Thoughts on pet countering terminology

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Paladance
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Thoughts on pet countering terminology

Post by Paladance » October 31st, 2015, 2:02 am

I'm aware that real counters are called this way:

Hard counter -- a pet using attacks that the other pet is vulnerable to.
Example: A [pet]Young Talbuk[/pet] using [ability]Horn Gore[/ability] against a [pet]Rat[/pet]
Soft counter -- a pet resistant to the other pet's attacks:
Example: A [pet]Darkmoon Zeppelin[/pet] is resistant to all [pet]Arcane Eye[/pet]'s attacks
Double counter -- a pet both resistant and harmful to the opponent
Example: A [pet]Lil' Bad Wolf[/pet] -- resistant to [pet]Black Lamb[/pet] -- using [ability]Claw[/ability]

I also wonder if are there names for the other, not exactly desired dependencies?
Apart from "total fail" situations where we just focus on the other pet, there are also two "middle" cases:

1. A situation when both pets are the hard counters of each other.
Partially a good thing to keep in mind when we can't know what pets are the opponents.
Example: [pet]Widget the Departed[/pet] is vulnerable to [pet]Black Lamb[/pet]'s attacks, but can take a revenge using [ability]Pounce[/ability].
So how to call each of them? A blood counter, maybe?
A [pet]Teroclaw Hatchling[/pet] is a blood counter of default aquatic pets when using [ability]Nature's Ward[/ability].
2. A situation when both pets are the soft counters to each other.
Quite difficult to meet and not desirable anyway.
Example: It's so hard to find that I need to ignore some possible abilities, but [pet]Kirin Tor Familiar[/pet] and [pet]Darkmoon Zeppelin[/pet].
A --- counter? No idea about this one. :)

I don't know how to end this post so I just wish you that you had a nice day. :D
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Jerebear
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Re: Thoughts on pet countering terminology

Post by Jerebear » October 31st, 2015, 9:20 am

I've always been under the impression:

Soft counter - A pet that either takes less damage from another or that deals more damage to another
Hard counter - A pet that both takes less damage from another and deals more damage to it as well.

or in a less wordy manner:
Single counter (defense OR damage) = soft counter
Double counter (defense AND damage) = hard counter
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Re: Thoughts on pet countering terminology

Post by Paladance » October 31st, 2015, 10:13 am

This is what I've found on the Disco's website.
http://pvppetbattles.com/guides/creating-a-team/

Not to call him an oracle, of course.

But this only multiplies the questions, if you ask me! Thank you. :)
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Re: Thoughts on pet countering terminology

Post by Vakeetah » November 2nd, 2015, 7:54 pm

Never thought of giving them a name, to be honest!

Always said "counter" for pets that deal bonus damage, and "double counter" for pets that are also resistant. As for pets that are only resistant... eeh... I don't think I've ever called them anything. I just pick them as the "least bad" option when a proper counter is missing, although their resistance is a counter on its own.

If we get picky, there could be a massive amount of layers to countering. For example, a pet with [ability]Flurry[/ability] will be a more effective counter to a pet with [ability]Decoy[/ability], even with a bonus damage source, simply due to removing their defensive ability - whereas a "proper" counter pet could struggle with bringing the barrier down.

Similar case with abilities like [ability]Dodge[/ability], where the theoretically best counter may not perform as well if there's a speed difference. Or in the case of pets with crowd-control, you could also take speed into account, or consider a Critters a counter - even if they weren't necessarily resistant to that pet's damage - simply due to the fact that they'll perform better than the "strong" pets due to not missing any rounds.

In the end, you can call anything a counter, but there are so many degrees of countering that things can get out of hand really quick.
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