Guild Wars 2

They were fun and even challenging sometimes (SAB cat) to collect, and I’ve gotten all but blue catmander, Simon, and the guardian cat so far.

But I looked at Simon’s requirements, and the blue catmander (I lack guardian cause the kitten recipe requirement, I never do dragons stand and not high enough level WvW), and those are insanely expensive compared to any other cat.

Is this a trend? Or are these cats just considered above and beyond special compared to the rest?

These are above & beyond. Simon is in the (currently) most difficult fractal; Bluemander (with Yellow) creates a special squad of kittens (that follow a common WvW style).

I’m not sure I’m in favor of them being part of the same “undocumented”, non-AP generating scavenger hunt. But, if any qualified as having extraordinary costs, it would be these felines.

I’ve been thinking about this too. The cat scavenger hunt is a bit like mini pet collecting – at first it seems like a fun bonus for casual players but the requirements have rapidly gotten more expensive and difficult.

Part of me thinks it’s just Anet experimenting – they’re seeing how far they can push it and when players will give up. Part of me thinks this was the plan all along and it’s actually building to something that will justify the effort (for people who like the thing) and part of me thinks they’re just making it up as they go along with no real plan and the cats, locations and requirements are just whatever they come up with at the time.

Having said that the blue catmander (the one that wants a Gift of Battle) isn’t actually as bad as it seems at first. I started playing WvW for the first time in a few years on Sunday evening, specifically to get the cats, and I got the Gift of Battle yesterday evening – it took about 6 hours in total and in the process I got the canned chili for the yellow catmander and the 100 skirmish tokens needed for one of the minis. So now I just have another 100 tokens left to get and having reached gold tier it should be quite quick.

I’m going to post a guide in Players Helping Players when I get home from work explaining how to go about getting it – aimed at total WvW newbies.

@Danikat – Yea, its not that hard. But looking at the cats that were originally introduced, that required you to buy a food off the TP and talk to it, it requires exponentially more effort to obtain the blue catmander.

I don’t know if that’s a bad thing, but I hope that this trend doesn’t continue at this pace. Otherwise we’ll soon see a cat asking for an entire legendary.

Yeah, I stopped collecting them because the costs and effort just seem too out-of-my-range. Pity, as they were a fun collection/quest.

Luckily, I don’t want an instance filled with cats. Also the cats are sometimes in very out-of-the way places in your instance so I wouldn’t see them anyway so I don’t care. If I had more control over my Home Instance so I could place things and cats, and turn certain cats on and off to make it new and different now and then, I would be more interested in getting more cats / stuff.

Yeah, it was nice when these were just a little simple thing.

The only cat that is hard to obtain right now is Simon, the celestial cat from the Shattered Observatory. Maybe add a chance to recieve the Essence from lvl 100 normal. You can’t use them anyway unless you complete the challenge mode. It also gives a small gold boost and an incentive to run it.

The point is to mimic real life. Owning a cat can be very expensive.

I stopped collecting them with the last update. The cost isn’t worth it, plus they don’t look particularly appealing to have, so…

Simon requires about 80g but I don’t see anything particularly expensive for the rest.

Djinn.9245:

Luckily, I don’t want an instance filled with cats. Also the cats are sometimes in very out-of-the way places in your instance so I wouldn’t see them anyway so I don’t care. If I had more control over my Home Instance so I could place things and cats, and turn certain cats on and off to make it new and different now and then, I would be more interested in getting more cats / stuff.

They added a device that can hide the cats for your next visit into home instance.

edit: I don’t mind the price of the catmanders since they come with a kitten zerg. I’m just curious if in the future we’ll see some more normal ‘price’ cats alongside the more expensive, fancy cats.

Though there are now a ton of cats in my home instance lol.

Gaile Gray.6029:

IndigoSundown.5419:

The point is to mimic real life. Owning a cat can be very expensive.

This is true. You give them tuna-flavored kibbles, and they soon want kitty tuna in a can. From kitty tuna, they move to real-people tuna, and soon you’re purchasing hand-made sushi from the most expensive restaurant in Bellevue.

(The above was intended to bring a smile to knowing cat owners, not to reduce the serious nature of the concerns expressed in this thread.)

More on topic: As a player, I know there are a few cats I won’t have, but I don’t mind — there are plenty that I can acquire, and I love the way they enliven my home instance!

Careful there — amusing note though it is, in RL cats get so addicted to tuna they refuse everything else and will starve to death rather than eat non-tuna, but too much pure tuna is actually very bad for them.

As to cat collection, ee, did not know about Simon. Once I realized I would not get SAB cat my completionism fell away. I should try out the various new fractals, I haven’t even seen them yet.

Gaile Gray.6029:

This is true. You give them tuna-flavored kibbles, and they soon want kitty tuna in a can. From kitty tuna, they move to real-people tuna, and soon you’re purchasing hand-made sushi from the most expensive restaurant in Bellevue.

Wow, clearly you found one of the less-finicky felines. I had one that insisted that I catch our own tuna, hire a sushi chef to slice it, plus offer a milk chaser (although melted vanilla ice cream was also accepted).

