Wailing Critters - What did you think?

[Gráinne]

I just completed this.

I went in blind. Yes, I had read Quintessence's guide and seen Cymre's video a couple of months ago, so I knew the general idea, but no more than that.

I expected it to be rather dull, and I was not disappointed. I can never enjoy or respect battles with a "boss + 2 random backups". It was so in Tanaan, and it was so here. The only bright spot was that I was pulling out some pets I hadn't used in years, just to give them an outing. Yes, I could have rolled with the standards, but there was no need for them, so I handicapped myself. If you have a lot of pets to choose from, as most of us here have, it's tedious rather than interesting.

What I hadn't expected was the feeling that the place was depressing. Wailing Caverns is dank, eerie, creepy - and as a dungeon, that works very well in a party. Going through it alone was bleak, and left me sad, yearning for the lovely grassy Eternal Sunlit Sunday of the Celestial Tournament.

[Peanutty]

I went in way blinder than you. Not only did I deliberately not read any guides, write ups, videos, etc. but I also didn't read the quest text. Silly me... I didn't know you couldn't heal in there and I went in with several unhealed pets.

But with an army of 800+ I still breezed through it for the most part, even though I had a few extra pet die due to the whole "didn't know I couldn't heal" and so I was careless with them. Overall it was nowhere near the difficulty level of the Celestial Tournament. I pretty much used up every tonk type pet, every raven, every emerald proto-whelp type... and that's about it. Personally wish there was more variety in the back rank pets since it was literally the same 3 pets over and over.

[Paladance]

What I hadn't expected was the feeling that the place was depressing. Wailing Caverns is dank, eerie, creepy - and as a dungeon, that works very well in a party. Going through it alone was bleak, and left me sad, yearning for the lovely grassy Eternal Sunlit Sunday of the Celestial Tournament.

And there is me, who was wandering a quarter in circles because I couldn't find a way back after falling from the ledge -- I was thinking that the most distant bend leads back to the entrance. If Maraudon is considered to be a continuation, I'm out!

Off the top, how about a decorative company of our 4 random pets (NPC can reroll them! ) to follow us?

To prevent the feeling of dullness, I made use of Sign of the Critter and attempted to level pets. The experience isn't very high because of standard (or 1,5?) measures but this week it is decent. That made Growing Ectoplasm a bit more annoying than expected, but only because I tried to "solo and a half" it.

I can agree on the idea of "semi-wild" battles being annoying, though on the other hand I can imagine that it'd be done to make healing pets more difficult. It can still be done by [pet]Hyjal Wisp[/pet], either accepting the penalty or performing the task as a part of actual encounter.

[Gráinne]

And there is me, who was wandering a quarter in circles because I couldn't find a way back after falling from the ledge -- I was thinking that the most distant bend leads back to the entrance.

Oh yes!

I did that the first time through.

Then I logged out after doing it the first time with my Taming Team, and came back later for the no-heals run.

At that stage, I had forgotten again where the thing stopped, and the guy with the no-ending ending comment didn't appear, and I forgot I was done and went hunting for where to go next for a while before I remembered to Leave Instance.

If Maraudon is considered to be a continuation, I'm out!

EEEEEEEEEEKKKKK!

Don't even JOKE about that!

[Zonnetje]

It was long, tedious, boring, and the end rewards was definitely not worth the time investment. I'll do it enough times to get the pets collected, and never set foot in there again.

[Lordy]

I'm loving that Blizzard is adding more Pet content and some new bag-drop pets to hunt for but this was a little disappointing after the awesome Celestial Tournament.

I didn't use any guides or even have to give much thought to tactics. All it seemed to need was to check what backline you would be facing then choose three pets with strong attacks vs one of each of the opposing creatures. The final boss did beat me the first time as I hadn't realised you had to kill him fast to save your back row from getting pounded. But all that took was a pet with Black Claw + Flock/Hunting Party.

I can see how it would be a challenge for someone with only a few pets to choose from but for those of us with a big collection it would be far more satisfying to have to face Celestial Tournament type battles that you actually have to work tactics to beat.

