Above: A concept screen of the basic interface for companion battles (subject to change).
In short, World of Warcraft companion battles allow you to use your formerly "non-combat" companion pets to battle in turn-based combat with a wild pet or the companion pet of another player. If your companion defeats other companion pets, he or she will level and gain new abilities. Only three abilities can be used at a time (although you can switch them out with others outside of combat), and you can assemble three of your companions into a team. You can even trade them or sell them on the auction house and give them their own names. And if that's not enough similarity to Satoshi Tajiri's legendary franchise for you, you can also hunt down masters throughout Azeroth and battle their pets. That's what's known.
Lagrave was surprisingly open about what else is planned for the system (though he was quick to point out that Lead Content Designer Cory Stockman knew much more than he did). In particular, he pointed out that Stockman currently has a plan in place to have a unique special attack for every single companion pet in the game. The only limitation, he said, is whether or not the animation team can handle the admittedly daunting task. "I know the Rustberg Gull from Tol Barad has a swooping attack," he said, "and it's likely that the Onyxian Whelpling will have some sort of fiery breath attack." He also said that Blizzard wants companion pets to do fun attacks, but players won't be seeing silly attacks that the pet likely wouldn't do anyway. "You won't see your snake companion wielding a club."
While you can use your existing companion pets or pets bought off the auction house for combat leveling, you can also find them out in the wild by battling wild pets. We learned during the Mists of Pandaria preview session that players could battle multiple versions of a particular wild pet in order to win the one with the best stats, but he mentioned that he currently didn't know what those stats were. "The stats are going to be very dynamic," he said, "and the current model is subject to change."
Wild pets can be found anywhere in the Eastern Kingdoms, Kalimdor or Pandaria, he said, (and sometimes only in particular conditions, such as in rain or during the night), although he wasn't sure if they would be found in Northrend and Outland as well. The spawn density of these wild companion pets is also currently in question. "Spawn density is something that we're going to tweak in beta," he said. "For this to work, we really need a lot of people grabbing companion pets so we can see if the spawn rate is good, and if we're seeing too many of one pet or not enough or another. Then we'll also have to decide if the stats and values are right."
Above: Players will be able to arrange their pets into teams.
Lagrave was also open about the process of actually engaging and capturing a wild companion pet, an important topic that was apparently skipped over in the original announcement. "Since they're a spawn in the world, you're going to attack it just as you would any other creature, whether it be with your mace or whatever," he said. "At some point during the battle, you're going to put down a trap and capture it." According to Lagrave, there's currently no concept as to what this trap will look like, but at this point I wouldn't be surprised if it resembled a certain red and white ball.
And just because I couldn't bear not knowing the answer, I asked him if players would be able to fight with the Argent Squire -- the little human or orcish boy companion pet that players can get from the Argent Crusade quartermasters. Lagrave laughed. "I don't know if it's going to stay this way," he said, "but at this point, yes. Right now it's a companion, and our statement is 'most companions.'" He emphasized that companions such as these caught the spirit of "wacky fun" the system is aimed at. "We want players to be saying, 'Hey, the raid hasn't started and one of our raiders isn't here, so let's get out our pets and goof off for a while.'"
I was particularly happy to learn that all other players will be able to see your companion pets battling. "Everybody will be able to see the battles," Lagrave said. "We don't phase them because that's part of the charm, right? People want to see Onyxian Whelplings and Hyacinth Macaws battling it out." But I was somewhat disheartened to learn that you couldn't battle against companion pets belonging to members of the opposite faction. Lagrave said cross-faction battles aren't of the question, but they don't work with the way the system is currently designed. In addition, he noted that companion battles wouldn't affect any of your character's stats or buffs. "The whole concept is just aimed at having fun," he said.
Lagrave also noted that leveling a companion pet "might" allow you to change the pet's visual appearance somewhat, but he said any specific plans are still in the concept stage. He did, however, grow interested when I asked if pets would be able to gain titles after reaching certain combat landmarks or levels, even though he doubted that anything like that was currently in the system. He said he'd bring the idea up to Cory Stockman "if he hasn't thought of it already."
If you were watching the panel in which the companion combat system was announced, it's possible you heard me laughing among in the crowd because the systems similarities to Pokemon were so obvious. But now, knowing a little bit more about the system, I personally can't wait to try this out. If it works out the way that Blizzard plans, I can only see the system acting as a fun common ground between hardcore raiders and the most casual of players. Any plan that fosters player interaction in an MMORPG is always good in my book.
Leif Johnson is a Chicago-based freelancer who likes sushi and long walks along the Brandywine. Find out what he's doing over at his blog or follow him on Twitter.
Spy Guy says: I'm with Leif on this one. I laughed when I heard the announcement, but now that I've learned more, I'm intrigued. Still, I can't help but think this will be one of the things cited when conversations about WoW jumping the shark inevitably roll around.
