Pet battle Declines and Insta-flees

[Bloodykins]

Is anyone noticing a much higher occurence of either Pet Battle declinations or insta-flees ?

It seems to be really really bad the past 2 days (Oceania).

[Ranok]

Possibly more people catching on to the easier way to grind out the Stunted Direhorn achievement -- work with a friend. Queue up for a pet battle at the same time and good chance you'll end up facing each other, then can take turns winning. If you don't recognize the team you find yourself facing, forfeit. Or if battle ready for one of you but not the other, decline.

Folks I've chatted with that use this technique don't consider it cheating. They don't find pet PvP enjoyable and are sick of facing the same meta-teams over and over, but really want that Direhorn for their collection.

[Darolyn]

That...I never thought of doing that. Queuing with a friend to get that darned pet.

Hmm...I'm up to 11 wins lol

[Paladance]

I once saw a player with Graves who forfeited.
One would think that these players don't exist, but actually it makes sense if they don't make a plan B and just pray for the completely unprepared.
(I didn't have a counter-AoE team, just two aquatics :p)

[Synjah]

I usually leave instantly when I see someone using Graves ... be more original people ... seriously. I won't even waste my time. Have your easy win .. that's all you want anyway.

[Paladance]

I usually leave instantly when I see someone using Graves ... be more original people ... seriously. I won't even waste my time. Have your easy win .. that's all you want anyway.

But this would only encourage them to continue that.

And he isn't unbeatable, especially when he has a pretty bad backup because "who cares since he does everything alone lol".

[Ranok]

Neat thing about the "cheat" where couple of friends, especially like two family members in same room, do the thing where they queue up for pet battles at same time, not really harming other players. In fact, when they don't get matched and forfeit, means couple of other folks get their wins on the way to the Stunted Direhorn.

The guys that heavy into the Achieve stuff, with their almost-always-win Graves team, get their forfeits too so hopefully will get achieve and get bored and go do something else.

[Maleric]

I usually leave instantly when I see someone using Graves ... be more original people ... seriously. I won't even waste my time. Have your easy win .. that's all you want anyway.

But this would only encourage them to continue that.

And he isn't unbeatable, especially when he has a pretty bad backup because "who cares since he does everything alone lol".

I think leaving may encourage people who are using Graves to get to the 5k achievement, but it probably discourages anyone who actually wants to play a game. Personally, I leave most of the time when I see Graves, too. Not because I don't think I have a chance to win, but rather as a boycott of Graves teams.

[Stark]

I usually leave instantly when I see someone using Graves ... be more original people ... seriously. I won't even waste my time. Have your easy win .. that's all you want anyway.

But this would only encourage them to continue that.

And he isn't unbeatable, especially when he has a pretty bad backup because "who cares since he does everything alone lol".

I think leaving may encourage people who are using Graves to get to the 5k achievement, but it probably discourages anyone who actually wants to play a game. Personally, I leave most of the time when I see Graves, too. Not because I don't think I have a chance to win, but rather as a boycott of Graves teams.

Hardly boycotting. They want a quick win. That why they're using a cheap op pet like graves with undead aoe spam. The only way to boycott Graves would be to afk, but it's still a win for them and unsportsmanlike like. That's why I run several teams that are anti aoe because the best way to deal with graves teams is to deny them their easy victory.

As for all these comments on working with a friend to complete 250, 1k and 5k pvp achievements... That's called win trading and should be against the rules. Doesn't matter if you hate pet pvp. I hate arenas, do you think it'd be fair if I win traded for a gladiator title?

Edit: so many posts ITT and especially the post below me are the reason pvp pet battling is so toxic. Why do you queue if you don't remotely enjoy it? And more so, knowing how your actions pollute it?

[Winstonwaterston]

Folks I've chatted with that use this technique don't consider it cheating. They don't find pet PvP enjoyable and are sick of facing the same meta-teams over and over, but really want that Direhorn for their collection.

I'm one of those people who just wants the Direhorn and doesn't find pet PvP enjoyable. Frankly, I love it when you forfeit me when you see Graves on my team. I just want to get to 250 wins and never engage in pet PvP again. (Until, of course, Blizzard awards a new pet for a new pet PvP achievement...)

Graves is not on my team because I'm looking for an easy win. He's on my team because the pre-built teams I see when surfing the web for strategies always seem to include him. I'll freely admit it: I'm not skilled enough at pet PvP to craft a team on my own, nor come up with a plan B.

It works both ways: As unskilled n00b in pet PvP, I often have my butt handed to me even when I use a team with Graves. If that happens, and I'm matched against the same team again, I'll forfeit immediately. It's not a enjoyable challenge for me to try to figure out a way to defeat that team. It's a waste of my time to engage in a battle against a more skilled opponent against whom I'm going to lose.

So please, yes, boycott me if you see my team. Let me get my 250 so I can get out of the pool, and let the skilled players enjoy themselves in peace.

[Paladance]

Hm, what or who would be good as a third for the defensive starting [pet]Silithid Hatchling[/pet] + [pet]Spectral Spinner[/pet]?

I'd need a balanced finisher rather than a tank.

With a P/S Bone Serpent, I had a draw with Graves + MPD + H/H Bone Serpent team as we couldn't swap the pets to eternity. Duh!

[Winstonwaterston]

To reply to Stark's edit: I'm a pet collector. Part of being a completist in WoW pet collecting is to do stuff you don't enjoy.

Unfortunately, Blizzard put a pet reward on a task that involves impacting other players. If I could grind/buy the Stunted Direhorn in a way that didn't affect your enjoyment of the game, I would. I can't. I don't have the skill.

