Dusty (whispering pandaren spirit battle)

[Celestya22]

I've tried 4 battles now against this trainer today (first time since the patch) and have noticed that dusty's mothballs aren't missing as normal. Even with sandstorm (which reduces it to a 40% hit chance, it's hitting nearly every cast). It also isn't being reduced in power by shield effects such as stoneskin which is supposed to reduce attacks by 74 dmg. With or without stoneskin the attack is hitting for 94 - 97 damage each shot.
I'm not sure what is going on. =/

I also noticed there seems to be significant delay in casting lil xt's zap. He bends over as if he's going to ground pound, waits 10-15 seconds and then shoots out the bolt. Not sure if this is just lag since I am on area 52 which has been near unplayable since the patch due to the lag

[Kendrah]

I'm not sure what is going on. =/

They changed/nerfed/powered up various pet abilities for this last patch, including the trainers pets. Val doesn't come back after sacrificing her life anymore, Siren's attack is wicked strong (not a real problem if you have a block and time it right, since that's still her only real attack), Sandstorm is only five rounds and has a five round CD, etc.

[Yamum]

The speed of certain animations has changed. Didn't notice anything strange about Dusty, will pay closer attention tomorrow.

[Spary]

Thread ninjaed

The most interesting fact is: the Valkyr doesn't stay dead anymore if the enemy dies before haunt is over - makes it much more viable in pvp and pve (although I don't use it anywhere).
So far the only change I noticed.

[Celestya22]

Ooooh that IS interesting!

I did know they changed a bunch of things, but having a 50% ability plus a 10% debuff to hit, hitting 90% of the time isn't one that I was aware of. It does seem to be better this week. Only hitting about 75% of the time my last 5 battles. Still a lot more than the 40 but close enough that I can believe it's just unlucky RNG.

[Bonevader]

What's really changed with dusty is that he's no longer a critter so now he'll switch out if stunned.

[Bonevader]

Also on a similar note, the water strider in the aquatic tamer isn't a critter anymore either, he's been changed to aquatic.

[Undeadgoat]

Same with Sludgy on the Thundering trainer . . . so if you're using the same teams you did before the patch dropped, you'll be having trouble because those pets will be living longer.

A bit annoying the first time I went to do the fights after the patch dropped . . . my poor snake suddenly feels a lot less wanted. :/

[Bretonas]

I find the Whispering Pandaren Spirit a lot easier now. I actually used to skip him on my daily route to all the tamers.
[pet]Nexus Whelpling[/pet] takes now care of Dusty (and if you're not to unlucky even takes the 2nd pet half down as well).

The Water Spirit is a joke now. A strong flying pet can almost solo the entire team. I tried the [pet]Yellow Moth[/pet] P/P breed yesterday and decided against it cause even with the flying buff it's slower than the first pet there. [pet]Amber Moth[/pet] P/S breed works nicely for me.

The Thundering guy is a bit annoying cause Sludgy is now a magic pet. [pet]Fluxfire Feline[/pet] used to almost 1 shot him. These days I use [pet]Mechanical Pandaren Dragonling[/pet] to deal with him. The rest does any rabbit that's faster than 300.

[Sellys]

I went and got myself a P/P Wildhammer Gryphon Hatchling to deal with the Flowing Pandaren Spirit's team now that Tiptoe is aquatic instead of his old critter self. I got really tired of my Dragonbone Hatchling only hitting once with his Slicing Winds. Peck from the Hatchling is much more consistent damage, and the hatchling still has lift off to avoid the whirlpool/Dive and Geyser/Whirlpool combos.

[Likebigbuttz]

Anyone have some theories as to why Blizz originally made some of these pets families to be so counter intuitive. Why was a Moth anything other than Flying and why was a Ooze a Critter instead of Magic?

Simply gameplay reasons?

