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Reflections & Suggestions on Pet System

AuthorMessage
Survivor
Jul 29, 2011
9
In 2009 Professor Greyrose asked the Wizard101 Central community what they wanted for their pets. (http://www.wizard101central.com/forums/showthread.php?5679-You-and-Your-Wizard101-Pet) Some said they wanted to interact with their pets. Others said they wanted to teach their pets how to cast spells, so their pets could be like minions helping them in battle.

Now, four years later, we have a more advanced pet system, but not exactly what many people were hoping for.

The minigames don't provide the level of interaction that people were asking for. Taking your pet for walks through the Spiral, tossing your pet a snack, hugging your pet, this would be interaction; but watching your pet run through a maze in the Maze Game or dancing around in the Dance Game is not interaction. Worse, the minigames have become so tedious that many people now fail the pet-games on purpose in order to get to the feeding part.

The whole idea of "pet-training" has become corrupted. In real life you don't force snacks down your pet's throat and hope that it learns a useful skill. You actually interact with it; you train it to learn a useful skill. In fact, the very idea of "pet" has become corrupted. Pets are basically weapons now. Pets are not intelligent creatures who can learn and change; they are items that either are or aren't what you need. Pets are not animate beings who can be hurt or killed; they are weapons that can be sold and discarded. Isn't there something wrong with this picture?

It can take 20 hatches or more to achieve a pet with a competitive talent-set. Many people don't have the heart to discard their hundreds of failed pets. Wouldn't it save you a lot of server space if we didn't have to have so many failed pets?

Earlier this year I asked the Wizard101 Central community: What if we could have a way to improve the "same" pet, instead of churning out a series of "different" pets?(http://www.wizard101central.com/forums/showthread.php?341684-That-Feeling-of-quot-Waste-quot)

Here is a summary of some of the more promising ideas that I hope you will consider:

1) pet talent quests with an absorbing storyline

2) older pets being able to "teach" talents---which I propose renaming "skills"---to newer pets. So, if a child had a pet that they really loved, say, Gummy the dinosaur, instead of hatching Gummy with some other pet and then having to train a new baby pet all over again---a new pet that would replace Gummy---they could, instead, take Gummy to a "teacher" and have Gummy learn new skills. Next to the Hatchery there could be an Academy.

3) allowing pets to gain xp from walks and battles

Finally, when pets help us in battle, they shouldn't be like machines casting spells automatically. We should be able to interact with them.

Sincerely,
Stephanie

Geographer
Mar 12, 2013
923
I like the idea of pets able to learn new skills by observing you. Means if your adult pet doesn't have the 2 top desired traits in their gene pool, they are not just garbage, you can take them with you and they get a chance to learn more stuff.

Hatching is for genotype, training + learning/mentoring in battle is for phenotype. Seeing you cast spells of a certain type will eventually unlock talents that closely match the spell type. E.g. your pet has potential spritely and sees you healing yourself a lot in battle. this may lead to him manifesting spritely.

Another example: Your pet is mega and has five solid abilities, but you want a sixth from its existing talent pool. You know one of the unmanifested talents is accuracy boost. It can eventually manifest accuracy boost if your fizzle rate is above a level-matched average of all wizards of your school/level range.

For instance, if you're lvl 70 storm and the average accuracy for all lvl 65-75 storms is about 83% but yours is at 72%, it will have a high likelihood of manifesting an accuracy booster as sixth talent after you have it equipped in battle for several hours. Or, it could watch for you to use spells like Sniper, Precision, Guidance, and Infallible. The more you use these, the more likely the pet is to "get your drift" and self-train accuracy boost.

Only potential talents already in the pet's gene pool can be trained this way. And watching for spells you cast in battle will prevent obvious abuse to exploit e.g. taking off good gear and going into battles wearing weak gear to nerf your stats.

