Wednesday (13 Feb) - Raising the Little Ones

Wednesday (13 Feb) - Raising the Little Ones

[Note: Hmm, it seems I forgot to post this earlier.]

Tuesday night the Sin and Wild families did some pet battle dueling. Using our stables of level 25 battle pets, we competed against each other in three-on-three pet battles on the field in Pandaria. It was both an eye opening and humbling performance as Sin's pets won several victories in a row.

There are three key elements to winning a pet battle: (1) have a powerful pet, of course; (2) get the right matchup so that your pet's best abilities are Strong against the opponent, and your opponent's abilities are Weak against you; (3) and finally, plan your strategy and your moves so that your best attacks connect (offense) and your opponent's best attacks fail (defense).

The best way to achieve the above is to learn every pet type ability and which types are strong and weak against each other. There are ten pet types with Strong and Weak tendencies, and each type also has a unique ability that has a heavy affect on the outcome as well when used properly. Pets can use three different abilities during a battle, out of a choice of six. That is another important decision that depends on all those other factors. It's simple game to play, but the strategy is actually quite complex. Competing against the computer is child's play compared to a real opponent.

The Wild family did improve (largely by learning from Sin), won a few battles, and became a bit more competitive.  There were some down-to-the-wire fights that were also pretty exciting. I believe we played more than a dozen battles.

On the not so good front, I've been stuck in Northrend trying to finish the Tamer quest there. The last Tamer is Gutretch, and it's been glitched. I finally sent in a ticket to get it fixed, and I got back an email saying it had been fixed. Will have to check that out.

Update: Talking with a GM right now (Wednesday). So far he has reset Gutretch four times and still hasn't fixed the problem.

Update 2: It's getting worse. All of my battle pet quests are gooned up, and the GM can't reset or even force them to be abandoned. It stems from when I was given the Kalimdor quest twice, when the quest should only have been offered once.

Update 3: After some more testing, the GM finally gave up. The problem is being turned over to the developers, with a "who knows" how long that will take to resolve. I then got the standard, well "is there anything else I can help you with?" So I asked for a flawless battle stone for the aggravation. His first response was "Aim high" with a smile. Then he said that his overseer keeps a tight grip on those. I pressed the issue, respectfully, and he wouldn't budge. He tried to get out of it by saying he did not have the option to provide it.

Update 4: I was denied a stone. To be fair, he did offer game time to compensate for the lost time. A couple of bucks doesn't really compensate for the time lost. In the end, I told him to "Just fix it."

Update 5: I've sent an email directly to the CEO of Blizzard.

I wasn't in much of a mood for more pet battles. I still need to level my Moonkin Hatchling (level 23) and Alpine Foxling (23). Among the little ones I need to level is my new Peddlefeet. I was surprised and excited yesterday morning when Happy opened the mail. Sin had sent a Truesilver Shafted Arrow, which is used to learn and summon a pet called Peddlefeet. This is a rare pet only available during the "Love is in the Air" week of Valentine's. Peddlefeet is one of the hardest hitting battle pets in the game. He'll probably be nerfed when patch 5.2 comes, but until then I intend to get him to level 25 and do some real damage. Many, many thanks for sending him to me!!!!

Update on leveling:
Alpine Foxling - from level 23 to 25 (Beast)
Effervescent Glowfly - from level 22 to 25 (Flying)
Peddlefeet - from level 1 to 25 (Humanoid)

I now have 11 level 25s. I have a level 25 for nine of the ten types. The one type I'm missing is Undead. I initially began leveling the Ghostly Skull, getting him up to level 15, but I haven't been too impressed, particularly with a terrible third level ability that makes the pet stun itself. I also have Frosty (level 11) to consider.