Inspired and Frustrated

[Sunderezz]

For the last year battle pets have been my pandemic "go to" and kept me both entertained and challenged. I love this game! Love reading the remarkable insights of some of the players, and so respect their integrity. I am still on a vertical learning curve and view every pvp match as an opportunity to learn. There is no "losing" as each match teaches me how to be a better player. When I lose, as I do often and the victor has an elegant and synergistic team, it is satisfying; a grand battle is a delight, win or lose.

Then, the other side of pvp. The one who runs three anomaluses named "You've" . . . "Been" . . . "Spanked". The one who plays two idols, three frost fur rats, two MPD, etc. I have read and followed the advice in this forum. Taken a break from the que to return later. I have been pushed to research and learn about counters, yet . . . this style of play sucks the joy from the game for me. I end up playing counters to win the double/triple teams instead of crafting more "creative' teams.

From reading the many comments I realize people play this way because they can, because the game developers provide the opportunity yet . . . seriously? Does slamming three anomaluses provide any sense of competence or accomplishment? IMHO they are just a hack playing without class or skill. I have read most related posts from the last decade, and I appreciate your patience as I vent.

Meanwhile, the intellectual challenge is fulfilling as is the depth and the dedication of the community!

Warm regards

[Sights2020]

Hello
Your approach to pet pvp is sound. That's the only piece you can control.
On my 2nd WoW account, I took on the challenge of earning the Trainer title for 1k pet pvp wins.
It took the better part of a year to do. My favorite source of inspiration was Discodoggy.

He began as a website/blog. Disco is a teacher in real life. His site has an archive of endless teams
he has tried as well as teams he has earned 100 wins with. He produces youtube vids now where he
does pet pvp and talks out his decision making.

Disco has never received the type of attention he deserves..
Check out his 'library' and content. Hopefully, if you enjoy the pvp, you will keep it up.
Personally, the queue waits are too long for my taste these days.
Happy gaming.

Tekulve

[Rosqo]

This is the biggest problem with PVP there's always someone just trying to purely grind wins for the wins achievements. There can be a few people in the queue just running new pets or trying different strategies going back and forth having competitive games. Next thing is someone running triple sandstorm just chaining the CDs in reality beating a fair amount of teams they face until everyone has to run top tier teams or just insta lose.

It has always been this way to a large extent but in recent expansions abilities like Twilight Meteorite or overstated pets have started being added which reduces how an average pets compares to a pet with extra stats or an ability with extra damage. Now this is the weather's Sandstorm, Darkness, Call Lightning and Sunlight all doing damage above the existing levels. I believe that these changes were made to allow newer players compete with experienced ones because of the reduction of rounds that decisions can be made. All that has happened is players just exploit the over budget stuff and ruin the competitive games you could have.

[Sunderezz]

Thanks so much for the encouragement and great suggestions.

Tekulve, I have been amazed at how many helpful resources on this web site and on so many others. I totally agree with you about Discodoggy!

My favorite source of inspiration was Discodoggy . . . Disco has never received the type of attention he deserves.

Rosqo, I much appreciated your "words of experience" and you "nailed" the paradox that happens when peeps start running x3 teams . . .

Next thing is someone running triple sandstorm just chaining the CDs in reality beating a fair amount of teams they face until everyone has to run top tier teams or just insta lose.

Best thing of all though, imo, is how many people go out of their way to share knowledge and help others learn. That is what makes a tight community.

~Sunderezz

[Gbh102]

I will add a penny myself
I really, REALLY enjoyed pet battles for slightly over two years and pvp'ing with them for slightly over one (doing Legendary achie atm, 2301/5000 as of now, 2699 left )) wish me luck and it was absolutely AWESOME year ;]. Yet, ofc, like everyone here, I've spotted on my way "hackers" with three Anomaluses, Blossoming Ancient/Broot/Sunflower, Anomalus/Blightbreath/MPD or Hermit Crab or famous Cyclone team with Blighthawk, Jademist and MPD or H Crab etc etc. They're sooo annoying, that's so true, and always makes me think: OMG, another one who has no skills at all, running the same team all over and all over again which, infact, isn't so easy to beat, especially for beginners or those with small pet collections. In such case I was ending up with counterteams like 3xSandstorm against 3xAnomalus, 3xDarkness/Nightmare against 3xSunlight and so on. Lately, however, I found TWO awesome pets with whom I did few excellent teams to fight "hackers" back ). I bought (yes, you have to pay for them yet, IMO, BOTH are TOTALLY worth it ) Anima Wyrmling (with SL Epic edition) and Moon-Touched Netherwhelp (promotion). I bought them not even looking at theirs skills, I'd buy them anyway as devoted collector , since I did, however, I decide to try them on ofc )) Those two plus almost ANY other pet who has good DOT, stun or weather change ability, with theirs DOT/avoid/blind/weather change skills, makes such an awesome synergie between them so they can easily handle Sandstorm/Darkness/Sunlight teams (my favourite comps are either Twilight/Bronze Whelpling, Felspider or Fel-Afflicted Skyfin with them. Pet with team speed buff also works well ) while hitting HARD. They TOTALLY surprised me with how murderous and effective actually they are ;)Also, both are @ pretty decent speed and power, Anima has Gale Slash (only Miimmii has it as well; EXCELLENT against Idols and other Humanoids) and Portal (do I have to add anything else? ), while M-T Netherwhelp has Needle Claw, EXCELLENT against Elementals, Ashes of Outland, absolutely TOP TIER skill, which blinds the target while hitting REALLY hard (especially under Dragonkin racial; extremally useful, EXCELLENT against Mechanicals, since it's elemental ability) AND Phase Shift (OMG, again, do I need to add anything else? ). Anyway, I just wanted to say, that sometimes you can sort out proper comp against almost all most annoying "hacker" teams totally suddenly, using pets you didn't expected will do so well..., as I did with above example . Also, against Anomaluses, if that's the problem which is pain in ur a..., do NOT forget about pets with thorn effects which does damage EVERY time ANY Anomalus's poisons ticks on ANY of ur pets (ie Toxic Skin or Brittle Webbing) which makes all those Anomalus's just kills themselves with their own weapon . Do not give up. Just keep trying, change comps, try new synergies or weather changers. As you yourself pointed: every battle is a lesson .
That being said thank you so much for this post and would like to greetz all fellow battlers here and there ). Great KUDOS for site creators/admins !!!!

