We have all had that annoying problem of training a pet all the way to epic or mega, thinking the pet will get the exact talent(s) that you want. Then, you are sad to see that instead of spell proof, that final ward, dealer for your school, or even may cast fairy, you get a nice health boost or mana boost, or even your school's boon damage talent. What I'm getting at is, it is incredibly annoying to spend all the mega snacks you have gathered from gardening on a pet, just for it to fail at mega. Now, obviously you shouldn't be able to just pick whatever talents you want out of the pool, because that would just be pointless and would eliminate hatching for talents. My solution, however, is, when you get your pet all the way to ultra, you should have the option of changing one of the talents that you have gotten previously into something in the pool that hasn't appeared yet. I don't believe that this will significantly hinder pet training at all. In fact, it would create an incentive to continue training your pets after it fails or after you get it to mega. As of now, the only thing training a pet to ultra is good for is to socket a better jewel. Where this falls short is when the player doesn't have the jewel to socket (i.e.: spell proof opal, critical striker opal, etc.), or when the player feels that they're "just fine" with the talent they have gotten, because they don't want to train the pet all the way to ultra. I believe that this would significantly impact the game in a positive way, and would make it more fun for many players that have been disappointed that all their hard work has, in a way, gone to waste. I look forward to hearing feedback about this suggestion, and I encourage KI to listen to the players if this is something they would like to have incorporated into the game.
As it currently stands, I see ZERO reason to go through the agony of training to Ultra. What's the point? Getting a random gem? Yeah, there are battles, dungeons, crafting and crown packs for that. Why waste 2000 training for basically nothing. No extra jewel socket, no extra talent? No point.
But give me the chance to actually change a stat, to add an extra stat or jewel socket, or to lock in a stat for breeding purposes....? That would be an incentive.
(Another thing I wish is that KI would allow us to 'preview' the next stat using crowns, that way I can decide ahead of time if I want to use up my pet snacks or not. The higher the training level, the more crowns they charge, but I'd rather see a useless talent on tap before I waste dozens of pet snacks, rather than take the risk only to be disappointed in the end.)
Alia Misthaven