Well fellow petopians tomorrow I fight for us!

[Kurenio]

... just want to say I feel like a tank again taking shots from every angle. Oh well the fight must go on!

[Kerafirewing]

I posted on the forum page. Likewise, I'd love like 5 more slots perhaps as I could get the last couple of pets I would love to have and still have a couple of slots in case of new family or such. We'll wait and see what happens. *crosses her fingers*

[meunkin]

It's not realistically feasible to give hunters unlimited slots, from a server-architecture standpoint. Unlimited slots means unlimited data storage, which is something the servers would not be able to handle.

You could make an argument to increase the number of available slots, though that begs the question: what is the correct amount? This same discussion could be had about player bag space, bank space, anything limited in availability with potentially unlimited demand.

Design-wise, the goal is that choosing whether or not to tame a pet should be a meaningful decision. Would it make your stabled pets feel less special if you had 100, or 1000 of them?

One avenue for pet-stable-size expansion I could see being a useful tool for argument would be the current buff/debuff system. In an ideal world, players should be able to have a stable full of all of the potential pets they might need for raiding. If that isn't the case, I think you could argue for increasing the stable size to cover the spread, with a little extra for favorite kitties

[AdamSavage]

I know about the game to know that this would be probably impossible to do. Everything in the game that stores stuff has a storage limit. They could probably increase the number of slots. The only way I can see a truly unlimited or a very large storage is if they completely changed how the pets are stored. Have it something like how your currency is stored possibly ? I don't know enough about the game or programing/code to know if that's even possible based on how the game is currently coded.

[Litlemouse]

Good luck...but concidering how bad Blizz has been to hunters I dont see them doing something nice

I'm really confused... how's Blizz been bad to hunters?

Volly-gone
Eyes of the beast-gone
Aggresive pet stance-(soon) gone
Pet Happyness-(soon) gone

I know I miss those so much especially Eyes of the Beast.
but... not against you, just sayin'...
-New awesome rare pets (Sambas, Madexx etc)
-2 new Spirit beasts
-Unkillable Ghostcrawler
-Tears of Loyalty
-Increased BM DPS
-Bigger stables
-More pet families

[MajorThor]

I, personally would just like enough stable slots to match all the rares out there + fancy skins. So, about 250?

[Kurenio]

Guys the idea of infinite stables does not by any means mean its actually infinite just enough slots to tame all the skins, but what do you think sounds better 394 stables slots soon to be near 400 with 4.2 or Infinite stable slots.

[ummeiko]

I can't post on the official forums anymore, but the topic of more stables slots has been an interest of mine for some time.

I don't think unlimited is feasible. Nor do I think "one of each family" is particularly fair either.

25 stable slots was great during early-mid beta. Heck, I couldn't come up with the pets to fill it.

Then late in beta they did a pass and added a TON of pets in one patch.
Then in 4.0.6 they brought back a ton of previously-missing rares and changed a lot of skins on new and existing rares. This introduced a lot of previously unused skins, which had the effect of bringing a bunch of new "unique skin found on only on rare mob" pets, which have historically been of high interest to pet collectors.
4.1 brought the new cat skins, new zg pets, and ant silithids.
4.2 is so far bringing new spiders, but is presumably far from done. If history is to repeat itself, I would expect a new spirit beast to show up with the new raid tier as well.
Hydras are still a teasing possibility.

The thing is, Blizzard will be (and should be) constantly updating their game with new tameables. Some people will drop a cat they've had for ages if a new model shows up, but not everyone will. And if the cat being dropped was a rare or a unique skin, the situation is more difficult. Probably a leading cause of why people have multiple spirit beasts. If Loque took 5 months to get, one might think twice about replacing him just because Skoll came out - the thought of camping another 5 months if you want Loque back is more than a little daunting. Many families have multiple rare/unique skins, and while not every one ends up being a multi-month camp, not every one is a simple walk to the next zone over if you want to tame. And at some point, people just like the look of two different cats (or whatever family).