Still its a step in the right direction from Bliz and I hope they keep it up. Just add some more challenging opponents for us please and we will be happy

[Minet]

I went in blind too. I ran through the dungeon the first time and then did the challenge immediately afterwards. I do like the pet you get (Son of Skum), but the experience was kinda meh. I'm hoping this is entry level pet battle content and was aimed at getting more people into pet battling, rather than being a successor to the Celestial Tournament. I see so much promise in the concept and I hope there are lots of pet battle dungeons to come.

Having said that, now I feel pressure to do it a lot since in the recent Dev Q&A, the comment was made that they will make more if the community likes it and returns to it.

I like the idea, I just want more challenge to it. I would love, love, love something that took Celestial Tournament level effort on my part.

On the other hand, the pet tamers on the Broken Shore provide nice little battles, I thought.

[Lordy]

I like the idea, I just want more challenge to it. I would love, love, love something that took Celestial Tournament level effort on my part.

On the other hand, the pet tamers on the Broken Shore provide nice little battles, I thought.

That's good to know. I was so busy levelling pets with Squirt yesterday I didn't have a chance to get to the Broken Shore. Does anyone know if you can you do them all daily or only on random days when a world quest is up?

[Truweildude]

I thought it was too easy. The boss matches were moderately difficult. I do like the idea of non boss match ups. Over all I enjoyed it and hope to see others, maybe something in Eastern Kingdoms,

[Digem]

Hopefully this will lead to bigger better things. Sad it sounds a little lackluster specially compared to the CT. The CT is what drove me to level my collection and was the first time a realized breed matters most. I had a p/s flayer youngling and couldn't figure out why I couldn't stun the pets like the video showed. Then realized I need a s/s breed to do so. Realized right then that breed > than rarity. Had to go back for more than a few pets for the better breed. Shame this doesn't seem to be as challenging

[JEC]

I thought it was pretty repetitive, without being particularly challenging. If you have a lot of pets at 25, I can't imagine why you would want a guide through it.

I'll do it enough to get all the pet drops, then hope for something better.

[Minet]

That's good to know. I was so busy levelling pets with Squirt yesterday I didn't have a chance to get to the Broken Shore. Does anyone know if you can you do them all daily or only on random days when a world quest is up?

It's only on days when the WQ is up. So far there has been one each day. Maybe that is a trend on the Broken Shore.

[Peanutty]

I thought it was pretty repetitive, without being particularly challenging. If you have a lot of pets at 25, I can't imagine why you would want a guide through it.

I'll do it enough to get all the pet drops, then hope for something better.

People wants guides for everything... and then are upset if it either doesn't work perfectly, or if it does work perfectly, that they have nothing to do after beating the content. If I'm truly stuck on something I'll glance at someone's suggestions (i.e. their 3 pet lineup) and try to figure out what it is about their set up that made it work, that I didn't think of (I struggled so much with "A Celestial Invitation" for Stardust that I had to look at suggestions for what pets to use - I'd gotten close but couldn't beat it after 2 hrs). I do wish there was battle pet content other than PVP that essentially can't have a predictable script and was kind of hoping they'd find a way to do that with this new pet dungeon, but this ended up being Tanaan Jungle 2.0, as Grainne said.

But I too will be doing it until I get the pet drops I want (ugh, multiple breeds!)

[Drudatz]

It was long, tedious, boring, and the end rewards was definitely not worth the time investment. I'll do it enough times to get the pets collected, and never set foot in there again.

I can nothing add to this. Celestial Tounament was fun and challanging this was just a snooze.....
I allready wish I could get the time back I have to waste on it just for the rng pets....

[Ganksinatra]

It's a mediocre attempt but it is also their first attempt. I appreciate the effort/idea but in the future surely they need more variety in the pet types.

[Dakaf]

I went in completely blind as well. I did the first run with mechanical pets only (didn't feel like switching teams) until the final boss, and in that case, my celestial calf soloed the legendary and the two adds.

I'll try the second round tomorrow, knowing I can't heal. Might actually take some thought, but I do enjoy that they are adding the content. It's kind of hard to spice up pet battling, but I still really enjoy it!

[Finnelis]

I went in blind and cleared it without much of a difficulty.

