Forfeiting a match

[Oldguy]

I'm confused about Blizzard's option to "Forfeiting a match." It's rather vague, like most Blizzard comments.

What, if any, are the hazards of my choosing that option? I've been doing it to prevent spending 700 years of time and effort, and going blind while battling against groups of opponents who are all levels 'poor' or 'common' while striving to capture something better than that.

Does forfeiting work against myself in ways that are undisclosed? I have no clue. I do know that there are certain Achievements which are rewarded after winning x-number of consecutive battles, but I think I've already received those Achievements? Maybe not?

What should I be aware of before deciding to forfeit a match?

[Dragonwizard]

Right now beyond the achievements for winning X battles in a row there is no consequences to forfeiting a match. But in 5.2 Blizzard is making it so if you forfeit not only will the pets that you're battleing respawn exactly the same quality and type as they where but all your pets will take "some damage". The amount of damage has yet to be posted and it is not yet implemented on the PTR to test.

[Mykro9]

So, my question is this, what is to keep me from having a 'booger' squad of pets to take the damage, forfeit, and re-engage with a better team?

Example:
I am Zangarmarsh looking for a rare P/P breed ID 4 Sporeling Sprout. I have a team of any group, say all level 1's (or even just a team of one level 1) to 'look' for my P/P. I engage every Sporeling Sprout in the area as fast as I can, and immediately forfeit when I don't get a rare P/P. My team takes say 20% damage, so I have to switch out every 5 engages to a new team because the team dies. As soon as I get a rare P/P that I want, I forfeit again, switch to a capture team, like a lvl 25 Terrible Turnip with weakening blow to capture the P/P, and say a fluxfire feline, or emperor crab to finish the job.

This would seem to me to really speed up farming a rare, and make the damage just a very minor roadblock. What it would do though, is either populate the area with ONLY crap breeds/non-rares for the people coming in behind you. I guess you could kill the pet after you forfeit in hopes of getting a better breed/rarity the next spawn, which would be no different than now, when I see someone farming in an area and running through 'killing' all the spawns via forfeit, obviously just looking for a rare.

I am not sure which system is better, though. At least in the new system, you guarantee that the pet will still be there after you forfeit. And if my strat works, then the damage to your team would be of absolutely no consequence. Now, if the damage were to be taken by your whole journal, then that would be different, but I doubt that would be the case.

BUT, if you just forfeit every match, you have NO chance of getting a stone to drop, get XP/lesser charm for your toon after 5.2, (not the pet) and XP for your lowbie pets in the process. I ALWAYS have a lowbie pet in a battle while farming, and almost never forfeit a match.

TL;DR: Bring on the changes, and don't forfeit, try for the chance at phat lutz!

[Gendou]

I believe forfeiting in 5.2 will also leave the pets up, making it a poor method of check/clearing a group.
In order to clear a group of spawns so new ones will spawn, you'll have to actually defeat the group.

... I could be wrong about that, however.

[Renmiri]

Doesn't forfeiting also kills the respawn, making people who still need that pet mad at you ?

[Tiger8380]

The thing I dont like about this is that you can't control which pets come out first in a tamer battle for bags. So I forfit until I get the pet match up that works. Most of the trainer battles if you don't get a good pet match up you pretty much just lose the battle or have a much harder time winning. I don't like that now I have to hope that the first time I get the proper enemy pet or just get screwed. This is my opinion alone but I really don't see the harm in allowing people to leave a pet battle without harm especially if you won't be able to use leaving battles to get faster/better chances at rare pets.

[Varda]

Doesn't forfeiting also kills the respawn, making people who still need that pet mad at you ?

Atm, yes.
This will change in 5.2.

[Varda]

The thing I dont like about this is that you can't control which pets come out first in a tamer battle for bags. So I forfit until I get the pet match up that works. Most of the trainer battles if you don't get a good pet match up you pretty much just lose the battle or have a much harder time winning. I don't like that now I have to hope that the first time I get the proper enemy pet or just get screwed. This is my opinion alone but I really don't see the harm in allowing people to leave a pet battle without harm especially if you won't be able to use leaving battles to get faster/better chances at rare pets.

But you got the advantage of knowing what pets the enemy will send, and can opt your team according to that. The PvE trainer have no way of doing that. You should still have no problem in 5.2 when the enemy has the chanse of one extra turn.
There are some good PvE guides posted here ( Warpets[dot]info i.e.). I believe that most, if not all, trainers can be beaten 2 vs. 3 atm.