At this point, I don't think it's unreasonable to want more stable slots. Like I said, 25 was great in early beta, but the number of pets they've added is many times greater than that, with more on the horizon. At this point, there are more rare-unique pets and unique not-rare-but-harder-to-get pets (like say, Chromaggus) than there are stable slots, and that doesn't count the colors of Madexx or any rare-unique skins that may come with 4.1. Heck, there are more pet families than there are stable slots, so you can't even pick one of each family.

What's the magic number? Hard to say. There are some players who will fill to the max regardless of whether it's 10 or 25 or 500, just because they can or they see it as a challenge. Right now, my gut says 40-50. (Would be enough for one of each family, plus some duplicates for situations such as spirit beasts, boss mobs, or other situations where you may want more than one of a certain family). By the end of the expansion maybe more - depends on what they do in 4.3, 4.4, etc. I think further expansions along, they will inevitably have to raise the stable cap (unless they never come up with another pet family or look again, until WoW dies).

[peanutbuttercup]

What's the magic number? Hard to say. There are some players who will fill to the max regardless of whether it's 10 or 25 or 500, just because they can or they see it as a challenge. Right now, my gut says 40-50. (Would be enough for one of each family, plus some duplicates for situations such as spirit beasts, boss mobs, or other situations where you may want more than one of a certain family). By the end of the expansion maybe more - depends on what they do in 4.3, 4.4, etc. I think further expansions along, they will inevitably have to raise the stable cap (unless they never come up with another pet family or look again, until WoW dies).

Guys the idea of infinite stables does not by any means mean its actually infinite just enough slots to tame all the skins, but what do you think sounds better 394 stables slots soon to be near 400 with 4.2 or Infinite stable slots.

Actually I was thinking 40 felt like a good, reasonable number for now as well. A bit more than I'd use at the moment but like many others I've seen how easy it is to fill stables to the max, so some breathing room would be nice. I'd love to have enough room for each pet to have a set spot at the stablemaster.

So going by the above maybe a percentage based system would work? If let's say the number of skins available by 4.2 is 400, maybe take 10% of that so we'd get 40 slots (obviously can't have 39.4 slots so any decimals would need to get rounded). Then as subsequent patches add more, the stable size would increase slowly along with it, allowing for at least 1 new pet per patch.

[zedxrgal]

I'm probably one of the few that are going to come out and say it but I am 95% sure that dozens more are thinking what I'm about to say. This is not meant as a personal attack or directed at anyone in particular. So don't take it personal.

How is it that other hunters can be so damned ungrateful???? Seriously. I am willing to bet none of these ungrateful hunters were around back in vanilla. People griped and moaned then that there wasn't enough room and Blizzard upgraded it. They griped and moaned more that it wasn't enough so they upgraded it yet again. Then, yes I'm sure there was still griping and moaning that those STILL weren't enough so Blizzard kindly provided 25 stable slots to give hunter what they had wanted and asked for. Now it's still not enough. So I ask again how is it that some are so ungrateful for what's been provided that they still ask for more?????
For some of these people even if you gave them 200 stable slots I'm sure if new tamable 201 came out they'd be there bitching away at how their 200 slots isn't enough because pet 201 is available.
I have played since vanilla and I am more then grateful for what Blizzard has provided and IF they were to increase the slots yes I wouldn't be ungrateful but I sure as hades am not going to sit and request more. I've had some pets since level 10. Sheesh on my original WoW toon she still has three or four of the pets she tamed back in 2004!!!!! Will they go anywhere because of a shiny new tamable comes along???? Absolutely not. Because I have expendable pets. I'm sorry to say that but even on my horde and alliance mains each of them have pets that they love but could release. Otherwise ....................... create an alt. 25 more slots to fill right there.

But I feel it's a bit sad to have already been given the gift of added slots multiple times over and for some it's still not enough.

[peanutbuttercup]

How is it that other hunters can be so damned ungrateful???? Seriously. I am willing to bet none of these ungrateful hunters were around back in vanilla.

