Pre-patch Scourge event - bring back the Vampiric Batling plz!

[Wezmerelda]

What do you think the chances are that Blizzard adds the original Vampiric Batling to the loot tables somewhere in the Shadowlands pre-patch Scourge Event? I'm thinking pretty low, but for this pet collector who started after Wrath was released, I'd be SUPER STOKED!

[Nicrot]

This was one of the first things I was wondering about too when I heard about the new Scourge event. I personally also think the chance is quite low, but you never know. So far though only the first stage of the event has been up for testing, so who knows, maybe in one of the later stages there will be a way. I guess all we can do is just wait and hope XD.

[FuxieDK]

Well, the Spirit of Competition haven't returned even though 5 Olympics have been held after 2008, where it was introduced.

[Aerozia]

spirit of competition was for certain people of certain ethnicity if i remember correctly.

[FuxieDK]

spirit of competition was for certain people of certain ethnicity if i remember correctly.

It was for all.... All that did BGs anyway, which I refused to do at the time..

There was a 1:8 chance to receive it, when you won a BG.

[Khorah]

I would love this. I missed this as it was one of my few breaks in WoW

[Mehetabel]

Unpopular opinion, but I think special pets like that should be left rare and not brought back.

[Rioriel]

Unpopular opinion, but I think special pets like that should be left rare and not brought back.

Agreed.

There’s items I can’t ever get because I either missed the event or wasn’t eligible. I don’t HAVE to collect EVERYTHING, all I can try to do is collect what is AVAILABLE. Can mark those that are unattainable on the excluded list and move on with my life.

[Crazypants]

Unpopular opinion, but I think special pets like that should be left rare and not brought back.

100% agreed. Ive missed a few over the years and Im ok with that. I dont want to see this hobby watered down by reintroducing old event specific pets. Honestly this games been watered down enough as is.

[Anath]

I used to be in the same boat, keep the special event pets as a unique thing for the people who were able to be there; but now after they reintroduced TCG to BMAH, and are bringing back the MoP collector edition pets to the store... They clearly aren't opposed to the idea. Either they shouldn't have brought back these things, or they go all out and add the rest. I think it wouldn't hurt to revisit pets like:
Poley + Mr Chilly (winter pet? or anniversary reward?),
Lil Onyxia (to celebrate the classic servers reopening ),
Spirit of Competition (that would have been great for Japan's 2020 olympics)
and the Vampiric Batling would fit in really well with shadowlands being released.

[Digem]

Unpopular opinion, but I think special pets like that should be left rare and not brought back.

i have most pets and 100% disagree with this as i am a collector first and foremost and having things one cant collect is dumb.
now could they make it have a color change and only those that got the original haver that version ok fine its a compromise but to have no way of getting something is dumb

[Nearlysober]

Unpopular opinion, but I think special pets like that should be left rare and not brought back.

i have most pets and 100% disagree with this as i am a collector first and foremost and having things one cant collect is dumb.
now could they make it have a color change and only those that got the original haver that version ok fine its a compromise but to have no way of getting something is dumb

Special pets that were limited time, it's fine to keep them rare. So long as they do not have a unique move-set that would give people an unfair advantage... you never know when a certain move-set might become extremely important in a future bet battle scenario.

Look at the "Onyxian Whelpling" for example: Rare & no longer obtainable. But the "Spawn of Onyxia" has the exact same move set albeit slightly different stats at max level. Even has the exact same model.

But the rarity of having the Onyxian is just cosmetic in name (and pet count)... which is fine. Its for people who were there.

[Digem]

Unpopular opinion, but I think special pets like that should be left rare and not brought back.

i have most pets and 100% disagree with this as i am a collector first and foremost and having things one cant collect is dumb.
now could they make it have a color change and only those that got the original haver that version ok fine its a compromise but to have no way of getting something is dumb

Special pets that were limited time, it's fine to keep them rare. So long as they do not have a unique move-set that would give people an unfair advantage... you never know when a certain move-set might become extremely important in a future bet battle scenario.

Look at the "Onyxian Whelpling" for example: Rare & no longer obtainable. But the "Spawn of Onyxia" has the exact same move set albeit slightly different stats at max level. Even has the exact same model.

