Pet battles, the solution to Cataclysm

| Monday, December 2, 2013
I admit it, I like pet battles. I like them more than I like doing Mount Hyjal more than once. It turns out they give a decent bit of xp. It's not a fast way to level, but it's a non-Hyjal way to level.

I don't like the PvP, mind you. My pets don't seem to be very good yet, since while I have a good selection of pets, my level 25 selection is limited. Someday though, I may enjoy it. I have this notion that I'll be able to watch what I tend to face and adapt accordingly. A bit of vorfreude.

In the meantime, I've been fighting NPC battles. It's been a romp around the world. At fight I'd think of what pet I was lacking and fly out to get it. Then I got all efficiency-oriented. Optimization is, for me, a form of fun, particularly when I'm the one working out the method. I like puzzles.

I switched methods to instead going to a zone and identifying those pets that are at their highest level in that zone. Once I have one of each of those I move on to the next. This minimizes leveling, since that can be somewhat tedious if done for its own sake. If I happen to get a rare that isn't of the highest level I still capture it, since a rat in the hand is worth ten thousand poor qualities in the bush. As I move along I switch pets in and out to fit the zone, thereby pushing everyone upward a little bit each time.

I've learned that strong against and weak against aren't absolutes. Thorns might have lower damage against critters, but critters often do lots of small attacks, meaning lots of triggers. They are strong against mechanicals, but mechanicals often use single large attacks. Similarly, while fliers are strong against aquatics, their rapid, small attacks can be greatly reduced by a shell shield. A critter fighting something with a shell shield is a joke, with swarms entirely negated.

As with all things that involve moving around a lot, a druid is great to have, popping in and out of flight form in an instant to hop over enemies and hop to pets. I pick up herbs along the way, which give a whopping more than 100 experience each. Astounding, I know. But it all adds up. It all adds up to my druid being 81 and a quarter without yet recovering Frandral from the cave, though I did do everything up to that. A few instances might help too. I rather enjoy Blackrock Caverns.

3 comments:

Kring said...

They should also reward XP for leveling up a profession, to spicy it up a bit.

Cuppy said...

I am in the same boat you are, being level 80 and just dipped into Hyjal. Question though -- why is Hyjal so bad and too be avoided? Is it just because you've done it too many times? Genuinely curious. :)

Klepsacovic said...

@Kring: As long as WoW uses a level-based zone system, I don't think adding more non-quest/kill xp sources is a good idea. The leveling curve is already thrown way off. But maybe it's as the old saying goes, "If it's broken, you might as well use it for target practice."

@Cuppy: Hyjal isn't a bad zone by any means. There isn't anything that I can point to and say "that's bad", such as my hatred of underwater combat (Vash'jir) or excessive cutscenes (Uldum). There aren't any stupid gimmicks such as vehicle fights that I can recall, beside the three rounds of flying jousting, but I found that somewhat fun anyway.

The linear nature of it doesn't harm the first or second playthrough, and is probably a good way to tell a story (as far as quest story-telling goes), but it also means that the zone gets old that much more quickly. A less linear zone at least allows for different orders of completion, which somehow makes a big difference for me.

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