in Vanilla), so it was natural for me to get obsessive about collecting more pets. The introduction of pet battles also coincided with me drifting away from raiding, because I just didn't want to spend the time necessary to raid anymore.

However, I realized early on that pet battles are really just a distraction. They're a mini-game gone wild. WoW is, at its heart, an RPG. The pet battles really have nothing whatsoever to do with RPG. And, yes, I realize that WoW is really not much of an RPG anymore...if it ever was, but, that is what it is at heart. Pet battles are a distraction/time-sink that hook people with the urge to collect or be a completionist. Yes, I have both urges to one degree or another.

For me, think pet battles have taken away from collecting, ironically. There were always grinds associated with pets, including some I still don't have because they never dropped and I didn't want to pay for them. But the new system takes grinding to another level. Grinding for rares gets so damn frustrating. Then throw in breed on top of that. Ugh.

Another ugh...grinding for stones to upgrade pets that aren't available as rares. I really wish they'd just institute some sort of currency you gain from battling (more for tamers, less for wild pets, less for high level ganking, etc.) that you could then use to buy stones. It would frankly be a lot less frustrating than grinding the same tamers day after day after day and not getting stone drops.

PvP battles are really frustrating. I can realize immediately that I'll lose, but I never dump because I think it's sort of rude. I wish they'd implement a system where you could choose your team one pet at a time. That way, if someone comes in with pet X, you could counter with pet Y, then they could counter with pet Z, etc. I think it would make PvP battles a lot more interesting...instead of just stumbling into someone with a set team that you have no counter for.

Overall, I guess I like them. I've certainly put a lot of time in them. But, I still think they're a distraction that ultimately doesn't really belong in the game. Contradictory? Yes, but that's how I see it.

[Celista]

You may want to give it another try

I probably will. I can see how it can be rather rng-based at higher levels of play. I'd probably enjoy it more if I learned to view pet battling as a pastime in game, not something I have to slog through for achievement points.

[ohshift]

Didn't play too much, but I liked it. One of the great points in a relatively cool expansion.
For me, they could get rid of PVP altogether and put that focus on pet battles.

[Schizoide]

And for me, they could get rid of both PvP and pet battles. Diff'rent strokes and all that.

[Deleted]

Still have to give this a serious try, I start with 3-4 battles then I move on to something else.

[bals]

It's a complete waste of time. It makes no sense for it to be in the game. It has no sense on anything. I get that they wanted pets to have a point since they just walk with us but this was really ridiculous and unneeded. I'd remove it in a heart beat for real interesting side content. For example a way to have hearthstone and wow related with each other.

haha, yeah, hearthstone makes more sense than pet battles

[Shinagami091]

I loved the Asian themed dungeons and Pandaria zones but at this point I'm pretty de-sensitized of it all. It's about time for the next chapter. Hopefully the xpac will come soonish.

[greg098]

I like pet battles but I find leveling up all those pets to be very overwhelming. It will take FOREVER!!! Also I am not looking forward to upgrading all your pets from rare to epic. It will be an impossible feat! I love hunting and finding pets. I enjoyed doing all the old raids on all my characters until I got the pets. Awesome feeling to run all that old content again for a purpose!

[Splenda]

..and because it is all about opinions and preferences and ..hell...why not tolerance, I say that I enjoy them more than pvp. Yet, I can live with the fact that others have fun in pvp and I wouldn't deprive them of it. Why do people then demand pet battles to be removed? You won't see me saying "waste of time, waste of manpower developing that shit. useless. They should invest in other stuff" - yet...I care about pvp as much as you apparently care about pet battles.

Live and let live is not one of the things you understand, I take it.

This is what I was thinking, pretty much. Nothing is a "waste of development time" if a good chunk of players enjoy that feature. Yes, even if you hate it. That statement seems so close-minded and silly to me.

[Zaelkath]

Felt too much like a mini-game to me (I know it is, but that's not the point.)

I'll just pick up my 3DS and play Pokemon...it's much more refined and I don't have to worry about some asshole camping my rare spawn pet.

[Clissal]

I thought PVE is bad. Bosses that do exactly same thing every single week, that are maybe hard from the beginning but its due to people failing to move out from something obvious or are not pressing their 5 button rotation quick enough but pet battles are even worse. From killing those big ugly dragons to collecting pokemons - even less brain/reflex involved. That's my opinion.

[Melsiren]

I like it, probably one of better features brought by MoP. Its kinda sad that later PvE challenges require you to have set of very specific pets (and dice in you favour).

^= That.

Only thing I'd add to it is I personally felt leveling the first group from 10-18 was a bit of a pain in the ass, but other than that I felt it was a mostly solid and enjoyable experience.

[Sesto]

It's pretty boring. I was excited about it, but it isn't that great.

Leveling takes way too long, especially considering there are so many pets. Entire fights can be (and often are) determined by a single miss. Also I'm not sure if they changed it, but playing a 10 or so minute long pet battle only to lose and get nothing out of it is incredibly frustrating.

[Snakez]

Could be much better.

Too much RNG.
Not enough battle themes.
NO boss theme.
Imbalanced, lots of completely awful pets.
And more but I don't care enough to remember.

[Glurp]

Got a couple of pets to level 10 out of sheer boredom. Never found anything interesting about pet battles in particular, however I do enjoy collecting pets.