Wailing Critters - What did you think?

[Skavenged]

I went in blind. Hadn't read any guides (was semi-inactive on pets for awhile and wasn't keeping up with news) and had no clue before I started that there were no heals. Didn't even heal the pets from the first run. Once I got in there and saw what it was, my strategy was simply to save my heavy hitters until I absolutely needed them. Just never ended up needing them. I squirreled and raptored the crap out of that cavern, and then nearly solo'd the final battle with a jellyfish...

[Skavenged]

I will point out though, that most people don't have 800+ pets their stable. If someone goes in there with a smaller selection, I can see how could difficult for them. Especially since there is a considerable amount of backline damage. If Blizz created it order to get new people into the pet world, then I'd call it a success.

[Gráinne]

OK, so I have to do it again for this week.

Yeah, I don't have to, but pets ....

Does anyone have any ideas how to make it interesting? I checked Xu-Fu's comments for every battle, and nobody has any problem with anything, so there is no need to investigate any strats.

I thought of trying to do it with one family (still very easy for anyone with a large roster), or maybe try to find a minimum required number of pets (would be too subject to RNG to be satisfying).

Any thoughts of making a game of it?

[Peanutty]

Does anyone have any ideas how to make it interesting? I checked Xu-Fu's comments for every battle, and nobody has any problem with anything, so there is no need to investigate any strats.

I thought of trying to do it with one family (still very easy for anyone with a large roster), or maybe try to find a minimum required number of pets (would be too subject to RNG to be satisfying).

Any thoughts of making a game of it?

I don't know if this made it more interesting or not, but I basically burned through like pets through my most current run. So I used up all the tonks, all the lanterns, a bunch of moths...

Maybe next time I'll go in alphabetical order or something (skipping pets that I want to save for the "boss" fights). Wish there was a way to sort pets via the names I gave them too.

[Milotha]

I enjoyed it as something different to do. I used pets I hadn't used before to beat it as a challenge. The content is what you want to make of it. If it was too hard, then the average player wouldn't do it, and they wouldn't make more.

[Badpathing]

So, overall I was pretty disappointed in the new dungeon. I'll list the grievances out and then what I did like as It's better to end on a positive note

Problems:

• You cannot do the dungeon on level 109 or below character. Being Alliance, I found this pretty annoying since getting to WC is a pain. I'd have preferred to park a Horde alt there and do it weekly.
• Wailing Caverns might be one of the most boring dungeons to start with...I realize this is subjective, but it is still one of my complaints.
• The fights were pretty boring. Doing fight after fight of essentially the same thing just feels like I am spinning my wheels to create 'content'.
• It's a dungeon, it's something new; where is the new? I guess I mean, there didn't seem to be anything new about this. It was just an instanced trainer battle. With the tourney, the fights were each unique, difficult and you had a currency that you used to earn some VERY interesting pets. Even the pet consumables were new and amazing. Finishing the tourney felt like an accomplishment, finishing the Pet dungeon felt like a letdown.

Ok, that was maybe a bit rough...

Positives

• The length of the dungeon made me feel rewarded for my expansive pet collection; like my hard work was paying off.
• It's a pet dungeon, that's pretty cool. A foundation to build off of.
• I always like new achieves, new pets and challenges; this delivered that to some degree.

I think this is a lot of what has been said, so this is really just my 2 cents. I think this dungeon idea could be iterated on immensely and I'd like to see a new pet currency come from it; something we can save towards bigger goals similar to the tourney.

[Peanutty]

[*]You cannot do the dungeon on level 109 or below character. Being Alliance, I found this pretty annoying since getting to WC is a pain. I'd have preferred to park a Horde alt there and do it weekly.

Yeah, I really wish I could do it on a low level alt for some XP gain. However, there's at least a shortcut to WC - talk to Manapoof in the Dalaran pet shop (once you've completed the initial run I believe) and it'll port you there!

[Dalandius]

[*]You cannot do the dungeon on level 109 or below character. Being Alliance, I found this pretty annoying since getting to WC is a pain. I'd have preferred to park a Horde alt there and do it weekly.

