My Hati is an undead now

[Rawr]

The reset already happened yesterday and most of us already got our odd looks back.

[Silivren]

I hate to be the party pooper guys, but I'd advise caution at this point. They've made it clear that these appearances are unintended, so if people keep pushing it and doing it anyway, they may have to fix it in a way that's going to ruin things for everyone. I know it's probably fun, but let's not be too stubborn?

^ This, they've let it be known they don't want this done, and if it keeps being pushed and used to break their rules they may remove the swapper entirely, and nobody wants that.

I said this earlier and I think it was overlooked. I miss my lil' murloc buddy, but they don't want us doing this. Period. I really suggest we not do this, even if "it's just for a short time before they take it away".

Completely agree with this, continuing to go and break Blizzard's rules after they've all but said they don't want you to do this.. Well yeah, you're breaking the game and can get in a ton of trouble for that. You're also knowingly breaking their game and going against their wishes. That's not a good idea.

[Lupen202]

Really think that if it couldn't be used in combat, 99% of the issues would be fixed. Or like talents they could make it to where you can only use it in a rested area.

[Lisaara]

^ This, they've let it be known they don't want this done, and if it keeps being pushed and used to break their rules they may remove the swapper entirely, and nobody wants that.

I said this earlier and I think it was overlooked. I miss my lil' murloc buddy, but they don't want us doing this. Period. I really suggest we not do this, even if "it's just for a short time before they take it away".

Completely agree with this, continuing to go and break Blizzard's rules after they've all but said they don't want you to do this.. Well yeah, you're breaking the game and can get in a ton of trouble for that. You're also knowingly breaking their game and going against their wishes. That's not a good idea.

Agreed. People really need to cut it out. It's not cute. It's not funny anymore. If this gets removed because of people abusing it, I'm gonna raise hell with the people abusing it. They won't care if there is outrage. If you're abusing it, you're the reason it'll be removed and the reason for said outrage. It's the same reason why companies have to lock down networks or lock down cell phone usage.....usually because a few employees abused the system. So please please please respect the rest of us that want to keep this.

Also, I really wish they'd let us rename Hati. It's really immersion breaking to see 100 other hunters with it.

[Yevelynne]

To be honest, you can't blame the players for the nature of the toy. This is something that should have been more thoroughly tested before going live, and Blizz should realize that before punishing players for "abusing" it. Live-testing the item is like giving a kid candy, then taking it away after they've only had a taste. It will be fun while it lasts, but let's hope they come up with a reasonable compromise rather than complete removal.

[Lisaara]

As the old saying goes....Just because you can do it doesn't mean you should. ie: Just because you can download porn and movies on your office wifi doesn't mean you should and chances are you'll get reprimanded for it regardless if it's a policy or not at the time. Blizz does have a rule in their ToU/ToS about abusing glitches or using something that wasn't intended, so you can't say 'I didn't know!'

[Kalliope]

Considering that the essence swapper was added specifically by player request and it even has a special quest - which is voiced, I might add - I don't forsee the team removing it. Missing this sort of technique was a mistake, but the actual implementation of the swapper was not a quick and dirty endeavor.

Worst case scenario, we'll have another hotfix/Hati appearance wipe. As long as no one is using a game balance breaking appearance (untargetable, invisible, etc.), then people should be fine.

[Lisaara]

Considering Blizzard has wiped Hati once before and people are STILL doing it, I think they will have no choice but to remove it. Voices don't stop things from being removed. I feel if it's something we can't tame, it's technically game breaking and immersion breaking for many people, which isn't fair to them. Blizz has stated they want us to stop abusing it so it's kind of.....disrespectful to keep doing it after they've down they don't want us doing it.

[Lupen202]

I gave two options that would wipe out these unwanted appearances almost entirely. Removing it would be extreme and is far from the only option. Make it unusable in combat, or make it only usable in rested area. Considering most of these appearances require you to be in combat or out in the world to get a buff/debuff or what have you, it'd be pretty difficult to get them with those changes in place.

[Tepin]

To be honest, you can't blame the players for the nature of the toy. This is something that should have been more thoroughly tested before going live, and Blizz should realize that before punishing players for "abusing" it. Live-testing the item is like giving a kid candy, then taking it away after they've only had a taste. It will be fun while it lasts, but let's hope they come up with a reasonable compromise rather than complete removal.

The only ones that would, reasonably, be punished are the ones who keep going back for looks after we were told not to use them. Is it on Blizzard for not testing this/thinking it out more? Sure. But it's on us to honor their rules.

[Yevelynne]

Oh, I wasn't arguing. I agree, players should play responsibly, but expecting them all to do so is unrealistic

[Zetharl]

My only qualm now is that the first time I got the skeleton it was teeny and adorable, and now it's just a regular size again. :< I think the sizing of Hati really is random, or so it seems. I used the same pet both times.

Well, using a crab *guarantees* a larger transformation, so perhaps there's a family that guarantees a small one. I'll do some testing tomorrow at Isle of Thunder.