I thought it was an interesting attempt, but it fell a bit short for me and I thought it deserved a bit more work. Here are a few things that I think could be improved on :

- More variety in back pets - 3 for the whole dungeon is *really* not enough.
- Non boss fight should provide a form of challenge beyond needing a few more pets at 25
- The decor : Wailing cavern is an old instance from vanilla and it looks drab, especially when emptied of its monsters.
- Considering the text intro, I was expecting to see a lot more neutral pets inside. I think they could really improve on that.
- More challenge would have been welcomed as well, but that might come in pursuit of that shadowy figure (or so I hope)

[Aranesh]

I really, really like this dungeon. It is easily accessible for new battlers, with the last boss a tad more challenging, and for those with a huge collection it's still a nice diversion that doesn't take too long to do. And if you don't want to run it repeatedly for the pets, you can buy them.
There are design choices that can be argued about, sure. Did it have to be so dreary? Would it have benefitted from being just a little bit more challenging? Perhaps less randomization in the reward satchel? Maybe, details, but nothing too troublesome.

It is in my eyes a perfect entry point for a line of content. Next up, clearing the rats out of the Deadmines, putting ghosts to rest in Shadowfang Keep or maybe fighting off crazed mechs in Gnomeregan? There could be many cool opportunities to revisit old instances like with Timewalking, and in the background of pet battles. Hands down, I would love that.
In such a limiting context, Wailing Critters does deliver! The atmosphere is coherent with the old Wailing Caverns experience, and the beast / snake theme fits very well.

And yet, I have a problem with it. Not with the dungeon itself, but with this:

It’s really up to the players. This is one of the features which is pretty experimental, something we’ve never done before. It is depending on how players feel about it and how everything ends up. And maybe we’ll do more. If everyone thinks it’s the worst thing ever, then maybe we won’t do it again or maybe we’ll take this lessons, learn and will try to do better next time. So it’s really up to the players and obviously we are waiting for feedback.

Taken from this 7.2 Q&A: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/130669851?t=56m10s

The majority of the comments I’ve read are negative or at best neutral. Most public voices are disappointed and unsatisfied with the experience. An overall feeling of meh. The reason I believe is because this dungeon is only the entry point. Because it is not the whole experience and cannot, never even had the chance to deliver on the vague promises from BlizzCon 2016: Just three words: Pet Battle Dungeon.
That resonated. And it created expectations, for another Celestial Tournament, for the whole thing, for the full set of content: challenge, variety, innovation! Much of the criticism and dissatisfaction now is because those expectations were set, and never limited to what the dungeon really is: an experiment. With that build up, it is impossible to derive the popularity of the dungeon by looking at the feedback. The data will be flawed, because it was set up to fail.

It is like promising a full set of awesome equipment with amazing synergies in the set bonus, but then releasing just one single piece, and checking how people like it and how many are wearing it so you can decide if it’s worth to create the remaining items as well. Sure, nothing was actually promised, but the expectations were there nevertheless.

What Wailing Critters should have been announced as, is a trailer of more to come. To judge a trailers popularity for future decisions makes sense. But the audience needs to know they are watching a trailer.

For the sake of this and future pet battle dungeons - and because I thoroughly enjoy Wailing Critters - I hope Blizzard will recognize this and perhaps give it one more shot, with a second piece in the set, and an adjusted, fitting communication strategy.

[Quintessence]

It is in my eyes a perfect entry point for a line of content. Next up, clearing the rats out of the Deadmines, putting ghosts to rest in Shadowfang Keep or maybe fighting off crazed mechs in Gnomeregan? There could be many cool opportunities to revisit old instances like with Timewalking, and in the background of pet battles. Hands down, I would love that.

I 100% agree. It's a great set-up to get everyone (new and old battlers alike) into gear for this type of content.

With that build up, it is impossible to derive the popularity of the dungeon by looking at the feedback. The data will be flawed, because it was set up to fail.

Keep in mind that it's not only feedback they'll be watching. Participation numbers will also play a part in their decision for future Pet Battle Dungeon(s).

We can't tell just how many players are completing the quests and scenario, but I'm sure they're keeping track of it. Hopefully those numbers are high enough to warrant a second dungeon.

[Minet]

I nope the numbers will be high enough. I will be thinking about that when I replay it as well. I really want to see more.