World of Warcraft has clarified that there will be new pet battle content in Midnight, despite its current absence in alpha, though some of these features will undergo iterations based on player reception and feedback. The future of pet battling in World of Warcraft is still unclear, but it seems Blizzard is not fully leaving this system behind just yet.
Several pieces of evidence that the pet battle system in World of Warcraft was being phased out appeared during the first build of the Midnight alpha. Pets in the open world, now classified as “Wild Pets” instead of “Battle Pets,” are caught with the single click of a button and have no battle statistics, and comments from game director Ion Hazzikostas suggested attention was being pulled away from the pet battle system due to lack of engagement, leading fans of the feature to fear for its future.
The State of Pet Battles in World of Warcraft: Midnight
Now, Blizzard has shared some clarification on this controversy. In a forum post by WoW community manager Kaivax, Blizzard confirmed the pet battle system was “being iterated on” in Midnight, and that the process would continue through later Alpha builds. He also stated four goals for pet battles World of Warcraft was currently shooting for while playtesting this system:
- “For players who love collecting pets, there should be significant numbers of pets to collect.
- For players who love to do pet battle combat, that will be available.
- As time has passed, we’ve seen fewer and fewer players enjoying pet battle combat, so this is an area we want to iterate on.
- There will be some new pets in Midnight that are capable of battling.
- All parts of the pet battle system that were implemented in previous expansions should continue to operate as they have before.”
These goals confirm a few things about pets in Midnight: players will still be able to collect pets, engage in pet battles, and collect new pets capable of battling. However, they don’t say what percentage of pets will be incapable of fighting or how much new battle content will be available, all while proving the pet battle system is in Blizzard’s sights due to low engagement. That said, it is keeping fan feedback in mind while making these changes, so World of Warcraft pet battle enthusiasts should continue to make their opinions known if they wish to see the system stay in Midnight and beyond.
Of course, it is important to remember that World of Warcraft: Midnight is still in its alpha period. Things are still subject to change in later builds, and it is possible that feedback could lead Blizzard to implement content like wild pet battles in Midnight before full release, possibly even with a fresh coat of paint. Either way, though existing pet battle content will continue to function regardless of what happens, it seems likely that pet collection and battling will look quite different in Midnight.
While some fans have suggested these changes are being made due to Nintendo’s recent Pokemon patent, the more likely reasoning is because of WoW’s expedited release cadence. With less than two years between each expansion, it makes sense that Blizzard would seek to focus on parts of the game that people are invested in with the development time they have. Hopefully, whatever changes end up sticking for systems like pet battles will be satisfying for fans of the features.