Gaile Gray.6029:

IndigoSundown.5419:

The point is to mimic real life. Owning a cat can be very expensive.

This is true. You give them tuna-flavored kibbles, and they soon want kitty tuna in a can. From kitty tuna, they move to real-people tuna, and soon you’re purchasing hand-made sushi from the most expensive restaurant in Bellevue.

Been there, done that, but not in Bellevue.

@Gaile: Yet another reason why dogs are superior. They eat anything!

So… when do we get Hungry Happy Dogs?

DeanBB.4268:

@Gaile: Yet another reason why dogs are superior. They eat anything!

So… when do we get Hungry Happy Dogs?

I’d be thrilled with rabbits (one of which I’m a RL happy owner). The nice thing about those for a home instance is that you really only need a couple and the rest just magically show up. (I think they’re secretly genetically modified asura who would build little asuran gates for their buddies to port in.) Downside: everything would get chewed on from 2 feet down. Upside: Hasenpfeffer! And fuzzy cuddles. Not in that order.

The next case of home instance animals will clearly be Choya.

Starts out with the green, yellow, red, and blue choya. Then it grows to the elite specialization choya (9 in total), then the Awakened Choya that you have to feed heket legs to, the Super Racoon Choya from SAB, the Mordrem Choya at the end of Dragon’s Stand, and just skyrockets from there.

Gaile Gray.6029:

IndigoSundown.5419:

The point is to mimic real life. Owning a cat can be very expensive.

This is true. You give them tuna-flavored kibbles, and they soon want kitty tuna in a can. From kitty tuna, they move to real-people tuna, and soon you’re purchasing hand-made sushi from the most expensive restaurant in Bellevue.

(The above was intended to bring a smile to knowing cat owners, not to reduce the serious nature of the concerns expressed in this thread.)

More on topic: As a player, I know there are a few cats I won’t have, but I don’t mind — there are plenty that I can acquire, and I love the way they enliven my home instance!

I am not embarrassed to admit I have been known to pan fry Haddock for my beloved Fizzgig! He is family too!

;)

I stopped after the class specific cats came out.

Ever since that point the “harmless fun” aspect of it completely died, as people who only have the 5 basic characters couldn’t join in on the fun without buying character slots.

Sad that everything popular has to be turned into a monetization method.

Neural.1824:

I stopped after the class specific cats came out.

Ever since that point the “harmless fun” aspect of it completely died, as people who only have the 5 basic characters couldn’t join in on the fun without buying character slots.

Sad that everything popular has to be turned into a monetization method.

It isn’t a “monetization method” — it’s just fluff. There are many, easier and more effective ways to get people to buy gems.

Illconceived Was Na.9781:

Neural.1824:

I stopped after the class specific cats came out.

Ever since that point the “harmless fun” aspect of it completely died, as people who only have the 5 basic characters couldn’t join in on the fun without buying character slots.

Sad that everything popular has to be turned into a monetization method.

It isn’t a “monetization method” — it’s just fluff. There are many, easier and more effective ways to get people to buy gems.

No. They took something that was a low level scavenger hunt that just about anyone could do for fun, and locked it behind gold walls and skill.
And yeah, there are many easier and more effective ways to get people to buy gems. That was my point. But they have to do this to everything.

Kalavier.1097:

Djinn.9245:

Luckily, I don’t want an instance filled with cats. Also the cats are sometimes in very out-of-the way places in your instance so I wouldn’t see them anyway so I don’t care. If I had more control over my Home Instance so I could place things and cats, and turn certain cats on and off to make it new and different now and then, I would be more interested in getting more cats / stuff.

They added a device that can hide the cats for your next visit into home instance.

I don’t want to just hide all the cats. If I didn’t want any cats at all I wouldn’t have gone out of my way to feed some. I just want the ability to change it up. Like “hey it’s winter – time for the snowball cats” or " this week I want to only show all the ginger cats" etc.

Djinn.9245:

I don’t want to just hide all the cats. If I didn’t want any cats at all I wouldn’t have gone out of my way to feed some. I just want the ability to change it up. Like “hey it’s winter – time for the snowball cats” or " this week I want to only show all the ginger cats" etc.

Maybe in a some future LS or side story ANet will add giant asuran Cat-Golem to home instance with menu functionality similar to M.O.X. that can control local cat population behavior. Name it C.O.G – cat operation golem

Gaile Gray.6029:

More on topic: As a player, I know there are a few cats I won’t have, but I don’t mind — there are plenty that I can acquire, and I love the way they enliven my home instance!

I don’t think this is the problem (getting all cats) so much as people are worried this trend will continue, with every new cat that is introduced requiring far more effort than the first few. Considering this started out as a fun joke essentially, I think this would be wrong to turn it into a grind to get every single new cat. So I am also worried about that, and hope that it goes back to most of the ones being introduced being fairly easy to acquire.

^ Indeed. There’s nothing wrong with some ‘hard-mode’ cats, as long as there are still ‘casual’ cats.

Neural.1824:

Illconceived Was Na.9781:

Neural.1824:

I stopped after the class specific cats came out.

Ever since that point the “harmless fun” aspect of it completely died, as people who only have the 5 basic characters couldn’t join in on the fun without buying character slots.

