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Should I train my pets to the highest level?

AuthorMessage
Survivor
Aug 06, 2011
4
Hello. My name is Scarlet Deaththorn, and for a long time, I have been wondering if I should train all of my pets to their maximum level. Ever since I got a pet, I put off training my pets to mega,ancient,epic,or even teenIn fact,the oldest or most experienced pet I have is a teen I know it's embarrassing,however, is it really worth your time training your pets to mega or ultraSure,they can develop some neat and useful talents to aid you in battle,but, if you are a person who put off training their pets for a long time, wouldn't it be a little tediousAlso, when I play Wizard101,typically, I do a lot of quests just so I can level up.But, there is one problem.I need my pet(s)when I battle. I don't rely on them completely,but I still need them.Plus,if I just trained them the whole entire time, my pet(s) would run out of energy. So,what did you doDid you train your pets to mega or even teenOr, did you end up going down the road of putting off your pet's training,just like I didIf so, what can I do to train them to those levels without taking a long timeAnyone have any tips or suggestions
From,Scarlet Deaththorn.

Survivor
Oct 19, 2012
22
Crescent moon on Jul 15, 2015 wrote:
Hello. My name is Scarlet Deaththorn, and for a long time, I have been wondering if I should train all of my pets to their maximum level. Ever since I got a pet, I put off training my pets to mega,ancient,epic,or even teenIn fact,the oldest or most experienced pet I have is a teen I know it's embarrassing,however, is it really worth your time training your pets to mega or ultraSure,they can develop some neat and useful talents to aid you in battle,but, if you are a person who put off training their pets for a long time, wouldn't it be a little tediousAlso, when I play Wizard101,typically, I do a lot of quests just so I can level up.But, there is one problem.I need my pet(s)when I battle. I don't rely on them completely,but I still need them.Plus,if I just trained them the whole entire time, my pet(s) would run out of energy. So,what did you doDid you train your pets to mega or even teenOr, did you end up going down the road of putting off your pet's training,just like I didIf so, what can I do to train them to those levels without taking a long timeAnyone have any tips or suggestions
From,Scarlet Deaththorn.
Buy some pet snacks, and be patient. Some or most of my pets now are adult, AND one is an ancient velociraptor.
Pet snacks level up your pet a lot, and patience is required to level up your pets

Tarlac Seaspear lvl 60 current pet is a a frankenbunny
Seth DragonSword lvl 21 current pet is a jade oni
Tarlac SwiftRunner lvl 8 current pet is a red cap

Geographer
Sep 07, 2011
823
Only train pets that you want to use, or want to hatch. Most of the ones you get are just going to be company or fun decorations. IF you are going to hatch, you only need to train to adult, not any more. Once you get an adult pet that you really like, then consider training more IF you think it has more good talents to unlock.

In the meantime it's a good idea to start gardening some snacks and saving gold for hatches. You get the best pets by hatching with the best pets.

Survivor
Feb 12, 2009
14
Gemma Luna on Jul 16, 2015 wrote:
Only train pets that you want to use, or want to hatch. Most of the ones you get are just going to be company or fun decorations. IF you are going to hatch, you only need to train to adult, not any more. Once you get an adult pet that you really like, then consider training more IF you think it has more good talents to unlock.

In the meantime it's a good idea to start gardening some snacks and saving gold for hatches. You get the best pets by hatching with the best pets.
Just like Gemma said, only train the pets you use. Also, if you are looking for a specific ability, like may cast (this is the ability I look for), once your pet acquires that ability stop training it. I only needed to level my patriotic leprechaun to teen to get its may cast spell.
James Darkforge Level 70

Astrologist
Dec 26, 2013
1124
Crescent moon on Jul 15, 2015 wrote:
Hello. My name is Scarlet Deaththorn, and for a long time, I have been wondering if I should train all of my pets to their maximum level. Ever since I got a pet, I put off training my pets to mega,ancient,epic,or even teenIn fact,the oldest or most experienced pet I have is a teen I know it's embarrassing,however, is it really worth your time training your pets to mega or ultraSure,they can develop some neat and useful talents to aid you in battle,but, if you are a person who put off training their pets for a long time, wouldn't it be a little tediousAlso, when I play Wizard101,typically, I do a lot of quests just so I can level up.But, there is one problem.I need my pet(s)when I battle. I don't rely on them completely,but I still need them.Plus,if I just trained them the whole entire time, my pet(s) would run out of energy. So,what did you doDid you train your pets to mega or even teenOr, did you end up going down the road of putting off your pet's training,just like I didIf so, what can I do to train them to those levels without taking a long timeAnyone have any tips or suggestions
From,Scarlet Deaththorn.
A lot depends on what you're looking for. If your pet has good talents at Epic and it's a pet you're comfortable questing with then it can't hurt to train it to Mega - unless you intend to hatch it with another pet. Do a little research to see what the potential talents are for your pet. If another desirable talent is in your pets talent pool (if it's a first generation pet) then it might be worthwhile to continue training. On the other hand, if you're planning on using the pet as a hatch partner then you might not want to risk adding an undesirable talent that could transfer to the offspring. Note that if the potential undesirable talent is in the pool there's STILL the chance it will transfer to the offspring anyway but I think the chance is increased if the talent is already manifested in the parent.
It's a huge investment in time, energy and snacks to train a pet from Epic to Mega so weigh all the pros and cons carefully before you commit.

