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Pets, Pets, and More Pets
By Cameron Sorden | September 1, 2008
You could argue that the coolest feature of World of Warcraft’s Hunter class is the fact that they get to select an animal companion from almost any monster in the entire game. Pet classes have always been popular and powerful in MMOGs for the simple reason that two entities are usually better at killing both mobs and players than just one. It helps that I just spent the whole day getting ganked in STV by hunters and their pets.
Face it: it’s cool. People like pets. Most of us have pets of one sort or another in real life and vanity pets are hugely popular in online games. The only thing cooler than a vanity pet is a pet that actually does stuff — especially if it gives you an edge in combat. When WoW originally came out, I wanted to play a hunter on the basis of the pet description. So why don’t more games let more classes have pets like that?
Given the increasingly solo style of gameplay that online games offer, it would be cool if there was a game where every class got a pet of some sort. It could even be class-appropriate: give warriors healer pets, healers and mages tank pets, and DPS classes… whatever they wanted. In fact, selecting whatever kind of pet you wanted from anything could open up some cool gameplay options. Go healer-healer and never die. Go tank-dps and keep the enemy’s attention on you while your pet kills them. There’s tons of potential for fun gaming here, not to mention the “collect ‘em all” pokemon-style factor of allowing players to hunt down their own companions.
Pets are something that players clearly enjoy, and it would be great to see more games embrace that idea and run with it.
Topics: Game Design, Massively Multiplayer |
September 1st, 2008 at 11:06 pm
I would absolutely love to see such a game! (I run the WoW hunter pet site Petopia, by the way. I also happen to read your blog regularly — I’m not just here to spam. *grin*)
I often have people ask me about pet classes in other games. Why does the hunter in WoW have such a different feel than, say, the Conjurer in EQ2? As far as I can tell, it really comes down to two factors.
First, WoW is a very solo-friendly game and the hunter class embraces that. My EQ2 Conjurer can solo with her pets, but doing so really feels sort of cheaty within the context of grouping-centric EQ2. And not just to me — it feels vaguely cheaty to the developers too! Listen to them talk about Conjurers sometime when they don’t know you’re listening …
Secondly, pets in WoW have tons and tons of personality. A lot of people downplay this as the cuddly side of pets (or even worse, roleplay!) but humans like to form bonds with animals and we do it just as well with virtual animals in a game world. WoW has very smartly structured the hunter class to hook into that urge. And it’s not about cuddly — it’s about customization.
In WoW I can choose one of 165 pet appearances (more in the next expansion) across 23 types of pets, from sleek panthers to cantankerous crocodiles. I can name my pet almost anything I like (within the naming filter, of course). I can even (with a little help from addons) express my pet’s personality with emotes.
In EQ2, the best pet for my level looks the same as everyone else’s pet. It is effectively given to me — I don’t go out and choose it, and I don’t have much of an option if I don’t like it. And for some reason, the lowest level pets look the best. (Beetles FTW!)
Moreover, in WoW my pet stays with me over long periods of time and it’s my responsibility to keep it happy and well-fed. Doing this benefits my character, but it also helps simulate a relationship between the pet and myself. In EQ2, I switch to a new pet as soon as I can because it’s more powerful, and I never use the old pet again.
WoW’s pet system has it’s flaws, of course. Many of these are being addressed (for good or ill) in the upcoming Wrath of the Lich King expansion. But the underpinning of WoW’s pet system is a very smart hook into the human psychology of animal companions.
September 1st, 2008 at 11:41 pm
Thanks for reading (and I added your blog to my reader, fyi)! I totally agree with you. WoW has done a great job of taking pets to the next level and offering players a world of customization. That’s why I’d love to see a similar mentality carried across to other games.
September 2nd, 2008 at 11:46 am
There is actually a good amount of this in the Wrath beta — it’s not so formal that there are pets you must choose for your class and that they are permanent (that’s a very Hunter thing), but there are lots of opportunities, even early on, to nab some minions and helpers no matter which class you are.
And then there’s Castle Crashers’ animal orbs. Those things are just awesome.