Hi, I've been around since vanilla. I still have my one original pet that I tamed back at 20 and still consider it my main. And then, still during vanilla, I decided I wanted, as a level 60, to tame a level 9 pet and raise it all the way to 60. It took around a month, six hours every day, for me to get that pet to 60. And I still have that pet and that's my main raid pet.

So long story short, "played during vanilla" does not equal "won't ask for more pets." I'm plenty dedicated to my pixel pets. That's why I play a hunter. But I have always wanted more.

And I honestly don't see a problem if one person wants 200 pets and another only wants 2. That's a personal choice. How does someone wanting more pets decrease your playing enjoyment? I just know it's unrealistic to ask for unlimited slots which is why I've suggested alternate numbers that should hopefully satisfy most pet collector's needs.

[NightOwl]

But why? Pare it down. 25 is plenty, especially considering you can more than cover any necessary buff you could need for your play style (WHU lists only 12 on its raiding/dungeoning shortlist) and STILL have plently of room for "fun" pets. Go play Pokemon if you want to catch 'em all.

[peanutbuttercup]

Why does everyone resort to "go play Pokemon"? Isn't there a better way to express disagreement? It's fine that many are happy with the number of pets they have, but there are some that would like more. I don't want to catch them all. I'm not BM so I couldn't even if I wanted to. But I just like having pets. I like many of the skins in the game and would like to have them in my stables.

So how does wanting more pets ruin other people's gameplay experience?

[SpiritBinder]

While I myself also agree that an infinite number of pets would be awfully difficult to implement and sustain from a sever storage perspective. But if you wish to increase the number of avalible slots to a higher amount, I'm inclined to agree with PBC on this one.

Actually I was thinking 40 felt like a good, reasonable number for now as well.

If by means of increasing the number of stable slots avalible to a number that has a statical nuance, I also believe, that 40, would most like be the optimum number at the moment.

Simply due to the fact that we currently have 37 different pet families available to tame as hunter, and 38 if you wish to include hydras (I'm not making this a plug to make them tamable, although that would be nice, just going off petopia) 40 is simply a rounded number and would also add leeway for the introduction of a few more families.

But why? Pare it down. 25 is plenty, especially considering you can more than cover any necessary buff you could need for your play style (WHU lists only 12 on its raiding/dungeoning shortlist) and STILL have plently of room for "fun" pets. Go play Pokemon if you want to catch 'em all.

NightOwl, your more than welcome to have your opinion on any topic here or any other forum, but please be respectful towards others opinions, as they are of yours. Also please be aware that you are currently posting on a forum with high hunter pet themed content, so you will find a lot of pet loving folk here, you may wish to take that into account before commenting on others preferences also, thanks

[Chimera]

But why? Pare it down. 25 is plenty, especially considering you can more than cover any necessary buff you could need for your play style (WHU lists only 12 on its raiding/dungeoning shortlist) and STILL have plently of room for "fun" pets. Go play Pokemon if you want to catch 'em all.

I already do play pokemon... and i play hunters for the pets more so then the class, its what appealed to me in the first place. I know there are other players in the game that share the same desire to own pets because they really click or look awesome next to the character are out there voicing their opinions or keeping them to themselves. Its not just all pvp/dungeon/raid, its also a game for people to RP in and i feel that having a gorgeous array of pets to choose from as the RP progresses (if it does progress at all and if it makes the hunter change pets in the first place) is really importaint to them.

I have 6 hunters and i still feel like i dont have enough stable room cause theres so many amazing looks for them that stay within the theme ive made for them like my night elf who focuses around pets night elves throughout the ages have created bonds with such as the many colors of frostsaber, owls, the occasional bear or my troll hunter who is all about pets of the frozen lands of northrend (though i admit, the lack of pets that click with her for RP purposes also has her collecting the rares but they are still fantabuliously gorgeous and her Terrorpene got into the Screenshot of the Day for blizzards website which im very proud of).

