Curse

Encriptic Spear · Jan 11, 2008, 06:15 PM // 18:15

From a long time reader of your forums:

With in the last 6 months, numerous mini pets have been offered via out of game contests and promotions. The introduction of the new ultra-rare mini polar bear got me thinking again about Guild Wars player’s insatiable appetite for mini pets.

The solution may be as simple as the mini Ghostly Hero and mini Mallyx.
Make these exclusive mini’s obtainable in game.

A possibility is to have mini’s drop from locked chests while in hard mode

Example: If you were vanquishing or just playing in hard mode an area where Oni spawn there could be a slim possibility that instead of a gold item or tome, a mini Oni could drop from the locked chest in that area.

One could argue on this a person could just run chests and receive one. It is a possibility but there is no guarantee that one would drop from it. Look at the mini polar bear once word got out it was obtainable via one chest that could be ran in 9 min how many have we seen or heard about maybe 15 at the most. That was brilliant, now look at the numerous areas where Oni Spawn. How many chests are their in all these areas? A lot so it makes for a good hunt, rare to find from a locked chest but there is still a possibility that you could get one.

The following mini’s could be implemented in the game via the locked chest system in areas where the mini’s equivalent are located.
Destroyer
Gray Giant
Grawl
Ceratadon
Island Guardian
Longhair Yeti
Naga Raincaller
Oni
Shiroken Assassin

Holiday Mini’s The Greased Lightning and Polar Bear, these 2 little devils should be as is only available during their corresponding holidays. These 2 mini pets were sprung on us with really no information at all until the event was either coming to a close or all done. This surprised us and wow did it bring mayhem on the forums.
If available only during their holiday the polar bear is fine everyone knows the quest and may your lucky title not be in vain.
The greased lightning if only attainable during the Canthan New Year event. The criteria to attain one via the top 100 roller beetle racers need to be addressed ahead of time.

The alternate means to attaining these 2 mini pets would be to implement the mini polar bear to the wintersday past chest and the mini greased lightning to the Zaishen chest since the roller beetle race is a form of PVP.

Birthday present mini’s would still be that same no need to add even more there are a lot of players who have birthdays to satisfy the individuals trying to fill their hall of monuments with multiple characters.

Allies / foe mini pets:
Vizu, Kuunavang, Zhed, Asura and Veresh Ossa these mini pets have but one place their corresponding campaign. Example: All locked chests in night fall has a slim chance in dropping a mini Zhed. There would be 2 for Night Fall, 2 for Factions and 1 for EotN.

The holy grails of mini pets, Kanaxai and panda. I see the most fitting place for these would be from the end chest in Urgoz (panda) and The Deep (Kanaxai) in hard mode.
Now being an elite mission and I can only speculate not every one has completed these mission and many will never get the chance for various reason which I will not go into.

An alternative solution would rely on 2 factors. Your alliance title and whose side of the map are you on.
Example: My Kerzick rank is (4) and I’m questing in hard mode in the Echovald Forest
I happen to come across a locked chest my chance of obtaining a mini panda would be
1 in 3,750,000 but if I was rank (11) I would have a chance of 1 in 250,000 the odds increase with your rank.
A simple break down would to invert the factions required for each tier.
Rank (12) 1 in 100,000
Rank (11) 1 in 250,000
Ect.
Rank (1) 1 in 10,000,000

The Simple truth is not everyone will be able to attain the exclusive mini pets for their collection. Some may feel that if something like this was introduced it would be a slap to the face for their hard work, their desire to rise above all and claim victory, the few extra dollars they spent on a game, standing in line for hours to get a key code, farming for endless hours to buy their prized mini pet and or just to not care about mini pets.

However if you just had a very small chance that you could receive that mini pet you have always wanted in game would it not be worth it….

TempusReborn · Jan 11, 2008, 06:48 PM // 18:48

I'm quite fond of this idea - Though the chances would have to be very slim. One thing tho - Anet has said Mini's from the CE (Kuunavang and Varesh) won't be available again

/signed

Kiragi Yagami · Jan 11, 2008, 08:12 PM // 20:12

seems like a good idea, though i think the chance would be incredibly small.

ill go with /signed, simply because i want my mini greased lightning and kuunavang -.-

oh, and yes, as stated above, ANET has stated that varesh and kuunavang will not be added to the game again, so were SOL there.

genofreek · Jan 11, 2008, 08:47 PM // 20:47

Hey, I like this idea a lot.

Especially the holiday pets only dropping during their holidays, Kanaxis in HM Deep, and NF/Fac/GW:EN specials only available in their own campaign.

/signed, let's give people a slim chance to catch a rare mini without utterly murdering the market.

Icey · Jan 11, 2008, 08:55 PM // 20:55

I like this idea as well. I dislike how currently only certain people can attain such mini-pets without others having a chance for them...With Anet always nerfing skills left and right to make it more fair for others, I don't understand why they make something such as a mini-pet ultra rare??? I don't understand that concept at all!

SilentNite · Jan 11, 2008, 08:55 PM // 20:55

the idea is good, but imagine a current owner of one of the pets, right now i want to sell b/c if this gets introduced, the price will only go down!

Icey · Jan 11, 2008, 09:09 PM // 21:09

Quote:

Originally Posted by SilentNite

the idea is good, but imagine a current owner of one of the pets, right now i want to sell b/c if this gets introduced, the price will only go down!

It's happened to everything else, things that are actually useful in the game, so why not mini-pets?

At least a slim chance to get them etc, like maybe completing several super difficult missions etc. Just like acquiring the tormented weapons for example, they aren't impossible to get, yet they cost around 250K-300K!

Shayne Hawke · Jan 11, 2008, 10:21 PM // 22:21

I have a Rollerbeetle.

And I've gotta say that your idea for it sucks.

The Rollerbeetle symbolizes the winner's ability to race. Who says you get that in HA? I'm less concerned about allowing people to get one by being one of the top 100 every event that rolls around, as long as one account isn't getting more than one.

Polar bear was dealt with. Use search.

Minipets' obtainability doesn't need to be addressed ahead of time. Polar bear wasn't found out until a day or two before the chance to get it was removed. It was a surprise, and that's why it became so popular and so many people went to get it. If they had told everyone at the beginning that it was available, people would have tried to farm it all Wintersday, ruining it's special value to players by the holiday's end.

The difference between minis like Mallyx, Kanaxai, and the Gray Giant is that some mini were introduced purposefully as a surprise to players that are already doing the best, some were introduced as gifts to people who did things a little more unique and special, and some were introduced to promote other things around Guild Wars.

Sounds to me like you just want to make farming every mini possible.

That's no good.

/notsigned

Edit: Come to think of it, I don't understand what problem it is you see in the way minipets are now.

The Bard · Jan 11, 2008, 10:32 PM // 22:32

i'll /sign for new pets, leave the existing ones as they are and introduce some new ones available from dungeon chests, random lockpick loot in HM and/or long, challenging quests.