[Truweildude]

Use a slime type pet and you'll have no problem. A P breed is preferred, I used the HP Oily Slime, a Living Fluid works well too, its a PS. Just use its default set, and 2, 2, 3, 2, and should survive to dragonkin, put a 2 on it then it'll die most likely.

[Rendigar]

Anyone have some theories as to why Blizz originally made some of these pets families to be so counter intuitive. Why was a Moth anything other than Flying and why was a Ooze a Critter instead of Magic?

Simply gameplay reasons?

The simplest reasons are often the most likely ones: poor quality control - someone wasn't paying attention.

[Domie]

Anyone have some theories as to why Blizz originally made some of these pets families to be so counter intuitive. Why was a Moth anything other than Flying and why was a Ooze a Critter instead of Magic?

Simply gameplay reasons?

The simplest reasons are often the most likely ones: poor quality control - someone wasn't paying attention.

I would be very surprised if this was the case. Im pretty sure it was a way to balance them, not sure if to make them easier or harder tho.

[Rendigar]

[quote="Rendigar]The simplest reasons are often the most likely ones: poor quality control - someone wasn't paying attention.

I would be very surprised if this was the case. Im pretty sure it was a way to balance them, not sure if to make them easier or harder tho.[/quote][/quote][/quote]
It's also possible they thought the Ruby Droplet being able to evade infinitely was a good idea, too. I think I am a bit too cynical of quality control because of what I do for a living, seen too many QA people who think they are the greatest thing since sliced bread who can't find their %$% with two hands and a road map. If they wanted to "balance them out" then just use a different pet for that position - they've already shown that the Tamer pets can have move combinations that no other pet can have (Moth Balls & Moth Dust is actually a good example of one), so we know they aren't in any way restricted. And I could even believe you are right, maybe they really, really felt that having the move set of a moth made the fight balanced / of a certain difficulty, and only changed the creature type back to a flyer because of the quantity of "bug reports" and complaints about it being "wrong".

And now, of course, in the case of the Flowing Pandaren Spirit, they've actually made the fight significantly easier by having 2 aquatics in a row. There is some encounter designer going "No, you fools, now you've made it too easy!! *scream*"

[Sanzul]

Anyone have some theories as to why Blizz originally made some of these pets families to be so counter intuitive. Why was a Moth anything other than Flying and why was a Ooze a Critter instead of Magic?

I always assumed it was intentional just to mix things up. It made the trainer battles more interesting, as you couldn't just have one hardcounter pet for each family. Those weird trainer pets made you actually look through your pet list for something to counter the unusual combinations.

[Truweildude]

Anyone have some theories as to why Blizz originally made some of these pets families to be so counter intuitive. Why was a Moth anything other than Flying and why was a Ooze a Critter instead of Magic?

I always assumed it was intentional just to mix things up. It made the trainer battles more interesting, as you couldn't just have one hardcounter pet for each family. Those weird trainer pets made you actually look through your pet list for something to counter the unusual combinations.

You could be right but I don't know, with the exception of the flowing tamer difficulty doesn't really feel any different. I always used my PP Fjord Worg with no problems on the critters before. I'm glad they changed type to what they actually are, my teams have a little more variety now.

[Se5s]

i use the panda air spirit to level pets. nexus whelp/emerald proto whelp/<leveling pet>.

[Sanzul]

i use the panda air spirit to level pets. nexus whelp/emerald proto whelp/<leveling pet>.

You can go with just fodder pet => carry pet => emerald proto-whelp. Start with a random level 1 pet you don't care about (or a pet you plan to level up later), then swap to the carry pet after the first pet gets oneshot. Immediately swap to the dragon on the next round and then use that to defeat the trainer (it can easily kill all three enemies). You can skip the fodder pet if you're leveling a mechanical or magical pet, as those are guaranteed to survive one round anyway.

I use all the trainers to level pets, but that's definitely the easiest one relative to the amount of XP you get.

[Anasa]

It's also possible they thought the Ruby Droplet being able to evade infinitely was a good idea, too.

Wait... What? Please to explain.