Geographer
Dec 14, 2009
916
TucsonWizard on Jul 17, 2015 wrote:
A lot depends on what you're looking for. If your pet has good talents at Epic and it's a pet you're comfortable questing with then it can't hurt to train it to Mega - unless you intend to hatch it with another pet. Do a little research to see what the potential talents are for your pet. If another desirable talent is in your pets talent pool (if it's a first generation pet) then it might be worthwhile to continue training. On the other hand, if you're planning on using the pet as a hatch partner then you might not want to risk adding an undesirable talent that could transfer to the offspring. Note that if the potential undesirable talent is in the pool there's STILL the chance it will transfer to the offspring anyway but I think the chance is increased if the talent is already manifested in the parent.
It's a huge investment in time, energy and snacks to train a pet from Epic to Mega so weigh all the pros and cons carefully before you commit.
Tucson has obviously spent time hatching pets from their remarks. Heed them, and you will have less pain in what can be a very unforgiving part of the game.

Delver
Jun 29, 2011
213
TucsonWizard on Jul 17, 2015 wrote:
A lot depends on what you're looking for. If your pet has good talents at Epic and it's a pet you're comfortable questing with then it can't hurt to train it to Mega - unless you intend to hatch it with another pet. Do a little research to see what the potential talents are for your pet. If another desirable talent is in your pets talent pool (if it's a first generation pet) then it might be worthwhile to continue training. On the other hand, if you're planning on using the pet as a hatch partner then you might not want to risk adding an undesirable talent that could transfer to the offspring. Note that if the potential undesirable talent is in the pool there's STILL the chance it will transfer to the offspring anyway but I think the chance is increased if the talent is already manifested in the parent.
It's a huge investment in time, energy and snacks to train a pet from Epic to Mega so weigh all the pros and cons carefully before you commit.
The talents a pet will get when it's fully trained are predetermined at hatching. These talents (trained or not), have an equal chance of transferring to the offspring. Not training a pet before hatching to avoid exposing an unwanted talent will not affect that chance. It's actually better (although not always feasible), to hatch with fully trained pets whenever possible. Then you know exactly which talents are in the pool.

Wolf Windrider

Geographer
Dec 14, 2009
916
Errol Everhart on Jul 17, 2015 wrote:
The talents a pet will get when it's fully trained are predetermined at hatching. These talents (trained or not), have an equal chance of transferring to the offspring. Not training a pet before hatching to avoid exposing an unwanted talent will not affect that chance. It's actually better (although not always feasible), to hatch with fully trained pets whenever possible. Then you know exactly which talents are in the pool.

Wolf Windrider
" Not training a pet before hatching to avoid exposing an unwanted talent will not affect that chance." - Errol Everhart

That is not true. Any dedicated pet hatching person will from experience agree. A manifested talent most assuredly transfers more often to the hatchling, than one that is not manifested. Examples of this have been recorded time and time again. Check with any big pet-hatching group. I'm sure they would love to share their data/spreadsheets on this subject.

Hero
Aug 18, 2011
776
Intrepidatius on Jul 17, 2015 wrote:
" Not training a pet before hatching to avoid exposing an unwanted talent will not affect that chance." - Errol Everhart

That is not true. Any dedicated pet hatching person will from experience agree. A manifested talent most assuredly transfers more often to the hatchling, than one that is not manifested. Examples of this have been recorded time and time again. Check with any big pet-hatching group. I'm sure they would love to share their data/spreadsheets on this subject.
I'm a fairly 'dedicated pet hatching person' and co-founder of the longest running and one of the largest pet hatching groups on Central. I agree with Errol. We've found no statistically significant difference in outcomes between 'has manifested' and 'will manifest' in thousands of hatches. The hatching system seems to know your talents all the way to mega even when you don't.

Your belief is still common, and I wish it were true because it would give us more control, but it's not well supported by testing. Under-training hasn't prevented future talents from passing or manifesting. Repeat hatching the same pets at adult vs epic and mega showed the same distributions of talents in offspring. After recording project after project we became convinced that all the details of a pet are set at hatch. We used that presumption to develop the first max-stat 'clean pool' or 'perfect 10' pets, which have now been widely shared to/from other groups.

I'll be publishing a detailed analysis of hatching mechanics on Duelist in a month or so.