[Iowawolf]

I really wish players would stop messing with Hati changing him to things not intended and ruining it for those of us who have yet to hit 110 and get the quest my hunter is only 103 and still long ways from getting this thing and as long as players keep doing this Blizzard may remove it entirely then if that happens I for one will be pissed off. True was cute seeing what we could change Hati to but now that they flat out said Hati is only to be turned into one of your other pets and players are still doing this might make Blizzard go so far as to ban those who are doing this.

So to those on here still turning Hati into something not allowed please stop and don't give them any reason to remove this item not allowing the players who want to just change him into another pet in your stables the fun.

[Kalliope]

I gave two options that would wipe out these unwanted appearances almost entirely. Removing it would be extreme and is far from the only option. Make it unusable in combat, or make it only usable in rested area. Considering most of these appearances require you to be in combat or out in the world to get a buff/debuff or what have you, it'd be pretty difficult to get them with those changes in place.

Exactly.

There's really no sense in people getting worked up over this.

Honestly, this is just a signal to the devs that the fix wasn't effective enough if they really don't want all of these appearances as options. So long as no one's doing anything that gives them an unfair advantage, this is harmless. "Breaking immersion" is really not a massive crisis.

That doesn't mean it won't be fixed completely, but that would need to be done regardless of whether players were still using the essence swapper this way or not.

[Rebcart]

A bit late but I found you could use the Essence Swapper on the Moonfall Riding Hippogryph during the "Air Superiority" world quest in Suramar. It has the same look as the mount you get from Glory of the Legion Hero (maybe a little more purple but I'm not sure).

[Lisaara]

I really wish players would stop messing with Hati changing him to things not intended and ruining it for those of us who have yet to hit 110 and get the quest my hunter is only 103 and still long ways from getting this thing and as long as players keep doing this Blizzard may remove it entirely then if that happens I for one will be pissed off. True was cute seeing what we could change Hati to but now that they flat out said Hati is only to be turned into one of your other pets and players are still doing this might make Blizzard go so far as to ban those who are doing this.

So to those on here still turning Hati into something not allowed please stop and don't give them any reason to remove this item not allowing the players who want to just change him into another pet in your stables the fun.

^ This

And immersion is a big deal. That's part of the point of playing a game in the first place. To be immersed in the story. It's really rude, imho, to disrupt that for other players. It's important to be respectful to the other players of the game that are abiding by the rules and doing as Blizz asks. It doesn't matter if it doesn't give an advantage. Blizz said stop. Continuing to use something unintended will get it removed.

Don't believe me still? Allow me to provide an example involving something that actually happened back in Mists of Pandaria. Remember when legendary pet battles gave experience and notice now they don't? A former guildie of mine is to blame because he was fighting the cricket over and over again to level alts because he hated leveling. He got banned for it (later appealed and got banned for something else but besides the point).

Did it give him an advantage? No, I don't personally think it did. It was an alternate, harmless way to level that didn't ruin anybody's fun or be obnoxious or anything. But Blizz apparently was ticked enough to smack him with a ban and remove the xp from the legendary pet battles. With that in mind, I wouldn't dismiss this as a problem or claim Blizz won't take it away because of the abuse. I really don't think this is wise to encourage something Blizz explicitly said not to do.

[Zetharl]

Don't believe me still? Allow me to provide an example involving something that actually happened back in Mists of Pandaria. Remember when legendary pet battles gave experience and notice now they don't? A former guildie of mine is to blame because he was fighting the cricket over and over again to level alts because he hated leveling. He got banned for it (later appealed and got banned for something else but besides the point).

That's not equivalent to removing the swapper. Removing the legendary pet battles altogether would be an apt comparison, but Blizz had no reason to do that, and has no reason to remove the swapper.

[Lisaara]

I think it is the equivalent or pretty close to it. Point still stands. Just because it 'doesn't hurt anyone' doesn't mean it can't be removed or won't be. That's the entire point. Don't dismiss it as a possibility. I'd like to have nice things. I don't want it removed because people don't wanna respect Blizzard's wishes.

[Zetharl]

For those still using this, pet families do affect size.

Crabs and Shale Spiders are larger than normal
Raptors are smaller than normal
Rylaks and Ravagers are even smaller
Core Hounds, Devilsaurs, Clefthooves, and Water Striders are puny! (clefthooves might be barely slightly larger than the others)

[Kalliope]

Don't believe me still? Allow me to provide an example involving something that actually happened back in Mists of Pandaria. Remember when legendary pet battles gave experience and notice now they don't? A former guildie of mine is to blame because he was fighting the cricket over and over again to level alts because he hated leveling. He got banned for it (later appealed and got banned for something else but besides the point).

That's not equivalent to removing the swapper. Removing the legendary pet battles altogether would be an apt comparison, but Blizz had no reason to do that, and has no reason to remove the swapper.

Agreed.

Plus competitive pet battles are a thing, so doing that would have given him an advantage there.

Like I said before, as long as people aren't using appearances that would give them an unfair advantage over other players, this is not an emergency.

Breaking immersion is not a bannable offense. If that were the case, then everyone on RP servers would be forced to RP at all times. It's an unrealistic expectation.