Defender
Feb 16, 2010
193
i love all my pets and i agree with you. they kinda have turned into weapons. but however if you look at it another way it seems like there just trying to help. i agree with the interacting thing though. its just games, walking, and dancing for us. thats basically it. they should also make hatching easier. we all love our pets but you can only put so many in a area even if you have more room in your house. ( i found that out recently when i moved into a new house and tried to put a bunch outside to greet me when i walked down the ramp) i also like the idea where you teach them new tricks. this idea sounds like allot of fun.... i do disagree with shooting your beloved pet out of a cannon. (once accidentally pressed the wrong button in dragonspyre and he went flying into the lava) thats all for now folks (Warner Brothers)

- jack skullbreeze master of fire

Delver
Jan 13, 2010
267
Stephanie Darkhear... on Jul 8, 2013 wrote:
In 2009 Professor Greyrose asked the Wizard101 Central community what they wanted for their pets. (http://www.wizard101central.com/forums/showthread.php?5679-You-and-Your-Wizard101-Pet) Some said they wanted to interact with their pets. Others said they wanted to teach their pets how to cast spells, so their pets could be like minions helping them in battle.

Now, four years later, we have a more advanced pet system, but not exactly what many people were hoping for.

The minigames don't provide the level of interaction that people were asking for. Taking your pet for walks through the Spiral, tossing your pet a snack, hugging your pet, this would be interaction; but watching your pet run through a maze in the Maze Game or dancing around in the Dance Game is not interaction. Worse, the minigames have become so tedious that many people now fail the pet-games on purpose in order to get to the feeding part.

The whole idea of "pet-training" has become corrupted. In real life you don't force snacks down your pet's throat and hope that it learns a useful skill. You actually interact with it; you train it to learn a useful skill. In fact, the very idea of "pet" has become corrupted. Pets are basically weapons now. Pets are not intelligent creatures who can learn and change; they are items that either are or aren't what you need. Pets are not animate beings who can be hurt or killed; they are weapons that can be sold and discarded. Isn't there something wrong with this picture?

It can take 20 hatches or more to achieve a pet with a competitive talent-set. Many people don't have the heart to discard their hundreds of failed pets. Wouldn't it save you a lot of server space if we didn't have to have so many failed pets?

Earlier this year I asked the Wizard101 Central community: What if we could have a way to improve the "same" pet, instead of churning out a series of "different" pets?(http://www.wizard101central.com/forums/showthread.php?341684-That-Feeling-of-quot-Waste-quot)

Here is a summary of some of the more promising ideas that I hope you will consider:

1) pet talent quests with an absorbing storyline

2) older pets being able to "teach" talents---which I propose renaming "skills"---to newer pets. So, if a child had a pet that they really loved, say, Gummy the dinosaur, instead of hatching Gummy with some other pet and then having to train a new baby pet all over again---a new pet that would replace Gummy---they could, instead, take Gummy to a "teacher" and have Gummy learn new skills. Next to the Hatchery there could be an Academy.

3) allowing pets to gain xp from walks and battles

Finally, when pets help us in battle, they shouldn't be like machines casting spells automatically. We should be able to interact with them.

Sincerely,
Stephanie
This, this is awesome! This is the best idea anyone has ever had! If pets could do that, I would like them a great deal more! I wouldn't hatch for a million dollars. If only that could happen (sigh). I really do hope KI will consider this, and maybe in Aquila it will b updated. You don't know how much this idea will totally bang on my head if it doesn't happen! :)

Cole Dunerunner Lvl 90 Balance

PS. KI, I know you guys will check this message, so please consider it!

Hero
Jul 30, 2012
771
This is an excellent post by Stephanie and follow-up by Crunkatog, which I agree with 100%.

I expect players that have not yet hatched/trained 20+ pets in an effort to create an effective pet for the higher worlds will not fully appreciate this thread. On other threads I have seen people posting about how selfish talents aren't really all that bad, and with enough training all pets can be made to be great companions in wizard101. Nice thoughts for first arc and non-pvp activities.

