[Devblog] Favorite Areas for Pets 02/11/2010 - 17:56

Hello,

Following on from the success of the Frigost pets, the bonuses allocated in their area of choice and the stability of this system, we have decided to expand this to include all pets with the 2.2.2 game update.

Why introduce such a system?

We’ve noticed that, once they reach level 60, most players tend to lose interest in their pets and replace them with Dragoturkeys. The pets could be improved by adding enhancement potions, but these alone were not enough. The ‘favourite area’ system is an additional step towards restoring the pets to their former glory.

As a result of the great variations between pets, the same pets were always being used for certain bonuses (apart from a few exceptions). A very good example of this is the Gobtubby.

The goal of the favourite area system is to provide each pet with an additional advantage in a certain area. Of course, some players may feel wronged by this system if their pet’s favourite area does not live up to their expectations, but you mustn’t forget that the basic bonuses attributed to the pet remain unchanged, so these players haven’t actually lost anything compared to before. A Nomoon, for example, is no less useful outside Moon Island than before, so the players can carry on using it the same way.

What’s the point of having several pets?

As the player progresses, they’re going to change game areas. Instead of keeping the same pet from beginning to end, they will be able to choose to get a new pet with the same basic bonus, but whose favourite area is the area the player is going to progress to.

Player versus Player fights are going to be affected by this new system. Tracking, most notably, will suffer the most significant effects. The player being tracked with a pet is going to be able to defend himself more easily if he can choose where the fight will take place, whilst the trackers will need to take this factor into account and, possibly, adapt their game and their equipment as a result.

The choice of pet won’t just have an impact on the habits of players in terms of pets/Dragoturkeys, but also on the economy since, by becoming more competitive than others in their favourite area, the price of some pets will increase.

In conclusion, this new system will lead to a few changes in habits for a part of the community and, in addition to thrilling the collectors, will offer some interesting variants to optimisers. The future of our dear little pets is looking bright.