World of Warcraft is getting rid of the pet battling system in Midnight, with wild pets now captured with a single click instead. While players will still be able to collect many different pets in Midnight, World of Warcraft is phasing out the battle aspect of this feature after over 13 years.
Pet battles, introduced in World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria in 2012, is a Pokémon-like mini-game that built on the existing companion pet feature. Through this system, fans can battle and capture wild pets, level up their own creatures, and fight both NPCs and other players in order to earn currency, achievements, and experience.
Battle Pets are Being Removed in World of Warcraft: Midnight
However, it appears that World of Warcraft is phasing out pet battles starting with its next expansion. While there are wild pets in the alpha of World of Warcraft: Midnight, players cannot battle them. Right-clicking on these critters now immediately throws a cage, after which they are caught and added to their inventory. What’s more, none of these pets have the ability to level up or engage in pet battles. WoW content creator MrGM captured footage of this new system and shared it on Twitter.
Though some fans hoped it might have been a case of the full system simply not being implemented on the alpha yet, that does not seem to be the case. World of Warcraft streamer Beartrice asked game director Ion Hazzikostas about this during a group interview, where he confirmed pets would be obtainable in Midnight, but without the battling aspect, as few people were allegedly engaging with it. As further proof, the pet-collection achievement for Midnight refers to them as “wild pets,” rather than “battle pets” as previous accolades do, and there are currently none that require battling in the new zones.
It is important to note that the existing pet battle system is not being removed. All previous creatures, challenges, and battle pet content will still be available in World of Warcraft; instead, it seems like no new pet battles will be added to the game, including all future pets no longer getting stats or abilities that let them participate.
The K’aresh zone in World of Warcraft Patch 11.2 had no collectible battle pets or achievements at all, which led some players to have concerns about the future of the system – and unfortunately, it seems those fears have been founded. It is unclear exactly why Blizzard decided to cut this system; some guess it is another victim of WoW’s accelerated release cadence, while others surmise it could be pre-emptive protections against Nintendo’s recent Pokémon patent. Regardless, it seems like fans of the pet battle system in World of Warcraft won’t be getting any new content from now on.