It will be even worse in Legion, since there's a pet that can only be obtained by reaching level 50 in battleground PvP. I stink worse at that than I do at pet PvP. I'll do the best I can, but a slow n00b like me will be a drag on any PvP team I'm in.

In my partial defense, I'll point out that there are hundreds of top-end collectors on the leaderboards of warcraftpets. The vast majority of them have the Stunted Direhorn; without that pet it's hard to be on the leaderboards. So I'm far from the first collector to grind my way through the achievement, and I probably won't be the last.

So I repeat: If you see cookie-cutter AOE team and want to show your contempt for behavior like mine, just forfeit. It's the quickest way to lance the wound caused by collectors like me and get the toxicity out of the pet PvP system.

[Stark]

Hm, what or who would be good as a third for the defensive starting [pet]Silithid Hatchling[/pet] + [pet]Spectral Spinner[/pet]?

I'd need a balanced finisher rather than a tank.

With a P/S Bone Serpent, I had a draw with Graves + MPD + H/H Bone Serpent team as we couldn't swap the pets to eternity. Duh!

Depends on your other pet. Both are good candidates (Silithid has sandstorm which seriously hampers AoE/Spinner has a blind and when timed correctly can neutralize an AoE.)

My team is called "Who Turned out the Lights?" and is great for countering AoE Graves teams
S/S Nightshade Sproutling
P/S Bone Serpent
P/P Junglebeak

Always open with Nightshade (325 speed) and get a blind and darkness up. Swap to bone serpent and just lay waste to graves with Nocturnal Strike -> Call darkness. Also Junglebeak can rain dance -> belt out 1000+ Nocturnal Strike crits.

To reply to Stark's edit: I'm a pet collector. Part of being a completist in WoW pet collecting is to do stuff you don't enjoy.

Unfortunately, Blizzard put a pet reward on a task that involves impacting other players. If I could grind/buy the Stunted Direhorn in a way that didn't affect your enjoyment of the game, I would. I can't. I don't have the skill.

It will be even worse in Legion, since there's a pet that can only be obtained by reaching level 50 in battleground PvP. I stink worse at that than I do at pet PvP. I'll do the best I can, but a slow n00b like me will be a drag on any PvP team I'm in.

In my partial defense, I'll point out that there are hundreds of top-end collectors on the leaderboards of warcraftpets. The vast majority of them have the Stunted Direhorn; without that pet it's hard to be on the leaderboards. So I'm far from the first collector to grind my way through the achievement, and I probably won't be the last.

So I repeat: If you see cookie-cutter AOE team and want to show your contempt for behavior like mine, just forfeit. It's the quickest way to lance the wound caused by collectors like me and get the toxicity out of the pet PvP system.

I'm a mount collector completist. So does this mean I can win trade/cheat to get the Gladiator mount? No. I can't obtain the mount because I don't have said skill.

PvP Pet battles are not difficult. Anyone spending a couple hours reading some guides and getting a team that works for them can rack up wins. Not saying you'll master pet battles over night, but you don't need to be a master to get that achieve.

So I repeat: If I see a cookie-cutter team the LAST thing I'm going to do is give a free win. I'm going to ensure I either beat you or make sure to draw out the battle as long as possible. Why? Well, two reasons:

1.) You don't deserve a free win for any reason, much less using the most easy mode team.
2.) If I forfeited to ever cookie-cutter AoE team I wouldn't have the hundreds of wins from beating said teams.

[Ranok]

Edit: so many posts ITT and especially the post below me are the reason pvp pet battling is so toxic. Why do you queue if you don't remotely enjoy it? And more so, knowing how your actions pollute it?

Obvious answer, cause we want to build our pet collection and only way to get the Stunted Direhorn is PvP pet battles. It's boring, but with persistence we can grind it out.

Somehow can't see how we are "polluting" the game any worse than the folks fielding a team that they have read is supposed to be super-meta and mindlessly using the same team over and over.

[Stark]

Edit: so many posts ITT and especially the post below me are the reason pvp pet battling is so toxic. Why do you queue if you don't remotely enjoy it? And more so, knowing how your actions pollute it?

Obvious answer, cause we want to build our pet collection and only way to get the Stunted Direhorn is PvP pet battles. It's boring, but with persistence we can grind it out.

Somehow can't see how we are "polluting" the game any worse than the folks fielding a team that they have read is supposed to be super-meta and mindlessly using the same team over and over.

How is it obvious? Win trading? You CAN ACHIEVE THIS PET WITHOUT CHEATING.

I mean relying on a pet that took Blizzard until Legion to announce they're FINALLY nerfing is lame, but at least it's not botting/win trading.

If you can't see how cheating pollutes the community I can't help to anything, but marvel at your ignorance.

Edit: I LOVE how you ignore points you can't answer. But Quint is correct, this is just going to boil down to a flame war so I'm going to stop posting.

[Ranok]

If you can't see how cheating pollutes the community I can't help to anything, but marvel at your ignorance.

<Sigh> Usually don't see trolls with their insults on this site but I guess it takes all kinds.

[Quintessence]

Let's keep the discussion friendly and mature, everyone. While we don't have to always agree with each other's point of view, it's important to respect fellow collectors and battlers.

[Ranok]

Thanks Quintessence, you recognized beginning of flame war and I would've probably been sucked into it. Even though I try not to.

So reminder, reason I love this site and all the work they've put into it, is mostly for helping us pet people. Can disagree with the people in forums, but hey, that's how we learn. Throwing in insults kinda ruins the dialogue.