Yeah, I really wish I could do it on a low level alt for some XP gain. However, there's at least a shortcut to WC - talk to Manapoof in the Dalaran pet shop (once you've completed the initial run I believe) and it'll port you there!

Must remember to check that out Tuesday

[Brooklynsown]

I am not getting the quest to port into the Caverns. I took the quest from The Lioness @ the Magical Menagerie, and turn it into Muyani, but afterwards all she says is her speech of the caverns being overrun. And does not say porting to wailing caverns. Any assistance will be greatly appreciated.

Bknight

[Gráinne]

I am not getting the quest to port into the Caverns.

Is this for your first run, or the second, no-heal "challenge" run?

The only two conditions I know of are:

1. That you are on a 110 character
2. That you have enough level 25 pets (which you have)

[Brooklynsown]

Yes it is my first run. I am 110 and have over 500 maxed leveled pet.

[Mirith]

I am not getting the quest to port into the Caverns. I took the quest from The Lioness @ the Magical Menagerie, and turn it into Muyani, but afterwards all she says is her speech of the caverns being overrun. And does not say porting to wailing caverns. Any assistance will be greatly appreciated.

Bknight

The post above says look for "Manapoof" for the port?

I will try and check when I get home.

[Paladance]

I am not getting the quest to port into the Caverns.

Is this for your first run, or the second, no-heal "challenge" run?

As far as I recall the quest from Lio is one-time only on the initial run in easy mode. Then no port may be available yet. Hope you managed to do it (and the other weekly one) before the reset.

[Peanutty]

As I mentioned Manapoof likely only offers ports once you've completed the initial run. After that it should offer to port you each week. I got ported last week and it offered a port this week.

[Paladance]

Didn't have an idea before, but now…

OK, so I have to do it again for this week.

Yeah, I don't have to, but pets ....

Does anyone have any ideas how to make it interesting? I checked Xu-Fu's comments for every battle, and nobody has any problem with anything, so there is no need to investigate any strats.

I thought of trying to do it with one family (still very easy for anyone with a large roster), or maybe try to find a minimum required number of pets (would be too subject to RNG to be satisfying).

Any thoughts of making a game of it?

How about not allowing any of your pets to die? That includes [ability]Haunt[/ability] and suicide abilities, though let's be merciful to the mechanical racial.

[Gilneas]

Next up, clearing the rats out of the Deadmines, putting ghosts to rest in Shadowfang Keep or maybe fighting off crazed mechs in Gnomeregan?

They must be reading your blog for ideas.

[Aranesh]

I had to chuckle as well when I read the two datamined dungeons ^^

[Gráinne]

How about not allowing any of your pets to die?

It was a good idea, and it did keep me interested for this week, so thank you for that.

Mostly, though, EPW + Teroclaw + Special Guest Star just bashed and healed their way through every battle. Same EPW and Teroclaw all the way through; I didn't allow myself to use a backup of anything.

[pet]Mechanical Axebeak[/pet] with Peck for Son of Skum. Had to backline him before finishing the boss, but it ended well.

Fel Immolate, Lightning, Turret for Hiss, with EPW as sweeper.

MPD + EPW for the Ectoplasms, and a [pet]Hyjal Wisp[/pet] with Wish to heal the MPD.

[pet]Purple Puffer[/pet] destroyed last boss, and his backups. I love that fish.

[Uduwudu]

...
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!
...

Shamefully, I have not gone there yet!

It's actually a nice place, and if you were Horde from the start, you did the one in Orgrimmar and then Wailing Caverns right after it or so. It probably was the first dungeon I ever did, and I get a kick out of folks nowadays, try to do a run on it on their low levels and bumping their noggins against the walls and falling ... one time I got tired of suggesting, and not being heard and said something like ... if you wanna die and don't care and waste time, let me know ... I'll leave. If you want to finish this and succeed and get all the loot (you NEVER have enough space for loot over there!!!!!!!) ... let me know ... you got 30 seconds!