I really like the idea of being able to change a pet over time improving its talents and making it better... even if it starts out with crumby talents. The mechanism to do this might cost lots of time, gold and effort... but thats okay. Defintely better than having many many dozens of useless "garbage" pets that are of no use to anybody except to fill spaces in your castles.

Adding fun non-combat skills to a pet would also be really nice, decreasing its intent as a pure weapon and shaping it more into a helpful friendly companion. Very helpful non-combat skills that could be learned could include:

- may cast spell: restore x% of health during non combat
- may cast spell: restore x% of mana during non-combat
- go fetch a health sprite
- run to specified location and stay
- act as a portal point (ability to port to pet)
- return to owner
- roll over, dance, jump (okay, just fun actions)
- carry extra items (additional slots to your backpack)

~ RH

Defender
Sep 10, 2011
191
Nice post Stephanie, I do feel the same way with how things are with regards to our pets. I still keep my first ever pet running around my first wizards house. My satyr named "King Elvis" gave me my first ever healing pet talent that led to several good hatches and perfect pets.

" pet talent quests with an absorbing storyline "

Pets should "learn" new talents and gain XP while traveling with our wizards. Going back to having an absorbing storyline, If I may add, can we not have quests that will give our pets chances to "gain" a useful talent after finishing one?

An improvement with the pet system alone can give W101 the boost it needs. Why can't we even see them getting bigger from baby to mega?


-----Prometheans----------

Survivor
Jul 29, 2011
9
RottenHeart on Jul 13, 2013 wrote:
This is an excellent post by Stephanie and follow-up by Crunkatog, which I agree with 100%.

I expect players that have not yet hatched/trained 20+ pets in an effort to create an effective pet for the higher worlds will not fully appreciate this thread. On other threads I have seen people posting about how selfish talents aren't really all that bad, and with enough training all pets can be made to be great companions in wizard101. Nice thoughts for first arc and non-pvp activities.

I really like the idea of being able to change a pet over time improving its talents and making it better... even if it starts out with crumby talents. The mechanism to do this might cost lots of time, gold and effort... but thats okay. Defintely better than having many many dozens of useless "garbage" pets that are of no use to anybody except to fill spaces in your castles.

Adding fun non-combat skills to a pet would also be really nice, decreasing its intent as a pure weapon and shaping it more into a helpful friendly companion. Very helpful non-combat skills that could be learned could include:

- may cast spell: restore x% of health during non combat
- may cast spell: restore x% of mana during non-combat
- go fetch a health sprite
- run to specified location and stay
- act as a portal point (ability to port to pet)
- return to owner
- roll over, dance, jump (okay, just fun actions)
- carry extra items (additional slots to your backpack)

~ RH
Oh my goodness yes!!! Those are brilliant ideas. I hadn't even thought of pets possibly learning non-combat skills, that's how sadly accustomed I am to the idea of pets as weapons lol---even while trying to think outside the box.

And on a slightly related note: Pet derby ought to be more interactive too!! It should be like PvP where we can go watch our friends and cheer them on. If people could only watch Derby matches and cheer on the pets, it would be a whole lot more interactive and less like an isolated video-game.

Survivor
Nov 27, 2009
4
Stephanie Darkhear... on Jul 8, 2013 wrote:
In 2009 Professor Greyrose asked the Wizard101 Central community what they wanted for their pets. (http://www.wizard101central.com/forums/showthread.php?5679-You-and-Your-Wizard101-Pet) Some said they wanted to interact with their pets. Others said they wanted to teach their pets how to cast spells, so their pets could be like minions helping them in battle.

Now, four years later, we have a more advanced pet system, but not exactly what many people were hoping for.

The minigames don't provide the level of interaction that people were asking for. Taking your pet for walks through the Spiral, tossing your pet a snack, hugging your pet, this would be interaction; but watching your pet run through a maze in the Maze Game or dancing around in the Dance Game is not interaction. Worse, the minigames have become so tedious that many people now fail the pet-games on purpose in order to get to the feeding part.

