WoW Petopia Community

As pets can be any spec now, organizing them by spec is less useful. I suggest the front page be organized alphabetically (with perhaps a separate section for exotics), and the pet skills be organized by type within sections for buffs, debuffs, and utilities.

I was actually considering putting up a poll for this to get more feedback. On the one hand, a list of 30+ icons done alphabetically is a lot to take in (although separating out the exotics is a great idea). On the other hand, you are absolutely correct that separating them by spec isn't as useful, and in fact can be quite confusing.

Hmm ... here is a very quick look at what that might look like on the front page:



Thoughts?

Edit: It gets a little longer after Pandaria releases:

Looks fine to me.

They could also be organized by buff/debuff/CC types, but that might be more confusing.

I think I like that setup. Definitely helpful that the Exotics are separated from the rest.

I like that setup as well.

Yes, it is a big block of icons, but it's nice to be able to see all of them at once. I wonder if the alphabetical organization would be more obvious at first glance if the icons were closer to each other horizontally than vertically? Would seven across be too crowded? Maybe a little more space between rows.

I prefer the first page without 'Pet Families' at the top. What do you think about 'Exotics' instead of 'Exotic Families'?

I'd also be comfortable with leaving Hydras off the front page. Could make a special entry for them in the Rare and Special Pets section.

I agree with Gorman. The page would look better if it were made more obvious that it was in alphabetical order and without hydras listed. If they're ever added in properly, just add them back in again then. Until then, it kinda looks like it's just a random pet family that's listed, as there's loads of other beasts that aren't tameable such as stegadons, talbuks, etc.

However I quite like it as it is now, without the ferocity/cunning/tenacity headers since they can be any spec now, even if they do come with a default spec when tamed.

Edit: o.o Only just realised the dates on this thread. Oops... ^^;

All good there's no reason the site can't evolve further once MoP is out.

My main problem, which I've also discussed with Mania, is that I think the Blizzard icons are absolutely terrible for visually recognizing families in a rapid way. Some of them are just too similar, or represent abstract parts of the beast, or just bear no resemblance to the beast at all. So if you have a dog in mind, you have to recall it's a spiked collar and not a dog. The quilen is apparently an angry, red tauren. Basilisks are, quite naturally, spinal columns (?!?). The monkey... I've always found a little disturbing, but that's probably a symptom of my mind.

Sadly, there's no immediate replacement that fits the grid as nicely.

The spiders and shale spiders still share an identical icon. With all the new icons Blizzard introduced in 5.0, I was a little disappointed that shale spiders didn't get a new one.

I wonder if removing the underlining from the family names would make them more quickly readable? I think just having the icon be click-able would be fine.

I feel like the basilisk, quilen, water strider and possibly the goat icons are just placeholders for now. They are the newer pet families after all. Hopefully there will be icons to match them better later and hopefully maybe one day we'll get a unique one for the shale spiders too. Also, am I the only one who has no idea what the spirit beast icon is meant to be?!

Everdeen wrote:Also, am I the only one who has no idea what the spirit beast icon is meant to be?!

It's half of a cat face.

I used this image from google to help illustrate:


We can see the glowing eye, the ear at the top, and then part of the nose bridge. Also some whiskers in the bottom left. It's definitely an awkward cropping decision though.

Oh my gosh thank you so much for clearing that up. I know it's not important but it's bothered me since WotLK!

I used to think it was an owl.


Anyways, on topic, I really like the front page now with the families listed alphabetically. It's also much easier to see the Exotic families by themselves. You're right about the icons though, so many of them are...odd. As for alternatives, perhaps using one of the model icons, or something like silhouettes of a recognizable model?

Yes, it was ages before I finally realized what the spirit beast was. It looked like some kind of star to me

Also, I just remembered that basilisks now use the croc icon, rather than the spine. That at least makes more sense but it's going to be bad with another two icons the same. Are quilen still the red tauren? I haven't had one in a while.

My quilen are still all showing up with the cat icon. -_-

I like this change if only because it helps me out with the random pet challenge thread a little easier. xD

Also, I agree that hydras should be removed for now and added later, otherwise all untamable, but potentially tamable, families should be added into that category. Seeing them there just gives a sense of false hope or something.

TygerDarkstorm wrote:Also, I agree that hydras should be removed for now and added later, otherwise all untamable, but potentially tamable, families should be added into that category. Seeing them there just gives a sense of false hope or something.

I think it's because of all the datamined stuff from a while ago which added in a hydra ability, etc. It made everyone very hopeful. But nothing's happening with them, so... :/

Everdeen wrote:

TygerDarkstorm wrote:Also, I agree that hydras should be removed for now and added later, otherwise all untamable, but potentially tamable, families should be added into that category. Seeing them there just gives a sense of false hope or something.

I think it's because of all the datamined stuff from a while ago which added in a hydra ability, etc. It made everyone very hopeful. But nothing's happening with them, so... :/

Hydras are a real, existing family. New ones can't be tamed, but the existing ones don't fit anywhere else. They need to be included for that reason.

Perhaps the category could be relabeled "Discontinued Pets" or "Former Pets" or "Limited Edition Pets" - something to more clearly indicate why they are there while other untameable families are not.

I'm kinda happy with hydras where they are. They're right at the bottom, in their own category as "untamable". As was pointed out, they are different to all other untameable families in that they really do exist as a family and have tamed members in the game, just now unavailable to new hunters. If anyone showed up wondering where they could get that ghost hydra they saw with that hunter in the BG, they can at least find it.

Wain wrote:I'm kinda happy with hydras where they are. They're right at the bottom, in their own category as "untamable". As was pointed out, they are different to all other untameable families in that they really do exist as a family and have tamed members in the game, just now unavailable to new hunters. If anyone showed up wondering where they could get that ghost hydra they saw with that hunter in the BG, they can at least find it.

I'm in agreement with Wain. We don't know for a fact if they're never ever gonna be tameable.