I've seen a few discussions on here about pet experience. I just renewed my subscription to see if the advanced pets were cool, and I was a bit disappointed. Here's why:
1. Gaining experience for pets is very slow, meaning that you don't get a noticeable benefit until quite a lot of training. 2. The mini-games for pets aren't very fun. The pet pavilion games have better graphics than the older mini-games for refilling your potions, but they aren't nearly as fun. The older games are more complex, and they have a much bigger range of performance. On Dancing Diego, for example, you keep going until you die, and as you slowly make it farther and farther over many tries, you see more of the mini-game. You can slowly increase your skill. None of the new games have much replay value--you play it a few times and you're bored of it.
My conclusion was that the new pet system doesn't make Wizard101 any more fun unless you have a LOT of time on your hands.
On the other hand, I really like the intricate talent/stat/breeding system that makes almost every pet unique and lets them contribute to battle without unbalancing the game.
So, I made this thread for my fellow players to share ideas for Kingsisle on how to improve the pet experience system. I have two ideas.
1. (not my idea--I saw it in another thread) Let pets get experience in battles where they are equipped. a) Make battling with you give pets experience, mini-games give them stats other than power, and snacks give them all 5 stats. Maybe snacks could also give them Happiness, or something like that, which could affect the pet's likelihood to cast a spell that helps you. (Happiness could also decrease slowly if we don't log on for a few days, giving us an incentive to keep playing.) b) If this unbalances the game, give your pet a temporary penalty of some kind of you die in battle--too stunned to help you for a while, "wounded" and loses some experience/stats, or something like that. 2. Add some more mini-games at the Pet Pavilion. The current ones have great graphics, but they have almost no replayability (except maybe to see the different worlds' graphics, which doesn't last long).
Everyone, list your ideas! I want them to fix this, and our ideas might help it happen.
It encourages players to do something else besides training pets.
Yeah, like watch the latest Survivor episode online. (Wonder who got booted last night?)
Or more like, it encourages players to use Crowns to buy Mega Snack Packs.
Actually I agree with the OP, the pet training games are pretty boring, it needs change.
I like the idea of your pet gets XP from battles.
Or maybe you have the choice of what you get to do when you win a game, potion refill, gold, or pet talents. Then increase the numbers of those games.
That Shock-A-Lock is getting old, but seeing how I am trying to get the Grandmaster craft badge and silver chests on Celestia can drop pearls I do them.
Yeah, like watch the latest Survivor episode online. Sure! Although it's easy enough to do that while training.
Or more like, it encourages players to use Crowns to buy Mega Snack Packs. Or just buy them from the Bazaar.
I like the idea of your pet gets XP from battles. Highly unlikely to happen. Pets are too much of a boost to wizards for training to occur in such a passive manner.
Making your equipped pet gain 5 or 10% exp from each battle you do would be great.
Currently lvling up pets get EXTREMLY repetative after a very short amount of time.
And i'm guessing there are plenty of player out there like me mixing almost every day in order to transfer desired talents to other pets in order to create one with the exact talents you want.
On another thread, someone suggested the idea of pet quests. I like that... it's more interesting than the mini-games, and you avoid the problem of getting experience while you fight and complete quests that you'd be doing anyway.
Pets are too much of a boost to wizards for training to occur in such a passive manner.
Maybe a pet dungeon of some kind, where humans can't get pips, so you have to draw on your pet's pips in order to cast anything, so you're training your pet? Then, you wouldn't get XP, but your pet would.
Another idea is to expand the current pet mini-games, or to program a few more... maybe they could make unlockable mini-games, ones that are only open after you've trained a pet up to a certain level. You could unlock one game for your first Teen, one for your first Adult, etc.