Sad that everything popular has to be turned into a monetization method.

It isn’t a “monetization method” — it’s just fluff. There are many, easier and more effective ways to get people to buy gems.

No. They took something that was a low level scavenger hunt that just about anyone could do for fun, and locked it behind gold walls and skill.
And yeah, there are many easier and more effective ways to get people to buy gems. That was my point. But they have to do this to everything.

You know, you don’t actually have to get them all. It’s not compulsory for you to buy character slots to collect cats for your home instance. Anecdotally, I’d say most people have more than the 5 character slots anyway.

Why do people have to assume this of everything? This game is absolutely free and you do not have to spend a cent on it until the servers close whenever that may be in a decade or whenever. Not a single cent. And people complain constantly of “monetisation”. That a portion of a scavenger hunt, or whatever (which serves no purpose whatsoever in-game except to give cat lovers and scavengers something to do), is locked behind a paywall because class specific cats are made. Seriously, are you for reals about this stuff or what?

Even if you are right and ANet added class specific cats in order to encourage character slot sales, who cares? This is a business afterall. It’s not pay to win, it’s not compulsory or a subscription.

After the SAB one (I don’t particularly like SAB so am not good at it. Like at all.) I had to accept that I can’t hug every cat. But I guess most of the cats will just have to do.

I want to say there is a real life relationship lesson to be learned here…

I love these cats though, and I don’t understand the complaint. They remain achievementless pointless and fun. Something where whenever you’re asked why you did it the reason is only, “I wanted the cat ^.^”

I guess it kinda just depends on your content as well. WvWers probably had an incredibly easy time getting the blue and yellow and didn’t feel the price. I do nothing but fractals, so I kinda don’t feel the price for Simon. I know he’s the most expensive one, but it was worth it to me.

So I just can’t understand the complaint that they need to remain cheap otherwise they’re no longer fun. It just doesn’t make sense.

Squee.7829:

After the SAB one (I don’t particularly like SAB so am not good at it. Like at all.) I had to accept that I can’t hug every cat. But I guess most of the cats will just have to do.

Next time SAB comes around, I wouldn’t mind running it for you. I did it for two other friends (carrying the fish) and managed to get them the cute kitty. It uses the slingshot bauble on the cat-toy and pops health hearts when you hit it with water gun.

MoarChaos.8320:

I love these cats though, and I don’t understand the complaint. They remain achievementless pointless and fun. Something where whenever you’re asked why you did it the reason is only, “I wanted the cat ^.^”

I guess it kinda just depends on your content as well. WvWers probably had an incredibly easy time getting the blue and yellow and didn’t feel the price. I do nothing but fractals, so I kinda don’t feel the price for Simon. I know he’s the most expensive one, but it was worth it to me.

So I just can’t understand the complaint that they need to remain cheap otherwise they’re no longer fun. It just doesn’t make sense.

I’m not saying that they all need to be cheap. Like somebody earlier said, I’m merely wondering if, or concerned about every single (or most) of the cats that come out in the future being increasingly expensive.

As somebody said, if these are “ascended cats”, what will the “legendary cat” require? :P.

I’m hoping in the future we get a good mix, some not very expensive cats, and some special, but more expensive or challenging cats (whether cost of item, or simply SAB like challenge to get). Or other animals as well!

Though I do agree, we probably will need a golem or device to manage cats soon lol, so many wandering my salma district now.

The game mechanics allow players to get anything in the game without costing “real” money. Like in real life, each of us must decide what to buy and what is not important enough to warrant the outlay. Those who love cats will continue with the collection and those that don’t, won’t.

I just wish there was an feline “achievement” in Basic Collections so I could keep track of which I have and which I don’t – being a mentoring aged player (old fart), lost track….. :-)

@Crustydog: Create an account on gw2efficiency (if you haven’t already). It will show you which cats have been acquired.

Danikat.8537:

I’ve been thinking about this too. The cat scavenger hunt is a bit like mini pet collecting – at first it seems like a fun bonus for casual players but the requirements have rapidly gotten more expensive and difficult.

Part of me thinks it’s just Anet experimenting – they’re seeing how far they can push it and when players will give up. Part of me thinks this was the plan all along and it’s actually building to something that will justify the effort (for people who like the thing) and part of me thinks they’re just making it up as they go along with no real plan and the cats, locations and requirements are just whatever they come up with at the time.

Having said that the blue catmander (the one that wants a Gift of Battle) isn’t actually as bad as it seems at first. I started playing WvW for the first time in a few years on Sunday evening, specifically to get the cats, and I got the Gift of Battle yesterday evening – it took about 6 hours in total and in the process I got the canned chili for the yellow catmander and the 100 skirmish tokens needed for one of the minis. So now I just have another 100 tokens left to get and having reached gold tier it should be quite quick.

I’m going to post a guide in Players Helping Players when I get home from work explaining how to go about getting it – aimed at total WvW newbies.

Wait, is there really a home instance commander cat for a gift of battle? I don’t see it on gw2efficency cat list and I don’t think I’ve read anything about it either. Simon is the last one on gw2efficency.