[ummeiko]

First off, I played during Vanilla. I went through the tribulations of training points, pet loyalty, levelling a pet from 9-60, and taming random mobs to learn new skills. I've seen guildie pets run away because they died too many times pulling Geddon. I was there when you had three stable slots. I was there when the stables were upped to 5. I was there when serpents were untameable, and then tameable again. Broken Tooth and Bangalash and Takk and Lupos and Snarler and all the pets that had weird stats or abilities. Soloing LBRS for Bite Rank 8. Yadda, yadda. It's a tired argument and a genetic fallacy. Just because it was that way back then, doesn't mean it was necessarily GOOD. There were a lot of things in Vanilla that were bad, boring, and broken. The game evolves. It has to if it's going to stay relevant and engaging for 6 1/2 years.

Because I can see potential for improvements in mechanics and quality of life in a game doesn't mean I'm ungrateful for what has already happened. Like I said, a lot of stuff in vanilla was bad across the board, and I'm glad for the changes made.

As to the pokemon retort, it's equally old. There is so much in wow that allows collecting - often even promotes collecting. It's an integral part of the game. Collect mounts, collect gear, collect achievements, collect recipes, collect trade goods, collect companions, collect honor. So someone wants 2 pets and someone wants 70. It's just another aspect of play.

I'll debate. But "you didn't play vanilla", "you're ungrateful", and "pokemon" aren't much of arguments worth debating.

[Yoruko]

It's not realistically feasible to give hunters unlimited slots, from a server-architecture standpoint. Unlimited slots means unlimited data storage, which is something the servers would not be able to handle.

This was the problem I was also thinking about. Pet data takes storage and unlimited storage simply does not exist when you think about it.

I'm very happy for all the slots that we have now but it kinda also brings in the whole collecting factor now that we do have so many of them. Now that we're allowed to collect more pets I find myself struggling with the space we are offered even though it's humongous compared to the 3 slots we used to have way back. I just really love the pet aspect of a hunter gameplay and it always makes me feel terrible when I have to let a polygony friend go in order to tame something else. Such as now when each patch is introducing more and more skins and models. (Which is, of course, a positive thing!)

My suggestion is that there could be a similar "gold sink" mechanic as there is with bank slots. Put in.. say.. five or ten more slots that can be purchased one at a time with an increasing amount of gold. Those people who don't feel the need for more pet slots can leave them alone much like people who don't need more bank space can do the same.

[Calomel]

Aggresive pet stance-(soon) gone

Whoa now...this is a GOOD thing! Have you seen what they're replacing it with? It's good!

[Cryptography]

Pet stables should have been set up much like the mount and minipet panels.

Move a pet into the stable and all that is needed to be kept in the database is name and npc-id number, possibly skin-id number. Talents SHOULD be dropped on stabling a pet, only the 5 active slots need that data stored.

While this still doesnt easily mean "infinite" storeage, it could probably cater for many hundreds. The data could also be farmed off in a seperate data table so its not queried much during game, only when a hunter visits a stablemaster. Any extra load on databse searches should be pretty minimal.


On the flip side, I find on my hunters that I only really use about 7 or so slots, the pets I'm most attached to. Not even one of my hunters has a full stable.

[judge40]

If you had enough slots to tame one of every model it would potentially lead to people just going around taming everything to store. Rather than knowing there is a limited amount and searching for the perfect pet for them, which I bet is what most enjoy.

When I consider the pets I'd like to get, 25 isn't enough, I'd like to be able to get one of each family and have a few spaces left over for the pets I just can't go without. Maybe around 50, which would allow one of each family and an extra 12 (after hydras, if those are coming) for collections sake.

I think Spirit Beasts are one of the main causes of stable slot problems, while I totally understand wanting to tame them all. It is only the fact they are 'rare' that people want every one of them, if only 1-2 were rare and the rest were a common skin you can bet most people would be hunting for that 1-2 rares and not bother collecting the set.
By the time you have collected all the Spirit Beasts, plus any appearence buff pets you want, throw in a Core Hound and pretty much half the stable is gone already.