All in all, I think it was one of the very first really detailed dungeon per se. I don't remember, but I think that Molten Core was next, or it might have been there, and I was not attuned for it. BW Lair came in later I think.

[Valianya]

I actually enjoyed the dungeon, even though I have a pretty big pet stable and it wasn't terribly challenging for me. For a starter dungeon, I think its great. Its not too hard for people just starting into pet stuff and trying to catch up, there are nice rewards for the dedicated collector/battler seeking to fill their stable of pets with all the new ones, and its a good change of pace from grinding nethershards over in broken shore.

For everyone saying that its too easy and they want a harder challenge... Well, this might be the 'normal' version of the dungeon. They may intend, if its popular enough to continue and expand the pet battle dungeon content, to add heroic or mythic versions in the future that give greater difficulty and make the bosses and 'trash' pets harder to fight and requiring more specialized strategies. These would be aimed at the more experienced pet battlers who crave Celestial Tournament level content. Just something to think about.

For those saying it was too dank and depressing a location... It is a dungeon, and it matched the feel of the old Wailing Caverns dungeon. Though I admit, it would have been nice to see them spruce it up a bit to match the current timeline. Since Cataclysm, the energy under the oasis coming from the cavern has spread out into the overgrowth in southern barrens. Might have been nice to see that reflected in the cavern with more lush vegetation and mushrooms lining the caves and more non-hostile background critters or even a few larger animals that are non-aggressive and just doing their thing, or that you have to avoid coming into their sight radius.

Admittedly, the fights were fairly repetitive with such a small selection of enemy pets. I would like to see more variety in the backline pets in the future. And perhaps more variety of abilities in the frontline pets. While all the snakes fit the theme of the dungeon and the story behind why they were there (left behind pets of the dungeon bosses), it would have been nice to see them have a wider variety of movesets - perhaps even some unique abilities that don't normally come on snakes but fit the theme of their former master's abilities.

Another way to spice up these dungeons in the future is to add more than just the fights to the experience. Maybe even add an obstacle course/mini-game to some of the emptier areas you have to pass through. For WC, for example, dodging around wiggling tentacle vines that will grab you and toss you back to the start of the tunnel they are in if you get too close to them. Or navigating past steam vents that burst in a pattern and daze you if you get hit. Or even solving some little puzzle to get past an obstacle (hoping to see something like that in gnomeregan). Perhaps even something that would require you to take control of one of your battle pets (or a pet that lives in the dungeon and befriends/assists you) as a vehicle mode that you need to navigate an area to let down the rope or push the button or something to let your character continue through the dungeon. There have been a lot of mini-game/vehicle-mode quests in Legion so far, so I hope they don't leave the pet battle dungeons out of the fun in the future.

Overall I think its a good start for content they plan to expand upon. Actual dungeons did not start out with heroic or mythic modes. Those have been added in as people wanted more challenge once they geared above the basic dungeon. People with big pet stables who have no problem with the battles have basically geared above the basic level. But people just starting into pet battling, who don't have big stables yet, will find it a good way to get their feet wet before leaping headfirst into the pool.

Gráinne wrote:

Mirith wrote:
I honestly was hoping when they announced this that this was going to be some group battle thing with multiple people working towards the same goal. Similar to real dungeons.


I think that would have been a nightmare. LFM WC 4/6 @Hiss Petscore 5K+ link Curve



When they first announced it that was what popped into my head. My raid team asked if that meant I was going to lead the pet dungeon group and I said I was going to armory to check if everyone had their S/S Death Adder Hatchling at 25.

Might actually be fun as a sort of pet battle raid party, if a bit more complicated than using dungeon finder tank/heal/dps roles. Maybe each person in the party gets one pet at a time, and can only rotate between the three pet team they pre-selected. But you have five pets out at a time against very challenging enemies, with turn rotation based on speeds. I could see it being more of a mythic dungeon type of group formation than normal/heroic where just the dungeon finder automates it. But it could be a fun thing to do with friends.