Pet Capture Ethics

[Buruan]

I know everyone applies their own morales within the game, but I would like to hear what others think.

With the general availability of Battle Stones, how do you handle farming the rarer pets?

Today after days of farming I finally found a Scourged Whelp, poor quality and not the breed I wanted but I scooped it up.
Then I saw another one (they seem to spawn in groups), again not the breed I wanted, but Rare quality, I backed off the fight to let someone else get him.
Found another 2, neither were the breed I wanted left them up for others.

I logged back in after 1h and the rare was still there, this time I couldn't resist and grabbed him too.
Felt a bit bad about it.

What do you do? Do you go for clear upgrades even if a rare pet? How about breeds, which is probably more important?

Hopefully Blizz will introduce breed change stones

[Darolyn]

If I see someone else in the area battling pets, I'll leave pets I don't want.

Otherwise, if I find a rare, even if it's not the right breed, it's mine.

I'm still figuring out all the breed stuff, so I am less picky, and want to make sure I have at least one rare of every pet while I try to figure out breeds.

Just my two cents.

I don't have a problem with people battling any pets they want. What I have a problem with is people killing ALL the spawns through AOE.

[Abbotta]

I'm like you - I capture based on breed and not quality especially if it is a pet I know I might use in future pet battles. I'm still in the PvE stage of Battle Pets and still working on Celestials so for me things like a junky S/S Alpine Foxling was a much better fine than a P/B one.

However, if I see a rare and I don't have the breed I will grab it but if I see others farming I might leave it behind especially if it's a breed I didn't want. I might even let others know I found a rare.

I was even nice after I finally got my Minfernal to send a notice through general chat that there were 2 other Minfernals roaming around. When no one else come to claim then I took both of those too since they were both different breeds from the one I had caught. I figured I spent 3 hours building a DK night on an low-pop Oceanic server just to get them, I'm keeping them all!

[Majorchit]

Normally when I go hunting for specifics, I will enter battle, check the stats, and then surrender. If there was a pet there I wanted I will then heal up and re-enter the fight, otherwise i will move on and leave it. If I am trying to force a specific spawn I enter into with intent to take them out with purpose of leveling lower level pets.

*edited for grammar*

[Echinacea]

if it involves alliance then screw ethics

[Peanutty]

If I see someone in the same area battling pets (pre-WoD areas), I try not to kill any pet spawns off through direct or AoE damage, since I don't know what they're looking for. In Draenor, since most wild pets can't be killed like that any longer, it's a moot point.

If there doesn't appear to be anyone battling in the area (pre-WoD areas), I'll directly kill off any pet spawns that don't have rares. I leave up rares that I don't want and move on.

The exceptions are pet spawns with very slow spawn timers or very limited quantities. I might go through those and check them for breed or rarity but will leave up anything I don't plan on capturing.

[Abashera]

a) I capture the first pet I see that is in the breed I want, even if it's poor quality.

b) I only capture another if the rarity is an upgrade to Uncommon or Rare, and in the same breed.

c) I don't capture Rares that aren't in the breed I want. I just leave them for someone else—someone who just wants a rare, and doesn't care what breed it is.

Personally, I never break this rule, for two reasons: 1) It's courteous to others; 2) It pays off in the end because every rare you leave behind, means one less collector in competition with you, improving your chances of getting the breed you want in a rare. In other words - once they get their rare, they will move on, and they won't be back there looking in your spot. As an example: When I was looking for my P/P Emerald Proto-Whelp I left many rares behind every day. Each one I left thinned out my competition, and I eventually got the one I wanted. I did the same for the H/H Rare Minfernal, and other wild pets that were hard to get due to the number of people hunting them, or other conditions.

d) The only exception I make to the above is if I want a pet in more than one breed, which I'm trying to avoid whenever possible. But some pets come in S/S, but a P/S could give me more power, and still be faster... so I can't make up my mind. Sometimes I can't decide whether to get a P/P or S/S, and some pets have move-sets that favor both fast and slow/powerful, so I just get both. /shrug

[Abashera]

Normally when I go hunting for specifics, I will enter battle, check the stats, and then surrender. If there was a pet there I wanted I will then heal up and re-enter the fight....

Hmmmmm. You need to make a team just for checking rarity/breed. I made a team comprised of normal cats, all at level one. They can check rarity and breed all day, and never die. When I find what I want, I switch teams. No need to heal or use bandages.

I named my team "Sacrificial." A friend of mine made the same thing, because he likes the way the cats scurry off when you end the battle, lol.

[Darolyn]

if it involves alliance then screw ethics

As alliance, this makes me sad. I try to help horde players when I can, regardless...used emotes to help one find a treasure in SMV that she couldn't find, point at pet spawns that include rares I don't need...etc.

And some of my best trades on here have been with primarily horde players. I try to remember that there's a person behind the keyboard, and live by the golden rule.

(I do get upset when they tap a rare I was going for, but that's just because I then can't get the loot.)

Alliance isn't bad, get to know some of us!

~Daro

[Rendigar]

When I was hunting for all rares (breed only matters when I actually want a pet for a task, I'm not picky for most of them) I would capture the higher rarity pet until rare - now that stones are so common I just get the breed I want and stop hunting. If I encountered a fight with ANY rare pet in it I would put a raid marker on it, announce in local chat what the rare was (and respond with coords if I got a whisper), and moved on. I never kill a group that has a rare in it because you never know what someone may need - I can't tell you how many of my rares came from the extra 2 pets that join a fight (vs the primary pet).