[Kytu]

I agree! I keep coming up against the same teams over and over. It seems like it's the same person. Why would someone repeatedly run 3x anomalus? It amazes me (3 spiders with 305 speed and brittle webbing + spiderling swarm destroys them, by the way). It's also funny when you use a counter team and they immediately run away. It's like they can't handle a loss. Anyway, an interesting feature to add to pvp pet battles would be an option to have a random battle, whereby 3 random pets are selected from each player's collection. There could be an area similar to how you wait to enter a pvp arena and this is when you choose each pet's abilities. I think this would be fun and keep everyone on their toes. Cheers,

[Sunderezz]

I will add a penny myself

Thanks so much Gbh102 for that penny, love your response!

[Sunderezz]

I agree! I keep coming up against the same teams over and over. It seems like it's the same person. Why would someone repeatedly run 3x anomalus? It amazes me (3 spiders with 305 speed and brittle webbing + spiderling swarm destroys them, by the way). It's also funny when you use a counter team and they immediately run away.

Kytu, that sounds exactly like my queue, the one in mine adds "sweet" messages in the names like "Iamstrong", "Youareweak", "Yougonnalose". Thanks for the counter tip, will have to try the 3 spiders. Running three of anything always feels so ick to me but I agree it is called for when dealt 3 anomali/anomalus. I do so appreciate the great ideas in this forum, and the chance to chuckle over such experiences.

[Rosqo]

There's two big issues with the random team queue:

1: If it's based on collections alone then players could fill their rosters with the meta pets and nothing else. They then have a better chance of loading a strong team than someone who has a broad mix of pets.

2: It really becomes RNG of who got luckiest with their team. Would it matter how well you played if your opponent just ended up with better pets?

Here's a couple of teams with random pets using the random pet generator on this site.

A, Slimy Fangtooth, hungry burrower, water waveling vs B, stunted yeti, rescued fawn, rotting ghoul. Slimy Fangtooth probably solo's team B

A, abysall slitherling, oox-35/mg, albino chrimeraling Vs B, sea calf, leatherwing screecher, devouring maggot. Albino chrimeraling alone probably takes out two opposing pets.

[Kytu]

Yes, you're right about those issues. I guess you're always going to get someone who would go to the trouble of stacking their collctions with tier 1 pets just so they get a win. The random option would be more for fun. And sure, you'd often get unevenly matched battles, but you'd also get close ones and it would force you to think on your feet. I dunno, it'd just be a nice change to not come up against the same teams all the time. Cheers,

[Gbh102]

I think meta-collections could be resolved by taking also banked pets into account while generating a match. The problem, however, might become more complex if we take under consideration, that some of pet battlers are just beginners and have, say, 100 pets in collection, while experienced one has, say 1000...

[Rosqo]

I think it's a misconception that if both players are using random teams that it will create close games. Everytime this idea comes up everyone who thinks it's a good idea also believes that they will win more games in this format. The reality is that unless you're purposely playing fun teams in the current queue you would win just as much as you are now.

Changing the meta more frequently would help alot more than a random queue. The month or so whilst a new meta is figured out is the best time for pvp battling because lots of people are experimenting and the guys who run like triple anomalus won't know what's meta for a couple of months.

[Gráinne]

Yup, agreed; random teams would if anything increase the gap based on experience and skill. Also, random teams take a big chunk of the game away, when you are not choosing which synergies to assemble.

I always liked the idea of having a limited selection available for PvP battling every week, like "Wild Pets from Pandaria", or "All pets beginning with "'R'", but that is never going to happen now that Family Brawler is in the game.

The problem with changing the meta more often is that it translates to buffing and nerfing 50 or 100 pets every few months, and I do not want to let the people responsible for the recent Weather damage and Shattered Defenses changes loose with a license to repeat that every quarter.

I have a deeper dislike of the endless buff/nerf cycle than that, when it comes to pets with long-term identities, but I think that the disruption, and especially its effect on PvE, should suffice as a reason to avoid it.