Wow ppl here are kinda nihilistic about pet battles balancing lol.
I don't think racials are unbalanced rn. I mean, if you consider racials alone then ok one will be better than other but when you think in a cyclic way considering not only racials but move types and dmg bonuses, like the first beat the second that beats the third that beats the first and so, then it makes sense....
Balancing is very possible but is the balance so off now ? As i said before theres no uncounterable team and the few pets on the op side are getting nerfs (teroclaw and BS comming with BFA).
I think you are more annoyed with the low number of pvp pet battlers(and that most are unexperienced ppl just trying to get achievments) than with balancing.
PVP pet battles better if only 1 family per team?
Re: PVP pet battles better if only 1 family per team?
I'd say realistic rather than nihilistic about pet balancing.
Back in the Dark Days, I fumed about balance. One day I asked myself what I would do to balance pets. I did an exercise. Substituting pets, as they are today, do this: Take 10 pets notably overpowered[*] and underpowered in some way:
Wicked Soul
Bone Serpent
Teroclaw
Blossoming Ancient
Fiendish Imp
Curious Wolvar Pup
Emperor Crab
Rabbit
Twilight Fiendling
Marsh Fiddler
and 10 at random (I use the power of the Random Number Generator for good here!)
Draenei Micro Defender
Albino Buzzard
Leatherhide Runt
Spectral Tiger Cub
Nether Roach
Rusty Snail
Crazy Carrot
Moccasin
Mr. Grubbs
Doom Bloom
OK, so using the same tools the devs have - ability moves, breed changes, base stat changes - balance these 20 pets. To your own satisfaction first; then convince other people.
Yeah. Right. Get back to me when you're done with that.
Racials aren't balanced, but as you say they're not so far off that they constitute a problem. As Family Brawler showed, most problems with pets of a certain family aren't about racials, but about the abilities of the pets in those families.
If someone thinks racials could and should be better balanced, I think they should propose the exact set of stats or buffs they think would be better. Conidering PvE as well, of course. Then see how much agreement they get.
I'm not too excited about balance. I think we're in a Golden Age of balance today, compared to 6.2. I think that even if somehow the devs could balance everything perfectly without wrecking the game, some people would still scream imbalance. They'd be wrong, but when has that ever stopped anybody?
I think the devs are following the right policy. Lop off the top every expansion.
I think what people are annoyed with is seeing the same handful of pets in almost every battle. In stats from the 6.2 meta and the 7.2 meta, the top 5 pets are used about 40% of the time. Who wants to see the same pets every game? And that's (a main reason) why there are few people in the queue. We can talk rewards and a learning curve as well, but the tedium is of the same ol' same ol' is tedious.
[*] I maintain that "overpowered" as used in PvP is not an objective measure. It's a combination of good moveset and stats, which are arguably power, combined with being easy to use, idiotproof, and not decisively countered by the other current peta pets.
Back in the Dark Days, I fumed about balance. One day I asked myself what I would do to balance pets. I did an exercise. Substituting pets, as they are today, do this: Take 10 pets notably overpowered[*] and underpowered in some way:
Wicked Soul
Bone Serpent
Teroclaw
Blossoming Ancient
Fiendish Imp
Curious Wolvar Pup
Emperor Crab
Rabbit
Twilight Fiendling
Marsh Fiddler
and 10 at random (I use the power of the Random Number Generator for good here!)
Draenei Micro Defender
Albino Buzzard
Leatherhide Runt
Spectral Tiger Cub
Nether Roach
Rusty Snail
Crazy Carrot
Moccasin
Mr. Grubbs
Doom Bloom
OK, so using the same tools the devs have - ability moves, breed changes, base stat changes - balance these 20 pets. To your own satisfaction first; then convince other people.
Yeah. Right. Get back to me when you're done with that.
Racials aren't balanced, but as you say they're not so far off that they constitute a problem. As Family Brawler showed, most problems with pets of a certain family aren't about racials, but about the abilities of the pets in those families.
If someone thinks racials could and should be better balanced, I think they should propose the exact set of stats or buffs they think would be better. Conidering PvE as well, of course. Then see how much agreement they get.
I'm not too excited about balance. I think we're in a Golden Age of balance today, compared to 6.2. I think that even if somehow the devs could balance everything perfectly without wrecking the game, some people would still scream imbalance. They'd be wrong, but when has that ever stopped anybody?
I think the devs are following the right policy. Lop off the top every expansion.
I think what people are annoyed with is seeing the same handful of pets in almost every battle. In stats from the 6.2 meta and the 7.2 meta, the top 5 pets are used about 40% of the time. Who wants to see the same pets every game? And that's (a main reason) why there are few people in the queue. We can talk rewards and a learning curve as well, but the tedium is of the same ol' same ol' is tedious.
[*] I maintain that "overpowered" as used in PvP is not an objective measure. It's a combination of good moveset and stats, which are arguably power, combined with being easy to use, idiotproof, and not decisively countered by the other current peta pets.