The whole idea of "pet-training" has become corrupted. In real life you don't force snacks down your pet's throat and hope that it learns a useful skill. You actually interact with it; you train it to learn a useful skill. In fact, the very idea of "pet" has become corrupted. Pets are basically weapons now. Pets are not intelligent creatures who can learn and change; they are items that either are or aren't what you need. Pets are not animate beings who can be hurt or killed; they are weapons that can be sold and discarded. Isn't there something wrong with this picture?

It can take 20 hatches or more to achieve a pet with a competitive talent-set. Many people don't have the heart to discard their hundreds of failed pets. Wouldn't it save you a lot of server space if we didn't have to have so many failed pets?

Earlier this year I asked the Wizard101 Central community: What if we could have a way to improve the "same" pet, instead of churning out a series of "different" pets?(http://www.wizard101central.com/forums/showthread.php?341684-That-Feeling-of-quot-Waste-quot)

Here is a summary of some of the more promising ideas that I hope you will consider:

1) pet talent quests with an absorbing storyline

2) older pets being able to "teach" talents---which I propose renaming "skills"---to newer pets. So, if a child had a pet that they really loved, say, Gummy the dinosaur, instead of hatching Gummy with some other pet and then having to train a new baby pet all over again---a new pet that would replace Gummy---they could, instead, take Gummy to a "teacher" and have Gummy learn new skills. Next to the Hatchery there could be an Academy.

3) allowing pets to gain xp from walks and battles

Finally, when pets help us in battle, they shouldn't be like machines casting spells automatically. We should be able to interact with them.

Sincerely,
Stephanie
I think this is a great idea - essentially, allow pets to "grow into" their talents and have potential and customization, regardless of the "egg." I think there are at least two great reasons to do something like this:

1. Remove some tedium and frustration: I've done some hatching/training... man, is that dreary stuff. I agree, the games are not interactive with the pet, are essentially basic "farming" tasks, and lack the variety and story elements of the main game. I wouldn't say the "pet system" in general is currently a large enhancement to the game, as much as a set of chores one does to gain a pet "item".

2. Related to that; I think this would allow more personalization and connection with the pet. And frankly, it simply emulates a less cruelly efficient system, especially for my kids, for instance. While I wouldn't call it "traumatic" I do find it odd if the "lesson" on pets for the kids is "hatch a new, cute dragon! And, if it lacks sufficient skill and talent... destroy the useless thing, and go hatch another cute dragon, because pets are disposable, and if they don't measure up, they are without hope of redemption, easily cast aside, and replaced." Hope they don't get that idea with our three Guinea Pigs.

That just seems a bit... dunno, inhumane to the poor virtual beasts ;)

Delver
Mar 10, 2009
236
These ideas are just wonderful . I really hope they can be incorporated. I have SO many pets that just had one too many useless traits to be re hatchable (How DO you wean out an unwanted trait anyway?) . I would love to be able to pull off that unwanted trait and have a way to retrain that pet and give it a chance to manifest one of its other traits in it's DNA. But please, not more mini games. They are mind numbingly boring as it is. I am one of those that has discovered it is quicker to fail on purpose (in spite of the disappointed looks get from my pet) and just feed the treat, then to go through the boring game again. In spite of the fact that I listen to podcasts to lighten the tedium, it is the worst part of this game.
These ideas are marvelous and I will cast my wizard's hat into the ring to support this one.

Geographer
Sep 07, 2011
823
"- go fetch a health sprite
- run to specified location and stay
- act as a portal point (ability to port to pet)
- return to owner
- roll over, dance, jump (okay, just fun actions)
- carry extra items (additional slots to your backpack)"

Those are super good ideas!

" if it lacks sufficient skill and talent... destroy the useless thing, and go hatch another cute dragon, because pets are disposable, and if they don't measure up, they are without hope of redemption, easily cast aside"

There is no need to destroy them. You can sell unneeded pets to the pet shop, prospector Zeke, or other vendors. The kids can think of it as "finding good homes for our extra pets" not casting them aside.