Geographer
Dec 14, 2009
916
Prince of Shadows on Jul 19, 2015 wrote:
I'm a fairly 'dedicated pet hatching person' and co-founder of the longest running and one of the largest pet hatching groups on Central. I agree with Errol. We've found no statistically significant difference in outcomes between 'has manifested' and 'will manifest' in thousands of hatches. The hatching system seems to know your talents all the way to mega even when you don't.

Your belief is still common, and I wish it were true because it would give us more control, but it's not well supported by testing. Under-training hasn't prevented future talents from passing or manifesting. Repeat hatching the same pets at adult vs epic and mega showed the same distributions of talents in offspring. After recording project after project we became convinced that all the details of a pet are set at hatch. We used that presumption to develop the first max-stat 'clean pool' or 'perfect 10' pets, which have now been widely shared to/from other groups.

I'll be publishing a detailed analysis of hatching mechanics on Duelist in a month or so.
I just checked with the leader of a very large pet-hatching group, and several others, and their findings directly refute your findings. I am also a follower of "duelist", and look forward to seeing your findings published. I am also hoping they will post theirs as well. As for my beliefs, I don't not compile statistical data on pets, or research them. I can tell you that from my own experiences from hatching, and I hatch quite a lot, manifested talents dominate non-manifested in the process. I appreciate your response though, and look forward to review that data.

Delver
Jun 29, 2011
213
Intrepidatius on Jul 20, 2015 wrote:
I just checked with the leader of a very large pet-hatching group, and several others, and their findings directly refute your findings. I am also a follower of "duelist", and look forward to seeing your findings published. I am also hoping they will post theirs as well. As for my beliefs, I don't not compile statistical data on pets, or research them. I can tell you that from my own experiences from hatching, and I hatch quite a lot, manifested talents dominate non-manifested in the process. I appreciate your response though, and look forward to review that data.
I could be wrong, but I think you may be in agreement with us, but have just misunderstood what Prince of Shadows and I are saying, so I'll word it a bit differently:

The five talents a pet will manifest are predetermined at hatching, and those five talents will have the same chance of being transferred to the offspring, regardless of whether or not they have been revealed through training.

I hope this clarifies things.

Wolf Windrider

Hero
Aug 18, 2011
776
Intrepidatius on Jul 20, 2015 wrote:
I just checked with the leader of a very large pet-hatching group, and several others, and their findings directly refute your findings. I am also a follower of "duelist", and look forward to seeing your findings published. I am also hoping they will post theirs as well. As for my beliefs, I don't not compile statistical data on pets, or research them. I can tell you that from my own experiences from hatching, and I hatch quite a lot, manifested talents dominate non-manifested in the process. I appreciate your response though, and look forward to review that data.
The plural of anecdote is not data. No offense to you or your friend, but very few players have done real testing beyond simply making their own pets.

There are a great many things in the game which are taken as fact, passed on, and widely believed, but not objectively supported. I don't profess to know everyone or everything in the game by a long shot, but I have been party to some fairly thorough experiments. Impartially collecting and analyzing enough data to be statistically significant requires both resources and math skills that are not common in the game. Many 'group leaders' are enthusiastic, some are opinionated, but often they are 'shooting from the hip' based on experience or what they have been taught. Personal experience is notoriously subject to apophenia and confirmation bias, and gamblers (which we are when doing things like pet hatching) tend to be superstitious and ritualistic.

Obviously I don't know who you are referring to, but I haven't encountered many who do more than maintain records for individual projects. Also most of the pet groups now have leveraged precursors; they got good pets by hatching with others who had good pets, then passed those on. That's a wonderful service to the community, but doesn't require the level of diligence or understanding that developing custom pools from scratch did. Bottom line: don't discount advice from other players, but don't take it as fact unless you know upon what it is based. Everyone 'knew' that the world was flat for a while.

Geographer
Dec 14, 2009
916
Prince of Shadows on Jul 21, 2015 wrote:
The plural of anecdote is not data. No offense to you or your friend, but very few players have done real testing beyond simply making their own pets.

There are a great many things in the game which are taken as fact, passed on, and widely believed, but not objectively supported. I don't profess to know everyone or everything in the game by a long shot, but I have been party to some fairly thorough experiments. Impartially collecting and analyzing enough data to be statistically significant requires both resources and math skills that are not common in the game. Many 'group leaders' are enthusiastic, some are opinionated, but often they are 'shooting from the hip' based on experience or what they have been taught. Personal experience is notoriously subject to apophenia and confirmation bias, and gamblers (which we are when doing things like pet hatching) tend to be superstitious and ritualistic.

Obviously I don't know who you are referring to, but I haven't encountered many who do more than maintain records for individual projects. Also most of the pet groups now have leveraged precursors; they got good pets by hatching with others who had good pets, then passed those on. That's a wonderful service to the community, but doesn't require the level of diligence or understanding that developing custom pools from scratch did. Bottom line: don't discount advice from other players, but don't take it as fact unless you know upon what it is based. Everyone 'knew' that the world was flat for a while.
I understand perfectly what both of you are stating, and both comments are also well-written. I am looking forward to perusing your data.