[Quintessence]

What should I be aware of before deciding to forfeit a match?

Current state of Pet Battles - forfeiting:

• - When you forfeit, it will despawn the wild pet.
  
  - Using this method to rare-hunt can impact other players' gameplay, especially if done on the hard-to-find wild pets.

5.2 state of Pet Battles - forfeiting:

• - When you forfeit, it will NOT despawn the wild pet.
  
  - When you forfeit, your current pet team will take some damage. However, Mumper has stated on Twitter that this damage penalty is not meant for Tamer battles. We'll see though.

[Shmoooey]

What will happen when you forfeit on a trainer daily when you're trying to get the ideal opponent out first?

[Quintessence]

What will happen when you forfeit on a trainer daily when you're trying to get the ideal opponent out first?

There's no penalty for forfeiting on a Tamer daily.

The damage penalty for forfeiting (coming in 5.2) is also not intended for Tamer matches, but this is something that will need to be confirmed on the PTR. Hopefully it's true!


UPDATE: Mumper mentioned on Twitter that the forfeit penalty that's currently applied to Tamer battles on the PTR will likely stay that way for 5.2.

He went on to say that they'll continue to monitor the PTR, but I don't know if that means it's possible they might change their minds about this or not.

[Quintessence]

Update #2: Mumper [url=https://twitter.com/mumper/status/298554350710714368]mentioned on Twitter[/url] that the forfeit penalty will not apply to Tamer battles in the upcoming PTR patch. This doesn't necessarily mean that it will stay this way, but there's hope.

[Dragonwizard]

Update #2: Mumper [url=https://twitter.com/mumper/status/298554350710714368]mentioned on Twitter[/url] that the forfeit penalty will not apply to Tamer battles in the upcoming PTR patch. This doesn't necessarily mean that it will stay this way, but there's hope.

That is the best news I have heard today. Hopefully it stays that way.

[Mykro9]

So do we all need to get on the PTR and fight a lot of trainers and complain so that they keep it as it is on live? I would hate blowing bandages or running to a stable master every time I forfeit to a trainer. Some fights, you need every ounce of HP to carry a lowbie, and if I have to forfeit to get the right pet on a trainer first, and take damage until then, I will be a sad panda.

Some alternatives I still think would work would be to allow for us to pick which of our pets goes first without losing a turn, or for the the first pet on a trainer to alternate every other forfeit.

Example 1:
I engage the earth spirit trainer > I see earth spirit pet is first and I already have my three at the bottom to select [pet]Death's Head Cockroach[/pet] that I want to go against him. No penalty of losing a turn to switch pets. That way, if I forfeit, it was because I missed or got crit or some other reason, not because my comp was not what I wanted.

Example 2:
Same as above, only first pet is the critter with expunge. This time I have a booger squad of whatever I want that will take damage, because I KNOW that the next time I engage it will be the earth spirit first.
I forfeit, knowing the next pet will be the earth spirit, and I have my set team with [pet]Death's Head Cockroach[/pet] first, and they take no forfeit damage. Alternately, if I have my booger team in there to 'see' who is first, I just leave them in for another forfeit if the earth spirit was first, so they take damage through 2 forfeits, then the earth spirit will be up again, and I can start with the proper team.

Personally, I think they should just axe the whole forfeit damage mechanic all together, as in wild pet battles, you can just run with your booger squad to take the forfeit damage looking for rares, and when you find one, forfeit again and put in your capture squad. Simple solution to the forfeit damage, and only wastes players' time = unhappy pet battlers.

[Gwenolyn]

I believe forfeiting in 5.2 will also leave the pets up, making it a poor method of check/clearing a group.
In order to clear a group of spawns so new ones will spawn, you'll have to actually defeat the group.

... I could be wrong about that, however.

After you leave the battle, couldn't you just kill the battle pet with a spell or something to try to force a respawn? I hope so. Otherwise, rare hunting just got a lot more tedious.

[Gwenolyn]

So, my question is this, what is to keep me from having a 'booger' squad of pets to take the damage, forfeit, and re-engage with a better team?

NINJAS!! But ya, that would be the only downside.

[Ysabell]

Yeah, it's a sloppy system with an easy workaround. I'm surprised they aren't using a deserter debuff like they do for everything else, 2 minutes or something like that seems reasonable.

Regardless of what they end up with, I'm glad I already have the hard to find rares that I want.

[Corah]

I've been going through and getting all my rares for just this reason.