But the rarity of having the Onyxian is just cosmetic in name (and pet count)... which is fine. Its for people who were there.

which then discourages future collectors and doesnt help with growth

[Nagini]

I think what matters to me is that if they decide to return pets, how they do it. Blizzard has recently re-introduced many items that were once no longer obtainable, for example the Nax T3 gear. For both the spirit of competition and the vamperic batling, the window of opportunity for getting them was really narrow, and over a decade ago. It's rare not because it was hard to get during the time it was available, but because a lot of players who got it at the time no longer play. As someone who only started playing late-Wotlk, and didn't have the opportunity to get them, I think it would be nice to get that opportunity, under the conditions that the re-introduction is appropriate. Another scourge event for the vamperic batling makes sense, as would a new olympics event for the spirit of competition. What I wouldn't want is some vendor or permanent thing, unrelated to the original source.

If it's about showing off how long you've played wow, I think there's other and better items to do that with.

[Crazypants]

Blizzard has recently re-introduced many items that were once no longer obtainable, for example the Nax T3 gear.

Going off my failing memory T3 has been on the BMA since at least 2013 maybe earlier. I'm curious to what your definition is of "recently re-introduced" is and if you had any more actual recent examples.

[Vhale]

Personally I always liked how UO handled things like this. In that game, each anniversary you'd get a pop up and you could choose from a list of rewards. Each year, one choice. So say:

Year 1: Murky, Diablo, Panda (transmog/mount), Exalt a rep token, raid tmog
Year 2: Chilly, Netherwhelp, Vampiric Batling (transmog/mount), Exalt a rep token, raid tmog
Year 3: Dyeable armor, Poley, Spirit of Competition, (transmog/mount), Exalt a rep token, raid tmog
Year 4, Thundering Hatchling, etc etc

So first Anniversary you get to choose 1 thing from rank 1.
2nd Anniversary you get to choose 1 from rank 1 and 1 from rank 2. And so forth. All items were tradeable. It gave people a vet reward and a little economic boost if you didn't care about any of them. Basically, there was a plan. Consistency in the plan. And it catered both to collectors and sellers as well as being a Vet reward for loyalty. Blizzard is more of a chance into the moment type of company though.

[Scottie81]

which then discourages future collectors and doesnt help with growth

I have a few unobtainable pets and I've missed a few easy ones as well. Now that I focus on pet collecting, FOMO is what keeps me encouraged to maintain the collection. In my case, I'd be discouraged if all pets suddenly just became available.

[Digem]

which then discourages future collectors and doesnt help with growth

I have a few unobtainable pets and I've missed a few easy ones as well. Now that I focus on pet collecting, FOMO is what keeps me encouraged to maintain the collection. In my case, I'd be discouraged if all pets suddenly just became available.

and i know multiple friends in game that either stopped or wont start pet collecting because they cant get the ones they want

[Annieb]

As someone who has a fairly extensive collection, I wouldn't be offended or salty if others could collect the retired/unobtainable pets. I think it's a shame that vampiric batling, spirit of competition, and the others are not obtainable by any method anymore. They even have the mechanics available in game to make it an easy fix (with Zidormi for example).

Things that get MORE people collecting are good imo. (and I'd be sad if I couldn't ever hope to pick up the pets I was missing). I would love to be able to buy/acquire the iCoke pets region locked ones for example... but at least we got other colors of them; Blizz listened to feedback on those...

[Scottie81]

which then discourages future collectors and doesnt help with growth

I have a few unobtainable pets and I've missed a few easy ones as well. Now that I focus on pet collecting, FOMO is what keeps me encouraged to maintain the collection. In my case, I'd be discouraged if all pets suddenly just became available.

and i know multiple friends in game that either stopped or wont start pet collecting because they cant get the ones they want

I know multiple friends in game that actively pursue their collections because some items occasionally become unavailable. So...there?

Neither of our anecdotal data point(s) are going to prove your theory that making unavailable pets available again would foster growth in the pet community. You need random sample of players polled to find out how many people NOT collecting would start upon this change and how many people CURRENTLY collecting would lose interest.